Above them, the clouds roared. Lightning rained down, striking around them in a violent storm as the Magus unleashed his wrath. Bolts turned the ground to glass, forcing Ben to weave through the inferno.
But he never stopped moving.
He deflected two more strikes mid-air, flipped forward, and came crashing down with a meteor-like strike.
The Magus roared. With a pulse of aether, he reversed gravity around them, the world flipping sideways in an instant.
Ben twisted in the air, adjusting mid-fall, and hurled himself back with brute force. The pickaxe spun like a wheel, crashing against a jagged arc of black lightning, shattering it.
Sparks burst between them as their weapons clashed again.
Ben bled from shallow cuts, his armor cracked in places, but his grin never faded.
The Magus's face was no longer calm. Sweat lined his brow. Blood ran down his side.
