Alex said nothing. His steps didn't falter. His face showed no sympathy.
Thunderbird was unraveling. His once composed and menacing presence had completely collapsed. Drool clung to the corner of his mouth as he babbled, eyes wide with dread.
"It's pathetic…" Alex muttered, shaking his head. "Where's all that arrogance now? Where's that unshakable pride you showed earlier in battle? You really are something else. What a disgrace to duelists everywhere."
"I can't die here!" Thunderbird shouted, as if sheer volume could change his fate. "Our cause isn't finished yet! My mission, my purpose, it hasn't been fulfilled!"
He looked less like a fearsome opponent now and more like a desperate man on the edge of a breakdown.
"Please, Alex," he begged, his voice cracking, "you win. You're stronger than me, I admit it!"
The words seemed to drain whatever was left of his strength. His body slumped, shoulders sagging as if crushed by defeat.
But Alex's eyes remained cold. "It's too late for that."
He never stopped walking.
Thunderbird's expression twisted again, this time from despair to fury. The veins in his bloodstained eyes bulged, and he suddenly roared, "You leave me no choice!"
A surge of magic erupted from his body. He reached for the Ferrum Ignis one final time, summoning it with every last drop of power he had left. The fiery blade in his hand, once flickering with unstable blue, now burned solid and dark, the flames turning from light azure to a deep, menacing blue.
Alex, however, didn't flinch. "You think I want to go head-to-head with you now?" he said with a cold smirk.
Without warning, he stopped, snapped his fingers sharply with his left hand,
BOOM!
Another loud blast echoed across the field, this time right beneath Thunderbird's feet. Though the explosion wasn't as devastating as the earlier one, it didn't need to be. Thunderbird was in far worse shape now, and even a smaller blast was enough to do serious damage.
Truth be told, Alex hadn't wasted all that time taunting his opponent for no reason. He'd been stalling, buying time for his explosive spider to finish its setup.
Why bother trading blows with a weakened opponent when he could win with ease? Especially someone like Thunderbird, who, despite the reputation, was clearly outclassed.
"AAARRGGGHHHH!" Thunderbird's pained scream tore through the air as the blast sent him flying. His entire body was thrown backward, limbs flailing, smoke and fire trailing behind.
He had poured all his remaining magic into the Ferrum Ignis, using it as his last desperate stand. That meant there was nothing left, no shield, no fallback defense. This time, he took the full brunt of the explosion head-on.
As his body soared through the air, maybe he had time for a final thought, 'Dammit!!! Fuck it ALL!!!. If only I don't challenge him.' If he hadn't picked a fight with someone like Alex, maybe things would've turned out differently.
But Alex didn't just stand by and watch. The moment Thunderbird was airborne, he charged forward, boots pounding the ground in rapid strides. He reached the crash site before Thunderbird could even land.
Then, without hesitation, he raised Voltbrand and struck.
"AAARRRGGGGHHHH!" Thunderbird screamed again, this time in absolute agony, as his right arm, wand and all, was sliced clean off mid-air. The enchanted Silver Wand in his grip flickered, sputtered, then dimmed completely, the Ferrum Ignis dying out as it lost its magical fuel.
THUD!
His body hit the ground with a sickening sound, but somehow, miraculously, he was still alive. Barely.
Thunderbird looked nothing like the feared duelist he once was. His legs were a mangled ruin, both blasted to shreds below the knees. Bloodied flesh clung loosely to cracked bone, his body twitching with every breath.
His right arm was completely severed at the shoulder, the stump blackened and cauterized by the burning edge of Voltbrand, the magic-imbued blade that had done the job. The seared flesh may have stopped the bleeding, but it did nothing to dull the pain.
He clutched the stump of his arm with his remaining hand, moaning and crying out, drool and snot running freely down his ruined face. If anyone else had seen him now, they might have mistaken Alex for a sadistic executioner instead of a wizard who had just defended himself.
"Fang!" Alex called out sharply, still on high alert. With a swift motion, he summoned two Binding Snakes from his robe and sent them slithering toward the fallen enemy. They wrapped tightly around Thunderbird's body, locking him down with magical force.
He didn't trust the screams, didn't trust anything Thunderbird did. A good enemy was one who couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't fight back. And until Thunderbird reached that point, he wasn't taking chances.
"Yes, Master! Coming!" Fang's voice rang out from the distance.
A moment later, a blur of black and white fur sprinted into view, it was Fang in his beast form, zigzagging erratically as he approached.
It wasn't that Fang had gone mad. It was just that Alex had littered the area with traps. The whole field, for several miles, had been seeded with landmines, Muggle-grade explosives packed with gunpowder. Not even enchanted, just the good old-fashioned kind that blew up if you stepped on them. Fang was simply weaving between them.
He finally arrived, panting slightly but unharmed. "What's the next move, Master?"
Alex didn't look away from the crumpled figure of Thunderbird. "Stick to the original plan," he said flatly. "Just make sure we leave enough for later."
"Yes, Master!" Fang responded crisply, moving with practiced ease.
First, he took out several tourniquets and tightly wrapped Thunderbird's wounds to stop any further blood loss. Then, from his space-enhanced gear, he pulled out a small box, cold air hissed out the moment he opened it, revealing its built-in refrigeration function.
Using his dexterous dog claws, Fang quickly got to work. He grabbed a syringe and began drawing blood from Thunderbird's veins with impressive precision, filling two dozen test tubes one after another.Throughout the process, he also forced two vials of blood-replenishing potion and one bottle of healing elixir into Thunderbird's system.
Normally seen lounging about lazily, Fang now displayed the efficiency and calm precision of a seasoned nurse. His skilled hands bandaged the wounds and cleaned up with such ease that even Thunderbird, collapsed and barely conscious, couldn't help but feel a shiver creep down his spine.
'Just what kind of dog was this?'
Meanwhile, Alex was busy on his end, restoring the battle-scarred terrain back to normal. With a few sweeps of his wand, he cast the Restoration Charm, smoothing the cratered ground as though nothing had ever happened.
One by one, he summoned back the explosive spiders and landmines he had planted earlier with his control magic.
He had laid out an entire battlefield for this confrontation, traps, explosives, surveillance tools, it had taken a full day to set it all up, and nearly exhausted his entire year's worth of stockpiled gear.
Dozens of jamming devices and anti-Portkey barriers had been hidden around the area, effectively neutralizing any escape methods Thunderbird might've had.
Sure, Thunderbird might've been stronger in a straight duel. But against a fully-prepared alchemist? His arrogance had cost him.