I remember watching the whole thing play out with great fear crushing my heart. While White and Chester were banging on the walls made of Soul's mist-like magic, I just stared at the whole scene. The explosion created by the dragon's counterattack opened a massive hole in the ground, leading to the underground parking lot of the building. Soul fell right down there, exploding into smoke as he hit the concrete floor. Fortunately, such a phenomenon was merely a setback for him, so it didn't take long for his body to start reforming again.

The dragon wouldn't wait one second to use this opportunity against him. He smashed his spiked tail into the few loose pieces of the concrete floor, letting them fall down into the hole and right on top of Soul.

"Let's see if you can really survive every kind of physical attack," the dragon mumbled as the reaper's damaged body moved from side to side, trying to avoid getting hit.

I couldn't help but admire Soul for his strength. He managed to avoid most of the rubble AND pull himself back together at the same time. When his form was once again strong enough to fight back, he extended three tendrils made from his gaseous body up towards the sky and caught the last three rocks Fulgur threw at him. Then, with the throw of a professional baseball player, he tossed them back at the creature at high speed. However, the dragon didn't seem to have a problem with that at all. His body twirled and bent as if he was dancing between the projectiles, all the while slashing them into much smaller chunks with his claws, and letting them fall right back down at Soul.

"You're really starting to piss me off!" the death growled as six additional, long appendages grew from his back and started flinging the incoming rubble aside. I never knew he could change his appearance that much. While Fulgur was busy trying to hit him with the rocks, I noticed that another vine-like sprout grew from the misty walls that Soul put up to protect us from collateral damage. It was growing slowly, but its goal was obviously to reach the dragon. I am not sure what would happen after, but back then I hoped this would be something that would end the battle. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

"Pissing YOU off? Heh, as you wish then, let's end this." Fulgur grinned for a brief moment, before swinging his tail around, dispersing the magical tentacle that was approaching him. How did he notice it without even looking at it? That is a question I haven't managed to find an answer to. The next moment, he took a deep breath and exhaled a truly massive amount of fire down the hole, right towards Soul. Such firepower was insane. It was like an entire lake of flame falling down into the parking lot. All this time fighting and the dragon was still holding back his true power?

"That's not gonna work." Soul teased Fulgur and surrounded himself in a freshly conjured-up miasma. It was like a cocoon, blocking away all the heat that would try to harm him.

"It wasn't meant to 'work'," the dragon responded and exhaled again, only this time it was through his clenching teeth. What came out of his maw was not another wave of fire, but instead several concentrated beams of heat. They flew towards the walls, none really accurately aiming for Soul, but once they hit any physical obstacle, they bounced right off and changed their trajectory. In only a few seconds, this happened so many times, it was hard to keep track of them. They flew around the underground part of the store, avoiding their target, only making him look around, waiting from which direction the next attack would come. At the last moment, Soul surrounded himself in a barrier of miasma, but the dragon's attack wasn't just a random distraction. All the beams that have been bouncing around the place have eventually changed their trajectory right towards the grim reaper.

Soul's barriers vanished into thin air, as the beams pierced right through them. They hit his body from many different angles, dealing immense damage. A magical attack of this magnitude was not something he could simply brush off. His form got reduced to nothing but a tiny green crystal, emanating the smoke that used to form his body.

"Aww... look at that. We are quite the opposites. Your real form is so adorable, while my cute appearance was the fake one." Fulgur slowly descended into the hole. I couldn't simply let it be. Despite Soul's current state, he wasn't dead yet. All I needed to do was to save him. My mind didn't allow me any doubts at the moment. I simply rushed off to try it, as if my chances guaranteed me victory. Since the miasma was still there, blocking our path, I decided to take a different route. There had to be a way down into the parking lot from the store. I just had to find it. As I ran past the closet where we previously used to hide, I suddenly found myself holding the sword with the ice gem. Did it fly into my hand? I didn't have the time or energy to think about where it came from. The only thoughts in my mind were focusing on the doors right in front of me. "They will lead downstairs. They have to!" I focused all I could on the image of a staircase, and as I pushed the doors open, sure enough, they revealed my so desired path down. But there was no time to celebrate the discovery. I kept on running, hoping to get there in time.

"You see, little reaper, if you were really the best, then your friends will be no challenge at all. Maybe I should kill them all right here and now. What do you say? I think Ifrit will praise me for it. Maybe even grant me some days off, no? Wouldn't it be great to be free again? Ah... I think I'm gonna do it." His eyes turned towards my two remaining comrades and a wide grin appeared on his face.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"But don't worry, you will not have to watch." One of his fists smashed into the ground. As he lifted it back up, I saw only tiny shards of the gemstone that used to store Soul's essence. I arrived a second too late. No matter what I'd do now, there was nothing that would bring him back. But that smile... That disgusting smile the dragon had on his face. I wanted to wipe it off so badly.

Before my body could even move, White acted on her own. The miasma that was blocking the path upstairs disappeared, and she didn't waste even a second to jump right into the hole and towards Fulgur. Her body was glowing, radiating so much energy, it was hard to look at her. She descended down, and before even hitting the dragon's body, she muttered a few words: "As Death, I cannot forgive you. Upon your body shall fall the punishment of torment!"

It reminded me of the day she evaporated Marley, shortly after we met. Fulgur turned around too late. Her presence, despite the blinding light, was so unnoticeable. It was as if you didn't know she was there until you saw her with your own eyes. Her hand flew forward, right towards the dragon's tiny wings, but stopped against something. In a short second, a transparent yellow barrier appeared around Fulgur. White landed on it and as if its sudden appearance didn't concern her even a tiny bit, she touched it with both of her hands. I suppose we both expected it to just crumble into nothing under the effects of her powers, but for some reason, the shield didn't seem to even crack.

"You seriously need to watch your surroundings more, brother." A new voice came from upstairs. I lifted my head and every organ in my body shook. Another dragon was sitting next to the hole, looking down at us. It was different from Fulgur in possibly every way. It stood on all four, and its neck and feet looked as if they were on fire.

"Viridi! Again, you have to spoil all the fun. I knew about this bitch from the start!" Fulgur spoke to the one he called his brother.

"I am not here to argue about that. I am supposed to tell you to stop messing around and retreat. Everything is ready, and our job is now elsewhere."

"Elsewhere? But I can end it all here and now!"

"Ifrit's orders. You know what happens if we don't obey them."

A moment of silence filled the room as if both of the dragons recalled something they wished to forget. In this idle moment, Chester decided to be the one not to give up. Several dark tendrils sprouted up from the ground, aiming towards the other dragon, only to hit another similar barrier and burn to ashes soon after.

"Don't try it. It won't work," the quadruped dragon muttered and gave Chester a cold glance.

"So, brother, are you coming or not?"

At this point, something in me moved. As if my body panicked. If there were two such dragons, we wouldn't stand a chance against them. I had to take down at least one of them while he was being restrained. Within a few seconds, the sweltering heat of the store turned into negative temperatures of winter's chill. With a few quick steps, I managed to close the distance between me and shielded Fulgur. My hands firmly held onto the blade with the ice gem and I stabbed it right into the yellow shell around the dragon. It crumbled like paper. As White suddenly resumed her fall, Fulgur desperately tried to move out of the way. Too late. Both of her palms touched one of his short arms, and the scales on them quickly started to rot away. The dragon growled and flinched in agony. Unfortunately for him, he didn't notice my sword. All that cold magic I managed to somehow summon suddenly got released. A massive iceberg-like structure sprouted into existence from within the store, tearing down the roof and nearly breaking the place entirely.

It took me a while to figure out what happened. I took a step to the side to see the damage. There was blood everywhere. Fulgur was upstairs, leaning against his sibling, There was a massive hole in his body, right between the place where his stomach would be and the start of his tail. He stared at me with eyes full of hatred. Without a word, he extended the claws on one of his arms and cut off the decaying limb touched by White's magic. He screamed, and I was pretty sure that if it wasn't for his brother, he wouldn't even be able to remain upright.

"You will pay for this. Oh, I cannot wait for what Ifrit will do to you." It seemed as if Fulgur wanted to continue, but before he could, Viridi grabbed him and spread his wings. They were beautiful. Almost as if the skin on them was on fire, without any actual flames involved. Then, with a single leap, the brothers took to the sky and disappeared from my sight. I didn't know what to think. I couldn't even kill an immobilized enemy. Not even with a powerful attack such as this one. Would I even manage to use it ever again? Before I could return to my thoughts, White rushed over to the pile of green shards left behind by Soul. Tears were flowing down her face like waterfalls, and I could do nothing but stand there and watch. I wasn't sad, not anymore. Every emotion I used to know before vanished away from my body.

"Don't worry, we'll avenge him," I told her, perfectly calm. I felt the best I did in many years. But as they say, even when you're freezing to death, there comes a time when you start to feel warm again. I could feel the hilt of the sword in my hand. How did it get there? Wasn't it still stuck in the massive pile of ice I made? The answer didn't matter to me. I put my hand on White's shoulder, hoping that it would comfort her a bit. She turned towards me with watery eyes but immediately jumped as she saw me. She slowly started backing away, staring at me without blinking, as if she just saw something terrible.

"White? Are you okay?"

"E-E-Eddie?" She mumbled. "Are you... alright?"

"I am fine. Why?"

White didn't say anything. She just covered her mouth and pointed at my reflection in the chunk of ice. I turned around to see it, but it was as if I was looking at someone else. The skin on my hands turned pitch black. So dark that it was far beyond anything natural. My nails were totally white, in contrast to the rest of my body. My face also got darker, but not as much, sporting a blueish shade of grey. And my eyes, those changed the most. They were purple and glowing bright, like two small LED light bulbs. I saw all this, yet I didn't feel anything. My whole body changed in an instant and without any reason, and I was completely fine with that.