I raised my other hand to grab the horn and shatter it with my grip. The pieces fell to the ground and Theodius screamed. "No!!" I stood up and wiped the leftover rain from my face. "With that response, I assume the horn used dark magic. Although, I am curious as to why you aren't just using the stone of Sudre to do all of this."
Theodius used the stone to shoot a beam of magic at me in retaliation. It was too late to dodge and it shot me back into the wall next to Razerous. "Ah!" Theodius clenched his fists as I fell to the ground. "Must I explain everything to you?! If you haven't noticed, the stone of Sudre is an incomplete object. Yes, it can do anything you want even in pieces, but it is not at its full potential. Meanwhile, these objects you're carelessly destroying are at their peak of ability and are designed for a specific concentration that an object with multiple abilities could not reach. If the stone was in one piece it could in fact cover all areas of magic to their highest ability, however, that is not the case here."
May then yelled over to Theodius. "Hey, I thought we weren't supposed to be giving him tips!" Theodius took another object from the air as he responded. "What could he possibly do with that information?" May shouted, confidently. "I don't know, but knowledge is power!" I really didn't like that she wasn't on my side anymore and I needed to get her to listen to me before Theodius killed me.
The next object he chose was the pearl Azul had thrown up for us. I shuddered, thinking about it as I returned to my feet. Theodius noticed and laughed. "Afraid?" I shook my head. "No, I was just thinking about how that used to be inside a mermaid." Theodius looked at me blankly for a moment before letting the pearl float over his palm so he wasn't touching it. "Now! This time I'm using an item that uses light magic so there would be no point in trying to destroy it!"
Water started appearing around the pearl and grew in large amounts. Theodius sent the flood our way and I prepared for the impact when Razerous set a large flame from his mouth, evaporating all the water before it reached us. Theodius glared and sent more water in thin slices at us, quickly. Razerous evaporated them again with his fire breath and Theodius sighed as he put the pearl back with the other items. "I didn't like that one very much anyway." May then had a remembering look on her face and she moved her hand that was free at the bottom of her chains to rummage through her satchel.
After Theodius gave up on the pearl he next chose the harp and the head of Medusa. I quickly covered Razerous's eyes and closed my own in response. "Don't look!" Razerous nodded and I removed my hand from his face. I could hear the hissing of the head as Theodius sent it to float around us. "Memorizing your surroundings won't help you here! Haha!" He started to play the harp and large vines shot through the stones of the floor.
Our balance was shaken and I dodged as I heard more deadly plants move in my direction. I jumped out of the way and my back hit a tree that had sprouted. Another vine then wrapped around me and I quickly cut it apart with my sword before it constricted too tight. A moment later, I tripped over a root and my back hit something else. "Ow." I pulled away, apologetically. "Sorry, Razerous." Razerous blindly stumbled away. "That's okay. We need to get rid of that head."
I tried to listen for it but the crashing of the plants through the ground drowned out the sound. Another vine sprouted and split me and Razerous apart. I swung my sword in defense of the angry plant life and after a few seconds, I heard Razerous use his fire breath. A hissing screech followed, along with a soft thud and Razerous called out to me. "Dedrin, I got it! You can open your eyes!"
I did as he said and turned to see the head of Medusa barbecued on the floor in front of Razerous. "Good work." I turned to see how Theodius reacted and by the anger on his face, I could tell that the head used dark magic. "Fine. But you can't destroy this harp! And neither this bow!" My confidence faltered as he made the bow and arrow we had gotten from the Minotaur load an arrow in the air. This bow had been my previous nemesis and it concerned me greatly that it was both in the hands of Theodius and as well as using light magic.
The bow started shooting rapid fire, an arrow appearing in the bow right after it shot one at us. Theodius then used the stone to make the harp continue to play as he let it out of his hands to float beside him. I deflected the arrows the best I could with my sword but the plants that continued to grow around us messed with my aim. Razerous didn't have any defense against the arrows as he soon found out they were fire-resistant. I tried to stay close to him to protect him from the rapid-fire, but now I couldn't block the vines.
Theodius laughed at our struggle. "Let's take things up a notch." He raised his hand again to take the unicorn plant from above him and ate it without hesitation. His eyes glowed purple for a moment as he swallowed and he exhaled in relaxation. Suddenly, the plant growth became much faster and the arrows were harder to deflect because of how strong they were. "If you're curious, my abilities have now increased by five percent." Theodius laughed.
Razerous jumped over a vine as he responded. "Just five?" Theodius nodded. "Normally, that is considered small, but if you think about that on a scale of unfathomable power, it's quite a lot. It also uses light magic so it increases my performance with the stone of Sudre as well." With the intensity surrounding me, it became harder not to break concentration. 'I just need to break his first!'
Suddenly, a large flower sprouted out of one of the cracks in the ground and shot poison barbs straight at us. I panicked as I couldn't find an opportunity to stop them and they stabbed Razerous in his side while he was distracted. "AH!" He fell to the ground and I turned to him in response. "Razerous!!" I had subconsciously stopped deflecting the arrows and one went straight through my shoulder. "AH!!" My blood sprayed over the foliage in front of me out of the open wound, and pain spread throughout my nerves.
Worry appeared on May's face as she saw me stumble, but I managed to force myself to block any more arrows from hitting me. I breathed heavily from moving so much and Theodius seemed impressed with how fast I was doing it. I looked back at Razerous and saw that he was lying motionless on his stomach while facing away from me and I couldn't tell if he was still alive. The plants had stopped attacking him but I refused to believe that he could've died instantly. 'Please, get up!'