(“Hmm, I guess he can take his own heat. I can't afford to delay this any longer, if Tina, Bailey and Lily start searching they might find me. Or worse they head back to Elizabeth and then come here.”)

Like a lit stick of dynamite reaching the end of its fuse, he exploded forward and brought the knife straight to Tibaut’s chest. Tibaut used both hands to block it, and the flames quickly faltered before disappearing.

“What a waste of time.” He said before pulling the blade back. Tibaut threw a punch towards his face and yet again, he narrowly dodged it, Tibaut's fist just scraping against his face as he tripped Tibaut’s legs before attempting to stomp on his face.

As Tibaut grabbed his feet he noticed something odd. He began to hear a sizzling sound and quickly jumped away before Tibaut could grab one of his legs.

His shoe was still in Tibaut’s hand and the boy kipped up and threw the shoe to the side.

“Ah,” The man in black said in realisation. His gauntlets were still hot. Very hot in fact. Not red hot but hot enough for him to feel the heat through his shoe.

Tibaut ran towards him and the moment he did so, a chair slammed into his side.

“!?”

The man in black finally got him and stabbed him in the upper arm with the stiletto knife. Tibaut quickly tried to grab him and the man in black backed away.

Tibaut clicked his tongue and pressed the finger of one of his gauntlets into the wound, the blood reacting how you'd expect it by sizzling, with his skin seemingly showing no difference after having hot metal on it.

(“So he didn't burn himself. It's just not hot enough to bother him. Fire magic, eh, some bastards get all the luck.”)

He thought as he swung around with the grace of an Olympic Hammer thrower. In his hand was a chair that soon went sailing into the air. Tibaut grabbed it and swung around keeping its momentum launching back at him.

The man in black grabbed it again and spun around like a spinning top.

“What the? Is he even moving his feet?”

Tibaut quickly launched a fireball but the chair slammed into it only after it flew half a metre.

The boy was left covered in soot and if not for his armour he'd likely be wearing the burnt remainder of his shirt.

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“Is this a joke to you?” Tibaut coldly asked.

“Nah, I'm just waiting for the poison to take effect.” He answered.

Tibaut felt the wound on his arm and noticed it was a feeling more numb than he'd like.

He gave the man in black a look of disgust and brought a hand to his chest.

“Woah, now. You can try to cure it, but trust me on this, this isn't something your backwater magic can handle. Just enjoy the rest of this while I deal with that old man. (I know he knows curing magic but it shouldn't be anything more than a last resort than any sort of insurance. Though a few more jabs couldn't hurt.)” As he was preoccupied with his thoughts, he realised Tibaut had silently made his way over half the distance. Noticing he was spotted, he kicked off the floor and threw himself into the air, aiming both gauntlets for the man's face.

He moved to the side and grabbed his leg. He pulled him back before delivering a stab in the stomach of Tibaut. But he managed to move a hand to his stomach in time and swiped another hand at his face. The man let go and he witnessed with his own eyes as he moved away without moving his legs.

The claw-like finger of the gauntlet still caught his face and ended up tearing the rest of his mask off.

As Tibaut fell to the floor and quickly got back up he noticed the man trying to hide his face. He quickly tried to jump on the opportunity but he felt himself being pushed back by some unknown force.

“Ah, screw it. Elizabeth was gonna find out anyway, it doesn't hurt revealing it now.”

The man said, sounding frustrated. “I just can't hold back against you anymore. What the hell happened to you? You used to be much more manageable.”

(“This bastard, who the fuck does he think he is-”)

Tibaut looked on in silence. He quickly started releasing mana and found he could move forward. His teeth were pushing against each other with the force of a hydraulic press and he looked like it was going to explode.

“YOU BASTARD, WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE WEARING HIS FAC-”

“The sheep.” He responded.

“SHUT UP YOU BASTAR-”

“Remember when I took you out to go watch some sheep and I told you about how Elizabeth got that mutt of hers. Or the time we survived a horde of kobolds?

And before you ask me to prove it, you and I are probably the only ones who remember the blonde woman we saved. Right, you never heard Elizabeth or anyone else talk about her, did you?”

“...(It can't be)”.

The anger slowly disappeared from Tibaut's face and he looked on in shock.

(“Come on do something, you bastard. Try to sneak attack me, ask me to walk over and hug you, do you something you fake!”)

He thought as he breathed more heavily. The man in black pulled a chair over and sat down.

“Listen, just let me and the old man leave, we don't need to waste any more time here.”

“So you are a fak-”

“Giving up already?” A voice asked.