Spaceships and Magic, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Chapter 70: Protect Me

I tried to dash back and away from Akash before he could react to my blunder, but in my debuffed state I was just a little bit too slow. His strong forearms reached out and wrapped me in the tentacle-like vines that made up the ends and began to squeeze. 

My Coronashield was holding up, but only barely, I could feel the pressure of Akash's grip closing in on all sides. 

"Is this really all you have, human?" Akash sneered, "If so, we may truly be doomed." 

Before I could choke out a reply, Akash had thrown me clear of his grip. I tumbled through the air, unable to regain control, and slammed through another set of trees. 

This was going even worse than my fight against Yr'Arl had started. At least against him, I knew that I'd do some damage if I managed to land a hit. I'd managed to hit Akash, but he'd just shrugged off my abilities as if they had been nothing. 

I staggered to my feet and brushed the splinters off of my tracksuit before dropping down into a defensive posture. My System heads up display was indicating that I only had another 15 minutes of so-called practice time before my debuffs would be lifted, and at that point, I'd be able to fight at full strength again. 

It was clear that I wouldn't be able to deal any damage to Akash how I was now, so waiting that time limit out and playing around with his moves defensively was really my only option. Whether he would let me do that or not was something else entirely. 

Another vine came whipping through the forest, low, in an attempt to sweep my legs from under me. I leapt into the air, only to be struck down by a vine I hadn't seen coming at me from above. Not only was Akash seemingly both stronger and faster than me at the moment, but he had also fought against me before. He knew how much I liked to take to the air to avoid attacks from enemies, and now he was baiting me into doing it again and again. 

I bounced off the hard Eldrani mud and used propulsion to right myself in an instant. If avoiding attacks wasn't going to work in my favour then I'd just have to try meeting them head-on. I drew my sword from its sheath and once again readied myself in a defensive position. 

Another vine came hurtling toward me, but this time I deflected it with the blade of my sword. The manna resistant edge bit into the wood and sheared it clean off, causing the limb to hurtle back where it came from with a shudder of pain. 

"Ah, so the human finally comes out to play," Akash said from somewhere in the gloom of the trees, "You've put up a poor showing so far, and I've been going easy on you."

I bit down on the growl of anger that threatened to rip itself out of my chest. He was trying to bait me, just like he always was, and I wasn't going to let him get the better of me so easily. 

"Going easy on me isn't a good move, Akash, I've just been getting your measure so far," I shot back. 

A trio of vines came at me this time, one from my centre and another from either side. I dove to the left to avoid the vine from the centre, all while swinging my sword ahead of the roll to get rid of vine number two. I was back up on my feet just in time to dispatch vine number 3. 

The home turf advantage was giving Akash way too much ammunition to work with, but I had a solution to that. 

I'd already worked out that I could use multiple of my energy beams at a time, and that's just what I decided to do. I brought four separate orbs of energy into being and allowed them to charge, gaining more and more manna as I deflected yet another of Akash's vines. 

It took a good couple of minutes, and they still weren't as strong as I'd usually make my beams for a task like this, but I was sure they would just about do. 

I set the balls spinning around me, just like I had done with the manna constructs against Yr'Arl's teleportation, and let the beams lance outward in arcs of destructive power. They were bright, which also meant they were hot. And in a dry, condensed forest like this one? Heat was going to deal some real damage to the trees around me. The wood splintered and burnt, sending even more smoke up into the already smoked clogged holographic atmosphere. 

I was hoping that, with some of the trees eliminated, I could create a wide and open space that would stop Akash from having so many resources. I knew he was manipulating the roots and vines of the trees around me to launch his attacks, with the number of trees cut down he would have a lot less ammunition to work with. 

But that wouldn't protect me entirely. 

More vines than ever before began launching at me out of the gloomy smoke. I muttered a curse to myself. Until the trees had completely burned out, I'd just unintentionally given Akash another boon. 

I had to move constantly to avoid the onslaught of vine whips that Akash was sending my way. Some were deflected and hacked apart by my sword, while others I used my propulsion to dart away from. 

All the while I was watching the seconds and the minutes tick down on my debuff counter. 

Akash had no idea what was coming for him. At the moment I was only operating at a third of my normal power, and if I was able to move fast enough to avoid his attacks now then he didn't stand a chance when I was back up to my max.