I looked up at Awmezhyok and could see that they were rubbing their neck right below their head.

I reflexively stroked the scar on my neck but did my best to focus on Shemezhyok who I was now facing. I had used even more mana than I was hoping and given Shemezhyok seemed to be better than Awmezhyok, at least in regards to their magic, I wasn’t looking forward to having to fight them. Especially with even less mana than I had fought Awmezhyok with.

If I wasn’t a physical augmenter, I could use the mana in the air to supplement my internally stored mana, but even in this space it would be limited to fire and air mana most likely.

I dashed forward.

No what ifs! Thinking won’t do me any good in a fight.

I landed the first blow across their face. Shemezhyok’s response was faster than Awmezhyok’s.

They spun with my punch and hit me with their tail and leg. This felt more coordinated than the accidental slap from Awmezhyok’s.

I managed to just barely catch their tail with my forearm and lifted my leg to catch theirs with my shin.

The force still threw me off balance. I fell to my side.

Caught myself with my left arm and pushed up and away from them.

They closed the distance between us quickly though and landed another hit.

I couldn’t block it in time and was thrown to the ground completely.

They got on top of me, and I covered my face with my arms to block the next flurry of punches.

I needed an opportunity.

From the size difference, they were perched above my abdomen. Their legs were straddling me and mine were free behind them.

I bent them at my knees and firmly planted my feet into the ground.

I pulled my abs tight and pulled myself up as quickly as possible to land my head into their jaw.

I missed, but they pulled backwards to avoid it.

They fell back onto my thighs, and I shifted slightly to slant them towards my right.

I twisted my hips too and tried to get one leg out from under them, but they rolled off me before I could attempt anything more.

I lunged forward, to grab their legs but only managed to grab their tail.

Which wasn’t great because I soon found myself flying in the air and saw them back at full size before returning to their half human form.

They were quick with the transformation; I wouldn’t be able to win like the last time.

I hit the ground and bounced slightly before sliding quite close to the edge.

I rolled to my right to get away from the edge and got to my feet.

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Shemezhyok got to me quickly though grabbed my arm and threw me over their shoulder and back towards the middle of the island.

They leapt towards me, and I crossed my arms up above my head to stop the downward kick.

I pushed them back and they flipped with the force of my throw and landed on their feet.

I rushed at them throwing mana into both of my arms, shoulders and upper back throwing a right hook than a left.

The right landed but they caught the left and managed to throw my own arm back at me.

I stumbled backwards only to messily block a kick.

It threw me a bit to the left.

I stayed on my feet, but they came at me again and again.

There wasn’t a single opportunity for me to get a hit in return.

I was tired and focusing my mana on my arms to block as many hits as I could.

After a few more punches and back steps, my feet were finally more under me. I squatted and spun kicking their legs out of under them.

They fell onto their side, and I half crawled half stepped closer to get a hit downwards, but they rolled out of the way.

While they were trying to get up, I put more mana into my legs than my arms and aimed to tackle them.

I managed to get them onto their back.

I let go and stood on my knees above them. I landed two hits into their torso before being thrown onto my back by a kick.

They scrambled up, grabbed my arm and threw me yet again.

I landed by the edge and slid almost off of it but got a solid hold on the ground.

My torso was on the island, but my legs were not.

I crawled back on and got onto my knees.

I didn’t like being so close to the edge, but I didn’t have any ability to move the fight somewhere better.

Shemezhyok must have gotten close to me while I was trying to stop myself from falling off the edge.

I rolled away from a stomp and managed to be in a decent position.

I pulled my abs in tight lifting my legs and then grabbed their waist with them, clamping down as tightly as I could.

They stood up a bit more trying to get away from me bit I held strong.

Thanks to the height difference they weren’t able to pull me off of the ground completely.

Unfortunately, I landed my legs above their tail so lifting it did push against my grip a little.

They grabbed at my legs trying to push them off.

It felt awkward, but I pushed all my mana from my left leg into my right lower back and hip.

I used my elbows to brace the ground before I pushed off and rolled, trying to pull them with me to my left.

I managed something close to what I imagined, and he was on the ground with me.

Their arm was within reach.

I aimed for an arm bar again. I tried not to push on their throat this time. But I wouldn’t be able to get enough force if I didn’t.

My leg wasn’t in the right position anyway, so I bent my knee, keeping my right foot on the ground close to his face and arched my back.

I lifted them up, and their head was off the ground enough that I was able to get my other leg under their neck.

With my legs in the right positions, I still avoided the throat.

With my right knee still bent I locked my ankles next to each other and kept pulling on their shoulder.

They struggled against my grip.

They managed to twist a bit away from me and got their tail free and began swatting at me with it while their other arm was clawing at my ankles.

The way that they had twisted though put their throat right up against my ankles.

I couldn’t really do anything, and they could get out of it easily, so I did my best to ignore it.

As I heard a gasp and felt my mana slip, I was back in the air, but this time I was over the edge.

I desperately reached my arm out, but I was falling through the air.

I was falling towards the lava.

No!

My throat ached.

I can’t fall.

If only I could grab out onto air mana. Or maybe use fire mana as some sort of propulsion.

I’d never seen anyone use mana in the form of magma but maybe there was a way to become one with it so when I did fall it wouldn’t hurt me.

Instead, it would react like water for water users.

But I’d heard that lava, or is it magma? Anyway, I heard that it was more like earth than it was like fire. It was like molten metal.

Dot had used earth in a way that made it move like water.

But all the mana I had, was expended. And even if I could use any of the elements, I’d never seen someone manipulate lava.

The heat was now almost unbearable. Would I die? I was never told what happened if you failed a floor.

I saw Shemezhyok reaching out to me in their dragon form.

To them I was probably nothing more than a small weak playmate they could easily beat. Why would they try to save me?

I reached out to them though.

But closed my eyes as the heat surrounded me.

I thought I heard a ding, but I must’ve imagined it.