It was later that night when Blade tapped the door of my car until I opened it. She was fully dressed, without her hat and scarf of course, with her phone in her hand and Tale Nost stood behind her. I held the door open with one hand and pulled out my phone with the other, "It is—"

Before I could finish my sentence, Blade pushed her phone to my face, "Just read this."

I squinted my eyes as the bright screen pained my eyes. On her phone, there was an e-mail letter:

Sab, I am not a fool. Of course, I know that you have betrayed me, and you dare think I am afraid. I am not going to flee, and you won't either. 10 a.m. That warehouse you betrayed me in. I will fight both you and Ice Shaker, and I will show you why I am still the strongest hero.

9:45, we arrived 15 minutes early. Both Tale Nost and Blade had been smiling the entire time. I had a rough idea of why they laughed, yet I just could not join them. Honestly, I never understood how they could treat fighting as a hobby. They certainly knew the price of losing, and they still hopped into every fight like they were invincible.

"Come on. Hurry," Blade said as she opened the door for me. Her curling smile was still there. Tale was already walking to the warehouse. We eventually caught up before entering. Unlike Blade, Tale's grin was much more menacing. It was bad for me to say, but anyone could feel the sense of evil seeping out of him.

The tin walls were still the same. The ground was still grimy. The only difference was that the illuminating sphere in the sky was cast by Lord Ky this time. His sphere had a bloody red, shadowing the entire place under its scarlet light like a gore fog filling the room.

Ky sat beneath the illuminator on a little stool, propping his elbows on his knees. His head tilted down, swaying slightly with his long, hanging dreadlocks.

"Katien Yeoman," Tale called. His voice trembled at the first letter and stabilized at the second. The volume was higher than casual but not enough to be considered yelling. He was holding himself from screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Oh, Ice Shaker, Ice Shaker, Ice Shaker," Ky repeated Tale's hero name multiple times as he stood up, "I've been hearing about your damn name even before your graduation. They kept saying you'll inherit my title as the strongest hero. That was true, indeed. I inherited the title of the strongest from the strongest before me." He took a second to gasp and continued with wrath sneaking out of his throat, "They kept praising you, praising you, competing you to me. But there is a problem. We are not even close. I am the greatest hero of all time. Throughout history, I alone am the greatest—"

"Criminal," I shouted before he could finish the line. His speech about Tale Nost was boring at best. At worst, it was repetitive. Lord Ky was just another loser who had a grudge against Tale Nost because he was strong. Also, greatness was not equal to strength. I had to call him out, "Organ theft. You are a part of an organ theft organization. You are certainly not the greatest. You are just a glorified crimi—"

"Put a leash on your pet, Ice!" Ky commanded, yelling, and I attacked with a spurt of anger.

Wind Spell.

A fierce lump of fire generated beside my fist and followed when the punch thrust out. As my arm extended, the flame was flung forward like a ballista. Then, the wad of fire pat on Lord Ky like a thin puff of smoke.

I never expected it to do anything. It was just his fucking way of talking. This asshole was as immature and delusional as Drake Scyk. Damn, I was surrounded by psychos, and I was tired of them.

"Well." Lord Ky shrugged and stretched his neck, "I guess the game begins."

Ky charged. Tale sent an explosion before him. Blade threw a black bolt. Tale teleported to his back. Ky grabbed him by the collar and held him toward the bolt. As Tale disappeared, Ky caught the bolt in midair.

It took me a second after the entire series of actions to understand what they just did.

We all used the same body enhancement spell. Yet, some acted faster than a launched bolt, and some could not catch up even when watching.

Ky's lips curled into a wicked sneer.

"I suppose it's my turn now," he said, tossing the bolt away.

Laser Spell.

Light, dazzling radiance, spouted out of his palms. A massive outpouring of magic gushed at us. Sable Blade stepped in front of me before we were flooded by the fatal shaft. Black smoke spurted out of her, covering us in a bank of dark fog.

I could hear Ky's attack crushing on the rim of the fog, not piercing through.

A blue spark popped before me and disappeared into the dark. Blade quickly whispered, "Lightless Slash."

Then, there was a series of consecutive swooshes. I could hear the air being split open by the swinging of Blade's baton. She was using the crescent, that attack that even Tale Nost could barely stop.

I blinked my eyes in the blackness.

The sound of the laser was gone. The swinging of the baton had stopped. The scarlet light from above had coated my vision again.

The smoke was gone. Nothing was in Blade's hands. Not a trace of the crescents could be found.

Lord Ky stood with a sneer of victory.

"So, you recovered," Blade asked while panting with a shaking voice.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Of course, if that fraud can regain his power, there is no way I can't."

Lord Ky without his thaumaturgy was already menacing. What chance did we stand against his "Over the Gale," the ability to nullify other thaumaturgies?

"That sounds like what you would do." Blade could not make a thing but one shallow comment.

"Admit your mistake and apologize right now, Sab. I may take you back," Ky said with his arms crossed before his chest.

Sable Blade stood there, and I started running before she responded. I fled to the opened door, where a patch of sunlight entered the warehouse. However, a shadow was standing before the door, blocking the sunshine partially. I could not identify what it was as I heard Blade exclaiming behind me, "Stop right there!"

All my thoughts were erased immediately. The benefit of the doubt I used to console myself shattered the moment she spoke. Her footsteps approached much faster than my own. I could hear my own death coming from the back.

Then, a loud boom behind me devoured them all. Following was a series of explosions. One chained after another. My hearing was instantly but consolingly gone. I could recognize this attack. I had seen it once in the academy. I let out a smile of survival as the force generated behind me sent me flying out of the warehouse.

I fell into the arm of the shadow. It was Tale Nost, and that successive bombarding was certainly his technique "Storm Barrage," the skill of creating multiple explosions with a single hand-clap, well, tooth-snap now.

Staring at the crumbling warehouse, Tale said something and laid me down. I had no idea what he said, yet judging by his grin of confidence, I did not bother knowing the exact content since it was clear he had the situation under control.

His teeth moved ever so faintly, and he was gone again. I looked toward the warehouse's wreckage as I slowly stood back up. That was when I realized the wreckage was made of rocks and concrete. Tale actually sent explosions down the ground to create that pile of rubble.

Under the bright sun of the wharf, Lord Ky only got an arm and a head out of the pile. Tale popped up before him and kicked him in the jaw.

Before Ky could grab him, Tale was gone again. This time, he booted Ky in the back of his head. Then, he did it again from another angle and again in another position. Meanwhile, Ky was focusing on lifting himself out of the wreckage. Thus, Tale swept him in the wrist.

I saw how Ky grabbed Tale earlier. Tale was too confident. I raised my right hand and pointed my index and middle fingers toward them. As Ky clutched Tale's ankle, I shot a magic bullet toward them. The bullet shattered on Ky's forearm. The sudden pain loosened the grip, allowing Tale to tug out his foot and thump Ky in the face again.

Then, a scarlet flare sparked from his palm.

Magic Missile.

As the spheroid missile dropped on the wreckage, I shut my eyes as the bloodily red light devoured everything in my vision. Then, the gust of rubble sent me into the sky. Debris of concrete smashed and busted on my body. None could damage me, yet the pain still transferred. I could feel the rushing wind grinding on my skin. As I slowly opened my eyes, I saw the shining blue, the surface of the morning ocean. Water glistened under the bright sun, catching me as I dropped into their embracement.

The chilling coldness awakened me immediately. The water in my nostrils drove me into my highest sobriety. All the discomfort from the past few days was gone. It was not just a farewell event with Tale. It was not bearing Sable Blade until Tale killed her. It was about fighting Lord Ky, the strongest hero alive. There was no time for resting.

Jump Spell.

The power of magic instantly propped me to the surface. Breathing solely with my mouth, I looked back at the wharf, which was less than a hundred meters away. There, "Storm Barrage" was launched again. A cluster of violet explosions discharged like a pack of fireworks shot at the same spot. I had to move my eyes away from the brightness, but none of them was remotely as powerful as Lord Ky's magic missile. In fact, it was my first time ever seeing Lord Ky using his magic missile. He had never shown it in public before. There was no doubt that he could at least blow off a company of tanks with that missile. That power of his was just inhuman.

As "Storm Barrage" ceased, I saw Ky holding Tale in the air with his grip clutching Tale's jaw. Shit.

Ky's "Over the Gale" could not nullify Tale's "Pop Storm." "Over the Gale" required touching to work. Thaumaturgies like Sable Blade's "Lightless Construct" and my "Rider Blaze" would be easily nullified since mine generated fire and hers produced the black coating. Thaumaturgies like Tale's "Pop Storm" and Drake Scyk's "Jester Jacker" could not be touched and therefore could not be nullified.

That was why Lord Ky held Tale by the jaw. It was both good news and bad news. Tale could escape as long as Ky loosened his hand, yet he may just not loosen it.

Laser Spell.

I fired my burning beam as quickly as possible. The flame and the light covered Ky's head and chest. My laser spell was never strong enough to enlarge its diameter to the length of a human, but it was enough.

As Ky raised his other hand to block my laser, Tale detonated a magic missile before his own face. Coming with the purple flash, the blast wave pushed my head backward into the water…

No, Tale's magic missile was never this destructive. I have known him for decades. He was never the kind who hid their abilities. There was one explanation: Tale Nost just copied the trick from Ky. He just learned how to do it by seeing it once.

I stuck my head out, I saw nothing this time. No Tale Nost nor Lord Ky. I swam and climbed back up the wharf just to see the two lying on the ground, near the wreckage's shattered debris. I did not give Ky a glance and rushed toward Tale. His shirt was gone, yet he was mostly intact, except for his right arm, which was missing a hand and most of his forearm.

I crouched and knelt before him while he was opening his eyes. Before I could say a word, he smirked, "Huh, that magic missile is nothing impressive. It's just an overcharged missile that explodes very early. "

"It doesn't matter. I'll get you to the hospital—"

"No, No." He poked me with his remaining elbow as I tried to carry him up, "Don't. I haven't finished."

I gazed him in the eye, seeing the determination coming out of his smiling facade.

"Sure…"

He closed his eye and continued, "The downside is that it took too much magic that my body enhancement spell could not sustain. That bastard can't deal with it. Huh, huh, huh… But I can! I abandoned this arm to reinforce my body enhancement spell on the rest of me."

"Wait, that means—"

"I can't even do body enhancement now. The bleeding is killing me right now."

I reached out my hands and drew them back before I could lift him up.

His smirk faded, "It's already over Roason. There's no way I am surviving this." He eyed aside and stared at me with his brow quivering. Tears seeped as he declared, "I am the greatest hero of all time. I defeated that damn criminal. I am the strongest. I am the greatest. It's not him. It's me."

"You are… Tale Nost is the strongest," I confirmed him while he was closing his last eye.

The sun above cast my shadow over him, hiding his gliding tears. Even the sun knew Ice Shaker never cried. Tale nodded, "I wish I weren't. It's lonely up here."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. I know there won't be two tallest mountains."

"But knowing it is easier than living it."

"I thought it was my problem. I thought as long as I stop being a jerk, I would, I would," he stuttered.

"Sorry, I should've been stronger." Would the outcome be different if I could stand against those explosions? Would the outcome be different if I at least held up against Sable Blade for a moment? Would it be different if I fought harder? Would it be different if I trained more? Would—

"That's enough," he said weakly and had one last glance at me, "Just remember me as…"

"The greatest hero of all time."