Phoenix, immediately after returning with me to the meadow, placed a buff on me. It made me immune to all burns and heat plus doubled the effectiveness of any fire spell. He then returned to his devils to take his place.

Gale flew to me soon after, gifting me with her own buff. Since when were these buffs a thing? I wondered, never knowing they had such an ace hidden. Hers granted me flight and doubled the strength of wind spells. Hydra’s buff would be able to redirect most incoming kinetic energy outward my body, so a punch would amount to nil. Plus, there was the usual doubling of water spells.

Kor’zha’s buff was a bit different, setting a passive increase to my constitution. My body’s toughness had doubled, but the improvement to earth spells was only a meagre twenty-five percent increase. However, unlike the other buffs, his was permanent.

I had no clue how to coordinate an attack with the many creatures I saw about the place, but with Tarit’s lightning spiralling out of control, I had to do something. Kor’zha, the commander of this coalition by default due to his calm nature, told me something very direct and simple.

“You are our best bet at beating him. The Avatar buffs combined should place you above the strength of all present. A group spell is certainly strong; however, some elements kill each other, axing our strength in half. We’re not going to pretend to know how to work together. If one group notices that you attack with their element, they will aid you as best they can.”

I nodded at him, clenching a fist and breathing slowly.

“One other thing, Eric,” Kor’zha warned, “do not attack to subdue. Attack to kill. This is for your own good.” The twin-tailed warrior of the sands slipped beneath the earth, whilst his golem warriors stayed their course.

The tiger was prowled, confused, scared, angry, a plethora of emotions running about him, and as his emotions tumbled atop one another, his bolts of lightning struck away at random places, falling trees easily.

“I can feel that you don’t want me to help, so I won’t, if I don’t have to. I know that you know leaving this fight unscathed is impossible, however, I will still tell you. You will, undoubtedly, suffer grievous injuries, if you survive at all.”

Yeah, I walked toward the black tiger, I can’t die. Not now. I knew perfectly well, dodging a bolt of lightning was near impossible, and so, I had to fight with a sheeting of ice surrounding me. One thick enough for Tarit’s attacks to be blocked, but thin enough to allow me the sight I needed, but I was no fool. Despite everyone’s clear rush into the matter, I viewed Tarit’s immobility as his very attempt to fight his own power, to fight whatever was making him lash out.

I sat down in meditation, ice of course surrounding me. I used Clone and had only about three minutes until my mana fully regenerated. My body wasn’t a floppy mess like last time, as my mana pool had increased enough to disallow any adverse effects. At that time, I also hadn’t attained Division, which I questioned whether or not my clone had.

“Yeah, I got it,” my clone answered.

“I will utilise the flight from the Avatar of Wind, you’ll use Purist and go crazy.”

“That’s a stupid idea,” my clone snapped, reminding me how much I needed to improve my personality. “You’re worried about getting struck and dying, but all you gotta do is put enough ice around you and maintain a movement-less flight in the middle of it so whatever electricity is conducted through the ice would have no effect on you. Was I always such an idiot?” he asked. How uncouth, that mouth of his–or mine.

“Okay, makes sense. I’ll try my best to cover you then,” I said, knowing his idea was the better one. With ice, I covered myself in a sphere. With one look at my clone, we gave each other one nod, knowing fully well what this fight would need to be one, yet we were unsure of the exact consequence of committing so much to victory. But I didn’t give a damn, my name was Eric Archibald after all.

My clone and I bumped fists, keeping a connection and casting Timedial together so we could share the distortion of time, then casting it once more to double the effects, then again to triple it. We stopped then, seeing the ebb and flow of the grass around us, seeing the very breathing of those that surrounded us. He took off, flying toward Tarit using Avatar of Wind. I opted for Levitate instead of Avatar of Wind to keep me in the centre of the ice and casted Purist then.

Within just a second, a blinding jolt of electricity came from the skies and struck down upon my ice. The top of it was broken and shattered easily. Thankfully, I formed another Ice Wall after Tarit’s failure to mount a follow-up attack. My clone’s proximity distracted the enraged tiger as well, affording me some leeway to bind the lightning spirit lord in a Frost Trap. My clone was just a metre away from stabbing Tarit with an Ice Javelin, but the tiger turned into a bolt of lightning and reappeared just behind my clone, its fangs ready to bite into his neck. Without so much as looking back, my clone casted the third level of Divergence around himself, pushing away the tiger so far away that it ended up right next to one of Phoenix’s devils. The fiery apparition aimed the skull in its hand toward the wildcat and out of the jaw came a horrifyingly strong breath of fire, absolutely scorching the ground where Tarit once was after uncontrollably rolling to the devil from the strong pushback of level three Divergence.

But again, it zipped away as a bolt of lightning and slashed its claw at the devil, sharpened to the limit with lightning’s destructive power, it cut right through the engulfed leg of the attacking devil. By then, my clone was once again within melee range. The tiger was about to zip away again when it realised the danger, but that attempt was thwarted when I used Convergence and pulled his body off balance just at the right time, effectively cancelling the escaping skill that Tarit seemed so fond of.

An Ice Javelin grazed the tiger’s side, failing to impale its tough fur. Now at point-blank range, my clone released a Phoenix Wave and lit the tiger on fire. It growled in pain. Taking advantage of this momentary lapse, Kor’zha jumped out of the ground beneath Tarit, grabbing the tiger in one of its giant pincers and bringing a stinger down, only to be shocked into paralysation. A deafening roar escaped the beast’s month, one of clear fury. Lightning crackled about its body.

The signature double-helix appearance of Arm of God split from the skies above and struck down at my clone, going through an impromptu Ice Wall I placed above his head with the greatest of ease, but somehow being redirected at the final moment. The clone, in his freedom of indifferent spellcasting, had just unlocked level two Convergence out of sheer desperation and quick thinking. He had just learned a void spell in the midst of heated battle and employed it on another spell! The moment he did it, I knew that the second level of Convergence was all about manipulating spells into the ethereal plane. Convergence treated magic as if magic was affected by gravity like every other tangible thing and sucked it into the ethereal plane.

Tarit’s Arm of God, or quite possibly another spell entirely by the black look of the lightning, hit the ground instead of continuing down to strike at my clone’s head. A quick, unavoidable discharge of electricity right around the immediate area sent my clone into a stunned mode. The tiger’s mouth bit down on his shoulder. I deactivated Purist and flew right into the melee, getting up underneath the tiger and casting Divergence, coming to quickly regret that decision as I could’ve simply stabbed the beast with an Ice Javelin and ended the fight. Instead, Tarit’s buried fangs ripped away a junk of my clone’s flesh and caused him to yelp in agony.

I returned to my immobile state in Purist. Suddenly, dozens of Arm of God spells rained down onto everyone gathered. It was a massacre. Bodies fell like flies. Phoenix’s devils were no more. Kor’zha’s golems were but barely moving piles of dirt. Just about a couple of Gale’s warriors didn’t immediately die. Of course, I protected the spirit lords as best I could, but the only fighters that survived without my help were the aquatic ones under Hydra. I’m not sure what they were made of, but they survived despite being temporarily paralysed.

“You’re in some dark waters, kid,” Donna commented, she herself wondering what to do.

Dark… Dark! Of course! Where could Tarit possible zip to if he was encased entirely in earth? All I had to do was restrict his choice of escape, but what then? Despite it being a flawed plan, it should’ve at least afforded me a sliver of time to gather my thoughts. Without a moment to spare, I casted Earth Wall. It was a double layer of extremely dense soil with a slab of stone in the middle, much stronger than Ice Wall with the disadvantage of not being transparent. I made a cuboid out of the walls, ensuring that a side was missing and placed a Convergence spell right there, pulling the tiger into it. My clone, taking advantage of level three Divergence’s locational freedom, placed one right at the airborne tiger, pushing him even faster into the Earth Walls. The minute the tiger entered, I placed the last Earth Wall up, encasing him completely and ensuring light can’t get in or out.

I’m not sure what my clone was thinking at this point, but he sent an Ice Javelin into the air, controlling its direction with many casts of Convergence, just like how the Ingen orcs flew on their gliders. Following that, were dozens more Ice Javelins. Just seconds before any of them hit, he placed some strange void spell atop the point of entry, and I could tell right away what his plan was. He planned to use level two Convergence as a conduit for the Ice Javelin to bypass the topmost Earth Wall by entering the ethereal plane and returning to the corporeal one just soon enough so it would strike the tiger. After some attempts, we finally got one in, but that obviously missed.

I tried my best to keep the Earth Walls intact as Tarit bombarded the inside with lightning spells, but because they were all connected to the soil below, the electricity was grounded quite efficiently. Eventually though, after a dozen or so tries, we finally got the damned beast impaled with an Ice Javelin. Others soon joined in, piercing the resilient constitution of Tarit. I released the Earth Walls when I felt it safe a minute or so later. Tarit was down, breathing slowly.

The highly dangerous field of electricity now grew into a calm but windy atmosphere. “Dude, what was with you all these years?” I asked the fallen tiger.

“I, bow to no human!” He lashed out in a painful grunt.

“You’re a fucking idiot, then!” Phoenix commented, taking on his human form as the other spirit lords and approached. “All four of us lords are in contracts with him, but do you see us grovelling at his feet, you damn wildcat? None of us were forced into a contract! This broad,” he pointed at Hydra, “likes him to the point where she initiated the contract! Now you’re telling me after all these years he tried to talk to you, that’s your reason for running away?!”

Phoenix was more pissed than anyone else and I wasn’t sure why. Or perhaps they all were angered at Tarit, but Phoenix simply couldn’t keep his rage hidden.

“Calm yourself, Phoenix,” Gale stooped near the tiger, “for this, is not Tarit.” Just as she said that, a strange green energy was released from the tiger and quickly dissipated.

We all took a step back in caution, but alas, nothing further happened. “Where, am I?” the tiger asked, looking as confused as could be.

No way, you’re telling me he was under some mind control spell all these years? Suddenly, my clone disappeared, and so did every Avatar buff except Avatar of Earth. I felt like there was a hole inside me, inside my mind. I tried casting Levitate, but it was just a poof. So, that’s the effect of a triple Timedial with Division. No physical backlash, but my ability to use mana is totally gone. Interesting. I wasn’t too worried. Somehow or the other, I knew it would only be a couple days until I could cast spells again.

“You’re near-death in a random meadow of your faction because you went out of control again. But this time, you were leaving your faction and crossing into Gale’s,” Hydra pointed out, already concluding what I summed up about mind control magic being placed on him.

“Forgive me, lords. It was as if I slept for years, only having a flash of what was going on as if it was a dream. You are Eric, correct? Form the contract with me. I should be immune to that type of spell under a contract.”

“Man, I had to try killing you to form a contract. That’s harsh, dude. But,” I shrugged playfully, “I cast a forbidden spell three times, I’ve lost connection with my mana so I can’t do shit right now.”

Donna came out, “Make a temporary contract with me until he gets his mana back.” Tarit, along with the other lords gave expressions akin to a raised brow.

“Relax, guys. This is my friend and master, Do–”

“And lover, Donna.” she inputted, amalgamating the titles into a rather conundrum-inducing view.

Hydra sought to heal those that didn’t die, pretending she didn’t hear that last part. Dawn really was the shining beacon of relief when relating to normalcy amongst the women in my life. I’d been away from Aquan for a while now and I was, admittedly, missing her a little.

After Donna formed the contract with the weakened Tarit, Hydra healed him back to normal. He was apparently under the strange mind control spell for a rather long time. That’s why he ran away from me so many times. “Good to know I’m not repulsive,” I commented before Donna warped us back into the palace gardens of Endathal.

It was around midday when we returned. Gabrielle was having a meal with one of her servant friends when we returned. She invited us to eat as well, to which I of course accepted. Donna was telling her about what happened in the spirit world with Tarit, whilst I remained unusually quiet. Midway through my meal, darkness encroached my peripheral vision and I blacked out, my face making a nosedive directly into the plate of food.

When I came to, I was in some random room of the castle. It was already night, but I knew not how far into the night it was. My stomach rumbled, hungry to devour something, anything. I tried conjuring some warm croissants, only to be reminded of my scampering mana pool. “Ugh,” I grunted in annoyance and proceeded to get up. The first guard I saw was questioned to where the kitchen or pantry was. I had my fill of raw cabbage, carrots and a couple fruits here and there. The hell am I, a horse?

My hunger was staved off for a couple hours, and then it returned in full glory. I don’t know where Donna was, nor Gabrielle, but I guessed they were together. Even the king wasn’t on his throne, so I guessed it was pretty late at night. However, nightlife seemed to be booming around the capital, and if there was alcohol, there would be food. I took the coin purse that was in my room. Why the hell am I so hungry all the time?

Not even caring for any booze despite it tantalisingly flaunting itself in front of me, I opted to get some grub in a nearby steakhouse. I ate enough for around three people, paid, left the denizens of Endathal in their celebrations and proceeded back to the palace. But, walking back, I blacked out again.

The beautiful singing of birds awoke me. A pleasant, comforting light peeked through the window from the sun, but a slightly unpleasant smell assaulted my nostrils. I laid on a bed, in a hospital, monitored by magic constructs built to sound an alarm at irregularly body conditions. So many questions bounced around my mind, but the biggest one was what I’d do to calm this raging stomach.

I discharged myself, thanking the heavens my coin bag was still with me–though, it weighed a little lighter, probably for medical expenses. Apparently, some people found me last night and carried me to the hospital because I wouldn’t wake up. Such nice folks in Endathal.

I bought some breakfast on the street that morning, which looked like enough to call lunch, and tried my hardest to resist eating in fear of passing out again. So, I walked forth to the palace, haplessly trying to contact Donna but I needed mana to talk to her when she was outside of me.

Eventually, my stomach won me over with its gurgling. I was frothing at the mouth in anticipation of eating those sandwiches. I, uh, might’ve bought about two, or three, maybe four.

I ate one, just one, but that only increased my appetite, making matters worse. I sincerely hoped I wouldn’t black out from just that and decided to jog the rest of the way to the palace. Can’t pass out whilst jogging, right? Wrong! I woke up once more, seated against the wall of a nearby building with a few people gathered around me. Of course, I thanked them profusely for watching over me, and embarrassingly made my way back to the castle. Just how dangerous is eating?! I asked, walking through the courtyard and washing the long scrapes and bruises I got from falling whilst jogging. I vowed then, to only eat when in bed, but overwhelming hunger broke that feeble vow the minute I was close enough to entering the palace. The other sandwiches were swallowed like I myself was made of void.

Finally, back in the castle, I made my way to my quarters, deciding to use the dining hall as a shortcut, and what did I see? Farron, Gabrielle, and Donna happily chatting away over breakfast.

We made eye contact and she got up, as if only just remembering my existence. I sprinted forth, my rage boiling, and formed a picturesque display of unequalled beauty in the form of a dropkick. “You bitch!” I yelled out, shocking the king and princess, along with the guards that were about the room after connecting to her beautiful face with my feet, “I’m out there in the streets, starving, having misadventures and passing out all over the place! And you’re here eating?!” Was this what Mary felt like when she saw Flynn eating with Sek’hana and Neth?

Farron’s food got stuck in his throat at the scene, he had to wash it down with some juice before he could even get up to say anything. “I, uh,” Donna shrugged, “kind of forgot to check on you?” A nervous giggle followed afterward.

I could only sigh as she got up, rubbing her face. I got up soon afterward.

“Whilst I understand your friendliness to each other,” the king’s voice somewhat held anger in it, “I need not remind you that she is roya–” he stopped and I suddenly felt arms hug around my stomach from behind. The world suddenly blurred as I shot upwards then immediately back down.

Did she just… I questioned myself after managing to brace the back of my head from her backdrop. “I can’t believe you just got up and left the castle like that! Hmph!” she folded her arms and looked away from me in fake-anger.

The king just sat back down in even more shock after she took her seat as if nothing happened. It didn’t take much long for them to realise I actually blacked out whilst on the ground again.