The Crimson Prince： Awakening 94 The Heir To Darkness

"That would have been enough were I the same man I was years ago." Jake smirked as he plunged himself headlong into the flames. When he emerged from the other side, his twin swords steamed from the contact with the king's flame, yet no blood was visible on the blades. "Missed by a hair."

"I'd say more than that." Aiden said from within the inferno before launching one of the large bolts of flame. Jake dodged it easily, but he saw a hand move from within the inferno and looked behind him. The ball of flame had changed its course and once again raced towards him. "I know that you are stronger in ability, but I'm sure if I hit you with this, it won't be a simple burn."

Jake knew he was right. King's flame always had a little more of a kick to it than the regular flame attribute since it was like Ragnos attacking him directly. "Maybe." Jake thought out loud as he looked at the flame, then he decided to take it head on. He slashed the air with his blade and created a condensed air scar which met it. The two forces collided with a concussive shock wave before cancelling each other out. "Or maybe not." He smiled as his guess was right.

"That was luck." Aiden yelled as he readied yet another bolt of fire. The gold hue around it glowed even brighter as he shot it towards Jake, yet the other man slashed his sword with just a small amount more force than last time, and was able to bat the attack away. Growing more agitated, Aiden broke apart his remaining flame bolt into a hundred bolts. Each one glowed more gold than crimson as he sent them hurling towards the black armored wielder.

Jake increased his aura output until a wall of wind stood between him and the bolts. Aiden maneuvered the bolts that didn't hit the wall around it to try for an attack from both directions, yet they once more bounced off of the wind wall, only from behind. "That attack won't work." He said simply as he hovered the same place he was before.

Aiden used the cyclone of flame he had surrounded himself with. Instead of just hurling the flames at Jake, he condensed the flame in on itself making a staff. He then raised his hand to a cloud and took the moisture, making ice daggers.

"Okay then," Jake said wide eyed as he looked at the younger wielder. "Will never had this much control over his element when he first unlocked his aura."

"I grew up with the aura." Aiden said as he examined his staff. "Only water is new to me, but I'll get the hang of it eventually." He gave a mental nudge and sent the daggers flying towards Jake.

Instead of dodging the daggers, Jake used his dark flame as a barrier. Before the daggers. .h.i.t the wall, they began to glow red and gold around the surface. "Fire laced ice?" Jake looked on incredulously. They sailed through the dark flame as if it wasn't there. He was able to dodge one of the three, yet one broke through his armor to his arm and one to his leg. Though the armor had caught most of the damage, the blades still pierced the skin.

Jake moved to take the blades from his arm and leg, yet before he could grasp one, the fire had melted the daggers. The water moved into the small wounds the weapons had made. "I'm not sure you knew about this kind of attack." Aiden said with a grim look. His hand twitched slightly as his water moved through Jake's body. The water from the attack to the arm had already reached his heart, with the other not so far behind. "All I have to do in order to kill you is turn this water to ice, you know."

Jake looked at the boy in a new light. "I didn't know I was dealing with that type of person." He said as he lowered his head. His dark flame aura suddenly surrounded him, then funneled through the incisions made in his skin. It raced to the water and evaporated it before Aiden could finish his attack. "I take it this means you wish to kill me?" His eyes were as dark as the flame that surrounded him.

"You support the man who has brought nothing but death upon my land." Aiden said as his eyes went slightly wide. He wasn't counting on such a quick reaction from Jake. "Why wouldn't I kill you?"

"I only came here to talk, and to see what kind of person I was dealing with." Jake's voice became deeper. "If you are willing to kill for what you believe in, you are much too dangerous to keep on the outside." The flames turned darker until Jake had all but disappeared. "I think I'm done playing for now."

Jake released two cyclone daggers from his concealing flame. Both hit their targets on Aiden's arm and leg. Aiden yelled out in pain as he pulled the daggers out. They had stuck in hilt deep, the wind element propelling them in deeper and enlarging the holes. Before he could turn them around to use them on his opponent, they were wrenched from his hand by an invisible force, propelling them back into Jake's hand.

Before Aiden could react, Jake formed the two daggers into a scythe, which cut through the air. Knowing the kind of power such an attack could unleash just by watching his brother use it, Jake dialed the strength of the attack down by a substantial amount, only knocking the air out from Aiden's lungs.

"Is this all you Ragnos a.s.sholes can do? Hide in the shadows and attack?" Aiden mocked the darkness around him. "I told you, I am Jake Aremesis, and who says I'm hiding." A voice whispered from behind the new prince. Before he could react, a pommel of a sword bashed against his collarbone and he went limp.

Aiden began to fall, but Jake dropped down and caught the boy and put him over his shoulder. With a weary sigh, he began his dissent to the Emba.s.sy. "This is going to be complicated." He said as he dropped to the yard and opened the doors.