Arcs of brilliant molten plasma crackled from Reave’s mechanical wings, scorching the ground beside him. Angel raised his hands, bracing himself as he skidded backwards through the dirt.

“Old World magic,” Angel muttered.

“That’s right,” Reave said. “Real Old World magic, made during the Great War. Your arm isn’t a bad start for an amateur, but you could have been so much more.”

His wings flared and snapped upwards. Splashes of light rippled across them as red arrows rained down towards Angel. He slammed his palm into the ground and the ground erupted before him. A massive spike rose into the air.

The red magic peppered into Angel’s makeshift wall, turning it into slag but failing to pass beyond it. The ground all around him hissed and popped as the metal melted under Reave’s attack.

“I think I’d like to go back to the talking,” Angel said, scrambling to the side. Reave didn’t respond. The masked man just turned towards him, raising his wings once again.

Angel shot a grappling hook at the wall and swung himself out of the way as magical arrows peppered the area where he’d been standing. He twisted midair, ripping the grappling hook free and pointing his hand at Reave.

The grappling hook punched into Reave’s chest and Angel yanked on it. The man’s wings flapped once, resisting the pull and keeping himself in place as the Seeker hurtled towards him.

Angel braced his mechanical shoulder moments before slamming into Reave at full speed. All the air rushed out of his chest in a whuff, and he staggered backwards, his head spinning. It was like flying straight into a metal wall.

“Buried gods, man. What do you eat?” Angel cursed, hopping a few feet back.

Reave let out a low laugh. “Cores, mostly. It takes many years to build up strength like I have, though. There are many secrets that have been lost to time that you might have found had you joined our order.”

“You aren’t that cool. I know someone who eats cores,” Angel said, diving to the side as Reave’s wings flared and more bolts flew out of them. One whizzed by Angel’s left arm, burning and instantly cauterizing a small furrow across it. His features twisted in pain, but he didn’t make any noise.

“Interesting,” Reave said. “I suppose parts of our ways might still remain in the Barren. It is no matter. The buried god needs power. I would not have bothered awaking it so early had I not detected your presence. Give me the relic.”

“Go kiss a bloodfly.”

Reave’s wings wrapped forward, enveloping his arms. Plasma started to crackle around his hands, scoring thick gauges through the metal beneath them. Angel’s eyes widened. The light grew increasingly brighter until it started to fill the entire cavern.

There wasn’t any time to think. Angel instinctively knew that, if Reave released whatever spell was in his hands, he wouldn’t survive. His hair stood on end and his clothes were practically rippling from the force of the energy waves pouring off Reave.

“Don’t you think that’s going to fry your relic?”

“Relics have survived much worse. You, however, will not.”

Angel launched his grappling hook at the ground between Reave’s feet and dashed forward, reeling in the hook to send himself hurtling towards the man for the second time.

Whether it was due to surprise that Angel was dumb enough to try the same thing for the second time or his spell simply not being ready yet, Reave did nothing to dodge the attack.

With a snarl, Angel grabbed Reave’s left arm and squeezed as tightly as he could. The plasma crackled under his grip, unrelenting.

“Futile,” Reave said. His spell grew in strength, blinding Angel completely.

Purple energy crackled down Angel’s arm. The red light resisted for a moment, then vanished into Angel’s hand as the Star Fragment devoured it. His grip tightened around the frame of the wing, crushing it in a shower of sparks.

Reave let out a cry of surprise. The spell crackled as half of its energy source vanished, sending a brilliant beam of molten red light shooting past Angel and into the wall of the buried god.

A violent shockwave picked Angel up and threw him across the cavern. He tumbled through the air, spinning so fast that he could barely tell which direction was up and down. The Seeker abruptly came to a stop as he slammed into a wall.

He cried out as several bones broke at once. His next breath sent a stabbing pain through his chest and he let out a ragged cough that only served to worsen the agony.

Through the red tinge filling the room, Angel was dimly able to make out his surroundings. He’d landed beside a large pile of bodies. The living cityfolk had managed to evacuate this room of the buried god, and the blurry, one winged form of Reave stood upon the plateau far above him.

Angel felt his body’s accelerated healing kick in, but the extent of the injuries racking his body meant that it wouldn’t be of any real use for the fight. He pressed his arm into the wall behind him, dragging his broken body upwards and repressing the magma coursing through his veins.

“Surprise,” Angel wheezed, regretting the word as soon as he spoke it. Each syllable felt like a dagger as it came through his mouth.

Reave flickered, vanishing from his spot on the plateau and appearing before Angel in an instant. His left wing hung at his side, a sparking and shattered pile of scrap. The man grabbed Angel by his hair, lifting him off his feet.

“You have a Star Fragment,” Reave said, his calm voice finally angry. “I suppose you must feel very accomplished, injuring me. You should be. I have not been inconvenienced in three hundred years. But who could have expected that you would deliver such a prize to me?”

Reave reached out, grabbing Angel’s arm with his other hand. Angel’s hazy mind idly observed that his fingers were wrapped in stained bandages. Reave pressed inwards, warping the metal around where the Relic was stored.

Energy crackled and Angel narrowed his eyes, gathering the last of his energy.

“Spike,” he whispered.

His arm rippled. The metal near his hand surged forward, forming into a pointed blade that punched forward and into Reave’s stomach. There was a loud clang and the point jerked to a halt.

Reave batted Angel’s hand out of the way with enough force to nearly rip it off his shoulder. Pain tore through his body again and Angel cried out. He brought his foot up into the other man’s groin.

A second loud bang rang through the room and Angel swore. It was like Reave was completely made out of metal.

“Are you going to kill yourself for me?” Reave asked, cocking his head. “That’s somewhat amusing, actually. Where will you strike next? My throat, perhaps?”

Angel spat in his eye. Reave swore, dropping him and staggering back as a small smug grin stretched across the Seeker’s face. He reached out, grabbing Reave’s foot and casting the last spell stored in his arm.

Ice raced across the ground and up Reave’s leg, turning it a greyish blue. Angel raised his arm and brought it down as hard as he could on top of the man’s foot. There was a satisfying crunch as something finally gave way.

Reave snarled, grabbing Angel by the arm and lifting him up again. “I deserved that. Well played, rat. Die with whatever sense of satisfaction that might have brought you. If that Star Fragment were not within you, I would obliterate every last trace of you from this world. If only you knew the magnitude of what resides within your arm.”

A glimmering blade formed in Reave’s hand. Angel’s eyes closed and he let out a rattling breath, a small smile crossing his face. Everyone had escaped and were likely long gone. Backup might even be on the way. He hadn’t exactly brought back Old Magic, but he'd done a damn good job of trying and had saved a good number of people in the process. The desert had dealt him his hand, and he’d played it as best he could.

The blade punched into his stomach. Angel’s body jerked and there was a sharp pinch in his stomach as Reave drove the weapon in deeper. Warmth trickled out from his body through the growing wound, pooling around him. His arms grew cold and shivers racked him. Angel was dimly aware of Reave pulling at his arm and purple lightning crackling around them, but his attention span was quickly fading.

With his free hand, he scrabbled weakly for his travel pack. Every movement felt delayed, as if his body was unable to process his requests as fast as his brain sent them. Reave paid him no mind as Angel finally worked it open and pushed his hand inside, his desperate fingers finding a small orb and wrapping around it.

Reave snarled as purple energy crackled even brighter, forcing the man back. “You will bend to my will, Star Fragment, but you will perish alongside your host if you refuse to depart his frail body. Your time runs thin.”

Angel’s hand shook as he brought the core that had once belonged to the huge bandit captain up to the seeping wound in his stomach. With a grunt, he pushed it inside. It wasn’t exactly eating the core, but it would have to do.