"Annoying bastard!" Ifrit lunged at Max, the flames on his body at an all-time high as it caused the air around him to warp.
Max knew that getting into proximity with Ifrit without a plan would be the end of him, thus he fled like his life depended on it.
"Stay the fuck away from me," Max yelled as he ran. Meanwhile, Mal was at a different part of the arena considering if he should use the remainder of the water in the tank to attack Ifrit.
With Ifrit's flames hot enough to scorch the earth and turn it to magma, He doubted it would make much of an impact, after all, it was just normal water.
"Tch, if I had known I would have swallowed two more lakes. Darn it." Mal could only lie in wait, for an opportunity to either defend a long-ranged attack from Ifrit or to hit him where it hurts.
Just then, Ifrit made to attack with a fireball. Mal saw this and was about to make a move as well when Max sent a message telling him to not attack yet.
With Foresight, Max had already foreseen Ifrit's attack thus, he acted accordingly.
"My turn." Skidding to a stop, he pulled out the Staff of Order and willed it to stretch.
"Hah!" He brought the staff down intending to smack Ifrit.
"Hmmph, naïve." Ifrit snorted as he casually moved out of the way after which he hurled the fireball at Max.
Max remained unmoving as he stared at Ifrit… or was that the case?
"Now!"
Ifrit panicked as he was well aware that Max's dastardly frog summon was still around but it hadn't acted yet.
He already made a conjecture that the frog was a danger to him if he wasn't careful, thus he cursed inwardly for not putting more importance on it.
Unfortunately, though, there was nothing behind him, just endless fog caused by the previous collision of water and fire.
He frowned. "This…" it was then he realized that something was not right.
He quickly switched his attention back to Max but it was too late.
He felt something heavy slam into his torso, sending him down to earth with a crash.
The area around him quickly melted on impact.
Ifrit struggled to open his eyes just in time to watch the Staff of Order move about in a strange manner, at this point, it was more like a vine but still had the makings of a staff.
He was beyond confused. "What is the meaning of this?"
He was well aware that Max's staff could stretch itself but this was the first time it acted in such an anomalous fashion, with no specific structure to it.
Before he could break out from his initial shock, Max attacked again.
The Staff of Order bent and twisted before proceeding to wrap around Ifrit, placing the elemental in a bind.
"Damn it, do you think this can hold me!" Ifrit bellowed as he increased the intensity of his flames but despite his valiant efforts to break free, he remained bound.
Just then, Max leaped into the boiling crevice and landed on his staff, with vines growing out of the staff to wrap around Ifrit. "How you doing?"
Ifrit roared. "Free me this instant!"
Max paused momentarily before he replied. "How about no?"
"Mal, now!"
The large frog revealed himself with a frown on his face. "This is definitely going to leave a mark."
He opened his mouth and his tongue shot out, wrapping around Max and Ifrit.
As his tongue came in contact with Ifrit, it quickly scalded causing Mal to tear up but he did not relent as he proceeded to swallow both Max and Ifrit.
With a loud gulp, the battlefield turned silent.
Everyone watched with bated breath as the peculiar match inched to an end.
***
Inside Gibby's intestine…
Cedric laid down on the ground, facing the 'ceiling'.
He sighed helplessly as he felt his body ache from the beating he just received. He knew Max was stronger than him but so strong that he couldn't even land a single hit… it was somewhat embarrassing.
Just then, he felt Ifrit fall into a dark space that seemed to stretch on infinitely. Above him, Max stood tall with a grin on his face.
At first, Cedric was confused by this before realizing that maybe Max could clone himself and what's more, his clone was ridiculously strong.
He wondered which of the Max was real; the one before him or the one facing Ifrit.
He felt his liver itch at such a cheat-like ability.
He remained silent as he watched Ifrit exchange words with Max before proceeding to detonate himself. A second later and his connection with Ifrit was blurred by bright flames that stretched on for miles.
Of course, Max was caught up in the explosion and died without a chance to defend himself.
Closing his eyes, he felt his bond with Ifrit weaken slightly, meaning that Ifrit had died and his rank had regressed. He was still a Lord rank, but his past self and his current self were no longer the same.
With Ifrit dead, Cedric knew he had lost the fight. If even with Will Assimilation, he could only barely keep up with Max, what would happen now that he was all alone?
But still, he refused to admit defeat so easily, if he did, then what would be the need to have crossed that line?
There would be no meaning, whatsoever. Thus he chose to fight!... Fight until there was no longer any reason to!
Max on the other hand stood away from Cedric, his eyes trained on him.
He had felt the moment that his copy outside died facing Ifrit and it was indeed a good fight. Thankfully, there was no real damage.
He watched as Cedric's flames died down and the flaming skull that hovered above him disappeared like a lie.
But despite his strongest skill leaving, Max could faintly tell that Cedric's fighting spirit was not affected in the slightest, in fact, it seemed to soar even higher now that Will Assimilation had ended.
It was then that Max realized… the fight was not over, yet.