The red-hot aura focused into shape and a dragon's head appeared before me, ready to release a powerful ray of flames at the shielder.

The shielder turned to me and raised his defence, its dull white shine hid his body behind it well. There was no doubt that he was holding solid equipment, it wasn’t the best money could buy but it looked well made.

I faulted for a second, unsure if it was safe for me to fire it off. I knew I had to, even if that shielder's only useful quality was his defence, he was still a silver-ranked adventurer. Not to mention, there was more than I could imagine riding on that shot.

Even if it was for Alice…could I do that to someone else? Could I risk killing another person…

“Tch—what am I doing.”

I lowered my hand and the dragon head disappeared from the air. I shook it off and hoped that it would jog my brain up a bit. I kept wondering why I didn’t take the shot but I knew each time I asked, I knew that I wouldn’t cross that line.

Granted, I was probably around his level of strength and his gear wasn’t bad at all. There was just too much risk of firing it off so close, especially with there being only one of him to defend against it. When I used the skill before, it blew a hole into the wall and then wiped out a group of shielders once more.

I wanted Alice’s name to be cleared with every fibre of my being, nothing mattered more to me at that moment…but I couldn't do it. I couldn't risk it being as powerful as before, what if he wasn’t as good a shielder as I thought and he died?

I wouldn’t want that on my conscious, even if he was a massive jerk.

I didn’t want to think of that happening, so naturally…it was all I could think of. I turned my head from the thought and ran toward him.

I didn’t need to destroy him, I just needed to defeat him.

“Shadow Claw!”

His defence was no joke, my blades didn’t even leave a scratch on that shield of his. That didn’t mean I couldn't tear through it though.

“I’ve dealt with bastards like you before!” I hopped onto his shield, with my claws planted around its edges.

The shadowy claws moved along to my thoughts and gripped down tightly over the metal of his shield, I overestimated it.

My claws tore through it and ripped three large slashes into its surface. I only needed one or two more of those and his defence would have crumbled.

It was a weird sensation, although it wasn’t physically my hand or nails touching the shield I knew exactly how hard it felt. The smooth texture, the cold feeling of its metallic surface, all that information came to me naturally. I didn’t feel it, I just…knew.

“Hey—what gives with that smile?” The shielder glared at me.

Was I smiling, I hadn’t noticed. I leaned in closer over his shield and whispered my response.

“It’s just a little funny, isn't it? I mean—I’m only a Rust rank.”

His dull blue eyes sharpened, I could tell he was screaming at me from inside. I don’t think his mouth got the memo though, he didn’t utter a sound. His body certainly fell into character though, he used a monstrous strength to fling me off his shield as if I weighed next to nothing.

I was sent flying off of his shield and flipped back through the air.

“You bastard…” He uttered.

He charged at me with a determined look, something about him had changed. He hadn’t gotten faster and didn’t seem to be using anything new like a skill, it was just the look in his eyes. Something about his atmosphere had changed, he was serious.

I stepped out of reach from his attacks, each swing or push forward, I would avoid with ease. He was exerting so much effort with each of those swings, I wasn’t sure when he would stop. I only hoped it was soon.

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“Do you have no limit—you’ve been going for like three minutes?!”

I dodged back and the solid blur of his mace rushed past me, only a couple inches from my nose. He had nearly hit me with that last attack of his and they only got closer from there.

“He’s faster.” I muttered under my fading breath.

It didn’t make sense though, I never saw him activate any skills and I’m pretty sure this guy couldn't use magic either—so how did he get so fast?!!

I dodged and weaved back but his attacks were closing in on me, I almost didn’t dodge that last one. I ducked and a strand of hair was cut from my head.

The air above me broke out of the way of his attacks, it created scary sounds each time it broke past me.

Wait—he isn't getting faster, I’m just getting slower!

Lucky for me I knew exactly what would fix that problem. “Rush.” I went on the offence and raced in at his side.

As I jetted in at a low angle, he raised his mace and brought it down with a crushing speed.

“I won’t get hit by something as simple as that!”

A large kick to his waist but it didn’t do much, that armour backed by a figure as big as his—I don’t know what I was thinking.

The shielder turned to his side and brought down his mace for another blow, that time he decided to add some power to it.

“Bludgeon!”

“Don’t even think about it.” I circled behind him and cast out my hand. “Shadow Spike, bind him!”

The black spikes erected from my shadow and replaced the empty gap between us, in a matter of seconds he was stuck on the spot. An uncountable number of spikes appeared between his arms, legs and everywhere else where there was open space.

I managed to keep him still without impaling any of his limbs but it didn’t seem to hold for long.

The raging fire that surrounded the mace only continued to swirl. The shielder let out a gallant cry as he flexed his arm to the fullest until eventually, it budged. The sound of the shadows stretched to their limits filled my ears until its awaited burst.

The spikes that bound his arm shattered in place and the flaming mace was brought down into my direction. The last bit of spikes between us hadn’t retracted yet, all the unlucky figures in his path were broken down to shards as it crashed down.

I pulled up my arms to block but there was no point, I felt it all. The harsh stinging pain of its tough metal sent the muscles in my arm into a violent ache. My armour managed to absorb some of that damage but they were already pretty beaten up from that fight with Ilinore.

That skill of his added just enough power to destroy them. As soon as the mace’s head collided into my arms they shattered beneath its wake. A powerful burst of fire exploded between us and sent me flying back.

The tough rocks scattered across the floor bounced out of my way as my body crashed through them.

I don’t quite know what happened there…everything went black for a moment. I think I took it head-on too…I still wondered if I wasn’t actually dead.

I gained my senses again but everything felt hazy after that, damn it—that guy hit me with everything he had…right after I showed him mercy!

I held my head up, it was all spinning so fast that I was afraid I would collapse at any minute again. I reached for something to grab hold of but remembered where I was—I was in the middle of a fight—there was nothing to support me.

“Shit…I really dropped my guard on that one.”

“What’s the matter, rust rank? Not having fun anymore?”

The shielder emerged from the smoke of that blast, I was surprised his mace was still in one piece after that explosion. It felt pretty unfair, even after that massive explosion his weapon was perfectly fine while my insides felt mushed up.

I struggled to stand but when I got on my feet he had already arrived in front of me, I expected another blow to the head or something but nothing. He just stood there.

Another few seconds went by and nothing, I wondered if he planned on attacking me at all. It didn’t seem like he was going to, more like he was waiting for an answer. Did he ask me something and I didn’t hear?

“What’s the holdup, aren’t you going to hit me again?”

“Do you admit defeat?”

So that was it, he thought I was just going to turn tail and run after a couple of hits.

“No.”

“Then maybe you do need some more.”

Then I started glaring. I imagined we looked like two guys fighting over spilt drinks in an alley somewhere. It didn’t look like a duel between adventurers at all anymore.

He raised his mace again and I jumped back, I activated Rush once more but after a couple of feet the skill disappeared—along with all my balance.

“Oh no—”

I must have taken on too much damage, I didn’t even realise that my health had dropped to the yellow. I wasn’t paying attention to my body and ended up paying the price for it.

I collapsed.

The shielder charged on, he was sure of what to do next. It would have been stupid to pass up such an easy chance at victory. I’m sure in his position it was a no-brainer, only an idiot would have given up a sure shot after all…yeah—a real idiot.

As I reached the floor and my back hit the hard surface of the Towers dirt, a pink figure rushed in front of me.

Alice stood out in front of me with her hands spread out, she wanted to protect me. She stood between us, with no regard for her own safety.

“Alice, what are you…!”

The shielder continued and brought down his mace over Alice.

“ALICE!!!”