"So, Pallas has done some good work," Melas said, eyes on Meera. "You're almost level 200. Wasn't that the goal, brother?"

Pallas hung his head. "We would've achieved it too if I didn't put too many restrictions on their fights."

The Archer Warden Zona came over and patted the big man's arm. "It isn't your fault, love." Then she glanced at Meera as if saying it was her fault for making him feel so low.

"Aren't you supposed to be off on reconnaissance, trying to find the monster?"

"He's still staring off into space," Zona said.

Dirik must've finished then as he broke out of his trance. "Yes, I'm ready to go now."

"Be seeing you love," Zona winked to Pallas, gave the nod to her captain and Brison, and pretended Meera wasn't even there.

Once she left with Dirik, Pallas spoke. "Don't think her harsh. She's just a little overprotective of me."

Melas snorted. "A little?"

Pallas sighed. "Okay, more than a little." Then he snapped his head to the shimmering door. "She can't hear me, can she?"

"No, she's gone," Brison said.

Pallas sighed in relief, making his brother laugh. After he calmed down, he turned to Meera. "Ready to die again?"

"Not really." Even to her own ears, Meera didn't sound confident.

Pallas patted her back. "You'll be fine. Just remember what I taught you…and don't die."

Melas took up position on the opposite side of the circle. "This should be fun."

And painful, thought Meera.

"Think of it this way, if you win, you get to evolve…maybe," Melas said.

Pallas raised his fist high in the air and brought it down on his open palm. "Fight!"

Meera littered the area with mirrors from her armor with such aggression that it looked like she had used a Mirror Blast. These added to the mirrors planted from her fights with Dirik, didn't leave a single empty spot. She could teleport anywhere. Next, she took off a level 2 chakram, teleported to the closest mirror, and launched it at Melas, who was in the middle of his transformation into the eight-feet giant.

He had only reached about seven feet tall when he had to stop growing and jump back. He swayed to the side, and her chakram sailed on by.

He smirked. "Nice try, but—"

He jumped up in the air at the last minute. The chakram narrowly missed him by a hair. She knew his technique. It was Furious Leap, which meant he was coming down at full force and had begun to grow again. She didn't let him.

Meera blasted off the ground at full force. Her flying speed had gotten much faster, thanks to Mirror Wing having gained so many levels. She had him. As far as she had seen, he couldn't fly or maneuver in the air. His Iron Skin might be tough, but her chakrams were tougher now.

She readied to entangle him with Vampiric Chains and cut off his head with her chakram, but he smiled.

He better be smiling because he knows he's done and is impressed with me.

Melas spread his arms wide and clapped his hands together, creating a massive shockwave that knocked Meera out of the air and drove her to the ground.

The pressure of the shockwave was so intense that she felt her bones creak. She created a Mirror Shield, but it shattered within seconds. She made three more, and they broke within moments one after another. She created another four, and finally, the pressure was lifted off her.

But something told her it wasn't her Shields that had saved her. It was the shockwave's pressure easing up. Once the winds died, she dissipated her shields and raised her head out of the hole she had been drilled in. Her jaw dropped.

The grass had been flattened, trees ripped off from the ground and hurled about as if a hurricane had come through. Some trees had been smashed into the ground as if they were nails that needed hammering.

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The worst part was that Melas landed on the ground, his transformation complete. His shirt fitted him tightly over his massive frame. It was so stretched that she could see the veins on his arms through his shirt.

"Not letting me transform was good," Melas said. Even his voice had grown deeper.

"Yes, well, my brother used to watch a lot of anime, and that was the number one mistake the heroes made."

"Watch anime?" Pallas asked from the sidelines, seemingly spared from his brother's thunderous clap, as was the grass around him. "Is that some sort of gladiatorial combat?"

"In a way…some of them are."

"Where can I go to watch it?"

"We're in the middle of a fight here," Melas exclaimed.

"Yes, sorry. I'll ask later. Please continue."

Meera activated Mist Concealment and filled the area with mists. She teleported to the side as Melas jumped for her. By then, the grassy area had been filled with mists, too, protecting her from the Colossus Warlord and Mirithia's light. She lifted herself in the air and activated Shroud of Shadows.

Melas looked about, trying to locate her. Meera would not make the mistake of going close to him now that he was fully transformed. The painful memory of his fist ripping through her was still fresh in her mind.

She activated Mistbound Illusions and created five illusions, two of which she sent to him. He punched through them, dissipating them into mists.

"Illusions, huh..." Melas' eyes scanned his surroundings.

Meera placed three more illusions in the direction he was moving towards. His eyes picked up on the stationary one and moved his hand through one, and it disappeared, as did the second.

"That is not how you're going to win this," Melas said as his hand moved through the third. Two more illusions walked up behind him. He sighed and flicked off the fourth, but the fifth shot him in the face with a Mirror Shard Barrage.

Meera flew back as he rolled to a stop at the edge of the grass. He looked up with rage-filled eyes, and Meera feared he was turning into the same fellow she had fought last time, but his anger subsided as he chuckled. "That was a neat trick. But tricks are also not going to win this."

"They might."

"Oh, and what will you do if I remove the mists?"

Pallas snickered along with Brison, who just shook his head. Melas clapped his hands lightly and created a smaller shockwave. Meera's eyes watered, and her hair whipped in the wind, but a moment later, her mists were blown away.

"Got you." Melas ran for her so fast that he disappeared from sight. His footfalls left small booms.

Meera teleported, but his elbow clipped her nose before she disappeared. She cried out when she reappeared in her desired spot, clutching her nose, and her eyes watered. He had shattered it. Thankfully, she had Vitalize to fix it right away.

Meera pulled off her second level 2 chakram, gripped them tight, and activated Shadow Coating, making Melas frown. A black shadow encircled her chakram, but the mirror twinkled from underneath like stars.

Meera let them go, and they stayed in the air. She pulled six of her regular chakrams and launched them at Melas in quick succession. He did something Meera had nearly forgotten he could do, making her angry.

He didn't dodge or duck the chakrams. He punched them away.

His Iron Skin was so leveled that her chakrams only left behind minor cuts. This shook her confidence in what she was about to do next.

She brought her regular chakrams back towards the Colossus Warden, kept peppering him with her chakrams, and shot him with Mirror Shard Barrage. He noticed the beam of light and mirrors a little too late and the two shadow-covered twinkling chakrams not at all.

He jumped aside and let the beam fly by, but Meera had to alternate the trajectory of her chakrams. The two spinning discs of death came for him. He glared and punched the air. He might as well have hit her with a wind missile.

Meera had to erect two Mirror Shields to stop herself from being blasted away. Her chakrams came zipping back. She raised both hands and pushed on them with Mirror Wing. They were stuck in place for a moment, but that was not the only problem.

Melas had disappeared and was coming for her. The wind died down, and the Warden appeared ten feet in the air. Meera raised three Mirror Shields, but he smashed through them. She jumped back just in time for her opponent to create a small crater where she stood.

She was about to teleport away. His hand flashed like lightning, and before she knew it, his hand was around her throat.

"You put up a good fight, but you're still not good enough to face one of us, one-on-one," Melas said as he squeezed.

Meera's first thought was to use Mirror Step, but then she had another idea. She tried to speak, but he was squeezing too hard. Her body begged for air. She didn't have long before she passed out. She located her level 2 chakrams and flicked her fingers, recalling them.

The two shadow-coated chakrams dashed through the air, and she moved them around so that instead of hitting Melas' back, they came around for his arm that gripped Meera.

Please work, or I'm done.

The first chakram sliced Melas' arm clean off at the elbow. Meera didn't even realize what had happened until she fell on her feet and his hand came loose. She altered the second chakram to go for his neck. It worked partially.

Melas swayed back to the chakram, but still nearly half his throat was cut open. Blood gushed out of him, staining the ground red. Melas' eyes widened, but it seemed he wouldn't go down alone.

He punched the ground with his lone arm, and a fissure raced towards Meera. She teleported away to safety, but Melas was expecting it. As soon as she reappeared, he was on her.

He slammed his fist down on her head as if she was a nail.

The only reason her head didn't burst like a melon was because of Spectral Resilience and Iron skin, but it cracked open her skull. She activated Vitalize but fell to her knees, knowing it was too late.

So, it was for the Warden.

He fell to the ground, smiling through bloody teeth. The smile turned to laughter and then coughing, and he finally died. Vitalize slowed her death. She hoped to win this fight by not dying, but she didn't make it.