Aphele POV

I'm not a man of faith; Crismon has always taught me to fend for myself. However, after that mess with Ferra and Alihain, I've realized now more than ever that there is far more to Terra than even I realized. And with that claim, I'm hoping I can use this solo journey of mine to calm myself. Old folk tales said a special graveyard built off a famous site simply called The Hole. Rumors say that the plain between the Other Side and the living world were combined there. And I hope that through here, I can finally find something that would find me the path of victory.

A thin veil of fog started to fill my immediate surroundings as my feet trudged across a misshapen, chaotic overgrowth of stone. Mishandled old tombstones layered with iron gates. Much like every location in the Darkness Province, the very existence of this place was enough to have me on edge, which is probably why I was able to defend so well against a blast to my side! I was lucky that I did, as soon enough, I collided with a now crumbling tombstone! My bruised and smoking arm was so distracting that I almost didn't notice the mysterious voice.

"This is private property, cretin, leave now, or the next one is fatal."

Normally I would have gone on my way, but these past few months have awakened something in me, a burning determination that won't quit. And something tells me that if I don't take this journey now, I will fall and not get up again. So with eyes as hardy as any metal, I stared down the mysterious voice and said.

"I'm sorry, but unless this property has your name on it, I'm not leaving. And neither will you if you don't stop right here and now!"

"Fine, if that's the case, then, by all means, you go first," the voice said venomously.

At once, four separate beams of light came from different directions, all ready to pummel me into the ground! Too bad for him, I already took precautions. I could never hope to match Brandon's natural agility, but I can compensate! From my back, a pillar of flame erupted to send me high into the sky, avoiding every blast with ease. And from on high, I stood on 2 feet of flame while I surveyed my surroundings, but I found nothing. But that quickly vanished when a stray blast of light nearly attacked my side! My split-second dodge and barely contained flight did give me a change of perspective, though. I now saw that the golden beams were being redirected through a series of yellow barriers. And no matter how many rebounds take place, I can track their trajectories from there.

Forgoing all caution, I dove in like a winged demon! My mysterious opponent tried to attack back, but my minute propulsion gave me enough to either dodge or tank the hits. Each one felt like getting hit by a canon, but I powered on just enough to land with a blanket of flames across the entire area! I thought that would have least gotten a peep of pain, but the area sounded as if no one was there. My senses cranked up to an absolute high as I trudged through the area on alert. Just when I thought the tension was unbearable, my patience bore fruit.

A light crackle and move of a pebble were all I needed to throw the unseen foe into the now cratered ground reflexively! But before I could get a good look, the figure vanished in a shimmer of light. At that moment, a baker's half dozen more crackles echoed across the graveyard; I readied myself in a fighting stance. From there, I engaged in the deadliest dance of my life, dodging each joust by a hair. Through this, though, I saw plenty of openings, realizing that whoever my opponent was, close combat wasn't their strong suit. Using my strength, I can knock back 5 out of the six clones as I stopped the last one in mid joust! In an angry grip, I commanded my unseen opponent.

"Are you finally going to show yourself, or are you just going to hide behind more tricks?"

"You're right; a proper introduction is in order."

Suddenly a small platoon of invisible decoys started to hold me in place as the one in front of me to reveal his face. From it, I saw a man with blond wavy hair in an oriental purple trench coat, and with the cockiest smile in the world, he said.

"The name's Deon; hello," he said as he vanished in another shimmer to reveal another copy that crackled with lightning.

"And goodbye!"

Soon enough, a fork of lightning struck into my side! The pain I felt was almost indescribable as I'm sent forward in a powerful explosion! Burning blood soon dropped along with me as I'm sent down to the bottom of a hill. Wavering and unfocused eyes looked to Deon's angelic pose as he held a giant ball of light in his left hand.

"This has been fun, but it's lights out!"

A deep fear was instilled in my body, only for it to be answered by a sudden solution. This urban jungle was filled with hardened stone, giving me all of the metallic ammunition I needed! Through the wave of a hand, I collected the metal to create a trusty blindfold around Deon's eyes!

Panic seized his expert aim, giving me the hope I needed to keep on going! Again propulsion took place, lifting my body in a start as I blasted myself in a b line straight towards him! From the momentary roar of my flames, Deon's eyes refocused and aimed the blast right at me!

"I don't need sight to beat you," he said!

Before he could get a complete shot, I morphed the blindfold into a handcuff to his left hand! From it, I diverted the blast below to explode like a landmine! The entire landscape erupted in a holy wave that bathed us both! The next thing I know, we were both sent sailing across the air, with just enough range for me to unleash the hardest punch I could muster! However, even in the wildest of situations, Deon's defenses kept up, as a field of lightning blasted both of us away, diverting the punch halfway! The next thing I know, we are both sent crashing to the ground in a brutal heap. I could barely even comprehend the pain I felt as my wound burned hotter than any flame I ever made.

This means it's only a matter of time before the bleeding would take hold of my life. With that in mind, I took the piece of metal from earlier and started to heat it immensely! My body can handle fire just fine, but that doesn't mean heat was all together canceled, which means that a small metal piece became my saving grace. My resolve once again hardened, becoming something darker and even more powerful! That certainty was the thing that pushed me to the edge, as I took the now hot piece of metal and applied it to my side! A guttural roar ripped across the night sky as Deon soon got back up to regain control.

"What kind of mad man are you?!" he said in disbelief.

'The man who's going to beat you into the ground, but you can call me Aphele," I said in a bloodthirsty tone.

In the beginning, I fired a small jet of flame Deon's way, forcing him to duck in between a large row of tombstones. From there, I formed a vambrace over my right arm and readied my flames. Thick tension filled over the entire graveyard as we steadied ourselves into the shootout ahead. Once we both couldn't bear it any longer, we both proceeded to fire! Deon's reflected shots barreled down from various angles. However, I already came prepared, blocking the shots with my new arm while using the flaming jets to swerve and spin out of the way! My focus became crystal clear, but my pain still messed with my aim just enough to have my condensed stream of fire completely miss Deon! Taking this opportunity in stride, Deon met me with an equally powerful blast!

Stone debris scattered like bullets around my person, but once again, a wild idea came into mind at the sight. Using my fire, I surfed across the rocks at full force, grabbing the largest stone I could muster in a twisting throw at full force! Like a rocket, the rock sailed across the battlefield, catching Deon's eagle eye. I could tell he was trying to counterattack, but he, unfortunately, forgot the key point on my plan. Like little firecrackers, I excited the leftover flames of the debris just enough to create mini eruptions. The condensed burst was just enough to completely divert the stone and hit him right in the head! Dust and blood clouded Deon's head as I took the opportunity for all it's worth.

In those fresh few seconds, I grabbed him up and slammed him up straight into a large rocky pillar with the speed of a race car! A crater formed upon our entry, making Deon's body go limp. His earlier arrogant ramblings became nothing more than weak breaths. From there, my relentless guard was lowered, and that fact almost proved to be the death of me, as I felt two familiar crackles behind my back! In a split second motion, I detached my vambrace into tiny shrapnel that tore away at the two decoys with ease! In that small opening, Deon made his move. I felt his clammy hands clasp over my chest as he said these poetic words.

"For my family, and for my pride, I'll be the one to beat you, Aphele. I'll show you Heaven's Wrath!"

But he never even got to that point because I had already had a countermeasure from the earth below thousands of metal pieces collected to form a focused drill of metal that rose into the heavens. This twister met up with a powerful thunderbolt in a climatic collision. And by then, the clash was made irrelevant because, in that storm, I had finally managed to ground the stray bolt through my own complicated construct. At the beautiful sight, Deon finally knew his better as he let go of his grip and slumped to the floor in exhaustion, realizing that all of his efforts meant nothing. Through his dead eyes, I think I finally saw my answer, realizing that the only way I can keep on going was by not letting myself fall in the first place.