Mahon barely had time to raise his sword. Again, he placed his left hand on the blade to alleviate the power of the attack with both of his hands. When Varek’s burning shortsword reached him, he pivoted slightly to deflect it to the side.

Even though he had been prepared, and he did his best to disperse most of the strength, he still had to take one step back and his arms were left numb and shaking.

He didn’t have much time to ponder about his situation as Varek continued his mad assault. The dagger came at his blind spot, and without the Flow, Mahon relied on his fighting experience to dodge the blow.

Spinning his sword in a reverse grip, he counterattacked instantly after he had dodged, but Varek was already prepared and he blocked with his shortsword. The sorcerer only had to push a little to force Mahon back.

He is becoming even faster and stronger…

Mahon avoided another attack, feeling the intense heat of the flame scorching his skin as it passed too close. He sent three quick punches at Varek’s face, two with his empty hand and one with the hilt of his sword. Varek pivoted his shoulders and dodged them all, but he was now in an awkward posture.

The sorcerer made a wide swipe with his dagger to prevent Mahon from approaching closer, but Mahon tapped Varek’s wrist away with the flat of his hand. He followed with a quick kick in the chest, but the sorcerer didn’t even bulge. Instead, he smiled wickedly.

“You want more?” He shouted loudly to Mahon, and the next instant his flames rose even bigger on his weapons. He swiped at Mahon with both at the same time, and the latter had no other choice but to retreat two steps back.

He can still grow stronger?!

Varek followed by an increasingly complex attack-pattern that forced Mahon back again and again. The sorcerer was growing nimbler and fiercer with each attack, and Mahon had more and more trouble keeping him at bay.

Although plenty of moves had been exchanged, the whole scene had only lasted a few seconds since Varek’s fire magic went berserk, and Mahon barely had any time to think about what the sorcerer had said.

He grew so powerful all of a sudden. Is that because I stopped Flowing?

Mahon managed to dodge the dagger that came for his throat at lightning speed, and if not for his decades fighting for his life against Amentiae, he wouldn’t have a mind clear enough to think about how to turn the situation around while fighting off a powerful opponent.

Their strength and speed were now vastly different, but Mahon’s immense fighting experience was still just enough to compensate. For now.

Because as the fight progressed, the sorcerer was slowly becoming stronger and faster whereas Mahon could only grow more tired. If he did nothing to change his situation, the outcome would soon be to his disadvantage.

Should I abandon and let him do a shallow cut? Otherwise if I try something and fail, it would be too late to prevent him from killing me.

Attacks rained on Mahon, but he managed to avoid or deflect them all while counter attacking every time he could, keeping Varek’s at bay. His possibilities of comeback were growing thinner and thinner with each passing second.

I can’t give up while I fight for Siraye’s life. I need to end it now. The more I wait the less I’ll succeed.

Mahon pushed himself to his limits to duck under Varek’s blade as he immediately seized an opportunity. Pivoting around his free hand, he kicked at Varek’s legs. The sorcerer was quick enough to jump and avoid the blow, but while he was stuck in the air, waiting for gravity to call him back on the ground, Mahon stabbed with his sword.

Varek blocked with his dagger easily, but the blow sent him two steps back, and Mahon pushed his advantage. He rushed behind and swiped at Varek’s throat with a powerful move.

The sorcerer sneered and parried again, but Mahon had already started to rotate on himself. His sword slid along Varek’s shortsword, and Mahon continued to turn unimpeded. Grabbing the sword with his other hand, Mahon suddenly accelerated and completed a turn by swiping again with his sword, at a slightly different angle.

Caught by surprise, Varek had just enough time to move his weapon to parry again. But with a full rotation, Mahon’s blow was much more explosive than his previous one, and Varek’s sword got deflected ever so slightly.

Again.

Mahon didn’t stop his rotation, and switching his hand again, he sped up even more and swiped a third time at Varek. The angle of the attack was such that Varek’s previously deflected weapon had even more trouble blocking it, and it was deflected even further.

Almost.

Reaching his maximum speed, Mahon finished his second spin when he suddenly switched his target. Instead of aiming for the throat, he attacked Varek’s left leg, which was the hardest to defend given Varek’s actual position. By consecutively deflecting his shortsword away, Mahon had created a gap he could now exploit.

Varek was too strong for Mahon to create a bigger opportunity and aim for a killing spot, but, fortunately, the duel only required him to draw some blood. His sword cut deeply into Varek’s leg before the sorcerer could move away.

The injury was too severe to avoid blood from flowing out. A few droplets fell straight to the ground, but before Mahon could even claim his victory, Varek roared loudly. All of a sudden, the droplets burst into flames and evaporated before even touching the ground. The injury also ignited, and the magic fire seemed to be slowly closing the wound, preventing any more blood from pouring out.

The referee had his mouth still open, ready to call the end of the fight, when he witnessed the scene with a shocked look.

“You’re quite something, aren’t you?” Varek growled, and his pale face showed he had to expend a lot of energy to accomplish such a feat. “But now you really pissed me off.”

The man’s skin was becoming so red from the fire magic that it was almost starting to fume. In a flash, it was at Mahon’s side and sent a punch straight at his face. Mahon got just enough time to turn his head to neglect most of the blow, but it still hit him. He was sent three meters backwards, and Mahon rolled before standing back up, in fighting position.

Varek was already rushing at him, his weapons leaving burning black fumes in their path. Mahon had trouble following the sorcerer, and he reflexively activated his Flow to cope with the man’s speed.

No!

He had reacted instinctively to the situation, but it was actually working against him. The Flow blinded him for an instant as he was still focused on Varek when he used It, and Mahon had no other choice but to retreat as fast as he could.

Even a fraction of a second of inattention was enough for Varek to end his life in their fast-paced combat, and he couldn’t afford to make such a mistake. Thankfully, he hadn’t got any time to dive deep in the Flow, and so the disturbance only lasted for an instant before he was back in the fight.

Unlike what he had thought, however, Varek was still a fair distance from him when he got a clear sight of the man. The sorcerer’s appearance had completely changed. His skin wasn’t as red as before, and his burning weapons' flames were flickering as if a powerful breeze was trying to shut them off.

My Flow is strong enough to snuff him out?

Varek had stopped running to Mahon and looked at his weapons with a surprised look. An instant later, the flames stabilized and Varek turned his head to Mahon with a frown.

“What did you do?”

Mahon wasn’t listening to the man, though. He had noticed a single drop of blood slowly going down Varek’s leg. The injury that was previously cauterizing itself with fire had stopped half of the way and some blood was leaking from it. It quickly ignited back as Varek’s fire magic got steadier.

That’s it! The path to victory.

The long fight had already taken quite a toll on Mahon, and especially since he hadn’t been able to use the Flow. Varek was becoming too strong and too fast, and even though Mahon had relied on his terrific control ability to reverse the battle a couple of times, it hadn’t been enough. He was also becoming too exhausted to try again.

Without any other choice, Mahon gambled everything on his next move. As Varek charged him at full speed, he focused intently on the sorcerer with his Flow. Diving deeper and deeper, he fought against the backlash and his pounding headache. Clenching his jaws, he tried as hard as he could to see Varek through his Flow.

He pushed against the strong current trying to eject him from the rhythm world. Subconsciously, Mahon was contracting all his muscles to resist the disturbances caused by Varek’s magic. The harder he focused, the clearer Varek’s silhouette started to get, but a slight instant of inadvertence, and the fire pushed back to blur everything it could.

Mahon fought with everything he had. A drop of blood slowly flowed down from his nose, but he didn’t notice. All his attention was focused on the rhythm emitted from Varek. It was like trying to listen to a melody right near a waterfall. The uproar of the latter engulfed any other sound.

To Mahon’s senses, the very same was happening. The wildfire of Varek’s magic was so strong and chaotic it masked every other rhythm. And yet from time to time, a different note reached Mahon, like a distant call for help, lost in the raging blaze.

Plunging so deeply, he risked a severe backlash should he fail to control his Flow, Mahon clang to the weak, unreachable rhythm like his life depended on it. And it probably was.

Although time seemed to last forever as he focused on his Flow, barely half a second had passed in the real world. Varek was still rushing towards to kill him.

In order to focus entirely on his Flow, Mahon had shut down his other senses, and he could only rely on the Flow to gauge Varek’s advance. Only he hadn’t a single instant to spare to the thought or he would lose the thin thread leading him to Varek’s true rhythm.

Going all in and risking it all, Mahon had given up any idea of defending himself to pursue the weak beating sound barely surviving under the ocean of devouring fire.

And then, as a musician singling out a specific instrument in a full orchestra, the ferocious wildfire turned silent as Varek’s true rhythm came to life louder and louder.

The effects were immediate through Mahon’s Flow.

At first, it was only Varek’s outline, but as Mahon’s will refused to give up, the blur stabilized and became clearer and clearer. From the edges, Varek’s hands and feet appeared first. Then his legs, arms and head emerged from the disturbance one after the other. And then in a flash, his whole body came into light for an instant before everything disappeared again, and Mahon got ejected forcefully from the Flow.

The backlash was so severe that his true sight showed signs of collapsing as his brain failed to withstand the blast. Through his half-closed eyes, he still managed to see Varek standing two meters away from him, in complete shock. Any traces of fire had disappeared from his skin, and his weapons looked just like normal ones.

To the side, the referee was shouting something that Mahon couldn’t hear, but he pointed to the ground with his finger while raising his other hand to the sky as if to stop the fight. In a last struggle, Mahon followed the direction he was pointing too.

Varek’s leg injury had leaked some blood, and droplets had already tainted red the ground below him.

I’ve won.

Given Varek’s pissed off face, however, Mahon refused to give in to his body’s needs and collapse. He had won the duel, but he was far from safe right now. As he was swaying dangerously on his weak legs, a shoulder came to support him from the side and Jorik’s voice reached him as if it came from a place very far away.

“I got you.”

It seems it was enough of a safe signal for his brain to shut down completely, and Mahon couldn’t see anything for a short second before he lost his consciousness.