The Fractured Mage

Chapter 17 - Progress Check(Part 1)

"Okay, one round with you only using martial arts, and then one round with you going all out. Fair warning, I won't just be playing defense this time, I will attack and counter," Ifeus informed me.

"Fine by me," I replied with a nod.

"You can do it, To! Kick his ass!" Called out Lilac with a grin, waving at me.

Both her and Iris were seated on the stairs, watching this. I could do without the audience, but I highly doubt they'd leave just because I told them to.

"Wha-...hey, come on, you're going to hurt your dear old dad's feelings, Li," Responded Ifeus with a wistful sigh.

"If I'm being honest, I'm rooting for Topaz too...I did train him for quite a while, so he's kinda my student. It'd be nice to see him give you a run for your money, at the very least," Chimed in Iris with a smirk.

"Well, now, looks like I'm gonna have to take this seriously. Nothing personal, kid...but I gotta look cool for my daughters!" He declared as he met my gaze.

"Yeah, nothing you just said was anywhere near even remotely cool. Go on then, Apex Mage, take a fight against a fourteen year old newbie seriously. Beat the crap out of me, that's totally gonna make you look cool," I taunted him in response.

"Crap, good point...ah, whatever, I'll just go with the flow. Whenever you're ready, feel free to attack," He replied, getting into a stance as he gestured at me to come at him.

"Alright, then...here I come," I muttered, as I shot forward at top speed.

"Oh, you've gotten faster," He remarked with a raised eyebrow, before evading as I closed in on him and drove a sharp punch towards him with my left fist.

As he dodged my fist by jumping off to his right, I swiftly shifted the position of my right foot, adjusting my center of balance as I halted my punch and bent my arm, before rapidly swinging my elbow out towards his chest.

He quickly sprang back in response, my elbow starting to thud into his chest before he leapt out of my reach, before the full force of my strike could hit him.

I then used the momentum to shuffle my feet across, turning my body to face the direction he was in while maintaining my balance, before zipping towards him as he landed.

I leapt towards him as his feet hit the ground, intending to close in on him before he could fully regain his balance, but he's hardly off-balance at all...I suppose that's only natural, with him being an Apex Mage, his physical condition is far superior to mine.

He's definitely not going all out, he hasn't used any Magic yet for one thing. And with me only using martial arts, I wouldn't be able to even come close to landing a strike if that was the case. Well, either way, I have no choice but to attack as aggressively and proactively as I can, I won't get anywhere if I go on the defensive instead.

He planted his feet as I closed in on him, deflecting my right fist with his left hand as I drove a punch towards him, before I wildly swung my left fist at him. He swiftly halted the swing of my arm by grabbing hold of my forearm, tightening his grip around it.

"Come on, you can do a lot better than that, that last attack was just-...," He began, before abruptly trailing off as I grabbed both his wrists with my hands, sharply twisting my left arm to weaken his grip over it and give myself the opportunity to grab his right wrist...good thing he grabbed my left forearm instead of my wrist, that gave me just enough leverage and flexibility to grab his right wrist when I twisted my left arm, but I think I might've tweaked something in my forearm, there's a sharp pain around the middle of it...

"I've got you now!" I exclaimed as I sprang up and rapidly drove my right knee towards his chest as fast as I could, while tightening my grip on his wrists as sharply as I could, doing my best to ignore the twinging pain in my left forearm.

Him being an Apex Mage, I can't possibly hope to match him in terms of brute strength, but that's fine...I just needed to create a wide enough opening to exploit and make use of to land a hit!

"[Spatial Art: Telekinetic Shockwave]!" He rapidly chanted in alarm, a powerful shockwave bursting out from him right as my knee made contact with and began to drive into his chest, before I was abruptly sent flying back with immense force.

Th-this is bad...!

As my back slammed onto a wall painfully, I let out a sharp gasp as intense waves of pain burst out across my back, before collapsing onto my hands and knees as I uttered a weak groan.

Damn it, he chanted so quickly, I didn't even think it was humanly possible to speak so fast. And that chant was, like, ten syllables, but he didn't even stutter slightly.

Feel like I'd only be able to blurt out gibberish if I tried to chant so quickly...well, not that I need to, since I can use chantless casting.

O-on a more immediately relevant note, I-I'm...I'm in so much pain right now...

"O-oh, crap, that might've been a bit too-...u-uh, you okay over there, Topaz?" Inquired Ifeus nervously, walking over as he gingerly rubbed the spot on his chest my knee had collided with.

"Definitely...n-not...okay...," I muttered in pain, unable to stand up.

"What the hell, dad!? That was way overkill!" Frowned Lilac indignantly, rushing over towards me with a vial in hand, before kneeling down beside me with a worried look on her face as she opened the vial, "Here, it's a Healing Elixir, To, drink up."

"Thanks, appreciate it...," I replied gratefully, opening my mouth before she poured the Elixir in.

I gulped it down, a trickle of the liquid running down the corner of my mouth as I let out a strained sigh of relief, the pain rapidly fading as my injuries healed.

"Sorry about that, I panicked a bit and reacted on instinct back there. That was a good move...using a seemingly clumsy attack to create an opening. You almost landed the full brunt of that knee strike too, well done," Remarked Ifeus in approval, as he helped me up.

A few compliments aren't gonna be enough to make me forget that he hit me with an Apex Tier Art, even if it wasn't at full blast...

"I really wanna punch you in the face right now..."

"A-anyway, uh...let's take a five minute break and move on to the second round, shall we?"