"Ah what a shame to have missed, the pressure must have gotten to me there." Nervously chuckled Alister Sinclair as he led a slither of a wink to Alsop Dusseldorf’s direction, having saved him from Axel Astrix’s menacing hand.

"Al, I see right through you! You could've killed him in an instant!" Yelled Isaac with uproar.

"Yet it's fine to let Magnolia feel a painful death, I presume?" Alister chimed in immediately after.

"Krff you and your righteousness, it's why you don't have what it takes to be a general." Said Isaac.

"The leader board believes different." Said Alister.

"Yes, and how did you get to the top? By leaving others praying for mercy, no doubt." Said Axel.

"No, you are in fact incorrect. A single bullet can amount me several points. It's not necessary to cause any more pain to my companions." Alister said, his eyes drawn to the curves of his gun.

"Well, why would you come to us with all your points anyway?" Asked Axel.

"Why would you let him go?" Alister asked with a sensational chuckle.

Axel and Isaac frantically turned their eyes to Alsop, but he was no longer there. Around them, he was no longer there and too, in their minds he was no longer there for a moment. Alister had captured their nerves so thoroughly that Alsop's ghostly presence simply vanished into thin air. Fast approaching, he returned with the sound of tearing fabric. Edging the tip of his sword into Axel's back, Alsop halted his movement as he waited with hesitation. The points were there for him, yet he stopped in his tracks.

"Axel, I don't really want to do this." Said Alsop.

"I'm sorry, Alsop." Axel nudged his friend to the ground. "I'm working with Isaac to win this. It's clear who you serve." He said.

"No Axel, it's been clear for a while, who you serve." Alsop expelled, as he flung his sword upwards into the air.

The blade had missed both Axel and Isaac by a large margin, but the clear idea behind the throw soon came, as Alister had clanged a series of bullets into it - in which they all bounced off with a concussive effect. The ringing had distorted their ears, but some of the bullets hurt even further, as they wedged into the flesh of their victims. Alsop leapt for his sword, but an icicle frustratingly forced itself within his belly. He reached the sword, but Axel had caught him dismissively. The blood upon Alsop now was a true reality, as the wind shield from before had worn off with effect. But now Alsop had some extra protection, as Alister shielded him with a bullet of resistance, which pushed Axel away frustratedly in defence. Isaac meantime had been igniting his sights on locating Alister within the thin blanket of snow, in order to dismiss his fierce fighting.

A burst of fireballs buried into the ground, flushing the land with water as any remaining snow soon melted away. The battleground was now as even as ever, and this reignited the power Isaac and Axel had against their peers, in the gruelling battle for points. Isaac had locked eyes with Alister, who remained unchanged from his spot, as he stood still accepting the new circumstances. A barrage of bullets arrived at Isaac's feet, but he had encased each one of them with a coating of fire - infinitely incinerating them with ease. And now with his magic fired up, Isaac searched for his sword which also yearned to be used. Coated with a lining of smooth fire, the sword surged itself toward the distant Alister, but it came at an interception by Alsop's ice-cold charm.

A cascade of clashes chained continuously between the two companions until the looming presence of Axel came back to bite Alsop in the back. Shielding a scorching fire from the front, and stabbed cold by small icicles from the rear, Alsop was being brutally crushed. Alister was ready to intervene but a tremendous shock of lightning stormed him down to the ground. Axel then fell, and Alsop joined him after.

Scarred with the warmth of crackling sparks, the three painfully turned their heads to the eminence in the distance - a lone warrior, who carried the fuel for their power in their own hands. Another bolt of lightning had come shocking down at his arrival with his rod of electricity, it was none other than Caspian Cull crashing into the fight. His eyes had become white with fusion, and they lacked certain self-control as he flung the rod into the ground, causing a terrific crack to break everyone away. However, one was still standing ahead of him.

"Caspian Cull, that's quite the power you have there. It almost seems stolen. But anyway, I suppose you're here to see our points go to you." Isaac called out.

"General? I must say, I've become quite jealous of you." Caspian said with a cackle of laughter.

"What? Caspian, are you feeling okay?" Alister ailed out of his aching body.

"I'm fine Al, I'm very beyond fine, Al." Said Caspian with a wicked grin.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"You don't look it at all. Why not put your weapon down, and we can make this a bit more even?" Isaac gently pleaded.

"You want me to put it down, do you?" Caspian laughed chaotically.

The crowd had gone quiet to the core, as Caspian singlehandedly threw his bolt viciously into the shoulder of Isaac with pinpoint precision. Caspian had certainly dropped the rod, but it was burning tightly within Isaac's flesh now, and it pinned him down to the ground firmly. Above all in the crowd though, the worry was with Victoria and Chadwick, the privileged sponsors of the pair.

"What is that he's holding?" Chadwick erupted.

"A lightning rod, nothing too scary! But I do wonder, what is that lasso the general has to his side?" Victoria asked with a sharp eye for the glowing ornament.

"Hmph! It's nothing, just a rope." Said Chadwick shyly.

"It's from the black market! It has to be!" Exclaimed Maxwell.

"Alright fine! Enough with the rope already!" Chadwick snarled in response.

"No, that rope. What does it do?" Asked Victoria with concern.

"Tsk! Fine. It drains one’s mana, I guess." Sighed Chadwick.

"Drains mana? Chadwick that is..." Maxwell was quick to scorn his fellow guardian but he was interjected quickly.

"I know already, it's a dirty move. But placing magic on your candidate is dirty too, Victoria Magika. What are you hiding?" Asked Chadwick.

"I - I soothed his pains, that's all. There is a spirit in him that is a little erratic. I've never seen something quite like it before though." Confessed Victoria.

"It must be incompatible with him." Said Chadwick fearfully.

"Hang on you two, an incompatible spirit isn't unheard of! Why are you two so pale-faced?" Maxwell tried to confer reason to the discussion, but his eyes splashed with a sinister glance from the pair.

"Maxwell, if you put two and two together, you will come to realise what may happen soon." Victoria said unwillingly.

"I told the boy not to use the rope on him but taming a buffoon like that is hard work!" Chadwick wildly claimed.

"The two of you, explain what may happen soon. I demand it now! Fred, help me out here will you?" Maxwell had asked, but the seat aside him was now empty.

"He went to go do something, he said it was urgent." Said Annette with a coldness to Maxwell.

Below, Caspian had taken an invigorating breath, with a slice of energy ripening him from the lightning rod, but deep within, something sinister was boiling his strings silently. This desire for dominance in his body was crushing the core of Caspian, and it rotted through to the exterior of his pure body. He snarled aloud at his victim below his feet, Isaac, with a tone of terrifying tremble - a distorted sound between a cry and a yell behind his words.

"General Rose, how does this feel to you?" He laughed, as he twisted the lightning stick further through the vessels in Isaac's arm.

"Caspian Cull! The contest has changed you into a disgraceful young man!" Alsop called out with a leap of last resort to Caspian, a sword drawn to him.

But Alsop's words fell short, as he dropped to the ground again. Caspian had drawn a surplus of energy from the bolt, and in doing so he quickly redirected the electrical current to Alsop out of instinct. Beneath this final effort, the general lay still, unhelpful to the situation.

"Alsop! No! Caspian, you are being heartless! This is a contest of points, not a contest to kill!" Isaac cried out in anguish.

"I wish, general, you cared for me the same way, you did him. But it's so very clear now." Caspian said with self-thought fuelling him solely now.

"Caspian, I do care! What more do you need, my friend?" Isaac asked with admiration for him.

"What good is it now? Argh! My mind melts with pain! Just get up, now." Caspian yelled out as he lifted the bolt of lightning in rejection.

"What has gotten into you, Caspian?" Asked Isaac as he clung to his wound.

"I don't know, general. I feel unwell." Said Caspian as he turned away.

"Heh. You fool." Said Isaac, his hand rustling about for something. "You're so very innocent at times but so troublesome in an instant. You can't control yourself, let alone an army." He said bitterly.

This was the final straw. The mana draining rope had been summoned behind Caspian's careless back, and it wrapped around him with anger. Isaac looked around, and his eyes became red with a shade of temper, this was the fuel for him. His eyes painted the scene wilder than actually appeared, and this strengthened his grip on the rope which tightened its fibres of string around Caspian's torso. But Isaac soon felt guilt, and this transcended into fear as his sight captured the clear cruelty Caspian carried within him.

A ghastly shade of green ushered a ghoulish approach to Caspian's countenance. A restless roar rallied all the ears of the kingdom as a smile drew to his face in a clear victory. The black strands of hair Caspian once had, tasselled like dried plants.

"Caspian Cull? That's not supposed to happen, right? Chadwick, Chadwick, help me!" Isaac horrendously called out.

"General...help me...don't let it take me away...you can stop this...you started this...please stop it!" Caspian wailed out, his hands falling onto Isaac's collar with an incredibly loud scent of fear.

"Caspian, I - I can't help you. You must fight whatever is happening." Said Isaac fearfully trying to unravel the rope.

"Then kill me! Yes! You must kill me!" Implored Caspian, blood had begun leaking from his eyes and mouth.

"Caspian...no..." Isaac slowly shook his head in terror.

"I will kill him then." Said Caspian, a shocking, red-stained grin on his lips.

Caspian's final words had echoed across the arena in an unworldly manner as they resonated with a power not before seen. Caspian's voice had become a cold, cruel and crooked chasm of evil. And with the emergence of this newfound voice, all sound became mute in an instant, because soon after the sinister words a catastrophic shockwave swept across the arena causing the grass to shrivel up into shards of death.