Another Stupid Isekai

I woke up and allowed some light to come inside. Then washed in cold water using my water magic, and finally changed clothes to my regular combat pants and black hoodie. Then I ate a simple breakfast from what I still had in the vault. Some canned tuna, with few tougher than steel crackers.

I was ready to rumble.

Outside was invariably bathed in the silver light coming from above. It was given this strange, alien city chilly atmosphere. Like it belonged to the dead, and there was a lot of truth in that statement.

I found The Great One in the same building, reading the poetry from another scroll.

– I’m ready – I said to him.

– I know – he answered, putting the paper down, and standing up.  – It’s too dangerous for you to just go to the right place alone, so I will send you there myself. Be careful Peter, it will be a tough fight, and not the only one today. This means you need to preserve your strength.

– Let me quote a famous actor from earth, just do it – I said pulling my weapon from the vault.

Before I could even notice I found myself in a place with tall golden towers with multiple terraces decorated with simple, rectangular patterns. All of them were full of incredible gardens and connected by bridges. I never saw trees or flowers like out there before.

I probably would spend a while observing all of that, but then a double ax almost cut my face in half. And by double I don’t mean double-edged one, but rather a long polearm armed on both edges.

I dodged thanks to my reflexes, but the weapon stopped in midair and went right back after me. I already knew this style of fighting. It for sure was a ghost.

I repositioned further down the street, using shadow walk, to give myself some space to localize the enemy. It was a long-deceased, tall humanoid with dark blue, or even grey skin, now dried out, and tightly covering the bones. The face seemed similar to a human, with few small differences in bone structure. Some of them were protruding around cheeks and forehead.

The ghost was wearing golden robes, torn in few places, showing a lot of his torso. It seemed to be richly decorated, but I didn’t have time to admire, since he sent ice shards my way.

I dodged again, using shadow walk, and quickly had to move, since the ax again was after me. I blocked it with my weapon and sent it flying the other way.

Then something unexpected happened. A shadow attempted to tackle me. I was so surprised I didn’t move for a whole second, allowing more of them to swarm me. Only then I shook them of swinging widely.

That thing clearly had some of my powers. It seemed wrong to me, to just not use them and see who would emerge victoriously. I summoned my shadows, sending the numbers after the enemy. He did the same, and they clashed, bursting into smoke one after another.

I used this to shadow walk closer, to attack from above. He tried to block extending a hand and putting up a barrier, but I shattered it with the pure power of my muscles and managed to cut off that hand. Then a very strong psychic power burst in my face and sent me flyiing.

I shadow walked again, noticing the ax flying my way. I landed on the opposite side of the street, while the wapon crashed into one of the terraces, closest to the ground. The impact was enough for it to dig into the gold, but that was it. Nothing broke off.

I used some of my own magic, sending shards straight at the ghost, while still keeping up with summoning more shadows, just like he did. My magic didn’t reach the target, because it was blocked by the barrier, but I earned myself some time to, shadow walk closer.

I repeated this motion, sending more magic, and repositioning. It was a smart decision, as I heard the impact of psychic powers blasting the air in places I was just a second before. I finally got close enough to swing, and I did just that but a split second before my blade landed, I repositioned, and threw the fireball straight at the ghost’s face, avoiding the explosion of psychic powers, and delivering my own.

I was pushed back by the force, as the cloud of flames covered my entire body. I emerged from it, sliding, still pushed by the power. Then a loud, vibrating sound hit me from the side, I looked there and quickly avoided the flying ax.

That freaking thing was still alive, even after a direct hit of powerful magic. It was kinda funny, that I completely ignored the ongoing shadow war, with dozens dying every few seconds. It was like our minions had their own battle.

[0)ᴠʟ The cloud got torn apart by the force of mind. The robes were still burning, but those flames died down almost immediately after, and another batch of ice shards went my way. I destroyed them spraying flames from my hand, but that wasn’t the greatest idea of them all, since I exposed myself to the weapon.

I managed to block it and had to reposition it again. I lost my tempo. Instead of standing like an idiot, I should have made something to regain it, but since it was rare for me to fight such strong opponents, I didn’t pay too much attention to that aspect. Fortunately, I started to realized that and kept moving for a while, allowing the ghost to keep attacking me.

I needed to preserve my strength, and not waste it. Letting him tire himself was a great tactic since I was actually way faster.. So I want for it, realizing that attacking won’t succeed if I don’t push too much into it, and right then I couldn’t afford that.