Harold stabbed the floor with his sword, building up a collage of Divine Flames that surrounded him. "So, you said these are flames that I can control. Does that mean I can do this?" With a glint of light that sparked within the Divine Fire, it quickly expanded as a shockwave that burst the entire library. Konge nodded, watching the flames spread. "Yeah, so be as creative as possible."
The flames lit the entire library, tearing down the area with the vibrant white blaze. Wood trickled from the sides of the interior, and embers flew about. Within the flares of divinity, a purple pulse of energy expands throughout. And within that pulse were flames that were redirected away from Stephen. "So Divine Flames, huh? How many more tricks do you have up your sleeve?"
Amidst the harsh white blaze came a shadowy figure from above. It was Harold, slamming his blade upon Stephen with blazing fury. They disengaged, backpedalling into the bookshelves behind them in their aisle. Harold bumped his back against the bookshelf, knocking it down. As it tumbled down, the bookshelf made a gust of divine flames swirl in all directions. From a distance, Harold swung his blade at Stephen, with the flames trailing behind his blade. This action caused the swirl of Divine Flames to condense into one ball of fire and fling itself toward Stephen.
The trajectory was predictable and easily blocked by a gravitational barrier that dispersed the flame outward. But Harold assumed that would happen and smirked. "Man, these flames are hella' fun!" With a single swipe of his sword, the dispersed flames redirected themselves towards Stephen around his barrier. The flames swooped down at him, but missed entirely as Stephen did a backflip over the flames. In the air, he used his Artifact on himself, allowing him to float mid-backflip. Prepared to counterattack Harold, he aimed his palm at him. "His new ability relies on these Divine Flames in the area. So if I crush him into the first floor, I can just bring him away from these bothersome flames."
Mid-thought, Harold swung his sword again, altering the trajectory of the Divine Flames towards Stephen in the air. Stephen's eyes widened before the flames crashed into him, setting him ablaze with an impact that sent him crashing through the library's walls. Falling outside the walls, he hit the ground with a loud thud. He got back on his feet seconds later, using a powerful gravitational force to disperse the flames on him. "That was a good attack, Harold Etton." He felt the pain stretch across his back, and the singed skin that screamed against the chilly breeze of the night sky.
Harold leapt past the crater in the wall he created and used his flames to fly down to Stephen. He held his sword in front of him, ready to thrust it into his body. He was about to make an impact, but Stephen flicked his finger, using a gravitational force to push himself away from the attack. He immediately darted to the clock tower positioned in the corner of the academy gates. Konge pointed at the clock tower with his feathers. "Kiddo, he's running, you need to chase after him quickly before he recovers his Rysen!"
Harold's blade planted into the ground on his missed assault. "Hey, why are you running?!" he asks as he sees Stephen scurry up the stairway to the clock tower. The interior was dim, lit up by a few lanterns made with inscriptions. Following him up the wooden stairs, he blinked, and it nearly led to his death. Stephen had already been waiting for Harold up the clock tower stair steps as he lunged in with his sword that nearly got to his neck. Harold, however, ducked last second, narrowly avoiding the attack. He then used the clock tower walls to propel himself by kicking off it. In the leap, Stephen's and Harold's blades collided again, causing sparks to flicker in the dim clock tower. Over and over, their blades clashed, making sparks fly left and right.
Harold sent more Divine Flames that hurled themselves toward Stephen. In response, he snapped his fingers, making a gravitational barrier to surround him. Seeing the flames curve around him, he felt safe until he saw the room shine brightly. It was Divine Light behind the barrage of flames that blasted past his barrier and sent him flying back. His back slammed against the clock tower, his eyes opening to the valley of flames around him. The interior was now set ablaze, and the tower itself was deteriorating. Both of them were low on Rysen, and both of them were exhausted. They had taken a momentary pause as they both regained their breath.
"I was always determined to make a change in my life. A life full of aspirations. Just like you." Stephen rose to his feet. "I did say we were similar, but you were right. We are different in a major sense."
Harold wiped the sweat off his forehead with a tense smirk. "You realized that I'm not some psycho killer like you." The building began to tremble as small burnt splints of wood crackled around the interior.
"No, you're not. In this world full of darkness, you're bound to end up as me. Killing hundreds for your selfish desires. The only thing that's different between us is that you continuously fight to get the future you desire, sticking to your moral code." Stephen looked away. "I abandoned mine a long time ago." Stephen gripped his Artifact, his fingers whitening. "If I were like you, or even more, if we had met at a different point in our lives, things may have been different."
The clock tower crumbled more, and smoke started to build inside. Rumbling comes from above the clock tower as it begins to fall apart. The temperature rose, and both of them began to sweat. Harold didn't understand why Stephen was telling him this. "If things could've been different, what's stopping you from changing now?"
"Because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter to me anymore. Yet, I do admit, you are someone special, Harold. Maybe that's why you truly are the child who was chosen by the gods. If you were there back then, you definitely could've stopped me from turning into who I am."
"Why are you telling me this?"
Stephen gave a small, pained smile. "I don't know, maybe it's because I'm tired, or maybe it's because I just regret some of the things I've done up to now. I'm a hypocrite, and I always will be." A shine is seen in the palm of Stephen's hand. It was a white glow, and a familiar stone. Konge fluttered his wings on Harold's head. "Hey, wait a minute! Don't tell me that stone is-"
Harold gasped upon realization. "That's a teleportation stone! Don't tell me he was charging it up this entire time he was monologuing!" Konge began to peck Harold's head. "Stop him before he activates it ya' dumbass! You let him speak for too long!" Harold tried his best to push his body in an attempt to whack the stone out of his hand, but it was too late. With the stone radiating, a flicker of light spread across the entire room.