The sound of laughter caused a small sense of unease to appear in Alistair’s heart. He knew. Julius was still alive.

“Illusion Sword!” an Excalibur appeared in Alistair’s right hand. “Worldbreaking technique: Prismatic Light Shield!” his left arm was covered in an iridescent shield of light, creating an armguard, and he prepared himself for what was to come. The contrast between his evil appearance and his shining equipment would surprise anyone who saw it.

If any other immortal saw how Alistair pulled out Excaliburs, a legendary artifact, out of thin air, they would cry tears of unfairness and demand justice.

From the intel that Alistair gathered throughout the years in Paragon, Julius was an Elemental Mage, and thus excelled in long-ranged attacks and was physically weak. Alistair himself was a warrior that excelled in close combat. This was how he devised his plan. He had planned to seal off Julius’ movements and opportunity to cast spells, then move in for the kill at close-range. Alistair had already prepared ways to deal with each four of the remaining members of Paragon based on their abilities long ago. However, Julius’ unexpected laughter threw him off.

Across from Alistair inside a cyclone made from fragmentations of mithril floated Julius’ mangled body. He floated weakly, barely able to keep himself from falling. Several Excaliburs were pierced through him, and his body was riddled with shards of blessed mithril. Chunks of flesh was hanging off his body, and hints of his bones could occasionally be seen, like a zombie. At this very moment, pieces of mithril were still spinning around and shredding his body. He was dying. Despite all of this, he was wildly, and loudly laughing. Julius’ unusual actions put Alistair on guard.

Then, the laughter abruptly stopped. Julius’ presence disappeared. Alistair was unsure whether he should stay or move in to check whether Julius had indeed died. These few seconds of nothing but a tempest of mithril moving about felt like an eternity. A barely audible voice that broke the silence was heard. If Alistair hadn’t heightened his senses to their limits, he wouldn’t have picked up the voice.

The voice said, “Worldbreaking technique: Elemental Drive.”

The space around Julius seemed to expand and contract, and all the mana in the area began gathering toward him. The swords and pieces of metal stuck in his body slowly pushed themselves out, and Julius’ body began to disintegrate. There was a huge, disturbing fluctuation of mana within the twister of mithril. Around the world, some of the strongest immortals noticed the fluctuation of mana, suddenly stopping what they were doing and looking in the direction of where Alistair and Julius’ battle was taking place. Julius’ body was like a vacuum, endlessly absorbing mana.

When the fluctuation of mana stopped, there was a large resounding explosion of mana that shook the world. A blue pillar of mana appeared with Julius at the center, instantly vaporizing the mithril surrounding him, and ripping a hole in the white layer of mithril above him to reveal the originally blue sky. The blue hole was almost immediately engulfed by the whiteness of the other millions of white mithril shards.

A beam of highly pressurized, clear water ripped through the air in a horizontal line. The beam of water seemed to create a rip in space itself. Wherever the beam of water cut through, shards of mithril instantly disappeared. Alistair raised his shielded left arm to defend against the pressurized water, but the force behind it still pushed him back.

The fragments of metal between the two cleared away to form a large ring surrounding the both of them. The being in front of Alistair caused him to sweat, it wasn’t human. An inch of flesh could no longer be seen. Its left arm was made of white flames, right arm made of a clear water that constantly flowed, legs and body sculpted from earth. Each of its limbs was connected to its body by visibly dense blue streams of mana. Even its entire head was made out of the blue mana. The sheer mana it emitted made the air many times heavier, making the air resistance similar to what it’d be like swimming in water.

Although they were floating in the air at the same level, it felt like the being was looking down on Alistair.

The being slowly opened its mouth, and asked, “Are you scared?”

The voice no longer sounded like Julius’ smooth voice. It was deep and mysterious, and came from all directions, yet Alistair knew that it came from the entity across from him in the air. Alistair brandished Excalibur in a stance with no hesitation.

Hearing no response, the entity laughed, “It was a mistake to make me your first target. Had you gone after Haku or Schwarz first, you might have had a chance.”

Through words alone, Alistair felt pressure bearing down on him, weighing his body down. Actually, Julius also specialized in close-ranged combat. An unprecedented close combat mage. His Worldbreaking technique “Eternal Gale Barrier Sylphia,” was designed to nullify long-ranged attacks and force enemies into close quarters. A unique prodigy of a mage that had never once lost a fight.

The being continued, “To me, others on the level of immortals are nothing. I could easily destroy a group of ordinary immortals in this form. I have become the world’s first Omni-Elemental.”

An entity that shouldn’t exist in nature. An elemental composed of all four elements. This is what he would call, “Using all elements to their fullest potential.” Through Julius’ understanding of the elements, he had been able to use an ability to temporarily discard his mortal body and become an Elemental. The strongest Elemental in existence.

“The only thing I fear is coming up with an excuse to explain your death to the other members before I kill them!” Alistair roared in defiance. Waves of shining white mithril fragments shot towards Julius.

Julius moved through the air with a boom, his speed was so fast that it broke the sound barrier. His movements seemed to be blessed and favored by the wind, and the metal shards surrounding him spread apart to form a path towards Alistair due to the force of his momentum. Julius appeared right in front of Alistair in the blink of an eye.

The pure heat radiating from Julius’ left arm of white fire set Alistair ablaze without touching him. Alistair was engulfed in white flames and was burning alive. Even while on fire, Alistair made a savage grin filled with bloodlust.

Unphased by being set on fire, Alistair shouted, “Worldbreaking technique: Infinity Starlight Slash!” He swung Excalibur once at Julius body sculpted from earth in a blur of light. A single slash, but eight deep and destructive gashes appeared on Julius’ earthern body. Alistair kept chaining the same slash until he reached his limit for a total of ten times. Julius’ earth sculpted body was cracked and covered in eighty deep cuts. The mana holding Julius’ limbs together visibly trembled from the damage.

“Is that all?” Julius questioned while slowly pulling his right arm back in preparation for a punch. His right arm of water was set like an arrow drawn on a bowstring. Alistair knew that the punch would hold a devastating amount of power behind it.

Alistair prepared to block the blow with his Prismatic Light Shield, when he realized something was off. He couldn’t move his left arm. It was actually being suppressed by Julius’ Worldbreaking technique: Gravitas, an advanced form of wind magic that controlled gravity. In a battle where small movements were crucial, and even the slightest deviation led to death, that ability proved to be especially terrifying and effective. Since his left arm was useless, he chose to dodge the blow instead.

Alistair moved to the side, but his right leg was slightly heavier than normal. That was when he realized it. He had been played with and trapped from the very beginning. Julius had let him execute his ten Infinity Starlight Slashes to let him lower his guard before using Gravitas. He had made a fatal mistake. It was too late.

Alistair slightly moved his body, but Julius’ arm made of water struck towards him, cleanly piercing through his chest. Thanks to his quick reactions, Alistair had managed to avoid having his vitals hit. Alistair’s Prismatic Light Shield disappeared, and he dropped Excalibur. The holy sword quickly fell into the storm of blade fragments surrounding them. Both of his arms weakly limped down to his sides.

Alistair coughed out a mouth full of blood with a pained face, and still with an arm pierced into his chest, struggled to say, “I’ve hidden the demons on the Vale continent. Ten years from now they’ll form a guild of immortals and head to the Heaven Arena. They hold a deep grudge against Paragon. Even if I die, Paragon is done for.”

Alistair disregarded the predicament he was in, and smiled and laughed serenely with a trail of blood dripping down his mouth.

“The last words of dying vermin,” Julius scoffed in disdain with his head made of mana.

Strangely, Alistair’s grin grew vicious at those words.

“Didn’t you know? A CORNERED RAT WILL BITE THE CAT!” Alistair shouted. He secretly motioned with one of his burning hands that weakly hung to his sides.

Within the storm of blade fragments that surrounded them, the contour of a fully-formed sword could be seen directly behind Julius. Excalibur. It was the sword he had dropped earlier. In the split second his chest was stabbed through with Julius’ arm, he had formulated this plan. It was time to reap the fruits of it.

Excalibur revealed itself within the spinning tempest, and flew at Julius from behind. It was the fastest Alistair had ever controlled the legendary sword in his life. In a flash of light, it impaled Julius’ body from behind, and Alistair who floated directly in front of him. Both were skewered by the mythical sword Excalibur.