Path of Dragons

Elijah dashed to the side, then immediately changed directions. The transformed Bruce thundered past him, incapable of changing directions so quickly. He tripped over a pile of rubble, and though he managed to right himself only a moment later, it gave Elijah just enough time to dart in, slash his claws across the man’s calf, then retreat. To his horror, though, he barely even made a scratch.

By that point, they’d been going back and forth for a couple of minutes, and Elijah could tell that he was outclassed in terms of sheer power. It was an unfamiliar experience – even against Thor, the two had fought on mostly even terms regarding attributes – and it nullified many of Elijah’s normal strategies. However, he’d discovered a couple of things which had kept him from succumbing.

First, running was useless. He’d tried on multiple occasions, but Bruce had more than enough Strength to catch him. So, his only real option was to stand and fight – which wasn’t going well – but at least he hadn’t taken more than a few grazing blows along the way.

The second thing he’d figured out was that Bruce was incredibly clumsy. That was almost assuredly due to the fact that he was new to his increased attributes. According to Carmen, that was common. After she’d tossed all of her starting attributes into Strength, it had taken her a few minutes to adjust to all the extra power. And that was only couple of handfuls of points. Bruce’s situation was much more extreme.

That was the only factor that kept Elijah from being overwhelmed. He was weaker, slower, and far more vulnerable than the transformed man. But he’d come upon his attributes the natural way, and as such, he was far more accustomed to how everything worked.

By Isaiah’s estimate, Bruce could only display about seventy percent of his attributes. It would have been higher, but it seemed that each passing minute increased his power, which in turn negated his efforts at adjustment. Still, throwing himself at Elijah wasn’t so difficult, even if controlling that charge was.

So, for the past couple of minutes, Elijah had been playing a game of cat and mouse as he attempted to build afflictions in the man. Fortunately, his Soothe and Healing Rain had already mended his damaged leg, so he wasn’t hobbled by any injuries. If he had been, he’d have already lost the battle and his life.

Bruce let out a roar, leaping to his feet and throwing an old car door at Elijah. He leaped over it, but even that temporary distraction gave Bruce the opening he needed to hit Elijah with a vicious backhand that sent him bouncing across the road. He came to a rest in a pile of bodies that had once been a group of adventurers. He tried to rise, but his leg collapsed beneath him.

It wasn’t broken, but it had been twisted out of joint.

Elijah shifted back to his human form and cast Soothe, then Touch of Nature. He barely had a chance to shove his dislocated knee back into place before Bruce reached him. The man reached down with one enormous hand. Elijah tried to knock that grabbing fingers away, but they were undeniable.

Suddenly, Bruce had his hand around Elijah’s waist. He lifted him. And Elijah shoved his staff into the man’s eye.

Garet reeled, loosening his grip only slightly, which Elijah used to wriggle his way free. But his escape was only temporary, because almost as soon as he hit the ground, he felt a large foot connect with his ribs. Abruptly, Elijah found himself sailing through the air like a punted football, and a moment later, he thudded into the side of a building.

The impact cracked a couple of ribs and at least one of his vertebrae, but Elijah was more concerned with the upcoming fall. He thrust his hand out, grabbing a metal windowsill, arresting his descent. But his respite only lasted a split second before he felt something rushing in his direction. He turned to see that Bruce had leaped toward him, likely thinking he could finally finish Elijah off.

So, Elijah let go.

As he did, he shifted back into his Shape of the Sky, and before he hit the ground, the transformation had completed. He beat his wings, leveling off and gliding away. As he did, Bruce kicked off the building and rocketed in Elijah’s direction. To counter, Elijah tried to gain altitude, but he was too slow.

Bruce clipped his wing, cracking the delicate bones and sending Elijah twirling back toward the ground. He hit, cartwheeling over a pile of rubble and coming to a rest only a moment later. About thirty yards away, Bruce landed, cracking the pavement with the impact. Then, he picked up another rock and threw it in Elijah’s direction.

The Shape of the Sky wasn’t meant for ground travel, so he only barely managed to skitter out of the way. As he did, he initiated another transformation into his human form so he could heal. He never got the chance, because by the time he completely shifted, Bruce was back on top of him. His enormous fist fell with inevitability, and though Elijah tried to escape its path, he was hemmed in by the rubble and his injured arm. Even so, every facet of his Quartz Mind was working on his situation. One was casting Soothe again. Another held Healing Rain just on the edge of activation. And still another was ready to use Touch of Nature. Finally, he had Shape of the Guardian queued up, though he didn’t think he’d ever get the chance to use it.

His Constitution was high, but against the monstrous man’s ever-rising Strength, it was nothing. Even so, Elijah lashed out with his staff, and he was lucky enough to clip Bruce’s most vulnerable bits. It was little more than a graze, but as any man could attest, that was enough to at least foster a distraction. And as it happened, that tiny hitch in Bruce’s attack gave Elijah the time he needed to complete the cast of Soothe. More importantly, it allowed him to scramble backward over the rubble and escape the descending fist.

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It thundered into the pile of cement, crushing it to dust as Elijah rolled free. Healing Rain completed casting at that moment, bathing him rejuvenating precipitation. And finally, he managed to channel Touch of Nature, mending his wounded arm enough that when he sprang to his feet, he did so with much more verve and plenty of vigor.

That’s when he caught a front kick to the chest that nearly caved his ribs in. It launched him backward like he’d been launched from the world’s largest slingshot, and he didn’t land for almost an entire second. When he did, he skipped across the ground, narrowly managing to complete the cast of Shape of the Guardian before coming to a stop nearly a hundred-and-fifty yards away from where he’d started.

He picked himself up. Even with Soothe and Touch of Nature, he was still very injured. And he was well out of range of Healing Rain. But with every passing second, Soothe helped mend his wounds. The problem was that with all his shapeshifting and casting, he knew he was on the verge of being out of ethera.

More troubling, he had no idea how to win the fight.

And given how quickly Bruce was covering the ground between them, he couldn’t escape, either. Because not only had the man gotten even stronger and faster, but he seemed to be adjusting to his attributes, too. Soon, Elijah would be outclassed in every department.

His mind raced as he tried to think of a plan. He’d tried to fly away, and to no avail. Every time he’d launched himself into the sky, Bruce had brought him down with thrown boulders. He’d tried to escape on foot, but that had been even less effective. And fighting seemed to be a dead end as well.

But there had to be a way.

Elijah braced for impact, seeing that his Silver Bracer of Rage had come off cooldown. He used the ability, adding more Strength to his total. Then, he met the enraged and enlarged man, Strength to Strength, and he was horrified to find that he wasn’t even close to a match.

He was thrown to the ground as if he was nothing more than a child’s toy, and then Bruce started to get serious. Elijah tried to fight back, using his boxing background to parry punches and block kicks. But he was so far outclassed that even those efforts resulted in injuries. In moments, he’d felt more bones break, and he knew he would be forced to use Guardian’s Renewal soon if he wanted to survive.

But then what?

He couldn’t keep up. And the man was getting stronger all the time. Each facet of Elijah’s mind whirled as it tried to find an answer, but in the end, there was none to be found. Against such superior power, none of his versatility mattered. He just didn’t have the ability to win the fight.

He couldn’t give up, though. So, he fought on, eventually using Guardian’s Renewal as a last-ditch gambit to escape. His body mended, and he kicked out. Miraculously, his foot connected with Bruce’s knee, buckling it slightly. That was the opening Elijah needed, and he threw himself to his feet, bowling the off-balance man to the ground.

In the past, he would have fallen upon his enemy with a flurry of powerful blows. But in this case, he knew it would do no good. Even catching the man completely off-guard, he’d done no lasting damage. He was too durable. His Constitution was too high. So, Elijah ran.

He poured every ounce of Strength he could muster into a straightway spring, and he accelerated with the speed of a sportscar. Yet, he could feel the recovered guild leader hot on his heels. Elijah tried to corner, kicking off a destroyed semi-truck to facilitate a turn.

That’s when Bruce caught up, hitting him with a shoulder tackle that knocked him back into the truck. The vehicle flipped three times, and Elijah barely managed to avoid being crushed beneath the thing.

Bruce caught him by the neck and lifted him off his feet.

“You cost me everything!” he rumbled his voice distorted and cracking.

Elijah didn’t answer. Instead, he scratched and clawed, but he knew it would do no good. His efforts only left a few red marks on the man’s hirsute skin. But he refused to give in. He refused to go down without fighting to the last moment.

One blow after another rained down on Elijah, and eventually, he stopped blocking. Not by choice. But because each one fell with the weight of an industrial power hammer, pushing him to the verge of unconsciousness.

Then, just before Elijah’s body reached the end of its endurance, something changed.

The sound of gunshots echoed in his ears, but it took a moment for Elijah’s head to clear. When it did, he saw that a swarm of drones hovered nearby, and each one sported a cannon beneath its fuselage. However, instead of shooting bullets, they fired balls of ethera that reminded Elijah of Ethereal Bolt. When they hit Bruce’s giant form, they elicited a brief instant of a stun.

Normally, that wouldn’t have mattered. But with more than a hundred of the things firing one after another, it chained into something effective. Elijah stared, dumbfounded by the situation until Isaiah screamed in his ear, “Run! I can’t keep this up much longer! I’m almost out of ethera!”

Elijah shook his head.

“Whaa…”

Then, the weight of Isaiah’s words hit him, and he awkwardly crawled to his feet. After that, with the backdrop of all of those blue ethereal bolts, he staggered away. His entire body was in agony, but still, he pushed on.

Until the drones went quiet.

It didn’t take Bruce long to recover after that, and when he did, he let out a roar and quickly caught up to Elijah, knocking him over and sending him skidding across the ground on his stomach.

He screamed something Elijah didn’t hear, then rolled him over. Elijah tried to resist, but his body was limp. His energy was gone. And his consciousness was barely hanging on.

Bruce towered over him, a menacing glare twisting his misshapen features as he announced his superiority. Then, he reached back, preparing to deliver what they both knew would be the final blow.

Elijah closed his eyes, waiting for the proverbial hammer to fall.

It never did.

But a second later, something else fell atop him. It writhed for a second, then went still. Elijah opened his eyes to see that Bruce’s naked body – which had gone back to his normal size – lying atop him. He pushed it off. The man tried to fend him off, but his hands were weak. Barely better than someone without an archetype.

Elijah awkwardly reached out, his claws wrapping around Bruce’s head. The man screamed. Elijah ignored it. And then, at last, he squeezed with all the strength he had left. It wasn’t much, but it was enough that he soon felt brains and skull oozing between his fingers.

Then, he fell backward, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he struggled to remain conscious.

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