“ You think of yourself as an apex, hahaha, you're barely a predator.”

Dear God, the way that he was talking didn’t sound like him at all. It sounded like something straight out of a cheap B-roll film. It took every muscle in his body to not start laughing uncontrollably. The words that he was saying were just so cheesy it was hilarious.

But if he started laughing now then he would never stop. And then he would have ruined the entire setup for the next scene.

“You are a pup barking at the world, never knowing that as you bark the loudest, true predators lie in wait, ready to devour you.''As he spewed his part of the script out of his mouth Issac began preparing for the next attack.

Pouring his light into his muscles to make him stronger, his bones to make him tougher, and his blood to make him quicker. “ You are weak, you are pathetic, and most of all you are hardly worth my time.”

Carefully threading magic into his eyes he turned the night into day. His weapons became stronger than steel. Every fiber of his being was tightening like a coiled spring ready to launch into action.

“ For reasons unknown, power has been given to you. And yet that power in your hands is nothing more than the flickering flame of a candle. You refuse to use what is found within your soul and instead waste your time with trinkets. And by your incessant need to validate your place in this world you have made it be that you will never be more than what you are. A waste of space.”

Motioning towards his rings Issac showed the first real emotion on his face for the first time that night, disgust. If there was one thing that he didn't understand is why Cutter had those rings in the first place.

He could see the energy inside Cutter’s body, but no matter what he did to him it never so much as flinched. Instead, he relied solely on those rings of his to perform his ‘ spells’.

Did he not know that he had his energy inside himself?

Was he purposely not using it?

And if so, for what reason?

Lost in his head Issac didn't notice that he had stopped talking. An uncomfortable silence filled the air as the only two still-breathing bodies outside stood still in silence.

Confusion quickly turned to anger as Cutter stood there watching the thing that wa- should have been inferior to him. And yet this thing was able to break his spell, a spell that had taken years to learn, and he destroyed it with the same amount of effort as killing a fly.

This was not something that should have happened, this was an easy job. All he had to do was keep their cash cow alive and working. But somehow what they thought was a regular assassin instead turned into what appears to be a rogue knight masquerading in the Barren.

As he watched this….knight lose himself in his thoughts Cutter made his decision. No matter who this person was, He couldn’t be allowed to break off the only connection the House has with the Barren Land.

No. He has to die here, right now.

Faster than he had ever tried before Cutter immediately commanded his rings to swallow as much Chaos* as they could.

Cutter knew that his rings couldn’t handle the amount of Chaos that was about to be slammed into his formulas but at the moment he wasn’t thinking about what might happen after. All he could think about were the spells that were built into his rings. He had to focus his entire being on commanding the circles to combine. It was one thing to use separate circles together, but it was something else altogether to combine them.

Before if all he did was akin to dosing a rock in flames this would be as if he had created molten rock. If this worked then not only would the attack power increase but the sturdiness of the rock should as well.

Noticing the sudden drop of energy in the surroundings Issac turned his attention back to his entertainment. Cutter, he saw, seemed to be in a deep well of thoughts himself. While Issac wasn’t looking, Cutter had decided to go onto the offensive instead of continuing their banter which, if Issac was honest about it, greatly upset him.

It isn't every day that you can find someone to play with, especially one who firmly believes in the rhetoric that he is vomiting.

Watching as Cutter dropped into a crouch with his arms spread out one on top of the other, Issac decided that if he couldn’t get the classic back and forth between foes, then at least he could do the nice thing, and wait for him to finish.

Standing there, waiting, Issac watched as rocks rose from all around, each one combining to form spears of rock that were longer than his arm. They filled the air, surrounding Issac like a dome, all poised to launch and impale every inch of his body.

Lastly, Cutter added a final touch, engulfing the spears with fire that penetrated deep into the rock turning it molten.

“ Hugh.. hugh. I don’t know who you the fuck you are or what Tower’s shithole you crawled out of but your gonna regret showing your damn face in front of me.”

Smiling ear to ear, Issac tried not to get his hopes up. “ Well now don’t be a tease, fire away bitch.”

“ ARGH!”

Cutter’s roar came from the very depths of his soul, no one in all of his life had ever made him feel like this, not even his brother. No matter what happened to him this man had to die today.

One after another the spears of lava flew through the air, flying faster than bullets. Within seconds they were right in Issac's face. But to Issac, they could have been faster and they still would have looked as slow as a snail in his eyes.

Maybe they would have been dangerous if they all fired at once, but this idiot just decided to fire them in any order that he wanted.

Of course, this allowed Issac to exploit the otherwise uncovered paths.

Left, then right Issac swayed back and forth never once stopping his forward march as he constantly let the spears barely glide past his body. Cutter himself could hardly believe it, it took every last bit of his mental power to craft this spell, and yet this guy just walked right through it while looking like a drunken loser stumbling through the streets.

This was it, Cutter thought, there was nothing left that Cutter could do to stop this man from killing him. Those spears were his last hope, and now the only thing that he could do was run away.

Even if he radioed his brother there was no way he could get here fast enough to save him, and by then they would have lost their cow, forever damning their family.

Sweat poured down Cutter’s head, Issac was already halfway through the Areia and he showed no signs of slowing down either. In less than a few seconds, he would be in reaching distance.

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Cutter had to find a way out, there was no way that things could end like this, not after everything that had happened, after everything he had done. If everything ended right now, then wouldn't that mean that everything that he lost, everything that he gained, would have all been for nothing?

Looking. Searching. Cutter desperately grasped at any idea, any direction that would let him live. Behind him was the edge of the forest, if he was fast enough maybe he could lose him in between the trees.

To the left, water rushed over the cliff giving hope that any water down below could save him if he chose to take a leap of faith. But while he could swim he didn't want to bet that his piss-poor skills would save him from the rapids or if the shielding over his body would hold out during any landing at the bottom.

This left the only other option, the cow’s barn. It was not only the closest place to hide but it also had the protection barrier still over it.

Finally making his decision Cutter prepared himself for the last formula that he would be casting for quite a while. Luckily he didn't need much in terms of size because what he could perform given the state of his rings would barely be considered a trick, much less a spell.

“ You bastard, I won’t let everything end like this.” As he ran towards the house Cutter tore off the Rock spell ring, filling it with as much Chaos as its cracked body could hold before throwing it right in front of Issac’s path.

As soon as the ring touched the ground an explosion of energy burst out, seeping into the ground and changing the solid earth into a soupy mess.

Too focused on the spears, Issac had no time to stop as he walked right into the mess and in no time got stuck knee-deep in it. At the same time Cutter, not even checking to see if his last-ditch effort worked, sprinted as hard as he could, moving as fast as his legs could carry him. And with one final push, he leaped past the protective Ariea surrounding the mansion.

“HAHAHAHA!!” Laughing hysterically he didn’t even mind that he slid face first on the ground. He didn't care that blood dripped down his face from scratches made by the rocks or that he was forced to shatter one of his most expensive rings just to run away like a little coward.

All that mattered was that he was safe, away from that freak.

Turning around Cutter saw that Issac was still trapped inside the Areia of the swap, Slowly lifting one foot in front of the other he waddled through the mud.

Cutter, still coming down off his high from surviving, wondered if he could gather enough courage to go back out through the shield and finish Issac off while he was still stuck in the mud.

But with one ring down Cutter just couldn't find it in himself to bring up his usual bravado. Without his Rock ring, Cutter lost the only way for him to use any of his more powerful formulas, and even if he thought that he could make do without his Rock, his Ember was already showing signs of cracking.

One more push and Cutter would have to sacrifice it as well, leaving him with nothing to defend himself with.

“ What are you gonna do now you worthless freak!” He shouted through the shield. “ You lost. As long as I am still standing this shield is never going to fall, and-cough- you know what, that fat cow is s-cough- still alive and you're -cough- never going to reach him now!”

But Issac just watched him, never once taking his eyes off of him. Even as he climbed his way out of the pool of mud, his eye never left Cutter’s.

“ ~Cough~ Cough~.” Coughing from overexerting himself Cutter stared, watching as Issac fully emerged from the mud, trying to wipe away any mud still stuck to his body.

“ You really know how to end a good time, don't you, you fucking idiot.” From behind the barrier, Cutter was barely able to make out Issac’s muttering over his hacking and coughing.

Overjoyed Cutter knew that as long as he stayed behind the barrier then nothing could be done to him. But his next words really threw him off, shattering his whole perception.

“ Why’d you have to go and do that, I can't play with you if you're dead.”

What did he mean? Dead? Behind this barrier, there was not a damn thing that, that god-forsaken freak could do to him. As long as he just stayed put then everything would be fine. And yet no matter how he rationalized it those words just kept replaying over and over again in his head.

“ ~Cough~, ~Cough~What are you talki-Cough-ng about, my shield is still ~Cough~ over the house ~Cough~ it hasn”t fallen this whole time! H-Cough-how could I die you bastard? ”

“ Didn't you notice, when I touched the shield I placed my rune onto it, changing it from a barrier into an airtight cage, one that will slowly suffocate anyone that walks into it?”

Looking over Cutter saw, right where Issac said, was a glowing circle. Then he remembered how instead of trying to stab the shield Issac had instead waved his sticks in a circle, marking his shield.

“ But ~Cough~ even if that is true there ~Cough~ should still be enough air in that mansion to last at ~Cough~ least a few hours, even for that fat c~Cough~Cough~.”

“ True there should have been enough air to last for at least half a day. Counting Manuel, his wife, and their child as well as any unknowns in the house they would have lasted at least a few hours inside.”

“ Then ho-?”

“ However thanks to a little bit of ammonia inside his alcohol combined with a helpful little house fire graciously provided by the nicely lit fireplace, you're able to achieve a poisonous gas that will suffocate anybody trapped inside.”

Looking at Cutter Isaac found a look of pure horror. This really surprised him. How could Cutter be surprised at what Issac had done? Didn't this cartel do worse and worse things to completely random people every day, heck he was sure that Cutter himself had killed more than a dozen innocent bystanders for no absolute reason.

Cutter couldn't believe what was happening to him, not only could he not stop coughing but each cough that he choked out caused racking pain to shoot throughout his body.

He was so dizzy that he could barely stand straight, it was as if the ground had given way, leaving him in a never-ending free fall. And worst of all, whatever childish scribble got stamped onto his barrier caused him to lose full control over it.

He tried commanding a hole to open alongside to top or better yet having to entire thing come down altogether but nothing that he did had any effect on the barrier surrounding him.

His only chance left was to try to appeal to this insane bastard's heart.

“ COUGH COOUGH Dont yo-COugh-You KNow COUGH COUH that his wife and son are here, at lea-Cough-st let them COUGH out.

“ Of course, I knew they were both in there.” This was it, maybe by playing his words right, he could convince this thing that they deserve to live. By now he couldn’t even bring himself to care what happened to that fat cow but if his family could be used to get him out of this demonic bubble then he was going to take it.

“THen -?”

“ Marigold Silva de Enriquez, Manuel's wife, a petty and insecure excuse of a human being, used her husband’s cartel as her own personal hit squad. Having them kill any woman who she thought was prettier than her, killing any man that refused her advances, and then if they had kids proceed to dump them in their little slave trade. Her son meanwhile was growing into the budding little sociopath himself, already having killed twenty classmates of his and raping children into five of them.”

At this point Cutter was on the ground gasping for air, his lungs felt as if they were dosed in lava, and his pain was so bad that he couldn't even bring himself to speak. Bending down Issac made sure that he stared deep into Cutter's eyes wanting him to see the sheer disappointment that he had over his predicament.

“ No one here is innocent, everyone here deserves to die .”

With barely a dying gurgle Cutter fell down, unable to comprehend that his death would happen out in the middle of nowhere.

After five minutes the barrier finally fell leaving Issac as the only one left.

Bending down Issac ripped out a couple of flowers that had sprouted near his foot, while a few feet away inside one of the craters created by Cutter’s fireballs, water-filled turning what was once a small crater into a small spring of water. Making sure to thoroughly soak the flower in the water Issac then proceeded with the ritual.

Standing over Cutter he then proceeded to shake droplets of water over his body, swinging the flowers, and making sure that his whole body was splashed by the water.

“ May your sins be washed away from your body on this earth Leo Cutter. Know that in death the pain and suffering you caused to others on this earth shall be washed away like water.”