Chapter 20: Find a Plan of Attack

He struck him again and again and again.

The native elves watched with their mouths agape, still trying to process the amount of unnecessary brutality. Strike after strike the boy's wailings served as a testament to the ruthlessness of the elf, and the more he screamed the more enjoyment Winstes took from his actions. He was doing just enough to keep him alive but keep him in a world of pain.

"Now this is what I was looking for!"

Right as he was preparing another attack to come crashing down on Areon he felt a piercing pain invade him from the back of his body. 

"Ahk!"

He turned around to find mister Puff Puff biting deeply into his ankle. His growling more viscous than ever as the wolf stared daggers through the elf.

"Don't look at me like that you damn mutt!"

With a practiced precision, the elder elf preformed a simple kick, the force generated from his leg alone was more than enough to cause mister Puff Puff to lose his grip. 

The wolf whimpered, as it was flung from one side of a village to another as Winstes angrily clicked his tongue.

"Damn wolf is lucky I'm in a good mood."

Boom!

Then from behind the elf a loud blare resounded from the pit. When he turned around he saw that Areon had escaped the pit and his face was etched with a deep, passionate sense of savage wrath.

"Don't hurt mister Puff Puff, you big bully!"

In a fraction of a second, he closed the distance and delivered a kick, with a blazing fire surrounding his foot. 

However Winstes caught his leg and continued to look at Areon with a smirk.

"My oh my, it seems that I hurt your friend."

He then threw the boy into a nearby elf house. The force from crashing into the building caused it to cave in and fall on Areon.

"I want you to have a nice view of the action when I kill your beloved companion in front of your own eyes!"

Winstes stuck his hand out and sent a burst of lightning in Areon's direction, completely annihilating the place, reducing it to nothing but gravel. Though when the dust cleared, he saw that where the boy once was, he was no more. He had completely disappeared. The right eyebrow on Winstes' forehead began to raise.

"Surely that wasn't enough to kill him was it? No of course not! And there was no one else in that house but him, I'm sure of it. No one should have died. I'm not going to kill him yet."

His eyes continued to scan across the village, examining his surroundings for any signs of the rambunctious young boy. He felt his eyes starting to wander as he fought the urge to yawn. Then he felt a rumbling. 

By the time he looked down it was too late.

Areon had blasted his way from underground and connected a strike with his fist to Winstes' jaw.

"Damn him!"

The palm of the elder elf smashed against Areon's face before he gripped onto his head and thrust it into the ground again. Winstes plunged one punch deep into Areon's torso, causing the ground beneath him to crack and his body to bounce off the floor. Whilst mid air he used his fist to punch the child in the side of his abdomen.

The pressure behind the punch was enough to violently project Areon into another pile of rubble but at the last moment he shot fire out from his hands and feet in order to battle the opposing momentum and give him a safe landing.

"Come on! I need to think of a way to beat him. Think! Think! Think! Think!"

Once he had landed, he whipped his head around to see Winstes continuing to strut towards the boy. Areon's eyes widened as he battled his body's instinct to run. This elf had been causing nothing but damage and he still had no clear way of winning yet. Thoughts raced through the boy's head.

"Crap! What do I do? What do I do? What the hell do I do?"

The elder elf continued to wheeze as he approached him.

"Your hits are so annoying, I barely feel them."

Areon gripped his fist.

"One thing is certain, I can't give up yet! Somehow, someway I have to take this guy down!"

Areon readied his palms again before sending another collection of fire blasts in his direction. The elder elf grit his teeth and snared.

"There you go again. Still fighting me like you actually have a chance to do something… it really annoys me when you do that!"

The body of the elder elf disappeared and turned into a stroke of lightning before quickly evading each of his attacks, Areon panicked with sweat rolling down his forehead.

"At this point he's just showing off how much he can do! It's not even like he needs to do this to me!"

Finally Winstes reappeared in front of Areon. He proceeded to grab him by the neck, hoisting him off of the ground. 

"In how many ways must I show you that this battle is useless before your will is crushed!"

One by one, his feet were lifted from the ground and Winstes began to float in the air, gently soaring past the dust and debris that have been splashing around this entire fight. As they continued to ascend into the air Areon grit his teeth, trying to release himself from Winstes' grip on him.

"You are a special type of fool, do you know that! I don't think you're aware of how many times I could have killed you just now! Why do you continue to fight for your miserable human life!"

Areon gazed at the ground that was so far from him it made his stomach turn as he dangled from the hold of Winstes. He could see the blood-shot eyes of the elder elf twitch as his rage was practically tangible to the child.

Without waiting for an answer Winstes began to rapidly speed up, flying directly in the direction of the ground.

In the blink of an eye there was dirt and dust everywhere as the shockwave from their collision caused the nearby elves to be in awe. When the cloud of dust was finally disappearing, the elves could only see sir Winstes flying over a crater. Inside of the crater was Areon, his motionless body laid on the floor much to the terror of the natives. Murmurs flooded through the crowd.

"Is he okay?"

"I think, he's dead!"

"We were fools to think he could stand up to an elder elf!"

"This feels bad to even watch."

Winstes' eyebrows creased as he watched the sight that made him more indignant than even the dragon at this point. The human foreigner boy, was somehow finding a way to still stand up. His eyes looked lifeless as he muttered to himself.

"I have to keep... going…!"

The elder elf shook his head. He still battled himself to keep his eyelids from getting weighty.

"Areon was it? I'll have you know that I'm getting close to having my fill. Your will seems to be quite unbreakable but at this rate your body won't be able to keep up. At which point, I'll just have to kill you."

The boy didn't answer him, he just continued to struggle walking in his direction before getting in his battle ready stance. 

"I'm so close. I think I almost have a way… to beat this jerk!"

Winstes began to frown.

"Aren't you upset? Not even a little bit? You're going to die here and there will be no one to bury you!"

The boy continued to hold the same amount of determination in his eyes whilst staring at Winstes.

"I… am going to kill the Maimo! I can't afford to lose to you!"

"You idiot! All that will happen is that you're going to lose to me! And once I cripple you I'm going to find your useless wolf and kill him in front of you! Then I will take that sorry excuse for a dragon and make sure all of you die right here! You worthle-"

"Stop it."

"Huh?"

Winstes continued to watch Areon, perplexed.

"Do not, talk about pops like that…!"

The eyes of the elder elf shot open as he quickly put the pieces together.

"Wait, you don't mean to tell me…?"

A sly grin appeared on his face once again.

"You look to that ugly dragon as some sort of a father figure!"

The elf couldn't help but laugh as he looked down on him. 

"That nasty, smelly, rotten, good-for-nothing dragon has somehow coaxed you into making yourself part of it's kin! Haha! That is the saddest thing I have ever heard. But I'm so glad you told me that, now your lack of wit is explained!"

Areon tightened his fist as he glared at Winstes. It was clear that he was doing all of this to provoke him. The elder elf had then looked at him with a gentle smirk and extended his hand out, exclaiming his next words while holding back a yawn.

"Before I was being harsh, but now that I know your situation I'll be a little bit more lenient with you. If you right here and right now, denounce yourself from having any relations to that dragon, I will give you a painless death."

He watched the child clutch his fist out of rage.

"How is it? A good deal right?"

Krakoom!

Before Winstes could think of anything else to say, Areon had landed a punch on the stomach of the elf sending a smidge backwards in the air. This only made Winstes grin even more, pushing past his gasping to mock the child further. The flames still riotously bursting around his fist.

"That's the strongest and fastest you've been this entire time. Too bad it's still far too weak for me to feel anything!"

The elder elf began to laugh to himself uncontrollably as he firmly placed his knee in Areon's stomach before promptly placing his hand underneath his chest, shooting a lightning strike that launched the boy further into the air.

Whilst flailing in the sky Areon grit his teeth and felt the flames surround his palms once again.

"...I finally got it! I have a plan to beat him now!"

Blam!

A loud boom resounded throughout the air, causing Krieus to stop in the middle of his fight and look in the direction with a light smile. Much to Cornelius' anger.

"Damn you dragon! Must you not take this fight seriously!?"

The dark dragon ignored the complaints of the elf as he watched the inferno take place before him. He began to chuckle to himself.

"You almost made me worry. You have finally figured it out haven't you…Areon!