Rise Of Steele

Arrival 1

Clank!

Sparks flew as the hard metallic boots clashed with the sword made from an unbreakable substance.

Reginald was breathing excessively as he gazes upon his opponent who was also trying to catch his breath.

They have been attacking and canceling each other's attack for ten minutes now with neither side taking any hit.

Neither has taken damage but they were both exhausted.

For one, both of them couldn't use aura techniques which can only be used by individuals with massive ain reserves.

They focused on using doping to boost their physical abilities past the human limit thus putting a lot of strain on their bodies.

What's more, the two were both overlapping their doping with the power of their relics.

The boots of Hermes which grant near-lightspeed powers and the Hat of Lupin, which copies the abilities of relics which in this case, was copying the powers of the boots. Transforming into an identical pair of boots.

'The effect of combining two speed buffs is amazing. Demon spawn kept up with this guy for so long in his weakened state?'

Reginald seems to have developed an even more profound feeling of respect towards his Captain.

Reginald might have been holding his own for so long now but, there was a limit to how well he could use someone else's relic.

It was showcased when he used his relic's transformation ability to turn into Ace so he could trick Rada Khan.

He used snatch steal then and tried using Killswitch which was easily canceled out by Rada Khan.

Kill switch was a technique that gets stronger the more aura that's poured into it.

Reginald's kill switch was weak because he couldn't manipulate aura like Ace. And even if he did, he wouldn't be able to exert enough explosive force to pose a threat to the opponent.

This is the type of moves that snatch steal can never perfectly recreate.

However, it is still an incredible feat of mental fortitude for Reginald to have been able to use Chase's relic which resulted in the latter panicking and getting pissed.

'How could he use my relic so masterfully the first time when it took me years to reach where I am with it now?'

Reginald was simply gifted with a natural talent for using relics.

It was true that snatch steal cannot exert a hundred percent of the original relic's powers. But not a lot of people could use the Hat as Reginald could.

It was one of the perks of being a thief. The ability to quickly adapt to most situations.

They were both evenly matched, but it won't be long before the scales tip to one side.

It was simply a contest of stamina now.

Who would fumble at a crucial moment?

Who would get tired first?

Who would run out of ain first?

Clank! Clank! Clank!

The two had the same thought as they continued to block and avoid each other's attacks creating more sparks and flashes.

"If I make one wrong move, it's over."

Meanwhile, another heated duel was taking place in another section of the mansion.

In the long and dark hallways of the creepy mansion, two archers were sending streams of arrows at their opponents.

Golden colored arrows coated with aura colliding with silver-colored also arrows coated with aura.

This is an advanced ain technique of controlling aura by channeling the aura from the body to the item the user touches in order to boost its power by bounds.

"Sun purge!"

"Purifier!"

The two fired stronger arrows at each other.

They kept sending streams of regular arrows while matching themselves whenever one fires a much powerful arrow.

What might look like two archers firing multiple arrows at each other was actually a game of psyche.

Whenever Conroy fires sun purge, his opponent will counter with a purifier, and vice-versa.

This was how two blazing arrows of different colors shot from separate sides kept colliding with a mild explosion.

"You're a pretty good archer."

The female archer commends her opponent. Adrenaline rushes through her system over the excitement of this heated confrontation.

Conroy also had a broad smile on his face as they kept firing at one another.

The art of archery takes precision, focus, and on-time thinking.

These two were canceling each other's attacks waiting for the other to make one wrong move.

They weren't just throwing their signature moves at random.

They would first send streams of regular arrows and aura-enhanced arrows while sending their more powerful arrows at the back.

They did this while running around the room to evade attacks that they couldn't block out in time.

The scorching arrows of the two gods from different religions ended up colliding once again.

These two were going all out as they both saw it as an opportunity to truly test out their archery skills which they both honed in their own ways.

"It's time we kick things up a notch don't you think?"

She closes her eyes and began chanting a mantra, soon afterward strange markings appeared all over her body.

Conroy started sweating bullets as he developed an uneasy feeling.

"The ain in our surroundings... She's absorbing it."

Like a cornered wild animal, he gave in to his instincts and quickly shot an arrow at the idle opponent.

As the arrow flies towards her, it disintegrated completely before it could even reach her.

"Mantra point!"

She declared as she opens her eyes. The once black-colored iris were painted green and yellow.

In ancient times, individuals were said to obtain a boost of power or boon from Hindu gods upon chanting a series of coded words. This was the mantra.

This was another advanced ain technique that only those who could speak and understand the wordings can use.

"Tsk. My arrow was completely nullified! "

"Anyone in the possession of a Hindu relic can easily use mantra, hee hee. Think of it as a bonus package."

She aimed and fired a single regular arrow.

He could feel it in the split second that she shot the arrow, it was even more powerful than her purifier from earlier. Meaning there's a huge chance that even sun purge could be rendered useless.

He tightened the grip on his bow putting a stop to his shaking as he took aim and fired sun purge.

He quickly used his dexterity as an archer and fired another sun purge aiming at the back of the previous shot arrow.

The first arrow collided with her silver arrow and dissolved completely and just a few meters behind, the second arrow completely disintegrated the silver arrow as it flies towards his opponent only to once again fade out before it could get near her.

Things have taken a bad turn for Conroy.

He has been continuously firing sun purge after sun purge only for them to be effortlessly destroyed either by her arrows, or the power of her mantra which has created an invisible barrier that weakens all projectiles coming her way.

"I'm running out of ain."

That was the case. It takes a considerable amount of ain to fire a single sun purge but Conroy had been sending streams of sun purge continuously for over twenty minutes now and the current battle situation hasn't changed one bit.

What's worse, his opponent seems to be only absorbing more ain from their surroundings while toying with him by using basic shots.

"That's it!"

Conroy's face lit up as he aims once again at his opponent.

'I know how to beat you now.'

In the security room of the mansion. The seated figure was watching the clips of four areas of the mansion each with one of her teammates squaring off against the invaders.

"Took you long enough."

She turned around to meet the ferocious gaze of the ex-assassin as he summons his shadow daggers.

"I take it you're Rhea?"

She got up from her seat and summoned a black and red colored scythe.

"The one and only, I was getting bored watching all the exciting fights that were going on. Especially the one with what's his name, uhm. Aha! Vorus and my dearest brother, Falkner."

She finishes as ace takes a glance at the screens behind her.

'Guys...'

They were all fighting with their all.

Rohan was just about to enter a room where his opponent Jack had been waiting.

Vorus had already begun his clash with Falkner.

Reginald was still blitzing around the room as he exchanges blows with Chase.

Conroy was being pushed behind a corner but seems to have a confident look on his face.

Ace has known most of them for a while now and he knows just how capable they are.

'I'm glad I have them as a squad.'

He points his blade at his opponent.

"I made a promise to save Radakar. And I plan on keeping my word to the end."

"Hahahah, to think that Rohan will actually seek the aid "Kill switch!"

The familiar attack created a huge explosion that crumbled a section of the walls of the room they wer

As the dust settles, the battered red-haired man was shown getting back up panting hea

"Huff. Huff. H-how could you hit

He was surprised over the fact that Ace had managed to trap him even though he was moving a couple of times faster than the speed of l

"I wasn't just using my relics' power, I combined it with doping,but you still managed to strike

Doping is one of the three basic techniques in using

As the name suggests, the user channels their ain and has it passing through their veins resulting in massive boosts in physical abilitie

It's the opposite of aura which has the user exerting their ain outw

He was using doping together with his boots of Hermes relic to maximize the speed he can reach thus no one could keep up with his s

His eyes lit up as he disappears a

Back in the security room.

"It seems like Chase is getting seri

"It's about time that shorty ends this fight

"I'll be lying if I say that I'm not disappointed over the fact that the famed leader of Aegis was a blunder

So were the comments of the three figures watching the battle between Ace and Chas

'Tsk, I don't have enough ain to keep up with him anymore

It was true, prior to this fight, Ace had used up all of his ain in fighting Roha

It takes at least a day to recover that much amount of energy while resting but Ace seemed to have jumped from one action-packed battle to the other without much time to rest and recover his

At the start of this battle, he only had about thirty percent of his usual ain thus he couldn't use techniques like his shadow stealth technique which would have granted him enough speed to keep up with his oppo

Of course to his opponent, and the spectators in the security room, Ace was struggling to keep up with Chas

The red-haired speedster once again burst into his maniacal laughter as he kept dashing around the room readying a final attack that will knock Ace ou

"You've already taken a considerable amount of damage, this last attack should be enough. Blitz X Fury

He began running around the roo

His boots glowed red from all the heat he has generated using friction as he charges at Ace with a flying kick only for the latter to disappea

Chase couldn't stop his momentum as he crashes into the wall creating a man-sized hol

"I leave you alone for five minutes and you go around getting your ass handed to you by a scrawny-looking bastard with a terrible taste for kicks

"Regi

"What just happe

The speedster asks no one in particular as he gets back up while dusting off his body only to be met by the sight of Reginald carrying Ac

"Hey! I had him where I wanted and I would've beaten him with my secret technique had you not gotten in the way

"Oh-ho, is that the way you thank your savior? Have him where you want? Where's that? Your face

Ace gets off as they continued arguin

"I told you, I was just about to end this

"Yeah yeah whatever helps you sleep at night

"Jerk

"Douche

"Asshole

Chase's head shifts left and right as he nonchalantly watches the two argue like childre

"Pff! If you think it's so easy, why don't you take him out then

Ace says as he points at the red-haired tee

"I'll do you one better! I'll take him out with a single attack

"Fine

Ace starts to walk towards the exit after slightly punching the shoulder of his teammat

"Don't lose to that short

'Phew! Took you guys long enough to make it

The both of them smi

"Ay ay. Captain

And then it was two agai

Chase was shaking in frustration, he couldn't help the feeling that the duo was mocking hi

"Hey! What chance do you possibly have in taking me on if your captain could barely lay a hand on me

Reginald smiles as he draws his swor

"You really think you were pushing that bastard to the brink? Hahaha. He has exhausted all of his energy taking on Rohan Khan. You know, the strongest swordsman in your Region

Reginald's declaration sparked a mix of reactions from Chase and the others that we're keeping tabs on the figh

"Lexi, Falkner, why don't you two join the party? It seems that we are having more guests

The figure seated at the security room said to the two standing behind her as they walked out of the roo

Chase's rage only seemed to grow as he channels a lot of his ain into his r

"That's right, our captain was only toying with you because he didn't want to exhaust his remaining ain for the fights ahead. I'll say he had about way less than half of his usual ain when he started fighting you

The figure seated in the security room had a malicious smile on his face following this revelatio

"Enough! I refuse to stand here and let you mock me. I'll take you out with this one strike and go after your captain so we can settle things with him

Ironically, Reginald lets out his own maniacal laughter. He was like the villain her

"You don't get it, do you

His facial expression took a complete 180 as he took a stance with his swor

"That's alright, you'll understand once I mop the floor with your face. Snatch steal

Immediately as he finished, his hat disappears and a pair of boots similar to that of the speedster replace the boots he was wearin

"What the!

Chase plopped at the ground upon seeing a copy of his reli

"This is my relic's ability. It allows me to copy the ability of any relic and use it as if it was mine

That w*s how Reginald w*s fast enough to intercept Chase's attack from earlier on and managed to get Ace out of harm's w*

"Tsk, this changes nothing, my boots are fast but only with speed doping can they truly become fast

"What!?" Reginald exclaims as he grabs the side of his fac

"Haha well, it's good that I can use speed doping." He said with a wide grin on his face mocking his opponen

"Tsk

Reginald had spent a week learning from Shuntal, the man who tutored Ace's fathe

He learned about the three basic ain techniques. Aura, senses, and doping. After hours of intense training and trial, he figured out how to use speed doping efficientl

"I have to admit though, using your relic's speed and speed doping together to maximize your speed ain't bad at all..

He smirks as he continue

"For a scrawny and scared little boy that is

He could see the face of his opponent turning red with rage and embarrassment. How many times has he been mocked since Reginald came? He can't keep coun

"Get ready for a world of hurt

Meanwhile, Ace was running through the halls of the mansion searching door to door for Rada 

"Sir Ace! Look out

Ace turned around after hearing a familiar voice call out to him. His senses spiked as he swiftly jumps out of harm's way barely dodging an arrow that came from the opposite directio

Conroy quickly summoned his bow and shot the flying arrow mid-air causing a mild explosio

"Conroy

Ace runs up to the archer as they face the same direction waiting for the person that shot the arrow from the darkness to emerg

Lo and behold, it was a tall young woman strapped with an odd-shaped bo

"Pretty..

Conroy said to no one in particular as he admires the woman's beauty and bold appearanc

She chuckles and takes aim. Conroy followed sui

"Sir Ace, go on now. I'll take care of this one. Sir Vorus is in the room behind you fighting one of them, our Captain should be the one to take out their Captain. That's just how it should be

Ace smiled upon seeing the resolve of the archer. Conroy was shaking excessively in fear but chose to stay and fight. Probably because he thinks Ace would serve his head on a silver platter if he runs out on them agai

"Bravery is acting up even in the face of danger, it's okay to be afraid Conroy, I'll leave her to you

He pats his back and walks 

"Hold on pretty boy, you are going nowhere

She shoots multiple arrows at Ace only for them to be canceled out by Conroy's arro

"My apologies milady, but I shall be your opponent. Sun purge

He fires his signature blazing arrow at he

"Tsk, whatever, Rhea will take care of him eventually. I'll play with you for now. Purifier

She fires an arrow covered with white flames which collides with Conroy's arrow resulting in a major explosio

'That bow of hers

"You seem to have noticed it haven't you? Heehee even amongst the famous bow relics this one was said to belong to the greatest archer to ever wield a  

"Enough chit-chat. Let's do this thing!"

The ex-assassin tightened the grip on his daggers and charges at the grim reaper.

The heated battles between the two clans rages on with

neither side backing down.