Alex. Now face-to-face in the open, Alex stood calmly, cradling Voltbrand, his weapon of choice, in both hands. His face was unreadable, not a flicker of fear in his eyes. As Thunderbird charged, Alex began to move.
From a steady walk, to a brisk stride, then a sprint, his pace surged with every step. In less than two seconds, he was moving at full speed, streaking toward the oncoming beast.
A year ago, he would've turned and run. But not anymore. This time, he met the Fiendfyre head-on.
With both hands gripping his blade, Alex slashed downward. Lightning exploded from the weapon, forming a jagged arc of power that extended several meters long. The bolt struck the fiery tiger square in the chest, slicing it clean in two.
The massive beast split apart with a deafening crack, its flames dissipating into the air.
Without missing a beat, Alex pivoted, spun his sword in a practiced flourish, and unleashed a flurry of strikes. Each movement sent out another blade of energy, sword auras bathed in silver light, sharper and faster than before. Every one of them carried the terrifying power of an upgraded Scissura Astralis.
Thunderbird's fury turned to shock. 'He cut my Fiendfyre in half… just like that?!'
That spell, the cursed flame in tiger form, was one of his most devastating weapons. A year ago, Alex couldn't even look at it without fleeing. And now?
Now he'd destroyed it with a single strike.
Thunderbird stared at the sword in Alex's hands, a new fear creeping in.
That weapon… it radiated pure magical pressure, unlike anything he'd felt before. And Alex, he wasn't just stronger, his power had soared since their last encounter. 'What the hell happened to this kid? What kind of potion did he take?'
But right now, Thunderbird didn't have the luxury of thinking. The sword lights in front of his eyes came fast and fierce, flashing toward him in the blink of an eye.
Even though panic had momentarily clouded his mind, and his body throbbed with pain from the earlier explosion, Thunderbird's instincts honed through years of battle still kicked in. His aspen wand, swept through the air in a sudden arc. A blade of Fiendfyre burst forth from its tip, shaped like a curved hellish sword of blue flame.
Without hesitation, he slashed toward the incoming sword auras, expecting them to disintegrate the moment they met his conjured fire. But things didn't go the way he thought.
The crescent-shaped sword didn't vanish. Instead, they clashed head-on with the Fiendflame, sparks flying with each impact. The wild energy within them didn't die out. They pressed in fiercely, matching the ferocity of Thunderbird's flame blade and even resisting it.
What kind of spell was this? How could it be so strong?
Thunderbird's arm jolted from the force, and a sharp pain shot through his wrist and the web of his thumb. His grip tightened, face tightening with alarm. His original plan had been to cut down these sword attacks quickly, then strike back at Alex, but it was taking all he had just to block them.
By the time the last wave of sword slash was barely deflected, Alex had already closed the distance.
Now, with only a few meters between them, Alex wasted no time. He swung Voltbrand, a cold gleam in his eyes. The long sword sliced through the air, crackling with electricity as it surged forward with a loud hum, aiming straight for Thunderbird's weak points.
The blade shimmered, extending several meters in length like it had during the mountain battle near the centaur camp. Blue plasma bubbled along its surface, dripping and flickering like a living current.
Thunderbird raised his wand and summoned Ferrum Ignis again, trying to meet the blow head-on. But after the explosion earlier, his body was sluggish. He wasn't in top form, and up close, Alex's swordsmanship was ruthless and unrelenting.
The two clashed in a storm of sparks and snarling lightning. But it was clear Thunderbird was struggling. Within ten seconds, he had already taken multiple hits, slashes that cut deep or pierced through his defenses. The protective scarlet shield around him rippled and cracked under the assault, the electric fury hammering it over and over.
It wouldn't last much longer.
'No, something's wrong,' Thunderbird realized, gritting his teet'h as another pulse of pain shot up his arm.
'This brat's magic… it's stronger than before. Way stronger. He can go toe-to-toe with me now. And that sword, every time it hits, it draws magic out of my fiendfyre like it's draining me. And his technique... Merlin's beard, he's fighting like a professional duelist.'
Thunderbird knew he couldn't keep this up. His arms were aching, his spells growing weaker. He had to get some distance, fast. If he stayed in melee range, this wasn't going to end well for him.
But Alex didn't let up. After parrying Thunderbird's blade with a crushing downward swing, Alex twisted, fluid and precise. He passed the Voltbrand from his right to his left hand mid-spin, using the force to coil his body and launch forward with a deadly thrust.
A silver arc split the air. Like a guiding fairy in the dark, showing the way straight to Thunderbird's heart.
The stabbing thrust left Thunderbird no time to recover Ferrum Ignis, which had already been knocked aside. All he could do was watch as the thunder-wreathed sword, glowing with a blinding silver light, struck the center of his magical shield.
The impact sent a violent tremor rippling through the scarlet barrier, warping it inward like water disturbed by a falling stone. The shield shuddered once more, another hit like that, and it would be done for.
But Thunderbird wasn't giving up so easily. With a fierce grimace, he leaned forward and charged against Alex's sword, pressing into it with the full weight of his body and the strained magic shield between them.
The barrier, already on the verge of collapse, ballooned inward under the pressure, like a balloon being pushed against a needle.
Then came a sharp pop.
The shield didn't shatter outright like a standard Shield Charm, it was higher quality than that. Instead, a small puncture appeared near the point of contact. The rest of the shield, however, remained intact, glimmering faintly like red glass under stress.
Alex didn't need to guess what Thunderbird was planning, he didn't care. The opportunity was too good to let slip, and he immediately channeled raw lightning into Voltbrand, the sword humming violently in his grip as arcs of wild thunder crackling toward the opening.