The situation changed in an instant.

An incredible pressure had fell on their surrounding, as Orion sweated, understanding what was going to happen.

'That's why I wanted to finish fast. Now I have to avoid all of the lightning strikes. Can I even do that?'

With Kamala in his arms, who didn't look good either, they prepared for the strongest attack Ivan had.

The one that destroyed the whole city.

"How much time can you hold under my Relentless Thunder? Struggle as much as you can, I'll make you a pile of fuming ashes!"

The air grew still, and heavy. Lightning sparks jutted from the ground everywhere around Ivan.

'This is bad, really bad.'

Orion gulped. All he wanted was to get away from him immediately.

~

'Amelia, you might want to activate the Second Gear.'

Ego's voice echoed in her mind suddenly.

'Does it have something to do with the pressure around here?'

'Yes, Ivan is going to let out the same ability he used to erase the city.'

'Fuck!'

Amelia immediately closed her eyes and removed Orion's lock.

'Be safe, Orion!'

She prayed with everything she had, that nothing would happen to him.

~

Orion released the First Gear he refrained to use until now.

While feeling the flow of magic inside his body, he felt a stronger wave of magic empower him.

'Amelia.'

He smiled, feeling the Second Gear activate.

'Even though I haven't requested it, she still unlocked it. I'll be sure to use it fully.'

'How long can he use it against how long I can use mine.'

"Kamala, get ready. This is going to shake a lot."

She nodded, and hugged his neck after releasing her magic.

As if uncontrollable, lightning began to fall at various places of the area.

Orion, still seeing the world in slow-motion thanks to Calm Analysis, prepared to move the moment a strike was preparing to fall on them.

The ground sparked under him, signaling an attack where they were.

He ran out of the way, and began to speed through the place, dodging attacks one after the other.

The momentum he had was incredible, but one single mistake and they were done.

Ivan looked at him running at an impossible speed for humans.

"My turn."

Ivan grinned and formed a lightning spear in his hand.

'I won't be able to dodge everything!'

Orion watched in front of him and glanced at Ivan, who was preparing to throw his spear.

The moment he heard Ivan throw the spear, a lightning strike was going to fall in front of him at the same time.

'What do I do? I can dodge the spear, but we'll be hit by the lightning. If I avoid the lightning, this time the spear will pierce us.'

He analyzed everything carefully.

'The only thing to do, is that!'

Orion instantly enhanced his speed temporarily with his light magic.

He gradually ran faster, moved past the lightning strike, also avoiding the spear.

Since using everything together was dangerous in the long run, he deactivated the enhancement immediately after.

But Ivan wasn't done, there was more coming their way.

One spear after the other, they were showered by spears coming from multiple directions.

'Up, front...'

Orion slid on the ground to avoid the spear. After watching the spear graze his face, he returned to run at full speed.

'He won't be able to do that every time. I have to do something too!'

Kamala was worried. She watched the whole thing, and didn't liked how useless she as right now.

'What can I do?'

Her sight changed suddenly when Orion turned around to avoid another strike. But she saw the big, twisted smile of Ivan at that moment.

At the same time, Orion and Kamala thought of the same thing.

'Fuck! We're trapped.'

"I got you this time!"

"Orion, jump!"

He ignored everything happening and followed Kamala's order. He jumped as told.

'Let's do it! I can help!'

She focused on her two elements.

An rocky platform formed under Orion. He looked surprised for a second, but then the same idea as her came to him.

"I'm counting on you."

Those words and his smile were enough for her to give everything.

She nodded and continued what she was doing.

"Left!"

Orion jumped to the left of the platform.

"Wherever you go, I'll still strike you down!"

Ivan threw his spear, stronger and faster than before. He was sure to hit them this time.

When Orion jumped, Kamala created another platform, diagonally.

Orion placed his foot on it, and right before jumping, he felt a strong push underneath him.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Kamala's wind magic was about to push him away.

He bent his knee, seeing the spear closing on them slowly, before being pushed away.

They found themselves five meters above the ground. This was especially danger as lightning tended to hit things that were high, and since there wasn't many tall things left around, they were prime targets for the lightning strikes.

"You jumped to your own death."

Ivan looked in disbelief at the stupid choice they made.

"Not really."

Orion made a snarky comment.

They both saw the beginning of the lightning strike form under them. It was going to be a strong one.

Kamala created another platform, but this time going the opposite direction, sending them downward.

Orion stepped on it just before the lightning fell on them, and launched himself.

He left behind one drop of sweat that got disintegrated to nothingness by the tremendous amount of electricity.

The same process repeated multiple time, jumping around closer to the ground in a zigzag pattern, avoiding each lightning strike by trusting Kamala's judgment of timing.

"Impossible! How are you avoiding everything I throw at you?! Who are you?!"

Ivan finally realized who he had in front of him.

Before arriving to the ground, Orion and Kamala exchanged a gaze, and prepared to attack.

A platform formed, were Orion could stand. Another one formed behind him, and Kamala let go of Orion's neck, dropping down from his arm.

Before Ivan could understand what had happened, Orion alone was closing on him.

"I am your enemy."

Ivan's lighting shield had disappeared during the powerful 'Ruthless Thunder', so this moment was perfect to hurt him.

He kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying a few meters backward.

But Kamala was already waiting there, having used the same tactics of moving by using her platforms.

With a kick empowered by her wind magic, she damaged Ivan's back, almost breaking him in half from the impact.

Ivan was sent back to Orion, who simply dodged him and returned to grab Kamala, because the ability wasn't done yet.

"Good job, we've managed to injure him gravely."

"No, it's thanks to you. Without you, I wouldn't have made it."

They celebrated their success lightly, avoiding the lightning strikes.

*BOOM*

Both of them looked toward the amount of rubble that was sent flying.

Ivan walked toward them, looking quite different from before. He exhaled a large amount of heat from his mouth.

*HUFF*

"You two, you are the first to bring me to such a state."

Ivan looked at himself. His armor and clothes were destroyed, revealing his muscular body.

"Time for round two?"

Ivan created two lightning spear in both hands, and ran toward them.

"Orion, his lightning shield is out, now's our chance to kill him. Avoid the lightning as much as you can."

He nodded, ready to follow her orders.

Orion waited for a moment were he could drop Kamala before Ivan made it to them.

'I didn't want to use more energy than necessary, but there's no other way.'

He opened a portal next to him, and one further behind Ivan.

"Kamala, sorry about that."

"Huh?"

Before she could understand, Orion had thrown her inside the portal, and she landed behind Ivan.

"What trick did you use?"

Ivan stopped, glancing at Kamala behind him.

"You don't have to know."

"You really never say anything about you, huh?"

Ivan was frustrated. He learned absolutely nothing about the man in front of him since the beginning of the fight.

He learned that he was fast, yes. His strength was real, yes. But other than that, he was a complete mystery.

Even if he managed to share information about him to the other Apostles, he would have nothing to say at all.

"Why would I?"

Orion smirked at him, making Ivan slightly angrier.

"Never mind that, I'll come for you anyway!"

Ivan ran toward Orion. His plan was to finish him before killing Kamala after that.

Kamala realized that Orion had created an opportunity for her by using his own energy.

'Thank you, I'll make it count!'

She was back in action.

The lightning strikes had finally stopped, giving more breathing room to them.

Orion realized that it was going to be a close quarter fight from this point, so he took out Dawn and Dusk, the dagger form of his elements.

He closed his eyes, and remembered how Amelia moved when fighting.

The stance he took was the same as Amelia. Crossed arms, and a knee bent in front. Ivan arrived in front of Orion, and their first clash happened.

A high speed exchange of blows happened, leaving Kamala wondering what was going to happen.

After a few seconds, they both stepped back and looked at each other.

'How can he move this fast with two spears in his hands?'

Orion was impressed, even if it was from his enemy.

He looked intensely at his enemies during the small time frame before the next attack.

'His arms. They are enhanced by lightning?'

This was the moment Orion understood. Ivan boosted his ability by letting lightning flow inside his muscles.

Long thread of purple light flowed in his arms, unnoticeable if not for Orion's aptitude in seeing details.

The next fight happened immediately after that. Ivan rushed to Orion and once again, the exchange of blows continued.

Orion deflected his attacks and dodged the ones he couldn't perfectly deflect. Ivan did the same.

'This is going nowhere.'

Orion thought in between strikes. The situation was not particularly bad for any of them, as not a single strike managed to hit the other one.

"Stop struggling!"

Ivan said after moving away.

"..."

Orion kept silent. He composed himself, and opted to continue imitating Amelia. She would be proud if she could see him.

"It's starting to become boring."

Ivan turned around and blocked a large rock coming his way.

"It won't work again. I already said that before."

But he talked in the wind, because Kamala had already cleared his sight.

Another rock flew from his blind spot.

"Not again..."

He sighed and pierced the rock in half.

The next one, and the next one. Nothing Kamala threw at him was working.

"Are you alright?"

Kamala returned to her original spot.

'I thought at least one would work. I'm sorry, Orion.'

She wanted to divert Ivan's attention a bit more, but this was useless.

Ivan prepared to attack Orion once again, but an idea came to him.

Orion didn't ignore the distorted smile on his face.

'Something his going to happen. I'll have to be prepared for anything, and fast!'

He prepared many things, and hoped that he didn't have to use them.

The spears hit Orion's daggers one more time, but Ivan pushed way stronger and managed to push him back a few meters.

"Now!"

He turned around and immediately threw a spear toward Kamala.

"Shit!"

Orion realized too late his plan. Kamala watched as the spear arrived close to her.

But she wasn't the same as before, she wasn't scared of dying anymore.

And the reason why was the man in front of him.

Orion had previously created a portal near Kamala in case she was suddenly attacked, and he was right to do so.

He extended his arm in front of him, catching the lightning spear.

"DAMN IT!"

Orion screamed as he began to be pushed back further and further, until his back touched Kamala.

She tried to alleviate his burden, but even herself began to be pushed back.

Looking in front of her, she looked at Orion's hand.

'That! His using the rock I gave him earlier!'

To avoid injuring his hand, and have something to stop the spear, Orion used the rock he received when Kamala and him crossed path circling around Ivan.

Ivan was clapping in the back, a huge smile on his face. He could have thrown the last spear, but he underestimated his enemies greatly and simply stuck it in the ground next to him.

The spear began to crack the rock, adding to his stress.

'The only way is this!'

'Orion! That won't work!'

Ego's voice echoed in his head, knowing what he was about to do.

'Magic doesn't work like that! You're just going to hurt yourself more!'

She tried to prevent him from being hurt, but he refused.

"THEN I WILL MAKE IT WORK!"

The rock exploded in his hands, and the lightning spear made contact with his bare hand.

Orion endured the pain, and looked at Ivan.

"Orion!"

Kamala called his named behind him, but he was unable to hear her. His mind was focused, even through the pain.

Void magic focused on his hand, and disappeared.

'Again!'

He tried once again.

'AGAIN!'

Multiple time, void magic tried to form around his hand.

Before finally managing to make it.

The void magic opened two portals, one that engulfed Orion's hand, and one that engulfed the spear.

A third portal appeared in front of Ivan.

*Cough*

Ivan looked at his chest, where his lightning spear was now. It had cleanly pierced his chest.

'He really made it...'

Ego was shocked. In normal circonstances, magic cannot be impacted by other magic. And this was someone else's magic, so this was less likely to happen.

But Orion broke another rule with his new element.

'I guess it's alright then?'

Ego didn't knew what to say anymore, and simply accepted that fact, before returning to silence.

Orion recovered his hand from the portal, and began to heal it immediately.

It was in bad shape. Blood was pouring from the opening the spear made in his palm, and the burn had propagated to half of his forearm.

"..."

Kamala silently looked at him gritting his teeth.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

He looked at her with a pained smile, and continued.

"You can finish him, he's still not dead."

She watched as Ivan fell to his knees, trying to bring the spear out of his chest.

"I can- *cough* can't die here!"

Kamala left Orion's side, and walked toward Ivan.

"Not like this?! I won't accept that!"

He looked at Kamala with a rage that no one should have.

She stopped in front of him, her face hidden by darkness.

Her earth magic formed around her forearms, and she silently punched the spear with all of her strength.

She injured herself in the process, but she pushed the spear further with each strike.

"No! *cough* Stop! AaRgh!"

Ivan's strength slowly vanished, as his life force left him.

The light in his red eyes began to blink, and suddenly disappeared.

*Cough*

With one last cough, Ivan's died.

Kamala walked away from Ivan's corpses, and returned next to Orion.

"It's done."

She said it has if it was a natural outcome.

The memory of her mother's last breath came to her.

'This feels the same...'

She wasn't happy, but she wasn't sad either.

"Yes, good work."

Orion looked at his healed hand, and congratulated Kamala.

*Rumble*

"What's happening?"

Kamala looked around, trying to find the reason for the sudden burst of magic energy.

"This might not be the end."

Orion looked toward Ivan's corpse, as it stood up.

Ivan was dead, that was a fact. What was in front of them was something different.

"He's body as been corrupted and taken over...'

They watched as Ivan's body began to change to a more inhuman shape.