I parted my feet and stretched my arms out to their sides, “Wall of Haven.”

I waited for the giant green walls to rise from the ground and protect me, just as they did Claudius—but instead, nothing happened.

“...What?”

I tried one more time… still nothing. The sudden betrayal stunned me. I analyzed my hands. I was certain I had gotten the name correct, and every other move I had used was able to work fine, so why? Why wasn’t I able to use this one?

My mind whirred with confusion, but I quickly dismissed it. Rae’s attack was closing in on me. I anxiously flashed back my blade.

“Airstrike tornado!” The fire spread within the tornado and spiraled up, blanketing the ceiling.

My hand clenched my larynx as I coughed and heaved. The smoke inhalation was really getting to me, and I had no way to block myself from it on all four sides. Rae was still gaining ground as if he were having a casual stroll at the shoreline.

I lunged, swinging my blade from side to side in a frenzy. Sharp slashes of air sliced forward, slamming into his armor. With each impact his body jolted and his chestplate donned a new fluorescent green stripe. I figured if I attacked in quick enough succession that the strikes could overwhelm him. I appeared to be correct, the strikes caused him to lose his balance and fall to his knees before he was able to finish his swing.

I readied my arm and chucked my dagger, “Airstrike Jet!”

Shockwaves of air burst out from the back of the blade rocketing it forward, where it collided with Rae’s torso. His body flung like a tumbleweed during a violent hurricane. He slammed his hands and knees into the ground to skid himself to a stop before his body reached the fire at the back wall.

The devastating blow had turned his entire chestplate into a shade of lime green. His head snapped to me. He panted as he struggled back to his feet.

“What was that? Was that your strongest?” Rae pressed his hand against his stomach and grunted painfully. I hoisted my shirt to cover my nostrils in a desperate attempt to filter out the smoke. My eyes squinted, struggling to make out his figure through the thick black fumes. My eyelids flew open. The green hue covering his chestplate was beginning to fade, and the flame covering the blade of his sword was growing exponentially larger, “Your attacks sting… but you can’t kill me! Can’t you see that?”

Something was very wrong.

“No, this can’t be right…”

Rae was no longer grunting in pain. In fact he had reverted back to the same condition from which he had started. He exhibited no loss of stamina and simply stood there—his eyes overflowing with unquenchable rage. The flame enveloping his sword had increased to an incredible size. I was absolutely certain that it was capable of setting the entire room on fire.

My mind raced. How was he possibly able to withstand all of my attacks without even being slightly winded? If that armor was somehow able to absorb my wind attacks, then I was completely screwed.

I fired off a Spear aimed at Rae’s head which he deflected effortlessly.

He trained his blade in front of him. A gigantic flame seeped from the tip of the blade—molding into an abstract blob which grew to span the entire height of the room. “If you wanna fight… I’ll give you something to fight.”

The formless blob took shape, transforming into a fiery, horned monster resembling a blazing rhinoceros. The creature released a deafening roar, unleashing a torrent of flames from its throat that spread across the room like arrows. Its eyes rippled like fireplaces, and its teeth were as sharp as icepicks. The beast bucked back and forth, lighting bundles of flames across the ground with each step.

The sight was absolutely paralyzing, but I willed my body to move before that beast had a chance to attack first.

“Airstrike Jet!” My knife spiraled forward at the beast. On contact the air blew a massive hole into the creature’s flames, but otherwise didn’t damage it. As I flashed the knife back into my hand, the flames converged, sealing the opening.

“Damn it!” I grumbled through my clenched jaw. Me trying to fight that thing was useless, it was like trying to stab a bucket full of water to death.

Rae realized this and readied his sword with another glowing flame, “What was that you said before? When’s the part that you have me beg for my life again?”

A ball of flame expanded inside of the beast’s mouth, which shot out towards me with ragged propulsion. Rae swung his blade in tandem with the blast, combining the two flames together in a petrifying collage of heat and fire.

I threw out both hands, “Shield!”

The flames barely parted. The blast carried too much momentum for my fledgling defense to handle. Flames passed through, searing parts of my skin as I fought stubbornly to maintain the shield's integrity. I felt the skin on my arms pop and sizzle as my invisible shield crumbled beneath the blast. My footing slid as I prayed for the rush of fire to cease. I fell back from the incredible force and the last remnants of my shield burned away, I stuck out my hand and clenched my fist, “Shield Break!”

A green ball of energy exploded around me, blasting away the remaining flames. The last embers of the fire were extinguished with no time left to waste. If the attack was just moments longer, I would have surely been killed.

My back pounded against the ground. I hacked out smoke—clawing at my neck as my mouth fervently searched for any amount of remaining oxygen. Soot caked my lungs, and the heat only multiplied my misery. I wished that I could have laid there and tried to carefully breathe in as much air as I could, but lifting my head, I saw the image of death itself. The fiery beast stomped closer, preparing another ball of flaming light within its jaws.

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I pulled myself to my knees and swung the Windchaser around me, trying to disperse some of the fumes. The amount of fire made it useless. I also had to be careful when using it—too much wind would only make the flames around me grow.

As the beast advanced, I couldn’t help but think.

Something about this whole battle seemed off. Looking around, I could see nearly seventy percent of the room was covered in raging flames. The only part that wasn’t covered was the floor right behind me, and the area which Rae was standing on.

Rae’s armor was obviously fire resistant, otherwise he would be struggling in this fight just as much as I was. But if his armor is flame resistant… Why was he deliberately trying not to touch his own flames? If it were me, I would just set the entire room on fire and be done with it—but despite being able to do that quite easily, he was choosing not to.

Why…?

The beast discharged another ray of fire, which I sloppily fought back against with my shield. I felt my palms burning as if I were touching a scorching hot stove, but still, I thought carefully.

Rae specifically tried to stop himself from falling into the flames earlier… My wind attacks couldn’t damage him, but could there be a limit to how much his armor could resist his own fire?

I planted my back foot against the force of the eruption. I couldn’t kill the beast, but my shield seemed to be the most effective tool I had at dispersing the flames.

“That monster… If I could…”

As the fire around me cleared, I saw Rae preparing to send forth another barrage of flames. The monster lowered its temple, pointing its horn as it charged me.

I threw my arms forward, “Shield Spring!” Neon green shields flung from my hands and launched at them. Rae swung his sword at the flying shields, only taking down a few. He scrambled away, trying to dodge the incoming projectiles. As he attempted to evade, a shield hammered against his head, knocking him from his feet.

The beast's flames exploded open with every shield that passed through. The beast trudged onward, its leading horn still focused on my torso.

My shields were able to blow holes in the beast’s body, but the impact was not enough to disperse it entirely and keep the beast from regenerating.

I ran at the flame monster, showing my palms.

“Shield Spring!” I summoned forth as many shields as my power would allow and launched them at the beast’s body. My dagger quickly gleamed to my hands. I gripped the handle and spun the knife around as hard as I could, shooting out a devastating tornado. The cyclone slammed into my flying shields, whipping them in the wind and propelling them forward—spinning in a tight spiral at the beast’s temple.

“Airstrike Rampage!”

The shields sliced through every inch of the fiery beast, shattering it into a formless sea of falling flame. What was left of the beast rained down from the sky. Rae staggered back to his feet, his mouth quivered at the sight of the falling monster.

I stared it down.

“If I’m right, then this should be more than enough fire.”

I spun my body and whipped my blade around with as much speed as I could manage. “Airstrike Firestorm!”

The storm gathered the surrounding fire in a deadly whirlwind, fully directed at Rae. He bolted to escape the hellish spiral, but the wind swept him up along with his sword—hurling them toward the center. The fire spread quickly. The increase of oxygen morphed the tornado into a deadly spiral of hell flame unlike anything I had ever seen. His bloodcurdling screams of agony were the only things that escaped that deathtrap. The screams… they were the worst I’d ever heard.

After a while the wind died down, but the blazing inferno sustained. It stayed alight in the farside of the room. After another minute passed, Rae had mustered enough strength to crawl his way out of the flames.

His body was bloodied and charred. Not an inch of skin remained. He was nothing more than charred, mangled muscle and ruptured veins.

“Damn…” I didn’t mean to say that out loud, but it kinda just came out.

He stopped crawling a good distance away from the fire, and tortuously flipped over onto his back, his arms lifted stiffly in the air.

With a shimmer, I stored away my dagger, “Fire resistant. Not fire impervious,” I said. I subtly choked down the sound of my throat begging for fresh air and went to kneel beside him. He wheezed gently as I continued. “You know… it's pretty convenient you’re still alive. Now I can ask you some questions… Well, I guess I only have one question that matters. So let’s get this out of the way, then I’ll make it quick.”

His eyes creaked over to look at me as he did his best not to move his head. I leaned in, “Kingsley, and that other guy Big Jax. What are their real names?”

Rae’s face was troubled, but quickly turned to anger, “Fuck you!” he slurred.

“Okay. That’s what I thought you’d say,” I jumped to my feet and walked directly behind him. “I’m gonna give you two choices. Either you tell me their names, and I kill you quickly, or…” I pointed to the raging inferno, “I throw your ass back into that fire.”

Rae squeaked out a small gasp. He moved his head slightly, searching my eyes for hesitation, “You ain’t gonna do shi—”

I snatched Rae by his collar and dragged him across the floor towards the glowing flame.

His palms flailed out in protest, “W–WAIT! OKAY! OKAY!”

He fell to the floor, wincing in pain as I hovered over him, “You think I’m playing with you? Tell me their names right now. I’ll give you five seconds.” I held up my hand and began counting.

He stuttered, but eventually forced out the words within the last two counts, “Kingsley! His name is Michael… Michael Kingsley. Big Jax is his little brother, Jackson Kingsley.”

Rae tremored as he shielded his eyes, tears trickled down his charred face and evaporated instantly against the steaming floor. As he laid there weeping, he turned away from me. “I know. I know…! I’ve lived a horrible life.” he sniffled. “All I’ve ever done is hurt others for my own gain because it made me feel better about myself. It made me feel like I was in control of something for once. It’s all just bullshit! No matter what I do, I always just end up feeling more empty. It’s all useless! I’m just useless! Always have been, always will be…”

Rae sobbed uncontrollably, his tears fell between the open cracks in his face. He looked me in the eyes. “Please… Just kill me. The world would be better off…”

I frowned slightly and exhaled out my nose. Staring deep into Rae’s eyes for a few short moments.

I swiftly stabbed my knife into his neck.

A look of terror tensed across his face and his eyes bulged—squeezing his hand weakly around his throat.

I glared at him, “Nice try. You can’t manipulate a manipulator. When you sentenced me to a life of torture… I made you a promise… or have you already forgotten?”

His feet slid limply across the floor. A small fountain of blood gushed from the side of his neck and seeped down the edge of my blade, pooling into a dark puddle on the floor. He drew in one last breath, and his eyelids slowly fell.