“BROTHER!” Ares shouted as stefan3B was put within the zone.

  Silvian spared no more time, controlling the titan to rush her down and throw a punch. Iulia swiftly avoided the hit before swiping her left arm inward, splashing red energy into the middle of the suit, where Silvian was. The titan fizzled before going back to normal.

  “You're gonna need more than that.” Iulia said with a smirk on her face.

  Ares summoned his fire spear. Shizzling as he was charging up, he launched himself towards her. Iulia flawlessly turned around and caught him in a disintegration zone, stopping him midair before tightening the zone around him and slamming him down out of his elementalist coat, the zone vanishing upon impact as well. Ares dropped his fire spear as he panted with his back to the ground. Silvian took a boxing stance upon seeing Ares being knocked down. He swiftly tried to jab her. Iulia smoothly kicked the titan's fist away. With one vertical swing of her arm, she cut the titan's forearm off. Silvian, with a war cry, went for another blow with his right arm. Iulia pointed her finger towards the fist like a pistol then shot several rays of red energy out of her pointer finger, leaving visible gaps within the titan's arm. She grinned down upon Silvian, loving to see him struggle.

  “You're getting boring, sweetheart.” She said before dashing faster than the eye could see with a whistling noise through the titan, grabbing Silvian by the throat and slamming him down, effectively ripping him from the titan of lightning which quickly vanished afterwards as it crackled like wood in a fire.

  Silvian choked as he tried removing her hand. His rebellion was futile, he couldn't budge it at all. Suddenly, a loud rumble was followed by a large blue beam which shot right into her, making her stumble and lose grip of Silvian. Angrily, she looked up and saw the altar of the grand wizards split into 3 chambers. Another blue beam was being prepared from one of the chambers, whirring up once more.

  “As if I'll let you do that.” She said before charging up energy on her right arm before sweeping outwards, releasing a cutting wave of disintegration energy that butchers the entire altar in half horizontally, ending its effective usage, leaving behind the sound of a clean cleave.

  The bruises on her body quickly began healing, rendering her back into perfect condition.

  Cat came back through a portal right next to Radu.

  “Ah, damn it, I didn't find any weapon-”

  He suddenly looks around and sees the insane landscape that the world became.

  “What the-, huh?! I leave for FIVE minutes and the entire world goes to shit?! What's the meaning of this?” Cat said revolted.

  Radu was watching Cat with confusion. How could his reaction be so casual about it, as if it could be easily reverted?

  “They're… they're fighting…” Radu said in barely a whisper as he looked over to Iulia.

  Cat turned around to see her just standing there eeriely.

  “Do you know anything about this?” Radu asked Cat with a quiet tone.

  “I tried many times to work with hell energy. Too many tests failed. The energy is just too weak to be handled.”

  Radu was instantly confused by Cat’s statement.

  “Weak…?”

  “Yes, weak. Hell energy is the weakest type of energy out there, that's why the monsters of hell were so easy to destroy.”

  Radu looked down at his shivering legs.

  “I guess I'm stuck here until they find a way to win…” Radu said with hopelessness in his tone.

  Cat raised an eyebrow as he side eyed Radu.

  “Where is that kid?” Cat asked.

  “stefan3B? He was imprisoned in that red sphere…” Radu replied tiredly with half lidded eyes as he pointed over to the zone Iulia created.

  Cat looked over to the red sphere before sighing.

  “It's annoying. The only kind of result I got from making tests on hell energy was that it can upgrade anything. It can't destroy, it can't modify anything negatively. It can only amplify things, both physical and metaphysical."

  Radu's eyes suddenly widened.

  “Even mentally?”

  “Yes, both flesh and thought.”

  “I see, so that's why I felt dizzy inside the flesh tower. It can amplify even things as specific as stress levels.”

  “You got that right. Though, understanding such a diverse ability does not help in defeating her. She has way too much accessibility. These flesh towers, they really managed to destroy the world this quickly? That's quite impressive, to say the least.” Cat said before crossing his arms.

  Iulia felt a unique disturbance within the energy. She slowly turned around, her red hair flowing behind her smoothly. Upon noticing Cat she instantly leaped with immense force from her spot, making a large crater in the process, forcing debris to shoot backwards. Cat swung his left arm gently. Iulia threw a punch which collided with an invisible barrier. It flashed blue for a split second as it pushed her back. She leaped back, her expression growing with annoyance.

  “So you are the cat I heard of once.”

  Cat raised an eyebrow as he eyed her suspiciously.

  “And who might’ve told you about me?”

  “Oh, please, we all know what you did. The chaos you initiated all those years did not go unrecorded. I just… never believed the mythos, y’know?”

  Cat starts to progressively frown at her.

  “Mythos? Me? A myth? Do you want me to turn you into one?”

  Radu could feel the tension between Cat and Iulia grow so thick one could almost cut it with a knife.

  “Oh, you? Little pussy thinks he can suddenly fight me of all beings~? If you could have killed anyone, you would have done it long ago.”

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Cat felt like a vein is about to pop from his forehead. He took a deep breath then suddenly put down a table out of nowhere, followed by a coffee machine and a cup.

  Iulia is left in awe by the sudden display of disrespect from Cat’s side. She watched him in pure confusion as he made himself a cup of coffee right there on the spot.

  . . .

  Back on the platform, Ares mustered enough strength to put himself on 2 feet again, holding tight to his fire spear to support himself. He looked at Silvian, who kept laying down. Once Iulia dashed away, Ares used what power he had left in his body to leap with a burst of flames towards Silvian. His landing was theoretically perfect, but he was too weak to make it as he slammed himself against the ground instead of landing gently. Silvian tried to stand up as well before falling down to his knees, coughing.

  “She… she choked me…” Silvian said with a heavy breath.

  Ares was panting as he kneeled down, holding tight onto another fire spear.

  “What’s your name?” Ares asked suddenly.

  “Silvian… M-my name’s Silvian-”

  “Silvian, I need you to give me your power. Whatever you have left, anything. Blast me with it like you did back in the tower.”

  Silvian looked at him, confused.

  “What? But it will do nothing but hurt you-”

  “Do it and don’t make me repeat myself, not right now.” Ares said as he frowned at him.

  Silvian put his hands onto his right shoulder and began pulsing lightning into him. With each pulse, he began shedding off his elementalist coat, making it spark all around his body. The more he would do it, the more it would hurt Ares. The boy clenched his teeth and endured it, groaning quietly. The hell energy that was suffocating his body began to vanish, as Ares got to have one more breath of fresh air. Soon enough, Silvian ran out of energy in his body for good, collapsing on his left side, falling down unconsciously with a soft thud. Ares looked down at him, panting. For the first time in a long while, he was satisfied by someone’s results. Hell energy quickly invaded his body. The shock of change between normal and hell energy was too big for Ares’ body to handle anymore, and so he fell unconscious as well.

  . . .

  Deep within the Ares’ unconscious, he could feel a droplet fall down, creating a ripple upon landing. The air felt thick yet weightless. He opened his eyes, finding himself in an empty void. His body was purely orange, with a red hue at the tip of his limbs. He felt a burning sensation growing inside of him. Another droplet fell, another ripple was created. The second time it happened, his body caught on fire for a brief moment.

  “I remember.”

  A third droplet fell.

  “The last time I fell unconscious, I remember it perfectly.”

  A third ripple was created.

  “It was when Cat abducted me.

  He closed his eyes gently, his body bursting into flames once more. He laid down on his back, spreading his arms and legs. A fourth droplet was looming to drop.

  “And I…”

  The droplet fell.

  “Will never let that happen again.”

  The ripple was created.

  . . .

  Ares’ body stood up by itself, like a zombie. From within his chest, a bright yellow glow could be seen radiating through his vessel. The glow spread all around his body, capturing it like a gentle flame. Ares finally regained his consciousness.

  His soul, ignited.

  His will, empowered.

  His desire, motivated.

  . . .

  He saw Iulia over there as she had a chat with Cat. He snapped his fingers, summoning 12 spears that pierced her body from every single angle. The attack was sudden and unexpected, catching her off guard. Ares blasted himself forward with full force, dropkicking into her. As she flew back, Ares detonated all of his spears at once. However, the explosion was smaller than he initially thought. Iulia had visible holes in her body which just quickly healed as if they weren't there.

  “That was close. I managed to infect his spears with disintegration at the last second. You stupid mutt.” Iulia said to herself before unleashing 6 large slash projectiles of hell energy.

  Ares gracefully dodged 5 of said projectiles before summoning a fire spear to deflect the last one as he flew over to her. He threw his spear with great velocity, managing to exceed Iulia’s expectations. Slightly impressed but at the same time annoyed, she stared at her impaled hand before clutching it, disintegrating his spear.

  “No more games.” Iulia said before extending her arm towards Ares, summoning a disintegration zone around him.

  “No magma? No problem!” Ares said in his mind as he summoned his own fire zone, charging it up before suddenly expanding it and breaking her own disintegration zone with a fiery crack.

  Ares went on to summon dozens of other fire spears, each being shot at great speeds one after another, forcing a zoom sound.

  “That's not gonna work twice.” Iulia said to herself as she stomped the ground hard, making the piece of land shake as hell energy blasted upwards, covering the spears before they'd disappear.

  Ares summoned more spears. This time, they were randomly placed everywhere. He commanded some spears to destroy the piece of land Iulia was on, forcing her to get up from it. Ares began dashing from spear to spear, landing with his feet before bouncing off of it onto another one, getting faster and faster with each jump. It got to a point where Iulia couldn't scan his energy at all, as she felt it all over the place.

  . . .

  Cat admired the fight from afar as he sipped on his coffee. After finishing his cup, he made another one and handed it to Radu. The boy looked up at him confused.

  “H-huh?!”

  “Just take it and drink it. If it's from me, it's safe~.”

  Radu took the cup gently as if it was a precious artifact.

  Cat turned around and saw Ares do the hopping move.

  “Ah, I remember doing that once. Yeah, very effective technique I must say.” Cat said with a sense of pride and nostalgia.

  Radu brought the cup of coffee to his lips then instantly spat it out once Cat finished talking.

  “WHAT?!” Radu shouted, even more confused now.

  Cat turned around, slightly disappointed.

  “Hm? I wasn't always this unathletic, y'know?”

  Radu wiped his mouth like there was a spider on it.

  “My… my mouth… my lips… my taste buds… what the hell did you even give me?!”

  Cat's eyes suddenly widened.

  “Oh, you were talking about the coffee! Yeah, how is it? Brings you back to life, doesn't it~?”

  Radu shook his head negatively.

  “More like implodes my soul inside out. It's way too strong.”

  Cat shrugged before chuckling gently as he brought his paw to his mouth.

  “Hehe~. My little elementalist can't handle some adult coffee~?”

  . . .

  As Ares proceeded with his move, the general zone around where he would jump around started radiating with intense blinding heat.

  “Ugh, why do all the useless dumbasses get to have all the good powers?! Worthless demon! His ability would’ve been great here!” Iulia said to herself as she tried to keep track of Ares.

  Ares began hitting her with each jump, exploiting his current advantage as much as he could. After taking dozens of hits, Iulia makes a barrier out of hell energy.

  “Oh no you don't!” Ares said before gathering every single spear in a cone, making them spin faster and faster, letting out a loud constant whirr.

  Ares dashed alongside the cone, pushing its middle with his foot, acting like a missile altogether. The entire structure radiated a huge aura of energy and upon impact it broke though the barrier. Iulia stopped the tip of the missile using hell energy. She then crushed it using disintegration, forcing Ares to flip back into a safe range. She turned the missile into a crimson red sphere.

  “Don't you fucking dare disobey your mother, you son a bitch!” Iulia said as she spun around with the ball to catch momentum before slamming it down into Ares, knocking him down into a platform of stone, shattering it and forcing him to slam into another where he would create a small crater.

  Ares was coughing as he gripped the edge of the crater, trying to get out of it slowly as his eyes were closed and teeth clenched. His new elementalist coat was flashing, threatening to vanish. Iulia slammed down into the ground right in front of him. Visible bruises were present all over her body and her smirking face.

  Ares opened his eyes. Upon seeing her damned smirk, he frowned. Letting out a low growl, his elementalist coat came back up in full force once more. He instantly blasted himself upwards, delivering a strong uppercut in her jaw. Iulia staggered as she fell back a few steps. She caressed her chin gently, her smirk gone.

  “What the hell is wrong with you? Do you not want your dear mommy to win, swetheart~-”

  “I WANT THIS TO END WITH YOUR HEAD ON MY SPEAR!!!” Ares shouted with widened eyes and clenched fists as his elementalist coat was burning hotter than ever, blood visibly pouring down from his head.

  Iulia’s expression turns serious. She swipes the hand which she caressed herself with.

  “You were always my favorite. I hope you know that.”

  The veins in Ares’ eyes start becoming visible. He was not going to give into any emotion. Not now, not ever. His anger is only amplified by her pathetic words.