The announcer raised a hand to signal the crowd dial down on it's cheers and once it got to a comfortable level he smiled.
"Bravo, you all have played your parts well in creating perhaps the most entertaining tournament in the history of this world".
"Now, Ishmael and Avistro, step forward".
They broke from the line and complied with his request, their faces seemed a little hardened but neutral, neither angry, happy nor sad, it could be called something more akin to acceptance mixed with a hint of boredom.
The announcer broke into a small laugh having analyzed them "seems I don't need to say much".
"You only get a maximum of fifteen minutes rest before the battle for third place begins".
A portal was created on the side of them both and with a gesture the announcer asked "do you want to rest here or at your set battlefield".
Both said nothing and simply walked into the portals with a turn, the announcers smile grew a bit wider as his gaze returned to the final round's contestants.
"You two may return to your people, the final round begins immediately after theirs comes to an end".
Both immediately teleported themselves back to where their people were while the announcer worked the crowd in the fifteen minutes of timeout they had before the next fight began, Emrys was rushed at by Leah once again of which he responded to by hugging and smiling warmly looking down at her.
"Hey".
She raised her head from his chest and responded just the same "hey".
His smile grew a little more as he raised his gaze to meet with the rest of his family, specifically they went towards Rachel.
"Well, i'm in the finals now".
"Halfway there to completing my promise right sister?"
He spoke while walking towards the empty seat of Leah and sat down with her on his lap.
She rolled her eyes sarcastically but the smile tugging at her lips were impossible to hide however hard she tried to.
"Only speak of it when you've achieved the full thing".
He smiled, shaking his head a little and turned his gaze towards his aunt who had been watching their little bicker with warmth in her eyes.
"Did you like my perfomance aunty".
She 'hummed' and tilt her head a little to the side pretending to be lost in thought only to smile.
"There's some improvements to be made, but it's acceptable".
Emrys broke our into a small laugh and sighed in defeat as he rest his face atop Leah's head "jeez, what harsh critics you both are".
Leah raised a hand to pat his head "I think you fought amazing Raven" she complimented.
Hearing this Emrys faked a wounded expression while looking at his aunt and showing a look of appreciation at Leah instead.
"Thank you sister, in times like these I can depend on only you".
She giggled at his words and soon added "but– much to the dismay of Emrys who lift his arms up in false protest.
"Oh come onnn, really??".
Leah laughed and he sighed once more but when seeing the contagious smiles on each member of his family's faces, he couldn't help it and simply smiled along with them while internally wishing his mother was present.
Still, Emrys did not allow it dampen his mood as he freely engaged in discussions with his sisters and sometimes his aunt who looked to be lost in her own thoughts most of the time, they knew quite well that it most certainly had to with her duties and made sure not to distract her too much.
Sometimes in-between he would catch a temporary look of worry in Leah's eyes, as if she wanted to tell him something but was dismissing and rethinking over and over again in intervals if she should.
Seeing this he smiled, already having a good idea what it was that bothered her but still made sure to ask considering he could not actually read her mind therefore the possibility he was wrong existed so he took a straightforward approach.
"Something's troubling you I see".
His aunt and Rachel's gazes were immediately drawn towards Leah who seemed to be engrossed drawing randomly across his palm with her fingers but then stopped.
"Her power is of a really terrible nature".
Emrys smiled and playfully pulled at her cheeks "I know".
She frowned a bit hearing the tone of his voice, Leah understood quite well the personality of Raven and was all too fond of it but this time she disliked it's presence in such a situation but made no vocal disagreemts about it still.
"Go all out from the start against her, truly go all out and don't think of testing the waters against her".
"Be fiercely agressive from the beginning to the end".
At this Emrys couldn't help but laugh a bit and playfully tug at her cheeks once again "that is terrible advice you know".
"A battle between beings all too close in power depends on the little mistakes you make".
"To be so aggressive without rest would be to play directly into her hands sister".
Leah 'hummed' to herself but said nothing in response to his words as it was something her sister had advised to her once before and turned out to be correct, both were deemed batlle geniuses earlier on with their own specialised areas but unlike Rachel who was all too experienced with her gift, Leah had somewhat repressed hers all too early due to myriad of reasons.
But seeing the little adorable look Leah had when silently admitting to her being incorrect the smile on his face grew a bit wider.
"Still, i'm glad you worry for me".
"It's something new in a way, you only show absolute faith in me, haha".
She smiled "yeah, Rachel might be rubbing off on me more than I thought".
Rachel rolled her eyes sarcasticly at that comment but then showed her sister a cheeky grin "a good thing i'll say".
Emrys chuckled at her remark and then pulled at Leah's cheeks again, his gaze subconsciously going towards the timer.
"Ah, it's about to start".
[Back at the battlefield]
The two contestants sitting across each other atop the sea of lava opened their eyes breaking free from their meditation, both of their mana reserves had recovered to it's full stregth and now were ready to begin their battle.
There was an air of silence amongst them for a while, seemingly carefully sizing the other up and once done they got up from their sitting positions. Avistro smiled and was the first to break the silence, with a hand under his chin in thought he posed a question.
"If i were to lose here twice in one day before everyone watching, do you think that makes me look a bit fradulent".
"I'd imagine my image will take a strong hit, failures do tend to carry a bigger weight in the mind of the masses no matter the context".
Ishmael raised a brow, a slight confusion marring his face "if that were to happen you would have been losing to two dragons".
"There is nothing shameful in that, we are at the pinaccle of power above all creatures".
"I do not care for the opinions of the masses, the only reason I have here for myself not wanting to suffer a second defeat boils down to one thing".
"I would dislike it greatly".
Avistro smiled upon hearing his simple-minded answer "yeah, sometimes that's the way it should be".
"I really would dislike it greatly too, thank you for that".
Both smiled at the other and then a moment later the air turned heavy as they both transformed into their hybrid states with Avistro's body growing taller turning into armor-like golden scales which reached all the way to his neck and on his face a three horned golden faceless mask was formed leaving just the space for his burning eyes of gold.
On each of his arms were two new bright yellow rings of mana steadily orbiting around like a slightly oversized bracelet and taking the transformation even further, nine greyish-black orbs with a tinge of gold floating at his back in a circular formation.
Both draconian scaled individuals contested in a battle of auras which divided the world in two parts of yellow and crimson with the dragon's heat near instantly vaporising eveything within a hundred thousand mile radius leaving a seemingly endless pit of black beneath them as the sea of lava poured in endlessly from the edges like a waterfall as if wanting to fill that hole yet never amounting to anything of substance.
Yet in the face of such overhwelming power the very fabric of space remained almost entirely as steady as the still waters, barely even a hint of distortion was found bar the four controlled spirals surrounding him on both sides, a phenonemon Ishmael caught on to all too quickly and attributed to Avistro's authority.
Ishmael spread his 4 meter wings wide bringing with it a strong burst of wind as he burst forward with such speed and force even the newly reinforced fabric of space distorted around him but in a blink he found himself back in the same place as before.
"Hm, you weren't this strong before" he commented.
Avistro shook his head lightly "oh no I was, but when you've fought the same person I did even you will be forced to evolve even further".
"Let me show you the fruits of my growth".
Without warning Ishmael suddenly found himself missing an arm, he looked to his right with a lightly scrunched brow seeing his amputated arm slowly drifting off along with the pool of blood as if they were in space again.
Even his body began turning weightless as did everything else including the sea of lava within a million mile radius showing to him quite well this sort of weightlessness was far from normal, even when trying to use his flight to move it felt like a struggle. Almost like he was simultaneously trying to run as freely as he would on land while in the ocean's depths and then still somehow gliding through the clouds all the same, the uplifted body of lava surrounding them was steadily breaking off into little pieces of itself numbering in the millions thereby producing an almost breathtaking scene in light of how horrifying it actually was.
"It was always there yet I did not see it".
"Always used it in some form yet I never realised it".
"My focus at the time was entirely too tunnel visioned on grasping time".
"But it's connected".
"Space, time and gravity".
"All too interconnected, all capable of bending the other in enough quantities".
"With that simple realisation I have awakened to it".
"My newest magic".
Gravity Magic -: <<Black hole>>
A gentle humm could be heard as a dense spiralling ball of black the size of a bead was summoned above the fingertip of his right index and from the moment it appeared everything changed. First, it was like the weight of a million tonnes was pressing down on everything around them, but the worst of it was the pull. The weight barely registered as a problem to Ishmael as his body breezed through it, but the pull was far more devasting and crushing in comparison.
A pull so violent it not just terribly distorted the space but mauled at it, tearing, ripping, crushing and twisting everything from the skies to the sea of lava below and the rocky formations contained within and then to Ishmael himself
Everything indiscriminately got pulled into this violent mixture of where there was seemingly no escape, Ishmael's monstrously durable body suffering the longest as each tear, snap and twist that he would experience occured at a frightenely sluggish pace making it feel all too personal.
"Crimson"
And then in a near instant it was all gone, burned to nothing, from the increasingly denser blackhole to the fabric of this space down the layer of void-like space of which they now currently resided in along with the magic preventing the regeneration of his arm. Ishmael scrunched his brows seeing Avistro looking a little shaken but largely unharmed, just seconds later a smirk graced his lips upon catching on to why this was.
His eyes could see it, from a visual standpoint everything looked normal and his body looked present but the fact his senses could not register him meant it was a lie. Right now Avistro's real body was likely hidden inside another small world which he had connected to this space and that connection was what his eyes could percieve all too well after enhancing it's perception to the limit.
Still, if that was all then the link should have been burned long ago still, only reason he surmise for why it hadn't already was because Avistro had likely harnessed the nature of this space as some sort of 'protective' covering considering it was indeed more than strong enought to withstand his flames in this form.
"Did you break into this space with her before during your fight".
Avistro's lips curved into a smile "yeah, even for her it wasn't so easy to destabilize and destroy this place with her absurd powers".
"It was a gamble, I needed something big and destructive enough to draw your attention and not see what was going on underneath".
A realisation hit Ishmeal "the black hole huh".
"Correct, there is nothing dubious about an attack like that which can give one the impression of it being a ruse".
"It's just that impactful and honest of a phenomenon".
"I can't ever underestimate the senses of a dragon after having both learned about and fought with one".
"Still, it was by a hairs breath I managed to escape those oppresive flames else there would be nothing left of me now".
"Which is why I apologize in advance for this".
Ishmaels eyes widened as a pool of his own blood got caught up in his throat threatening to spill out but was suppressed, one second his heart was beating soundly in his chest and in the next it was gone, simply just teleported out of his body and now beating in the hands of Avistro standing before him.
It regenerated a second later and his look turned to one of annoyance.
"Sorry, it's difficult for my magic to freely operate within the domain of those flames so I need to resort to this".
The heart was one of the most important parts of a dragon and could be used for a myriad of mindblowingly incredible things both known and unknown, knowing this he took the bloody beating heart in his hand and forcefully drew out the remnants of Ishmael's domineering mana contained within of which he carefully guided into his own heart to serve as it's new container, the pain was as excruciating as one would imagine but he bore with it until the heart was ripped entirely of it's mana and had now stopped beating.
Minds mirror -: <
Standing right before Ishmael now was a near perfect copy of himself both physically and in terms of mana signature or strength, if he were to make an estimation in how it compares to himself perhaps something closer to 80%.
But still weirdly enough it wasn't that Avistro had transformed into him truly, if he were to put it in words it would be something closer to standing before two mirrors but casting two different reflection on each individually and right now what Avistro was doing falls more in-line with projecting that second reflection onto himself except one that also affects his insides too.
It can look real and in a way is real, it can feel real and in a way that would be accurate, but in the end at the very core it was but a projection in the simplest of terms.
But at the heart of that projection still was a real piece of his own mana which was now freely circulating through his body along with the near perfect copy, it had been integrated into a false core and now steadily self replicating as if it were in his own body.
"The only way for me to survive those flames long enough was simply.....to become you".
"And now with your mana and mine combined powering my magic-
The veil between worlds trembled as tiny cracks spread all over until it burst to pieces and his body was once again present in this space bringing with it a new and invigorated wave of power like never before perfectly capable of rivalling that of the dragon's.
"There's a good chance I can defeat you now".
Ishmael smiled but said nothing else which surprised Avistro quite a bit, for one he would have thought Ishmael to be angry at having stolen from a dragon and also imitating it's image which they hold to be sacred as divine creatures at the pinnacle of power but when reading his emotions clearly there was nothing of the sort.
In fact, dare he say Ishmael instead looked sort of....proud, like a parent seeing their child grow up into a most wonderful being "Hm, not quite th-
"I think I understand it now".
Avistro raised a brow in confusion "hm?"
"That feeling of amazement you feel when you see what a weaker existence trying it's very hardest to cling onto life when in the face of overwhelming power achieves".
"It uses every resource it can find and if it can't find one then it makes one, it's cunning trascends and eventually when you see it".
"That spark of hope when it finally breaks it's limits, closes the gap and now stands tall once again brimming with confidence before that entity formerly it's nightmare".
"It's amazing, i'm proud of you".
And his hands were suddenly atop the head of Avistro's, gently patting it and just this simple action shook him to his very core sending his instincts running wild with danger signals causing a reflexive action of fight of flight and in this moment the latter won over.
He teleported a distance away and instinctively placed a hand to his chest feeling just how fast his heart was beating, on his face was a smile, one of madness pure madness, fear and excitement.
"How did you do that, what is that movement even".
"I know it's not teleportation and neither was it achieved by your physical speed".
"It's like.....you still haven't or ever even moved even though I see cleary that you have".
"What is this".
Ishmael gently brought his index to his lips in a hush motion and with a graceful smile tugging at the edges.
"Worry not about that for now, I shall face you properly".
"Ready yourself".
Those crimson flames were ablaze once more around his arm as were the nine prominent greyish-black spheres circling behind Avistro and three of which he called forward.
<
In an instant the three orbs were fused into one larger whole and a greyish-black sphere of power spread out like an omni-directional wall but just before it reached Ishmael a little spark hit the wall stopping it in it's tracks.
<
The crimson flames roared with such ferocity the entirety of this space trembled under it's might as it condensed to a needle point only to burn so brightly like a star lighting up the entire space and burning straight through his power of nullification with such ease it shook Avistro to his core but he recovered quickly before it was too late.
<
<
A near transparent shield of greyish-black formed around him making use of four spheres and upon impact the flames vanished, almost it never existed but the searing hot line imprinted across the very fabric of this space told of a different story.
Minds mirror -: <
A large mirror was summoned beside Avistro and from it walked a perfect duplicate of himself bearing a more than half of his power and reserves causing Ishmael's brow to narrow a bit but contrary to his expectations the duplicate simply just levitated there doing nothing.
'Hm, what a dangerous guy'.
'Even if I don't want to worry about my mind automatically will split it's attention between he and the duplicate'.
'If I also give in to my worry of it's threat and try going after it then that leaves me open for whatever he's prepared'.
'But the longer it stays without doing anything the more I worry when it will strike'.
He clicked his tongue in annoyance, it would be so much easier and better if both were to attack at the same time but now he was already caught in his mindgames whether he liked it or not and he for sure did not like it.
Between Avistro and Noctis it was unknown who was the fastest of the two but this also meant that physically, he could not simply just overwhelm him with pure speed like he would want to.
<
The movement of before was a viable option to sever the lingering threat, it basically rewrote his position in the world but a spell like that was too taxing on his reserves even with how monstrous they were and he needed more than enough of it else he could be forced into unleashing his true form.
'Cunning opponents with annoying gimmicks really are a pain'.
'Should have studied a bit of cloning magic'
The crimson flames burning around his arm blazed with an even higher intensity as a giant red magic circle was summoned from above behind him.
Still there remained an eternal rule of the universe, in the face of overwhelming power everything else was meaningless.
<
From it's centre convereged a mass of crimson flames taking the shape of an gigantic arrow more than 30 meters tall, the external heat alone penetrating deep into the fabric of this realm causing streaks of searing hot lines spreading like spiderweb cracks with multiple bits of contained explosions occuring randomly within this beautiful web.
From the moment Avistro had sensed the power in those flames he immediately utilized the link and sent his duplicate into another though he knew quite well that not even that would be enough to save it should he fail in stopping this.
The heat was so overwhelming Avistro felt like the very blood and mana in his own body was boiling him to death, his protection was doing so little to quell it and he knew that in a matter of seconds if he did not take drastic measures then he was sure to be vaporized long before that thing even releases which he could not allow.
Stirring every last bit of mana in his body he gave up on protection entirely for that one split second he would need to complete this spell.
<
<
Minds mirror -: <
<<Loss>>
An endless wall of uneven glass shards ever-shifting in size and shape was summoned between them as if separating this space into two different worlds, one side had been painted over into a world of a greyish hue behind a wall of shards and the other dark as night rid of the influence of those flames.
But even still in that world of grey the hues of crimson still persisted, slowly but surely trying to reclaim it's suppressed influence upon this realm, the greatly diminished arrow of flames still so overwhelming even in such a state.
And then the final spell took hold, there was a sudeen feeling of all-round emptiness, like nothing held meaning anymore. From his memories to his body and mana, to his soul and then to the arrow of flames, everything just grew lesser and lesser. This was not a feeling of suppression or one of sealing, no, Ishmael's power was actually leaving him, fading away to nothing as was his body and soul.
In such a weakened state the full effects of negation took hold entirely, his body turned entirely mortal and powerless, movement was not a viable option for him and even his mind and it's thoughts were restricted.
But there were three things that still persisted in the face of all this, that endless ocean of brimming lifeforce and his soul, no matter how much of it's essence was lost it never seemed to grow smaller. And then the final thing, will.
There was one little thing Avistro did not know about, in fact that barely anyone knew about bar the other divine creatures. All dragons shared one universal nature different from whichever second or third nature they were to awaken later on, it was the symbol of their absolute strength as the pinnacle of all creatures great and small, of the divine and of the dark-
–Dominion–
In moments everything began steadily recovering back to what they were, it looked like time itself was being reversed but this wasn't that. Similar to Emrys's gift of hijacking the world's mana or the power of someone else's, this was one of the aspects of dominion but on an entirely new scale that broke all logic.
Reversal of effects without affecting the natural order or laws of the universe, this was one of the authorities granted to all dragons.
And now with the entirety of his spells just silently dismantled and the brewing arrow of flames reignited to it's diminished state Avistro just stood there umoving, a heavy look of weariness and some acceptance swirling around in his eyes.
Now he was beginning to truly understand it, everything he experienced about them only served to reinforce the truth of their mythology, their standing. And it did so in the most aggressive, violent, terrifying and most beautiful way all just to leave you with no doubts of who and what they were.
He looked up, staring deep into the nothing and then closed his eyes, the heat from those flames hadn't instantly vaporized him long ago of which he attributed to Ishmael himself granting him this final courtesy for a last stand.
Avistro scoffed to himself in amusement at this thought as he opened his eyes, if that was the case then he had to make sure he didn't disappoint.
At a thought he let go of his restrictions and transformed into his true form of an hundred meter tall golden serpent with long curved horns protruding from the sides of it's head, even with barely an ounce of mana left in his body the overbearing power emanating from it's pure physical mass still held such a strong presence.
His duplicate returned itself to this space and now levitated before his gigantic head with an outstretched hand placed onto it, almost immediately massive streams of golden mana surrounded them both but the interesting thing was the fact all of it was being directly absorbed into Avistro's core and the more he took the weaker of a presence his duplicate held until all of it was gone.
With a good portion of his mana restored Avistro roared with satisfaction as he stirred every last bit of it, utilizing the special venomous flames of his race, the power of negation, the power of gravity and the power of space he created four very thin lines each nearly as tall as he was.
Then he launched them just as Ishmael released the arrow, it's blazing path leaving a searing hot line imprinted upon the fabric of this space as they clashed. The very space seemed to warp around inside of itself for a moment and then came a brightness like no other which burned for a few seconds before dying out like it was never there in the first place.
In the aftermath of this clash lay the unconscious forms of both contestants, both terribly wounded and unable to regenerate for now.
The battle between them had finally come to an end, it's conclusion.....a draw.
EnD.