Zephier and Akai held a calming presence, there was no urgency in their postures. The two brothers continued their arguing to the point that it seemed as if they didn’t notice Ilinore at all.

Her head lowered as a silent rage bubbled up from below the surface.

“How dare you look down on me? Do you believe that I am weaker than you? Even in this fake body, I will always be your superior!” She raised the device in her hand.

Both brothers reacted just as quickly as the rugged gem at its centre lit up with a powerful light. Akai cast out his hand towards the demon while Zephier took the offensive, and rushed out in a swift jolt.

He ran along the edge of the wall and closed the distance between them, once he was in position Akai muttered to himself.

“That idiot, always rushing in like that. Sigh…I suppose I’ll play the role of support for now.”

Zephier threw his body at Ilinore and flung out all of his limbs like a cat about to land from a massive height. His claws and bare feet were the first to fly through the air and the rest of his body followed behind it.

A pillar of stone grew out from the ground and Zephier crashed into it. A powerful rupture sent waves of pressure out of the wreckage and Zephier emerged unscathed.

She wasn’t done, the light that resonated from her palm hadn’t dimmed.

A flurry of spikes and sharp objects rose from the ground in succession. Zephier dodged and weaved through them all, he jumped from point to point with large steps. The way he moved through the air was swift but there wasn’t a hint of grace in it at all.

As Zephier cleared a large pillar he fell back and landed into a cartwheel, he spun across the air and landed on his legs quite a far distance back. The ground around him rippled and his eyes fell to the wobbly surface beneath him.

“Not again—!” He panicked.

The area around him sunk in the form of a large crater made from liquid stone, without any footing he had no way of escaping. Zephier’s face turned pale as his body fell through the floor.

A blast of red flames shot through the air, just over the dip in the floor. Zephier watched as the flames flew over his head. “Those flames…damn it!”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Ilinore erected a wall from the ground to take the brunt of the flame ball. As the burst of flames struck the wall it shattered into crumbled pieces of clay and dirt.

“Like I said before brother, you shouldn’t be so careless,” Akai said intructively.

“Tch! Always the party pooper.” Zephier cursed silently.

With Ilinore's concentration broken, so were the effects of the dip in the floor. Zephier landed on solid ground and used the distraction to climb out before everything went liquid again.

He flew out from the ground in one large leap and landed back on level ground, where his feet wriggled a few times over in delight. He looked back at his brother’s blasé glare and shot him a smirk in return.

“Just you watch—I’m about to wrap this all up before you can say another word!” Zephier announced.

He spread his arms out to the side of his body and both hands returned to their scaly complexions. Blue scales spread throughout his hands and down his arms until everything up to his elbows was covered.

He took a deep breath and steam released from the corners of his mouth. “Just like I practised…” He whispered to himself. He kept both eyes closed and concentrated on a single image in his mind. The clear picture of a solid flame that grew larger with every breath.

Once the flame in his mind reached a massive size, his eyes opened with a sudden jolt and his expression shifted. The concentration had been burnt to ash and left a wild beast-like grin in its ashes.

“If you keep looking down on dragons—you might just get burnt!”

With the powerful roar of his skill, two large flames made from clear blue erupted in the palms of his hands. The flames grew to an unmanageable size and overtook his grasp, they consumed his hands and then his arms in their growth.

He cast his arms towards Ilinore and both large flames aimed at the demon just ahead of him.

Her eyes didn’t falter, she didn’t see him as a threat in the slightest. Akai on the other hand seemed completely astonished by the sudden development.

“Zephier…just how far have you come since we were young?” he muttered.

Zephier's arms were consumed by the flames, they were so far into its mass that he couldn't see his own hands anymore. The strength of both flames grew way past his expectations and the expression on his face made it clear.

The corners of his mouth twitched rapidly, reflecting the painful searing that his flames inflicted on his arms.

“Ugh…it’s starting to hurt real bad. This should shut you up, right demon? Volcanic Burst!!”

He forced everything he had behind it and sent the attack flying. Powerful bodies of flames released their hold on his arms and blew through the air at Ilinore, which heated the air into steam as it travelled across the room.

Walls of stone blocked its path, each time they rose another would fall just in front of it. A line-up of broken gravel fell to the flame's strength as it flew at Ilinore.

Her mouth straightened into a blank expression.

A rupture of flames created a tornado of heat and smoke at the end of the room as Zephier’s attack hit Ilinore dead on. The crackling snaps of embers burst off from each other and filled the silence, but nothing else followed.

The smoke had ceased its focused swirling and once every strand of fire and flame vanished, there was nothing left in its absence.

Zephier’s eyes grew wide as he gazed upon the empty air where Ilinore once stood. “Did I…?”

“Was that the best you could do?” A soothing tone whispered over his shoulder.