Xander Vs Curtis

’... No way...’ Xander’s thoughts whirled as he saw who... or what was in front of him.

Where Curtis had been, there stood a huge white wolf, almost 3 meters tall despite being on all fours. It’s fur was thick and firm, but Xander could see the rippling muscles beneath.

Each of its claws were longer than knives, and its piercing blue eyes locked onto Xander with undeniable coldness, and with every step forward it took, ice spread across the ground, causing the grass to freeze and break apart

Xander quickly drew his sword and entered a stance.

"Curtis, is that you?" He called out, but he didn’t drop his guard for a second, keeping his senses trained on the huge wolf completely.

Hearing his name, the wolf—Curtis—halted briefly, which was all the confirmation Xander needed.

He quickly dug through his and the old Xander’s memories and soon recalled what he believed had occurred.

’Lycans are a species of canines with Demi-Sapient brains. They are primitive and move in packs. Typically nomadic and aren’t very friendly towards other species. They are characterized by two—’ Before Xander could finish processing the memory, Curtis suddenly opened his mouth, and a sphere of pale blue light shone.

Xander immediately heard alarm bells in his mind, and he didn’t hesitate to move out of the way just as the sphere shot out as a beam.

It passed where he had been and shot into the distance, and in its wake, everything had been frozen solid.

Xander exhaled, his breath visible in the air that grew colder with each passing moment.

The moment his foot touched the ground again, ice spikes suddenly shot out and tried to impale him from different angles, but Xander kept his movements nimble as he hopped around the place like an agile rabbit, and not once did he keep his eyes off Curtis.

’What exactly am I suppose to do here?’ He frowned. He circulated his mana to maintain his body temperature as he contemplated his next course of action.

’Mia sent only the two of us here. Why? Does she want me to do something specific? Subdue him maybe?’ At that, realization dawned on him.

’Right, I’m probably the only person who can do so among our group while keeping my emotions in check. It would be hard to protect Aubrey and Falael would be too volatile since he’s our teamma–’ Curtis’s huge body blurred.

Xander flicked his sword to the side and just barely managed to deflect Curtis’s massive paw, the claws aiming to rend him apart.

Even as he deflected it, though, four massive trenches appeared in the ground from the residual force, and they soon froze over. But Curtis wasn’t done, and he opened his maw again, another breath attack prepared.

Xander clicked his tongue, and suddenly, his movements completely changed.

Suddenly, his figure turned almost blurry, then divided into three., each of them seeming to vibrate at a rapid speed.

The three ’Xanders’ moved in tandem, and for a moment, Curtis hesitated, unsure of which one to attack. Then he fired the beam at the leftmost one, only for it to vanish as soon as the beam hit.

The real Xander made his move at that moment, using the flat of his blade to smack into the side of Curtis’s large head, making it snap to the side.

Curtis growled and stomped his front paws down, and ice spikes erupted outwards with him as the center, impaling everything around him for dozens of meters.

But Xander had already retreated.

He exhaled another breath of cold air, still maintaining his stance.

’The issue with fighting large creatures is that I’m almost certainly going to be dwarfed in terms of raw stats. So head-on clashes are dumb. Second, with how thick his hide is, dealing worthwhile damage is going to be a challenge.’ He watched as the ice spikes dissipated, and Curtis shook his head before glaring at him.

’This ice is also problematic as well. Every time I get close, the temperature plummets dramatically, and it gets hard to fight off.... what to do.’ Xander watched as Curtis circled around him, clearly searching for an opportunity.

In that moment, Xander made a decision.

Swiftly, he returned his sword into his spatial storage and took out another weapon.

It had no hilt, which was unsurprising as the blade was nearly as tall as a grown man. The blade was a dull Grey, and the hilt was made of a special blackened leather. Just above the metal crossguard, metal horns jutted from the blade dangerously, protecting a secondary leather grip.

And peculiarly, the tip of the blade had a clear cover over it... well, cover was misleading, but it looked interesting, to say the least.

Xander changed his stance as he held the mighty Zweihander with both hands, resting the large blade lightly on his right shoulder. He presented a narrow profile, left foot anchored firmly forward. His stance looked almost casual, inviting Curtis towards him, but the tension in his body betrayed that he was indeed gripping the sword strongly.

A High guard

’Until I learn his frequency, let’s change things up a bit, shall we?’ Xander smirked darkly as he maintained his provocative posture.

Curtis lingered for a moment, then charged forward.

His massive form moved with speed that should not have made sense, and he was upon Xander in an instant.

But Xander moved faster.

Just as Curtis was reaching forward to swipe at him, Xander swung the Zweihander down while angling his body, using gravity, his raw strength, and Mana Breathing in tandem.

Curtis’s claw once more just barely missed him, with the Zweihander smashed down on Curtis’s shoulder in a clean arc.

’Crascent Moon.’

The results were... not great.

The blade dug into the flesh and drew blood, but eventually with the incredible cutting power of Crescent Moon coupled with the sheer power behind the swing, he barely cut through his fur and drew blood.

’He’s even more durable than Ragna!’ Xander realized with genuine bafflement, but he had no time to stay shocked as Curtis swung his other claw, forcing Xander to duck under it while the landscape behind him got decimated.

He retaliated with an upward swing.

’Rising Sun!’

This time, the blade moved in an upwards arc and struck Curtis’s jaw, shutting his mouth which had been preparing another breath attack.

Xander immediately followed up with Water Screen and Frost Flower Thrust, the combo creating the devastating Ice Breaker.

This time, Curtis was thrown back as he took the attack straight to his chest, and while the ice aspect was pretty ineffective, his chest did get torn up significantly as his massive body tumbled backwards.

But Xander wasn’t super happy.

Immediately, he stomped his foot on the ground and thrusted forward.

’Solar-Edge Thrust.’ A thin beam of highly compressed heat shot out with incredibly speed, striking to torn part Curtis’s chest and burrowing deeper.

Curtis let out a pained howl, and Xander had been charging forward when a terrifying whistling sound came from above. He immediately abandoned his attack and leapt to the side. Where he stood immediately got crushed and frozen by a blast of compressed frozen air.

His momentum was immediately halted as Curtis went on the offensive, the large wolf shaking off the pain before charging forward.

Xander immediately found himself in a pretty uncomfortable spot.

Curtis simply moved like a force of nature. Even though he seemed to have lost much of his rationality, his instincts still remained. Moreover, his frost magic in this state had been elevated dramatically, so coupled with his now obscene physical stats, Xander immediately focused purely on defense.

Dodging, parrying, and extricating himself from bad positions while constantly avoiding traps set by Curtis and the occasional attack from above.

Not to mention that the constant close proximity was wearing down on his natural defenses, and he soon resorted to Mana Breathing just to keep the cold at bay. But even then, thin layers of frost had covered parts of his body, and he’d had to send Keir away just so that the little dragon could avoid becoming collateral damage.

The pressure was, frankly, crushing.

But despite all of this...

Xander was calm.

Because even with everything, he hadn’t been hit once.

Curtis’s strength was overbearing, yes. The sheer scale and power of his magic was overwhelming, yes. And unlike Xander, he moved with the intent to kill. All of this made him a nightmare to fight in his current state.

But even then.

’His movements are predictable.’ If anyone else heard his thoughts, they would lose their minds. Because sure, even if Curtis had lost most of his rationality, it didn’t really matter when he was akin to a natural disaster in his current state, and even a graze could be lethal.

But Xander was beautifully disciplined. He used his Zweihander as intended, keeping as much distance as possible and deflecting any blows that came too close.

Moreover, the Empty Metal he’d bought from the auction came in handy, as that was the thing at the tip of his blade.

It allowed Xander to slice through any constructs Curtis made with his ice, constructs that were far less durable as Curtis was, again, not in his right mind.

The pressure was immense, yes. But...

’It’s doable.’ At that moment, something almost akin to a timer went off in his head, and he knew it was time.

Curtis made a wild swing with his paw, but like he had with Ragna during their fight, he behind an afterimage while he appeared beside Curtis, stance changed.

He went from a high guard to a Half-sword stance, holding the ricasso with one hand and effectively turning the blade into a short spear.

He aimed it at the joint of Curtis’s hind leg.

’Sorry about this buddy.’ Xander thought as he attuned the frequency of his blade to match Curtis’s, and he stabbed forward.

’Harmony.’

The blade struck where he was aiming...

And plunged deep inside.