The group, whose number had grown to nine with the addition of Adray, emerged from the underground gardens and returned to the Irisa Fields.
Along the way, Adray demanded that they regale him with tales of their adventures up to this point. They only had time to tell them the tale of how they ended up in Airyglyph, with a few alterations to prevent the Elicoorians from becoming suspicious of their true identities. They talked about how Fayt and Cliff got captured and how they met Nel and escaped the city.
By the time that tale was complete, they arrived in Peterny where Twilight took a moment to head to the Artisan’s Guild to give the table and cards to Grape Vine who told her in private that it was a mini-game that involved tiny homunculi, or artificial humans and humanoids, and pitting them against each other in combat. Twilight had no interest in that sort of thing so she left it to Grape for safekeeping.
Once that task was complete, the group once more headed south toward Peterny’s southern gate.
Along the way, they continued the tale of their escape and pursuit by the Dragon Brigade. As they entered the Palmira Plains, the story continued about their night in Kirlsa followed by their adventure in the Kirlsa Caverns, mentioning the crystal which was part of a series of seven shards which contained memories from Sophia’s grandfather. They didn’t go into details because the memories were only Sophia’s to share.
“So where is your grandfather now?” Adray asked.
Sophia shrugged, “No idea. Only reason I knew he existed was because of the shards. I’ve never met him myself, or at least I don’t think I have. My memories from before I met my foster family are a blur.”
“Hmph, he should be there for you and watch as you grow into a wonderful woman who makes the man she marries feel like the luckiest man in the world.”
Nobody said anything about that as they continued their trek toward Arias. Along the way, they told the old man about the time when Lyra, Sophia and Nel attacked the Kirlsa Training Facility and defeated Shelby while Lyra defeated Albel in a duel.
“Huh, glad to know that Glou’s kid is still kicking,” Adray noted.
“You have a history with Albel?” Sophia asked.
“Well, not with him personally. I know about him through his father. I was looking forward to meeting Glou on the battlefield but was saddened to hear that he lost his life to save his son who was trying to conduct that bonding ritual the Glyphian’s use to bond with their air dragons. I heard the kid lost his left arm to that dragon.”
“Wow, he gave his life to ensure his son goes on living. It’s noble, yet sad at the same time.”
“Yes, I regret that I never got to fight Glou, though I can only hope that his son became a fine young man.”
Silence settled over the group for a minute in response to that. Adray may be brash and somewhat self-centered sometimes, but he was wise enough to read an atmosphere and he was reading the awkwardness in the air. “Be honest, since you met him, how has he been?”
Sophia figured that things would continue to be awkward unless they met Albel again or someone spoke up. So she decided to throw all prudence aside for the moment and tell Adray all about Albel’s behavior from the encounter at the training facility.
Adray stroked his beard throughout the explanation, taking in all of the details given to him. “It sounds like his father’s death had a negative impact on his growth. I fear that if he continues like this, only misfortune will lie before him in the future.” He sighed. “Tragic, Glou must be rolling in his grave right now.”
Nothing else was said as the group crossed the bridge into Arias.
The villagers were shocked to see Adray among the group. That shock turned into a lot of whispering between them. The ponies overheard some of the conversations where some of them muttered something about Aquaria getting serious about the war to involve their greatest warrior.
Awaiting the group at the northwest gate was Clair, who was caught in an affectionate hug by her father the moment she was in view; a testament to the old man’s speed. Alongside Clair stood Tynave, Farleen and a crew of miners.
“My precious little girl! How have you been? Have you been eating well? Have you finally found a man worth marrying?” Everyone looked away awkwardly with blushes while Adray was giving his daughter more attention than should be seen in public.
“It’s good to see you again, father,” Clair responded, doing her best to shove down her embarrassment. “Yes, I have been doing well and no, I have not found someone.”
Seeing the display had reminded Twilight of her sister in law, Cadence. Some time after old age had claimed her brother, Shining Armor, Cadence had become more affectionate toward Twilight and her daughter, Flurry Heart. When she visited Twilight, she didn’t care where she was. She was very public with her displays of affection.
While Adray was giving his daughter some extreme doting, Nel approached her subordinates. “I see you two have made a full recovery. Is everything ready?”
“Ready to return to active duty,” Tynave responded with a salute.
“The wagon is ready, we can leave at any time,” Farleen added.
Nel nodded, “Nice work.”
Adray finally, albeit reluctantly, let go of his daughter and rejoined the group.
Four large wagons were in front of the entrance of the town. One would be used to carry the copper, one carried the miners’ supplies, and two would be used to transport the personnel.
With all preparations complete, everyone boarded the wagons and headed toward the Bequerel Mountain Path.
The trip to the mine was relatively short but a familiar sound from nearby brought the caravan to a halt. The group jumped off the wagon and moved ahead to take a look. Sure enough, the sound they heard was the sound of giant flapping wings. Guarding the entrance to the mine was a pair of dragon riders from the Dragon Brigade.
“So, ready to start challenging dragons?” Sophia asked.
“You bet,” Cliff affirmed with a punch to his left palm. “Let’s pound these turkeys and get that copper.”
“A man of action, that’s what I like to see,” Adray said.
With that, the group charged in and caught the knights off guard. Cliff leapt high into the air to perform his Aerial Assault technique where he kicked the rider off his dragon and sent the dragon plummeting to the ground. Before the knight could recover, Lyra dashed past the knight and beheaded him with her blades. The dragon got back up and flew away.
The other knight tried to fly away to warn Airyglyph of the attack, but his body was enveloped in a purple glow before he was forcefully pulled away from his dragon. The glow faded and the knight fell unceremoniously onto the ground. As the knight lifted his head, the last thing he ever saw was a spinning blade flying at him. The now riderless dragon joined its companion in flight.
“So much for them,” Cliff said.
“Their response time will be slowed since we killed the riders, but they will notice that something is wrong when the dragons return without their riders,” Nel informed.
“Then let’s hurry and get that copper,” Fayt said.
Nel ordered the convoy to follow them from a distance while they cut a path through the dragon nests in the mines.
The first room in the mine was small and featured a cart that would lead deeper into the mine. However, the convoy would not be able to use the rails until they were sure the dragons were thinned out.
The first thing the group noticed in the next room was that the lighting in the mine was poor so visibility was going to be limited for the trek.
Cliff noticed a brazier on a nearby wall that had a dim glow. When he walked up to the brazier, the flames roared back to life, bringing more light into the mine.
“Looks like we’ll have to light them as we go along,” Cliff said.
That was when everyone noticed that the ponies’ horns started glowing and generating light. Sophia had her own idea and held her palm upward. With a bit of concentration, she generated a small glowing sphere that radiated the same brightness as Twilight’s and Lyra’s spells.
“Well that’s convenient,” Cliff noted.
“Are you sure that you can maintain that?” Nel asked.
“No problem,” Lyra answered. “Me and Twilight can keep something like this going for a very long time.”
“I have a large reserve of power, even if I don’t have access to it all, but this shouldn’t be a problem for me,” Sophia said. She then allowed the light to dim and go out. “But you are right that we shouldn’t be using our power needlessly as long as we have the braziers to light the way.” Twilight and Lyra agreed with the sentiment and stopped their spells as well.
Nel nodded and everyone continued down the passageway and lit another brazier at the point where the path turned west. The path quickly turned north again before they reached a barred doorway.
A lot of shuffling could be heard from the other side of the door but the darkness made it difficult to make out. Fayt activated a nearby brazier to illuminate the area to reveal a dragon that stood as tall as a person. Its legs were built to support the weight of its long body but its forelimbs were tiny. Its scales were brass colored and its wings appeared too small to allow flight.
The bars suddenly dropped through holes in the doorway and the dragon roared before charging into the room.
The dragon charged at Roger and attempted to gore them with its horns. Roger dove out of the way and left a little surprise for the dragon which it stepped on before an explosion went off beneath its feet.
The dragon roared in pain before inhaling and releasing a purple mist from its mouth. Fayt, Cliff and Nel were unfortunate to get caught in that as the mist was electrified. All three of them ended up unable to move as paralysis froze their bodies. The dragon would have followed up on its attack if Adray hadn’t forced it to back away with an Earth Glaive spell. Twilight held it in place with a Thunder Flare before Lyra tackled the beast with her Storm Charge which protected her from Twilight’s spell.
The dragon was slammed into a wall before Sophia finished it with a blast of psionic energy.
Thankfully, the paralysis was only temporary and the paralyzed trio soon regained their freedom of movement.
As the dragon vanished, it dropped a stone. When Fayt picked it up, the stone began to glow bright enough to act as a flashlight but not much else.
The group decided to explore beyond the barred doorway to find a dark room. Fayt and Cliff lit two braziers but a third one couldn’t be lit as it ebbed between bright and dim which told them that the mechanism was likely malfunctioning.
The west passage from that room couldn’t be lit by the braziers so Lyra, Twilight and Sophia used their powers to light the way while Fayt used his new Lightstone. Because of this, it was easy to eliminate the element of surprise from several groups of dragons who tried attacking them from the dark at a two-way crossroads. Fayt, Nel and Roger faced a group attacking from a north passage, Lyra, Adray, and Peppita faced a group attacking from a west passage, and Sophia, Twilight and Cliff faced a group attacking from behind. Neither group had problems dispatching the dragons.
The light from the spells and stone guided them further into the mine but it also disturbed a group of vampire bats who looked like they wanted a meal. It attempted to stop any of the spellcasters from casting their spells by emitting a high-pitched shriek which only hit Adray who countered with a slash from his katana.
“This is why it’s never wise to rely solely on runology,” Adray lectured. “Honing one’s mind and body is essential to becoming stronger, but both must be treated equally to find harmony within oneself.” He then sheathed his katana.
A little further down the passageway, they found a doorway with a small monument next to it. Fayt shone his lightstone on the monument which contained strange characters that only Nel was able to read since she took the time to study languages, unlike Adray and Roger.
“These are dragon runes, the ancient tongue of the dragons,” Nel said. “It says, ‘Weave the two into a single line of darkness.’”
“Sounds like a hint for the next part of this cave,” Sophia figured.
“What makes you say that?” Cliff asked.
“It’s basic adventuring 101,” Roger said proudly. “In cases where a puzzle isn’t obvious, a hint is placed somewhere so the adventurer doesn’t feel completely lost or stumped because they couldn’t figure out how to get past the area.”
“You just made that up, didn’t you?” Cliff shot back. A blush from Roger confirmed it.
The next room they entered was large and empty, save for two unlit torches in the middle of the north and south sections of the room which they lit.
The door on the far side of the room was locked and with nowhere else to go, they had to figure out the puzzle.
Sophia pondered on the mystery for a moment before an idea hit her. Looking at the two shadows the torches cast on her, she positioned herself between the torches so that her two shadows bridged the distance between the two torches. For a moment, the shadows glowed red, then the glow faded and the barred door opened.
“Nice thinking Sophia!” Lyra complimented.
The next passage they went into was straightforward and involved dealing with a chameleon and a romperbat.
The next doorway led them into what the group eventually figured out was a small maze with a few dead ends. They found a door that was locked and there was a keyhole for the door which meant that they needed to look around for a key.
The group split up and searched the maze for any clue that would lead them to the key. Eventually, Lyra spotted a dragon in the maze who behaved oddly in that it was running away from anyone who got near it.
Sophia managed to corner it by the door and it roared in desperation. She could sense the beast’s fear for some reason and figured that a new approach was necessary.
She slowly walked over to the terrified dragon who looked ready to fight back in desperation. “Shh, it’s okay, young drake. I’m not going to hurt you.” She used a technique that she learned from Lyra using it where she emitted soothing psychic waves to calm the timid beast. She was soon right in front of it before she raised a gentle right hand and placed it on the dragon’s head.
The dragon took a moment to register that the creature in front of it was not going to harm them. Sophia used her hand to gently stroke its scales while the dragon moved into it and nuzzled her cheek.
After a few minutes, the dragon opened its mouth and placed a key in Sophia’s left hand. It then ran off somewhere.
Twilight smiled as she wiped a tear from her eye. Sophia’s display of kindness reminded her of Fluttershy and the days they used to spend together. She wished that she could reminisce about the old days, but she still had a mission to accomplish.
Sophia used the key on the door and it opened for them, allowing them to move deeper into the mine.
The only thing of note in the next room was an ornate door with a pair of stone dragon heads on the left and right side of the door. However, when the group approached the door, the stone heads made a roaring sound as it shut the door on them. The door wouldn’t budge open no matter what while Nel noticed an inscription on the door.
“It says, ‘The gatekeeper cannot block what it cannot see.’”
It wasn’t hard to figure that the only way to open the door would be to blind the dragon heads with darkness by removing all light sources from the room. However, Twilight had another idea. Using her magic, Twilight placed a veil of purple mist over the dragon heads. When the heads could no longer see people nearby, it opened its doors once more, allowing everyone inside.
More dragons tried their luck against the group and ended up like most of the other dragons before them. One dragon was beaten senseless when Cliff bombarded it with a series of rapid punches, calling that his Fists of Fury technique.
Soon, they encountered another monument by the door and Nel read the runes once again, “It says, ‘Race ahead of thyself, but not when alone.’”
When the group entered the next room, the door closed behind them. The room was in complete darkness and two other doors were to their north and to their west. However, they were all closed, effectively sealing them inside.
Further searching brought them to a strange circular platform in the center of the room. When Sophia stepped on it, all three doors opened and dragon heads on other parts of the wall opened their mouths, producing orbs of light which illuminated the room. When someone approached an open door, however, it closed on them.
This puzzle was a little more tricky than the others but eventually they figured it out. They realized that to ‘race against thyself,’ they needed to race against their own shadows to a door. However, in the absence of shadows, the doors closed. The doors would only allow people to race against one shadow and the shadow had to be beside them when they crossed the threshold. This meant that to move forward, they needed to close two dragon heads and go through the door that was on the same wall as the head that still displayed its light orb.
The group exited through the north door and proceeded down a few more passages before they finally located the deepest part of the mine. A brief look around told them that there were some untapped veins in the room.
However, a roar from a deep pit nearby turned their attention to it.
“What was that?” Cliff asked.
He got his answer a moment later when a large creature leapt out of the pit to greet the group. The creature had a draconic body but at the same time, much of its upper body resembled a rooster. Part of its large body was scaly while white feathers covered much of its upper body. Its head looked just like a rooster’s head.
“A cockatrice?!” Nel exclaimed.
Lyra looked at Twilight with a deadpan expression. “As if the cockatrices on our world weren’t bad enough, you just had to design one that looked more dangerous.”
“At least these things don’t come in large numbers like ours do,” Twilight defended through the mental link. “The cockatrices of this world are primarily solitary and I made sure they don’t petrify with their eyes…though they can still do so with their talons, beak and breath.”
“You’re not really helping your case here.”
The psychic conversation came to a halt as the cockatrice prepared to attack. Fayt, Cliff and Roger moved in to attack the tall draconic chicken. Cliff tried to punch it in the face but the cockatrice parried it with its beak. The contact made the beast’s magic course through Cliff which resulted in him turning to stone before he knew what happened. Fayt and Roger moved away to avoid another attack but the cockatrice anticipated that and unleashed a gray mist toward Roger which he was unable to avoid in time. The mist enveloped him for a second before it dissipated, leaving a lifelike statue of Roger in its place.
As the cockatrice turned to attack Fayt, the beast got blindsided by Adray’s Chaos Tide tackle and was knocked to the ground for a moment before he backed away and assaulted it with an Efreet spell.
Twilight’s analysis of the cockatrice informed everyone that electricity and earth spells and abilities would not work on it so Nel and Peppita began hurling icy daggers from a distance. Twilight and Adray continued casting Efreet spells at it while Fayt taunted it to keep its attention on him. Sophia and Lyra assaulted its body with their blades from angles where it wasn’t looking.
The bombardment of attacks was soon too much for the draconic hybrid and it soon collapsed on the floor and vanished.
Twilight and Adray cast a Cure Condition symbol on Cliff and Roger to free them from their petrification.
“Just this once, I’d like to not be the first to get afflicted with something,” Cliff complained.
Cliff’s complaint was ignored while everyone split up to explore the area. Twilight and Lyra used analytical spells to examine the minerals in the area while Fayt, Cliff and Sophia secretly brought out their quad-scanners without the Elicoorians looking and scanned the minerals. Peppita, who didn’t have a scanner of her own, simply looked around with the Elicoorians.
The scanners were put away when they heard approaching footsteps that indicated that Tynave, Farleen and the mining crew had arrived. “Good, you’re here,” Nel said to them.
“This area shows little sign of being mined, and the purity looks quite high,” Fayt informed.
Nel nodded before ordering the crew to begin digging.
The mining took a few hours, but they managed to reach their goal of copper needed for the runological weapons. All that remained was to refine it before it could be put to use. Thankfully, Nel knew of an abandoned refinery nearby that they could use. The copper was loaded up into a large mining cart with a hauler beast hitched to it while the group took point to escort the cart and crew to the refinery.
Following a tunnel from the west passage of the area, the group cleared the way until they exited the mine and back outside where the monster-infested ruins of a refinery awaited them. Roaming the area were green-feathered harpies, red trees that resembled the grapebinds from Duggus Forest and flying dragons that were obviously feral.
Adray and Twilight burned down the monster trees while Cliff and Nel clipped the wings of the harpies in the area. Everyone else was left to deal with the dragons.
However, during the exploration of the area, a familiar call drew Sophia to a tree at the northern end of the area that overlooked a vast valley below. As she approached the tree, Melt’s words echoed in her mind.
“At the end of the caverns where the copper sleeps, the northernmost wiseman gazes upon the lake. Is it an ancient power sleeping below the roots?”
Sophia searched around the tree for a spot to dig. She soon found one and dug about six inches deep before she found the crystal shard that she was looking for and cleaned it off before pocketing it.
“Found another one, huh?” Lyra said from behind her. Sophia felt her presence as she approached so she wasn’t surprised.
“Yeah, only four more to go.”
Lyra nodded, “C’mon, the hauler has arrived and they’re unloading the copper into the refinery.”
While the copper was being refined, the others checked around the area and cleared out more of the monsters that roamed the area. Lyra blasted a hole in a wall which revealed more of the ruins for the group to explore.
Meanwhile, Twilight was busy negotiating a contract with a certain old veteran soldier who had taken up residence in the refinery. She figured that the veteran, Grats, could put his blacksmithing skills to use for the guild and make some money in the process.
It took about an hour to get through all of the copper that was mined and refined, but they were ready to transport the cargo on a hauler and back to the entrance of the mine where they hoped that the enemy hadn’t shown up with reinforcements yet.
Surprisingly, the Dragon Brigade had yet to arrive with reinforcements. Counting that as a stroke of good luck, they quickly loaded the refined copper into the transport wagon and the convoy began rushing back to Arias.
Earlier…
Demetrio, Lieutenant of the Dragon Brigade and direct underling to Duke Vox, was flying on his dragon to the mine with reinforcements after he received dispatch orders from his commander. He didn’t know the details, but it appeared that two dragons had returned to the castle and base of operations for the Dragon Brigade without their riders. He brought three of his fellow knights with him to investigate the disappearance of the missing knights.
Some part of him had a feeling that Aquaria had something to do with the incident and that made him excited at the prospect of eliminating a few Aquarian soldiers before Airyglyph unleashed its armies in the very near future.
Demetrio had heard that the big offensive would begin tomorrow. A chill of excitement rippled through his body at the thought of finally conquering the weak and pathetic little excuse of a kingdom ruled by a woman.
The lieutenant began cackling maniacally, unaware that one of his escorts was knocked out of the air.
One of the guards noticed the missing member and became nervous that they might have company. “Uhh, Lieutenant Demetrio, sir?”
“What is it?”
Before the knight could say anything, a giant hand made of bone slapped him hard into a nearby mountain, severely injuring both dragon and killing the rider.
“What the!?”
The bony hand quickly plucked the third of the knights escorting Demetrio and dropped him into the mountain range below with no chance of survival.
“What the hell are you?!” Demetrio demanded.
A giant skeletal figure suddenly hovered in front of him. The skeletal wingspan with only the sinew to show that they were wings, the long tail, and the draconic skull informed the doomed knight that he was staring at a giant skeletal dragon that looked to be the size of the Marquis himself. In the dragon’s right hand was an appropriately sized, ominous-looking sword with a jagged edge with runes across the blade. The hilt depicted a skull impaled by numerous weapons.
The bone dragon chuckled, “It doesn’t matter what I am,” It spoke in a deep, booming, yet feminine voice. “What does matter is that your time has come. Whether by me or by the mission you were sent on, you were meant to die here. So I figured I might as well have some fun while I’m in the area.”
Using her dark magic, the bone dragon brought the fallen dragons to a nearby mountaintop. She then placed a bony claw on the mountainside before a series of bone spikes erupted from beneath the dragons and impaled them, killing them instantly.
What followed next was a sight of horror in Demetrio’s eyes as dark energy entered the corpses of the dragons and in mere moments, their flesh exploded. A series of unearthly roars was heard next as the skeletal remains of the dragons rose from their resting place. The newly reanimated bone dragons stared at Demetrio.
With a wicked glint in the giant bone dragon’s eyes, her next words would be the last Demetrio would ever hear while alive.
“Tear the knight limb from limb but leave his mount intact enough for reanimation.”
Demetrio’s wails of agony echoed throughout the mountains, yet not a living soul heard them.
With no sign of pursuers from the Dragon Brigade, the convoy breathed a sigh of relief and thought that they were in the clear.
That was when they spotted three figures ahead in the middle of the road. The convoy came to a halt while the defenders hopped out of the convoy to get a closer look at the people blocking the road.
It turned out to be Albel who had a very displeased look on his face, as if he was made to swallow something bitter. He was flanked by two Black Brigade soldiers. Albel glared at the group with his good arm over the hilt of his sword.
“So, this is what you maggots were after? This should have been that fool Demetrio’s mess to clean up, yet like the maggot he is, he fails to show his face.”
“Albel? Is that you?” Adray asked. “You look so scrawny. Shouldn’t you be training yourself to get stronger?”
“Shut your mouth old fool!” Albel shouted. “I will slaughter you all!”
“Albel, you know how our fight went,” Lyra reminded. “Before, it was just me and I mopped the floor with you. If you hope to take all of us with what you have and win, then you have problems.” In the blink of an eye, Albel’s reinforcements were stabbed in the back and electrocuted. Two afterimages of Lyra were seen behind them as they fell. “Now you’re alone. Do you still think you stand a chance?”
“It doesn’t matter how many of you are before me, I’ll crush you all. Those maggots would have held me back.”
Lyra and Sophia could easily sense the desperation in his thoughts. Albel knew that he was hopelessly outmatched and outnumbered. Yet, instead of running away, he behaved like a cornered rat.
Sophia shook her head sadly before turning to the group. “You guys go ahead, I’ll deal with him myself.”
“Are you sure?” Lyra asked. Sophia nodded.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Adray declared. “If it is a duel you seek with him then it’s only right for you to have witnesses. Anyone else wish to volunteer to be witnesses?”
“Definitely,” Lyra said. “It’s only right for the master to see how far her student has progressed.”
“Ha! Spoken like a true master.”
“I wouldn’t mind seeing this one myself,” Cliff offered.
Albel’s eyes widened in surprise. “A duel? I am here to kill you all and you want to make this a duel instead?”
“Your odds of stopping us by yourself are next to zero, so I’m offering you a fighting chance,” Sophia said.
“But Sophia…” Fayt began, but a simple glance from his childhood friend shut him up. He gulped, “Alright, just be careful. We’ll meet you back at Arias.”
With that, Fayt, Nel, Roger, Peppita and Twilight boarded the wagon and the convoy resumed its course and moved past Albel. He didn’t dare try anything as he had a feeling that he was going to need all of his attention on the opponent before him.
With the convoy away to safety, Cliff, Lyra and Adray moved around the combatants and positioned themselves between them and the road to Arias.
With the stage set, the battle began. Albel rushed forward with his serpentine movements with his blade and claw alternating slashes, which were easily countered when Sophia saw the pattern and moved in response to where his next attack would come from. Albel overextended himself and left himself open to a kick against his side which caused him to stumble away.
Albel released a vertical Air Slash while he was stumbling which forced Sophia to dodge to the right. The wave still grazed her arm, leaving a small cut.
The swordsman followed up with a Shockwave Swirl to the ground and created a cloud of dust to occlude her vision of him. However, that didn’t stop Sophia from picking up on his next attack where she jumped backward as Albel rushed through the smokescreen with a wide slash that struck the area where Sophia was a moment before.
Albel looked around for his prey only to learn too late that Sophia had reappeared behind his smokescreen. He received an uppercut to the chin by a series of earthen pillars that erupted from the ground.
He recovered quickly from that exchange and wiped the blood off his face with his good arm. He then began another attack by slashing wildly with his claw without any care to where he was attacking. He managed to scratch Sophia a few times until she figured the pattern to his attacks where she grabbed his metal arm and flung Albel into a mountain wall.
Albel removed himself from the wall and roared in fury, unleashing waves of dragon heads upon Sophia who blocked them by summoning an Efreet. While the fiery effigy took the entire attack, it faded away without being able to counterattack which was fine with Sophia who took advantage of the attack’s long recovery time to batter Albel with a series of punches and kicks before kicking him to the ground.
Albel pointed his iron palm at Sophia and prepared to unleash a blast of his Palm of Destruction technique but Sophia wrapped her fingers around his hand and channeled her own psionic power which overwhelmed Albel’s attack. Sophia held back enough to avoid destroying Albel’s arm but the blast was still painful enough to make the swordsman scream in agony.
Battered, bruised, and his arm on the verge of shattering, Albel still showed signs that he wanted to continue, but Sophia could tell that he was on his last legs. There was no point in continuing any further.
“This fight is over, let’s get back to Arias,” Sophia said.
“This fight…is not over,” Albel grunted between heavy breaths. He held himself up on his sword. “I won’t be defeated by the likes of…” Albel dropped his sword and fell on his hands and knees, violently coughing. Sophia figured that she likely cracked one or two of his ribs. Despite that, Albel struggled to get back up.
Sophia sighed, “Why are you so determined to continue this? There’s no sense in throwing your life away over this.”
“I…am strong. I will prove that I am,” Albel said weakly.
“Who are you trying to prove your strength to? Yourself, or your father?”
“Shut up! This has nothing to do with my father!”
“Doesn’t it? I heard about what happened to your father and how you got that arm. You really think he would sacrifice himself because of your weakness? Adray had a lot of respect for him so it’s easy to tell that he was an honorable man. I have no doubt that he sacrificed himself because he wanted you to live and find your role in life. Throwing your life away over this duel would be like spitting on your father’s grave. He died in defense of your future.”
“Shut up! Shut up! How dare you speak of him as if you knew him!” Albel shouted.
“Think about what I said. Your weakness is that you allow your personal hang-ups to hold you back. Confront your issues before you ever think about challenging me again.” Sophia then turned away from Albel and toward Arias. “Let’s go.”
The witnesses nodded and walked away from Albel and returned to Aquaria.
Albel lay on the dirt road, gritting his teeth. Frustration, anger, sorrow and guilt roiled within him. He knew he had lost completely to that girl and her words cut deeper than any blade. The worst part of it all was that he knew she was right and yet he couldn’t stop loathing himself for his father’s death. He pounded the ground several times in fury.
“Damn! Damn! DAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!” he roared.