“Looking for me?” Alex called out from one of the tree branches afar.

Flamailo, “How did you get there?”

Alex, “My barrier is bouncy.”

By controlling his mana to flow more freely he was able to erect a bouncy spherical barrier. As it took the tsunami flames impact, it used its momentum and went rolling down to another tree.

Angered, Flamailo charged at him.

‘Alright it’s now or never.’ Alex’s legs were shaking. He was about to do something only expected to be done in movies.

“Is that all? Tch, I expected a better performance.” Alex said provoking the demon. Taking the bait, Flamalio quickly readied his strongest spell. Alex backed up a little for a run up.

“Take this brat! Tier Two: True Hell Devourer” Similar to the normal hell devourer but this time the skull had more defined features and burned with an intensity Alex had never seen before. He waited for the giant flaming skull to come close enough. Since Flamailo got bigger his attacks had also undergone a drastic change when it came to size and power.

When the skull was half a meter away from the branch Alex drew the mana from the sword and into his body concentrating them at his feet and ran on top of the tree branch. Just before collision he jumped over the flaming skull. His sword emitting black energy. Since the flaming skull almost had a physical form this time around Alex took the risk and landed on it for a brief second before jumping again for Flamailo, aiming for his eye. Flamailo being in the middle of casting a spell wasn’t able to react properly. Alex’s sword stabbed right into his left eye.

“Aaahhh!!” Flamailo cried in pain in his distorted voice. However, Alex didn’t stop there he had already taken an all too familiar stance.

“Mad Sage: Raging Streak!” Alex shouted as he performed it on Flamailo’s face. The dark mana wave seemingly emerging from his body travelled all the way down to Flamailo’s body until it crashed into the ground. The large body fell limp on the ground. Alex dragged himself away from it as he breathed heavily. He hadn’t come out of it unscathed.

“Shit… I am… even cooler than act-action heroes.” Alex blurted in between ragged breaths. Flamailo wasn’t dead, his right part of the body was very badly injured and had knocked him unconscious. Alex didn’t know if this attack in such manner would kill him but he didn’t have any other choice due to the limited moves in his arsenal. However, his relieved face soon turned serious as he saw Flamailo’s body erupting mana.

‘Does this guy ever plan on staying down?’ The ten-minute mark Flamailo was thinking about had passed by. Flamailo’s body got up. His eyes were now both burning with flames. Consequently, he started throwing attacks randomly here and there. Putting the forest on fire.

‘Looks like he has gone berserk from the thing he took.’  Alex stood up using his sword as support.

However, before he made any moves, unnoticed by him a flaming hand hit him as he went flying and crashed into a tree. Blood spurted out from Alex’s mouth. He tried to keep his head straight, the world was spinning for him. Alex had no more strength to get up. That attack was rather fatal. He knew that his small tricks would work only to some extent. Alex understood well that against absolute power everything was futile.

At this point the notion of him taking Flamailo and the other two of them on looked laughable to him. Alex was losing consciousness.

‘Oi, Miracle… can you …like give me a boost in power like that time… I fought with the bandit?’

‘That won’t be enough. I have another alternative. Switch with me.’ Miracle replied in Alex’s head.

‘What?’

‘Switch with me, as you are now you will die and you won’t be able to defeat him.’ The dragon reasoned.

Alex, ‘What is this some kind of demonic position or what? You think you can take control of me and go on a rampage. I’ve watched several anime like this you know.’

‘Think what you will but if you do not will it, we can’t switch and if we don’t, we will die, a simple boost in power like before won’t allow me to heal your injuries like last time. Even if I heal, them, I’ll go into sleep for a while for breaking your limits and this isn’t the only enemy, we need to be wary of right now!’ Miracle stated urgently.

Alex remained silent, only the sounds of burning forests and the roar of the huge creature ringed in his ears. It wasn’t that Alex didn’t trust him; he was simply scared. The thought of losing control over himself scared him. The pain clouded his will and made him want to give up.

Suddenly there was something within him that gave him the feeling of a switch.

He stood in the starry night next to the Dragon’s face in his dimension. Alex’s eyes widened as he found the dragon’s face close to him. He had seen till now several times in Miracle’s dimension for training. But this was the first time he never felt scared looking at the huge dragon and that too so close to him. Instead, he felt a sense of relief.

‘Switch.’ He raised his hand and gently kept it on his large face. As soon as the thought came in Alex’s mind, his black eyes turned blue with black slits in it. Some of his hair turned to dark blue. Alex stood up normally as if nothing had happened. He then lifted his hand and joint his index and middle fingers together. The next moment a soft black spherical light appeared over them which he traced over his wounds.

Not even a second later they began to heal rapidly. They were completely healed in less than a few seconds! This was the main reason for Miracle to switch his consciousness with Alex’s so that he can perform this technique. It wasn’t something the Alex of now was capable of performing. This also allowed him to spend less energy and avoid breaking his limits again.

“Now let’s go on an insect hunt.” A heavy voice, came out of Alex’s mouth.