No More

*KABOOOM*

All six fireballs exploded at the same time, causing not only the portal to be destroyed, but also the entire area to be in shambles, and it was starting to cave in. Aiden and Elric were blown against the wall by the shockwave.

“Guess I overdid it a bit.” Aiden slowly stood back up.

“AAAHAHAHAHA!” Elric started laughing while floating in the air just under the hole he made. “You idiot! This whole place is about to cave in now, and you have no way of getting out.” He continued laughing while he zoomed up through the hole.

“Damn it! What do I do? I don’t even know where the other portals are to get to them in time.” Then, he had a crazy idea. He ran under the hole and threw his sword up into the hole and into the side of it, teleporting just as the rest of the walls started to burst open.

“Whew. That was close.” He whispered to himself as he hung from his sword and looked up, his still glowing eyes going wide. “How far down was this? I can barely see the light at the top.” He made a blue fireball so he could see better.

*rumble*

“Oh no…” Aiden sighed.

The explosion not only made the hideout collapse, but also made the hole that Elric made unstable.

Without wasting any time, he gripped onto the wall with his left hand and his feet, pulling the sword out with his right hand, and throwing it up the hole. Teleporting to it just as part of the wall he was holding onto gave way.

“That was close.” He stabbed the sword into the wall again. “But I’m now out of this yet!”

Again, he threw his sword upwards and teleported to it. The hole was quickly collapsing, so he had to go as fast as he could. Each time, the dirt and rocks almost swallowed him up.

The light at the top was getting brighter. He had teleported to his sword at least fifty times by now, and he was getting tired. The blue glow of his eyes are now gone.

“Damn it! just one more!” He threw the sword with everything he had left. He watched it fly as the dirt around him swallowed him up. 

The sword broke the surface, flying up until it had no more momentum and started to drop. It fell fast and sheathed itself into the ground.

*PWOOSH*

Aiden was able to focus enough for one more teleport. Bringing some dirt with him and coughing some up.

“I’m fully spent. I can’t move.” Aiden laid on his back, totally exhausted and breathing heavily. 

“Dodge!” Came a voice that was loud yet distant.

*FWIT FWIT FWIT FWIT*

At the last second, Aiden moved, and four spears pierced the ground where he was.

“What was that voice? It was muffled, but I definitely heard it.”

“Impressive,” Elric said as he floated above Aiden. “I honestly thought I had you there.” He threw two more spears at Aiden, but he dodged them as well.

“Did he not hear it? Was it just in my head?”

“If all you can do is dodge, this will get extremely boring.” He shoots a purple orb at Aiden. Aiden tried to dodge, but another orb came, hitting him and making him weightless like before. Elric grins.

“You seem to forget about earlier.” Aiden made his hand glow blue and dissolved the purple sphere around him.

“Right,” Elric sighed, “You freed Veltheryn. Half dragon powers are annoying. That’s why the king exterminated them over eight hundred years ago. But I guess he missed one, and now I know why he desperately wanted them gone.”

“Yeah, well, I’m still getting the hang of my powers. Basically, I try something and see if it works.” Aiden walked over to his sword and pulled it from the ground.

“In that case,” Elric pulls out some sort of potion. “I must end this quickly. It’s Veltheryn the king wants anyway.” He drank the potion.

“Damn, just what is that going to do?” Aiden readied himself for what was to come.

When Elric was done drinking the potion, he started to glow purple, along with his eyes. He yelled out like he was in pain from what was happening. Purple wings formed on his back.

“What the hell is happening?”

The purple glow on his spears also became brighter. Elric held his head in pain as the new power surged through him.

Aiden threw a blue fireball at Elric, but it just went poof when it hit him.

Elric froze, his expression going back to normal, and moving his hands away from his head. Then, faster than Aiden could blink, Elric vanished.

“Huh?” Aiden looked around, “Where did he go?”

Aiden suddenly felt something slam into his stomach, making him fly backwards and tumble to the ground.

*KHAAG*

Aiden coughed up blood when he stopped tumbling.

“What the hell?”

Elric’s eight spears slammed into the ground around Aiden in a circle. Purple beams shot out and connected all of them together, then shot purple beams at Aiden from each of them, lifting him into the air. Try as he might, he couldn’t move this time. Elric appeared right in front of him.

“Did that potion turn you into a hybrid?” Aiden asked, still trying to move.

“Temporarily, yes. It’s a last resort, as they say. This is the first time I have had to use it since becoming a Knight fifty years ago.”

“Why is it a last resort?”

“Normal people would die once the effects wear off. With Knights, since we don’t die so easily, we are incapacitated for about a week while our bodies heal.”

“Is that why you want Vel? To turn her into a potion?” Aiden asked angrily.

“Possibly, but who knows what goes on in the current King's head. There are… Other experiments that happen, or so I hear. I may be a Knight, but I’m not privy to that knowledge. I’m not even sure the current Prince knows.”

“That is what they want Vel for? To just turn her into a potion or to experiment on? They must do that with all the strong dragons. What a waste…” Aiden’s fist clenched.

“What a waste of a life.” Aiden hauled off and punched Elric in the face, pushing him back.

“What?! How can you move!?” Elric shot purple beams out of each hand to subdue Aiden more.

“I will not let you people keep throwing away dragons' lives!” Aiden’s eyes start to glow blue again, but this time, his whole body is glowing blue.

Elric reached around him and pulled out another extending spear.

*WOOOOSH* 

He threw it while using his magic to make it go as fast as he could, but his eyes widened in shock as Aiden caught it with one hand. Aiden spun the spear around and threw it back at Elric surprisingly fast. 

*WOOOOOSH*

Elric used his magic to make the spear heavy, but it still came at him, piercing him in the shoulder. The weight he gave the spear kicked in and slammed him into the ground while he was confused about what was happening.

The gravity magic holding Aiden up dissipated, dropping him to the ground. He landed on his feet with ease. He landed next to his sword, picking it up, he walked over to Elric, who was pinned to the ground with his own spear.

Elric was trying to reverse his magic, but for some reason, he couldn’t.

“WHAT THE HELL!” Elric screamed out in frustration. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?” He shot out another purple beam from his hand at Aiden, but he just nonchalantly knocked it away with his hand.

“To be honest, I’m not sure. It could be the effects of that potion you took. Or I have just tapped into more of my own hybrid powers.” Aiden held down Elric's flailing right arm with his foot and raised his sword. “Either way, I have to kill you now.” 

Elric’s eyes went wide.

*SHING*