Heron felt his condensed aura cave in as he was struck at the side by an earthen construct. His aura, something he'd been incredibly proud of, was barely enough to keep the attack from actually reaching his flesh. Even so, the kinetic shock bypassed some of his armour and he felt as if Yuriko had kicked his side. Not a serious kick, otherwise she would have probably cut him in half. Her strength had grown to a frightening degree considering her Anima reach was about twenty times greater than his own. Progress, when it came to reach, had been slow for himself and Gwendith, though considering what Glenn's Ancient Circle revealed, perhaps they should never compare themselves to Yuriko ever again, or consider her a typical Ancient. Not when she was that monstrous.
Despite being sure that Heron had the advantage when it came to reach, somehow Glenn's condensed aura and self-augmentation were better. It was readily apparent when they clashed openly, and it was only because he had trained himself to hone his Anima into a sharp point that he was able to bypass some of the giant man's defences. And then, he stopped taking it easy.
At the very least, he managed to leap with the force of the hit. He'd used the same trick Yuriko had for flying to give himself footing, though he was nowhere near capable enough to actually stand in midair. The most he could do was allow his feet to gain the ability to step on thin air or any kind of surface, he supposed, and use it as a jump-off point. He could make the platforms no matter what position he was in—inverted, sideways, or any kind of slant—and even when his legs weren't bent or fully extended. He'd also practised three-dimensional manoeuvres, especially after experiencing the zero-gravity chamber that Stormdriven was tested in.
A plethora of earthen pillars covered the ground. Heron twisted around until he landed on the side of the pillar with his feet instead of his back, and as soon as he touched it, he leapt towards Glenn. The other punched but did so while Heron was still dozens of paces away. Instead of hitting air, shards of stone erupted from the ground in front of his feet and shot towards Heron.
Hexagonal solid air shields emerged with a thought, then shattered as the crystalline rock slammed into them. They were slowed slightly enough that Heron could dodge the attack, but even as they passed him, he noticed the shards turned around. Their turn was wide enough that it would take a few seconds before they returned, and in the meantime, he pressed the wind to propel him forward, faster than he could leap. Anima condensed over his spear, and the winds, razor-sharp, swirled around the metal, clearly visible with dense Elemental energy, he forcefully thrust into Glenn's Anima armour.
It was like sticking a spear into a large tub of jelly. Well, perhaps mud would be the closer approximation, but either way, the result was the same. The spear slowed as he dug into the field, and if that was all, his attack would have been ineffectual.
But an Ancient's Anima was both their strong point and a weakness. Anima could be damaged just as any kind of material could be. As he stabbed into the field, the Wind Elemental energy he had wrapped around his spearhead was released. Only his control held it around the weapon, and when he relaxed it, the condensed winds expelled its energies into the surroundings, which happened to be Glenn's Anima.
The earthen brown field was suddenly coloured by green cracks. Unfortunately, only a small sphere around the spearhead exhibited damage and was far smaller than Heron expected.
"You haven't fought many Ancients, haven't you?" Glenn said, his voice was pleasantly smooth, which was jarring considering his size. Still, Heron didn't know what the man really looked like, so he shouldn't jump to conclusions.
"No, not really," he answered honestly.
"Right, just the…two? Two of you."
Heron couldn't help but grin. Of course, they knew of Yuriko, though probably nothing specific. Glenn was fishing for information—not that it mattered. He could sense his lover quietly watching through both her eyes and the link between them. She was moving towards the base but was circling around the battlefield. He could feel her curiosity, as well as…disappointment? At him?
He sighed. He wasn't showing very well. A fight at his level shouldn't have been so lopsided, but he had barely damaged the other man's Anima while his was full of cracks. His penetrative attacks and wind bombs were working, but his defences were full of holes. He was moving too directly, but that had always been how he fought. Confront, defend, and open the way for his allies.
'Hmm, you're right. Time for retraining,' came the ominous message from his beloved. Oh joy.
He barked a laugh even as he manoeuvred around the forest of earthen pillars. His Anima reach was already at forty paces, but he felt his opponent's Anima was stronger. Neither of them flared to full reach, and perceptive auras were naturally stealthy after all.
"Something funny?" Glenn asked even as he flung octahedron shards at him. The ones that were flying around behind Heron struck at the same time. Heron used his solid air shields despite the fact that they were mostly ineffective in stopping the blows, they still gave him a sliver of time to dodge.
Only this time Glenn anticipated the shields and struck with a staggered volley. Heron couldn't do anything but parry with the haft of his spear, and the Anima coating it cracked from the first blow, then shattered with the second. The third shard hit the weapon directly and broke it. And the fourth slammed into his condensed aura. He threw himself to the side as the shards behind him struck. They missed, but he fell into a heap. He rolled on the ground as shards slammed down at his position.
"Are you the best at running? You Wind users are all the same," Glenn scoffed, derision plain in his voice. Heron gritted his teeth in annoyance even as his mind raced for a solution. His greater-than-normal strength failed against someone with a more powerful Anima. None of the spars he had against Yuriko was ever won with a straight battle, and the only way he won was if she let him. So how could he win here?
He couldn't. Not with the way he was used to. But he could hurt him. And as long as he kept from being hurt in turn, or limited the damage he suffered until he brought the man down, then he could win. He tossed both halves of his spear to the side. The weapon was nothing more than a mundane spear with a telescoping haft. It wasn't anything like Yuriko's Anima Telum, nor was it something made with anything more powerful than steel.
The Winds whispered to him. He remembered Yuriko's new sword Ennoia. An invisible blade that could cut through anything. The Winds. His father used the winds to shape a knife that he could manipulate to his Will. Could he do the same? Should he do the same? He'd sealed off his lineage and there was no guide to help him. New techniques also shouldn't be derived or tested in battle, even if he could divide his thoughts several ways. He needed all of it to focus on the fight.
He dodged and weaved, reading the winds as they were disturbed by the passage of the crystalline shards. His perception could do the same thing, but with the winds, he could sense much further than forty paces around him.
How was that man controlling something from so far away? He couldn't sense Anima tendrils connected to the shards. They were a result of the man's Ennoia, he assumed. He threw up more shields, angled so that the shards would deflect away from him instead of just being slowed.
The ones that came from behind… As soon as they missed, they always headed back towards Glenn. From there, he would send them back at him, but inevitably, the shards would crumble, after a couple or so times they shattered his shield.
The Winds gave him the shards' flight path. They circled and struck, but some of them flew towards where he wasn't, and not always where he had been either.
'He's predicting my moves well in advance.' Heron guessed though it wasn't hard to figure out. He changed his dodge pattern slightly, going down instead of going left or right. The shards flew to either side of him, but one still headed where he actually went. 'He covers all of my paths.'
Heron shook his head. Trying to be clever would only backfire. Glenn was an experienced fighter.
'I don't feel that he's young.'
The Ancient Circle they met in those ruins was older than he and Gwendith, but they were in the 2nd Growth Stage. The weight of years of experience bore down on him and almost made him falter, but a sharp prod from Yuriko shook him out of it.
'Just attack. And don't stop until he's down.' Yuriko sent, 'You're good when you keep going.'
So he was. He'd been gathering and compressing a small storm contained in a sphere at the palm of his hand. He shaped them into a needle, one that was the length of his palm. He dashed towards the giant, and once he was close, flung the needle of compressed winds. He wasn't even aiming at a vital point, but the man used his aura to block anyway. He could have easily avoided it…
The needle pierced into the field, sank a couple of inches into it, then detonated. A set of fractures appeared, but the man moved that part of his aura away from the front. Heron scooted back, gathered more wind, and threw another needle to the same result. Faster and faster, he gathered the winds, shaped it into a needle with an explosive charge, then struck. All the while he used the winds to propel his movements while using his Anima to protect himself. He wasn't able to dodge all of the shards and he collected as many fractures as Glenn did.
Ten minutes.
Back and forth, strike and defend. Heron's brow was covered with a sheen of sweat that his powered armour's environment control control couldn't wick away. The suit's power was all focused on that, but his body was overheating. Ah…he might have neglected keeping in top shape ever since they were stationed on this planet.
He could feel the weight of Yuriko's regard, as well as the constant reminder that he would be put to his paces as soon as everything was over. Was it silly that he was afraid of that more than fighting these Conclave Ancients?
"Enough!" Glenn roared as he flung his shards. "I tire of this cat and mouse game! Let's end this with a bang!"
With that, he gathered Elemental Earth over his fists and conjured an oversized quartz gauntlet. An earth pillar burst from underneath his boots and propelled him towards Heron. When he dodged out of the way, another pillar rose and shifted Glenn's trajectory.
"Rotter!" Heron growled as he gathered as much wind as he could on his palm. He dodged once, twice, but the third time, a pillar rose in front of him, and Glenn was only five paces behind him. Any change in direction would leave him vulnerable, and with little choice, he flipped around, kicked off the pillar and attacked. He didn't have the time to form the winds into anything other than the compressed sphere he had on hand.
Quartz fist and wind sphere met.
Kaboom!
The air was filled with wind blades and broken quartz. Heron slammed into several pillars, broke through them, slammed into the ground, and rolled several dozen paces while carving into the soft earth. He wound up on his back with his face staring at the blue skies.