Nathan flew through the air like a ragdoll. His limbs were numb, his vision dark, and overall he was feeling very miserable.

As if I’ll die like this!

A sudden surge of strength returned to his limbs, and his eyes snapped open with a sharp glint.

"Tidal bulwark!"

Energy rose from his chest toward his hand and erupted into that familiar glowing shield. In an instant, he fell to the ground, no longer supported by the raging winds of the Dustend. To his side, he heard a slam and a grunt from the figure who had been flying with him.

"Remind me never to listen to any of your plans again," the voice muttered, the speaker’s face half-buried in the sand.

Nathan stiffened. The battered figure was Zayen. Without hesitation, Nathan raced forward and placed his hand over Zayen’s cuts and bruises.

"Don't move, I'll take care of this," he said.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll be able to move for a little while—" Before Zayen could finish, power erupted from Nathan's hands into his body. In an instant, Zayen’s wounds began closing before his eyes. Nathan could feel his reservoir diminishing with every second spent healing.

I can’t overdo it. Healing is still more expensive than any of my other abilities.

Despite that, within moments, Zayen looked as fresh as a fiddle. He pushed his head out of the sand and glanced behind him, where the Dustend pounded against Nathan’s shield.

"I don't suppose you have an alternative method of dealing with that thing?" Zayen asked.

Nathan frowned. What had gone wrong exactly? Zayen had landed a clean hit with his cutlass, and Nathan was certain that, despite appearances, Zayen was a strong fighter. This was Circle Two, after all. Nathan couldn’t imagine Zayen’s trainers leaving him without the skills needed to defend himself. Moreover, he’d seen Zayen’s competence in combat firsthand; young though he was, his skills with the blade were undeniable, so what was wrong with that red orb?

Nathan looked down at his hands as the roar of the Dustend grew louder.

"It’s me." He clenched his fists. "I think maybe you just aren't hitting it hard enough. I bet I'd be able to go in and do some real damage."

Zayen glanced at the shield as the Dustend pounded against it and raised an eyebrow.

"How are you planning to hit the core again? I don’t see your harpoon."

Nathan waved his fishing rod in the air. Zayen stared at him for several long moments.

"Wait, are you serious? I thought that was just a prop.”

Nathan just gave him a thumbs up.

Zayen slammed his hand into his palm and let it drag down his cheeks. "Nathan, if I die, I want you to know it will be entirely your fault. I will haunt you for the rest of your days. And this is not an idle threat, given the sheer amount of nonsense the system seems capable of."

"Well then, I guess I’d better make sure you don't die."

“Yes please."

Nathan examined his shimmering shield. Despite the abuse it had taken, not a single crack had marred its surface.

He took a deep breath, gripped his fishing rod tight—and dissipated the shield.

In an instant, the raw power of the Dustend slammed into them, just as it had before. Sand grains seemed to target his eyes specifically. He slammed his eyes shut and focused on the sound of the core—he’d caught a soft, quiet thrum in the background that had given him pause. His hands wrapped around his fishing rod, and he whirled it back for a toss. Pivoting 90 degrees, he snapped his eyes open. His fishing rod’s hook flew into the air whistling as it streaked toward a pair of red eyes.

An unholy screech hammered Nathan’s ears. He stumbled backward from the noise but kept his gaze fixed on the shaking figure in the distance. Lightning cracked in the background, and suddenly the sands swirled together to form that monstrous shape they’d seen before.

"My king! Are you well?!"

Omarn ran up, his face slick with sweat, and stared at Zayen with unmitigated concern.

"I feared for your life, my king," he said. "I thought for sure you were dead."

Zayen crossed his arms and smiled. "You do me a disservice, my advisor. Surely you know I would not fall so easily."

Omarn chuckled. "Of course—why would I expect otherwise?"

For a split second, Nathan caught Omarn’s eyes glaring into his own, but the look vanished as quickly as it appeared.

"I would ask that you be a bit more delicate with the ruler of my nation," Omarn said.

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Zayen frowned sharply. "It was my decision to come along. I knew the risks."

Nathan looked between the two. "I'm sorry about all that, but we're kind of in the middle of something."

The Dustend’s roar thundered in his ears. Nathan turned to face the towering sand monster.

"Will you need help from Omarn to get up there?" Zayen asked.

"No, I have my own methods of reaching high places."

"Oh, is it magic? Some kind of weapon?"

"No, I'm just going to jump."

Zayen’s expression remained impassive as he regarded Nathan with a long, steady glare.

"So, can you keep it distracted? I'd rather not deal with lightning bolts while I'm up there." Nathan said.

Zayen brushed away the glare and nodded. "Understood." He then turned to Omarn. "Are you with me, uncle?"

"Always, my king."

Nathan gave them both a thumbs up and broke off toward the Dustend.

He skidded to a halt just outside the storm’s reach. The red core pulsed in his ears within the swirling sands, taunting him. Maybe he didn’t need to risk getting closer after all. Gripping his fishing rod, he whipped the line toward the storm’s heart. The hook arced through the air—only for a jagged bolt of lightning to knock the line away mid-flight. Nathan stared at the smoldering end of his rod. Undamaged, but still…

“Guess I’m doing this the hard way,” he muttered, tucking the rod under his arm and sprinting forward.

Craning his neck upward to track its head, Nathan ran.

Wow, it’s a lot bigger up close than it appears from a distance. It’s larger than almost anything I’ve ever fought.

His heart hammered in his chest as his feet sank into the sand with every step. He flexed his toes and continued to run. The Dustend roared, and dozens of lightning bolts began forming in the air around him.

"Oh, that's not good," he muttered.

Just as he was about to regret every ill-fated decision he’d ever made, a loud shout rang out in the distance. The lightning fizzled out.

"Face me like a man, you foul creature!"

Zayen brandished a sword made of water, clearly summoned by Omarn, who stood nearby with his hands alight with magic. A split second later, Omarn cast a spell, launching half a dozen water spears from behind him toward the Dustend. The creature turned and blocked the spears with a blast of sand. It roared again, a single sphere of sand formed over its head, and before Nathan could shout a warning, the sphere blasted directly at Zayen. But Zayen remained unconcerned. He simply readied his watery blade as if planning to parry it midair.

Nathan’s jaw dropped.

Scratch that—that’s exactly what he’s planning to do.

The spear hurtled forward with a rumble like an airplane passing overhead. Zayen narrowed his eyes, adjusted his stance, and slashed out with his blade. The watery sword met the sand spear with a loud clang, sending the spear flying off to the side. Nathan slowed for a split second, staring in abject shock at Zayen.

What the—?

The roar of the Dustend snapped him out of his stupor, and he turned back to face it. He was close now—one more sprint and he’d make it.

Suddenly, his heart pounded, and every sense screamed at him to jump. Trusting his instincts—which had always been smarter than his reason—he leaped to the side. A moment later, a spike of sand erupted from the ground.

Oh come on, you already tried that—

The sound of crackling air froze in place. From every angle, he felt the attack coming. He was being targeted on all sides. Time slowed as Nathan weighed his options.

I can’t dodge—it’s hitting me from every direction. And blocking won’t work, my shield only forms a square barrier. It can’t wrap around me. That leaves only one option.

A chill of anticipation ran down his chest as a slight smirk curled his lips.

Go through it.

Water exploded from all sides as his Riptide Mastery kicked in. A lightning bolt formed directly in front of him.

There’s no way in hell this is going to work.

The lightning flickered to life—he felt as though he were staring down the barrel of a gun. Water continued to coalesce around him. Off to the side, he could see sand spears forming, pointed at him, along with a few more lightning bolts.

He held his breath and jumped.

The lightning shot forward. His water surged in tandem. The two collided in a blinding burst of light that nearly overwhelmed him. Through the glare, he saw the lightning racing along the water and diving into the ground, where the sand exploded to glass on the spot. Nathan fell onto the glass and dropped back into a run.

In the background, a wild cheer erupted.

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" Zayen shouted.

Nathan’s heart pounded wildly, his breath heaved in his chest.

Yes, that was totally on purpose, I totally wasn’t winging it…

Within a hair’s breadth of the Dustend, there was no time to contemplate his near-death—or his unexpectedly effective defense. He gulped and sprang into the air. Fresh, dry air filled his lungs; there was less sand, less dirt, less dust.

It was a welcome change, except for the fact that he was only a few yards from a giant, swirling sand monstrosity made of nightmares.

As he arced through the air, the monster’s crimson eyes flared. Twin bolts of lightning erupted from it, streaking toward him. Nathan twisted mid-air, water erupting from around him as he activated Riptide Mastery. Liquid coiled around his limbs like serpents, intercepting the lightning. The electricity surged into the water, and for a heartbeat, Nathan felt the raw power sear his nerves—a thousand white-hot needles prickling his skin.

Checkmate.

He whipped the electrified water toward the Dustend’s chest. The lightning-laced torrent slammed into its sandy torso, and the creature screamed. The strike tore through its form, sand exploding outward in a shockwave. For a split second, the swirling storm of its body parted, revealing the pulsating red core buried within.

Rearing back his fishing rod, Nathan swung forward.

"Don't fail me now, D+!"

The hook flew toward where he estimated the core to be. It penetrated directly into the center of the monster, then slammed against the orb with a loud clink. Nathan felt the hook wedge into a solid mass—and he grinned.

He began to fall midair, flexed his arms, and tugged as hard as he could on the core. The red orb struggled to remain within its almost non existent sandy shell, but Nathan wouldn’t let it go. He pulled even harder, pouring every ounce of his 132 strength into the tug. The orb flew free of the Dustend.

For a moment, Nathan thought that might be enough. Then the orb began to change color—the red slowly shifting to a milky white, and Nathan felt his stomach churn. He fell onto the sand with a thump as the hook was ejected from the now-white orb and slammed into the ground. Before his very eyes, the damage it had inflicted began to heal.

"Oh, come on! What is this bullshit!?" he exclaimed.

Instinctively, he dodged to the right. A bright light blinded him, and he heard a loud whizzing noise as if something had just streaked past his ear. Slowly, he tilted his head back to see that the ground behind him was scorched and glassed over.

"And now it can shoot out death lasers. Typical. Absolutely typical."