Backup
Griffin starts slowly walking towards Emery, his sword bursting into flames hotter than a fire drake’s breath. In response, Emery activates his magic, enveloping his sword in a circulating compressed water.
Griffin slashes horizontally, a searing-hot blade of fire flinging from his sword towards Emery. The flame-blade shakes the cavern as it flies through the space towards Emery. With a desperate vertical slash, power amplified by his water magic, Emery manages to deflect the fiery slash to the ceiling of the cavern. The intense clash between sword, water and fire, shakes Emery’s worn-out blade, making a sound like cracking ice.
Griffin leaps toward Emery with a hungry expression and crazy glint in his eye, as if he was an animal hunting his prey. Emery swings his sword back, desperation in his eyes, attempting to cut the Commander down. Griffin swings his fiery blade into a direct clash with Emery’s blade. A metallic screech, followed by a thunder-like snap, pierces Emery’s ears like a knife, as Griffin’s adamantite sword snaps his blade in two, roaring fire trailing behind. Seeing his blade snap right before his eyes, Emery feels instant shock and terror course through his body; this is it, I’m dead!
Griffin uses the momentum of his swing to deliver an explosive fire-powered gut punch with his other hand, cracking Emery’s metal armor and instantly driving the air out of his lungs. Emery crashes back into the cave wall in a thunderous smash, droplets of blood flying from his gaping mouth.
Griffin laughs maniacally as he looks down at the utterly defeated Emery. Emery tries to get up, but his vision has gone blurry, his ribs are cracked and he is barely able to maintain consciousness.
“Ahahaa! Just look at how weak you are, you really want to remain weak!? Pathetic! If you would only join my chosen, I could give you power, I could make you strong!!” Griffin shouts, trying to convince Emery to join him.
“I am weak… but you… don’t get so full of yourself” Emery says, smirking as he glances over Griffin’s shoulder.
Behind Griffin, there’s a hand grabbing onto the ledge of the hole. Emery sees Kline’s white hair slowly poking out of the hole as he pulls himself up. Just as Griffin turns his head back, suspecting something, Kline blasts him away with a powerful beam of water magic. Griffin is sent whistling through the cavern like a bullet, smashing into the cave wall with water splashing everywhere.
“Emery, are you alright?” Kline asks in an unusually calmly tone.
“B-been better…” Emery responds, followed by a blood-splattering cough.
Griffin groans in pain, his whole body igniting on fire as murderous intent radiates from him. As he exits the cavity that his body created in the stone wall, he has a furious expression on his face.
“I’ll handle this, Emery… I understand it now, what Lumare meant by the true essence of water…” Kline says quietly.
Even though Emery wants to help, he realizes that he would only slow Kline down in his current physical state; Emery has to grit his teeth and place his trust in him.
“Don’t you dare lose, Kline!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll win.” Kline says with intense determination in his voice as he begins walking toward Griffin.
Kline conjures both his water-whip and shield, ready to face the Commander head-on. Griffin gets into a battle stance, the same one he was in when he shot towards Emery, now itching to strike Kline down.
The World Stones 