At the snap of Staff’s fingers, a fireball lit in his grasp at the very same moment that Axe began his charge. For a man with short legs and thick armour, he moved faster than expected. A flick of Staff’s wrist sent the fireball Axe’s way, but the Dwarf swatted the spell with a swing from his legendary weapon as he continued to close the distance. Staff was certainly powerful, but against his equal he stood little chance in a close-up fight. A fact Axe knew all too well, and the reason he’d opted for a full-on sprint towards the mage. There was only so much damage per second Staff could dish out, and Axe’s armour would easily shrug that off in the short amount of time it would take to close the distance.

Damage was not all magic was good for, however. Staff gripped his magical staff with two hands and slammed its base against the charred dirt at his feet. The ground violently shook and tore. Sharp rocks emerged from the ground like spikes to block and deny Axe. A deafening hum caught Staff a little off guard. He watched as Axe’s legendary weapon sliced through rock as it curved through the air ahead of him. The Dwarf had seen that coming as well. Staff’s eyes narrowed with mild irritation as the two-handed war axe continued its path towards him. A flick of his wrist, and the weapon clashed with a magical barrier just shy of Staff’s own face.

This magical barrier was no regular magical barrier either. A complex lattice of barriers fractured and strained against the sheer force of the weapon. The impressive defensive structure was barely able to keep it from slicing through Staff’s neck. He stared at the weapon for a second as it finally lost its momentum. The axe shot backwards, tracing its path back through the air, slicing any protruding rocks it had missed from its first pass, before it then perfectly landed in Axe’s palms.

What remained of the magical shields ahead of Staff shattered now that he was done with them. The two of them had clashed many times throughout the history of this world. They knew each other well enough to present a challenge like no other. Staff’s heart began to beat faster and faster as he watched the Dwarf close the distance more and more. Their eyes locked with one another; the exhilarating rush of a proper battle had rekindled both of their ancient hearts. To the mortals surrounding them, this battle would decide the fates of thousands of lives, to the two gods however, this was a game. A sport. A competition who’s only meaningful reward was bragging rights for the next few years. A means to blow off steam, a means to get their blood pumping for once.

Fire magic was Staff’s go to offensive aspect, but that also likely meant Axe had enchanted his armour with fire resistance. He’d used Earth magic to counter the obvious magic damage resistance the Dwarf would have also brought to this fight, but that hadn’t panned out as well as he’d expected either. It was time to get creative instead.

“Portal.” He chanted. A snap of his fingers, and the world itself tore open a three-metre diameter hole with a thunderous tearing sound that made nails against a chalk board sound pleasant. A purple swirling portal. A third-tier spell. An extremely difficult one to cast let alone master. Even amongst the most powerful mages in the world, few had ever successfully casted this spell, and none without considerable preparations. Staff had cast such a spell as casually as any other, directly ahead of him.

Axe brought his charge to a stop shortly before he ran straight through the magical gateway. He instantly turned around to search for the exit portal. He quickly found it, directly behind him. A fizzing noise caused his small and chubby ears to prick up, alerting him to the danger that was to follow, “Burn.” Staff’s voice boomed through the rear portal. Once more a scorching cloud of flames was unleashed into the world. Channelled through the portal that had appeared behind Axe, the spell hit him with full force before then being caught by the first portal protecting Staff himself. The spell then seemed to leave the rear of the exit portal, forcing what remained of the flames to once again unleash themselves upon the Dwarven army, this time as a focused horizontal collum of fire.

The flames cleared. Axe stood tall despite the direct hit. His metal armour now slightly glowing from the heat and giving off steam. The edges of his beard lightly singed, but otherwise the Dwarf was unscathed. Staff’s magic was certainly powerful, but Axe’s health pool and resistances were second to none. He’d have to land many more hits like that to come close to ending this fight.

“That was a cheap shot Staff.” Axe growled through gritted teeth as he casually shrugged off the pain of being cooked alive in his own armour. He’d been hit with much worse plenty of times before. He brought his war axe above his head and slashed down at the portal ahead of him.

As his weapon connected with the edge of the portal, the many runes that covered it sparked to life with their own power. The portal snapped shut instantly, revealing that Staff was no longer behind it.

“It’s what I do best, old friend.” Staff’s voice teased from above. Axe raised his chin to spy the Elven mage casually floating high in the air a few metres away from him. In his left hand, a floating orb of water, in his right, a blindingly bright bolt of lightning.

Both spells shot towards the Dwarf. The water came first, a spell Axe allowed to hit him, for his eyes were trained on the second. Water splashed against his armour, cooling it a little but otherwise causing no damage whatsoever. No. Axe’s concern was with the bolt of lightning. Metal armour and Lightning magic wasn’t a favourable combination. He swung his axe at the incoming bolt. Once again, the runes on his weapon sparked to life and caused the bolt to vanish without a trace.

Dwarves were not capable of magic. Not in the same way that other races were, at least. They instead relied on Runes and Enchantments. They provided a lot of similar utility to magic itself but were dependant on items to exist upon. For this battle, Axe had lined his weapon with magic counter runes, allowing his weapon to nullify any offensive spell it came into contact with while the runes were active. A rather overpowered ability against Staff in particular, but an item only had so much space on it. Such runes had come at the cost of speed, damage and other special effects that Axe would otherwise wield expertly against his foes. Such Dwarven technology was certainly strong when you knew who or what you were facing, but they had their limitations as all things do.

Axe boasted a smirk once the bolt had completely vanished. He’d seen through Staff’s multi-spell attack; the average joe would have stopped the water out of panic. It certainly was a threat, as it could magnify the damage of the incoming lightning spell considerably, but it delt squat all by itself. Yet Axe’s smirk vanished as he realised one critical detail he’d overlooked.

Staff’s hands were both free…

Too late. His wet armour froze stiff as something other than Staff cast a spell. Axe was rendered as still as a statue as Staff calmly planted his feet back on the ground right in front of him. His magical staff decloaked from his shadow and once again took its place within his right hand.

“You always tend to forget I’m never just the one caster, old friend.” Staff teased with a smirk of his own. He turned and began his rather triumphant walk back to the Elven front line. Axe certainly boasted quite a health pool, but now he was helplessly stuck the fight was almost certainly over. Yet Staff’s sharp, pointed ears twitched ever so slightly. He paused, then hesitantly turned around to eye Axe’s frozen figure once again. His ears twitched a second time. A faint splintering sound.

Suddenly, the layer of ice holding Axe’s armour in place shattered along with the armour itself.

“And you forgot how brittle metal can be when heated and cooled so quickly.” Axe retorted as he brushed the frost from his beard before tightening his grip on his now steady weapon. Runes once again began to glow upon his axe, but different ones to before. Axe charged forwards even faster than last time. Fast enough that magic had to be responsible for such speed, and now without his armour he moved faster than the wind itself.

Staff thrust his hand forwards in panic, forming a second crystal lattice of magical barriers, but with Axe’s raw, physical strength now aiding his weapon, the lattice shattered like glass. Now, there was nothing but thin green robe between Staff and Axe’s fully swung weapon. Staff closed his eyes with acceptance. Axe had gotten the better of him this time… perhaps when the next war between Byw and Virki broke out he’d have a chance to make up for his blunder. With as little defences as he had, a single swing would be his end.

Metal clanged against metal. The sound of two sturdy, powerful weapons clashing a mere hair’s width from his own body. Staff’s eyes shot open with surprise. Axe’s weapon hadn’t hit him… Axe didn’t miss…

He blinked as a familiar sword came into focus before him. Bloodred centre, grey steel edges. The words ‘Heavy Speeder’ calved into the side currently facing him. Few weapons would be able to block Axe’s legendary war axe. A Blood Steel sword was one that would barely stand a chance.

In fact, as Staff eyed the blade before him, he noticed that Axe’s weapon had severely damaged it. His axe blade had sliced halfway through the Blood Steel weapon, “That’s quite the blade you have their miss.” Axe’s voice muttered as the two blades remained deadlocked almost against Staff’s chest, “And some impressive strength…” He added. Axe yanked his weapon from the lock, forcing it out of the Blood Steel blade. Staff watched as the red centre of the blade shrank at the same moment that the sword seemed to completely repair itself.

It was called Blood Steel for a reason. Its material properties were beyond amazing, but its ability to store blood and use it to repair was its signature skill. So long as that red centre had a drop of blood still within, the sword wouldn’t be counted out of this fight for long, even against a god.

Cathie’s firm hand grabbed Staff by the shoulder and yanked him behind her as she bravely took a fighting stance directed at the Dwarven admin. Axe quietly watched this act of insanity with amusement. So, A mortal dared to interfere with a battle between gods. Clearly this human woman had a suicide wish, “And what is your name, brave Avalonian warrior?” He asked of her.

“Cathie Smith.” Cathie hesitantly answered. Staff blinked once again to check he wasn’t suffering some kind of concussion.

“You understand you stand between two gods.” Axe pointed out to her. Staff finally got a hold of his own confusion. He went to grab Cathie’s shoulder to push her aside, but a hairs width from contact with her leather hunting jacket, he felt the air around her shifting in a way it shouldn’t.

She was good at hiding it. Very good, but deep down the woman’s entire body was shaking with fear.

“I do.” She spoke with determination. False determination that Staff could easily spot, but only because he’d gotten to know her. To Axe, her words were as good as true. She’d run from facing down a dragon… now she was facing down a god… was she trying to redeem the actions of her past?

“Far be it for me to argue the fate you’ve willingly chosen.” Axe sighed with slight annoyance. He readied his weapon for another swing but was quickly interrupted as a new portal tore itself into existence.

In the blink of an eye, Cathie found herself high up in the air. Held in place only by a thin but deceptively strong arm that had swept her off her own feet.

“Do you have a death wish, mortal?” Staff’s voice boomed in her ear. She turned her head to find herself pressed up against him. His body calmly floating, clearly under the influence of some kind of flight magic. His grip on her was the only reason she wasn’t currently plummeting to her death. The cold, thin air snapped and hissed against her ears, making it clear to her that she was very much unwelcome this far above the ground. Yet, Cathie did not back down. Staff watched as a fiery determination lit in her eyes at his words.

“Since when does Staff the Wise care for a single mortal life?” She sharply threw back. Staff’s eyes narrowed with mild irritation. His attempt to scare her away from the fight had failed. She was as stubborn as he was.

“You have no reason to throw your life away trying to prove yourself against a god.” He twisted the subject instead, avoiding the answer to her question rather blatantly.

“Seems you forgot that your little sparring match against Axe has dire consequences. I live close to the Byw Forest boarder, and I’m not exactly in the mood to get slaughtered or become a Dwarven sex slave.” She reminded him. Staff fell silent.

She was right. This whole time he’d thought of nothing but the bragging rights between him and his fellow admin. The consequences of an Elven loss in a war hadn’t been something he’d considered in thousands of years.

He started to think about the woman he now held on one arm. The night they’d met, the night they’d shared. Her, that whole town, would indeed be pillaged and ransacked if he lost here and now. For the first time in the many tens of thousands of years that he’d existed in this world, that fact didn’t sit right in his mind.

His thoughts were interrupted by a quiet humming sound that was quickly getting louder. Staff’s eyes shot down to spy Axe’s large war axe once again slicing through the air towards them. Cathie watched with some confusion as Staff barely dodged the weapon, which caught his free arm with a vicious slice despite the effort. Now that the weapon had connected, it obediently returned to the waiting hands of its master far beneath them.

“Fuck.” Staff cursed as the wound on his arm quickly vanished. It hadn’t been real damage, just simulated damage done to his war state shield pool, but even that slight nip had cost a whole sixth of his shield.

“Why didn’t you block it with magic like before?” Cathie critiqued.

“Don’t know much about magic, do you?” He answered with a disapprovingly raised eyebrow, “Standard magic can’t be cast mid-air. Raw magical power can’t be channelled through such a medium. That’s why I begun casting my previous spells on the ground and then took flight.” He clarified.

“Then why stay up here if you can’t cast magic?” She continued to press. Staff gave a quiet sigh at her question.

“Because the second you’re within his reach, Axe will kill you.” He answered. Cathie was a little taken aback. A god was intentionally putting himself at a disadvantage simply to ensure her own safety.

“I’m a big girl, Mr Wise.” She argued as she sheepishly turned her head away to avoid him noticing her slight blush, “I don’t need to be protected like a fragile little princess.”

“Brave words considering who you just pissed off.” Staff reminded her as he quietly eyed Axe far beneath them. The Dwarf’s beady eyes glared back at him in frustration.

“Well… I could use some help dishing out punishment. Something tells me my blade won’t do much to that man, but I could certainly draw his attention.” Staff’s face turned to look at her in surprise.

“Are you suggesting that we fight Axe, the Legendary Forgemaster, together?” He asked. Cathie turned her own face to meet his gaze.

“You clearly need the help.” She teased with a cocky grin. A grin that found itself on Staff’s own face shorty after. The same way she’d made him laugh at the bar; Staff now struggled to fight such familiar instinctual reactions such as smiling at her witty lines. There she was. The woman who’d caught his interest that night. The woman that instilled a feeling in the ancient immortal’s heart that… well… reminded him that he indeed still had one at all.

A shockwave of thunder rippled through the sky; a loud boom shortly followed by an earth-shattering thud as Staff the Wise’s two feet became firmly planted on the ground. He released Cathie from his grip and allowed her to draw her weapon as she stood to his side.

Axe eyed the both of them with clear amusement. His eyes however sharpened as they locked with Staff’s, as he’d seen something he hadn’t seen in his old friend’s eyes in a very long time. Determination. A massive, teethy grin filled the Dwarf’s face. He was in for a proper fight this time.

The air began to hum with deadly might. Channels of pure energy began to obediently nuzzle against Staff’s open palms as he elegantly twisted them through the air like a set of practiced dance moves. Lightning surged into existence within his grasp. Axe’s eyes squinted. He might have ditched his metal armour, but lightning magic was trouble even without the added bonus. It was fast, long ranged and highly effective against flesh and bone.

Axe desperately threw his hefty weapon through the air once more towards Staff, in an attempt to disrupt the concentrated buildup of power. Staff twisted around to charge a full spin throw, presenting his back directly towards the oncoming weapon. A clash of steel once again rang across the battlefield as Heavy Speeder smacked the legendary axe down into the dirt. As if the two of them were flowing as one, Cathie elegantly shifted from her protective position to open up a clear shot between the two admins once more as Staff’s spin completed.

“Lightning Bolt.” Staff chanted as the massive amount of built-up magical power finally was allowed to flow out of his body. Thunder echoed through the very sky as a blinding bolt of lightning tore through the air.

Axe staggered backwards with gritted teeth as he took the spell in full. Lightning was a painful thing to be hit with even for a god, but despite his now lack of armour, his health pool could still tank it. It had been a heavy hit, however. Lightning was far more concentrated than fire. Axe was now down to half of his total shield value. His weapon obediently returned to his hand at the snap of his chubby fingers. The mortal was aiding Staff, and more impressively she was somewhat effective.

Axe’s eyes suddenly widened. His ears had pricked to a terrifyingly familiar sensation. The sensation of a massive amount of magical power built up, directly behind him. He turned and raised his weapon to block the oncoming spell to find Staff’s magical staff mid cast. A thunderous shockwave threw the Dwarf high into the air. Thunder Bolt. A lightning aspect spell that dealt low damage but flung its target with considerable force, “Remote Fire Pillar!” Staff chanted as once again a powerful wave of magical power filled the battlefield.

The magic surged from his feet and flowed through the ground to then draw a flaming circle underneath Axe’s clear landing point. The circle then exploded into a vertical pillar of flames roughly one hundred metres in radius. The Dwarf was slammed mid-air, once again taking the full force of the spell and propelling him higher into the air.

The bastard was chaining spells to combo him. Axe shook off the sensation of his own smouldering flesh mixing with the sharp cold of the high-altitude air and calmly composed himself.

“Heart Of The Forge.” He quietly chanted to himself. The air and smoke that surrounded his body instantly turned to metal. Some of the metal wrapped around him to form an almost identical set of armour to his previously shattered set. New, slightly different runes burned themselves into the freshly constructed masterpiece of legendary grade armour. Metallic wings with sharp blades in the place of angelic feathers erupted from his back, “If this is the game you want to play Staff, I’ll oblige.” He muttered as the remaining liquid metal that floated around him began to morph.

Twenty heavy war cannons formed and began to float in a ring around the Dwarven admin. Runes burned themselves onto the downward facing barrels as Axe’s teethy grin turned to maddening laughter.

Staff’s eyes widened as he watched the twenty flashes of light far above him spark in perfect sync. He raised his hand high into the air and channelled magic once more. A magical shield in the shape of a dome quickly covered the entire battlefield. Both armies, the Tower of Peace, everything between them. Yet that was only the start. Layer after layer of domes quickly formed both above and below the first. Complex latices of regular magical shields wove and constructed themselves between the layers as a complex impact spreading design. Elves and Dwarves both simply stared in amazement at the complexity of the construction that was forming around them. Never before had they seen such a technical, complex display of magic.

The first volley of twenty metre diameter cannonballs slammed into the outermost dome, shattering it completely. Each massive cannonball’s engraved runes sparked to life, causing a boost of their acceleration on impact, as if they’d been fired point blank. They punched through the second and third layer as easily as the first and seemingly acted more like ammo fired from a high velocity railgun than a cannon with their speed and sheer penetration. The entire battleground shook as the fourth layer of magical shields barely brought the massive, dense balls of metal to a stop. Yet just as everyone beneath the shields gave a quiet sigh of relief, twenty more flashes sparked from high in the sky, followed almost immediately by another twenty, and another, and another. Staff quietly swallowed. His raised hand already beginning to shake from the impact of the first volley. No amount of magic would be enough to hold back Axe’s indiscriminate onslaught.

“Go, Iirth.” Staff ordered as he turned to his magical staff. It obediently cloaked itself and vanished without a trace. The second volley began smacking into the shields. Again, the battlefield shook as cannonball after cannonball was barely held at bay from the indiscriminate fire that would have otherwise flattened both armies in seconds. Now that Axe was firing nonstop, Staff had little time to repair any damage the shields incurred. It didn’t take an expert in magic to tell that Staff was slowly being whittled down shield by shield. Such a powerful hail of cannon fire would kill them all. He looked around to find Cathie stood beside him. He peered deep into her upward looking eyes to find a woman scared of the death Axe would soon bring to them all.

Death… had not been something Staff had feared in a long time. Immortality tended to render such feelings useless after all. Yet in that very moment, the fear struck him. Not for himself. If he truly wanted to, surviving Axe’s barrage would be trivial. No. His fear was of Cathie’s impending death. Staff turned his eyes back to the sky. Back towards his outstretched hand holding the magic of the shields in place. Small cuts and bruises were slowly forming on his hand as the damage continued to build. A consequence of magical barriers. For the utility of blocking devastating attacks and protecting allies, the price was a small amount of guaranteed damage whenever the shield took damage. Normally the amounts in question wouldn’t be too big of a concern, but it was a limit of the magic, nonetheless.

Staff gritted his teeth, “You won’t die here.” He muttered. His words cut through the cannon fire to reach Cathie. Her eyes widened with resolved fuelled by the clear determination within Staff’s voice. She would not die here. He wouldn’t allow it, “AXE!” He shouted to the sky, “THIS ENDS NOW!”

“I AGREE!” Axe’s voice boomed from far above, once again cutting through the deafening sound of cannon fire like a hot knife through butter. The random, chaotic volley of cannon fire suddenly changed. Every cannon ball now focused its aim directly towards Staff himself. Staff’s eyes narrowed as the more focused fire began calving a hole in his defences directly above him, yet a small smirk also appeared as he watched the last of his shields give way to cannon fire.

“Fell for it twice, old friend.” Staff quietly gloated to himself as his smirk became a victorious grin. Iirth, his magical staff, appeared beside him once more.

For the very last time, the magical power around the Elven mage began to stir. Power like never before. Cathie instinctively stepped back as even she could now feel the incredible amount of magic now within the air. It was so very different though. Not focused or charged up like his fire magic, not inherently powerful like his lightning magic. This was something completely different.

Magic on a whole other scale.

“Beam.” He chanted as the surrounding magic exploded out of his body and into the battlefield itself. Pure white magical circles flared to life at his feet but gave rise to more and more magical circles that spread like flowing water. Twenty, forty, eighty, too many to count. They spread throughout the entire battlefield but seemed to purposely avoid the Dwarven and Elven battle lines, sparing both armies. Each with as much magical power contained within to rival his earlier flames. The circles collapsed in on themselves and ignited into blinding beams of pure, heavenly light.

Light magic was an aspect of magic that all mages were capable of. It was considered learner magic. It lacked in damage and was often used to subdue weak targets without risk of striking a fatal blow. Yet despite this fact, the light magic on display for the whole battlefield was like nothing ever conceived. Concentrated beams of pure light each with enough power behind them to bring down a fortified wall. The sheer magnitude was like nothing ever witnessed before in the world of magic… and this was only the beginning.

Elves, Dwarves… they both silently watched in sheer and utter terror at the display before them. The hundreds of beams launched into the sky and purposely converged to an awaiting object. A massive glass lens that glistened with a magical shimmer. A pre-summoned magical construct. The beams became one and focused onwards until they hit a massive mirror of similar construct.

Such constructs were beyond the known capabilities of magic in this world. Cathie watched, as stunned as the rest, as the mirror aimed the focused beam directly towards the flying Dwarven admin. Sunlight vanished from the sky, replaced by a far brighter source of light. The sound of cannon fire stopped.