Chapter 22: The Curse Of The Winner

  The skies rumbled with the csh of the Krieus and Cornelius, clouds were being swatted away as if they were nothing more than dust in the midst of their overwhelming conflict. The sweat from the elder elf's brow dripped from off his body as his body continued to burn in disdain.

  "Damn that disinterested look on your face! Don't try to hide it from me, you're still thinking about him aren't you?"

  Krieus paused out of confusion as the elf continued his ramblings. Getting his words out in-between his struggle to breathe.

  "The boy! You're still thinking about the boy! There hasn't been one moment since I got here where you have taken this fight with an ounce of dedication! Why are you so fixated on him?"

  "Is it not natural for a parent to be concerned for their child?"

  "You're not even kin! And if that bumbling oaf had even a quarter of a brain he wouldn't have challenged sir Winstes to a battle! If you're so concerned, you should have protected him from that certain death! Your composure right now makes no sense! Why do you believe in him? I can't wait to see the look on your face when Winstes brings back the corpse of your so-called child, so that you can-!"

  The tail of Krieus smacked against Cornelius' face spinning him full circle before he regained his bance again, then the dragon began to speak.

  "Imagine if you weren't born into the privilege of being an elf, but instead were a spawn of unknown origins. A spawn abandoned to face the entire world alone as nothing but a mere child. And when you found someone who was willing to take care of you, you became hated because of their birth."

  "What are you getting at dragon?"

  "I'm answering your question. Everyday Areon was treated like some scourge of the pnet for something that he can't change. The child has known isotion on a level you never had to be accustomed to. Every friend that he's gained since then has not been taken for granted."

  "What does that matter? You can cherish all the friends you want, it still won't save you from your ineptitude!"

  "Wrong. You asked why I believe in the boy. It's because of his unyielding will to become a protector. Someone as lowly as you could never hope to challenge a dream like that."

  The green elemental stone glowed as Cornelius was fueling his attack with every st bit of rage he could muster.

  "You have a way of making each sentence more infuriating than the st, you damn dragon."

  The elf grit his teeth as Krieus grinned, fully welcoming the next incoming attack to continue their battle.

  Meanwhile in the dragon tunnels, sparks flew from all over, illuminating the once dark abyss. The impending danger of the lighting and wrath was causing a storm of thoughts to swirl from within Areon's mind. He didn't have much time to think. At most he had a fraction of a second.

  "Should I try to keep running? No, I'm low on energy and he'll catch up in no time. Should I try another smokescreen? Too obvious and I don't have enough time for that! What do I do, what do I do!"

  In an instant Winstes had cleared the distance between himself and the boy. The elder elf stared at the face of the young child and met his gaze with a manic grin, sure this was the end.

  In the st possible moment, Areon summoned all the strength in his legs, fire bursting him forward, as he leaped over in the direction of Winstes and headbutt him. A loud crack sounded from throughout the tunnels as the two heads collided. The tunnel was covered in a bright fsh of white briefly, before returning to it's original state of darkness.

  Winstes reeled back in rage as his eyelids began to twitch, his hands were firmly grabbing his forehead as he incoherently screamed violently. He stomped his foot on the ground and pounded the wall with his fist, the force of his hands being enough to send cracks through the tiles. Then he fell to his knees and battled his eyelids to stay open, this was tiring him.

  Witnessing all of this was Areon, with one eye open, as the blood from his forehead had now gotten into his other eye. The obscured sight of watching an elder elf's comical rage had disturbed his soul.

  "I'm in so much pain that I can barely move...but him, this guy's got enough in the tank to kill me ten times over. Why does all the power have to go to someone so insane?"

  It was no secret why Winstes had not yet killed Areon yet, he simply wanted him to suffer. He wanted to break his will before he could finish the job because anything other than that was simply not satisfying enough. Though what was worse than that, was the unwillingness that the boy had to give in, the torture that he had pnned for Areon had become torture for the elf in his own way.

  A huge part of the reason why he was so drained was because of the search for three days and the amount of physical hits he had been giving and receiving this entire time. However, he wasn't throwing this temper tantrum because he was in pain, it was solely due to the fact that his act of punishment kept backfiring.

  And watching Areon's every act only served to make his blood boil more.

  "You damn fool! Who do you think you are? Why hasn't it sunk in yet? You're going to die! There is nothing but despair that awaits you right now! Your body won't exit this acuresed pce alive, but as a rotten cadaver that I show to your joke of a dad! Stop thinking you can win!"

  Areon struggled to stand up, he pced one hand on his knee and pushed his body as he wheezed continually.

  "Shut up…"

  The elf's forehead creased as the boy kept going.

  "You're such an idiot, your whole goal is to make me feel a certain way and do a certain thing. That's entirely out of your control! I've already resolved that I'm going to protect your mother tree, I'm not gonna stop until I see the Maimo destroyed with my own eyes. The only way that you could have stopped me was killing me, but you didn't. That's what going to let me win this fight. You're just not bright enough to see it."

  Winstes walked over to Areon with his fingertips covered in lighting.

  "I wonder how you'll react when I pluck your eyes out of your sockets. Ironically, it might be the only way for you to see that you have no chance."

  The two began to wrestle on the ground and Winstes, very easily, got the upper hand and began to aim his hand at Areon's open eye.

  Then Areon pushed his arm aside at the st second and pushed his palm in the elf's face, he then sent a rush of fmes through the elf's nostrils, using his maximum output. The fmes were so hot it caused Areon to sweat, possibly thinking that his skin might be baked alive.

  Winstes then backed away as he saw that his nose started to drip with blood. He muttered to himself, completely dismayed.

  "Damn it all…"

  When the elf gnced upward from the bloody floor he saw Areon incoming with a fist fshing bright with fire.

  He punched Winstes in the face and sent a barrage of fmes bzing into his skull. The tunnel for a moment felt like a thoroughly heated furnace before the elder elf was sent flying into another wall, making a crater for himself.

  Winstes' eyelids were more heavy than ever and it was clear that he going to be unconscious soon, he couldn't believe the scene that was pying out before him.

  Areon had won.

  The child limbed over to him carrying his arm, which was now broken due to the intensity of the st punch that was dealt. Winstes let out a soft chuckle before entering his slumber.

  "You pnned this didn't you…?"

  "Yup, once I figured out that using your elemental stone didn't tire nearly as much as hand to hand combat, I doubled down on it so that I could use an opening to bst the parts of your body that you can't train."

  "You're one crafty kid, you know that?"

  "I wouldn't be alive if I wasn't."

  "You still think that you can destroy the Maimo don't you…?"

  "Yeah, it'll be done before long."

  "You fool… you may have won against me. But your will is nothing compared to that of Lucious. You may have escaped death this time. But he'll be sure to get you."

  Before Areon could respond to what Winstes said it was clear that he was already asleep. The boy then dropped to his knees and sighed. With red hot tears falling from his eyes.

  "I did it… I really did it!"

  There were moments where the child was not sure that he would survive that match, it was only natural. But his celebration didn't st long as he began to hear the tunnel crack.

  Pieces began to fall from the ceiling, he looked around and saw that the damage from him and Winstes' brawl had started to destroy the dragon tunnels. His eyes shot wide open as the adrenaline rushed to his body once again.

  He ran towards the exit as he was well aware of what was going to happen.

  The dragon tunnels were about to colpse.