The Watch – Part 130:

I requested we go somewhere away from my friends on the condition that he does get the fight he wants, and he agreed. I had teleported us both into the middle of nowhere so he cannot hurt anyone else. We are now standing on the world’s largest salt plain. I figured here would be a good enough spot. You can’t get any more in the middle of nowhere than here. I sacrificed my strength and my speed. I am now just a normal human being again in terms of physical attributes, but I added something that wasn’t human at all. I now have magic running through my system, and it is that which is keeping me upright and stopping me from falling to the floor.

He looked at me in the eyes, knowing that I’ve got my determination back, and he’s smiling, ready to take what he believes is rightfully his. He’s never going to get my watch.

‘Let’s duel.’ He said. He started the first move.

The events that followed; I may never figure out how I was able to be so precise with defending myself and launching counterattacks. During our fight, I demonstrated skills that I never thought I had. Maybe it was the incredible amount of adrenaline pumping through my body, making all the right decisions for me and helping me react accordingly. Maybe I had a natural ability to fight already inside me. Maybe I just didn't want to lose.

He sped towards me at a blistering speed, but I was prepared. I had the ability to teleport out of the way, and so I disappeared, only to reappear behind him, and tap him on the back with my fist that was alight with white flames. He yelled out in pain as they burned his skin, but he quickly sidestepped out of the way, turned around, swung his staff over his head and brought it down, aiming for my head. I ducked. I could feel the wind ruffle my hair as it missed me by inches, but he wasn’t going to let me take the advantage, and he raised his knee up, smacking me in the nose. I stumbled backwards, but never falling down, recovering quickly.

‘That’s what I’m talking about,’ he said pleased, smiling sickly. I couldn’t believe that I was going along with what he wants, but it’s the only way I know for sure that he’s going down, and considering he has a strong belief that he has already won before it even begun, that blindness will help me in some way.

He kicked off the ground, flying towards me with his staff in his hand, ready to hit me across the face. His speed wasn’t that impressive so I readied myself to perform a counterattack. Unfortunately for me, it was all a setup. He disappeared just before I could do anything. The next thing I knew, he was playing my cards against him and appeared behind me, and because I was in the middle of a manoeuvre, I couldn’t turn around and prevent him from shooting me with a beam of purple light, sending me flying forwards.

I was toppling head over heels through the air, nearing the ground fast, but luckily, I was able to figure out which way was up and position my body so that I landed on my feet. I hit the floor hard, but I softened the blow by bending my knees. I lifted my head and saw that he was already in the middle of another attack, hoping that I was in no position to stop it, but I had my own light source up my sleeve. Lifting my hands up, I shot a beam of white energy towards his chest. He wasn’t expecting it, but his reaction time was good enough to prevent him from getting hit. Instead, it hit his staff and split into two beams where they continued onwards, hitting the ground and creating small craters in the salt. He spun his staff around in his hands until a shield made of wind stood in the way of my beam of light and him.

I stopped my attack, but little did I know that he was expecting me to do just that and immediately fired his wind attack in my direction. Those couple of seconds allowed him to charge up his attack and so when the wind hit, it lifted me off the ground. Once again, I flew in the air, but I had experience and so gained control quicker. Whilst in the air, I fired my beams of white light in his direction and they were successful. They hit his chest. He skidded along the salt until there was enough clumped up behind him that he came to a natural stop. I landed, softly this time. We were a few metres away, meaning any charging attack would be easily avoided, meaning there was only one attack he could do. As expected, he teleported behind me in the attempt to catch me off guard, but I swung round and punched him in the chest with all of my ordinary strength. He didn’t move anywhere, but that was OK; I knew exactly what I was doing.

White flames engulfed my fists. I increased their magnitude by as much as I could go. Before he could bring his staff around and knock me back, I released the built up energy and he was the one flying backwards. He righted himself in seconds, and he increased his terminal velocity as he dropped like onto the salt, slamming the end of the staff into the ground. Dense purple energy shot in every direction, engulfing me. It was the strongest I’ve ever felt before, but I stood my ground, never given in, never given up, never letting him get the better of me. Instead, I unleashed my own energy, countering his, and soon the air was clean once more, but not for long. Bringing my two fists around, they collided in front of me. A shockwave was formed. Solid and moving fast, he didn’t have the time to react and soon he was battling against my own magic. Whilst he was struggling with my force field, I unleashed another, and another, and another. That amount of energy concentrated in one spot, was too much for even he fell over backwards. Finally, after too long, he was on the ground.

I didn’t want to let him get back up, but I found myself waiting until he did.

‘Congratulations,’ he said. ‘I knew you had it in you. A fight that is worth my time.’

‘Why was he complimenting me? Is he generally enjoying this? That would be another indication that he is completely insane. The sooner he can leave, the better. He stood up.

‘You have just proved that you are capable of holding your own, and for that I am pleased. You have shown me that you can use that watch well, but I have to say that you are nowhere close to mastering it.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)