Headed by a Snake

Chapter 556 Signature Spell

?"Ahhhhh!" Pale scrambled back towards Maximus with an acceptably loud warcry.

Tycondrius gave him full marks for the effort.

The boy used a variety of attacks-- all with a pathetic face. He even hopped backward, utilizing his ?Misty Step? movement skill, trying to be clever.

The point of his spear sparked against Maximus' shield, "I have something to prove too!"

Keeping calm, Maximus countered with a flurry of stabs, "I doubt your Tactician gives a shite about you, boy."

...That was a rather unfair assumption.

"Well, besides that," Pale bit his lip. "I have to win to make my dad proud!"

"Then you'll have to do better than THAT!"

Exhaling loudly, Maximus slammed his shield into Pale's abdomen.

"Hrk," The boy staggered back from the shock-- his armor was made of Arcanite, so the impact should have been greatly diminished.

He still had his reflexes about him, so he rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a cut to the neck.

Pale rebounded upward, spinning his spear and smashing the haft solidly into Maximus' thigh.

The dovahkiin buckled, grunting in pain-- but he swiped his shield-arm at the boy's face.

Pale managed to block, but the force again launched him across the arena sands.

Tycon was disappointed. The boy consistently fought threats that were larger than him --and Maximus was only a head or two taller than most humans. Why was he being bullied?

The boy tumbled until plopping onto his back, only a few fulms away from Tycon. He spent a dazed moment blinking his eyes before flipping back onto his feet.

"What are you doing, young man?" Tycon frowned.

"Losing..." Pale whimpered.

Tycon rolled his eyes, "Right. I'll be more specific: why aren't you using your offensive Skills?"

"Wait, what?" Pale looked back with wide eyes. "Am I allowed to?"

"You already used a movement technique. Maximus threw a thrice-damned lightning bolt at me," Tycon groaned. "Yes! Yes, you can use your Skills!"

Pale tensed up, pointing his spear offensively towards his opponent, "Got it!!! I'll use them!"

Tycon crossed his arms... "You don't... need to inform me of the fact. Just-- just go."

Pale hesitated... and slowly turned to face him again, "I um... I don't have any Skills to get past his shield."

"Yes, you do."

"I do?" Pale blinked, "OH! I do!!"

"GO!" Tycon commanded, quite annoyed.

There was something... off about how the boy had been fighting.

If it was due to the pressure, that did not bode well for him. Fifty thousand coliseum goers watched him fight... but none of them were real. How would he fare when the fate of the Realm was at stake?

Pale straightened his back and dashed off, leaving a cone-shaped depression in the sand.

...

Training.

This was just training.

Pale didn't need to be scared.

Maximus was really scary-- but not during training? He shouldn't be?

Pale put mana into his legs and leapt up high into the sky, "?Legionbreaker!!!?"

He focused more mana into the tip of his spear, forming a glowing white, extra-sharp tip! His arms felt strong and powerful-- and he jammed his weapon forward. It went into Maximus' shield with a loud crack... and the metal split open!

He did it! He defeated Maximus' shield!

Pale landed onto the sand, drawing his spear back.

"You broke my shield," Maximus sighed, unstrapping it and tossing it away.

"I did!" Pale grinned, "You can't defend yourself now!"

Maximus twirled his spear, spinning it from hand to hand.

And then... Pale realized that it was... a full-length spear. It was even longer than his... and was topped with a scarier blade. Boss Tycon would classify it as a warspear...

He glanced back to his boss... but he was crossing his arms and frowning.

...That meant... no more advice.

Pale puffed out his chest, trying to fake his bravery, "S-so you can still defend yourself."

"I can," Maximus nodded.

He cracked his neck to the left and right before again flourishing his spear to the cheers of the crowd.

Pale felt cold sweat drip down his helmeted forehead and down his back...

"But... I'm... I'm better at spear techniques than you!" He yelped. "My name is Pale! Spear Warrior of Sol Invictus!!"

This was the pride of his guild! Each and every one of their members was the best at what they did!

He wasn't 100% certain if he was a better spear-user than Maximus... but it would make sense if he did! His class was Spear Hero! And it came from Spear Warrior! It had 'spear' in the name! It meant he was automatically better at spear-ing!

"And my name..." Maximus retracted a fist... and it began to spark with bluish energy, "is ?Maximus?."

Oh... Pale felt very stupid for forgetting what Mister Maximus was best at.

When he thrust his open palm forward, a crazy-strong bolt of lightning came out of it.

Pale quickly sheathed his weapon with mana and spiraled his spear in front of him, dissipating the energy, then redirecting it to shoot into the sky. He lost feeling in his hands and his arms had a weird... tingle. He couldn't let go of his spear-- but that was good. He'd be beaten if he dropped it.

Maximus hadn't put his hand down, though...

Pale didn't like that... he didn't like that at all, "Can... can we... just fight with weapons, please? Sir?"

Mister Maximus' face didn't change.

"?Maximus!?"

Pale hopped to the side, dodging the electric arc. The sand where it struck turned into weird white rocks. It was really interesting and he wanted to take a look, but--

"?Maximus!!!?"

Pale spun his spear, deflecting another bolt away.

"?MAXIMUS!!!!!!?"

"Staaaaahhhhpp!!!" Pale cried, hopping away and rolling. Hopping away and rolling...

He couldn't dodge forever! he had to force Mister Maximus back into close-combat. He turned quickly-- it hurt his ankle a little bit, but he chose to ignore it.

Mana circulated through his body, focused on his legs. He couldn't refine it well, so the execution was really bad, but the speed was what he needed.

He ran... he ran so fast that-- not just his legs, but his entire body hurt.

Screaming at the top of his lungs, he reared his spear back, ready to thrust it forward, "Shadowfang Str--"