Artificial 3: The Valla Chronicles

Chapter 34: 1v1 Terra vs Diarmuid Ua Duibhne

(Terra's POV)

Me, Chase, and Sora lunged for Brandon only in the second,
I landed in the same room,
but the throne vacant.
My fist breaks the back of the throne chair,
and I carefully observe my surroundings.
"Dammit! I don't have time for this!"
I summon my Naginata and carefully walk around the poorly lit room,
not far but still near the throne chair.

I heard a man's voice and turned to face the light.
There was a lone man who stood with two spears,
a long red one and a short yellow one. He had an Irish accent,
skin green,
and decaying like any other zombie I've seen so far,
but unlike the ones I have seen, this one looked closer to looking alive and 'human like' if that makes any sense.
His aura was half human and half something else,
but what?
It was foreign,
It's definitely not a demon's aura,
that's for sure.

His final features were his black hair and mole under his eyes,
like a beauty mark.
Little did I know that that mole was a spell in and of itself,
just like in the old legend I once read in a book,
my hearts began to beat faster,
my face getting red,
I instinctively leaped back and took a low stance.
"I know you. Diarmuid Ua Duibhne. Irish Demi God."
Diarmuid takes mid stance,
readying his spears.
"Correct, now may we fight with honor warrior!"

Diarmuid tuns at me and thrusts for me head,
I deflect the initial attack,
but on his return stroke,
he launches his spear for my legs.
I leap away,
but the flurry of thrusts keeps coming,
I start to block,
but I get pushed back by his godly might, making it difficult to not just block but also spot openings.
Diarmuid changes his attacks to a bow staff style and nearly grazed my cheek,
I counter by using the same style of fighting,
but the difference in power was still there.

I deflect another spear thrust and then enter a bind,
pinning his red spear to the ground, resulting in a shockwave that craters the ground followed by a dust cloud,
I leave the bind and tactical retreat back a few feet.
"Gae Dearg: Scarlet Exorcism!"
Diarmuid rushes out of the dust cloud at godly speeds,
likely on par or faster than my lightning and blitzed me so fast,
I hardly had time to react and block with my Naginata!

I went skidding back several feet and realized my Naginata was cut cleanly horizontally across the handel.
It was practically useless to me other than using it as a sword,
but it'd serve me better to just create mine from my own demonic energy,
at least then it will be more durable with my aura, and with my lightning element, I should be able to fry him.

I press my hands together,
and electricity begins to spark around my arms,
I form a lightning sword as it took the form of a Spartan sword.
I teleport toward Diarmuid and start swinging.
He's now on the defensive as he blocks, parries,
and backs away.
I continue to get aggressive with each swing and each block,
I don't have the time nor the patients to be dealing with this!

Diarmuid turns the tides and starts a flurry of thrust and swings like his red spear is a bow staff,
I dodge, duck, bob,
and weeve through the viscous onslaught,
still holding my own.
I leap into the air and form,
throwing stars out lightning and chuck six while in mid-air,
I land behind him as he bats away the throwing stars while also receiving a mild shock from them.

I rush and slice a flurry of swings of my Spartan sword as Diarmuid blocks, parries,
and throws a flurry of his own thrusts. Diarmuid comes in aggressive and starts overpowering my strikes,
I resort to blocking,
but in a few swings,
he kicks me right in the liver!
To humans,
withstanding a blow like that is a miracle in and of itself,
at best five minutes before a knock out, but I'm neither human nor an ordinary demon,
by this point,
I think I have ascended byond that of an Artificial Demon,
byond that of a Demon Lord.

What I am is still an unknown even to, however.
One thing is for certain,
I'm not going down.
I block the incoming thrust,
parry the second,
and viscously strike his red spear on my third.
He skids back then thrusts once more,
I dodge bht the pillar behind me explodes!
I leap over a horizontal swing and slash for his head,
Diarmuid blocks then hit me with his hilt and graze my cheek with a slash. Moments later,
when I tried to heal,
did it dawn on me that I was screwed. My healing factor kicks out,
and my body feels weaker than usual.

I continued to block with my blade,
but inevitably,
it broke,
so I flung my hand and zapped his eyeballs,
causing him to stumble back.
I generate lightning from my legs and arms and strike his pressure points, locking up his  limbs for a short period, then finish my combo off with a kick to the stomach.
Diarmuid flies into the air,
and spikes of pure electricity shoot out of his body in a full 360 degrees.
The electricity spikes fade into thin air as I craft two more Spartan swords.

Diarmuid makes one final attempt to win by summoning a golden shorter spear,
and we had ourselves a sudden death round,
and in the midst of our flurries,
only one weapon would strike the killing blow.
Diarmuid stabs both soears into the ground,
leaps into the air while still holding his spears,
then cones back down with sna slamming of his soears,
why I didn't stab him?
I don't know,
I wasn't really thinking about it,
but next time,
I won't repeat that mistake.

I block with my Spartan swords and push kick him away,
he skids,
uses his spears for breaks,
comes at me faster and manages to hit me with a kick.
He takes a low stance and flips his red spear into throwing position,
I brace myself as the next clash would decide which one of us was walking away alive.
He'll open up with a throw,
and while I'm distracted,
he'll use his left arm to chuck and let the golden spear slide across his palm,
then catch it.

He does exactly as I predicted,
and I didn't fall for his fake out.
I parried his left spear and finished the dial with a stab to the back of the skull. Diarmuid falls to the ground,
his body turning into dust,
and his skeleton remains.
I could suddenly feel a disturbance in the atmosphere,
and my perception of reality begins to wobble and shake like I'm on a boat and the air is the ocean.
In the next second,
zombie army everywhere,
Brandon is sitting on his throne,
smug as ever,
Sora is now beside me but facing the opposite direction and Chase on my other side with a new sword out and a bluish glow resonating off it,
almost holy but not quite there.

Moments later,
it fades back into energy,
Chase, Sora,
and me face Brandon and give him the glare.
This is where it ends,
and Seth's personal journey comes to a close.
For his sake and for his closer,
we will end it personally.