The Ikon fired a bubble right at me, forcing me to duck after sending out a single arc of electricity. The Ikon rolled out of the way, letting the electricity hit the ground and dissipate. The Ikon’s robes fluttered as they covered up the hole in the front of it, and stood to my right with one hand outstretched. Bain Rusta stood up straight to my left, his glowing red eyes flitting between both me and the Ikon. Perhaps he was wondering who was the bigger threat.

Both of us stared at the Ikon. To attack as soon as they regained consciousness, the Ikon would have to be an incredible warrior. Or, they must have recovered a little earlier and only let out a groan to provoke an attack, which meant they were crafty.

I stared at Bain Rusta. There was something about the elderly demon’s demeanor that was incredibly off putting. The Ikon turned to Bain Rusta as well. Bain Rusta flinched and the red glow in his eye intensified. The Ikon’s silver glow flared out, outshining Bain Rusta’s red glow easily. It wasn’t surprising. The Immortal of Madness had always seemed more powerful than the Immortal of Evil. And by now, I was fairly certain Bain Rusta had not always been the Immortal of Evil’s Ikon. He had been somehow turned while he was inside the capital city of the Lux Republic.

I shot a glance over my shoulder. I could still hear the cries of soldiers and the clang of metal from behind the gates. I hoped Kelser could handle whatever had taken over Bain Rusta. It was definitely still in there somewhere.

The Ikon turned to me. Bain Rusta did as well. I dug into the ground and stared back at both of them.

“Friends,” I said, silently retrieving some of the iron balls I had fired at the Ikon previously, “it seems we have what some in another world may call a Mexican standoff.”

The Ikon did not respond. Neither did Bain Rusta. Their stillness was eerie. I knew they were both trying to recover their energy from our previous battles, but did they not realize that I was making some preparations as well?

“Your masters know me well,” I said, filling the silence, “if there is something I can help them with, please pass on my message. If the Immortal of Evil—”

Bain Rusta flinched, his eyes widened in a glare.

“—you know, that lazy guy in the red star, if he wants more of his servants sent to hell, or more of his silly little schemes foiled, he doesn’t need to corrupt an old demon like Rusta. I’ll take care of his servants for free.

“And if the Immortal of Madness—”

Now it was the Ikon’s turn to flinch, her silver glow heightening.

“—wants to get his butt off the moon and come down to me again, tell him I’m busy. Oh, and tell him he should give up already. He won’t get his beloved this way. Nobody likes a stalker and that man is obsessed, isn’t he? Come on, Evil, shouldn’t I get a laugh for that? I’m calling you Evil because Bain Rusta would’ve definitely laughed. Can’t believe you’ve taken him over so completely,” I said as I licked my lips. I was sweating profusely and my throat was dry. I was tempted to cast some water magic to take a sip, but I knew the second I cast a noticeable spell, all hell would break loose.

Apparently, Bain Rusta didn’t care about any of that. He drew his rusty red sword and concentrated a bunch of red energy on it. With a swish, the sword cut towards me, releasing a burst of energy that I quickly sidestepped.

At the same time, the Ikon of Madness fired two bubbles, one at me and the other at Bain Rusta. I had anticipated the attack and simply continued my motion to avoid the bubble, but Bain Rusta had to bring up his sword to try to block the attack at the final moment. The bubble should have passed right through the sword and made Bain Rusta disappear, but the red glow around the sword began clashing with the silver light hidden inside the bubble. A flash of red and a swirl of silver filled my vision, and the bubble was gone. Bain Rusta’s old face was contorted into a grimace and the light in his eyes had noticeably dulled.

An iron ball smashed into the back of Bain Rusta’s head. Another one crashed into the Ikon of Madness’ back.

Bain Rusta let out a guttural scream as he was thrown face first into the ground. There was a loud ding as if the iron ball had hit a hard metal surface, and I saw Bain Rusta’s eyes flash completely scarlet as he was thrown forward. There was no pool of blood or shattered skull, which meant the Immortal had saved his newly converted servant after all.

The Ikon of Madness only grunted as she was pushed forward by the iron ball. The silver glow around her body was much weaker than it had been the first time we had fought. However, I was most surprised by the fact she had been hit by the attack at all. I was sure the silver glow would help her blink past the projectile, but perhaps attacks from her blind spot really could catch her off guard. Either that, or she did not have the energy for that kind of trick anymore.

There was only one way to find out. I hurled another iron ball at the Ikon of Madness, who had gotten a lot closer to me as well. The iron ball slammed into the Ikon’s sides once again, this time pushing her closer to Bain Rusta, who was just beginning to push himself back up again. The two crashed into each other, getting comically entangled. With two powerful enemies bunched up like that, how could I not take advantage of the situation? I started pelting the two with everything I had.

Fire, earth, water, air, slingshots, electricity, magnetism, everything that I could us to attack them from a distance. A relentless barrage of spells and projectiles rained down on them, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris, which was promptly cleared by a burst of red and silver energy.

I barely avoided the red and silver energy by pushing against the ground and pulling myself away with magic hands. The energies ravaged the ground where I had been standing, making every blade of grass wilt then vanish. I steadied myself against a rocky outcropping.

Bain Rusta slashed at the Ikon of Madness with his sword. The Ikon contorted her body to the side to avoid the slash, then formed a bubble right under Rusta’s outstretched hand. The bubble drifted up to Rusta’s head, but he stared at it with his red eyes, making it burst like a real soap bubble. Bain Rusta moved his glowing gaze to the Ikon’s hooded face, but the Ikon’s silver glow flared up like a camera flash, forcing Bain Rusta to blink rapidly. The Ikon used the opportunity to make another bubble, but Rusta’s blinking eyes still seemed to carry enough of the power of his red glare to pop the bubble and clash with the Ikon’s silver glow again.

I was going to start bombarding them with magic again, but realized it was probably better to let them tire each other out while I recovered. I was already breathing so hard my chest was burning, and I did not have a lot of energy to spare anymore.

The Ikon grunted. A slew of tiny bubbles popped out of the end of her hands, covering Rusta’s body. Rusta tried to burst as many as he could with his red glare but there were too many of them. The bubbles stuck to Rusta’s body, and once stuck, it seemed like even the red glow couldn’t pop them.

The Ikon of Madness stepped back, still spewing bubbles from her hand like a mini machine gun. Bain Rusta yelled out once more, sending out a burst of red energy from his eyes that cut right through the cloud of bubbles, popping dozens of them in one go before rushing towards the Ikon of Madness and slamming against her silver glow.

The silver glow flashed and faltered. The Ikon let out a loud, high pitched scream as her silver glow flickered like an incandescent light bulb before finally dissipating. Her robes were filled with a glaring red color, as bright as the red star on a moonless night. The robes burned to ashes like paper over an open flame, clouding the Ikon in a red cocoon.

The bubbles on Bain Rusta’s body popped. However, Bain Rusta’s body did not disappear. Instead, a crimson specter phased out of Rusta’s body, screaming and flailing, with large silver holes in its body. The crimson specter let out one more scream before it shattered into red shards that fell to the ground and turned into a dull beige color.

On the other side, the cloud of red around the Ikon of Madness finally cleared up. I grit my teeth, hoping I was wrong, but as I had expected, the body that appeared from beneath the red cloud was a familiar one. I felt a knot forming in my gut, stopping the words that were trying to come out of my mouth.

Noel planted her feet firmly on the ground, her tattered robes swirling around her. Her silver eyes met mine. We stared at each other, unblinking, and in silence.