When it ca to Alex, who had suddenly beco the center of attention, the newspapers were more than happy to dedicate entire spreads to him. Writing about him was easy, nothing too technical, and nothing they could ss up.
After all, their readers were mostly ordinary witches and wizards who wouldn’t understand advanced alchemical theories anyway. So, naturally, Alex’s na began spreading like wildfire across different countries, carried by reporters covering the International Alchemy Conference.
But while all this buzz was happening outside, Alex himself paid the journalists no mind. He sat through the conference with genuine focus, listening carefully to the lectures given by renowned alchemists.
What sounded like nonsense to most, complex theories, obscure runes, and intricate spellcasting chanics, was treasure to him. Every word was knowledge, and every insight was sothing he could use.
Unfortunately, the sa couldn’t be said for the trio of witches who had co along with him, dea, Vanessa, and Azalea. They were bored out of their minds.
None of them had a clue what the speakers were talking about, yet they had to sit through it all anyway. It was their duty to accompany and protect their nation’s alchemists, no matter how tedious it got.
Director Barnabas, on the other hand, had slipped away the mont the award ceremony ended. He claid he was off to pick up two officials involved in the trade agreent, but no one could confirm if that was true. Not that anyone dared question him. He was, after all, a Ministry official.
By the ti evening rolled around, the lectures finally ca to an end. The three won sighed in relief and began chatting about where to relax for the night. They figured they’d invite Alex to join them for dinner, only to discover that he’d disappeared without a word.
That left just dea and Vanessa, who quickly grew bored again, and Azalea, who sat quietly, deep in thought, a troubled expression on her face.
At around nine that evening, far from the conference venue, a shadow appeared in the Abu Shawi mountain range. The figure, cloaked in nace, was none other than the dark wizard known as Thunderbird. His aura pulsed with hostility as he scanned the rugged terrain. His eyes narrowed on a wide clearing ahead, isolated and ideal for battle.
Tonight, he was going to catch Alex by surprise. It was ti for payback.
The last ti they clashed, Alex had humiliated him, wounded him using tactics Thunderbird considered underhanded. The sha still burned in his chest.
This ti, he wasn’t holding back.
Thunderbird had made up his mind. He would unleash his full power from the start and crush Alex in a single, overwhelming blow. While he did grudgingly admit that Alex had so talent, enough to put up a decent fight, it was nowhere near enough to survive against him going all out. The only real concern was if Alex tried to run again.
But even that, he had prepared for. Thanks to a high-grade flying carpet gifted by the Sphinx, he now had unmatched aerial speed. There would be no escape.
“Arrogant brat…” Thunderbird growled as he approached the clearing. “Tonight, I’ll show you what real despair feels like…”
But just as he stepped into the open space, sothing felt… wrong. A prickling sensation crept up from the soles of his feet, familiar and yet unsettling.
Before he could react, the ground beneath him exploded with a deafening BOOM.
The entire clearing trembled violently, shaking with a magical force that pulsed up through the earth like a living thing.
Thunderbird’s face twisted in disbelief.
‘No… not this again.’
mories surged, unwelco, painful. A trap. Just like before. He had walked right into it.
Then ca the blast.
In a blinding instant, the entire clearing erupted as Thunderbird was swallowed by a violent explosion. The ground beneath him detonated, and within seconds, everything in a ten-ter radius was blown apart.
The force of the blast shook the surrounding land, sending a shockwave that rippled through the nearby hills. Dust and debris soared over ten ters into the air, while a deep rumble rolled across the terrain like distant thunder.
This explosion was far more intense than the one that had struck Thunderbird in Ireland, but he wasn’t the kind of wizard who could be taken down so easily.
As the dust finally began to settle, a bloodied figure erged from the haze. Thunderbird’s twisted silhouette reappeared in the center of the scorched clearing, surrounded by smoke and scorched earth.
A crimson spherical barrier flickered around him, similar to the one he had conjured during their last encounter, but this one was different. It pulsed with unstable energy, the red light inside flickering unevenly. The shield looked warped, its color faded and broken in patches, as though it had barely held against the blast.
But unlike last ti, Thunderbird hadn’t been torn to pieces. It seed he had learned from their last fight, his reaction had been quicker, sharper.
Even so, he hadn’t co through unscathed.
Blood dripped from his ears, nose, and the corners of his eyes, seven streams of it in total, betraying the extent of the internal damage. His face, twisted in rage and disbelief, was sared with crimson. And despite the pain, his furious eyes still glowed red as he lifted his head and scread into the sky.
"Alex!" The fury in his voice echoed off the rocky hills. He couldn’t believe it. He’d fallen into the sa trap again.
That could only an one thing, his plan had been leaked. Alex had known. Soone had betrayed him.
His mind spun. ‘Was it the unicorn? The sphinx? Or… Azalea?’
Thunderbird scanned the area, searching for any trace of Alex, his bloodstained eyes narrowing as he pieced things together. He wasn’t just an arrogant duelist, he had a mind sharp enough to understand betrayal.
But just as he drew a conclusion, a razor-thin arc of energy sliced through the air behind him. It shimred in the moonlight, a crescent-shaped blade of silver-blue magic.
It wasn’t just Scissura Astralis. It was sothing far stronger.
Crackling arcs of blue and silver lightning move along the edge of the crescent blade, giving it a raw, volatile energy that marked it as sothing far more advanced, more dangerous.
"You finally show yourself, you coward!" Thunderbird roared, spinning around as the spell slamd toward him.
Enraged, he summoned his own magic with a scream. A fierce blue fire ignited in his palms, instantly taking the form of a massive flaming tiger. With a roar, the beast lunged forward and devoured the incoming sword energy in a single, blazing bite.
But Thunderbird wasn’t done.
With a burst of power, he launched himself forward, riding the wave of Fiendfyre straight toward his attacker.
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