Rowe spun around a fiery pierce from Ferlyne and gave a double slash to his side. Ferlyne fell into a roll and came up with his rapier pointed directly at Rowe.
“You know, I have to thank you all. Thanks to your wind and fire adept duo taking out Jowl, I’m now the 3rd most powerful commander of my army!” Ferlyne said, giving two quick jabs and then going into a full around spin, causing strings of fire to spread off his rapier.
Rowe laughed as he blocked the two jabs and moved aside of the spin. “What army?” he demanded, pointing with one of his katanas to the diminishing Bladenheart numbers.
“You don’t understand, our numbers can grow once again. Once we’re done with you we’ll take on the whole region of Liteo!” Ferlyne declared.
“Yeah…if you take us out, then you’ll have the entire Altem Tier Army against you. We’re but two small squads,” Rowe countered, crossing his katanas in a quick double slash.
Ferlyne halted the blades with his rapier. “With the Adept’s Stone we can take on anything!”
“Then why haven’t you beaten us yet? Where’s your precious Adept’s Stone? Are you sure it’s not just a fake little toy your leader made to make you think he had immense power?” Rowe replied, pulling back his katanas and swinging them in one by one.
“You fool…the Adept’s Stone is real. How do you think all of these soldiers are so powerful? The stone is real, and so isn’t its awesome power,” Ferlyne assured, parrying the attacks.
“Alright alright…so like I asked before, why haven’t you beaten us yet? How come it looks like we’re the ones winning?” Rowe asked.
Ferlyne glared at Rowe without an answer and pushed forward with a heavy thrust. Rowe moved with the thrust and trapped the rapier between his two katanas, dragging it back with him. As Ferlyne was overextended, Rowe spun back around swinging both of his blades at once with a burst of wind that knocked the fire adept back and off his feet. Rowe repeated the move, swinging in the opposite direction this time, sending Ferlyne flying backwards. Just as the fire adept regained his footing, Rowe did a third and finally strike, slamming his katanas straight into the ground before him. A vortex of wind rushed across the ground, stirring up dirt, and hit Ferlyne, sending him flying straight up into the air. Rowe then sent his katanas spinning in the air above him and created a large ball of electricity in his hands, which he instantly launched up at Ferlyne, gusts of wind rushing off his body as he did so. Ferlyne drew a circle of fire in the air in front of him with his rapier. The circle was instantly filled with fire, and a jab from Ferlyne’s rapier sent the wall falling down on the ball of electricity. The wall wrapped around the sphere and constricted it until the two simply exploded. Rowe looked up into the explosion just in time to see hundreds of arrows of fire falling down on him. He caught his katanas and swept them low to his sides. He stamped his right foot forward and let out a shout. A dome-like shield of wind began to swirl around him, detouring all of the arrows into spinning around him, burning a ring in the ground.
When the barrage was done, Ferlyne landed on the ground in a roll and got up to his feet gracefully. Rowe closed his shield and readied his katanas. Ferlyne grinned and raised one hand. Suddenly the fire ring around Rowe began to rise, and the wind adept could feel the fire under him about to fountain up. He leaped backwards and curled up, going through the wall of fire behind him and hit the ground rolling and patting the fire out. The pillar of fire shot out above the walls of fire surrounding it, and Rowe knew for certain he would have been gone.
Rowe waved his hand just before picking up his katana, pushing the pillar lop-sided. He leaped up and flew over the pillar to come crashing down on Ferlyne with both of his katanas glimmering with electricity. Ferlyne leaped back, but Rowe landed on the ground and created a quake of electricity. A few bolts managed to nip Ferlyne’s foot, and suddenly all the energy that had been given off by Rowe leaped up into Ferlyne’s entire body. He hit the ground twitched and jerking, his rapier left abandoned nearby. Rowe quickly kicked the rapier away and held both of his katanas to Ferlyne’s throat.
“Looks like I win…” Rowe said confidently.
“Or you made…a big mistake…” Ferlyne stuttered, still twitching from the electricity. He gained enough control in his legs to wrap them around one of Rowe’s legs. A quick twist sent the wind adept falling to the ground. Ferlyne leaped to his feet and retrieved his rapier. He held the weapon back and then lunged forward with all his might. Rowe rolled over to cross both of his katanas in a guard against the rapier. The point of the rapier drew closer, nearly touching Rowe’s chest.
He could feel the heat of it boiling inside the blade. Desperately, he let the blade nick his chest, and kicked at Ferlyne’s open elbow, setting the fire adept off balance and causing him to simply cut a thin line across Rowe’s chest. The wind adept was quick to his feet and stomped on Ferlyne’s rapier hand. As he pinned the weapon down he raised his right katana for a quick decapitation. Ferlyne raised his free hand and let out a small, somewhat harmless puff of fire, enough to send the wind adept stumbling backwards. He took this opportunity to roll to his feet and gain his distance.
“Touché, wind adept…you proved to be quite the match,” Ferlyne said with a grin. He raised his hand as Rowe advanced forward and a large explosion of fire energy sent the wind adept flying backwards.
Rowe hit the ground in a roll and patted out the fires again. As he got up and looked to where Ferlyne once was, he found no one. He got to his feet and looked around for any sign of the man, but the fire adept was nowhere to be found. Rowe let out a sigh and dropped both of his katanas. He fell to one knee and covered the cut on his chest with his left hand.
“So…we have Omurai to thank for the loss of heart in the Bladenheart troops…” Rowe said quietly to himself. “I wonder if he’s still the same man he was during the time he left? Oh well, this battle is ours. It’s all up to those strange adventurers now…” He reached for his katanas and rose to his feet. He saw that the rest of the Bladenheart soldiers had already been taken care of.
“The day is ours, sir! We’ve taken the fields of Tier Bastion!” a soldier declared, other joining in his cheer.
“A good job, men! Now it is our duty to play witness to the fall of Tier Bastion and the retrieval of the Adept’s Stone. Let us pray that those young adventurers succeed!” Rowe replied, raising a katana up into the air.
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