Thunder resounds throughout a dark and stormy sky, concealing beneath a violent and explosive battle. Astraoth, fighting under this vast tempest, thrusts a gray stone pole swiftly at the terrifying monster opposite him.

  The black Pegasus meets his weapon with a vicious charge forward. As the polearm approaches, it is blocked by a shield of dark energy surrounding the beast, and the Pegasus continues its charge toward Astraoth completely unharmed.

  Astraoth is unsurprised and dodges his foe's lightning-fast charge. After his dodge to the right, Astraoth whips his pole at the Pegasus, aiming to hit its side.

  As the polearm is about to strike its body, the Pegasus dissipates into a storm of blue and purple lightning bolts, rematerializing on the other side of Astraoth. As it reappears, the beast launches a flurry of lightning bolts at Astraoth, streaming from its sparkling blue wings. As Astraoth notices the barrage of electricity rushing at him, he slams his pole on the floor, infusing it with Essence Energy.

  Astraoth quickly rockets upward in a stream of light, avoiding the lightning below him. As he falls rapidly toward the ground, Astraoth pushes the air to his right with Essence Energy and flies toward the Pegasus at his left.

  Astraoth, as he descends toward the Pegasus, slams his pole at the beast, but as he is about to strike it, the Pegasus disappears in another storm of lightning.

  Still in the air, Astraoth flips around, and finds the Pegasus above him, surrounded by a spiral of darkness and electricity. Astraoth reacts instantly, channeling his Essence Energy to his feet, and releasing it from them in a burst of light, rocketing him away.

  The Pegasus descends rapidly, attempting to trample Astraoth underneath its hooves, but Astraoth's maneuver saves him. Quickly, Astraoth flips onto his feet, stabilizing his position on the ground.

  The Pegasus, as it lands on the ground, flaps its wings powerfully, and launches itself into the sky. As it reaches the focal point of the storm, the Pegasus begins to gather its energy into itself, forming a cocoon of raw energy around its body.

  After accumulating a gigantic mass of energy around it, the Pegasus launches it outward, sending tens of thousands of bolts of energy flying in all directions. Seeing this, Astraoth closes his eyes and expands his consciousness outward, remaining motionless as the bolts of energy approach.

  The bolts of energy become so numerous that they cloud the sky with their mere shadows. If Astraoth were to open his eyes, his entire field of view would be stained a bright blue by the energy bolts.

  But still, Astraoth's eyes remain firmly closed, even as the energy bolts surge toward him with lightning speed. Only when the first bolts are less than a meter from him does Astraoth move; as it rockets at his face, Astraoth slightly tilts his neck, sending the energy bolt whizzing by.

  Astraoth still barely moves as the mass of energy bolts become ever closer, only swaying his body slightly to avoid the attacks. Eventually, Astraoth begins to walk slowly forward, still swaying his body slightly. With only Astraoth's small movements, the bolts of energy miss him entirely, unable to even scratch him. Astraoth slowly advances toward the Pegasus, untouched by any of its attacks.

  Seeing this, the Pegasus screams violently and explodes its energy outward, launching it all at Astraoth. Still, Astraoth easily avoids all its attacks with only the slight sways of his body. The Pegasus, having expended all its energy, stops its barrage. Astraoth quickly approaches the Pegasus, swiftly reaching its cocoon, and as he does, Astraoth's eyes snap open, revealing two bright crimson eyes.

  As Astraoth's eyes open, he leaps into the air, releasing his Essence Energy, simultaneously pulling out his stone pole. The Pegasus flies at him quickly, darkness spiraling out from its sinister purple eyes. As the Pegasus arrives, charging at him, Astraoth thrusts his pole downward, using his energy to propel himself upward, dodging the beast's charge.

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  Astraoth, seizing the Pegasus' moment of weakness, gathers his Essence Energy into his pole and launches it downward, and it streaks downward like a thunderbolt, reaching the Pegasus almost instantly. The Pegasus, once again, dissipates into a storm of electricity, and reappears ten meters away, unharmed.

  Astraoth falls back down, landing softly on the pole, now stuck deep into the ground. Astraoth leaps into the air again, directly at the beast, and the Pegasus returns in kind. Astraoth gathers his energy into his fingertips, and as he reaches the beast, he propels it outward in a burst of raw energy, sending it directly to his foe. The Pegasus disregards it, and as the energy beam approaches, it is deflected by its shield of dark energy.

  Astraoth, focusing on the beast, notices that immediately before its shield activates, the Pegasus pulls energy from the massive storm system surrounding it. As Astraoth lands on the pole once more, he has an epiphany, suddenly realizing how to defeat his opponent.

  Astraoth extends his hand upward, closing his eyes, and relaxing his body fully. His consciousness is extended from his body, reaching up to the immense tempest raging overhead. Astraoth, his spirit relaxed, feels the darkness of the storm, and it naturally begins to gravitate around him.

  As Astraoth's consciousness grasps the storm's enormity, dark energy starts to converge around Astraoth.

  Within half a minute, the entire storm starts to gather around Astraoth, forming into a massive spiral of dark power. The Pegasus reacts quickly, beginning to gather the storm's energy for itself, but only manages to attract lightning energy. It still, however, creates another spiral in the sky.

  Quickly, the storm's energy is split into two, and the sky is split down the middle by two gigantic masses of energy, one of darkness, and one of lightning. Astraoth, after fully absorbing half of the tempest's energy, feels his body's meridians expand under the raw pressure, but his powerful body can handle the immense stress of the energy, though only for a short period of time. Noticing the amount it taxes his body to maintain this state, Astraoth acts immediately and leaps with his full strength into the air, rocketing towards the Pegasus with frightening speed, darkness spiraling around him.

  The Pegasus responds in kind, and flies directly at him, lightning trailing from it. The two rapidly approach each other, but when Astraoth is about to meet the beast, he punches upward using a burst of dark energy to swiftly descend, while simultaneously obstructing the Pegasus’ vision with darkness.

  Astraoth fires a bolt of dark energy from his feet as the Pegasus continues toward his previous position. This propels him quickly upward, directly into the vulnerable stomach of the Pegasus. Astraoth gathers all his energy in his right hand, raising his left hand to strike at the beast.

  As Astraoth is about to strike the beast, it disintegrates into sparks of electricity, and reappears at Astraoth’s right, away from both him and his cloud of darkness. Astraoth smiles and sends a massive bolt of darkness at the Pegasus, which explodes into waves of dark energy that bombard the Pegasus. It attempts to use its shield to guard but has no remaining darkness energy. Immediately, it transforms into lightning and flees.

  The Pegasus, attempting to flee, uses its wings to fly swiftly away. However, Astraoth summons his energy and utilizes a sudden burst of energy to advance rapidly on his foe. As he catches up to the beast, he descends quickly, launching a massive bolt of energy at the Pegasus. 

  The Pegasus avoids his attack with a flap of its wings, falling backward. Astraoth suddenly uses a burst of energy to halt his forward momentum, and he summons the rest of all the darkness energy he gathered, creating a field of darkness around the Pegasus.

  Astraoth descends onto the beast, and punches in its head with all his strength, bruising it, and causing it to bleed. The beast attempts to escape with its lightning, but cannot in a field of pure dark energy-there is no medium for the current to travel to. Astraoth begins to infuse his Essence Energy into his fists and strikes it over and over again, hundreds, thousands of times. The Pegasus screams and roars and wildly rampages, in a desperate attempt to escape, to survive.

  However, the beast, despite all its attempts to escape, eventually falls under Astraoth’s fists, and the two start to fall to the ground, the Pegasus’ wings no longer able to keep them afloat. Soon, the Pegasus' dead corpse begins to fall at a rapid pace, nearing the ground quickly.

  Astraoth barely slows his fall with the last of his energy, and the corpse slams into the ground viciously; Astraoth hardly managing to survive, his organs shaken and disrupted. He tries to dismounts the horse but immediately falls to the ground exhausted, collapsing weakly. He falls asleep once more, until his energy is restored, until morning arrives once more.