"Power. This word alone carried more weight than the Earth's populace truly imagined. Lust for Power was the sole reason many things happened the way they did. Many lives were lost, happiness turned into sorrow, relationships severed. All for a chance at Power. It is mankind's greatest folly that they rely on their precious science and cast away the very being that created them. They believe that their science disproves the existence of a higher being, when in fact it only makes the existence of a higher being that much more likely. As time passes, the human race will continue to push themselves away from Adonai, so that they can have a chance at even greater power. It is despite this folly that Adonai, in His eternal grace, continues to guide His children, even the ones too blind to realize it. Indeed, even the worst of humankind will be offered redemption, will be offered a spot in His realm. I tell you the truth, for this is The Way of the World."
- Saint Corona Starfire (Eternal Legend: The Way of the World)
—
How could this have happened? Only days had passed since his arrival on this world, and already he had met a foe stronger than he could handle. This wasn't something he had expected to arise so early on, before he had even begun to make progress. But it was the simple truth that his body was now on the verge of death, and there was an estimated 86.8963 percent chance that the boy known as Alistair Fordren would never be seen on this world again. By anyone. If anyone was even still alive, that is. A few years from now? The world may be entirely consumed. All because of one situation that he knew he should have avoided.
His burning body slid from the trunk of the tree onto the ground. He heard the cracking of the bones in his legs as they bent under his weight, causing him to fall onto his front side. Both of his legs were badly damaged, broken in fact. His spine was in a critical state as well, for it took a brunt of the damage when his body was slammed into the tree. The entirety of his form was littered in second and third degree burns. Fourth degree burns were on his chest and face, and both arms had fifth degree burns. A normal human would already be long dead. Even his body was in critical condition. He could not move. Pain was all he felt. His eyes began to darken. He heard that man laughing in the background. He heard the police sirens coming closer. He thought he could also hear voices - screaming? - but it was hard to tell.
This was it. His mission was a failure.
—
Earlier...
The clerk practically went bug-eyed when she saw his food bill came to well over $400. What was even more amazing is he was able to fit it all into one cart. It was if this guy was a super pro at Tetris or something, for he fit all the food perfectly into his carriage like building blocks. There was no way a normal person would have been able to do something like that so perfectly. The clerk did her best to be as polite as possible, and she simply did her job and helped the bagboy bag the groceries after Alistair slid his credit card. Being unable to fit all the groceries back into the carriage after bagging them, the bagboy offered to help Alistair bring his groceries to the car, to which Alistair kindly accepted.
Upon arriving at his apartment and unpacking, Alistair took the time to prepare a rather large meal. He cooked an entire turkey, together with gravy, stuffing, two baked potatoes, and cranberry sauce. It was absolutely delicious, and again he marveled at how amazing food was as a human. It was simply splendid how fulfilling it was. It wasn't long after he had finished his meal that he heard what he thought was frantic talking coming from outside. He looked out the window of the apartment to an alley that happened to run between his building and the one next to it. The alleyway was rather large, running between several buildings and eventually leading out to a small park in the center of town complete with a small lake and some trees.
It appeared that the frantic speaking came from a man. A scrawny man with dirty clothes and hair, in fact. He was surrounded by three other men who all appeared to be wearing a black jacket with an unfamiliar symbol on it. A gang, perhaps? After seeing one of the men in a black jacket push the scrawny one, Alistair's bad feeling only worsened. It was then that two of the men held the scrawny man while the third beat him. Alistair had enough, he wasn't about to let this go down, even if he wasn't sure what the circumstances were.
He made his way downstairs and exited the building, walking around to the alley way and coming into view of the thugs so that two of them and the scrawny man they were holding were able to see him. The one beating up the scrawny man didn't notice at first. The two other thugs gave him a strange look, apparently surprised that Alistair remained standing there instead of just moving on like most anyone else would. The thug beating on the scrawny man - who was now completely covered in blood - didn't notice Alistair at all until he finally said something.
"Did your mothers not ever teach you that three versus one is unfair?" He said, matter-of-factly. The thug stopped his punches and turned around to face Alistair.
"Who the hell are you, kid? Just turn around and walk away before you get hurt. Mommy wouldn't like it if her baby came home crying." He started laughing, as did the other two thugs. The man they were beating on seemed too out of it now to really make a reaction.
"Unfortunately for you, I have no mother to run to." He shrugged, a rather calm demeanor remained on his face. Here he was, face to face with three full grown men, stronger looking than he was and clearly not of the hospitable type. But he didn't show an ounce of fear. This angered the men greatly, and Alistair knew he would become their prime target simply because of it. Humans - particularly males - didn't like their power being questioned. It was not uncommon for them to react - even in violent ways - to those that would do so.
"Fine then, if the little boy wants to play with the big kids we'll let him play. After we make you our b*tch you'll regret ever talking to us like that." The other two started laughing again, even more so when the first man threw himself at Alistair with a deadly right-hook. The other thugs knew for sure the kid was going down, but at the very last second Alistair calmly took a step to the side, grabbed the man's right hand, and pulled him forwards, kicking the ankle of his right leg and causing him to trip in a humiliating stumble before falling on his side. Alistair simply remained facing the other two men holding their victim as if nothing had even happened.
"We agree, then? That you'll let him go?" Alistair said, as if the previous assault really didn't even occur. The other two thugs were simply speechless. What did that kid just do? And he didn't even look like his heart was racing! It was at this point the fallen thug stood up and threw himself at Alistair once again, this time attempting to grapple him from behind. It was the thugs plan to get him into a headlock and begin choking him.
No bueno.
Again, at the very last second, Alistair ducked and rammed his elbow backwards into his opponent's gut. This caused the man to stumble forward and, using the man's momentum to his own advantage, Alistair grabbed onto the man's shirt and pulled him over his shoulder, tossing him face-first into the ground. Owned.
The other two thugs swore loudly at Alistair. They finally threw their victim to the ground and they too challenged him at combat. Alistair bowed politely at them, then turned around and ran off in the direction towards the park. After running several hundred feet from the thugs who continued swearing at him and telling him to "get back here!", he finally did as they asked and turned around, then ran towards them instead of away from them. This perplexed them but only slightly, and in response they grinned and prepared to tackle him. Instead of running head-on into them Alistair jumped at the very last second, performing a flip mid-air, landing hands-first on the shoulders of one of the thugs. Alistair managed to balance on the man's shoulders perfectly, but his weight caused the thug to lose balance and start to fall. The other thug ran at his friend and tried to grab Alistair, but he pushed himself up and off the man's shoulders - causing him to completely fall over in imbalance - then flip himself around again mid-air, using the momentum to lunch a mid-air somersault kick right to the other thugs face. He was able to correct himself so that he landed perfectly on his feet, and with a single deep breath he stood calmly, the man he just kicked falling to the ground with a broken jaw.
He looked back at the alley way for a quick second to notice that the first thug and the scrawny man had both ran off. Unfortunate, perhaps. He turned back to the other two only to see the one that had fallen over first stand up and run away, simply leaving his ally behind to fend for himself. "Looks like your buddies aren't your friends, huh?" He said with a sad voice to the man with a broken jaw. He stood, holding his mouth with fear in his eyes. "Do not be afraid, friend. I have no plans to assault you further. Our combat has come to-" Wait. The man in front of him wasn't looking at him. He was looking at something behind him. Alistair spun only to see a very large-sized man, dressed in a fancy suit, with many rings upon his hands, sunglasses, and a fancy top hat. The man pounded his walking cane - which appeared to have a handle made of.. pearl? - into the ground in disappointment.
"I knew you guys wouldn't be able to handle it." The large man said with a venomous, pompous voice. Alistair could feel his emotions. Disappointment. Arrogance. Anger. Aggravation. "Idiots." He continued. Alistair heard footsteps behind him, footsteps of a man running away. Who was this guy? "I don't know who the hell you are kid, but you certainly can fight well. Looking for some work, maybe?" He smiled, several of his teeth were golden looking.
"Apologies, but no. I have my own things to attend to, I'm afraid. While I do not mean to be rude, I must get back to my agenda. A pleasure to meet you, nonetheless-"
"You are aware that you just screwed me out of my money, aren't you kid? That man - " He motioned to the empty alleyway behind them " - you so heroically saved had something of mine. Because of you he got away. I paid a man a very handsome amount to help me get it back. And then what happens? You come in, a self-proclaimed hero from that nearby school huh? You and the rest of them. Nuisances. I don't know who the hell you are, but you aren't the only one that is gifted." The large man rose his stubby left hand, and a ball of fire appeared. Real fire! He could create fire? A pyromancer? "This is your last chance, kid. Help me find that man and get my property back, or I'll punish you right here for screwing me over."
This was bad. If this man could create fire, he could torch this entire section of town. He could burn many of the surrounding trees down. He decided that, if this man came after him, he would be forced to move farther into the park to avoid casualties. Surely there were some people in the park, too, but there hopefully would be less of them. He simply remained silent for a moment, staring at the man, hoping to find a way out of this. Short of looking for that scrawny man again - which he wasn't about to do, it was too contrary to his mission - he didn't see one. He had no choice but to bring this evil human down, bring him to his knees and show him he wasn't on top like he thought he was. Perhaps then, he would consider using his gift for good instead of evil.
He just hoped he could keep up in this body of his.
"It is recommended you leave this place now, sir." Alistair bowed politely. "Surely the authorities have caught wind of this incident, and are on their way." He could at least try, maybe he would convince him.
Yeah.. no..
He just laughed. "Right! Like the police could even do anything. You really are an idiot. I don't know what that school on the other side of this island is teaching you, but they're all a bunch of a**holes. All you will learn from them is that power is what counts the most. This is your last chance kid, pay back your debt or go to hell."
"Hell is nothing like you imagine, I assure you."
And at that, the man had his answer and unleashed his fireball upon Alistair. It exploded on impact at the location Alistair had just been standing, throwing flames in every direction. He managed to avoid it by a series of flips and jumps to the side, but it he felt the heat. It was close. Up until now he had been unsure just how extreme the supernatural abilities people of this world had, but now he saw the extent of it. This man had ridiculous power. It would take everything he had to bring him down. It would take several more nearly-missing fireballs and dozens of flips, sidesteps, cartwheels, dodge rolls, and jumps before Alistair got into melee range even once. And by then he was certainly getting tired.
"You're quite skilled, kid! But a fool!" The large man's walking stick lit aflame and he swung at Alistair with an arm that seemed as strong as a pro wrestler's. Alistair's reflexes were the better, though, and he was able to predict the trajectory of his staff far before it even got close to him. He backstepped at just the right time, the fires on the stick barely not singing his face, but instead of foolishly attacking right then and there like many would, he would perform a feint. He threw a right hand punch at the man's gut but pulled it early, as the man inevitably swung his stick backhanded once again. Alistair predicted this move, which was why he performed the feint, and spun on the heel of his foot so that, as the stick came back around, he not only avoided the fire once again but the heat from the stick only licked at his back instead of his front.
The point of this was to keep his front side from being exposed to the heat for too long a period of time. In addition, it gave him the momentum to perform a punch right to the exposed man's stomach. He grunted in pain but it didn't seem to hurt him nearly as much as he had expected it to. It was at that point fire erupted from the man's free hand and a fireball propelled forward right into Alistair's front. Considering he was in melee range, it was impossible for him to avoid it. The firey explosion didn't appear to affect the man one bit, but Alistair got launched backwards. He landed on his back and rolled several times before coming to a stop, luckily the roll smothering the clothing of his that had caught on fire.
The pyromancer laughed loudly. In a single attack he had just sent this cockey kid to his death! No one could survive a direct hit like that! That is, until he noticed the kid standing. What in the world? He could still stand after being hit point-blank like that! But he was hurt, badly, he could tell. Blood was pouring from his chest and face. A lot of his skin was seared off.
He wasn't about to give up. His body would recover. It had the ability to regenerate, which was the reason for it being alive at this very moment. He stood now, and his vision blurred. Bad. His body was under too much stress. He was fighting as if he were in his angelic form, but he wasn't. The human body could not fight such the way that he was commanding it to. He was feeling like he was losing control, now, his body was having difficulty moving.
He had to do something.
The pyromancer continued laughing. "Surprised you can still stand kid. Most would be dead by now. Ready for round two?" He began launching his fireballs again, and Alistair rolled behind the cover of a few trees. Good thing he was next to that park! Using buildings as cover would be better, but dangerous to civilians. It was behind this tree that he channeled his thoughts and focused, he calmed himself and uttered a prayer to Adonai, which allowed his spirit to re-attune with his body and reduce the stress level. The pyromancer seemed to launch random fireballs into the trees, and while Alistair managed to avoid them, he knew he couldn't do this forever. Didn't the man get tired from all that!? For crying out loud!
He used his senses to determine what direction the man was from. South-east direction. Perfect. He had halted his fireballs for now, perhaps thinking he had won. Or that Alistair had escaped. He would use this chance to bring down this foe. He would attempt to invoke a minor Mantra. He had to. His normal attacks didn't do enough, the man was clearly rather strong, even if he did appear unfit physically. He uttered another prayer, and his eyes began to glow hold as his right hand began to carry around it a faint silver glow. This might work. He heard the man getting closer, laughing under his breath. He sure did laugh a lot. Alistair moved very, very slowly and quietly towards the direction the man was in. He would get him with this one attack, hopefully. As soon as he felt he was close enough, he jumped out to the open, to see the pyromancer exactly twenty feet, five inches, and six centimeters in front of him.
The man saw that something about the kid was different, but prepared himself to launch another fireball regardless. Alistair focused his mind, body, and spirit. He just needed to dodge this one. With a cackle the fireball propelled itself from the man's hand and Alistair ran towards it, dropping to the ground and sliding himself under it - the heat feeling torturous to his burned body. He pushed himself onto his feet once again, the man's eyes widening at the combat skill this kid possessed. Before he could react appropriately - his walking stick lit on fire, but it was too late for him to swing it - Alistair closed in and slammed his fist once more into the man's stomach. But this time it was different.
"The fist to slay one thousand demons..." Alistair uttered, his voice reverberating throughout the trees as if an otherworldly being had uttered it. The man would feel as if time around him had slowed, and he would feel as if some unknown force as about to suck him into a void."Fist of Heaven." He finished calmly, and time returned to normal. Only, the man found himself flying through the air almost as if gravity had reversed direction. He slammed into a nearby tree and fell to his knees. Alistair's eyes and hand returned to normal. But the man took a much better beating than he had expected.
He coughed blood, but he was still conscious. He glared at Alistair with a firey blaze in his eyes, then swore loudly. "You WILL pay for what you have done! You f***ing son of a B*TCH!" The man's anger seemed to only fuel his power. Alistair had begun preparations to launch another assault, but it would be too late.
Fireball after fireball propelled themselves into the ground in a firey mess. Much of the trees caught on fire, and it was all Alistair could do to avoid them. But his body was becoming way too tired. It was when he heard the cry of a child that his priority shifted. He turned to his left, seeing a young boy terrified practically to death. He was sitting hopelessly on the ground with tears in his eyes. There was fire all around them. And then Alistair saw it. A fireball launching right towards him.
But if he dodged it, the kid would surely be killed.
Unfortunate.
—
The loud sirens could be heard echoing from the city. He knew that kid had no hope of surviving, he saw him fall to the ground in flames personally. He allowed himself to be hit directly to survive some kid that had wandered into the area. How foolish. He would die. That would show him. He walked casually into the park's forest to avoid the emergency services that were surely coming.
"Damn kids.."
- Saint Corona Starfire (Eternal Legend: The Way of the World)
—
How could this have happened? Only days had passed since his arrival on this world, and already he had met a foe stronger than he could handle. This wasn't something he had expected to arise so early on, before he had even begun to make progress. But it was the simple truth that his body was now on the verge of death, and there was an estimated 86.8963 percent chance that the boy known as Alistair Fordren would never be seen on this world again. By anyone. If anyone was even still alive, that is. A few years from now? The world may be entirely consumed. All because of one situation that he knew he should have avoided.
His burning body slid from the trunk of the tree onto the ground. He heard the cracking of the bones in his legs as they bent under his weight, causing him to fall onto his front side. Both of his legs were badly damaged, broken in fact. His spine was in a critical state as well, for it took a brunt of the damage when his body was slammed into the tree. The entirety of his form was littered in second and third degree burns. Fourth degree burns were on his chest and face, and both arms had fifth degree burns. A normal human would already be long dead. Even his body was in critical condition. He could not move. Pain was all he felt. His eyes began to darken. He heard that man laughing in the background. He heard the police sirens coming closer. He thought he could also hear voices - screaming? - but it was hard to tell.
This was it. His mission was a failure.
—
Earlier...
The clerk practically went bug-eyed when she saw his food bill came to well over $400. What was even more amazing is he was able to fit it all into one cart. It was if this guy was a super pro at Tetris or something, for he fit all the food perfectly into his carriage like building blocks. There was no way a normal person would have been able to do something like that so perfectly. The clerk did her best to be as polite as possible, and she simply did her job and helped the bagboy bag the groceries after Alistair slid his credit card. Being unable to fit all the groceries back into the carriage after bagging them, the bagboy offered to help Alistair bring his groceries to the car, to which Alistair kindly accepted.
Upon arriving at his apartment and unpacking, Alistair took the time to prepare a rather large meal. He cooked an entire turkey, together with gravy, stuffing, two baked potatoes, and cranberry sauce. It was absolutely delicious, and again he marveled at how amazing food was as a human. It was simply splendid how fulfilling it was. It wasn't long after he had finished his meal that he heard what he thought was frantic talking coming from outside. He looked out the window of the apartment to an alley that happened to run between his building and the one next to it. The alleyway was rather large, running between several buildings and eventually leading out to a small park in the center of town complete with a small lake and some trees.
It appeared that the frantic speaking came from a man. A scrawny man with dirty clothes and hair, in fact. He was surrounded by three other men who all appeared to be wearing a black jacket with an unfamiliar symbol on it. A gang, perhaps? After seeing one of the men in a black jacket push the scrawny one, Alistair's bad feeling only worsened. It was then that two of the men held the scrawny man while the third beat him. Alistair had enough, he wasn't about to let this go down, even if he wasn't sure what the circumstances were.
He made his way downstairs and exited the building, walking around to the alley way and coming into view of the thugs so that two of them and the scrawny man they were holding were able to see him. The one beating up the scrawny man didn't notice at first. The two other thugs gave him a strange look, apparently surprised that Alistair remained standing there instead of just moving on like most anyone else would. The thug beating on the scrawny man - who was now completely covered in blood - didn't notice Alistair at all until he finally said something.
"Did your mothers not ever teach you that three versus one is unfair?" He said, matter-of-factly. The thug stopped his punches and turned around to face Alistair.
"Who the hell are you, kid? Just turn around and walk away before you get hurt. Mommy wouldn't like it if her baby came home crying." He started laughing, as did the other two thugs. The man they were beating on seemed too out of it now to really make a reaction.
"Unfortunately for you, I have no mother to run to." He shrugged, a rather calm demeanor remained on his face. Here he was, face to face with three full grown men, stronger looking than he was and clearly not of the hospitable type. But he didn't show an ounce of fear. This angered the men greatly, and Alistair knew he would become their prime target simply because of it. Humans - particularly males - didn't like their power being questioned. It was not uncommon for them to react - even in violent ways - to those that would do so.
"Fine then, if the little boy wants to play with the big kids we'll let him play. After we make you our b*tch you'll regret ever talking to us like that." The other two started laughing again, even more so when the first man threw himself at Alistair with a deadly right-hook. The other thugs knew for sure the kid was going down, but at the very last second Alistair calmly took a step to the side, grabbed the man's right hand, and pulled him forwards, kicking the ankle of his right leg and causing him to trip in a humiliating stumble before falling on his side. Alistair simply remained facing the other two men holding their victim as if nothing had even happened.
"We agree, then? That you'll let him go?" Alistair said, as if the previous assault really didn't even occur. The other two thugs were simply speechless. What did that kid just do? And he didn't even look like his heart was racing! It was at this point the fallen thug stood up and threw himself at Alistair once again, this time attempting to grapple him from behind. It was the thugs plan to get him into a headlock and begin choking him.
No bueno.
Again, at the very last second, Alistair ducked and rammed his elbow backwards into his opponent's gut. This caused the man to stumble forward and, using the man's momentum to his own advantage, Alistair grabbed onto the man's shirt and pulled him over his shoulder, tossing him face-first into the ground. Owned.
The other two thugs swore loudly at Alistair. They finally threw their victim to the ground and they too challenged him at combat. Alistair bowed politely at them, then turned around and ran off in the direction towards the park. After running several hundred feet from the thugs who continued swearing at him and telling him to "get back here!", he finally did as they asked and turned around, then ran towards them instead of away from them. This perplexed them but only slightly, and in response they grinned and prepared to tackle him. Instead of running head-on into them Alistair jumped at the very last second, performing a flip mid-air, landing hands-first on the shoulders of one of the thugs. Alistair managed to balance on the man's shoulders perfectly, but his weight caused the thug to lose balance and start to fall. The other thug ran at his friend and tried to grab Alistair, but he pushed himself up and off the man's shoulders - causing him to completely fall over in imbalance - then flip himself around again mid-air, using the momentum to lunch a mid-air somersault kick right to the other thugs face. He was able to correct himself so that he landed perfectly on his feet, and with a single deep breath he stood calmly, the man he just kicked falling to the ground with a broken jaw.
He looked back at the alley way for a quick second to notice that the first thug and the scrawny man had both ran off. Unfortunate, perhaps. He turned back to the other two only to see the one that had fallen over first stand up and run away, simply leaving his ally behind to fend for himself. "Looks like your buddies aren't your friends, huh?" He said with a sad voice to the man with a broken jaw. He stood, holding his mouth with fear in his eyes. "Do not be afraid, friend. I have no plans to assault you further. Our combat has come to-" Wait. The man in front of him wasn't looking at him. He was looking at something behind him. Alistair spun only to see a very large-sized man, dressed in a fancy suit, with many rings upon his hands, sunglasses, and a fancy top hat. The man pounded his walking cane - which appeared to have a handle made of.. pearl? - into the ground in disappointment.
"I knew you guys wouldn't be able to handle it." The large man said with a venomous, pompous voice. Alistair could feel his emotions. Disappointment. Arrogance. Anger. Aggravation. "Idiots." He continued. Alistair heard footsteps behind him, footsteps of a man running away. Who was this guy? "I don't know who the hell you are kid, but you certainly can fight well. Looking for some work, maybe?" He smiled, several of his teeth were golden looking.
"Apologies, but no. I have my own things to attend to, I'm afraid. While I do not mean to be rude, I must get back to my agenda. A pleasure to meet you, nonetheless-"
"You are aware that you just screwed me out of my money, aren't you kid? That man - " He motioned to the empty alleyway behind them " - you so heroically saved had something of mine. Because of you he got away. I paid a man a very handsome amount to help me get it back. And then what happens? You come in, a self-proclaimed hero from that nearby school huh? You and the rest of them. Nuisances. I don't know who the hell you are, but you aren't the only one that is gifted." The large man rose his stubby left hand, and a ball of fire appeared. Real fire! He could create fire? A pyromancer? "This is your last chance, kid. Help me find that man and get my property back, or I'll punish you right here for screwing me over."
This was bad. If this man could create fire, he could torch this entire section of town. He could burn many of the surrounding trees down. He decided that, if this man came after him, he would be forced to move farther into the park to avoid casualties. Surely there were some people in the park, too, but there hopefully would be less of them. He simply remained silent for a moment, staring at the man, hoping to find a way out of this. Short of looking for that scrawny man again - which he wasn't about to do, it was too contrary to his mission - he didn't see one. He had no choice but to bring this evil human down, bring him to his knees and show him he wasn't on top like he thought he was. Perhaps then, he would consider using his gift for good instead of evil.
He just hoped he could keep up in this body of his.
"It is recommended you leave this place now, sir." Alistair bowed politely. "Surely the authorities have caught wind of this incident, and are on their way." He could at least try, maybe he would convince him.
Yeah.. no..
He just laughed. "Right! Like the police could even do anything. You really are an idiot. I don't know what that school on the other side of this island is teaching you, but they're all a bunch of a**holes. All you will learn from them is that power is what counts the most. This is your last chance kid, pay back your debt or go to hell."
"Hell is nothing like you imagine, I assure you."
And at that, the man had his answer and unleashed his fireball upon Alistair. It exploded on impact at the location Alistair had just been standing, throwing flames in every direction. He managed to avoid it by a series of flips and jumps to the side, but it he felt the heat. It was close. Up until now he had been unsure just how extreme the supernatural abilities people of this world had, but now he saw the extent of it. This man had ridiculous power. It would take everything he had to bring him down. It would take several more nearly-missing fireballs and dozens of flips, sidesteps, cartwheels, dodge rolls, and jumps before Alistair got into melee range even once. And by then he was certainly getting tired.
"You're quite skilled, kid! But a fool!" The large man's walking stick lit aflame and he swung at Alistair with an arm that seemed as strong as a pro wrestler's. Alistair's reflexes were the better, though, and he was able to predict the trajectory of his staff far before it even got close to him. He backstepped at just the right time, the fires on the stick barely not singing his face, but instead of foolishly attacking right then and there like many would, he would perform a feint. He threw a right hand punch at the man's gut but pulled it early, as the man inevitably swung his stick backhanded once again. Alistair predicted this move, which was why he performed the feint, and spun on the heel of his foot so that, as the stick came back around, he not only avoided the fire once again but the heat from the stick only licked at his back instead of his front.
The point of this was to keep his front side from being exposed to the heat for too long a period of time. In addition, it gave him the momentum to perform a punch right to the exposed man's stomach. He grunted in pain but it didn't seem to hurt him nearly as much as he had expected it to. It was at that point fire erupted from the man's free hand and a fireball propelled forward right into Alistair's front. Considering he was in melee range, it was impossible for him to avoid it. The firey explosion didn't appear to affect the man one bit, but Alistair got launched backwards. He landed on his back and rolled several times before coming to a stop, luckily the roll smothering the clothing of his that had caught on fire.
The pyromancer laughed loudly. In a single attack he had just sent this cockey kid to his death! No one could survive a direct hit like that! That is, until he noticed the kid standing. What in the world? He could still stand after being hit point-blank like that! But he was hurt, badly, he could tell. Blood was pouring from his chest and face. A lot of his skin was seared off.
He wasn't about to give up. His body would recover. It had the ability to regenerate, which was the reason for it being alive at this very moment. He stood now, and his vision blurred. Bad. His body was under too much stress. He was fighting as if he were in his angelic form, but he wasn't. The human body could not fight such the way that he was commanding it to. He was feeling like he was losing control, now, his body was having difficulty moving.
He had to do something.
The pyromancer continued laughing. "Surprised you can still stand kid. Most would be dead by now. Ready for round two?" He began launching his fireballs again, and Alistair rolled behind the cover of a few trees. Good thing he was next to that park! Using buildings as cover would be better, but dangerous to civilians. It was behind this tree that he channeled his thoughts and focused, he calmed himself and uttered a prayer to Adonai, which allowed his spirit to re-attune with his body and reduce the stress level. The pyromancer seemed to launch random fireballs into the trees, and while Alistair managed to avoid them, he knew he couldn't do this forever. Didn't the man get tired from all that!? For crying out loud!
He used his senses to determine what direction the man was from. South-east direction. Perfect. He had halted his fireballs for now, perhaps thinking he had won. Or that Alistair had escaped. He would use this chance to bring down this foe. He would attempt to invoke a minor Mantra. He had to. His normal attacks didn't do enough, the man was clearly rather strong, even if he did appear unfit physically. He uttered another prayer, and his eyes began to glow hold as his right hand began to carry around it a faint silver glow. This might work. He heard the man getting closer, laughing under his breath. He sure did laugh a lot. Alistair moved very, very slowly and quietly towards the direction the man was in. He would get him with this one attack, hopefully. As soon as he felt he was close enough, he jumped out to the open, to see the pyromancer exactly twenty feet, five inches, and six centimeters in front of him.
The man saw that something about the kid was different, but prepared himself to launch another fireball regardless. Alistair focused his mind, body, and spirit. He just needed to dodge this one. With a cackle the fireball propelled itself from the man's hand and Alistair ran towards it, dropping to the ground and sliding himself under it - the heat feeling torturous to his burned body. He pushed himself onto his feet once again, the man's eyes widening at the combat skill this kid possessed. Before he could react appropriately - his walking stick lit on fire, but it was too late for him to swing it - Alistair closed in and slammed his fist once more into the man's stomach. But this time it was different.
"The fist to slay one thousand demons..." Alistair uttered, his voice reverberating throughout the trees as if an otherworldly being had uttered it. The man would feel as if time around him had slowed, and he would feel as if some unknown force as about to suck him into a void."Fist of Heaven." He finished calmly, and time returned to normal. Only, the man found himself flying through the air almost as if gravity had reversed direction. He slammed into a nearby tree and fell to his knees. Alistair's eyes and hand returned to normal. But the man took a much better beating than he had expected.
He coughed blood, but he was still conscious. He glared at Alistair with a firey blaze in his eyes, then swore loudly. "You WILL pay for what you have done! You f***ing son of a B*TCH!" The man's anger seemed to only fuel his power. Alistair had begun preparations to launch another assault, but it would be too late.
Fireball after fireball propelled themselves into the ground in a firey mess. Much of the trees caught on fire, and it was all Alistair could do to avoid them. But his body was becoming way too tired. It was when he heard the cry of a child that his priority shifted. He turned to his left, seeing a young boy terrified practically to death. He was sitting hopelessly on the ground with tears in his eyes. There was fire all around them. And then Alistair saw it. A fireball launching right towards him.
But if he dodged it, the kid would surely be killed.
Unfortunate.
—
The loud sirens could be heard echoing from the city. He knew that kid had no hope of surviving, he saw him fall to the ground in flames personally. He allowed himself to be hit directly to survive some kid that had wandered into the area. How foolish. He would die. That would show him. He walked casually into the park's forest to avoid the emergency services that were surely coming.
"Damn kids.."