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Ulvala, Gray Phoenix Tower, 50 Floors, Time: 11:30 AM
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"I...am...losing?!" Ludwig loses the clash against James. It seems the tables have turned in James's favor.
"Anger's Thorns!" James's vines start to barrage Ludwig, stabbing him multiple times.
James realized what he just said, "Anger's Thorns? I could've come up with a better name..."
"Woo! That's it! Go, go! My Jamie!!!" Mianne cheers, holding a sign that reads "Go, Jamie!!!" while her guardian waves it around too. We will never know where they got it from.
"You little shit! I will end you! De as van Phoenix!" A bunch of small flame particles appear out of thin air as they try to attack James.
"Die! Die! DIE!" Ludwig kept shooting a bunch more flame energy at James, making sure he was done for.
"Jungle Flora Typhoon!"
However, the flame particles cool down and simply disappear, with James summoning a bunch of swamp typhoons toward Ludwig, which makes him caught in it and erupt into the sky.
Ludwig was in the sky as he thought to himself about what he was doing, 'I am losing...to a KID! I won't let you accept this...no...no!' Ludwig's thought was cut off as he landed back down to the ground.
"What?! NO, NO! I WON'T ACCEPT THIS!" Ludwig exclaims as he punches the ground. He starts to glow with an orange aura.
"You wanna play like that?! FINE!" Ludwig says as he pulls out his rune.
"GRAY PHOENIX!"
Ludwig holds onto his rune almost intensely, with him even bleeding on his head.
Ludwig's legs start to transform as a bunch of flames cover them. His legs finally take the shape of pearl leggings with three-legged feet and orange lines going through them. Orange wings burst out of Ludwig's back.
"This is where your fate is sealed, you brats!" Ludwig flies toward James with incredible speed, catching him off guard. Ludwig grabs James by the throat and throws him into the air.
"This is over. Vlam Bekrachtigde Explosie." Ludwig lands on the ground and creates a giant firebomb, causing a shockwave that blows Mianne away.
"You will not come back from this! DIE!" Ludwig yells as he throws the bomb at James, who is still in the air.
"Dammit! What can I do?! Quick, James, think!" James is unprepared for this attack, but he quickly thinks of a plan.
He decides to use his Solar power again, but this time, with his new abilities.
"Drench." James's halberd starts to grow a fluid sac, increasing in size rapidly.
"W-woah, it's so heavy!" James exclaims, struggling to lift the sac.
Finally, the fluid sac reaches its maximum size, almost as big as the fire bomb itself.
James's arms tremble as he tries to swing it. 'Holy...'
"S-so heavy..." James says, screaming and pulling the sac with all his might.
The halberd finally moves to the other side as James falls like a meteor. Both the sac and the fire bomb collide with each other.
Mianne was scared a little, "I think I should probably get...moving..."
Angel hears this and offers to give her a piggyback ride.
Mianne grabbed onto her guardian, "Thank you, Angel...We need to get everyone before the tower crumbles on everyone else!" Both of them take off to the lower floor to save Ace and Koras.
The bomb starts to power up as Ludwig adds more energy to it.
"I WON'T LOSE TO A LITTLE BRAT!" Ludwig yells as he pours more energy into the bomb.
The firebomb seemed to be only bigger which was about to overwhelm James.
James clenched his teeth, pushing himself beyond his limits and exerting all of his force, "I won't let you destroy..."
His muscles started to bleed, and he bit his lip even harder.
"THE CHILDREN DREAMS ANYMORE!!!"
James screamed as he pulled everything he got into the attack.
The fluid sac pushes back the firebomb, causing it to dissolve with the lack of magic.
"HAAAARGH!" James continues to fall with his giant fluid sac. Mianne runs away before she gets soaked in dirty mud water.
"Ooooh shit..." Ludwig mutters as he gets slammed by the heavy fluid sac. The force is so powerful that the floor starts to break apart, with both of them falling to the lower floor.
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Ulvala, Gray Phoenix Tower, 49 Floors, Time: 11:40 AM
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"And then he threw me off the cliff and plunged me into the sea!" Ace yelled. It seemed that these two were having a little talk about their lives as they finished their battle.
"Damn, your brother kinda sucks, huh?" Koras laughed a little, as it seemed Ace was telling his story about his big mean older brother.
"Yeah, you could say that..." Ace said as he continued to smoke his tobacco. He felt relaxed, and Koras remained silent.
However, their conversation was abruptly interrupted as Mianne slammed through the open window.
"ACE!!! QUICKLY, GET YOUR WINGS UP!" Mianne yelled in a panic.
"Why? What's wrong, Mianne?! Where's Jame?!" Ace said calmly, trying to make Mianne stay calm.
"He's gonna..." The floors started to tremble before Mianne could finish her sentence.
All of a sudden...
"GRAHHHhhh..." James's scream was heard before he disappeared to another floor.
"What just happened?" Koras said as the floors started to tear apart.
"Woah, woah!" Koras said as he almost fell into one of the floor holes.
"It's gonna fall apart! Quickly!" Ace said as his wings burst out of his back, and he started to fly off the towers. Mianne's guardian grabbed her and flew out of the towers.
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Ulvala, Gray Phoenix Tower, 1 Floor, Time: 11:50 AM
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As James broke through the floors one by one, going from 50 to 1, they finally reached the bottom just as the fluid sac exploded into a bunch of muddy water.
The tower started to crumble around him.
"HAHA! YOU BASTARD!!! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DEALING WITH," Ludwig laughed maniacally as the tower began to collapse, bringing them down to the first floor.
James rushed toward the door, not looking back at Ludwig.
"YOU'RE GOING TO DEAL WITH EVERY SINGLE DISTRICT AND ORGANIZATION OUT THERE, HAHAHA!" Ludwig had lost it as the crumbling rocks crushed his spine, leaving him unable to move.
More rocks came down, further crushing Ludwig.
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Ulvala, Ruined Gray Phoenix Tower, Time: 11:50 AM
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James successfully got out of the towers and saw Ezra and Nathan waiting outside, both with worry on their faces.
"Don't worry. I'm okay!" James said, smiling at both of them. Nathan laughed, and Ezra rubbed his eyes in relief.
"JAMESS!!!!"
Mianne screamed from above as her guardian put her down. Mianne rushed to hug him, and James smiled, embracing her back.
"Guess that's it, huh?" Koras said, looking at the crumbled tower.
His eyes started to tear up as he finally achieved it. His wishes had finally come true.
"I'm finally free, Vermilion."
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