The Simurgh was larger.

Yes, physically larger. It approached with ominous thuds, each shaking the ground like a miniature quake. Its talons ripped up trees like they were twigs and sent leaves flying through the air like dandelion seeds.

The sky was still overcast. The moon was out even though it was definitely midday. Madness grinned. He began walking forward. I followed a step back.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The wind whistled. The battlefield shuddered. A bead of sweat fell off my nose, crashing on the ground with a subtle splat.

Fire scorched the air, a beam of plasma shot through the flames, and a silver orb danced around everything to land on the Simurgh’s rainbow feathers and make them dance. The Simurgh began to sing and the dancing feathers calmed but my own heart filled with reckless joy and a strange desire for Madness’ domains.

I put a hand to my forehead and groaned. I had resisted the Simurgh’s strengthened emotional manipulation magic, but it had left me with a mild headache.

Nothing a little physical action wouldn’t fix.

I dashed through the rainbow colored orbs and discs and beams, sliding down on the ground below the Simurgh’s feet. I sprung up behind the Simurgh’s massive body and fired off a barrage of plasma, sonic attacks, and my electromagnetic rail gun. My ranged attacks arced through the air to avoid the defensive light coming off of the Simurgh’s feathers, but only my sonic attack got through the Simurgh’s defenses.

The Simurgh screeched. The sonic pulses had made the giant bird hold its wings against its ears and swing backwards to deal with me. I had to jump back to avoid the gust of sharp wind, and the Simurgh’s screech undid my sonic attacks, but now I knew how to keep annoying the Simurgh.

Except, the next time I launched my sonic pulses, a gentle hum entered my ear and the attack failed to leave a mark.

Madness didn’t get mad at me for these attacks since he knew all I was doing was probing the Simurgh’s capabilities. Madness joined me by pelting the Simurgh with all sorts of strange attacks.

Madness used a burst of silver moonlight, a scent that made me drowsy, and even a beam of pink light that missed the Simurgh and went far into the distance, hitting a fleeing monster. The fleeing monster shot exaggerated pink hearts out of its eyes and began courting another fleeing monster, only to have itself be comically rebuffed by the monster who was currently fleeing the supernatural battle that had just come bursting through their forest.

I had to be careful. The fight was destroying a lot of the steppes and forests in the area, and we would definitely be getting closer to places where sentient beings lived. I’d already steered us away from a couple of beastmen camps but there was no telling how much collateral damage our battle would do if we ended up in the wrong place. Not to mention, I still had no idea where Kelser and the rest were, and I couldn’t spare the time to go searching for them with the Simurgh’s counter attacks coming for my neck.

The Simurgh began picking up steam. Rather than flapping its wings and taking to the skies, the Simurgh was racing over like a raptor, both wings held to its sides and neck craned forward. The ground was shaking incessantly. The rainbow light shot in all directions, driving away the grim gray dullness that I had summoned with my clouds. Even the silver moonlight fell away against the brilliance, unable to compete with the power of the Simurgh.

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I launched myself into the air so I would be level with the Simurgh’s head. I realized I wasn’t far from the clouds at this height, floating higher than the peaks of most mountains. Madness flapped his toga and appeared to my left but at a massive distance. In fact, the way the three of us were arranged, it was almost like we were all fighting against each other.

The Simurgh screeched.

Madness cackled.

I brought two hands in front of my body. Thousands of phantom hands took shape all around me, casting a barrage of spells of all sorts. In front of my body, I used the design of my electromagnetic rail gun and combined it with a massive explosive charge and a bunch of air resistance nullifying magic. A bullet made of pure lead that I had excavated with magic before jumping up, took shape in front of the railgun. With a bunch of torque and by calculating the perfect timing, I primed the shot and waited for the Simurgh to step closer.

The Simurgh stopped cold, swiveled its head upward, and puked out a rainbow from its beak. The rainbow shot into the sky in an arc and crashed into the gray clouds. The clouds rumbled and roiled before bursting into drops of gray muck that began falling to the earth like some sort of grotesque acid rain.

Sunlight burst forth from the sky, swallowing the moon and the glumness that I had created. The land was awash with the gray goo from the clouds as well as the warm sunlight that should have been comforting but was actually somehow incredibly scorching.

A putrid stench filled my nose. I began to cough, losing some of my concentration and making a bunch of phantom limbs fall apart with their spells in tow. The gray muck did not get on my clothes, but massive puddles of gray gunk had formed on the ground and the smell had somehow wafted all the way up here. I couldn’t imagine how bad it must’ve been on the ground.

With the moon hidden by sunlight, Madness’ laughter became weaker and less wild. With a measured chuckle, Madness swished his toga and the air around him was cleared of all falling gunk, and I couldn’t help but notice how his still disheveled toga was still a startling shade of white.

Madness’ eyes widened. I felt a tug on my heart. A pain in my eyes. I blinked. The sunlight was gone. The moon was back out, a frightening, stunning shade of silver, surreal and supernatural. The moon stood right over the Simurgh, meeting the massive bird’s upturned gaze.

The Simurgh screeched.

The moon hummed.

Music began to play around us.

Singing began to push back in a different pitch and tune.

The two did not work well together, but somehow, I could tell which way they were pushing. The music was trying to match the singing but the singing was racing away from the music and trying to create discord.

Madness rushed forward. The Simurgh brought its head back down. I fired thousands of spells from my phantom limbs, but kept my lead bullet in reserve. That attack would come when there was a better opportunity.

My spells crashed into the Simurgh first. Beams and pulses and balls of energy of all sorts. Flames and ice and globs of earth. Sharp shards of metals and crystals in a range of colors. Bursts of air, swathes of green, blinking prismatic light, and zigzagging projectiles from every direction.

The Simurgh raised its wings and the eyes on its feathers flashed. Balls of energy flew out of each eye like missiles and crashed into nearly every spell. And the spells that got through the barrage were intercepted by a burst of wing or a gentle rainbow glow that covered the massive bird.

Madness timed his grab with the barrage of spells. He avoided the thousands of energy missiles that were converging around him, and reached out with a hand outstretched like a claw. The Simurgh pierced towards Madness with its beak, meeting the outstretched hand in midair.

A shock-wave reverberated from the clash. The wave pushed me back but I held firm with the railgun primed. The gunk on the ground evaporated from the pressure of the clash, and intense heat and energy pulverized the surrounding landscape, instantly incinerating any straggling monsters and creating a humongous crater below.

Madness and the Simurgh stood frozen in the middle of the explosion, hand and beak touching like Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam.