Everyone on the battlefield froze for a moment. No one knew how to react when the familiar cause of their discord descended into the valley.

Amerula skipped away from Sandy while she remained on the ground still contemplating her near death experienced.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a shadow walking through the mist approaching them.

’This is getting more complicated’

Igrad lips lifted into a twisted smile, his eyes widening in both excitement and disbelief. The man he was planning to kill had just brought himself to him.

A mirthless laugh escaped his lips.

"And the guest of honour arrives!" He said towards the approaching shadow.

The mist parted on its own and the shadow revealed itself. Atheline stood there, a careless smile on his lips while his eyes swept across the whole damaged battlefield.

"It seems I’m not welcome, " he quietly said.

Igrad tilted his head slightly. " I was about to look for you but it seems you brought yourself.

He lifted his hand and covered his mouth as a small but sarcastic laugh left him. Atheline’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"I thought you ran away from our last fight?"

A small blood vessel swelled on the side of Igrad’s forehead. If looks could kill, Atheline would have been fully burnt.

"We’ll see..."

Before he could finish, Atheline nocked another arrow into the bow string. His elementals gathered. He knew he had to go full on with igrad or a small mistake would result in injury. All of this happened faster than any of them had expected.

Then, he released.

The arrow exploded forward with compressed power, sizzling through the air.

Igrad spun his spear instantly. Flames spiraled outward from the weapon and collided against the oncoming arrow midair.

The explosion scattered fire and frost across the battlefield, but Atheline was already moving.

He crossed the distance between them instantly through the steam, dagger flashed towards Igrad’s throat. Atheline didn’t want to waste too much time on the fight.

Igrad leaned slightly backwards, blocking the dagger with the shaft of his spear. The impact cracked the ground beneath them.

This seems to have been the final straw. The fight officially erupted. The other two, forgotten, moved as far away from the battlefield as possible. Amerula had taken Sandy away since she was still badly hurt.

Atheline flowed naturally between bow and dagger, switching ranges without pause. One moment he was firing elemental arrows through openings in Igrad’s defense, the next he was inside the spear range trying to cut through the blind spot.

Igrad couldn’t be left behind, he answered with just as much force and ferocity.

His spear dominated the battlefield. Every swing unleashed arcs of fire large enough to split apart the valley floors. Flames spiraled around the spearhead continuously, turning every thrust into an explosion.

Atheline could feel it even as he sidestepped a lot of his attacks. He wasn’t struggling as much as the first time they had fought.

He was almost at ease, and matched him well.

On the other hand, Sandy and Amerula could barely follow the fight. Each of them watched quietly lost in thought. The overwhelming force shown before them made them feel like ants.

It was clear they would have been used as fodder by Igrad, just to test Atheline before he decides whether to take over or not.

Igrad spear kept crashing relentlessly against the overwhelming barrage of switching elements.

Atheline ducked beneath a flaming sweep and fired an arrow point-blank into Igrad’s ribs. It hit its target but he didn’t react.

The spear stabbed downwards but Atheline jumped back. The ground around Igrad cracked the moment it landed. He shot another ice arrow and it was met by a wall of spiraling frames.

Steam swallowed the battlefield again.

Atheline emerged through the mist with his dagger already descending towards Igrad’s neck.

Igrad caught the blade against his spear shaft. Blue flames erupted around the dagger.

Small cracks formed, then it shattered into little pieces. The broken metal scattered across the hot air.

Atheline retreated backwards immediately, using wind, before the flames could spread to his hand.

Igrad spun the spear once, and embers scattered around him. In a moment of goodwill or smugness, he said...

"You rely on speed too much."

Atheline exhaled softly.

He clenched his fist around the emptiness, it felt extremely awkward not to have his dagger.

His eyes shifted.

A sword lay half buried nearby.

’That would do, the dagger is too small at the moment’

Wind carried him sideways instantly as he smoothly grabbed it. The weight felt both familiar and foreign. His brother and father used swords but he preferred a bow as his main weapon though he had been taught how to use a sword effectively.

He adjusted his grip naturally, lightening cracked faintly against the surface.

A small chuckle left Igrad.

"Of course you can use that too," he said sarcastically.

"Enough."

Wind exploded beneath Atheline’s feet again.

Sword and spear collided violently. The rhythm changed instantly and Atheline took notice. It felt smoother even, with more space to navigate around.

He flowed between sword strikes and elemental archery seamlessly, firing arrows with one hand before transitioning directly into close-range sword exchanges.

An ice arrow exploded beside Igrad and steam spread.

Atheline emerged through it with a lightning-enhanced slash already descending.

Igrad blocked with the spear shaft and countered immediately.

Atheline had to fully agree, Igrad was an extremely good fighter and even now he was slowly learning how to combine his elementals and how to use them from him. He had to admit, he copied some of the techniques mid-battle and used them to counter him.

The spear moved like a dragon, fast and deadly from every angle. Flames exploded every time it rotated.

The battlefield collapsed beneath them just from the pressure of the battle.

Igrad thrust forward suddenly.

The flaming spear pierced through layers of earth and forced Atheline backwards. Before he could stabilise, a fire arc erupted from the spear swing.

Atheline blocked using earth and wind together. The explosion sent him skidding across the valley floors.

Igrad stopped moving, his flaming red hair moving with the wind.

"I’ve only used this twice but you’ve forced me to use it again," he calmly said.