26 – Hero vs Demon King

Tommy seemed slightly shocked by what his spell had done, and his initial reaction was one of worry.

“Jonny, are you–?” he started, stepping forward.

“So, Hero, you’ve come prepared!” said Jonny, dusting the snow off his pants. “Maybe this will be interesting after all!”

Tommy hesitated for a moment before the corners of his mouth tilted upward.

“Of course, Demon King!” he said. “This is your end!”

Jonny stalked closer as Tommy held his stick between them. Usually when they played, it would be Tommy approaching Jonny, but the whole dynamic had changed now that Tommy was using ranged spells. It was a new dynamic for Jonny overall, since he had never actually fought someone like this. Anything that wasn’t melee was outside his area of expertise, but rather than worried, he found himself excited. Even if it was just a game, not a real fight, it would be an interesting experience.

He circled around Tommy for a few seconds, but he had no idea what kind of opening to look for, so he decided to just charge in. Just like the first time, Tommy used the same wind gust spell, but now that he was prepared for it, Jonny ducked down, getting himself low to the ground to try to reduce the effect of the wind. It did not quite fully work, and he ended up stumbling a few steps back, but he was able to keep his feet.

He ran in again, and when the wind gust came, he dropped to the ground almost fully, diving face first into the snow and letting the wind pass over him before pushing himself back to his feet. When he stood back up, though, he found himself facing a floating ball of snow gathering on the tip of Tommy’s stick.

Shit!

He managed to get his arms up just in time for the snowball to come flying at him, breaking on his arms and showering his face with powder. Tommy’s snowball spell was not the strongest, but that was intentional. Jonny knew it was his “safe” attack spell, and that if he wanted to, he could have condensed the snow down into solid ice. He also could do something similar with a fire spell.

I would have lost there, Jonny realized. If that was fire, I’d be screwed.

It was a sobering thought, and for a moment, he wondered if his goal was impossible. He couldn’t cast spells. He would never be able to do more than strengthen his body. How the hell was he supposed to compete with people who could throw fireballs? What were muscles in the face of a laser beam?

Even Tommy’s weak little fireballs were too much for the current him. What about when Tommy formed his second layer? Or his third? Where would Jonny be? Would he be able to compete at all? He didn’t even know if he could form layers on his core. Igrette said that body strengthening could make him fireproof, but that was only if he could find a way to overcome his handicap.

Shut up, Jonny, he told himself. That’s quitter talk.

He slapped his cheeks, and took a deep breath inward, spinning up his mana and pushing it into overdrive, then exhaling to wind it down. Tommy seemed slightly concerned about his spell, so he hadn’t done anything while Jonny recovered from the snowball. When he saw Jonny get back into a stance, he leveled his stick and prepared his mana again.

Without any magic, Jonny’s options were limited. He needed to get in melee range. He wasn’t going to punch Tommy, but if he could just grab him, the game would be over. There were plenty of ways to subdue him without damaging him. He just needed to get close.

He charged in again, ducking Tommy’s wind gust, but Tommy got smart this time. Rather than trying to blow Jonny away, he made his gust point downward pressing Jonny deeper into the snow. Jonny reacted quickly, pushing himself back up against the wind, but as soon as he stood up, a snowball hit him directly in the face, and when he stepped back, another hit him in the stomach.

Blinded and off-balance, he sensed Tommy gathering more mana, and barely managed to step aside before he heard another snowball whiz past. He dodged two more as he wiped his eyes and regained his bearings, and once he did, Tommy stopped, choosing to sit and wait instead. This was annoying, but also the smartest move. The further Jonny was, the easier it became to dodge, and the more mana Tommy wasted.

If those had been made of fire…

He shook the thought from his head and refocused on the task at hand. Ducking to keep from being blown away wasn’t going to work anymore, clearly, so he had to try a new tactic. This time when he went in, he waited for Tommy to gather his mana, then dove to the side, somersaulting through the snow and returning to his feet.

It worked so well it was almost surprising, but Jonny was hardly pleased about it. The only reason it worked was that Tommy had to focus his wind into a relatively narrow corridor for it to be strong. If he spread it out, it became too weak to be effective. But as he got stronger, that would cease to be the case. No matter how good Jonny got, he would never weigh more than 200 pounds or so, while Tommy’s wind would just keep getting stronger. This solution was only a temporary one.

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Another wind gust came, and this time, Jonny chose not to dodge, instead letting him get blown backward so he could reset. He probably could have gotten closer if he wanted to, but he didn’t want to win that way. It would have been like if he just used his size to bully a featherweight into submission. Sure, it was a victory, but it wasn’t an effective tactic against anyone who actually mattered. Besides, he didn’t know when he’d have another chance to face an actual mage like this, and wanted to make the most of it.