Ercale threw his arms up and wove lightning and astral energy together into a crackling barrier just as the beam slammed into him. The impact hit like a moving wall. He gritted his teeth, boots carving furrows into the street as he was forced backward, sparks ripping off the shield in violent arcs.
"This didn't work last time!" he snarled. "And weak as I am, I won't let it work this time either!"
Fracture-lines spiderwebbed across the barrier, lightning snapping wildly as the pressure mounted. Just before it could fully give way, a roaring wave of fire tore across the battlefield toward Arkanis.
The Demon Lord broke his attack without hesitation. He pivoted his staff, the astral beam cutting off instantly, and caught the flames mid-flight. The fire twisted, folded in on itself—and then reversed.
Amara's eyes widened as her own flames came screaming back at her. She reinforced her fire barrier just in time, heat washing over her as the redirected inferno blasted past and into the street behind her. Dozens of buildings vanished in seconds, reduced to drifting ash.
"Tch," she muttered, smoke curling around her. "How did he turn my flames around…?"
Arkanis's attention shifted to her, staff already angling—
"Twilight Annihilation!"
Samwell's shout split the air as the fused beam of light and darkness lanced down from above. Arkanis lifted his staff and caught it effortlessly, the energy dispersing against the astral construct like rain against glass. Without even looking up, he raised his free hand and traced a single, precise motion with his finger.
A razor-thin beam of astral energy flashed.
Samwell's right arm and shoulder were severed cleanly.
"Ugh!" He dropped from the sky, slamming into rubble below, clutching his bleeding side as he immediately began forcing water magic through himself to stay conscious.
Annabel didn't hesitate. Lightning and wind surged together as she hurled twin lightning tornadoes forward, spiraling and tearing at everything in their path.
Arkanis vanished.
He reappeared directly in front of her.
"You are frustrating," he said flatly.
His staff swung toward her head.
Clara crashed into him from the side, leaping in with a massive fire greatshield raised. The blow connected anyway. The force sent both women smashing into each other before they were hurled bodily into a half-collapsed building. The structure gave way completely, burying them in a cascade of stone and dust.
Arkanis turned—
Too late.
Ercale was already there.
A spinning kick, trailed by screaming arcs of lightning, whipped toward Arkanis's head. The Demon Lord raised his free hand to block—only for Ercale's leg to pass cleanly over his guard. Ercale landed on that same foot, twisted with the momentum, and drove a back kick straight into Arkanis's torso.
Lightning detonated point-blank.
Arkanis drifted backward several feet, boots never touching the ground.
"I suppose," he remarked calmly, "that is a field I will never improve in. Your close-quarters combat."
Ercale didn't answer. He surged forward again.
Arkanis slammed his staff down.
The street collapsed.
A gravity well bloomed outward from the point of impact, crushing and tearing everything around it. Stone ripped free from the ground, buildings buckled inward, walls imploded, and entire sections of the street were dragged screaming toward the center. Debris spiraled, twisted, and pulverized as the air itself warped under the pressure.
When the dust finally began to settle, Arkanis assessed the battlefield.
Amara had been far enough from the center to survive, her fire barrier barely holding as she staggered, visibly shaken. Annabel had taken the worst of it for both herself and Clara, erecting a complex, layered barrier that left her nearly drained, mana exhaustion etched into her posture. Samwell lay in the rubble, coughing as he forced healing through his mangled body just to stay alive.
And Ercale—
Ercale stood at the center.
Unscathed.
Arkanis tilted his head. "How?"
Ercale let out a short huff. "Like hell I'm explaining."
He had slipped into his shadow at the moment of impact, avoiding the gravity well entirely—something his original body never could have done so cleanly. He raised his fists, lightning crackling around them.
"You talk about being stronger, Arkanis," he said, stepping forward. "But let me tell you the mistake in your mindset."
Blitzkrieg.
He vanished.
Ercale slammed into Arkanis in a storm of motion, fists hammering into his chest again and again before he slipped behind him. Lightning erupted across every point of impact, chaining violently.
"Just because I got weaker," Ercale shouted, "doesn't mean you got stronger than me!"
Arkanis sighed, "Such arrogance." The head of his staff reshaped, stretching into a blade of pure astral energy as he turned and swung. Ercale ducked beneath the cut and hurled a lightning bolt straight into the Demon Lord's face.
It barely did more than annoy him.
Ercale knew that.
He was stalling.
Then he heard it—the deep, structural crack of the coliseum.
"Finally!" Ercale exclaimed, turning his head just in time to see the Knight Commander vanish into the sky.
And then Violet's presence vanished as well.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Ercale snapped.
He turned back to Arkanis, jaw tight.
"Was that your plan going down the drain?" Arkanis asked mildly.
Ercale clicked his tongue. "Whatever. I don't need her. I'll just beat you to death myself!"
He rushed forward again, lightning flaring—
*Good luck to you,* Violet, he thought grimly. *Because the one you're about to fight is a lot more dangerous than even me…*