My fists balled at both sides of my body. “What are you talking about, you’re crazy!”

The scaled warrior turned serious and his grin had disappeared into the straight-eyed scowl that met my eyes.

“You’re weak, aren’t you?” He responded plainly.

“W-what?”

“I got my hopes up because that demon said you beat her before, but I suppose she was mistaken. You’re not what I’m looking for, no human will challenge me.” He said with a depressed frown.

The long hair that hung over his shoulders stood up and ruffled slightly by a breeze. The powerful black aura that encompassed his body grew larger into a pillar of blackened light.

I was seeing his mana—I just couldn't believe that a single being could be that powerful. I couldn’t believe it.

“The weak die to the strong, so that the strong may flourish. That is the way of dragons, the way of the strong.” He raised his hand towards me and summoned a single flame against his palm.

The flame wasn’t all that large, it was about the size of my fist. I could see more though…the mana that surrounded that flame was monstrous.

A blinding glare covered the flame, even with my low senses I could feel how powerful it was. A power that far exceeded what I could handle.

The power of death.

His flame swirled into a spiralling ball and grew larger, it sucked up all the mana and fed enough into it to make a massive bubble of pure black fire.

“Dark flame, obliterate.” Triggered by his command, the flame set forth.

The ground it passed over crumbled under its pressure and the air steamed by its heat. Sweat ran across every inch of my body.

My skin was boiling and the air in my throat was too hot to swallow. I gasped for air but nothing came of it.

“No…don’t do this…!” I gasped.

His empty stare shot past me, he no longer saw me as a threat—or a living creature.

There was no longer time to debate it, I had only one option left.

I spread out my arms as far as they could go to the sides and yelled,

“IRON BODY—!”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

White light surrounded my body in the shape of a Golem. Just in time, my body was guarded by the massive ball of flames that crashed into me.

The Golem body around me held out for a struggling couple of seconds before it gave in. My feet were pushed back and it felt as though my strength weighed nothing against its might. I was like a child trying to push back an elephant.

The white frame around me cracked—small shards of light broke off of the asGolems body and within a few moments, it shattered. The remaining parts blocking my chest and arms turned to goo and the flames passed through it.

“His flames melted through my skill?!” I panicked.

The staggering pressure of its massive size pushed me off to the side. The only reason I wasn’t killed was because of the last few sections of the skill that remained over my shoulder. By the time I reached the floor, the entirety of my ability had been crushed.

My eyes widened as I was forced to watch the large globe of flames that flew to Alice. She was pressed against the wall and tried to step back but was caught against the hard surface behind her. Her eyes filled with fear and grew twice their size.

Her pupils filled with black and white flames as the hurled ball of embers approached her.

The soft tone of terror escaped her throat. “Brothers…Rei…someone.”

Alice was covered by the arms and back of Veldor as he threw himself over her and gripped her tight. With a protective embrace, he clenched at her sides and held her against his chest.

My eyes filled with tears as the fire reached the other end of the room and they both disappeared from my sight under the wrath of the fire.

“Don’t do this—don’t kill them, please!” I pleaded. I extended out my hand as the flames encased the end of the room where they stood. “…no,” I muttered.

!!!

I flinched at the sight of a glowing object that hovered beyond the flames. A large object shaped strangely like a…shield? It floated inside of the fire, its piercing light cut through the black void of the warrior's flames.

The flames lifted from the protection of the shield and faded away like scattered petals in the wind. A bright white glow arose from the shield's surface and dispelled the effects of the flames.

It was a floating shield made from light—it was mana—and looked to be a sort of magic or skill. I looked around frantically for where he was but Mister Ed was nowhere in sight.

The shield that protected them had a light bubble of mana that covered Veldor and Alice. That protection lifted and revealed the figures that stood behind them.

“Are you two okay?”

Veldor looked up and the figure that stood over them from behind. A large man covered in heavy armour with an equally massive shield in his hand stood over them.

His eyes lit up with sparkling joy as he met his commander's eyes.

“Master…you came for us!” Veldor burst out in relief.

Mister Ed had one hand raised in front of him, aimed towards that large shield that suddenly appeared over them. It must have been one of his abilities, a pretty handy one at that.

“Of course I did, you’re my guildmate. I can’t go letting my student and his friend get hurt, now can I?”

Veldor looked back at him with a puzzled stare. “Friend?” He looked down at Alice in his arms and realised what he had implied.

Veldor blushed into a deep red colour and let Alice out of his hold.

“Ah, this was just—I didn’t mean to…” He wrestled for words.

Mister Ed walked past him and stared ahead at the enemy. Veldor’s eyes dropped to the floor.

“I’m sorry…I couldn't do much of anything. I was pretty useless in the end.”

Veldor’s gaze rose to the proud smile that Mister Ed shot him.

“You risked your life against that monster, for another creature you don’t even like. You’re either a big idiot or a seriously awesome guy. I haven’t known you to be an idiot, Veldor.”

Veldor swallowed his gawking and allowed the grin that brewed on his face to flourish into a proud smile.

“Thank you, master.”