Ifrit's been giving me his undivided attention, according to his own words. That could not mean anything positive. To be honest, the moment I got thrown out of that dark dome I knew that I'd have to somehow keep him busy. If he went after Chester's prison of Darkness, then he could perhaps burn it down with ease. From the inside, it had all sorts of protections put in place to prevent the dragon brothers from escaping, but on the outside? That was quite a different story. However, after my risky yet effective move with the ice gem, it seemed like Ifrit had eyes for nobody else but me. Now, in my mind, I had prepared all sorts of things I could tell him. In a one-on-one duel, I would stand no chance, but if I managed to keep him talking until Chester and White would be done with the dragons, we'd have the upper hand. Together, we'd definitely stand a fighting chance.

"The worlds will never accept you as thei–" God bless my reflexes. Maybe it was due to the fear or perhaps the adrenaline pumping in my veins, but I managed to duck just in time. With surprising swiftness, Ifrit lifted his hand and without any sign of greater effort, he conjured up a large bright beam of energy. I felt it graze me just a little bit and it was a pain like almost no other. The only injury that ever came close to this feeling was the gunshot wound from Sunwalley.

At that moment I realized just how wrong I was. Ifrit had no reason to stand here and chat with me. If I wanted to stall him, I had to fight for it. Normally, I'd be terrified. Heck, just looking back at the event makes me tremble. But for some reason, back then, I felt courageous. Instead of running to the nearest cover or panicking, I rushed right towards Ifrit. When I saw him lift his other arm, a thought flew through my mind so fast as if it wasn't even mine. "It's weak. It'll crumble." Instead of my enemy, I focused my eyes on the ground. Ifrit was still standing on the separate platform that was being held by the now-frozen giant Burned. Very quickly, my mind started to argue with reality itself, as if I was trying to prove to physics why its behaviour is inappropriate and needs to change. "The Burned are enormous, must be heavy too. There is a high chance that the road was built above an underground parking lot. The heat must've also damaged the road quite a bit, therefore, it must be really worn down." I could hear a slight clink as Ifrit's magic was about to burst out once again. "Crumble!" my brain shouted.

The street listened. The frozen Burned sank into the ground, as it crumbled underneath their weight. Ifrit's next attack turned into nothing but a simmer as he lost his balance and fell down. But my plan was different. I kept on running and running, hoping to close the distance between us just in time. The ice sculptures fell deep underground, but exactly as my mind commanded, they hit the floor of the room beneath us at the perfect height. The stone platform they were previously holding up was still firmly in their grasp but now, it was exactly at the same level as the street I was running on.

Their descent finished just as I was only a few meters away. Ifrit quickly raised his hands in an attempt to cast another spell, but some strange force was pushing me forward even faster. Not sure if it was my own determination or the power of the Divine Creativity. As soon as I got close enough, I punched ifrit right into his face as hard as I could. Deep inside, I hoped that my strength had grown in this world. Back in my previous life, I tried learning Kung-fu once. Right in the first session, the instructor told me that I had the weakest punch he had ever seen. It was the first and last time I had tried any martial arts. I hoped that Ifrit would not judge my power the same way.

My fist connected with his face, I could tell that much. In my head, I was thinking about all those cool movies, where the detective knows precisely how to punch the murderer to knock them unconscious in just one effortless hit. Perhaps if my mind would be filled with thoughts like these, my powers would bring them forth into reality. But instead of stopping against Ifrit's cheek, my first carried on moving forward with my whole body in tow. I watched that man stare emotionlessly into my eyes as he dissolved into sparks. I flew right through him. The flames licked me where they could. Fortunately, instincts managed to command my other arm to cover my face. Thanks to that, I avoided some of the uglier burns.

As soon as I regained my balance, I looked behind me, the fire was slowly disappearing, and Ifrit's body was forming itself back. There was no time to waste. I jumped towards him and started throwing one fist after another into whatever body part I could see. The moment even the tiniest speck of him materialized, I punched it as hard as I could. And when I felt it giving in and turning into flames once again, I withdrew my fist and struck at a different place. The left fist followed the right, and the right followed the left. I didn't even realize it at the time, but due to some reason unknown to me, I was striking faster than any other human ever could.

"Barbaric," I heard Ifrit say, his voice coming out of everywhere around. Then suddenly, a hand appeared right in front of me. It was so close I couldn't react in time. It grabbed me by my shirt and I could feel the heat coming off of it, rising more and more. In the next moment, an explosion covered the whole platform. If I was anywhere near that, it would've been fatal. My body would be torn to pieces and scattered around the street. But I had a way out. Although, in this case, I cannot take any credit, if I am to stay honest. There's no way to tell whether it was my subconsciousness or perhaps Shade's remaining presence, but the Divine Creativity worked yet again. They say that when a fighter gets pushed into the corner, out of desperation, they summon strength they never knew they had. I only wondered how many more corners I could pull off.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

The Angelic Marks that were holding up the platform on which we were currently fighting got weakened by the fall into the underground. Since they were frozen, their icy bodies were a lot more fragile and so with us fighting theoretically on top of them, it was only a matter of time before they'd give in. The frozen Burned eventually shattered and I found myself falling down along with the platform. But Ifrit's hand was still holding on to me. That, however, was also resolved. My tunic was not very well made. It wasn't some high-quality manufacturer. No, it was sewn in more of a medieval style and on top of that, as it seemed, by a very unskilled craftsman. As I fell, the shirt couldn't hold me, and so it got torn off where Ifrit was holding me. This all managed to happen just before his explosion of fire occurred. The pressure wave it generated still caused me some trouble though. It pushed me down, making my landing even more painful. Fortunately, nothing got broken.

As soon as I landed, I lifted my head up, Ifrit was floating above me, at the level of the street, looking down on me like some sort of a godly entity that is about to put down a sick cattle. He pointed towards me with his finger and my mind only had time to scream: "I'm far! You'll miss!" Shots started flying out of his finger like he was firing a Gatling gun. Only this one seemed to have an endless magazine. I ran and used some of the rubble as cover. My wishful thought worked, but I was still hit numerous times. Fortunately, these projectiles didn't seem to be as deadly as the beam from earlier, as they caused only smaller, even though still quite painful burns.

As I was running and looking for the nearest rock to hide behind, my eyes landed on a pressurized bottle lying on the ground. I couldn't quite understand what it was filled with, but one of the labels was very familiar to me, displaying a fire in a red rectangle. That was my chance. If physical attacks couldn't affect Ifrit and I didn't have any other magical powers, I had to improvise.

"One of his shots will accidentally hit that bottle!" I mumbled out loud as I slid behind cover. The moment I did, I heard a soft metal clink. "The gas inside will erupt, causing the bottle to fly right towards him," I continued. There was a loud whistling sound resonating through the parking lot. "And I'll explode right in his face!!!" I practically shouted out.

Another explosion occurred. This one was much bigger and louder than the one created by Ifrit. I briefly looked into the sky, only to see nothing but embers. It would've been nice if such an attack would kill him, but I didn't have my hopes up. Instead, I decided to use the time he was gone as best as I could. I ran around the underground for a while until my mind somehow managed to conjure me up a set of stairs, leading back onto the surface. I ran up, taking them by two, if not by three if something like that would even be physically possible.

I made it upstairs and ran back out, hoping to see that Ifrit is still gone, scattered around the place by the exploding bottle. In a sense, this wish of mine came true. When I stepped outside, my enemy was nowhere to be found. However, if I knew better, I would've used that one wish differently.

I saw the area where Chester's dome used to stand. There was nothing left. A cloud of dust was slowly rising to the sky, along with torn-up rags of a familiar white colour. It didn't take long and my eyes landed on the ground, spotting a single body lying among the rubble. I ran up to it as fast as I could, hoping that there would still be some chance. That I would still have a friend to hold. But by the time I arrived at Chester's side, it was too late. I didn't have to check for vital signs. The dead stare in his eyes was telling me all I needed to know.

I fell to the ground, screaming and punching the concrete, which was crumbling underneath each blow like a piece of fresh pastry. I wondered why it all had to happen. I kept asking if there was anything I could've done. There was such a strong desire inside me to protect them, yet it was too late. There wasn't a single living soul in this place I could protect anymore. They were gone. All of them. Once again, after so long, I was left completely alone in this dark and twisted world of mine.

"There, are you happy?" I heard a voice. It was known to me, but I didn't want to look at its owner. All I wanted was one last look to make sure that my friends were actually gone, and that this isn't, by any chance, just a terrible nightmare. But the moment I lifted my eyes, there was nothing. No matter where I looked, there was just endless darkness. I couldn't make out where was up or down, even though gravity or a similar force was still holding me in its grasp. The only thing with only a slightly different colour was Shade, standing beside me like my own shadow.

"I..." was the only word I could say. Nothing else was coming out even though this other self of mine was giving me all the time I needed to speak my mind.

"Yes, you. This was all you. Everyone is gone. You managed to wipe out all of your allies, good fucking job. You've done so many things wrong in your life, but this? Mmmm... Masterpiece."

He was right. All that happened was my fault. I couldn't think about anything else. If I didn't jump, I wouldn't be here, the world wouldn't be burning, and Ifrit would not have killed all those people.

"But don't worry. You will have all the time you need for your suffering," Shade continued.

"Am I dead?" I managed to ask a single question.

"No. Do you think death will somehow set you free? No. You think of yourself as a terrible person. Someone deserving death. Someone who is more of a monster than a human."

I lifted my head and looked him directly in the eyes.

"Don't say anything. It won't matter now anymore. Have you looked at yourself?" Suddenly, the ground beneath us looked like the cleanest mirror in existence. But instead of me and him, I saw nothing but two Shades. "You are no more, Eddie. Your own power listened to your endless and repetitive cries. 'I'm guilty! I should die instead! It's all my fault! Boohoo!' Well, this is what you imagined, so this is what you get. There is no more good inside your body. No kindness, no patience, no friendly smile. There is only the darkness. There is only me!"

The world came back to me as quickly as it disappeared. I was back in Everstar again, but for some reason, I felt lighter, as if I didn't weigh anything at all. My body lifted itself off the ground and stretched, yet none of that was at my command.

"Enjoy the back seat, Eddie. Because now, we're under new management."