(“Using dust explosions against your magic. Hmm, not bad for someone of his skill.”) The drake commented. (“By the way, the general knowledge of how this explosion works is within your mind. Are you perhaps an amnesiac?)” The voice remarked.

(“Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up…”)

He knew how it worked but identifying what the priest was doing was another matter.

The priest once again threw powder in the air around them and made his way towards Tibaut. He breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he wasn't allergic to dust in this world and took the priest head-on. He was forced to be on the defensive once more but he knew the man before him wasn't infallible.

(“I just have to shoot it behind him. As long as he can't react to it, it should hit. Plus if he turned around I could just slug him in the back of his head. I can't imagine him being able to react to both.”)

He was slowly worn away and his arms stung more and more but he knew the dust could not be airborne forever. And when it did clear he would take advantage of his opponent's fragility.

The small priest's punches and kicks were no joke to block but it had been over a minute and…. The air was still filled with the powder. It was unusual really, it seemed more like fog than dust with how permanent it was. He couldn't hide his reaction and the priest smirked when he noticed his face.

(“The bastard, is he causing the dust not to fall!?”)

He quickly realised until he knew the rate at the powder was slowed down, his plan was a bust.

He tried to back out of it but the priest reached into his pockets and threw out more powder. The image reminded him of a child playing with sand at the beach when he threw the powder with both his hands. But he couldn't say an image like that had ever filled him with rage before.

(“It's your fault for imagining it. I imagine I'd be mad if I imagined a child whooping me as well. ”)

As he backed up he quickly realised there was nowhere else to go. Behind him was the stairway to the final floor, but with someone as quick as that priest following him, he couldn't imagine he'd have an easy time in there. And behind the staircase was a wall Agnes had been leaning against, watching the battle unfold.

But as he stepped away something else unusual struck him. Why was there still light? Surely the powder had to go far enough in height to reach the flames he created. Plus he was pretty sure he got rid of them after the first fire lance.

He looked up to see a flame but it was not his. And he hesitated to even call it a flame. It looked like the freeze frame of an explosion. It was circular and did not move. And it was substantially larger than the flame he used.

What that was would have to wait as another punch was headed towards him. Strangely he moved his foot towards Tibaut but from his position, he could easily sweep his leg. The other foot went into the air and Tibaut swept the one still grounded.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

And he soon got a boot to his stomach. He had to hold off from using his magic, lest he burn himself again. The other foot was swept but he remained in the air until finishing the blow and positioned said foot back on the ground.

(“Oh fuck this.”)

He didn't care anymore. The explosion would certainly do more damage to him than to Tibaut. He summoned a flame and a much bigger explosion occurred. The light from it blinded Agnes and left Tibaut’s ears ringing and covered in minor burns.

He fell to his knees but the problem had more to do with the first whiff of air being filled with carbon dioxide than any damage he suffered. Clean air quickly filled his space and he was breathing again.

(“Whew, that definitely should have…”)

…

(“Are you really surprised?”) The drake asked.

(“No. Not really.”) He said disappointed.

A few metres away, the priest was standing with no new injuries or burns. And to add insult to injury he was surrounded by dust.

Tibaut shook his head and sighed. His hair was now partially blackened from the soot of the explosion. If it weren't thanks to his natural resistance to fire, he'd be rolling around on the floor in agony from the burns.

(“I noticed that not all of the explosion happened at the same time…”)

(“At least you're learning.”)

During the explosion, the part of it closer to Father Daniel took substantially more time to fade away than the part Tibaut was engulfed in.

“Hahaha, I haven't had this much fun in ages.” The little figure laughed, without so much as a spot of soot on them. He signalled for Tibaut to come over by moving his fingers towards himself but Tibaut rejected, firmly standing his ground.

But he soon had an idea. He formed and shot off another firelance. The priest realised what he was doing, but now he could get a better look at what the priest was doing.

The wall of fire lasted for a few seconds before it dissipated and showed the smiling priest behind it.

“You didn't think that was going to work did you?” He asked. He began throwing more powder and running towards Tibaut.

(“Shit, that didn't help in the slightest. It just confirmed what I knew. Well whatever, he’s fragile, I guess I can try to trade blows.”)

He ran towards him and took a nasty-sounding punch towards his abdomen. He had to hold back the meal he ate over a day ago and try to retaliate. He landed a punch but it felt too shallow. The priest immediately backed away after his punch, with a red nose.

“Keep using these tricks and the fight’s not gonna last much longer.”

Tibaut had a coughing fit after but thankfully there was no blood coming out of his mouth.

The priest began eyeing him up and with his hand on his chin. “This point should be good.” He mumbled. “Sorry, my fellow, but I think it's about time I ended this.”

He ran towards him and Tibaut like before blocked his attack. But this time his body stopped entirely. He instinctively created a fire lance and subjected himself to yet another dust explosion. The burns weren't anything to worry about but the bruises were starting to show.

(“I guess there's more to worry than just fire in an explosion.”)

He heard a faint voice say. “Screw it.” to his amazement when the wall of flame before him disappeared, the airborne dust was gone and the priest now had a burnt hand.

He threw another punch but Tibaut knew better at this point and narrowly dodged as he recovered. Yet he was still stopped. He launched another fire lance he prepared behind the priest but Daniel quickly went between him and the lance and landed a blow to his kidney.

When he regained control of his body he kneeled over and moved forward, blocking the next blow.