A horizontal slash flew at Gravis, contrary to his expectations, and Gravis only saw the saber grow closer to his eyes in shock. In a reflex, Gravis activated his Will-Aura to delay the impact of the saber, and Gravis barely managed to change the position of his attack into a quick make-shift block. The shock of the Will-Aura would only work once, so Gravis had kept it for a decisive attack. Yet, he had to use it now to survive. There was no other way!
BOOM!
The slash hit Gravis' weak block, and the backside of the saber heavily hit Gravis' left shoulder, obliterating it and multiple ribs behind it. Gravis got shot into the distance by Red's attack, destroying several trees in that direction. The clearing had a size of around a hundred meters, but Gravis flew way further, several hundreds of meters in fact.
The sound of exploding and falling trees resonated throughout the surroundings, and the breathing of the onlookers stopped. That impact had thundered throughout the whole clearing, and everyone felt the power behind it. Gravis couldn't have survived that, could he?
Red, on the other hand, quickly readied his saber again and charged into the direction of Gravis, fire appearing behind his body to boost his speed. Red was sure that Gravis had survived, and he couldn't allow Gravis to escape! Gravis had shown how smart he was in a fight, and Red didn't want to give him any chance to plan. Who knew what plan he would manage to come up with if Red gave him the chance?
Meanwhile, Gravis hit a giant boulder, and his body burrowed inside for half a meter, completely stopping his flight. Gravis's organs shook, and a small fountain of blood shot out of his mouth due to the impact. He hadn't had the concentration to use his Elemental Synchronicity to soften the stone. His head spun, but he managed to quickly regain his mind's clarity with his will. Gravis gnashed his teeth as he felt the completely obliterated left side of his torso. 'I nearly died!'
Yet, his eyes widened as he saw Red directly charging at him. There had only been two seconds between Gravis hitting the boulder and Red appearing again. There was no time! Red had already readied a big fireball and was intending on throwing it into the hole that Gravis' body had made. If that hit him, he would be reduced to ashes!
BOOM!
Red threw the big fireball into the hole, and the whole boulder exploded into debris that shot into the distance. Gravis was surely dead. Red took a deep breath to calm down. Gravis had been just as powerful as he had expected.
SHING BOOM!
Red felt a deep pain coming from his left knee as it exploded with lightning. Red couldn't comprehend what had happened. Why did his knee suddenly explode? Meanwhile, Gravis jumped out of the earth below Red and puked another mouthful of blood to the side.
Gravis had regained the clarity of his mind before the explosion and, therefore, also regained his Elemental Synchronicity. He used that to move through the stone, into the earth. Yet, the explosion had been too powerful, and it had damaged his already battered body further. His insides were rattled, and he was forced to puke more blood.
Gravis had wanted to keep his Elemental Synchronicity a secret, but his life was more important. If he didn't use it, he couldn't possibly win, or even survive. He could only hope that they were outside the range of the Guild Master's and Vice-Guild Masters' Spirit.
After the explosion, Gravis had moved inside the earth until he was below Red and then used his full power to attack his left leg. The attack was a success, and he had managed to sever the lower portion of Red's left leg. With a destroyed leg, his speed would surely fall.
VROOM!
The sound of fire appeared as fire shot out of what remained of Red's left leg. With the force generated by the fire, Red managed to keep himself upright. Like this, he regained his balance and stood upside, his right leg firmly on the ground and his left leg using the backdraft of fire to keep balance. Red's visage turned into pure rage, and he shot multiple fireballs at Gravis.
WHOOM WHOOM WHOOM!
Red's physical attack was incredibly fast, but his elemental attacks were dodgeable. Even though Gravis' injuries impacted his speed, he still managed to evade the uncoordinated fireballs as he further fell back to gain distance. If this continued, Red would run out of Energy while Gravis had a limitless supply stored in his mind.
Red grew even angrier, and his mindset grew unstable due to all of his emotions going berserk in this stressful situation. Yet, his will was strong enough that he managed to somewhat calm down after some seconds. Red gritted his teeth so hard that blood streamed down the side of his mouth, and he shot forward again.
Red's movement speed had slowed down significantly due to his missing left leg. The fire coming out of it couldn't generate enough force to make him move at his previous speed. Red could only use his right leg for acceleration and his left leg for stability, similar to Gravis' Lightning Movement.
Yet, Red's right arm was uninjured, which meant that his attack speed was nearly the same as before. Gravis still didn't have the option to dodge the attack without preemptively anticipating the attack that Red would use. Like this, Gravis used his Lightning Movement and physical speed to retreat.
Red chased, but his speed was only a slight bit faster than Gravis. Gravis couldn't have unlimited Energy. That was absolutely impossible! He had to run out of Energy at some point, and Red only needed to chase him to win! Victory was in sight!
Yet, in reality, Gravis had plenty of Energy to spare, and he could also go even faster. Gravis was only running a little bit slower than Red so that Red would chase him. Gravis wasn't intending on retreating, but on changing the battlefield!
SPLASH!
Gravis reached the long river and jumped inside. Red smirked in disdain. 'You think water will help you?' he thought, quickly following Gravis into the river. The power of their elements was too strong, and regular water wouldn't be able to hinder their attacks.
One might think that lightning would be stronger underwater, but that was not the case. It still had the same strength. The only difference was that it was easier for lightning to travel inside the water. All in all, it would make no difference to Gravis if there were water or not. He could control his lightning, and the conductivity of the water wouldn't change a thing. That's why Red didn't mind following Gravis into the river.
On water or on land, Gravis would die today!