I became a legion lich

71 [Bonus chapter]Athos vs Finn

Athos jumped between the roofs, not caring if he would be seen by the people below. All he thought about was reaching the motherfucker who killed Khali even a second faster. The hilt of the sword in his right hand was already dented into the shape of his fingers from the force of his grip.

It was then that he saw him. He was wearing a shabby overcoat and was on his back, looking intently at the undead invading the city, but his back totally unprotected. Athos would have mistaken him for some mana user if not for those white boots, the same ones he found in the brothel room.

Athos didn’t wait, didn’t ask questions, didn’t even try to look him in the face. He immediately cast his meteor spear spell, conjuring a 15 meter long spear of black flames and hurling it at Finn. The original spell was only 10 meters long, showing how much stronger Athos had grown in a matter of days. Also, the spell used to cost 3/4 of your mana, but now only 1/3 of your total reserve has been spent.

“Which??” Finn turned around in surprise, feeling a huge amount of mana and heat coming from behind, only for a colossal spear to fly towards him. He dove to the side quickly, trying to summon a mana barrier hastily, but Athos knew the enemy would be agile enough to dodge.

With a snap of his fingers, the spear detonated just a few feet away from Finn, engulfing him in black flames. The mana barrier broke with the shock wave and the black flames scorched his skin while sapping his strength.

Finn activated the boot’s enchantment and kicked the ground, propelling himself backwards like a rocket. The house below him exploded, along with the houses next to it. Finn fixed his stance while still in midair and rolled as he fell to the ground, halting his fall and immediately going on guard, daggers in hand as he used mana vision to scan his surroundings for the enemy.

Finn also activated the explosive reflexes ability, causing the blood vessels in his eyes to dilate, improving his visual acuity, peripheral vision and visual reflexes.

A bag containing explosive powder was thrown from above towards him, but Finn only sent an arrow of darkness and hit the bag in midair, causing it to explode harmlessly. Athos took the opportunity, activating the enchantment on the boot he stole from one of the suits and jumping off the building straight into Finn.

Black lightning flowed around his bones, activating the thunder boost mixed skill. Athos broke through the smoke and was in front of Finn in an instant, slashing his sword vertically with all his might, trying to split his head in half. Finn responded by crossing the daggers over his head, and using the Bronze Body skill.

.....

Athos hit him with absurd force, forcing Finn to kneel on his right knee, but that was it. His body made of bones was light and in the air, Athos could not make full use of his strength. Finn took advantage of that half second of truce to activate the enchantment of both daggers, causing the blades to vibrate at high speed.

Finn cut with his daggers still on his knees, splitting Athos sword in two. He smiled as he prepared to attack, but Athos’ attack was not over yet. The broken blade of the sword suddenly turned black and grew again, cutting into Finn’s face.

Athos used the mana blade ability to recreate the broken blade and continue the attack, now with nothing to block it. Finn threw his head back at the last second to save himself, but the black blade still sliced through his mask and right eye, leaving a gash across his face from forehead to jaw.

Athos tried to keep pressing, but Finn activated the magic ring on his left hand, creating a small dome of darkness. Athos clicked his tongue, but preferred to back off. The dome of darkness only lasted a few seconds, before Finn canceled the barrier on his own.

His broken mask lay on the floor, while his face was contorted in pure rage. The wound on his face didn’t shed a single drop of blood, the skin rotted and the facial muscles atrophied away. His right eye was completely destroyed, just gray flesh where the eye should have been.

“Who the fuck are you??” Finn asked angrily, not even trying to fake calm. The cut on his face throbbed with pain, while the entire right side of his field of vision was blinded. He felt incredibly frustrated and angry.

“Why do you monsters keep showing up and getting in my way?!” Finn screamed in frustration, his remaining eye glowing with rage and mana. He was trying to gauge the nature of Athos, but he looked like a black blur to the mana vision. Finn clicked his tongue and stopped using mana vision, starting to cast spells.

‘His magic is stronger than mine, but his casting speed is lower. His physical prowess is also superior to mine, but unlike me, he has a hard time fighting and casting at the same time. He’s not a superhuman and he doesn’t have his gear. If I want to win, I have to fight at close range.’ Athos on the other hand, was analyzing Finn’s fighting strength rather than his nature.

Athos continued to feed the broken sword with mana, causing the rest of the blade to rust until it crumbled, leaving only the hilt and energy blade. He lunged again, not wanting to give Finn time to cast. To his surprise, Finn didn’t try to use ranged magic, but instead advanced to melee.

“Shadow body!” Finn yelled pointing his right hand forward, causing his shadow to rise and charge towards Athos.

Athos swung the black sword into the shadows’ body, slashing in half from the left shoulder to the right waist. The sword’s corrupted mana was able to cut through the darkness as if it were physical, thanks to its similar properties.

Finn was surprised at his spell being destroyed in an instant, but continued his attack. He took advantage of the cover created by the shadow body and used an acceleration ability, jumping into Athos’ throat just as Athos finished swinging his sword.

Athos managed to dodge it, bending his spine back farther than should have been possible. The ligaments that held her bones together were made of darkness, so her movements didn’t have the same limitations a human would have.

Athos took a step back and turned only his upper body 360 degrees, trying to slice Finn’s head through his blind spot without losing momentum.

Finn sensed the attack coming a second too late, hurriedly putting his dagger forward to block. He even tried to cut Athos’ ribs with the other dagger, but Athos activated the cloak’s enchantment, creating a layer of corrupted mana on top of the cloak.

The dagger still sliced through his cloak, severing a few ribs on the left side of his chest, but Athos spat out a flaming breath at point-blank range, forcing him to roll to his side to avoid being burned.

He fired a blade of aura mingled with darkness through the dagger in his right hand, trying to stop Athos from chasing him, but Athos bent down and hurled a bag of black powder between them, creating a smokescreen. Athos broke through the smokescreen, cutting into Finn’s left side

“Die!” Finn turned to Athos, easily blocking his sword with a dagger and lassoing one aura blade with the other. The blade accurately hit his neck, easily slicing through his head. Finn stopped his follow-up attack in surprise, sensing something was wrong.

The black skeleton suddenly disappeared, causing the order’s now useless cloak to fall to the ground. The real Athos came out of the smoke to Finn’s right, five black bolts shooting out of his left hand, one from each finger.

The lightning bolts were the size of a finger, quickly hitting Finn’s body. The lightning voltage was weak and only served to stiffen Finn’s body, but that was what Athos intended.

Finn released a aura as he crossed the daggers in front of his body rigidly, using his bronze body again.

Athos slashed as fast as he could, aiming not at the body but at his right hand. The blow hit him hard, sending his dagger into the air, along with some of his fingers. Athos followed up the attack with a kick to the chest, conjuring a ball of black fire from his foot and detonating on impact, sending Finn flying into the wall.

“GAHAH!!” Finn slammed into the wall with a strange sound, the air being forced out of his lungs. He hurriedly tried to get up and conjure up a layer of darkness around him, but all he could do was darken the air slightly around his hand.

...That’s when he remembered that the spellcasting ring, the item that mage slayers used to access world energy in place of wands, was on his middle finger of his right hand.