A week had passed since Nemes’ training had begun, and once Leon started teaching him how to truly fight, his abilities had practically doubled.

Many things had changed in that time.

‘Primarily, the Rift is becoming increasingly difficult to contain.’ Iroh thought to himself, but there was some good news as well.

The Iris, a powerful mental resistance artifact created from a thousand-year-old sea serpent’s eye, had arrived a day ago, and ever since Nemes had gotten it, Apophis had been silent. Based on what Apophis said, though, it seemed likely that the majority of his being was still trapped within the Ruined World. When Nemes entered the Rift soon, it was very plausible that Apophis would show up again.

As the Greenhaven Institute’s impending assault on the nearby Rift was so important, a legendary hero and his divine artifact had been sent. Beowulf, a hero old enough to have met the gods, and Caliburnus, a weapon capable of permanently killing the Rift Creatures; together, the mission’s chances of success had practically doubled. Nemes would be useful on the mission, but not nearly as useful as them.

Another piece of good news was that Cetus had recovered.

***

“You’re too big to keep trying to dodge attacks like that.” Leon reprimanded, and Nemes knew he was right… that didn’t mean he liked it, though.

“You’ve got scales as durable as diamond; you can take blows. Your attempts to dodge only put you into a worse position.”

It was simply instinct. Nemes, like every other creature, did not like pain. Although his scales were durable enough to stop most blows from dealing any serious damage, he could still feel the impact. He found it tremendously difficult to remove the instinct to flinch and dodge.

He was getting better about it, but it still lingered. When a blow he hadn’t been expecting came at him, his conscious thoughts abandoned him and he reacted on instinct.

“One more, and then you’re free to go.” Leon told him, but, surprisingly, the pair of warbots on the other end of the room were shuffled out.

‘What’s going on?’ Nemes wondered, and his question was soon answered.

Cetus slithered into the room, showing not an ounce of fear or hesitation even while staring at Leon. Before Nemes could even say anything to her- not that he was certain what he would say- the increasingly familiar ‘Beep!’ rang out, and Cetus surged towards him.

Nemes opened his maw wide and his fire gland contracted. Rather than fire, however, a cloud of smoke was the only thing he exhaled- it was still enough to cause Cetus to flinch back, thinking he had finally gained the ability to breathe fire.

It was also enough to obscure her vision. Of course, it did the same thing to him, but the difference was that Nemes could still see the Ether and Aether coursing through her body. He knew where she was.

Nemes couldn’t take advantage of this, however, as her tail whipped forward and Nemes was forced to take a step backwards in order to avoid it. Her tail moved with such speed that it made a loud, audible ‘Crack!’ like that of a whip and cleared some of the smoke- not all, but enough to catch a glimpse of him through it.

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Nemes lunged towards her, but he mentally grimaced upon seeing Aether enter her tail in the same instant that it whipped forward, moving with twice the speed- enough that it would hurt.

There was no way to dodge it; he would simply have to take it and continue. He was ready for it, though, and when it mercilessly slapped against his flank, he managed to not even flinch as he continued forward. He tried to grab her throat in his maw, but it weaved nimbly to the side.

Her body was still in front of him, though. In the same instant that the pain hit him, he grabbed hold of her body and infused Aether into his jaws.

Nemes let go immediately afterwards, though, only cracking scales and drawing a bit of blood before he jumped back, just barely avoiding getting strangled.

Waves of pain slammed into him, originating from his flank. Nemes gritted his teeth and endured, but it was impossible to ignore completely. His concentration interrupted, he reacted slightly slower than usual as Cetus’ struck out with terrible speed, her head launching towards him like lightning.

She bit down on his snout for only a fraction of a second before pulling back and out of reach again.

‘Leon told me not to, but I’ll lose if I don’t. It should be fine; it’s only her and I, anyway.’

Nemes fell into a state of supreme concentration with surprising ease. The world seemed to fade into the background, leaving only Nemes and Cetus in his vision. It felt as though he could see the future; he could see every twitch of her muscles, and the subtle, almost unnoticeable changes in posture.

Her tail whipped forward with tremendous speed, but Nemes had already known she would. He reinforced the point of impact on his body precisely and felt nothing from the blow. He surged towards her; he had no way to attack adequately from a distance, after all, whereas she did.

Nemes noticed the subtle change in her posture once again as she slightly uncoiled her length, stretching out horizontally a slight bit. Her upper body wobbled back and forth unsteadily, seemingly too high up and far, but she was just trying to draw his attention to the most nimble part of her body.

The world seemed to slow as Nemes briefly considered his options.

‘If I go for the middle, she’ll coil around me and strangle. If I go for the head, she’ll dodge and hit me with her tail and vice versa if I go for the tail… Damn it.’ Nemes cursed mentally.

Nemes bit down on her midsection, once more cracking scales and leaving a bloody wound. Cetus’ tail wrapped around his neck in the same moment as Cetus’ upper body bound his hindquarters. Within a second, she wrapped entirely around his body and squeezed with tremendous, scale-crushing force.

Nemes’ entire body was reinforced heavily with Aether, but his Aether arteries didn’t allow him to reinforce his bones. They creaked, on the verge of breaking.

And then, Nemes and Cetus both became encased in Ether and were forcefully pulled away from one another.

It was a tie. If it had gone on any longer, Nemes would have shattered her spine and Cetus would have crushed his body before going limp.

“That state will get you killed on a real battlefield, Nemes. Using it here isn’t dangerous, but I don’t want to see it become a habit.” Leon reprimanded, a bit more flexible than he had been the other time he’d done it.

“What’s with the change? You said to never use it at all.”

“Using it in training will help you learn faster; as long as you don’t use it in a real battle, you should be fine.” Leon said, dodging the question.

“Now, go rest. The mission is tomorrow.” Leon told him, and Nemes frowned.

The ‘mission’ still worried him, but the knowledge that Leon would be his bodyguard and ‘handler’ made it feel bearable. Moreover, he wouldn’t be seeing direct combat; his job was to finish the ‘Rift Creatures’ off. The humans could damage them horribly, but they would never stay dead unless divinity was present. Nemes would finish off these defenseless abominations, putting himself in little to no risk.

The real reason he was afraid was Apophis. The tears in reality that Apophis urged him to visit were almost certainly the same thing as the Rifts, and Nemes had no desire to do what the Ancient Dragon told him to. The humans seemed confident that the Iris, which was within his chest right now, would be enough to ward off Apophis even inside the Rift, but Nemes wasn’t.

***

“Are you certain?” Leon asked. “He seems to be doing great.”

“I am. Every piece of evidence points to it. Nemes… is a runt.” Iroh said. “He’s a month and a half old now, and a dragon his age should be able to fly and breathe fire. Mentally, he’s pretty strong, but that’s almost certainly because of Apophis’ influence. It’s a shame that it’s still unsafe for him to use his Ether; he had a pretty good affinity for electricity.”