My wing-claw digs into the steel of yet another construct, rending it to pieces. By my estimates, they seem to average around the middle of tier 2, strength-wise. The area of ice I’ve formed has done good at freezing away at the flesh of people who enter my frostzone(average) skill.

  My tail lashes, smacking yet another construct out of the air. The constructs aren’t deterred by the chill as much as the fleshy humans. Interestingly enough, I’ve not seen any species beyond humans. I wonder why that is…

  I pause as I feel something approaching. An intense heat encroaching on my zone of cold. The storm picks up, ice chunks and hail and freezing winds battering at the approaching figure, wreathed in flames. The ice and cold all melts away under the figure’s flames. I frown. This person, a woman from the flickers I can see under the fire, is the same tier as me. I doubt her stats are maxed. But her mana pool seems to rival my own, if she’s this willing to expend so much mana. That, or she expects it to go quickly, given the elemental disadvantage. I might as well disprove her of that notion. I’ve spent day after day practicing in simulations and real duels alike, and I feel ready.

  “As ice claims cold, it claims flesh.” I incant. The ground rumbles as my mana pours out of me into the ground. Spikes of solid ice shoot up into the air towards the figure of fire. Even as the spikes approach, they melt slightly. Unfortunately, that dulls the spikes slightly when they do impact.

  A shout is nearly drowned out by the sound of hissing steam as the woman is revealed in full. Fiery hair and verdant eyes, hair tied back in a bun as she pants, blood dripping from 4 small holes that barely penetrated the skin. One on her left thigh, one on her shoulder, one on her right breast, and one in the center of her gut.

  As I stare at her for a moment, I find myself blinking. I pause, then look myself over. I… do not know why seeing a human is making me feel the way it is. You know what, I’ll just stop thinking about that. I do not want to get into that at all.

  “Are you one of the commanders?” I ask, landing on the roof of a particularly tall skyscraper. She stands on a forcefield of pure mana, her wings having been put out by the attack. At my words, she freezes, her eyes going very wide as she stares at me.

  “You… you just… that… that isn’t…” she seems to be losing her mind. I look down at myself, frowning.

  “Do I have something on my scales?” I lift one wing up, not falling over like I used to, before turning to look under the other.

  “You can talk!” She exclaims. I pause.

  “...yeah? So can you.” I say slowly. What is she getting at… oh wait. Back when we first met Evelyn, she… “Oh shit.” I say. “That… explains so much.” I swear a few more times.

  Demishift

  I land on my 2 feet on the roof, turning back to her. She’s frozen again, staring at me and my demidraconic form. It’s then that I notice the steel band around her neck. I feel a growl rising from my throat.

  “What are you wearing around your neck?” I ask, looking to her with narrowed eyes. She raises a hand up to brush her fingers along the steel, as if to confirm it’s presence.

  “Evidence of my failures.” She says. I can see an emotion in her eyes. Is it pain? Fear? Loss? Anger? I’m unsure. I’m not a people person like Abhor. I’ve never been good with emotions.

  “I never even considered the idea of slavery being a thing in Camica.” I say, frowning.

  “Is it not a thing here?” She asks, seeming not to believe the concept.

  “In part.” I respond. “Usually as a punishment for particularly severe crimes, and there's enough rules regarding it to fill a small book. Lots of caveats and ways to get out of it, and rules for how those in possession of a slave are allowed to treat them and when.”

  “It’s not like that in Camica.” She crosses her arms, looking down at me. “Are you really a dragon?”

  “Wyvern.” I corrected her. “A subspecies of dragon.”

  “Same difference.” She says with a shrug. Then she sighs. “I hate how reasonable and not dickish you’re being about this. You know I have to fight you, right?”

  “Because of the collar?” I ask, my frown returning.

  “No. My… not exactly owner, but that's the best term for him that I can think of, he is fighting. I won’t let him fight alone.” she explains, sighing.

  “I get it.” I say, nodding. “We have to fight, right?”

  “Right.” She says, twirling her spear in her hand.

  “How about no going for the face then.” I offer. She bursts out laughing.

  “Oh, you’re fun.” She says, before her spear ignites into flames. “I can work with that. No going to the face.”

  Fire bolt

  <{(0)}>

  “What’s the end goal?” I eventually asked Pyro.

  ‘Honestly, I find myself questioning that.’ He says, not moving from his position. A barrier forms over the wound in his chest, plugging it. Clever.

  “You’re ok with this?” I glare at him. “Killing innocent people? Burning the tree down?”

  ‘No, I’m not.’ He says. ‘But I don’t get a choice. If I did, I would have been gone.’

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Why wouldn’t you get a choice?” I ask, frowning.

  ‘I have nowhere to go and nowhere to run. And I have a home there. I have people in the city that I care about. People I have obligations with. I won’t let them down, damn the consequences.’

  “That…” I look at him for a moment, before frowning. “I really feel like I shouldn’t agree with you, but… fuck. Let’s just get back to fighting, ok?”

  ‘Fine with me. Lets see if you can put another hole in my chest.’

  <{(0)}>

  I slam my fist into the ground yet again.

  “Damn, you’re elusive as all hell!” I say, winding back my fist again as she raises her hand for another fire bolt, which I counter yet again with another shield of mana. I’ve stopped using only ice mana to defend against her fire, instead resorting to unnatuned mana to form square walls of thick, layered mana. I layer slight ice mana in between the normal layers, cooling the normal mana around it without it burning away from the fire mana, providing the unattributed mana with a slight extra effectiveness against fire mana. Not much, but every bit counts. Especially considering the pain of failing to dodge. I’m burned across my left arm due to my failure to block the first attack.

  I grit my teeth.

  “Freeze thy flesh.” I incant. A small wisp of blue light sneaks around her fire, latching onto her skin. Coldsnap, an ice-type curse. Until dispelled, it freezes and breaks away at the flesh of the infected, starting with their skin and attempting to infect the bloodstream.

  As the fight continues, neither side managing to gain much ground on the other, the curse spreads along her skin, starting on her him and spreading, freezing her clothing. Neither of us wear any armor, as it’s difficult to find materials that are worth wearing to exchange for the loss of mobility. Makes me wish I had one of those armor cores of legend.

  Slowly, though, she begins to slow down.

  “Dammit, you cursed me, didn’t you?” She mutters, finding her leg not moving as fast as it should. I frown.

  “It doesn’t seem to be fully working though.” I say, frowning.

  “My blood is fire attuned.” She says. “It’s keeping the curse from hurting me. It’s only restricting me at the moment. Too bad it won’t be enough for you.” She reels her arm back, loading her spear with an unholy level of fire, and throws it full force.

  Meteoric blaze

  The spear shoots at me at top speed, and I swear. I layer shield after shield as fast as I can. This time I don’t use ice mana. Too much cold and too much hot will result in a more brittle shield than I want. So I just force mana into layer after layer with all the 2 seconds I have, then shoot to the side.

  The spear impacts the shields. It shatters through all of them, but it did what I wanted. It slowed the weapon long enough for me to get far enough away to not be hit.

  It impacts the ground, and explodes, flattening 50 meters around it and setting the next 400 meters on fire. A few skyscrapers collapse.

  “That’s damned impressive!” I say as the spear vanishes, reappearing in her hand. “What rank is that?”

  “Epic.” She says with a grin. “Supposed to be a regular epic attack, but I have a special skill that elevates fire-based skills one rank up in raw power, so it hit’s like a legendary.”

  “Yeah, I would imagine.” I grin. “Suppose I can’t let you show me up. You have a barrier spell?”

  “I do.” She nods, raising a hand. She begins to make layer after layer of somehow solid fire around her, preparing for the attack she knows will come.

  And thats where she made her mistake.

  Herald of the ice age

  <{(0)}>

  Both me and Pyro pause in our mutilation of each other to snap out heads over to the location I know Snowstorm is in. We watch as a pillar of fire rises up into the sky in a grand explosion.

  “Friend of yours?” I ask.

  ‘Yes.’ He responds. ‘The other one a friend of yours?

  “Also yes.” I nod. “Seem’s he’s having fun at least.

  ‘You aren’t worried he died in that blast?’ Pyro asks, turning back to me, already entering back into a battle stance midair.

  “Nah. He’s stronger than that.” I say, raising my trident. “Plus, he hasn’t shown off his trump card yet.”

  It is then that he shows off his trump card.

  Herald of the ice age

  Pyro turns to see the spectacle of ice that has blasted forward from a single boy’s fist. The explosion of ice covered over 3 miles of city, forming a mountain of glittering blue and white. I grin.

  “The best part of that spell is that it doesn’t cost that much mana. Well, proportionally, at least. It’s power comes from freezing water molecules in the air. What it can’t get from the air it gets from his own mana pool.”

  ‘Thats insane…’ Pyro says, staring.

  “Think your friend survived that?” I ask, doing my best to suppress any visualization of the joy I feel at the prospect of their deaths. I pause to think myself over. Since when was I this bloodthirsty? This guy has no choice in what he’s doing, apparently Doesn’t mean I have to trust him, but I could at least treat him with some decency.

  ‘I… don’t know.’ Pyro says, a tiny hint of worry creeping into her voice.

  “Don’t worry.” I say. “That spell is more of an AOE. I doubt it would have one-shotted your friend. She’s likely not having fun in there, but I doubt she's dead. Now come on, let's get back to fighting.”

  Why am I trying to comfort the enemy?

  ‘Yeah.’ He turns to me, sickles burning black. He leaps forward. I leap forward. My trident, glowing purple, collides with his sickles. We both leap back, then leap forward again. This time I shoot down to the ground and dig my claws and shoe into the dirt. I position myself to throw my trident but… he’s gone. I whip my head around. He’s behind me, and his blades are coming in from 5 points. I need to dodge… but how? What do I do… my shadow. I need to escape into my shadow.

  I let myself fall into my own shadow, releasing a shadow bolt at him as I fall. He is forced to slash the bolt as I fall into the dark, vanishing.

  Most of the time, when I fall into a shadow, I find myself instantly popping out into the target location instantly. But this time, there was no target location. I find myself… somewhere. I float in a void of black. It’s like where I go when speaking to Abhorrance. But… there’s circular gates floating all around me in all directions.

  {Skill Evolved: Shadow warp foundation(low)uncommon to Shadow step gate(High)rare+}

  I whip my head around, feeling with my mind. I need to reappear behind him, to attack. I peer towards a gate and notice… outside of the gates, I can see the scene of the battle we have been engaging in. But it’s all frozen. Not, like, cold. I mean, it’s all unmoving. Frozen in time. I grin. Do I have all the time I need to formulate a plan?

  I am quickly dissuaded of the notion as I feel a tug on my soul core. I wince as it becomes more and more insistent. It wants me to leave. It wants me to exit somewhere. I frown. Fine, fine, stop nagging, you stupid rock.

  Choosing the shadow under Pyro’s feet, I lunge out, raising my spear up.

  “Surprise!” I shout, grinning as I take aim.

  I stab the spear down into his back. I shouldn’t have shouted. If I didn’t, I would’ve stabbed right into his spine, killing him in minutes. (Fun fact, the higher tier you are, the less that damage affects you. Tier 4 beings can surprise losing their heads. Anyway, that’s not important right now.) Problem is, I didn’t hit his spine. I hit his shoulder, as he managed to angle to the side.

  I kick off his back in order to dodge possible incoming attacks.

  ‘Well played.’ He mutters. ‘But I’m not done. I won’t lose.’

  “Well thats too bad.” I say as I weave together dark bolts, shadow bolts, and time bolts, launching them in rapid fire at him. “I don’t plan to lose either. So I repeat: Come at me.”

  Name:Snowstorm

  Level:50/150

  Age:16

  Titles:Frostbreaker, knowledgeer, study master, FREEZE, Tier 2 evolution, Humanify, magic prodigy

  Strength:150

  Durability:150

  Speed:150

  Stamina:150

  Intelligence:172.5

  Essence:1,009

  Class:Frostbane boxer(Epic)

  Soul weapon:Frostbane gauntlets

  Species:Frostwing demi-wyvern

  Skills: Heat vision(low)Uncommon, Greater enhanced intelligence(medium)Rare, Enhanced knowledge intake(medium)Uncommon, cold barrier(high)epic, memory of the glaciers(high)Epic, swimming(low)Common, split thought(Low)Rare, body temperature reduction(Medium)Uncommon, ice mana manipulation(medium)Rare, Mind magic affinity(Medium)Uncommon, heat shift foundation(Low)Uncommon, Herald of the ice age[Species max]Epic+

  Techniques:Swimming(D), Mana manipulation(C), Mind mana manipulation(D), Ice mana manipulation(C), Mana claws(C), Ice spear(C), Iceout(D), Icicle hail(D), Mind bridge(D), Ice mana barrier(C), Heat shift(D), Mana bolt(D), Mana sense(D), Mind mana manipulation(D), Illusion mana manipulation(E)

  Mutations: Knowledge intake stomach(B), Multi-Mind system(A)

  Spells: Freeze water(Lesser), Frostfield(Lesser), coldsnap(Lesser), amnesia(Lesser), Frost spikes(Lesser), frostzone(Average)

  ...

  Name:Pyro Akabis

  Level:50/150

  Age:16

  Titles:Cold-blooded, Enigma, Broken, DEATH, Other-worlder

  Soul weapon: Six fingers of Infinity

  Strength:172.5

  Durability:150

  Speed:150

  Stamina:150

  Intelligence:150

  Essence: 42012

  Class:Reaper of Creation

  Species:BlightBane Demidragon[2/5]

  Skills: Greater Enhanced Strength(Medium)Rare, Mind mana Manipulation(Medium)Rare, Death mana bolt(Medium)Rare, Sickle swap(Medium)Rare, Reaper’s boost(High)Epic, Demishift(low)Rare

  Techniques: Creation mana manipulation(E), Mind mana manipulation(D), Sicklemancer arts(C), Death mana manipulation(D), Creation mana construct(D),

  Mutations: blood of the fallen(B), Heart of Creation(B)