Tales of the Endless Empire

Chapter 369 Kaelir vs Thalion (2)

The heat was unbearable this close to Kaelir, but Thalion pushed through the pain and swung for the elf’s neck, ignoring how his skin burned as if plunged into boiling water. Kaelir’s reflexes were exceptional. His body turned to flames, darting several meters back before reforming, letting Thalion’s blade slice through empty air.However, Kaelir had made a miscalculation by retreating only a few meters. Thalion still had Manaslash, which he promptly unleashed to keep up the pressure. Kaelir had already begun channeling a spell mid-swing, but with the crimson slash racing toward him, he was forced to raise a fiery barrier.

This time he poured far more mana into it than before, and Thalion’s attack barely managed to cut through. By the time it did, Kaelir had already ascended five meters higher, waving the staff in his right hand. The tip glowed with red brilliance, and a moment later a blazing lance formed around it before shooting toward Thalion with blinding speed.

The air howled as the projectile tore through it. Thalion was hurled backward when he tried to deflect it with his sword. Before he could even recover, Kaelir had already conjured more than twenty burning arrows made entirely of fire, all hovering beside him in perfect formation. They didn’t remain there for long — with a motion of his staff, they were launched toward Thalion in a deadly storm.

Thalion had finally had enough of how this fight was going. He shifted into Mistform, evading every arrow as they whistled through the space he had just occupied. Meanwhile, he channeled energy into the Sanguis Impera, which began to form massive blood-thorns within what remained of the jungle below. All at once, the thorns shot upward toward the chosen. Kaelir immediately conjured another blazing barrier, far stronger than the last. It was enough to block the barrage completely.

The assault hadn’t been meant to kill him — only to buy time. Thalion shifted into Eagly in an instant and activated a cluster of skills simultaneously. The moment his form changed, the battlefield transformed with him. The dark red flames around them turned blue and extinguished moments later. The remnants of the jungle withered into ash as a violent storm erupted across the mountain.

Thalion ascended with Skydive and Tempest Glide, rapidly outpacing the chosen, who seemed momentarily stunned by the sudden shift. Thalion climbed higher and higher, soon a hundred meters above Kaelir, channeling both Thunderous Eye and Stormcaller’s Fury.

Lightning rained down from the heavens. Several bolts struck Kaelir directly, though he endured the first impacts before summoning another fiery shield. His aura radiated such intense heat that the warm air warped around him, disrupting parts of Thalion’s storm domain and creating a temporary safe zone.

Still, Thalion felt far more comfortable in his Eagly form. Hunting a flying opponent as a human was frustrating — but now the sky was his domain. He didn’t need to approach Kaelir; in fact, keeping his distance was ideal. He would bombard him from above, striking with precision lightning beams while the storm constantly assaulted the chosen below.

"That form… I’ve heard of it before, but I didn’t think it could become this irritating," Kaelir commented, his tone dripping with disdain. He raised both staffs, unleashing countless swarms of fire needles that shot upward, hoping at least one would strike Thalion.

The barrage was difficult to dodge, and Thalion cursed the fact that Eagly had no real shielding skill. The fiery needles cut through the storm, resilient and relentless, forcing Thalion to accelerate and make sharp turns to evade them.

As he flew through his own domain, his storm horns absorbed lightning and continuously recharged his strength. Power surged through his veins, and he began gathering energy for a massive lightning beam.

When Kaelir briefly dropped his round shield to create a flat one above his head, Thalion seized the chance. Usually, lightning struck from above — but Thalion dove, leveling himself with the chosen before unleashing his charged lighting beam from below the barrier.

Kaelir reacted a heartbeat too late. The lightning struck his chest directly, blasting him backward. Thalion kept the beam active, curving through the air and chasing the chosen as he tried to regain control.

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For a moment, Thalion hoped this would end it — Kaelir looked like a mage, and maybe a direct hit like that would finish the fight or at least cripple him.

But a towering wall of fire surged upward, followed by another volley of fiery needles. So much for that. Kaelir stood defiant, a smoking wound burned into his chest — not fatal, but enough to make Thalion realize that this battle was far from over.

"Pyrael’s healing fire," the chosen whispered while Thalion shot back up into the sky. From above, he watched how the wound on Kaelir’s chest closed until not even a scar remained. Great — so the chosen wasn’t just powerful, but also capable of regenerating. Not ideal so far.

Thalion decided to keep his distance and continue raining destruction down upon him. At some point, his superior regeneration had to show and if not, he could always retreat.

Could Kaelir catch him while he was in his Eagly form? With that fiery streak he had used earlier, definitely — but such a skill must cost an immense amount of mana. If Thalion managed to evade him long enough while flying at full speed, he might still be able to outlast him. At least that was the theory.

What Thalion noticed, though, was that Kaelir was holding back. The elf only used those annoying fire-needle swarms and blazing arrows. With over a hundred meters of distance between them, dodging wasn’t much of a challenge. Thalion began wondering if he should even keep the storm domain active. The chosen easily deflected every lightning strike from Stormcaller’s Fury with his barrier. Still, Thalion was fine so far and his mana was around eighty percent.

He fired another lightning beam, this time without diving down, aiming straight for the fiery barrier above the chosen’s head. The normal bolts from Stormcaller’s Fury weren’t strong enough to shatter it — not even close — but his concentrated lightning beam tore through the barrier in a single strike, forcing Kaelir to recast it if he didn’t want to be fried.

Thalion used the brief opening to unleash multiple wind blades. Passing through his storm domain, they grew sharper and faster, but even then, they failed to land. Kaelir was highly skilled at evasion, using short bursts of fire from his staves and feet to propel himself in quick movements that let him dodge every attack except the occasional lightning strike from Thalion’s storm.

Those bolts definitely hurt him — Thalion could tell by the slight twitch Kaelir made every time one hit — but other than that, the elf showed little sign of weakening. Before Thalion could land a decisive hit, the chosen reformed the barrier above him and continued conjuring waves of fiery arrows and needles.

The battle shifted again, and Thalion now had to constantly dodge the relentless projectiles. The arrows seemed to have a tracking effect; they often curved and followed him when he made sharp turns. Without his danger sense granted by his title, he would have been hit countless times.

"Stop this nonsense already! You won’t win this!" Kaelir shouted upward, his patience clearly thinning. Missing a target this many times must have been a new experience for him.

"Kinda funny, because right now it looks like I am winning. Also, you’re rather weak for a chosen. How do you hope to defeat Eric in battle? On second thought, it’s not that surprising, your god is weaker than his patron after all," Thalion taunted.

He had no idea if that was true, but he needed Kaelir to waste more mana. His storm must already be visible for miles, and the last thing he wanted was another powerhouse showing up to test him.

Still, something felt off. Kaelir should have entered this event with a group. Why wasn’t his party here? Were they perhaps preparing some kind of ritual to trap him? It would explain why Kaelir was holding back and only using limited spells. Maybe he was just bait, meant to keep Thalion busy.

But could he even play such a role? The elves considered themselves a superior race — and Kaelir, as a chosen, would never humble himself to act as a decoy. That thought didn’t make Thalion feel any better. A cold shiver crept down his spine.

He began flying in wider circles, scanning the mountain and the plains below for any signs of movement. Nothing. Could they really be hiding from his gaze? His eyesight as Eagly was exceptional — he could spot insects flying a meter above the ground. No, there was no one else nearby. If a group were constructing a large ritual, his danger sense would have gone wild.

Then again, his danger sense had been screaming since the moment Kaelir appeared, so it was hard to tell. Still, something like a ritual cage couldn’t possibly escape his perception.

The only explanation left — the one that still made him keep glancing over the landscape — was that Kaelir had known where to find him. If not the exact location, at least a rough direction. That was troublesome. It meant someone from his group could track Thalion or told him his location.

The realization struck a second later. It had to be the two elves he had met in the safe zone. Kaelir must have crossed paths with them, and they had probably told him about Thalion. Then the chosen had gone ahead to intercept him while his party followed behind. That would explain why Kaelir wasn’t worried about being seen — his reinforcements were already on their way.

And considering how massive this system event seemed, it was unlikely that another chosen would arrive by coincidence. Right?