Chapter 24: The Fated Encounter

"What is that burst of magical energy!? It's from the direction of vice principal Lutheran's office!" Shouted Iris. None of the knights accompanying her could answer that question as they felt the school building shaking when they felt the magical burst.

"Your highness!" Shouted Marco as he walked weakly towards Iris.

"Marco! Report! What happened here!?"

"I was attacked by a cloaked man with skull mask and I was knocked out. The assailant must've attacked Claude and Sherry!" Reported Marco

"The Reaper Squad!" Muttered Iris.

"Sherry is fine. We confirmed her presence in the gates. In fact, from her testimony, she and Claude seems to be responsible for dispelling the barrier using the Artifact we entrusted her with." Explained Glen.

"As for Claude, we haven't found him. Last we heard he was fighting the zombies and the terrorists to save as many lives as he can." Remarked Iris.

"Ah… He's amazing." Marco said.

"Indeed he is. Anyway, Marco! You head back to the gate and receive treatments immediately! The rest of you with me! We must go to where that magical burst came from!" Iris commanded.

"Yes, ma'am!" All the knights shouted as they climbed the stairs while avoiding the flames, smoke and falling debris.

Shadow. His mere presence is overwhelming even for me who has faced a dragon before. This man is no doubt the strongest entity this world has to offer. Heh heh heh. I've found him. No. He's come for me.

He stood up and started walking slowly towards me.

"I won't forgive you." Shadow muttered hatefully.

"Oh? Have our plans for a poor innocent girl angered you?" He appeared in front of me immediately and punched me in the face before my sword can intercept him. "Aghh!" He reappeared a few steps away before my swords can retaliate.

"You've harmed what belongs to me." He muttered while suddenly appearing in front of me and punched me in the face again before retreating.

"Aghh….! Oww…. So it's about No. 001, is it? Heh heh heh. Should've known." I said as I clutched my mask and fixed the cracks on it with magic.

"Then come at me with all your hate and vengeance, Shadow." I said as I unsummoned my floating swords.

"Not gonna use your swords?" He asked.

"I only used my swords when I can't be bothered to actually fight, like when I disposed of that old fool. I am a mage. And a mage's weapon…" I summoned a magic staff made of modified metal I created with Alchemy that I called Orichalcum. "… is a staff."

"Hmph. Good." He grinned while brandishing his black slime sword and charged at me. I created a barrier surrounding me to intercept his attack, which seems to cause the barrier to crack. The impact between his blade and my barrier sends shockwave that destroyed the room and shook the building further.

Our battle continued in the school's rooftop. He continued moving at high speed to strike my barrier, breaking it with two more strikes. I retreated, created a big fireball in my left hand and threw it at him, which he dodged easily. I threw more fireballs, both big and small, and he continues to dodge them.

"Is that all? You're wasting your energy and my time, Necromancer." Taunted Shadow before realizing that he's surrounded by my fireballs which floats and gathers around him.

I snapped my fingers and let the fireballs rain down at him. He increased his speed to dodge the rain of fireballs while lunging at me, which I parried with my staff. The clash between our weapons created another shockwave that destroyed the rooftop, causing us to relocate.

We are now in the courtyard, near the gate, in full view of the students and knights gathering there. I see my minions restraining No. 176 and was prepared to relocate it. I flew towards the beast and shouted "Release it!" and they obeyed.

"Run!" The knights shouted, instructing the students to run as they realized they shouldn't be here. The students readily followed the instructions while screaming before they become collateral damage to our battle. My minions also retreated from the scene.

"OBEY!" I looked at the beast in the eyes and commanded it to attack Shadow, which it obeyed. The beast attacked Shadow with a swipe of its tail and Shadow merely cut it apart. It immediately regenerated the tail and started attacking again. This time, Shadow dodged and opted to attack the beast's head before stopping due to a strange feeling.

"Hm? I'm getting heavier." He felt his body getting heavier as I cast a gravity curse on him while he was distracted by the lizard.

"Heh. This should be good for practice." He grinned fearlessly as he beheaded the beast in an instant despite the added weight on his body. I commanded what remaining zombies I've got in the school to gather around the courtyard. It will take time for them to arrive and thus I braced myself for impact from Shadow's high speed overhead slash, which I blocked with my staff. The impact was actually amplified by the gravity curse I casted upon him and it sent me through the ground where I would eventually emerge on one of the underground tunnels underneath the school.

"Hm. Giving him the gravity curse might've been a mistake." I muttered as I see him descending through the hole I made. I held my open palm at his direction and cast a lightning spell, which he dodged. The lightning went out of the hole and reached the sky.

He reappeared in front of me as I stood back up. He tried to punch me in the face again and this time I caught his hand with my hand. Man, that punch is really heavy.

"Not this time." I muttered before casting a lightning spell on the hand that held his, giving him a shock of electricity which he received with a grin. The lightning which electrocuted him also jumped to the tunnel walls and ceiling, causing them to collapse. I flew into the air and escaped from the collapsing tunnel through the hole we both entered in. The zombies, numbering merely about 2 dozens, are now gathered around the courtyard as Shadow jumped out of the hole.

"Go." I sent my undead minions at him and he grinned as he dispatched them easily. What he didn't expect is that I've modified the zombies that I sent after him. Whenever he cut a zombie, their magic circuit will burst and causing them to explode near him. He continues hacking the zombies to pieces and endured the explosions fearlessly until all zombies are spent. His outfit are now covered by blood and gore.

We stood in front of each other. The fight we've had so far had been merely us gauging each other's abilities. We both grinned as we both know we are enjoying this battle so much and that it's about to get even more fun. We are both like children playing a fighting game, each gauging the other's favourite strategies, combos, and tendencies, while also trying to find an opening in the other's defenses. I silently placed a few mine runes on the ground before he started moving.

He took a single step and disappeared, reappearing behind me as if he teleported. Had I been a lesser man, I would've thought he really did teleported but I saw him move at extremely high speed and even have the time to stand straight behind me after executing such a high speed move. I parried his sword strike with my staff and pointed a finger at him before sending a lightning bolt at him, which he dodged by disappearing and reappearing behind me.

I parried his strike once again and casted a blizzard spell that circles around us to disrupt his next move, though he doesn't seem to be slowed down by the cold in addition to the gravity spell, once again disappearing and reappearing behind me. I created an ice spear to skewer him but he merely took a step back and sliced the ice spear.

"You're a tricky opponent, Necromancer." He muttered as he once again reappeared behind me.

"And you certainly love my back." I replied as I detonated a mine rune beneath him, which he dodged. He sent a few black spears made of slime at me, which I blocked with another barrier, the black spears crushing the barrier instantly. As he retracted the slime spears and moved to attack again, I sent the shards of the barrier to him, forcing him to abandon his assault and retreated, a few shards grazed him a few times in his cheek, hands and feet.

He tried to take a step closer but I snapped my fingers and caused a few more mine runes to explode around him. He gathered magic power on his sword and sent a few shockwaves with his slashes, which I dodged, before sending a surprise shockwave while I was in the air, which pushed me away from the courtyard. A good move to avoid my remaining mines.

He chased after me to the forests behind the school and attempted to slash me while we are in the air but I dodged by flying away from him and sending a few spears made of pure magical energy after him. He dodged the spears but before he was able to retaliate, the spears he dodged turned around and chased him again. He was forced on the defensive as I called No. 176, which has healed itself despite being beheaded, to me and commanded it to release poisonous breath, the only breath attack it can actually do, upon Shadow while he was distracted by the spears.

Despite inhaling the poisonous gas, Shadow seems to be unaffected as he destroyed the spears by striking them with his sword. I sent No. 176 to attack him with its claws, which was promptly cut apart by him as I appeared behind him and put my hand on his back.

"Now it's my turn." I said as I casted another lightning spell, only for him to disappear and reappeared behind me. I turned back to punch him but he caught my fist in his hand.

"And now it's my turn." He said as he generates lightning on the hand which caught mine, electrocuting me.

"Aghh…!" I swiped him with my staff as I retreated back. He copied… no, recreated his own version of my lightning spell from scratch. What a genius.

No. 176 attempted to bite him from but was cleanly diced by him instantly as he continued his assault, delivering a series of high speed and high powered slashes that cut several trees on its way and creates shockwaves every time they clashed with my barriers. I created a curved blade out of pure magic power on the tip of my staff to effectively turn it into a scythe and engaged him in a high speed melee combat, our weapons creating more shockwaves every time they clashed, which did more than just damage our surroundings but also delivering cuts all around our bodies.

We eventually stopped our melee combat and jumped back before staring at each other once again. This battle is so fun. And we want—demand more! This rivalry mustn't end in a single night! However we both need to end tonight's battle properly before retreating. And so we both know what we must do.

"I believe it is time to end tonight's battle, my destined foe." I said.

"I agree." He said as his purple magic began engulfing both of us along with the regenerated No. 176.

"That's the spirit." I said as I responded by raising my hand up in the air and created a black sphere which is inspired by the darkness that swallowed me and brought me to this world. The black sphere is surrounded by several lines of light which formed a spiral that spins around the sphere.

Shadow grinned as he saw what I did and he raised his sword in the air, his magic power envelops it.

"I AM…."

"ARMA…."

The pressure of our magic powers already clashing with each other even before we unleashed our ultimate techniques, causing earthquakes in the area.

"ATOMIC!"

"GEDDON!"

His magic and mine erupted, clashing against each other, bathing the night sky with bright light.

Author's Note:

That was the longest fight scene I've written so far. Hope you enjoyed the battle. Shadow certainly love backstabbing like a Dark Souls player. And I Am Atomic met its match.