Jered ducked under the swipe of the Demon's tail. He struggled to regain his balance after the sudden maneuver, his hand clutching a spear of fire. He whipped it up, aiming for the head. The Demon, Zonor, had easily seen it coming, and promptly flicked his head to the side, his flaming claw striking back. Jered pushed himself out of the way with a burst of 'Telekinesis'. And when Zonor's talon came hammering at him from above, he was forced to 'Shadowport' to a safe distance.

The problem was that there were no safe distances against Zonor.

The ground cracked, dust kicking up, as Zonor pursued him at a speed that made his 'Shadowport' practically useless. Jered seethed at the Demon's cocky, twisted smirk. He couldn't escape his attempts at engaging him in melee. When Lucy suggested a spar between him and one of her minions, he never thought she'd choose such a troublesome opponent. Zonor's physical prowess matched his magical abilities.

It was his first time fighting against someone specialized in hand-to-hand combat. The Wolfkins didn't count—they had strength, but no finesse. Zonor, for all of his fiendish appearance, was precise and relentless with his onslaught. An unstoppable machine with methodical yet powerful attacks. He knew that he couldn't allow Jered the time to barrage him with a combo of spells. A jab spearheaded towards Jered's eyes, and he managed to dodge it by the skin of his teeth.

The shockwave blasted the outcrop behind him into a curtain of debris.

Jered's 'Giza's Gaze' sped at Zonor, hoping to create some space between them.

The Demon tanked it with an annoying growl, not coming out entirely unscathed.

A hole spurted out blood in his shoulder, though the flesh quickly wiggled like a clew of worms and mended back.

"Since one is not enough..." Jered's Mana Circuit thrummed as waves upon waves of mana rolled off of him. He pointed his finger forward and began firing a series of beams at Zonor.

The row of beams flashed crimson, their temperature high enough to concern even a Demon living in Hell.

Zonor successfully wrestled his way out of the bombardment and flash-stepped back. Holes riddled his bulky, armored body. Jered wasn't about to let his advantage slip by, and capitalized on it with his 'Pharaoh's Flame'. He stretched his hands wide apart, fire curling out of the ground and rearing up around him. The untamable, scorching beast flickered ominously, twisting and squirming into Tutankhamun's furious expression.

The depiction of the Pharaoh was as big as the hill Lucy was sitting on.

It opened its mouth, where tongues of fire threatened to consume anything caught in its wake—friend or foe. It didn't matter.

Zonor watched as Tutankhamun's scorching visage sky-dropped upon him.

The spell's sheer magnitude left him breathless. While his body was incredibly durable and powerful, there was no way he could tank it and make it out alive.

He clapped his claws, and when he parted them, a golden shaft of light grew between his palms.

The golden light pulsed, turning into a greatsword.

Zonor didn't waste time. With a firm grip on his weapon, he set himself in the Ox stance. The fast-approaching heat made his metal armor incandescent. His skin was being slowly, agonizingly grilled within that carapace protecting him. Still, he didn't let it distract him. Jered's 'Pharaoh's Flame' melted the surrounding rocks, turning them into magma. Zonor couldn't believe how much power was fueling that spell. It was not something an Elder-Tier should have been capable of.

He waited until the flames were upon him.

Then he moved.

He swung his greatsword in a downward arch, copious amounts of mana revolving around the blade.

The flames couldn't be pushed back, but Zonor could split them in the middle so he received the least amount of damage. Unfortunately, it was easier said than done.

The attacks collided, an explosion tearing the earth asunder. A shower of rocks and soot hindered his vision. The only thing he could make out was the unbearable, stinging pain of his body burning.

Zonor pumped all of his mana into protecting and healing his body. He embedded his greatsword deep into the ground, holding onto it for dear life as the firestorm around him raged harder and harder. If he opened his eyes, he had no doubt that the delicate tissues would be cooked inside his skull.

Jered couldn't concentrate 'Pharaoh's Flame' into one point only. The spell had a wide range of effect, and he was not strong enough to have such remarkable control over it. Zonor was still alive, that he could tell.

He didn't expect any less from a Demon.

To make his life more miserable, though, he cast 'Turbine Slash' upon 'Pharaoh's Flame' and let it swirl around it, hoping to mold the wild fire into a cone shape. Under different circumstances, it wouldn't have been that hard. But with 'Pharaoh's Flame' burdening his concentration and mana pool, manipulating 'Turbine Slash' into his desired form was something he was not used to. In fact, the wind spell was not whirling around the flame. Instead, it slashed at it in an upward stream.

Jered bit his lip and added 'Telekinesis' on top of it. His Mana Circuit strained to support the weight of three spells, one of which was Royal-Tier. His head throbbed painfully, but he soldiered on. Victory was within his grasp, he just had to keep going for a bit more. His vision spun, blood pooling up in his mouth. It didn't matter how much he hurt, he'd hold on until he died. He had to win.

Zonor faltered within the tornado of fire. The heat was soaring, and his regeneration couldn't keep up with the rate his body was sustaining injuries at.

The limbs of fire licked his skin, burning off layers of epidermis and flesh.

"I'm not going to die, you hear me!?"

For the first time during their match, Zonor spoke.

He unfurled his charred wings, his grip on the greatsword tightening as he accelerated his mana flow—to the point that his body was breaking apart from the inside out.

A burst of blinding, white light went off inside the turbine of fire. It started as a twinkle, harmless and weak. Then, like a star collapsing, it spread out in powerful shockwaves that swallowed Jered's 'Pharaoh's Flame'. Zonor roared, caught in the berserk throes of his skill. He unearthed his sword and swung it vertically. Jered's meticulously-crafted firestorm was sliced apart. The fire was not snuffed out, but a pathway had been created with Zonor as the epicenter.

"Come on... that's ridiculous..." Jered groaned out. He didn't recognize the skill his foe used, but there was no doubt that it was a Royal-Tier one. And it came with consequences too.

Zonor's body was spurting blood from every orifice. His eyes were in a maddened daze, and the wounds and burns were not healing.

Jered canceled the spells, though the remnants of his 'Pharaoh's Flame' were still alive. The problem was that he actually felt threatened by Zonor. Whatever skill he traded for a shot at killing him was putting Jered under a lot of pressure. He clenched his fist and closed his eyes. When he snapped them back open, they were as black as vantablack. A rush of power coursed through his veins, but the backlash would certainly knock him out. 'Soul Eater' should have been used from the start, not after he almost taxed all of his mana.

There was a stretch of breathing room that Jered used to get ahold of himself.

Then Zonor disappeared.

"Fuck."

He immediately cast 'Physical Enhancement' and attempted to 'Shadowport' away.

And he was successful, but Zonor's sword still reached him through the burst of smoke.

The remnant of his slash's kinetic energy left a deep crevice in the ground.

When Jered reappeared on top of a hill, a gash ran from his left shoulder to his right hip. His shirt was in tatters, blood flowing down from the deep wound. He bit back the pain, glad that his 'Physical Enhancement' prevented a more serious injury. His mana acted up and began to heal him, but Zonor was not about to let that happen. The ground caved as he flash-stepped his way. Jered cursed under his breath and balled his hand into a fist as his 'Telekinesis' gripped tightly onto Zonor.

With the boost of his 'Soul Eater', it should have slowed him down, at the very least.

But it didn't.

Zonor easily shook himself free of the unseen force and, with another flick of his foot, closed the distance between them.

His sword hung up overhead, coated by a mantle of raw, strong mana. The air whistled as it came slashing down at Jered.

Jered didn't panic and faced the attack head-on. Zonor had let himself open in favor of pouring all of his strength in that one slash. That how was how confident he was. Jered couldn't dodge it without risking heavy injuries, or even death. So he didn't. He stepped forward, his hand slamming against Zonor's unprotected face. His prolonged use of 'Pharaoh's Flame' would come to bite him back in the ass later, but he had no other choice.

The scorching, ancient fire enveloped Zonor's head just as his greatsword made contact with Jered's body. However, to minimize the gravity of the wound, he rammed Zonor's wrist with a blast of 'Telekinesis', deviating the trajectory of the blade slightly to the side. Jered's left arm was cleanly sliced off, blood cascading down to the ground in a crimson waterfall. Through sheer will alone, he didn't let the blinding pain distract him and fueled 'Pharaoh's Flame' with so much more mana that its color had turned into a hot, glowing white mass.

A scream rang out.

Zonor staggered back, wildly waving his greatsword around.

It was an unconscious movement—one with no skill or power—but Jered still 'Shadowport'ed 50 meters up in the air, where he hovered there to assess the situation.

The Demon was still alive, albeit barely. His berserk state allowed him to ignore any kind of injury for as long as he was alive. He had basically become a suicide bomb.

Jered had to end the fight right then and there, or he would have been the one to die.

Thankfully, Lucy had taught him a spell recently. It was the weaker variant of one of her spells, but still powerful enough to be deemed as a Royal-Tier by the system. He was reluctant on using it because, in a way, it was stronger than his 'Pharaoh's Flame', and required a disgustingly excessive amount of control. He needed time to cast it. Time he procured thanks to that dangerous stunt he pulled.

Jered released a soft breath, sweat and blood sliding down his cheeks.

His mana ramped up, permeating around the short stretch of the sky above him. He focused, his hand trembling. If he failed, it was over. He couldn't even cancel 'Soul Eater'. He was in a state that, if he stopped, he would crumble down and pass out. Zonor was slowly getting up, his face an unrecognizable mess of blood and charred cartilage. Jered couldn't tarry anymore.

A cluster of white, flickering orbs spawned behind him. They slowly multiplied, taking the shape of a spear.

Each of those spears equaled the power of an Elder-Tier spell. And he couldn't help but briefly wonder whether Vozremeth would be able to tank it.

The sky was lit up due to the beautiful, white ribbons of mana.

'Rain of Death'.

The spears elongated, their tips tipping down at Zonor.

Jered stared at his foe, who stared back through mangled eyes.

He beckoned the spears with his fingers, and they promptly shot down at Zonor, like a meteor shower.

An explosion akin to that of a 20-ton warhead went off, followed by the acrid ripples of a black, flaming cloud billowing up.