Gatekeepers Book 2: Galeforce

“Oh my,” Boreta spoke from her spot up in the top box. She and everyone else in the room hadn’t spoken a word until this point as they observed the match. “It’s clear to see Draycos didn’t get a score of five for his endurance during the assessment exam for nothing. Any ordinary human with that kind of injury shouldn’t be standing right now.”

Vinzgar glanced to this right and stared at one of the Killwing branch family heads that sat next to him. The one he glared at in particular was named Daiken, and he had been tricked into tampering with the spells used to create a mock dragon that tested Draycos’s endurance during his exam. Daiken was nearly identical to Vinzgar, except he was somewhat smaller in size, and his underbelly scales and wing skin were a dark stone grey. His yellow eyes avoided contact with Vinzgar’s stare as he averted his gaze.

Vertex, who stood beside Theravor’s throne, leaned over and whispered into the king’s ear. “Do you think we should end the match?" he inquired. "Draycos may be standing, but he’s losing too much blood from Clyad’s attack just now. The boy won’t last much longer if things remain like this; he has two or three minutes at best before the blood loss makes him pass out.”

Theravor remained quiet for a few seconds as he continued to stare down into the arena. He eventually sighed.

“No,” he responded in a whisper. “If Draycos can still stand, he still has a chance of winning, no matter how small that chance may be. However, if things look like they’re getting out of hand down there, I give you authorization to stop the match yourself.”

Vertex nodded and stood back up. The top box fell silent again as they watched on.

Down in the arena, Clyad was shaking his head. “Unbelievable,” he muttered. “How in the world are ya standing right now with those injuries you have, kid? Ya have to be some kind of monster.”

“Shut up,” Draycos spat, blood dribbling down his chin as he gasped for breath. “Compared to what I had to face in the assessment exam, a couple of cuts are nothing.”

Clyad raised an eyebrow. “Oh? I understand, then. I guess I won’t be able to take ya down unless I go for the kill, now will I?” He readied his large katana once more, assuming the stance he used at the beginning of the match. However, his expression was much more serious this time. A vein became visible in his forehead, and then a large dark blue aura flared into existence around his body. The aura he was exerting was by far the most intense Draycos had seen yet. The air pressure thickened again, and a strong gust of wind coming from where Clyad stood nearly knocked Draycos over backwards.

Vertex grabbed Theravor’s shoulder roughly. “Theravor!” he said in a raised voice. “This is getting out of hand now!”

Theravor was cool as a cucumber as he observed the scene below with mild interest. “Now this is a surprise,” he commented, ignoring Vertex’s outburst. “I wasn’t aware that any pure-blooded humans were capable of this technique.”

“This is surprising to see,” Zero agreed, leaning forward in his throne to get a better view. “I thought the Mana Overload technique was only usable to the races more gifted in magic, such as the elves and dragons. Looks like that assumption was incorrect.”

“This isn’t the time to be gawking!” Vertex snapped. He turned around and walked to the door. “If we don’t stop this match now, Draycos is going to end up dead!”

“Vertex.”

Vertex stopped dead in his tracks upon hearing Theravor calling his name, his hand almost touching the door knob. A bead of sweat rolled down Vertex’s face as he looked over his shoulder at the king, who was still observing the arena with rapt attention. Theravor’s deep voice was full of authority as he went on.

“I understand I told you to halt the match if things got hairy just moments ago, but I’m now rescinding that statement. This is a good opportunity for Draycos to learn something, and perhaps grow from it. I promise you that the boy won’t die from this fight, so for now, let’s just see what happens.”

Vertex gulped before giving a deep bow, trembling slightly. He then took his position next to Theravor’s throne and continued to observe the match with the rest of the dragons present.

“What the hell are you doing?” Draycos questioned as he braced himself against the wind Clyad was giving off. It was a real struggle to stay standing at this point.

“Not that it matters to ya, but this is a magic technique called Mana Overload,” Clyad answered. “It allows a magic caster’s magic to be multiplied many times over by achieving a certain level of focus and a clear mind. However, it’s only good for one spell. My magic will be completely depleted after my next attack, and I won’t be able to move a muscle. I’m putting everything in this last move,” he finished as he tightened his grip on his katana’s hilt.

Draycos observed the phenomenon before him for a few more seconds before cracking a smile. “That’s pretty impressive,” he admitted. “But it wasn’t smart to tell me how you do it. If you can do it, so can I!”

“Ya fool,” Clyad exasperated, shaking his head as Draycos assumed a relaxed stance, his arms hanging limply by his side. “Ya may be a bona fide freakshow, but even you can’t grasp this technique on ya first try. It took me twenty years of practice just to produce any worthwhile results at all. Go ahead and waste your time trying. It’ll be a few moments before I’m ready, anyways, so you can use that time to say goodbye to any chance you had of victory.”

“We won’t know unless I try,” Draycos answered in an almost inaudible whisper.

Clyad suddenly noticed that Draycos was holding something in his hand that hadn’t been there a moment before. It was a long object that was entirely made out of black, smoke-like shadows. As the smoke slowly solidified, it revealed the shape of a longsword with a wide curved blade: a scimitar.

Focus and clear-headedness? Draycos closed his eyes and took a deep breath, grabbing his pendant with his left hand as he exhaled slowly. So that just means I need to concentrate and have a clear mind? Sounds simple enough; let’s give it a shot.

“Go ahead and waste your time trying,” he heard Clyad say to him. Clyad’s voice was getting dramatically softer with each word as Draycos’s focus heightened, zoning him out. “It’ll be a few moments before I’m ready, anyways, so you can use that time to say goodbye to any chance you had of victory.”

"We won't know unless I try."

I’m pretty sure I have whatever level of concentration required for this Mana Overload thing, but I don’t think I have a calm mind in the slightest. Thoughts of Draycos’s past were always sitting at the back of his mind, nagging at him and constantly reminding him of what he’s been forced to suffer through his whole life.

I need to focus more. Draycos took another deep breath and tried clearing his mind, his left hand tightening its grip on his pendant. I had to forget about the past when I was learning control over my magic. I need to do the same here. Just focus on winning this match now. Just focus.

Focus…

Focus…

Focus…

Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus.............

Snap!

There was an audible snapping sound, and Clyad watched in shock as the black color of Draycos’s hair was ripped away from his hair and dispersed in the air like dying embers. His hair color now brown, Draycos lifted his right arm high into the air, still holding onto the black scimitar. The scimitar gradually turned white, and the moment the entire weapon turned white, Draycos opened both eyes. His irises were now brown, and the blacks of his eyes had changed to the normal white as he glared intently at Clyad.

A whitish-blue aura suddenly enveloped Draycos, and a large shockwave radiated out from where he stood as the aura suddenly grew in intensity, coming to match Clyad’s aura in terms of size and intensity. It was especially fierce around the scimitar he held up in the air.

The stalk of grass fell out of Clyad’s mouth and hit the ground as his jaw went slack in shock, rendering him speechless.

Up in the top box, Theravor began laughing quite heartily, slapping his knee while everyone else stared at Draycos in the same manner as Clyad.

“Well, I’ll be damned!” Theravor boomed, wiping a tear out of his eye as he continued to chuckle. He slapped Vertex on the leg. “See? What did I tell you? Draycos really did end up learning something from this. Although I personally never would have guessed that he would learn Mana Overload himself!”

Zero was the first one to regain his composure. He started laughing along with the king. “That’s Draycos for you! Always the unexpected with him!”

“The brat’s really something else,” Vinzgar growled in a low tone. The pleased expression in his eyes contrasted with the angry expression he wore on his face, betraying his emotions. “I will never understand him for as long as I live.”

“Agreed,” Boreta added. She had a hand pressed to her forehead and shook her head, as if she had suddenly become exhausted. “I swear, every time I think we’re starting to get an understanding of him, he goes and blows the roof off of our current understanding.” She sighed. “At least he’s never boring to be around.”

“You got that right,” Damrabe snickered from where he stood close to the side wall. Reothad, who stood beside him, snickered as well.

Vertex still hadn’t managed to compose himself, staring on in shock with his mouth hanging open in disbelief.

Poseidon said nothing, and remained silent as he just watched the events unfold, a small smile on his face.

Back in the arena, there was another shockwave as the aura Draycos gave off grew larger and more intense, surpassing the level that Clyad’s aura displayed.

Focus.

That single word echoed throughout Draycos’s mind unendingly as he glared at Clyad. His right iris turned blue, and the right half of his hair slowly turned snow white, starting at the roots and traveling up the hairs. The white hair stood up a little at the end.

Clyad finally regained his composure and corrected his stance, a rather serious and worried expression on his face. “This bastard,” he grumbled. He cast aside these troublesome thoughts as he attempted to increase his own aura’s intensity as well. He had some success, but not enough to match what Draycos was giving off.

Draycos was completely focused on what he was doing. He could hear nothing except for a sound that was like wind rushing past his ears, and the only thing he could see was Clyad standing before him. Everything else had gone black. The aura surrounding Clyad suddenly disappeared. Rather, it condensed itself around the blade of his katana. Draycos mimicked this, and all of his magic aura forced itself into the scimitar he conjured.

Now!

Draycos swung his sword down to the ground in a straight line as Clyad dashed forward at an incredible speed, making a horizontal slash through the air. The magic auras condensed in their blades shot out and sliced through the air like sickles. They collided with each other, and a large explosion rocked the whole floating island as rocks were flung up from the ground and into the air, raining down on the spectators. There were quite a few screams from the audience as most of them ducked their heads to take cover, but the barrier set up around the perimeter of the arena prevented the rocks from passing through. A large cloud of dust blanketed the entire arena.

Theravor snorted. “Does that kid always need to go over the top like this?” he muttered. “The first match ended just like this; covered up by dust so that we can’t see anything.”

Boreta sighed and flicked her right wrist, index finger extended. A strong breeze suddenly blew through the arena, quickly dispersing the dust.

“Is that better?” she asked the king.

Theravor nodded. “Much better,” he answered with a smile. “Thanks for that.”

Boreta dismissed the thanks with a wave of her hand, and everyone in the coliseum looked on as the last of the dust cleared out with a final gust of wind. Both competitors were still standing. However, once people saw the condition one was in, several screams rang through the air.

Draycos looked completely unharmed, still in the stance after swinging his scimitar, which was dispersing into the air. Clyad was still holding his katana with his right hand, also in the same position after his last sword swing. However, a crack appeared in the middle of his blade, and the top half of his katana broke off and clattered to the ground, laying next to where Clyad’s severed left arm laid in a pool of blood. A large gash had been made in the earth, going all the way to the wall behind Clyad where the barrier stopped it. The barrier, however, was severely cracked from Draycos’s attack, and several chips of it fell out and disappeared.

Clyad suddenly gave a weak smile before coughing up a large amount of blood. He fell face-first into a pool of his own blood. Draycos staggered a split second later before falling face-first to the ground as well, blood still pouring out of the injury Clyad’s Aqua Dragon Slash had given him. Both fighters were unconscious.