Due to someone surviving an attack of his before, Eston wanted to make sure this was a one-spell kill. He needed to, in some ways because eventually, his Breakthrough form would come to an end, and if he didn't get rid of all the troublesome ones, he would need to rely on the others to handle matters, and they didn't seem to be doing well so far.
So he trapped Raze with his wind magic and had been casting up a strong spell, storing up his magic; it was finally ready.
"Vortex Crusher!" Eston swung both of his hands to the ground. The giant vortexes of wind started twisting around each other, producing strong currents before they had become one heading right to where Raze was.
With the new sword in his hand, the smile on Raze's face grew larger, but he could tell that an attack was coming from above.
'I don't have time to perform the descending steps, but I have to do what I can to stop this attack.'
Raze then lifted the sword above his head with both hands. He inputted his Qi into the sword, and he had done so in condensed form, what he had managed to learn from his time with an injured throat and using his skills.
Condensing his Qi down, he supercharged the sword. The effect of the ghost blade made it so the sword was glowing with even more power than before.
Right after that, Dark Magic was swirling around Raze's body, around his arms it covered the sword until it was completely black in color.
"Dark Edge Magic Sword Arts, the Second Formation, Eclipse Strike!" Raze swung his sword down right at the time the Vortex Crusher spell had hit.
The top of his sword had hit the point of the attack, and the Dark energy was unleashed right into the air.
A giant shockwave went out, blowing the sand a kilometer from where they were. Some of the mages fell from their feet and were chucked backward.
While the Crimson Crane members had to keep their ground with what Qi they had left.
The power pulsated out and went through their bodies. Such pure energy swirling in the air, they had never felt it before.
"Did he do it?" Froma asked, trying to peek through the dust. "Did he win the fight?"
"Well, that other one looks to still be fine," Elvlin pointed at the sky.
They could see that Eston was unhurt and was slowly coming back down to the ground. The glow around his body was still there.
The mages, seeing this, were rejoicing; they were almost cheering for victory, that was until the sand had cleared up a bit more, and they could see that Raze was fine as well.
He stood, holding onto the sword in his hand, unharmed apart from the wounds he had received before.
"You!" Eston said; his entire body was shaking. "You managed to stop that, what sort of magic was that!"
Raze smirked in response.
"You should know, right, that was Dark Magic, but not just Dark Magic, it was mixed with a little bit of something else!"
Raze wasted no time, as he swung his sword creating another Crimson Slash, but this was bigger than the last one, and it came out from his sword far faster as well.
Eston had to lift both of his hands creating two large slashes of wind to hit the single red one, and with that, Raze was now incredibly close and right next to Eston.
"You must be getting tired, right, but for me, I've only just started!"
Dark Magic was spiraling around Raze's sword, intertwined making a strange pattern. He then went ahead to strike right at Eston's body.
The wind magic around his body was acting like a barrier; it was blowing his sword away, but that didn't matter to Raze because he wasn't aiming for the sword to directly hit him.
The attack from the sword, the Dark Magic started to intertwine and tangle around Eston's legs and arms. The special sword technique used a strange sense of Qi mixed with magic, and Eston was unable to break free from it.
"The first Dark Edge Sword Art Formation, Shadow Bind," Raze stated.
The Dark Magic was taking away his wind barrier, while the strange wrappings were holding him down.
"Finally, I can now hit you directly as well!" With his free hand, Raze gathered a fist that was covered in Darkness.
He shifted his feet and swung it right into the face of Eston. It was a clean hit; blood spattered out of his mouth. His body would have gone flying, but it was unable to due to the Shadow Bind Formation.
Lifting up his sword, Raze then took the first descending step. His defying Qi made Eston's body shudder. It was the first time he could feel such strong Qi going through him.
The sword was lifted in the air again using both hands from Raze. Just as he swung it down, the bindings had become undone by Eston, and he managed to use his wind magic to push him away.
Eston's back hit the floor, and his head was covered in sweat.
His heart was racing because he was just thankful that he was able to get away at that moment.
When Eston tried to lift his feet and move from the ground, he noticed though, it was encased in Ice. As he tried to attack the ice, his whole body felt a jolt as it was being electrified.
The electricity that was hitting him was coming from none other than the White-haired mage, who was walking towards him with his sword covered in darkness.
"Do you remember what you said to me before, about how you are the only member of the Ortian Guild? I know your story... and I know who you are currently linked with, which is why I couldn't lose this fight."
"As you said, you are quite the famous person, aren't you, for someone like me to know your name? Well, let me tell you something, I'm sure you have heard of my name as well."
Eston was in a troubling situation. He was being overpowered, despite his items that gave him extra power, despite him using his breakthrough form, he was going to lose this fight.
He didn't understand the words going through this young one's open mouth. If he knew someone with such strength, then surely he would have remembered him.
"I am... the Dark Magus," Raze declared.
