After our little misadventures in Yunaris, August and I went to Tyrr, the elven country in Jynnak. Steyza jumped as we suddenly appeared. Her glass of wine fell and broke. “The feathers of Phoenix! Dammit Eric! Please, please use the door!”

“I love you too, honey,” I hugged her, which was only returned after around thirty long seconds of awkward contact. “I’m glad you realised I wasn’t gonna let you go until you hugged back.” I cast Levitate, “Now where’s my kiss?”

After a little peck, she really embraced me, her emotions finally showing themselves. I felt like a little kid being hugged by his mom.

I took her back to Methelia for a few days. I wanted to see Anjali and I’m certain August was missing Melissa and Tara like crazy. He cast Windsail and headed right home without a word of goodbye.

We arrived at night, and I couldn’t help my silliness. So, I decided to be a good wife for Anjali and put on some lingerie before she returned to the master bedroom. Donna was chuckling like crazy whilst she awaited in Voidwalk. Finally, Anjali entered, with her lovely little hump in front; it’s been a little more than three months since she extracted my life essence after all.

I gave her the perfect pose and immediately, she began cackling. I’d never heard her laugh like that. It was so amazing even I began laughing. Bianca came to have a look and her face went from disgusted to whimsical to maliciously grinning. She eventually laughed out too; and so did Mom.

“Can’t a man have some sexy time without being ridiculed in this house?” I transmuted on some normal clothes and greeted my people. Sleeping cushioned between Anjali and Steyza that night, I couldn’t help but feel happy.

But even though we came back to Methelia, we’d have to leave soon. The next morning, I felt like Melissa wanted to kill me after I told her I’d need August again for five days. I planned to have him undergo the crystal shard mana powerup. He already had his first mana powerup from Hethekk, and passed with little to no effort; or at least it looked like that. In truth, I was really curious as to how he passed a test that required you to overcome your worst fears so easily. The man must’ve had a will stronger than Phoenix.

Alas, we finally went to the spirit world. The spirit lords, feeling my presence, visited me whilst on the lone island where the crystal shards grew. Hydra clung to me like glue, naked as ever. Kor’zha gave me a little nod to acknowledge my presence. Gale played with the fiery little bird that formed from the flame on my left hand. As usual, Tarit remained on his lonesome and simply sat and observe, much like Hethekk did when he appeared.

Qora and Melissa sat with August and Vena conversed with Arcana on the side. It seemed that ever since I made contact with the spirit lords in the spirit void, the draconic spirit lords became better acquainted with them. It reminded me of what Vena said about Arcana being bored, but too prideful to show it. So, I put my question in a way that made it look like I was the one needing her, not helping her, “How’s about it, Arcana? I’d really love your insight on things in my adventures.”

She looked to Hethekk, her trusty right-hand man and he merely shrugged. It looked like he was concerned only with surviving Apollyon. Reluctantly, as if pretending to do me a favour, she made the contract with me.

After some time chatting with everyone, it was August’s turn to suffer incessantly for five days straight. Two clones and myself surrounded him, sitting comfortably in meditative positions. Another clone stood on the outskirts to simply monitor the situation. The three of us sitting around him were purely there to heal him. Finally, August swallowed the crystal shard and immediately laid down. His face began to contort in a few seconds.

I advised everyone to leave; this sight was not something one would take pleasure in seeing, nor was it something August wanted others seeing. Despite being his best friend, I would’ve opted to be absent if there was another whose healing could keep up with the crystal shard’s breakdown of the body. The spirit lords all left the more he yelped in pain, but not Qora. Donna warped everyone back to Methelia and she herself didn’t come back. After seeing what I went through with the crystal shard, she couldn’t stomach another.

One clone began channelling Vivify, and so the first day of torture ended, and the second began. His body became so venous, his grip on the stress ball so intense that he ruptured the seventh one. Qora sat next to him, her face a mere head turn away from August. We were both beacons of relief for him, with our mere presence. She tried her best to keep her tears bottled tightly throughout the second day.

On the third, the body began its excretion process. I transmuted the waste away, as well as the blood that would appear on the surface of his skin. Near the end of the third day, my second clone joined in with Vivify after consuming a mana potion.

The fourth day heralded jerks in his body’s movement and I figured his nervous system was being redone at that point. I was quite curious to see what his mind would look like with mind manipulation but admittedly, I was scared to find out.

His hair began falling off with each twist of his head and he entered into the fifth day with a scalp that could reflect the sun’s brilliance. Using mana perception during the past few days, I could see places like his muscle, bones and other tissues being replaced with replicas that had mana. Of course, seeing that on a cellular level was impossible, but at least I confirmed the crystal shards’ effects. It certainly did destroy all cells and replace them with mana-embedded ones, basically allowing mana to reside in every part of your body. With this, his mana pool wouldn’t need to increase in order to use Clone. He could attain Division with a little practise.

Finally, late into the last day, he fell asleep, his body having a nice and well-deserved rest.

Half a day later, he awoke with a dumbfounded look about him. Qora didn’t wait a second before she wrapped her arms around him. In reflex, I nearly stopped her from doing that, as I viewed him as a sick person. But this was August we were talking about. “How you feelin’, man?”

He sat up, Qora being lifted up with his movement. His arm wrapped around her, “Weird, dude, weird. But uh,” he smiled at the spirit lord, “never better.”

“Good,” I said, very relieved to see him make it through. It looked like only two clones were needed, and I’d bet one would suffice if Purist was used. Without wasting too much time, we returned him home. Melissa couldn’t help but laugh at him. A bald August was certainly new. But knowing what he just went through personally, I couldn’t even fake a smile. His servants welcomed him home, and Tara was quite happy to see him as well. She stuck to him like a leech.

When I returned home myself, Aaralyn and Steyza sat down, one having tea and the other having wine. “Lyn, I’m glad she didn’t corrupt you with her wine addiction,” I joked and joined them on the sofa, resting my head on Steyza’s lap. They began chatting again, but I fell asleep so quickly I couldn’t remember what kind of conversation they were having.

~

Aldis, that old coot, somehow even he caught wind of our little duel plan.

August obviously wanted to test what he was capable of now. So, I told the eager blacksmith – should I even call him that anymore? – that we’d need a lot of space for a duel. Aldis’ knowledge of this probably stemmed from Donna telling Kira, a fellow disciple. From Kira, it floated around to Volt and Violet, then to Pyro of course. And Pyro’s a chatterbox, so he had to let the whole world know that the two heroes of Methelia were going to have a duel.

August’s household, as well as mine, along with most of the Order gathered in the fields between our estates. Vena even told her fellow spirit lords back in the spirit void. Hell, the news spread so fast that Sek’hana and many of the Ingen tribe, including Neth and the seven mystics flew over as quickly as they could.

August and I sat patiently, waiting on the midday sun and by extension, other spectators to gather. “It was supposed to be a small duel,” August sat on a beach chair with a wide umbrella over us.

“Now I’ll just feel guilty if we start before time. People even have snacks like this is a show,” I chuckled.

August leaned back and relaxed, “It’s not like they’ll be able to see anything.”

A clone of mine tended to close friends and family. Whilst many battlemages and soldiers formed a protective barricade of sorts around Farron Maxwell and Gabrielle Maxwell, the king and princess of Methelia. Was this blown way out of proportion? Yes, yes it was.

Finally, the time came for us to begin. August and I had long agreed to hold nothing back, and should one of us be fatally injured, we’d each have an individual clone of mine cast Eden through the Light Links they created in us.

August summoned his iridescent longsword, and I actually left my staff with Vena; it would be nought but a bother. Pyro did the honours for us, and let loose a small display of fire to signal the start of our duel.

August’s sword was removed from lying snuggly on his shoulder to being pointed directly upward in front of him. He wasn’t joking around. That gesture urged me to activate all Avatar buffs, all God spells, and stacked Timedial the maximum number of times I could – ten. It almost looked like time stopped. But August? He laughed in the face of that spell.

He burst forward, catching up to me in a mere second or two, and swung down at my shoulder. Timedial allowed me to see his movements, and Avatar of Lightning afforded me the reflexes I needed. I stepped out of his sword’s path and hit Frost Trap. Barely any ice formed around his feet. That damn magic resistance was annoying! He slammed a kick into my side and I pitched far away, my ribs shattered like flimsy glass.

Renew brought it back under control. Magnet saved me from his other strike that I could hardly dodge while rolling uncontrollably, and Avatar of Wind put me in the air so that I might opt for Eden’s stronger healing effect rather than Renew.

He followed me into the air and I batted him down with Divergence, then used Retrace to reappear right next to him, resting an Ice Javelin on his chest. The ice attack was like an angry toddler punching his father because he didn’t get the candy he wanted. It broke apart upon contact with the blacksmith.

He clipped my ankles with his feet and tried to bring me down into an uppercut. Levitate stopped my fall and his punch missed its mark. Convergence pulled me back up but his feet clutched to me like a scorpion’s pincer. Your average spells were clearly worthless against this monster, so what was I to do?

I lit him up until his nerves began abandoning him. His muscles tensed from the Wrath of God’s black double-helix lightning bolts re-enacting a tumultuous storm and forcing me to close my eyes from the ridiculous luminance flickering from the deathly electricity. I got away, but the minute I floated off, he sprung onto his feet. Wrath of God was the second strongest lightning spell I had in my arsenal. A Wrath of God would instantly kill any of my previous enemies with overwhelming power to spare, but not him. Not August King.

He released a battle-cry and literally became twice as fast. His skin seemed to glow a faint yellow, like the sun. His whole aura changed. His focus alone scared me. No, wait, my body was absolutely petrified. Dispel and Eden was immediately activated, but the second I rid myself of his Mind Break and moved, his blade came down upon me, taking my arm clean off.

Divergence pelted him away and I grabbed my arm, dipping into Voidwalk and reattaching it with Eden. I flew far away from him and entered Invisibility within Voidwalk, then came out of Voidwalk. I could feel him immediately look in my direction, but I knew he saw nothing. His senses were ridiculously and astoundingly sharp. He was probably hearing my breath from nearly a village length away.

Arcane Missiles formed and assaulted him. Its strength was boosted by ten stacks of Purist. He tracked where they came from and easily dodged them. I was a fool to rely on a spell so slow, but something else was in the works as well. Whilst he rushed to me, my God of Earth and God of Water was put to use.

Quicksand, thick and dense water and earth barricades and several lightning bolts from manipulation that had their power output increased as far as I could tripped him up, but none hit him. This man was literally dodging lightning bolts. The Thunderstorm that gathered up clouds above made me wonder if it would be of any use.

He was on me now, his sword cutting like butter through anything I threw at it. Retrace put me out of his sight and Thunderstorm activated. He was bathed in lightning. It stunned him. In normal time-dilation, there would probably only be milliseconds separating when each bolt of lightning hit, making the spectators observe what seemed to be a constant stream of lightning from the blackened skies above. Even whilst being constantly shocked by my absolute strongest lightning spell and manipulated thunder bolts, the man was still inching closer and closer to me. My mana would be exhausted in about ten seconds in normal time flow if I kept that up.

August couldn’t be killed by lightning, my favourite element in draconic magic to use. I let up, and once I did, he sped to me again. Divergence was deftly dodged, despite being totally invisible. He was adapting to me. By now, we were both soaked by the rains from Thunderstorm. I flew backwards and he jumped, switching to Windsail to guide him. I summoned great blobs of water right in front of him, and the moment he entered one, I hardened it, making it as dense as possible. That wasn’t a direct spell, and therefore wasn’t subject to his magic resistance.

A ghastly chill swerved up my spine, and before it could even finish running along my entire spine, I felt the cold metal of August’s longsword swipe through me. Luckily, I was saved by Phoenix’s little girl. She must’ve been affected by Timedial as well, since she was literally connected to me when I used it.

August made a clone! But his clone’s attempts at falling me was subverted by a strong explosion from the little bird. I grabbed her and retreated to Voidwalk once again.

It was crystal clear I was losing this duel. I had to take a different route to defeating this man. Should I encounter an enemy like him, what to do? Unfortunately, those thoughts were merely secondary as I cast Eden to treat myself. I laughed weakly to myself, “He’s a damn beast, ain’t he?” I told the blazing bird.

My eyes opened in surprise. What’s she doing here? I wondered. Voidwalk was a spell that only allowed the user to enter the void and no one else, but new Phoenix was here. Does it have something to do with how we’re connected? Or did Vena’s manipulation shortcut cause this? I wondered, but choose to instead focus on the task at hand. I downed a mana, health, and strength potion.

Arctic Rage was my next go-to spell. The huge dome encompassed us but I used Magnet immediately to avoid its affects. The ice missiles began swarming to August, all breaking apart on contact. He swung, strike after strike after strike through Magnet. I wasn’t worried at first, but as it kept up, I began feeling his attacks were cutting through my body and a strange distortion was forming.

Not being sure what it was, I chose to fly away. The cold began getting to him after a while and his movements slowed ever so slightly. However, he gave chase and continued madly swinging his longsword through Magnet. The distortions were becoming even more apparent, until finally, after more than a hundred slashes, the spell literally broke. The next strike would see me dead if not for quick-witted and Purist-enhanced Mind Break. His body stiffened for a few seconds until his Dispel fought it off.

By the time he came out of it, my Arctic Rage made him a bit slower again. The frost began forming on his skin and clothes. He faced me, eyes converging on mine. I, however, kept an open ear for his clone, but it looked like he only used it when he himself was bound in some way. Making a clone in his current state would only replicate his affected body.

He knew he was losing the more he stalled. Arctic Rage’s indirect coldness was slowly working on him. He flung his sword at me with both arms. The weapon made rotations so fast it produced a strange sound, distracting me from his encroach after I moved out of the way with Avatar of Wind.

He grabbed me by the ankle and made sure I didn’t get chance to escape, then brought me down with all his might. I sank into a soft water bed, increasing in density with each layer to cushion my fall. Levitate alone wasn’t enough to soften my fall.

Even with padding and Levitate, I still smacked the ground so hard I almost lost consciousness. Pulling some stuff out my ass, I used wind manipulation to cause a lack thereof. He couldn’t breathe, but still slammed his fist into my shin, literally flattening that part of it and causing whatever was left of my leg below the strike zone to curl upward like a twig. It was excruciating!

Convergence began pulling him away, but he fought against it by straightening his fingers and ramming his hand deep into the earth, using it to hold on. Being frozen, unable to breathe and fighting against a vacuum, the man still managed to crawl upon me. In a panic, I used Voidwalk.

Much to my dismay, he came into the void as well, relieving him of every single effect that benefitted me before. He could now breathe, was free of the freezing temperatures and was in a normal field of gravity. My chest was his next target.

His fist opened my eyes to the danger. I returned us to the corporeal plane and the previous issues he had all returned in an instant, throwing him off and giving me enough time to redirect his punch’s trajectory with a strong gust of wind. Finally, Arctic Rage was beginning to really do damage. He balled his fist so hard, that his fingers fell off from being frostbitten. He now had a fingerless hand that was succumbing to the sub-zero temperatures.

Hydrotendrils grabbed him and flung him away, finally getting me out of that sticky situation. After weakening the soil that he buried an arm in, a combination of Hydrotendrils, Convergence, and a focused Divergence did the trick. He rolled uncontrollably, being able to breathe again as he was out of the air-less zone.

August’s health regeneration enchantments worked for both of us. My leg was healing back with the combined efforts of the enchantments and my own Eden. But all he had was said enchantments that fought a good fight against Arctic Rage’s constant freezing. I stacked Purist and attempted to deal with him, but I suddenly saw the world rotate. My body was cleaved in two, and August was there, breathing his last breaths.

We both passed out.