“There's the guardian!” I said as they came into view.

“This power…It’s different...It’s not him…I hope this guy doesn't plan on fighting me…” I moped.

When we got close enough to recognize each other our faces twisted in utter confusion.

“YOU?!” I yelled.

”WHAT?!” Alden yelled back.

There was complete silence between us for a moment before I decided to focus on the priority, sealing the monster and saving the city.

“Damn it...we don't have time for this, we'll talk afterwards,” I said bluntly.

“Right! Let's do this Nero, Cian!” Alden yelled out.

“Let's go, Inazuma, Cadeyrn,” I said, pointing Alden in the direction I intended to go before flying over.

“I’ve been surveying it for the last couple minutes before you arrived. This seems to be the center point where it’s flowing out from,” I said quickly.

“It's gigantic and it’s tearing apart the city…How do we even stop it?!” Alden asked with some anxiety creeping in.

A lot was happening so suddenly that it was no surprise that even Alden was having trouble keeping up. Alden and I flew down briefly to see what kind of damage we could do, but it simply amounted to nothing, it was like cutting water.

“It's too big. There's no way slicing it is going to get us anywhere,” Alden stated.

“True, how about we try a combined incantation?” I asked.

“Hmm, alright. Let's do it,” Alden agreed.

“Wait!” Cadeyrn, Inazuma and Nero all called out simultaneously.

“With all due respect, my Master just gained his power recently. I can adjust for some coordination of energy but without proper control it could be the death of us all,” Nero spoke anxiously.

“Agreed, our Master is far too inexperienced for such high level attacks,” Cadeyrn stated.

“ENOUGH! We’re doing it!” Alden and I commanded, forcing them to fall silent.

“Now, make sure you go right after me. We’re out of time,” I said quickly.

“Understood,” Alden responded without delay.

Looking at each other with confidence we started preparing our incantations.

“Alright...Here goes… Aodh, god of the underworld, lend me your crimson flame, Sword of Damocles!” I called out.

The air immediately started to steam as the water in the atmosphere began evaporating. Almost instantly, a massive blade bathed in crimson flames appeared in the sky above us. It was easily fifteen meters tall, but this was no time to be impressed. Size was irrelevant if you didn’t use it properly.

“Guess I'm up! Nero help me out,” Alden called.

“Ok my Master,” Nero reluctantly acknowledged.

“Raging winds of the sky, create a hurricane! Scars of heaven!” As Alden finished, a strong wind gathered up, forming whirling blades of pressurized air around my sword of Damocles.

“Damocles’ Sorrow!” As if reading each other's minds, Alden and I called out the name of the combination spell we just created—It helped that we had both just finished classes on philosophy.

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As we finished, the sword started to drop. As if accelerated by Alden’s wind, the air roared as the flaming sword was hurled down towards the earth. The monster began to incinerate before the blade even reached it. The attack pinned the beast’s core to the ground, immobilizing the flailing mass. Whirling blades of wind ripped it apart while increasing the power of the flames turning everything to ash—there was nothing left to seal.

“Well done,” Alden said proudly.

“You too. But I guess we've got some talking to do…” I said, relieved.

“Yeah, proba-” Alden started but was cut off as the ground began to violently tremble.

A second form of the monster emerged, even larger than before. Its roar shook us to our very bones and sent a chill through the air.

“Damn it! Right when we thought we were done...why do bosses always need a second phase,” I whined jokingly in effort to hide my exhaustion.

“You alright Cian?” Alden asked, concerned.

I was still weakened from my fight a few days ago but I was surprised Alden noticed something was wrong—I need to wrap things up quickly.

“Yeah…I'm fine,” I lied.

“You don't sound fine....or look it…” Alden said, calling me out.

“We can worry about that afterwards. Let's just get rid of this thing! I'll distract it, you seal it,” I said.

I was nearly out of energy after that last attack. Nero was clearly at unease with the plan and the situation, but luckily, Nero realized the sooner we got it over with the better everything would be.

I dashed at the monster's head, distracting it. Once again in perfect sync Alden prepared his attack.

“Freezing water from the underworld, seal my foe in an eternal coffin! COCYTUS!” Alden yelled.

The monster roared even more violently as it started to freeze and disappear but it wouldn’t allow itself to be sealed that easily. It roared violently, its deep primal cry somehow weakening Alden’s attack.

“I don’t think so!!” I yelled and instinctively stuck my arm out, hand facing Alden’s attack and instinctively channeled my quanum into it somehow.

With a final deafening roar, the monster began to freeze and dissipate. However, it put up a last act of resistance, lashing out, a giant tendril from its mass came striking downwards with immense force, grabbing hold of me and plucking me out of the sky. Truthfully, I barely felt it, I was already exhausted and out of energy.

“CIAN!!!” Alden yelled as he quickly flew in my direction to stop my fall.

Cadeyrn and Inazuma reverted back to their normal forms as Alden managed to catch me just five meters above the ground.

“Well...That could have gone better,” I laughed as I passed out into a semi-conscious state.

I was aware of my surroundings, but I was too tired to respond to the situation. It was honestly just easier to just lay there with my eyes closed.

“It's alright, he’s just exhausted,” Cadeyrn soothed.

“We managed to block the impact of that last attack,” Inazuma declared proudly.

“Alright, let’s head back to my place for now then. Nothing about this situation is good…the sheer amount of destruction. Hundreds must have died,” Alden stated solemnly, shedding a few tears for the lost souls.

The city had been left a mess of screams, sirens and the loud crackling of the fire roaring around them.

“We could have done better…we should have done better,” Alden said quietly as he took one last glance at his city before heading off in the direction of his house.

Flying fast, they soon came upon Alden's massive and elegant house. The architecture was natural, focusing on an intertwining of nature and technology, it was quite homie. In a nice forested area, distant from any kind of civilization, to me, it symbolized a natural peace and freedom which were the two ideals Alden and I shared deeply in common. Alden's house was easily one of my favorite places to be. To the back of the house was a natural inlet which led to a large lake. It was simply impressive. Alden's father, who owned the house, wasn't home very often allowing Alden free reign. His parents had recently become divorced and his mother moved to the opposite side of town. To continue Alden's education, he lived with his father and only saw his mother on rare occasions.

Alden landed on the balcony outside his room and walked in through the door he had left open when he left. Alden's room was big but unique with his shelves full of trophies, ribbons, and academic awards.

Alden placed me down onto his bed gently and immediately proceeded to call his Father, as well as my parents, to let them know I would be staying the night.

“Well, with all that over and done with, why don't you two tell me all about what’s been going on,” Alden said calmly.

“Alright,” was the last thing I heard from Cadeyrn as I finally passed out.