Alex narrowed his eyes. 'That was fast.'
Thunderbird's expression twisted with rage. The smirk, the arrogance, gone. Now, there was only fury. "You little brat… You've really pissed me off."
Thunderbird lowered his right hand, the Ferrum Ignis still glowing ominously as its fiery edge licked at the frozen ground. Then, with slow, deliberate movements, he raised his left hand and brushed his fingers across his mask.
A moment later, he ripped it off, revealing a face contorted with fury. He had only shown his face once before, but at this moment, he felt no hesitation. He wanted Alex to see, to truly experience, the depth of his anger.
"It's been years since anyone dared to use such pathetic tricks in a duel against me," Thunderbird snarled, his voice dripping with contempt. "This isn't just an insult to me, it's an insult to the very essence of a duel. Or do you actually believe that something as insignificant as light could break the mind of a true duelist?"
His expression twisted further in disgust. "Garbage. That's all you are. I was mistaken from the beginning. A coward who relies on cheap tricks and foreign objects to survive has no right to inherit the will of the Silver Wands."
Thunderbird's grip on his Ferrum Ignis tightened, his magic surging violently as he roared, "You'll learn the wrath of a true duelist! Die with me!"
With both hands clenched around the hilt of the massive Fiendfyre blade, he swung it downward with devastating force.
The blade, already massive, expanded mid-swing, stretching over ten meters in length. It fell like a guillotine, cutting through the air with terrifying pressure. The moment it struck, the very atmosphere seemed to boil, snow, ice, and even the ground itself evaporated instantly, reduced to molten slag upon contact with the cursed fire.
Alex's instincts screamed at him, 'blocking that head-on is suicide.'
But dodging wasn't a simple solution either. The Ferrum Ignis could extend and retract at Thunderbird's will, making it impossible to simply outrun. A direct retreat would only leave him wide open.
With no other option, Alex activated the Phase Shoes he had enchanted earlier. His body flickered, his form shifting as he dashed left with a burst of speed, barely escaping the inferno that crashed down behind him.
But Thunderbird's smirk widened at the maneuver. "Heh… a rat scurrying for its life." He swung the Ferrum Ignis in a wide arc, then yanked it back sharply. The flaming edge, still stretching for tens of meters, lashed toward Alex's new position with terrifying speed.
At the same time, the Sectumsempra curses Alex had fired earlier were effortlessly destroyed by the sweeping flames, leaving Thunderbird completely unharmed.
"Hahaha! Run! Keep running!" Thunderbird's laughter rang out, wild and unhinged. "The space around us is blocked! That jammer on your body prevents Apparition! You can't escape! Let's see what's faster, your legs or my fire!"
Thunderbird swung again and again, each slash sending waves of fire surging across the battlefield. The Ferrum Ignis didn't just cut, it devoured. Every tree it touched was severed cleanly before being engulfed in flames. The thick layers of snow melted instantly, replaced by pools of molten earth. The battlefield was rapidly turning into a sea of fire, and Alex was running out of space to maneuver.
The inferno behind him was no longer just an attack, it was a tidal wave of fire, crashing toward him with relentless force.
'I can't keep running.' Alex gritted his teeth as he sprinted in a wide arc, keeping Thunderbird at the center of his movement. He had been carefully positioning himself, but he needed more time. The traps he had prepared were still too far away. If the Fiendfyre spread any further, the entire battlefield would be consumed, making it impossible to execute his plan.
'No choice, I have to fight now.' With a flick of his wand, he made his move. "Raevincta !"
The moment he uttered the incantation, lightning surged from his wand in a violent burst. Blue and silver arcs of electricity crackled and wove together, forming into a long, coiling weapon, a whip of pure lightning. Seven meters in length, it shimmered with a dangerous radiance, its energy pulsing like a living creature.
Alex tightened his grip, then lashed out.
The Thunder Whip struck against the Ferrum Ignis with a resounding boom. The collision sent shockwaves through the battlefield, the impact ringing like the clash of metal against metal. But these weren't solid weapons, they were raw elemental forces, clashing in their purest, most destructive forms.
Lightning surged against cursed fire.
Alex swung his lightning whip, its form shifting between fluid and rigid, a contradiction of movement that made it as unpredictable as it was powerful. The tip coiled tightly around Ferrum Ignis, the enchanted fire sword burning with cursed Fiendfyre.
Though the whip seemed as supple as leather, it resisted like reinforced steel, holding Ferrum Ignis in place and preventing it from advancing even an inch.
Thunderbird let out a wild, booming laugh. "Yes! That's more like it! Come at me with everything you've got, or you won't live to see the sunrise!" His grin stretched with manic glee, and his grip on the flaming blade tightened as he exerted more force, pressing down against Alex's defense.
The cursed fire reacted to its master's growing aggression, burning even hotter, its heat waves rolling over the battlefield like the breath of an enraged beast. Sparks and embers burst outward as the two forces clashed, and though Alex held his ground, the sheer power behind Thunderbird's assault was beginning to push him back. His feet dragged against the snow, carving deep furrows into the frozen ground as he struggled against the pressure.
Even in the bitter cold of Christmas, sweat beaded on Alex's forehead. The heat was unbearable, Fiendfyre didn't just burn, it devoured. Staying locked in a contest of strength like this would be a mistake.
'Damn it, this lunatic's magic feels endless. He's casting large-scale spells back to back, yet there's no sign of exhaustion. If I keep grappling with him, I'll burn through my own reserves first.'
Alex clenched his teeth, then adjusted his stance. Lowering his body slightly, he shifted his center of gravity. Then, in a single explosive movement, he pushed off from his legs, waist, and arms all at once, ripping the Thunder Whip upwards with all his strength.
The sudden force sent Ferrum Ignis soaring skyward.
Alex didn't waste a second. He took a sharp breath, then surged forward in a low sprint, closing the distance between them in an instant. With a flick of his wrist, he snapped the Thunder Whip forward, its glowing tip reshaping into the head of a silver serpent, lunging toward Thunderbird with a crackling bite.