Chapter 19: Into The Ugly

The punches and blows from sir Winstes' fists fell heavy on Areon. Constantly landing on his body as he sunk deeper and deeper into the ground. The boy stuck his hand out in an attempt to blast the elf but his arm was quickly swatted away before another barrage of assaults came flying his direction.

"He's not letting me get away with anything!"

He struggled to keep himself from losing consciousness while the combo of strikes continued. For a brief moment, Winstes took a couple of seconds to catch his breath. The boy seized the opportunity to send a rush of flames from his feet, pushing him out of the way from the elder elf for an instant. But the ankle of his foot was caught at the right before his near-escape. Areon winced as Winstes grinned at his dismay, before swinging the child into the ground and smashing him on the floor, continuously doing so, from side to side.

Up above them, were Krieus and Cornelius who were having their brawl in the sky. The cocky elf had gotten irritated with the way that things were progressing on the battlefield. He sent a blast of wind in the direction of the dark dragon only to have the attack be smacked into an oblivion by his tail, it was clear that the dragon was not even trying.

"Damn you dragon, where is your honor? We are having a battle to the death and you dare not to take it seriously!"

Krieus responded with indifference, his cold tone striking a nerve with the elf, who was currently struggling to find air.

"I'm not fighting to kill you, noble. And you are far from someone worth taking seriously in the first place. Honestly speaking, I'm glad that you can at least stretch my legs."

"Stretch your legs…?"

"I told you before. If it weren't for the boy, you would have all been dead."

Cornelius' head began to turn red as he sweat with fury, he fought the instinct to wheeze and ignored his exhaustion. He turned his head to the battle with Areon and Winstes, the sight of the child being destroyed brought great joy to his heart. He enthusiastically turned back to the dragon.

"Ha! Don't speak so arrogantly! Sir Winstes has been beating down on that kid for a while now. You must know that he has a nasty habit of breaking his opponents will before he finally kills them! He's merely toying with that brat right now, if you don't finish me off quickly. You won't be able to make it in time to save him!"

"If it's a battle of wills then it shouldn't be a problem, then."

The elf flinched as Krieus continued.

"That boy's spirit is different than any other that I've encountered."

The sides of Cornelius' smile began to fade into an etched expression of confusion.

"...What?"

"I have been watching the fight this entire time, should Areon need my help, I will step in and finish things. But I know that such a event is against his wishes. He wants to try to win this fight fair and square. For now, my intervention isn't necessary yet."

The elder elf recoiled backwards after hearing such things from a beast he assumed had at least a shred of dignity.

"A- are you implying that, that boy can actually defeat an elder elf!?"

Krieus smirked before getting in an battle ready stance. His intense glare inviting his opponent to continue their battle.

"I do not know. But one thing I can tell you for sure, is that the boy is no where near done yet."

A firm kick to Areon's body was dealt before a smack to his face delivered him tumbling back onto the dusty floor. His eyelids felt heavy as he watched the boy bounce off of the ground.

"Damn I'm tired…"

Wintses continued to walk towards the child. Each step reverberating throughout the ground, making Areon acutely aware of his impending danger. The elf huffed and puffed as the fury never left his gaze.

"Three days… I went three days without sleep just in order to find you and that dragon! I'm going to make you suffer for every ounce of pain that I went through!"

Areon continued to breath heavily.

"I need to think of something fast. It's clear that he's only letting me get up just to send me back down again, he's playing me right now. If he gets tired of this soon he'll just go for the kill and I'll be in big trouble…"

The boy shot a fireball at Winstes, which was effortlessly dodged by the elf taking a step to the right. He looked back at the attack with eyes full of disdain.

"What a measly attempt to catch me off guard."

Then Areon took the opportunity to propel himself in his direction, using his fire, landing a clean punch on the elf's face.

But instead of the expected reaction, Winstes did not move from his spot. Internally Areon panicked.

"Not even a budge, really!?"

Wintses grabbed Areon's wrist and began to squeeze, causing the boy to grunt due to the crushing force. He made sure to lock eyes with the child before voicing his dissatisfaction.

"You're so enthusiastic to try the same tactic on me. Yet such tricks won't work twice on an elder elf."

Winstes began to laugh, he grabbed him by the back of his head and punched Areon in the face repeatedly. Though his facade of joy soon disappeared and revealed his deep rage.

"Why in the hell don't you just stay down! You have no reason to be so eager to fight me! I am bigger than you! Stronger than you! Faster than you! Why can't you see you're simply in out of your league!?"

Areon wore a weary smirk, blood dripping from his nose.

"Why can't you do something as simple as save a tree?"

Winstes boiled with anger. He grew sick at looking at the boy. He then threw Areon on the ground again, watching his body bounce across the battlefield.

"I won't stop until you realize that this fight was a mistake…!"

Areon then jumped up and landed on the ground, getting in his battle stance, and wiping the blood from his face.

"And I won't stop until you shut up and get out of my way! I already made it clear, I'm destroying the Maimo and saving your village whether you like it or not!"

The boy struck his hands out before blasting Winstes with a powerful blow of fire, pouring out the most he could do. An explosion of flames engulfed the area as he was consistently applying heat. The intensity of the blaze was subordinate to no one as Areon continued to emit fire from his palms in order to keep Winstes at a distance.

"This is literally my maximum output! Now that I've got him with this, it should at least let me get another hit on him after!"

But while he was shooting the flames from his hands, sweating along the while. Areon's eyebrows began to sprout upwards out of sheer surprise.

"You're kidding me!"

The elder elf was walking through his strongest attack like it was nothing. Areon tried to push harder, but the walking was unabated. He continued to exert himself, but Winstes continued his stroll according to his leisure. Once he was outside of the blast he formed a miniature sphere of lightning from the fingertip of his pinky and shot it out at the ground below Areon's feet with a disinterested face.

A giant hole formed into the land, sucking the boy in. Areon felt his back bang against the bottom of the pit where he was now confined to. He prepared fire to blast from his hands but Winstes had already anticipated this.

From above, the elder elf had created a gigantic bolt of lightning that formed right into his hand the size of two elves on top of one another. A smirk appeared on his face as he relished the scene of his next actions.

"Bigger."

With a loud crackling sound, the bolt of lightning had violently increased in size.

"Bigger."

It grew even more.

"Bigger!"

The bolt of lightning was now towering over the pit Winstes had created. Now the size of ten elves stacked on top of each other. The elves of the village looked on in horror at the catastrophic attack, but none dared to contest the authority of an elder elf. Not when he wielded such power. Winstes gave a cursory glance at all of the elves who had just previously been considering a rebellion. He gave a soft smile.

"And just like that, everything is under control. I can't wait to make an example out of you...Areon!"

With a succinct swing, the elder elf had thrust the streak of lightning into the pit. 

There was a large burst that flew outside of the hole as sparks began to dance in the air around the powerful punishment that Winstes was enforcing. The harrowing screams of Areon were loud enough for all the elves to hear, scaring everyone with a palpable sense of pain from his high pitch shrieks that were nothing short of visceral. 

Winstes loved every second. 

The elves winced as they watched the elder elf raise his hand again.

"Another."

Forming in his hand was another bolt of lightning as the elve's eyes widened at his manic cruelty. It was clear that the elf was just getting started.