Eruptions of pure mana sprouted all around me and the cockatrice. The air itself quivered and tore as the energy was manipulated by Merlin and moved by his will. There were no elements, no heat nor cold, light nor dark, nor anything else. It was simply mana.

  Basil raised his arms to cover his face as the spells affected his body. Feathers were blown around and scales were scraped. A look of disdain covered his face.

  I fared little better. My maximized defenses were tested by the onslaught of magic. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to breathe, in order to miss the magical attacks. Valuable health was shaved from my being.

  I threw an [ICMB] directly at Merlin. He molded the mana around himself right before the attack landed. He still floated from his position in the sky. However, his robes were singed and his fingers were burned from the attack. I saw his face contort into rage at the minimal amount of damage that was inflicted upon him like a king who just got his boots dirty.

  “Insolent!” Merlin shouted in response to the damage.

  The mana warped and shifted around me. Blades that were nearly invisible surrounded both me and Basil. Marlin held no regard to keeping him safe from the barrage.

  Sharp shards of magic sliced against my body, causing blood to squeeze out of razor thin wounds. I flew upwards to avoid being placed in the human blender, but the spear-like spells rained down from above. My wings were punctured by the attacks, putting great holes in my sails and keeping me close to the ground.

  Basil leapt up and grabbed my leg, dragging me back to the ground. We rolled around on the mountaintop. Our punches were short and sharp, targeted mostly at our faces.

  All the while, the magical knives rained down like an apocalyptic storm. Soon, both of our blood spilled all over the gray rocks. One invisible dagger struck Basil across the face. Blood leaked into his right eye and he bellowed a curse in what sounded like the Latin you’d hear sung in a church.

  I used this opportunity to plant both of my feet into his chest and send him tumbling away. I threw an [ICBM] up at Merlin and the rose some [Obsidian Spikes] to shield myself from the onslaught.

  Through the short gap in attacks. I pressed my own offense, sending up wave after wave of [ICBM] into Merlin. It wasn’t gaining much purchase, but he was using all of his magical prowess to disperse the energy before it struck him.

  The downside was that it gave Basil the chance to recover and grapple me again. We continued our vaunted boxing match. My armored body against his sin-got reinforced fists.

  I rose some [Obsidian Spikes] behind him to block out bout off from Merlin for a time and charged in.

  We exchanged the honest words of violence; choreography from a time not used since Master. This portion of the fight was fun. The stinging feeling of fist against face, the solid weight behind every punch I could deliver into that sturdy body. But, I knew that I had grown from this point. I would not win in an exchange of blows; not when every touch of his feathers hardened my flesh. I needed to push the envelope if I wanted to get past this.

  [The Great Decay].

  Reluctantly, my fist glowed with dark energy. Basil didn’t notice as he was busy targeting my joints with expertly timed punches. He was weaving in attacks with his feathers to turn portions of my flesh to stone.

  It connected with him in the ribs. He took a half step back, his face changed to one of confusion. His honed intuition told him that he was suddenly weaker but without explanation.

  I used this hesitation to continue my assault. My rigid flesh held me down like someone had jabbed random parts of my body with sedatives. I ripped at Basil almost as much as I ripped at myself. I tore away chunks of useless flesh and left bleeding tissue all over my elbows and knees and shoulders.

  “Die!”

  Merlin’s assault resumed and the mana inside of my [Obsidian Spikes] shattered and fell away in the wake of another massive ball of mana.

  It felt like a miniature black hole slowly sucking me into the vortex and pulling at my very being. The blood from my wounds was taken into the ball of mana. Strings of crimson began to dance within the clear ball.

  Even Basil, weakened by my spell, fared far worse against this attack. He grimaced angrily as his feathers were plucked from his forearms and his feet were dragged along the stone.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  [ICBM]

  My attack disrupted Merlin’s and the daunting orb disappeared into nothingness. Both Basil and I gasped for air, the both of us had been fighting for several minutes. In a few more minutes, the two I had already dispatched would wake up again. I debated swallowing them as well, but I worried that it would strain my pocket dimension too much.

  “Hit him, not me!” Basil shouted at the floating Merlin. “Where is your prodigious mana control?”

  “Silence, knave!” Merlin screamed in response. “Why are you complaining so much when you have bragged endlessly about your resistance to abilities?”

  Merlin attacked with his rain of invisible daggers. Basil stood stock still, the translucent attack puncturing his body. A look of hatred covered his face and he spat blood onto the mountaintop. Our eyes met and he gave me a nod.

  “Want to fucking kill this guy?” He asked me.

  I looked at him incredulously. I was expecting friction, but I never imagined that it would get this bad. My eyes drifted down to the wound on his stomach that was draining his stats away consistently. Even if he were to continue to fight me afterwards, I’d rather him than this mage.

  I canceled [The Great Decay] and a knowing smile crossed Basil’s face.

  “Let’s get this motherfucker,” I said in response.

  I sent an [ICBM] back up towards Merlin. He moved to block it, but found that he was lowering in the sky. The colosseum was reforming and Basil was rapidly moving up the grandstands and towards the top edge of the arena.

  “What are you doing?” Merlin asked in an accusatory tone.

  Basil did not respond. He fired a flurry of feathers before leaping across the gap and wrapping his arms around Merlin. The pair plummeted down to the ground and I sprinted in. I cocked my fist backwards and unloaded a max power [Bomber] directly into Merlin’s body.

  Basil, predictably, was not greatly injured by this attack, but Merlin definitely was. The pair of them were sent into the far wall from my attack.

  The cockatrice drove Merlin into the ground and started to pummel him. I sprinted over to join in on the fun, stomping down on his head. It was the scariest jumping of someone’s life; two max leveled brawlers crushing a mage underneath our attacks.

  A scream of pure rage left Merlin’s hood. Then, the entire world shattered. Despite our best efforts to dig into the ground with our feet. Basil and I were lifted off our feet and sent us airborne. Cracks formed in the sky of the mountaintop, giving the feeling that it was my eyes that were made of glass and were just damaged.

  “I will make you both pay!” Merlin screamed.

  The cracks reached up towards me. I rolled away from the path. The clouds around me shifted and were sliced in two.

  I shot an [ICBM] down on Merlin, but he didn’t try to protect himself. The fiery blast erupted around his body. It lit his clothes on fire, revealing scaly arms and legs.

  Merlin wriggled his scorched fingers and I felt invisible forces grab at my limbs like I was a puppet. He twisted and pulled and I felt my own body being ripped at. A few of my fingers snap as my larger bones groaned from the tensile forces applied to them.

  I looked over to see the cockatrice struggling just as much as I was. Basil’s magic resistance helped him greatly against this assault, but I could still see his limbs slowly move against his will.

  I flexed my muscles and rose my magic stat, opposing Merlin’s efforts with my own. I summoned [Obsidian Spikes] beneath Merlin. I saw a spike skewer the wizard’s foot, causing him to yowl in pain and his concentration to waver enough to stop his assault. My limbs throbbed in pain from being toyed with so mercilessly.

  He rose both his hands and the top of the mountain was pulled apart. Massive boulders floated in the air and were sent up at us along with another flurry of sharp mana. Basil and I both punched through the boulders that were directed at us.

  I tried to plunge down from the sky, but I felt myself consistently pushed up to the sky. I shot another couple [ICBM] attacks into Merlin, but the wizard took the punishment admirably.

  “Can you connect us together?” I heard Basil ask.

  “What?”

  “Can you use your spikes to connect us together?”

  “I don’t see why not,” I answered with a shrug.

  I made an [Obsidian Lance] from my hand and stabbed it in Basil’s direction. He wrapped his hands around the weapon and spun in a circle. I felt myself slowly accelerating as Basil turned himself into a spinning top.

  Faster and faster I went until he suddenly let go. I was sent flying down towards the sky. I turned and twisted my body like a sentient dart to try to hit my bullseye.

  That bullseye just so happened to be a wizard.

  Like a bus thrown by a superhero, I crushed Merlin like an aluminum can. All of the magic that fought against us dissipated in a moment. I heard him gasp and retch beneath my pressure. I sent a punch directly into his head.

  But, he had far worse coming for him.

  Basil, like a cannonball dropped from the Eiffel Tower, crashed down onto Merlin with a flurry of punches. If I hadn’t killed him, this did.

  Basil and I were both covered in wizard blood. We looked at each other and both gave a small chuckle. There was camaraderie to be found amongst those that used the bodies predominately to fight. I raised my own fists in expectation for us to continue our bout.

  “Go to the circle in the middle. It will take you up,” Basil explained as he pointed over to the teleporter. “You don’t have much time before the other two respawn.”

  I stepped on the circle carved into the mountain and whirring sounds filled my ears. The clouds began to part and the city atop the world became accessible to me. The world where the true champions were awaited me, enticing me with the hopes I’d find even greater strife above. But, this turn of events felt strangely easy.

  “Are you sure that this won’t bite you on the ass?” I asked.

  “This was something that the Demon in Red expected,” Basil answered. “Why create an enemy when you can create an ally instead?”

  “I have no interest in becoming someone’s subordinate,” I said, making my intentions clear. “Unless your ruler’s vision matches my own, there will be no collaboration.”

  “I will leave that to them to win you over,” Basil replied with a shrug. “If it doesn’t work out, remember what I did for you then.”

  I laughed at Basil’s response. It was so honest. At the end of the day, it was still every demon for themselves. We were allies of chance in this moment, but there was no reason for us not to be allies again.

  “I will remember that, at least.”