A mere, weak human, against a minor avatar of death. A battle with seemingly decided end, even before the fight even started.

  The human is already severely injured from the fight with the avatar's puppet; the lesser regeneration potion he consumed doesn’t change much. His exhaustion, after using such high level skills and his extremely unique - never before seen affinity, is moreover mental, rather than physical. Lesser regeneration potions can not recover that.

  Not to mention that such a low level guy shouldn’t be able to acquire those skills, nor be this capable, especially not if he’s from a newly integrated planet.

  Yet, when the portal closes in front of the man, he does not panic, nor does seem scared, quite the opposite - it seems like something awakened in him at that moment.

  As he walks towards his death, the sword, which he shouldn’t be able to wield with such an ease, dragging along him, his expression starts to change.

  The determined, yet happy face from the enjoyment of the battle fades away. His eyes widen up, the joyful yet determined grin disappears, just to be replaced by a big toothy smile.

  It’s not only his facial expression that changes. His whole presence undergoes a change, leaving the confident and happy stance in the dust and becoming one filled with immense thrill.

  But the scariest about it all is the aura he gives off. Even in his previous state, the aura he was radiating was unexpected, as it was strong and stable, clearly showing off his confidence and danger he can possess.

  But now? His aura surpases the Reapshade with ease, weaving with chaotic energies and giving off the impression of a lunatic demon… which given the state and look of its source might not be that far away from truth.

  When the Reapshade uses his soul magic, which would wipe out the whole city of low leveled people, the little human breaks it apart with his unknown powers like it’s nothing. Not to mention its speed, which could be comparable to that of a bullet.

  His instincts are razor sharp, deciding with a lightning speed if to block or dodge, whether to attack or wait… yet his fighting style is not human-like. He possesses the battle intelligence of someone with hundreds of levels and battles down. That’s if we can assume his actions aren’t fully based on his instincts which is… highly possible by the look of it.

  As the Reapshade deprives him of his hand in exchange, the man does not seem surprised nor rendered incapacitated. No, only his smile became broader and his eyes widened, like if he’s in some kind of ecstasy. His moves sharpens and get even faster, dodging blows and making dangerous stunts, which he has to time perfectly in order to succeed, but he still doesn’t hesitate to put it out.

  He truly looks like some lunatic demon.

  Especially after his successful cut into the Reapshades head and its soul attack. There are blood stains coming from his ears, nose, mouth and even from his bloodshot eyes, which further amplifies the demonic impression.

  With one hand left, he may have lost some finesse with the sword, but he still wields it with such an expertise, rarely seen even in the higher ranks. For a few moments, it looks like those two creatures are even, then the reapshade throws away his torn robe, going into berserk form.

  Would you say, the little demon cares? Not at all; he’s too deep in his madness to consider such things - he just matches the freak.

  The minor avatar of death, against a humanoid lunatic demon singularity. One soul enchanter versus a guy whose physical capabilities on his level are impossible, the same way as the fact he can cut through magic is.

  The reapshade teleporting through the room, leaving behind his misty signatures. He is not able to resist the little guy with his scythe one handed, so he switches tactics, teleporting around the room, sending spells at his enemy head.

  Their speed is remarkable, so much so that an average level 50 person wouldn’t be able to accurately track their moves as they clash around the king's hall. Both basically flying around, sparks fly from the clash of weapons. One teleports, the second one dashes, it’s seemingly an endless play of cat and mouse.

  But the mouse is slowly killing the cat.

  When even the Reapshades berserk state didn't stop the madman, he got one last triumph in his sleeve - direct soul attack…

  …Which might not be the best idea against a lunatic human with a demon-like mind.

  ***

  His implosion-explosion spell hits me again and I’m for the thousand time send into the wall. My bones are already broken in several places, especially my ribs being broken into a lot of pieces.

  I notice it, but it doesn’t slow me down, no. It’s quite the opposite - it drives me further and makes me push harder.

  From the point when I managed to land the head hit, his fighting style had completely changed. He backed up, turning into the mist the moment I got just a bit closer, keeping distance and using his two ranged spells to harm me.

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  Skill issue between us is just too big - I dodge nearly everything.

  Time by time, I still have to cut through some of his, with dead souls infused attacks - like the first one in our battle, but I prefer to dodge it if possible, since every time I infuse my blade with the nullifying affinity, it’s a bit harder. Apparently it seems like I can’t use it infinitely. Everything has its cost.

  The problem is that he’s becoming desperate and starts to combine his two styles. Now I have to not only dodge his ranged spells, but also the scythe itself.

  His favourite thing to do is to leave a few soul infused attacks in the air flying at me and then appear close to me, threatening me with his scythe. This way I have to watch out for the pinky-purple soul slashes and also the Reapshade itself, separately.

  And I’m in that situation again.

  Two soul attacks are flying at me from two different sides, with different timing.

  There’s an implosion-explosion on the place I’ve been standing on, till now. I cover myself with the sword, safely enduring the explosion part.

  Duck low for the first slash, then simultaneously to the duck, dash sideways to dodge a scythe from above.

  I probably shouldn’t, but I surge forward to land a hit, my sword glowing only mildly from the infusion as I’m not able to summon the same power as before. I manage to hit his collar bone before he disappears again - that’s not enough for me, I want his head.

  At this point, every surge feels like putting my brain into the microwave. My body takes it better, but still, I should be already dead from overusing it…

  …Nonetheless, I use it again.

  As the mist starts to reform, I’m already there, but somehow, he predicts that and is already mid swing.

  I jump over the swing, my path clear to surge for his hea-

  I stumble backwards, hardly catching stability with only one hand as the soul slash flies past me.

  It did not harm me, but it gave the reapshade space to prepare for… something I prolly don’t want to know closer.

  I want to dash forward as soon as the soul slash fly past, yet I do not.

  He stands there without the scythe, his hands full of pinky-purple soul magic and his glowing eyes staring right into mine.

  Somehow, it seems amusing to me.

  Like…

  ***

  The two of them clashing in the kings hall, their movements untrackable as their speed is increasing as the battle goes further on.

  The Reapshade, unserious before, is using his full power now, but the human is somehow managing to keep up and even surpass him.

  They’re flying in the hall, back and forward. The moment the Reapshade teleports away, the human is already there pressuring him again, and that’s even without using the body enchantment of his. He’s probably not able to use it anymore, since it must be draining his stamina a lot.

  Yet he does it again, the bleeding from his nose and ears only strengthening.

  He really must be a demon… or have one in his head.

  But the Reapshade, even when taking it seriously, did not use his strongest weapon yet. Until now - he really must be desperate. Such an interesting fenomen, a mere level 14 making level 60 to show his best cards.

  Is he the genius of his little corner in the universe?

  ***

  His gaze went straight into my soul, causing a weird tingling in there. It’s like something is trying to get a grip of my… not even only my soul, but of my whole self.

  Obviously, I don’t like it. Not at all.

  For the first time in our battle, we’re standing still, facing each other. Our fight is taking place in another sphere.

  He’s trying to get control of me, I suppose, but that’s not gonna happen. There’s no way I would let anyone control me. I would rather kill my self than allow it.

  The battle in our minds differs from the one in the real world. His soul is much bigger and I’m not able to attack him there the same way as I can in the real world. It’s more like he wants to wrap his mind around mine, but I’m slick as eel, while my soul is also being strong, which makes it pretty hard for him.

  When we fight like that for a while, it starts to bore me - by this time he should realize, he’ll not be able to take control of me, yet he doesn’t stop trying.

  It’s a weird experience - fighting in my “soul space” instead of with my body, but it takes too much of my focus to battle on boths fronts.

  Still, I have to change something as we are in a stalemate basically. I am not able to harm him this way and he can’t get a grip on me. I need to get the fight back into physical reality. My mind is too occupied to control the body so… I know it sounds weird, but I just order my body to move.

  And it actually moves.

  Although it’s not in full battle capability, I am able to raise my sword to try to get a cut in the Reapshade.

  The pressure on my soul lessens as he has to block my swing, but then he gets back to attacking my soul, this time not to control it. He wants to destroy it now.

  I dense my soul into a small hardened almost marble, leaving my conscious mind with that manner and my physical body in the hands of the unconscious one.

  He either lets my soul be, or die. There’s no other option for him. He may have an upperhand in the soul fight, but he’s not able to face my body while also putting meaningful pressure on my soul.

  The soul aspect of the fight is a bit different from the physical one. There seems to be a quality and quantity aspect of it. Basically, what he is trying to do is either break into my soul, or to completely surround it with his. I would guess that if he gets his soul around mine, I would fall under his control. What happens when he breaks through should be clear enough.

  That won’t happen though, as I turn my soul into a small dense hardened piece.

  Yes, it might make my soul easier to be catched into his control, yet I do not fear that. My soul in that state seems to be very elusive and nimble, thus it’s relatively easy for me to escape his attempts to catch me.

  So the fight in my head is more like a play on mouse and cat, while the one in a physical sphere is something to keep an eye on.

  In this state of fighting on two fronts, none of us is able to use any skills, which makes the battle even more interesting and fun.

  We’re both fighting with our own bodies without excessive bullshit, such as long distance slashes and teleportation. Which means I’m winning.

  My body instinctively moves by itself so well that I can use most of my focus to keep my soul safe.

  There’s no possibility for me to harm his soul - I simply don’t know how, it’s not as easy as swinging a sword… So I just swing the sword at him.

  The pressure lessens, yet it’s not like I can leave it undefended. With one half of my conscious mind I’m pressuring the Reapshade with the sword, while the other one is escaping his soul attacks.

  I don’t like fighting with my soul - it’s boring.

  So I simply stop doing it. Releasing my soul from the small marble I made it into.

  It expands into its fullest, and the Reapshade starts to scream.