Ascension: Quest For Revenge

Chapter 4: The Arena (Part 1)

“The final trial has begun!” The announcer shouted. The audience roared with excitement.

Axel tried to bring the staff to his hand, but the elf grabbed it instead with his left hand and hurled it away. He raised his right hand, lifting Axel into the air. His windpipe was being crushed.

Axel managed to slowly mutter a spell, and a bright flash of light originated from his eyes, blinding the elf and everyone else around, including the audience. Axel dropped on the ground, coughing and gasping for air.

“Where did you learn that spell?!” The elf said in frustration, squinting his eyes and holding his aching head. Axel finally managed to bring the staff to him, then charged its tip with energy and thrust it into the elf’s chest, shooting him into the air. He landed far away.

Axel began to get up and looked around. Everyone including Belle and even the audience was squeezing their eyes. They all recovered quickly, however; except the elf. Elves were especially photosensitive due to their unique eyes. Axel had gotten lucky with the spell.

He looked at the other fighters; the Auremian, the dwarf, the fighter with a dagger who lost her sword in the last trial, the fighter with the soul crystal, Belle, the elf and Axel were the only ones who were still alive.

Axel saved the dwarf and the one with the dagger in the last trial; he could not bring himself to kill them.

The Auremian charged at Axel with his club. Axel shot a small bolt of energy on his legs, but it barely did anything. He continued to shoot small bolts of energy at the Auremian, but nothing could stop him.

As the Auremian got close, he swung his club vertically towards Axel, who sidestepped to dodge. As the Auremian crouched with his club on the ground, Axel planted his staff on the back of the Auremian’s neck, then pulled it down, throwing the Auremian on the ground. He then fired a stasis charge from his staff, which created a bubble of energy around the Auremian, causing his movements to slow down. He started to get up, taking ten times longer than he normally would; it took all his strength to resist the stasis charge’s energy to move around. Axel ran towards Belle in the meantime.

As he got to Belle, he shot a big bolt of energy in the distance, which hit the elf and threw him into the ground again. Belle was fighting against the warrior with the dagger, who was surprisingly adept with her small weapon. Axel charged up energy in his hand and created a blast, which threw the girl with the dagger back.

“We need to take down the Auremian first,” Axel explained.

“What? Oh,” Belle said quickly. “My fire powers will melt his gold scales.”

“Exactly.” They ran towards the Auremian, who was just beginning to get out of the stasis charge.

Axel used his hand to increase the power of the stasis charge to slow him down for longer, then pointed his staff at him and created a stream of fire. Belle used her left hand to create devastating flames. The Auremian’s scales slowly started melting down, and after a few seconds, his scales melted into a large pool of gold. All that was left was a humanoid in red glowing skin. Belle then took out her sword and stabbed him in the gut, killing him immediately.

“One down,” Belle said. “Four more to go.”

Suddenly a huge magical blast threw Axel and Belle into the air. Axel managed to recover in mid-air and started flying. The elf ran up close, his rings glowing.

“You will not WIN!” Axel screamed, and magical red sparks appeared in his eyes. He held his staff with both hands and shot out a red, blindingly bright beam of energy that radiated heat. The others momentarily stopped fighting and looked at the duel between the two. The elf used his rings to create a green shield, blocking the beam of energy. The moment the beam landed on the shield, it created a web of cracks, and the sheer force of the beam caused the elf’s legs to sink into the sand.

The announcer did not want Axel to win. He aimed his gauntlet at him, then shot a bolt of electricity. It stunned Axel, dissipating the beam of energy, leaving in its place a trail of red shimmering lights. Axel fell towards the ground, groaning in pain. The elf disabled the shield, then collapsed on his knees from exhaustion.

The audience grew outraged towards the announcer, but the guards quieted them down.

“Now, now,” the announcer said to the audience. “Don’t attempt to meddle in matters you cannot comprehend.”

Belle was still on the ground, dazed. The elf got up from the ground and walked towards Axel.

“That was an impressive trick, Mr. Brooks,” The elf said, panting. Axel still lay on the ground. When he tried to get up, the elf shot a blast of magic into Axel’s face, disorienting him.

“I’ll admit, if it wasn’t for him over there-” he pointed at the announcer, “-I would surely be dead.”

The elf created a glowing magical sword and held it to Axel’s throat.

“It is a great shame I have to kill a mage as powerful as you,” The elf continued. “But I have no choice.”

The elf would’ve driven that sword through Axel’s chest if Belle hadn’t shot a ball of fire towards the elf from behind, blowing him away on the ground. Axel tried to get up, but his limbs felt like they were made of lead. He tried to look around and saw that the fighter with the soul crystal lay dead on the ground, with a red wound in her throat and a pool of blood around it. The dwarf, the girl with the dagger and Belle had united to fight against the elf.

“He saved our lives,” the fighter said. “We can’t let you hurt him.”

“Suppose you do manage to kill me,” the elf said in frustration. “And only the four of you are left; you and the dwarf against her and him.” He pointed at Belle and Axel. “What would you have done, spared him? Because I am sure he wouldn’t have spared any of you.”

“Doesn’t matter,” the dwarf said. “We’ll think about that when we’re through with you.”

“Oh, you really think you can take me, little one?”

The dwarf yelled in rage and charged at his opponent. The elf shot a blast of energy, but the dwarf blocked it with his iron shield. The elf then used telekinesis to lift the dwarf in the air, and threw it towards Belle, who ducked. Belle attacked overhead with her sword while the other fighter tried to stab him with her dagger. The elf blew a gust of wind from his left palm to deflect Belle’s sword, but failed to defend against the dagger, which planted itself deeply between the elf’s ribs. The elf screamed in agony. He tried to choke the woman with his right hand, but she grabbed it before he could do anything, and pulled out the dagger from his chest. She flipped the dagger to hold it in a reverse grip, and went for his head, but didn’t realise that the elf was charging energy in his left hand. Right as she was about to stab him, he shot a beam of energy through her stomach. She kneeled down with a surprised look on her face; her lifeless body fell on the ground.