Chapter 21: All or Nothing

  Amidst their fight in the sky, though thoroughly enraged, Cornelius turned his attention to where the dark dragon was looking. He saw the bzing ball of fire and scoffed to himself.

  "That's one hell of an idiot! I'm surprised that he's sted this long but to actually fight with an elder elf is just absurd!"

  Krieus looked back at him and began to chuckle.

  "Why are you ughing, dragon!"

  "Because I'm imagining your face when this is all over."

  The rage from the elf continued to endure. His hands grasped the front of his forehead as he comically shook it from side to side. Seemingly battling the intense urge to rip his hair out. This fight with the dark dragon served as nothing but infuriating for him.

  He soon recollected himself before giving Krieus a cold gre. He stretched his hand out to the sky as wind began to swir,l forming almost in the shape of a double helix around him.

  "Damn you, dragon! When your bones are broken to crumbs, you'll realize that you should have held me in high regard!"

  Without as much as another word the two resumed their csh.

  Areon split the gigantic ball of fire above him into a volley of smaller attacks that rained down on Winstes like hail. From beneath the clouds the elder elf shook his head, showing his abundance of disappointment for the boy.

  "Tsk tsk tsk! You ought to do better than that if you want to win!"

  He stretched out his arm and released his index finger. A miniature sphere formed again before it zipped around the sky, methodically bsting each and every st one of Areon's attacks into pieces. All of his projectiles we're dismantled before even hitting the ground.

  Whilst the dust slowly began to engulf the pce, Winstes looked around expecting a surprise attack from Areon. But the more he looked the more he was surprised to find nothing.

  Then like an incoming meteor, the boy who was now completely covered in fire, pierced through the cloud of dust and connected his fist with the temple of the elder elf before sticking his hands out and bsting himself away again.

  Winstes became frustrated with the growing confidence of the boy, indeed he was caught off guard from the boy's usual antics of utilizing a distraction in this sort of situation.

  But the fact still remained that Areon was far too weak to actually harm him. He decided to goad him further.

  "I see you're not going for your usual surprise attack, it seems!"

  He dashed in Areon's direction and attempted to grab the boy but Areon kicked his arm out of the way as he continued to create distance, by projecting fire from his hands to push himself further back.

  "It's not a surprise attack if it's 'usual' now is it?"

  The child shot Winstes a cheeky grin before continuing to bst himself away, disappearing into the dust cloud. Causing the elf's rage to only grow more provoked.

  Winstes continued to pursue Areon until he saw the boy appear behind him with his fist already in motion for another strike. The elder elf's eyes widened.

  "He's a touch faster I'll give him that!"

  Then Winstes grabbed the boy from the wrist, pulled him closer before nding a devastating knee to his nose. Shooting him down, plummeting towards the nd again.

  "But I'm still faster!"

  Yet before the boy could touch the ground he bsted himself back into the sky again and continuously, zipped his way around Winstes, encircling him, creating a circle of fire.

  "You know you're quite the fool too, aren't ya Winstes!"

  The right eyebrow of the elder elf began to raise.

  "You're doing all this talk about how you would kill the big bad dragon when you can't even beat his son! Isn't that a little backwards?"

  The elf's eyelids began to twitch.

  "Does he think he's in a position… to be mocking me!? Why is he still so damn confident!"

  A shot of lightning struck Areon in his shoulder, knocking him off course and sending him towards the vilge again. This time however, Winstes appeared in a fsh of lightning in front of Areon and punched him in the stomach, thrusting him further past the air and making his back hit the ground again.

  Winstes nded on the ground and was about to y another blow on the boy but Areon used his hands to eject fire, projecting his body towards the elf as both of his feet sinked into the stomach of Winstes.

  The elf delivered punch to Areon's shoulder knocking him down and the boy responded with a kick to the elf's knee.

  The two began to exchange blows. A collision of strikes and kicks that made the both of them counter the other.

  "If he thinks he can outmuscle me, I'll just have to give him a beat down here as well!"

  In the middle of the csh whilst trading blows, Areon used his free hand to send an intense rush of fire beneath them. Breaking the ground apart into pieces as he got beneath the elf by bsting another blow of fire above him in order to thrust himself further below.

  He then took the short instance to deliver a succinct kick on the elf's groin, using his fmes to propel him closer to the target, whilst coating his foot with aggressive fmes. This made Winstes snare.

  "You...use your power in the strangest of ways!"

  Winstes grabbed his leg and punched Areon in the chest, causing the ground beneath them to break apart even more.

  He continued to punch the child at max speed as the ground was beginning to break apart. Practically creating a tunnel. Each strike only increased in it's intensity as Areon wondered if the elder elf had finally decided to kill him.

  "We're almost there, but for the pn to come together I need to survive for just a bit longer! This isn't going too well!"

  Winstes continued to nd strike after strike as the two of them drilled deep into the ground. It was clear that the elf was at his wit's end. He officially had lost his mind.

  "Do you see it now? Do you see how weak you are! Tell me Areon! Tell me if you finally see!"

  The boy struggled to remain conscious as he absorbed the unadulterated wrath of the elder elf. He grit his teeth as his body vibrated through every addition to the flurry.

  Eventually there was a loud crack.

  The ground beneath them burst into little pieces that shattered into the ether as the two combatants began to free fall through the newly created hole, plummeting deeper into the abyss.

  Areon's body hit the floor and before his eyes opened, he tried his hardest to assess the situation. Still recovering from the pain, he struggled to gather his senses.

  "Something here is strange. Why does the ground feel so smooth? It's as if it was crafted. Just where the hell did we fall?"

  He looked up and saw nothing but a pitch bck darkness, he realized he was gazing into an empty space. So he illuminated the area by lighting his right hand on fire. The boy's eyes widened as he saw the walls of the inside the area.

  There were carved images, almost like statues, each of them depicting that of a dragon.

  He remembered the smoothness of the floor, when he looked down, he was surprised to be standing on carefully designed tiles, each unique in their craftsmanship, they appeared to be made fit for a pace.

  Areon whipped his head back to see that the space before him was much like an underground passage. He shifted his eyes back and forth from the gallery and the seemingly endless expanse of the burrow before him, and then he had put two and two together.

  "So this is the dragon tunnel, huh... It's so big, I guess that makes sense, considering who it was built for, haha."

  Then from afar he heard heavy wheezing coming from his right. He began to wince as he saw Winstes looming towards him, looking even more deranged than ever.

  His noble elven attire had been sullied with dirt and torn, and his eyes baring a sense of intense hatred for the boy.

  "Why… why are you ughing at a time like this?"

  The elder elf had toiled in order to simply breathe at this point. Areon's expression became more serious as he shifted his body in order to face his opponent.

  "I've almost got him."

  After looking at the spirited resolve in Areon's eyes again. The elf had difficulty comprehending what was going on.

  "You do… such strange things before dying you know that, right kid!"

  Without saying as much as a word, Areon decided to run away, he turned around and used his fire to bst him forth into the unending darkness of the dragon territory.

  "Stop it, damn you!"

  At a steady pace Areon found that he was quickly catching up to him, now using his lighting as a light, as well as to shoot him forward. The sweat began to roll down his forehead as he contempted if the elf was about to finally get serious.

  It was clear that Areon's body could not handle much more of the abuse and Winstes' mind was beginning to take a serious toll. Both parties were in the final stretch and every second held immense value in order to win. At this point the outcome could be swayed either way.

  Just as Winstes' hand was about to catch Areon's leg, the boy changed the trajectory of his direction. Causing his straight line of flight to transform into a circle as he performed a front flip midair and used the momentum to send his foot flying backward.

  He pnted on the elder elf a kick with his foot emersed in a bze. Winstes fell to the ground and Areon lost control of his risky maneuver at the final moments, making them both hit the floor simultaneously.

  Areon scrambled to his feet first as he watched Winstes from afar, muttering things to himself. Both of them were gasping for air and struggling to keep a steady pace of breath. Areon started to see that Winstes was no longer willing to attempt to break his will, he might be ready to just finish things.

  Then the tunnel began to shake violently.

  For a brief moment there was silence. Areon waited in bated breath.

  "I'm so close to getting him...But I should probably keep running. He's really starting to lose it and if I stick around I might be screwed!"

  Then the tunnel was illuminated with light.

  Winstes burst forth surrounded in lightning and charged towards Areon. The boy dropped his jaw in shock, not having much more energy left himself. He watched the full of power Winstes' silent wrath, race towards him, enshrouded in light.

  "On second thought, I'm already totally screwed…"