I walked closer to the border of the blizzard. My heart was pounding. And just like last time, I knew he knew how afraid I was. I swallowed my fear and doubt and yelled.

"ARTHAS MENETHIL! THIS ENDS RIGHT NOW!" The blizzard died down. The wind completely stopped. But the fear? The fear kept going. In fact, it ramped up. Behind me I heard the flaps of Silvers wings. I turned around and Silver was gone.

"Good idea..." I looked up at him flying off in the distance.

"TAILS!" Clare yelled to get my attention. I turned around, and there he was... Right in front of me, toe to toe.

He was towering over me. At least three times my size, and I was only three feet tall. I swallowed again, trying to anticipate his next move. He was just standing there, looking at me. Clare was dead silent, I think she preferred to stay in the sheath.

"You will fail, Miles." He broke the silence with his booming voice. I decided to go in smart, unexpected. I focused to try and used my speed skills, but nothing happened.

Shit.

"Is that the best you can come up with?" I replied, being a smart ass can get me killed a lot quicker. I backed up and tried to breathe, but I couldn't. I was shaking too much in fear.

"You have fight, and power. Lots of it..." Arthas pulled his sword out. It flowed with pure power, and I could feel it. "A shame I have to put you down. And when I'm finished with you, I'll made your world bleed and beg for mercy."

Enough chatting. I ran and rolled under him as he swiped left, and managed to hit his calf. Nothing but a scratch in his armor.

He wasted no time to try and kill me. I got up quickly and jumped over his sword, and ducked as he swiped it again. I jumped again and tackled him to the ground, trying to land as many punches as possible.

Each punch made a loud booming sound, and cracked the ground beneath us. But it looked like it was affecting Arthas.

Suddenly a blue aura spoiled up, and exploded, throwing me back a couple hundred feet. I managed to catch myself in the air thanks to my tails, and dived down towards him.

Arthas didn't expect me to have flight abilities, and it caught him off guard. I dived into his face, making another thunderous boom. Arthas slid back a couple feet, making a small crater. This seemed easy. Almost too easy...

I grabbed Clare and swung her at Arthas, hoping to land a hit on him again. Arthas dodged Clare and threw Frostmourne at me.

I managed to dodge it, but not completely. A small cut on my cheek started to bleed. Arthas started to RUN at me, and so did I.

I charged my fist up for an uppercut, and concentrated on the attack.

We both met. I swung my arm up, hoping to get a hit. Arthas dodged it, and that's when I knew I was fucked. Arthas did an uppercut on ME, and sent me flying, causing a massive boom, managing to break the ground into chunks around us. Next thing I knew, I hit a building, and another, crashing into them one by one. My vision was blurry, and I started free falling towards the ground.

I used my tails to slow my descent, and gently touched the ground. I tapped my belt and an armor plating formed around my tails to help hide my identity.

Suddenly everyone started screaming and running away from me. Cars started U-Turning and drove away as fast as possible. A rabbit tripped over himself and struggled to get up.

"Here, you need to go, now!" He recognized me and nodded in response. I helped him up and patted his back. I looked around and realized where I was.

"Shit, Central City!" Bad timing too, Arthas walked around the corner, holding Frostmourne in his left hand. The blade emanated blue, it's aura being intensified by the sub-zero water vapor circling it.

That was fast!

I quickly raised my hand and summoned Clare. We needed to take this out of the city before it gets ugly.

Clare flew right into my hand as I began to run towards Arthas.

"We're doing SOMETHING!" Clare's crystal changed to yellow. I wanted to try something different, so Instead of charging my fists, I charged Clare. The sides of her blades glowed with energy, almost as if she were made for that technique.

I charged at Arthas, and swiped left as hard as I could, hoping this would be the final blow. Arthas did the same, and our swords collided, creating a massive shockwave that broke the glass and concrete around us into a million pieces while the blast sent us both flying.

I caught myself in the air once more and gently glided down, almost tripping from my lightheadedness.

"Woah..." I hurried to my feet, gaining my senses back.

"Tails...? I don't feel good..." Clare struggled to stay in the air. I set her down on the ground flat after looking around to make sure Arthas wasn't nearby.

"Let me see." I examined her closely, and it didn't take me long to notice a crack in her blade. She knew it was bad when she saw my facial expression.

"Alright, that's enough. I'll use my fists the rest of the fight." I sheathed her and looked around for Arthas.

"No! I can still fight!" Clare became angry. I didn't want her to shatter... I stopped at a clear intersection. No cars, no people.

Already? Arthas was nowhere in sight, but I could still feel him. But at the same time,

I could feel Clare fading.

"Stay with me, Clare." I pulled her out again and looked into her faintly glowing eye. The crack was glowing blue.

"I- I'm here." She struggled to speak. Suddenly I felt the ground tremble beneath us. A building on the other side of the city collapsed.

"NO!" I ran as fast as I could without my speed powers to the cloud of dust. I examined the damage through my helmets visor before I spotted two soldiers swinging from a harness from another building. One of them looked familiar, even though they were high up.

I could sense Arthas was nearby. I looked behind me just in time to dodge his sword and roll away. I looked at the building and became angry.

"How many...? HOW MANY DID YOU KILL?!" Without hesitation, without even giving him a SECOND to speak, I punched Arthas in his stomach as hard as I possibly could, which sent him flying through a couple buildings, dropping his sword in the process. I didn't dare pick it up. I ran in the direction Arthas landed, and thought about how I should kill him.

Then I remembered about Clare.

"Clare you okay? How are we holding up?" I continued running, observing the damage I did, sending Arthas through about 7 buildings.

"I'm okay, I think I'm fine." Clare sounded worse, hopefully this was going to end soon.

I arrived at Arthas's impact crater. He was kneeling down in the middle. With caution, I slid the the massive crater and slowly walked towards Arthas. The closer I got, the more I could hear his labored breathing, and his immense power, causing me to sweat. He looked up at me, and laughed. I stopped dead in my tracks, fear overtaking my body as we lock eyes.

He couldn't stop laughing. It was like he was proud or something.

"40 million years..." He finally spoke. What was he trying to say exactly?

"W-what?" I could feel my heart pounding.

"40 million years of chaos, destruction, death, darkness, is what gave me so much strength. I am a god. And yet, you, a mortal, born with nothing, matched my strength in only a day." He laughed more, trying to get up, failing, and kneeled again.

"So end it. End it now, and save your planet from doom. And live the universes 'perfect way of life', and claim your fame." He wanted me to kill him?

I grabbed Clare, and slowly walked towards him. He didn't move a muscle. I stopped halfway, rethinking my plan.

"Do it, boy." Arthas's labored breathing stopped. I walked closer, and got ready.

Clare glowed with power as I got ready to slice his head clean off.

I raised Clare above my head slowly, and charged my fists for extra force.

As soon as I swiped down, in an instant, Arthas summoned his sword, and quickly blocked my attack.

Before I knew it, the force of a million punches sent me through a hundred buildings at almost the speed of sound.

I face planted into concrete and slid across the street for a couple meters. I lied there. Something died in me. I didn't know what though. That's when I could feel Clare's handle. It was lighter than before.

I stood up, and looked at Clare... Or what was left of her...

END OF CHAPTER EIGHTEEN, THE GUARDIAN