Master Falldwell Naaf - Just before the large tuber monster appeared.

“Think of it! A creation Power that utilises the Shae-Eq to increase the base of all Powers, a man may become Basbron Ranked quickly, easily, the life expectancy alone would grant people near immortality! Surely such a small breach of laws warrants my research, this would allow people to live for centuries, travel between domains, maybe even breach the barrier and travel to other worlds like the OutWolders!”

It is silent for a moment, the only sounds are from the waves, gently flowing underneath our feet. A deep rumbling is heard from behind as a massive tidal wave takes station behind us. It takes our focus away from the fight, the massive green mountain of water speeding faster than it has any right to.

Just behind the wall of water I can see the gleaming of white needle teeth arranged in a circle, it may be a fully grown adult of those tuber creatures that were attacking us. Speaking of, they appear to be in front of it, launching out of the water in front of the wave as if directing it towards us.

Carson, Falgus and I teleport away, into the sky in different directions, however the adult tuber must have noticed this and has moved closer to Carson. He lowers himself to the water and gathers a massive amount of mana, almost tactile it is so dense even from so far away.

My gaze of it is interrupted as Falgus attacks again, apparently not caring or interested in the massive creature, my skin and fur heats up as he uses his Power again, causing whatever damage it is doing that is somehow getting through my Force Wall.

We teleport around again, chasing each other. I work on grabbing my swords from the water as we go, using Astral Arms and Weapon Stuck to grab and stick them to my body as I attack again, landing slash and stab into his Force Wall as the damage travels through thanks to True Strike. Eventually a large crack is heard from him, the Damage Translocator Power he was using breaks the protection stone and as such cannot be used until replaced.

I pull back my swords and Astral Arms for the moment, to give Falgus a chance to see that he is outclassed, and that eventually we will wear him down. I don’t go to kill him or render him unconscious as we would then have no method to get back.

We pause for a moment in surprise and turn as in our peripheral vision we both notice the massive blade conjured by Carson as the tuber bears down on him, as he brings it down we see the massive blood splatter as the creature is split in half. This adult tuber must be almost five or ten kilometres long!

“My, my. Carson is quite strong, makes sense as a retired Adventurer but what of you Falldwell? Are you alone strong enough to defeat me?” He says in a mocking tone.

Turning to him I simply, seriously respond; “Yes.”

Falgus flinches back a little at the quick response but quickly tries to compose himself, making himself angrier and angrier in the process.

“FINE THEN! If you're so confident then I’ll simply defeat you here. I have more dice ready to roll!” Screams Falgus as he teleports away for a moment back to stand on the water. I remain in the sky, Flight Power still in effect.

A massive amount of mana coalesses around Falgus, sucked up from the ocean and from within him, the massive amount of mana I can sense must be from a Mana Container Power that most people have, but this is even greater than mine. Despite being mentally damaged from the Shae-Eq drug, his mad experiments seem to have paid off a little.

A Power activates, using this mana and sucking in a great, massive amount of air, the wind blowing so hard it forces me to the ground. Looking up, a tornado of air is generated, being pulled down and amassed around Falgus.

Yeah, this could be bad, as the wind dies down a little I teleport over the water and strike out with my swords and arms, but they are blocked before they can reach, his body being covered in a frozen, cloudy layer, the extreme cold causing the water and air to chill and at his feet and freeze. The blizzard, snowstorm like coldness is suffocating.

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His face is the only part that is not cloudy, his manic grin clearly visible as the wind dies down leaving only the frozen air behind. Slowly the ice at his feet grow as the water he stands on becomes colder and colder.

It’s getting too cold, any normal person would be suffering here but I am just hanging on due to Springverns Greater Increase Physicality, but I need to pump more mana than normal into it, far more mana.

Now that most of the wind has died down I can see it is more of a liquid, a pale blue liquid of air wrapping itself around his entire body. How is he even surviving in that?

I backed off as I observed this Power, my swords have a frost on them that quickly turns into vapour and back to air, as I watch on the temperature continues to drop more, faster and faster. The liquid air starts to harden, becoming pale blue ice shaped as a suit of full armour, small amounts of vapour steaming off the ice. Around us in the sky, clouds slowly begin to form, created by the difference in temperature as the hotter air starts to quickly rise.

“Well Falldwell, will you give up? You cannot defeat me in this manner.”

“That does not matter, this place does not have the mana that our Dimension has, you’ll eventually run out, you’ll eventually need to get back. Impressive that this is, you will still lose.”

Smirking, I add, “You should have made it with water, it would not have taken as much mana.”

He growls as he sprints forward, disappearing as he teleports away leaving a platform of ice behind, the temperature immediately rises and then drops as he moves behind me. A spear of air ice shoots out from his hand, I block it with a Force Wall as it shatters against it, quickly turning back into air.

We continue this dance, again and again, teleporting around and around trying to get the upper hand, I sheathe the swords that have ice crystals and bring forward the fire, sharpness and concussive force swords, trying to smash the ice apart but more air compresses around it to reform it. The oppressive cold and all this teleporting is running my mana reserves down quicker than I’d like.

Falgus cease’s teleporting around, coming to a stop on the water as I do the same, the light green water ice sinking under the water from my weight. Another arm lifts up and an ice spear shoots forward, blocked again by a Force Wall, but as the spear travels the Force Wall suddenly loses cohesion, cracking apart similar to earlier in the fight, with the Power that seems to heat our skin.

The solid, icy air slips right through the Force Wall and smashes into me, pushing me backwards and cracking my Damage Translocator stone, the red light it generates around my skin quickly disappearing, the cold freezing the outer layer of my chest plate before quickly heating and turning back into air, still extremely cold air but air nonetheless.

The Power Falgus is using to heat my skin does nothing for the cold, the mana from my container and well are almost all gone. I attempt absorbing the Power with Absorb Elements, a Power which should allow me to sap mana from any attacks being made.

An intense pang of dizziness and nausea hit and drop me to my knee. The black orb that has been hovering behind me, which holds some of the mana of the Powered attacks I have sustained is leaking out, the raw, personal mana of Falgus being corrosive to my body. Also whatever Falgus' Power is might also be causing damage. Damn it, I am out of practice.

As the nausea passes I can feel the gambeson and armour rub against my skin, not fur. Rubbing my furred hand some of it comes off, leaving redness and blistering like an intense sunburn. The nausea comes back, causing me to lose my lunch. The vomit sliding over the green seawater as if it was oil on water. I lose my conscious control over the passive Powers in action and the nausea hits again with reinforcements.

I look up, up towards Falgus who still dons his air ice armour, grinning maniacally at me.

“Well, well, well. Seems I have defeated you both, which means as the two best and strongest fighters in Oghqoa right now I should have the run of the city. Maybe I’ll bring my Shae-Eq back here, might be a bit quieter.”

“You will be stopped Falgus, there are many that are stronger than me, than us. Your hollow victory means nothing.”

“Oh I know that, I know both you and Carson over there are not in top shape, your old Powers gone with stupid administrative Powers to help you run the day to day, I know to you it may seem hollow, but it is but one step of many.”

Sighing Falgus looks toward Carson as my eyes darken a little, the exhaustion has hit hard. As my head hits the water and I fall unconscious I realise that Falgus may indeed have succeeded with his experiments, even in my office job state I can tell that Falgus may have reached S Rank, Basbron Rank.

Before my consciousness departs I feel the water replaced with the hardwood floors of the office/laboratory, Carson's heavy breathing and the tinkling of glass.