Alex tried to wriggle free to no avail. The beast licked at its lips, savoring the moment. He felt stupid. The thing had been hunting him for nearly his entire time on the planet. It had been stronger than him the entire time. Even now it was level 95, eight levels higher than he was.

What was I thinking? I’m screwed.

The Great One inches him closer to its mouth. It moved so slowly as if to relish each moment. Alex’s heart beat faster with each passing moment. He racked his brain trying to come up with anything. His time was running out when he remembered something.

The Sand Drake had first started hunting him after the crown had appeared on his head all those months ago. It had been what had started this relentless crusade pitting the two of them together. It had entered into a frenzy just at the sight of the crown.

I can do one better.

“Hey, Nagaar. Can you do that thing you did earlier? Where you made a copy of yourself?”

“Yes, though I don’t see how this will help in our current predicament. I have to say, I’m rather disappointed. This is not how I saw this going at all.”

“Just trust me,” Alex said while quickly relaying his idea.

Without another moment of hesitation, Nagaar appeared in his metallic glory. He had opted to regale himself with his traditional armor. The same armor he had been wearing the day he died.

As Alex suspected, the Sand Drake’s eyes were aflame with rage at the sight of him. Nagaar took advantage of the shock and made his move along the Sand Drake’s arm towards his face. Stunned, the creature reacted too slowly. Nagaar was already making his move. A scimitar appeared in his hand and the king dove. With swift precision, Nagaar drove the scimitar deep into the beast's eye. Alex forced out every ounce of electric energy he could. It followed the Eonsteel directly into the Sand Drake’s skull.

He hadn’t ever used the lightning this way, but it sure was effective. Heck, he had barely used the energy at all so he really had no frame of reference of if it was actually a good use of the power. He felt like it was though. Without needing to puncture the thick armor of the Great One, Alex could cause a lot more damage.

He had been so elated that his sneak attack had actually worked, that he hadn’t fully taken advantage of his foe’s momentary lapse in focus. Still clutched in the Sand Drake’s claw, Alex was thrashed about as it roared in anger. Alex couldn’t tell up from down as it tried to yank the scimitar from its own eye. He couldn’t even focus enough to continue to channel the electric energy through the metal. He could however, muster up enough concentration to form hooks on the end of the scimitar. Manipulating the Eonsteel was basically second nature by this point.

In the reptile’s frenzy, it was causing more damage than Alex likely could by himself. Finally, the sword was wrenched free from its eye. It did not come out without a fight. What remained of the giant’s eye was more reminiscent of a pot of chili than flesh. Alex had no doubt the creature would have terrible depth perception for the rest of its, hopefully, short life.

When the sword pulled free, Alex was released from the beast’s grasp. He fell hard and fast to the ground. Extending out his arms, Alex controlled his descent and landed with barely a bend in his knees. Just as soon as he landed, Alex was firing up at the Sand Drake once more. Fiery fist collided with the its jaw. It had been enough to knock it backwards.

Alex continued upward. Before he could get too far, he propelled himself down once more. This time, attempting to form a ball of lightning in his hands. He didn’t yet have that kind of mastery, so instead all he got were dissipating wisps of electricity that traced around his fists. Knuckles collided with scales and he could tell his electric attack had only minimal effect.

Alex was yanked off his feet as, what he mistakenly thought were crippled, wings slapped him away. The Sand Drake flapped its wings. It couldn’t fly anymore, but it was enough to get some extra altitude. Alex was already rolling away, but was far too slow. The apex predator was descending.

He was pinned to the ground, unable to force off the heavy creature. Bloody goops dropped down the beast’s snout and into the sand around Alex. A terrible sandy smoothie mix splashed up around Alex covering him with gore. He used little Eonsteel windshield wipers over his eyes so he could still see.

The Great One’s throat began to vibrate once again. Alex didn’t like his odds. Pulling every ounce of Eonsteel he could, he made what was essentially a foot thick wall of steel. It was sandblasted into oblivion. Eonsteel was sent in every direction. Alex was quickly left defenseless, but the barrage continued.

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Two things were happening simultaneously. His P.E. was soaring. In just a few seconds, it was nearly three quarters full. The bad part was his health was plummeting at an alarming rate. It was falling faster than his energy stores were filling up. He felt as if he had just decided to take cruise on the surface of the sun, and he had forgotten sunblock. In other words, he was getting fried.

He was maneuvering multiple health bombs into his mouth with what little Eonsteel he still had. They barely made a dent.

He started to form up his trump card he had developed to combat the deranged Zotari. It would obviously leave him crippled, but he was running out of options. The energy started to swirl in his body when he had an idea.

Why don’t I just make all the light, without all the boom?

There was no guarantee his suicide bomb attack would even kill the thing. All it would guarantee would be that if the explosions didn’t finish it off, Alex wouldn’t survive much longer. He hadn’t ever used the thermal energy without the explosive power. He thought of a lightbulb. It essentially worked by burning hot while using only a little bit of power. If there was a sudden surge of energy, the bulb would pop. At least, that’s what he learned from horror movies, and that had to be accurate, right?

So with that in mind, he started to focus on really fine-tuning the energy flow within him. It was surprisingly easy. He started to radiate out beams of light. He felt extremely hot, and had no doubt the Sand Drake’s claws were burning. He focused on regulating the energy so that he would continue to burn bright without cremating himself. He was making himself into a flash bang, just without the bang part. The bright light would no doubt be seen from space. The darkness of the twilight was nowhere to be seen.

He could see the Sand Drake’s scales started to erode from both its own and Alex’s heat. Not that he was in much better shape. He felt as if he was literally melting. His health was lower than it had ever been. Luckily, his gambit was enough for it to recoil just enough. The second the weight on him lifted just enough, Alex sent himself flying away. He was instantly hundreds of feet away from the dazed carnivore.

His health was so low, he was terrified to even continue this fight. He contemplated just calling it quits. They had both fought valiantly, surely there was no shame in retreat.

Except it wouldn’t be a temporary retreat. Alex would likely never get the chance to face off against the Great One ever again. A retreat now would mean a loss.

Nagaar had been blowing smoke earlier, but something had struck home. Alex knew that he needed to face off against the Sand Drake. He wouldn’t ever feel satisfied if he knew he backed away. He was like the king in that regard. He needed to know who was best.

Alex wasn’t sure just how much damage he had dealt to the beast, but he felt it had been a good chunk. It looked largely in tact, but its movements were somewhat ragged and stilted.

Maybe that lighting attack had done a larger number on it than I had thought.

Maybe it had never dealt with an internal attack like that. It was extremely durable from outside attacks. Its scales were a natural wonder, but why would a creature like that need to develop its internal defenses? Anything that ended up inside it was likely super dead.

Alex changed tactics. He popped a handful of health bombs in his mouth and blasted towards the behemoth. He was extremely careful of its swiping claws. If he got caught again, it would likely be game over. His Eonsteel was already starting to coalesce. He willed it towards himself and scooped up a large portion of it. He could take the time to wait for it all, so he would have to make do.

Just as he had expected, as soon as he got close to the creature it tried to pin him again. Mobility was not its strong suit without its wings, so it was trying to take his away. He quickly dove away. Another swipe came his way, but he was already evading. It opened its mouth in fury and Alex took his shot. Thirty needles shot out from his body attached by Eonsteel wires. They stuck to the exposed flesh in its mouth. The Great One roared. Alex wasted no time and began channeling lightning into its maw.

It looked like Times Square at Christmas time. It was a vibrant display, and Alex was mesmerized. The Sand Drake was less enthused. It curled into a ball, dragging Alex down with it. It had likely wanted to get away from him in hopes the attack would stop. It did not.

Alex continued for a while longer until the beast crunched down on wires hard enough to sever their connection. Suddenly, Alex’s light display was much less impressive. He looked more like those plasma balls you put your hand on. Strands of electricity branched out, most entirely missing his target. Alex cut off the energy not wanting to waste an ounce of it.

Again, Alex was forced back. The Sand Drake had nearly caught him again, but he had narrowly avoided a stomping foot. The creature sprayed him with its breath, but Alex could tell it was losing steam. The duration of the attack had decreased significantly and the heat was noticeably more manageable. It was still hotter than the inside of a steam engine, but it was a step in the right direction.

Alex was starting to lose steam as well. His endurance had increased a lot over the past year. Rarely did he ever have to worry about it depleting. It was only against these stronger foes did it really start to empty out.

He needed to land a decisive blow and quick otherwise he would really be out of options. He thought back to his past battles trying to come up with anything he possibly could to deal with the Sand Drake. He felt that he had come up with some creative ways to deal with each enemy, but how do you deal with such overwhelming force?

His energy pool filled up when he got hit with a flying boulder. It reminded him of his first encounter against Cameron. He had nearly topped off his energy pool back then and had used one super powered strike to end the battle. Why couldn’t he just do something like that now?

Besides, he was curious what a pool of 10,000 P.E. could do.