Zandrus radiated power as he continued to channel his elemental might into his attacks. The air around him was suffused with an omnipresent blue glow, and flakes of crystal fell from where the molecules themselves were transmuted into forms more fitting to Order.

  Jonathan weathered the storm of elementally enhanced punches and projectiles, constantly moving forwards. His strengths were at close range, where he could better combine both his physical strength and his elemental powers to truly deal a deathblow to his powerful foe.

  The sky lit up as both fighters continued to trade attacks, beams of purple fire erasing gigantic fists of diamond that came hurtling Jonathan’s way. Still, Zandrus had an advantage in a battle like this. While Jonathan had unlimited reserves of power to draw upon, the rate at which he could do so was still limited. Zandrus didn’t seem to have that problem, as his entire body was already made of his element. While he didn’t have an infinite supply of power, he still had far more than almost anyone else on his level and he had the ability to summon much more of its power at one time than Jonathan could.

  This resulted in techniques that almost completely overwhelmed Jonathan’s defences, so tightly packed with power that they nearly transformed his own body, even through his shields of Void energy. Aegis of the Void’s Dichotomy, a previously faithful skill, was now proving almost completely ineffective against the sheer magnitude of power Zandrus was throwing at it. Jonathan was fighting at a Tier deficit already, and Zandrus’ nature only made that gap more apparent. A normal elemental was weaker than a System user of the same level, but higher Tier elementals could be much stronger than an average System user. Zandrus was a case in point.

  Still, Jonathan wasn’t a normal System User. He had what it took to deal with a threat like Zandrus, though he wasn’t sure if he would have been able to do so without the aid of his Void elemental abilities. They were the only thing allowing him to contest the nearly limitless amounts of power that Zandrus could bring to bear.

  Time and time again, the Void saved him from certain death, preventing his body from simply turning into crystal. Other times it let him block techniques that were so outrageous that they would have wiped out anyone else in a single strike.

  Jonathan consistently whittled down Zandrus’ health, dodging as much as he could so as to not drain his own much lower pool. For the most part, he managed this, but given that Zandrus had many times his own health, that was difficult.

  The battle quickly shifted into something quite rare in the world of the System. A contest between two equally matched foes. For all the differences between them, Zandrus and Jonathan couldn’t easily overpower the other.

  More and more exotic techniques turned the battleground into a firework show, mingled blue and purple flames soaring into the heavens. Jonathan started using his Runes to supplement his attacks, the Rune of Vengeance most of all. The crimson light of the Rune mixed with raw Divinity as Jonathan attempted to tease out Zandrus’ weaknesses.

  Zandrus did the same thing, using more and more esoteric applications of Order. From freezing the air within Jonathan’s lungs and ripping it out of his flesh to sending hailstorms of pure elemental power Jonathan’s way. The former was far worse than the latter, but given Jonathan’s sheer durability, only the smallest of grains made it out, perforating his lungs and flesh, but leaving wounds that were trivial to heal.

  “I have never met a mortal as tenacious as you,” Zandrus admitted after nearly a minute of back and forth fighting, an eternity in a battle at their Tier. “How can you match me this consistently? Why do you possess such mastery over the Void?”

  “Because I am its god,” Jonathan replied. “That is reason enough.”

  Zandrus snorted. “That is laughable. No god would ever stoop so low to pretend to be a Tier 8. I can sense your Divinity, but all that means is that you are one of their lackeys.”

  “I won’t debate it with you,” Jonathan said. “I know it and that’s enough. Besides, your death will be evidence enough.”

  Zandrus huffed, the sound exceedingly human for such an alien creature. “Very well. I sense our conversation is at an impasse. What I have learned over my many years is that patience and curiosity are invaluable for growth. In this case, however, there is nothing more to be learned. From now on, I will fight with my full power.”

  Jonathan frowned, only to gasp as a fist slammed into his torso with the force of a meteor. His bones snapped as Zandrus’ full power tore through his body, the fist coming out the other side. Instead of crying out in pain, Jonathan simply laughed. “If you were truly so curious about my powers, you would know that they are the strongest within my own body.”

  For a brief moment, Jonathan suffused his entire being with his element, compressing it down around the gaping wound in his chest. With a light, almost comical pop, Zandrus’ arm disappeared. When he withdrew the stump, a seal of purple light remained over the end, preventing any regrowth.

  At least, that was what Jonathan had intended. Instead, Zandrus simply overwhelmed the technique with a wave of elemental power, though it did noticeably drain him. The blue color of his crystalline flesh dimmed somewhat and the pressure of his presence decreased.

  Jonathan wasted no time in pressing the advantage. He was within melee range and he saw no reason not to engage with Zandrus to the fullest. While the elemental was incredibly powerful, he was also incredibly susceptible to the hunger of the Void. Zandrus wouldn’t be going for one hit kills anymore.

  Jonathan drew upon the weapon mastery he had developed over the course of his training with Sarnakthros, and used the Third Eye of Exal’drin to cope with Zandrus’ increased speed. The elemental was now faster and stronger, but his martial skill was lacking. Jonathan suspected that Zandrus had never been in a real fight before, not one against someone on his level. He had made many mistakes over the course of the fight, giving up valuable opportunities or playing into Jonathan’s hands.

  While Jonathan had only been a System user for a bit over a year, he had fought far more over that time than most people did in a lifetime. It was how he had ascended so far so quickly, and it gave him valuable battle experience.

  In comparison, Zandrus was like a toddler with the powers of a demigod. Against such a foe, Jonathan had a chance.

  Parries weaved into strikes as Jonathan dug deep, relying upon sheer instinct to fight. The tide of the battle began to turn, not least because of Jonathan’s willingness to take damage to inflict greater injury upon the elemental. His Void element left wounds upon Zandrus’ energy body that were much harder to heal than a comparable injury upon a mortal’s body. Zandrus was forced to draw upon his source of Order elemental energy to heal himself, diminishing the amount he could use otherwise.

  Jonathan took blow after blow, one particular one nearly tearing apart his heart. For a few, agonizing moments, his health dipped precariously, diminishing at a shocking rate. Then it stabilized as his regeneration kicked in. While he was able to recover from wounds that would have been fatal to anyone under Tier 5, that didn’t mean that he didn’t suffer from them. His health was slowly but surely dropping, the regeneration unable to even it out.

  As this brutal battle came to a head, Edgar and Jonathan’s other core followers wrapped up their fight with the Elemental Elders. Having overwhelmed the monsters with their combined power, the rest of Jonathan’s party drew back, trying to replenish their lost resources. All of them were injured and severely drained of stamina and mana. None of them would be much of a help against Zandrus at the moment. However, if Jonathan could stall for a bit longer, they would be able to join in.

  “Your allies are dead,” Jonathan declared. “You underestimated us.”

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Zandrus snarled. “You may have won this battle, but not the war.” The elemental snapped his fingers and teleported away, retreating into his territory.

  Jonathan sighed, unable to do anything about it. He suddenly felt all of the pain of the battle, his adrenaline falling away to reveal the true state he was in. His entire body was covered in blood, wounds and even bone fragments. His health was less than a quarter full and many of his organs had been perforated by Zandrus. Still, he was alive and that was all that mattered. He knew that he had what it took to fight Zandrus, as long as the Archon wasn’t supported by more powerful elementals. With two of the Elders now dead, Zandrus’ forces would be greatly diminished.

  “Well?” Jonathan said, teeth gritted against the pain. “Let’s finish this.”

  ***

  Now that Jonathan knew how much Zandrus feared the corruption of the Void interfering with his kingdom, he was a lot more confident about invading the elemental’s territory. Not just because the Void was very effective against Zandrus himself, but it would force the Archon to fight defensively, keeping Jonathan from destroying his citadel.

  As Jonathan and the others made their way into the interior of Zandrus’ domain, he let his elemental drift out in all directions, seeping into the crystal structures that dotted the landscape. They started to sag and collapse almost instantly, the Order energy worn away by the Void.

  The corruption spread further and further, leaping from tree to tree and boulder to boulder. Jonathan was happy enough to feed it, letting loose an endless stream of elemental power. It wasn’t like he was going to run out any time soon.

  “We have a plan, right?” Edgar asked after a few minutes. “I know that most of Zandrus’ Elders are gone now, with probably only one or two remaining, but we still have to deal with an entire army of lesser elementals.

  “That won’t be an issue,” Jonathan reassured. “With how effective my element is against them, I’ll be able to wipe them out in an instant.”

  “Wasn’t the point that everyone gains levels?” Edgar countered. “That will make that a lot harder.”

  “How many levels did you all get from those Elemental Elders? It should have been a lot. I didn’t get any from Zandrus because he ran away.”

  “Right. I suppose you’re correct. I got fifteen levels from that fight. I probably wouldn’t get as much from wiping out fodder.”

  “There will still be plenty to fight,” Jonathan said. “I only will have to take out those in my way.”

  “I can see that,” Arkanon said drily, pointing at the horizon. Legions of crystalline elementals marched back and forth, awaiting Jonathan’s arrival. Above them hovered Zandrus, clad in a titanic suit of armor that dramatically increased his size.

  Above his head was a halo of elemental energy, compressed to such density that it was completely solid. It was connected to the center of the massive gathering array that Zandrus was using to store power in the sky above his citadel. It looked like he had decided to use a bit of it to fight off Jonathan.

  In Zandrus’ hand was a glistening lance of compressed light, its end pointing down towards the ground below. Shimmering lines of energy threaded their way up and down the length of the spear, culminating in a single point at the end. Right at the spear’s tip was a nexus of radiance, a tear opened in reality before it. Within was a featureless expanse of pure blue, as if the empty sky was being projected through it.

  Next to Zandrus floated a solitary Elemental Elder, dwarfed by his master. He was in his own suit of armor, but this one was only about a quarter the size of Zandrus’. It looked almost like a toddler standing next to his father.

  “He got all that together rather quickly,” Eva observed. “Must have been in a rush to defend himself. Did you really scare him off that badly, Jonathan?”

  Jonathan smiled. “I guess I did. Though making himself larger didn’t help much during our battle. It won’t help him much here. The only thing we need to worry about is his control over this area.”

  As if to punctuate this point, Zandrus slammed the butt of his spear against the ground, flipping it around in his grip. A tidal wave of blue swept out in every direction, leaving the elementals untouched, but sending a ripple of transmutation through everything else. The air itself crumbled into light blue dust, falling from the sky like rain. Even the air collapsing into the center of the rapidly forming vacuum was not immune, never reaching its destination.

  “Brace yourselves,” Jonathan warned. “This is going to be rough. You all need to combine your best defensive techniques. I’m going to surround us with Aegis of the Void’s Dichotomy, but it probably won’t be enough.”

  A dome of purple light snapped into place around Jonathan, about a dozen feet from the center of the ground. The air picked up as Edgar and Eliza combined forces to add some shock absorption in the form of a wall of solid air that was compressed ten thousand times over. Still, that wasn’t the main point. What was needed more than anything else was enough ambient elemental power to offset Zandrus’ attack.

  Arkanon and Eva took care of this, with the air growing hot as a mantle of crimson light fell over everything within Jonathan’s Aegis. It wasn’t hot enough to burn, but rather felt comforting, as if it were a blanket to ward off a cold winter’s night.

  Meanwhile, Eva, who didn’t have many defensive techniques reliant on pure elemental energy, simply let her powers loose, the red of Arkanon’s element mingling with the green of her’s.

  Zandrus’ beam hit home a moment later, breaking around the layered shields like a river against a boulder. The outer edges of Aegis of the Void’s Dichotomy started to shift, weathered away by the constant onslaught. Beneath it, the others’ elemental manifestations got to work, reinforcing one another to push back against the threat.

  On the ground, the millions of regular elementals started to move, each step tracing out the edges of a massive ritual. Lightning sparked within the cloudless skies, rivers of coruscating electricity lighting up the world.

  With a fizzling noise, Zandrus’ attack finally wore off, leaving Jonathan and his allies floating, a bit shaken but mostly unharmed. The snap of the collapsing vacuum signaled the end of Zandrus’ technique.

  Jonathan wasted no time in dealing with the elementals on the ground. A scythe of the Void left his palm, growing and growing the further it went. By the time it reached the ground, it was miles long and tore a hole through the elemental line before sinking into the ground below. An absolute tide of essence poured into Jonathan, sending him up five levels.

  Edgar and Arkanon lent their own elemental attacks to aiding Jonathan, a hurricane whipping up in the center of the battlefield. Lava threaded its way through the rippling clouds and wind, turning the already devastatingly powerful storm into something straight from the apocalypse. It shredded tens of thousands of elementals in an instant. Still, the vast majority were still standing.

  Jonathan floated up a few miles and set his sights on the true foe. Zandrus. If he died, all of his elementals would be completely useless. Even the Elder would fall quickly enough if it had to face Jonathan alone.

  Jonathan built up speed and power as he flew, but he knew that it wouldn’t be enough to make a difference in time. To truly end this battle, he needed to reach beyond his limits and create a new skill. A more powerful skill. Something that built upon everything he had learned in battle and then some.

  The Void pulsed within him, awaiting a response. Jonathan smiled faintly at this, but for what he had in mind, just his element alone would not be enough. He cast his mind back to the battlefields of Cessation, where he had faced down both the Stillborn Hegemon and Ashokan at the same time. He had absolutely dominated them, but he had never since tried to use the same technique he had used to open the battle.

  Jonathan could almost picture it, a tightly clenched fist superimposed over his own, made not just of the Void, but of the very essence of his mastery over pugilism combined with a bit of every other aspect of his powerset. Now was the time to recreate it, but far more powerful than ever before.

  To achieve this, Jonathan would have to do something he had never truly achieved before. Blending all of his abilities into one. He had already done similar things through brute force, but this was different. In particular, his element was especially sensitive to conceptually based manipulation. The Void wanted to consume above all else, and if it was used for that purpose it was many times stronger than in any other circumstance.

  Jonathan focused on his Blunt Weapon Mastery Pathway Skill, finding points of commonality between it at the Void. Both were instruments of destruction, the weapons of a man with war as his destiny and purpose. Still, that wasn’t deep enough to satisfy Jonathan’s need. Instead, he tried to envision different versions of himself, ones who had focused on singular paths over all others.

  Two Jonathan’s appeared in front of his eyes, one wearing a robe and the other clad in thick plate armor, massive gauntlets of roughly cut steel over his fists. Both radiated the power of their respective fighting styles, far more skilled in them than the real Jonathan actually was. The gauntleted warrior was a Grandmaster in Blunt Weapon Mastery while the mage was the same rank in Energy Manipulation. However, they had one thing in common. Their will to overcome and conquer, using their abilities for the same ultimate goal. To defeat Arkanon, free the Hells and get revenge on the gods who had sent them there.