The white space stretched endlessly. The ground, of an unreal pallor, reflected nothing, absorbed nothing. No wind. No sound. Only the silence of a calculated void, shaped by Kael's will.
Maëldor took a few steps, his boots clicking on the smooth surface. He looked around, arms slightly spread.
"So this is your famous space. One feels alone here."
"That's the point."
"You want to crush me without leaving traces."
"I want to prevent you from fleeing."
Maëldor smiled.
"I never flee."
"Then we agree."
He raised his hand. Curls of ash rose from his armor, thick, grey, swirling around his body. The air filled with the smell of burning.
"I'll show you why they call me the King of Ashes."
Kael didn't answer. He spread his arms. Black flames burst from his palms, silent, devouring. They didn't burn the skin. They devoured the air, the light, the heat.
"The Hellfire," Maëldor murmured. "I've never seen it so close."
"You'll feel it even closer."
Kael struck.
A wave of black fire surged, wide, roaring. Maëldor crossed his arms. A wall of compact ash rose before him. The flames crashed against it, gnawing, cracking it. The heat distorted the air.
The wall exploded.
Maëldor slid backward, his feet dragging on the white ground. He raised his hand, and spears of hardened ash shot from the ground, aimed at Kael.
Kael shattered them with a backhand, black fire enveloping his limbs like liquid armor.
"That's all?" he asked.
"No. That's a warm-up."
Maëldor placed a hand on the ground.
"Ashes of Dead Kings."
The ground cracked. Shapes rose, humanoid, made of ash and embers. Ancient soldiers, fallen kings, forgotten warriors. Their eyes glowed with grey fire.
They charged.
Kael sighed.
"You summon the dead. I summon the end."
He raised both hands.
"Hellfire Bath."
A deluge of black fire fell from the nonexistent sky. Waves, cascades, entire columns of demonic flames. The summons were overwhelmed, dissolved, reduced to piles of cold ash.
Maëldor stepped back, his face finally serious.
"You are more powerful than before."
"I know."
"But not smarter."
He clapped his hands. A grey shockwave spread, throwing Kael backward. The ground deformed, hollowed. Ash invaded the space, thick, suffocating.
Kael recovered in a bound.
"You're blinding me?"
"I'm disorienting you."
Blades of ash flew, invisible in the cloud. Kael felt the air shift. He dodged, blocked, took a gash on his shoulder.
Blood flowed, black, smoking.
"You bleed," said Maëldor.
"So will you, soon."
"Show me."
Kael closed his eyes.
He focused.
The black fire ceased. The ground turned white again. The ash cloud dissipated, sucked away by an invisible force.
Maëldor narrowed his eyes.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm showing you what true power is."
Kael opened his mouth.
The words came out, slow, deep, charged with an energy so dense the space itself began to vibrate.
"Dragon of Despair. You who sleep beneath the roots of the world. You who feed on the tears of kings. I call you. I name you. I awaken you."
The ground trembled.
"By the ancient pact, by the chain of the abyss, by the void that precedes the stars, I command you to appear."
The air tore.
An immense maw appeared, black and red, bristling with lava fangs. Then an endless neck, covered in smoking scales. Then a titanic body, wings unfurled, claws capable of crushing fortresses.
The Dragon of Despair.
It let out a roar that shook the entire space.
Maëldor stepped back several paces, eyes wide.
"You're mad."
"No. I'm a Demon King."
"Summoning that creature… Do you know what it can do?"
"Yes. And that's why I call it."
Kael climbed onto the dragon's back.
"You wanted a duel, Maëldor. Then fight."
The dragon charged.
Maëldor raised a hand, and a forest of solidified ash rose between him and the beast. The dragon pulverized it with a tail swipe. Maëldor was thrown backward, rolling across the white ground.
He rose, face bloodied.
"Very well. Then I too will show what I can do."
He spread his arms.
"Incarnation of Ash."
His body cracked. Tongues of grey fire burst from his fissures. His eyes became two embers. His skin covered with a crust of incandescent ash.
He grew, deformed, became a creature of ash and fire, almost as large as the dragon.
"Well, Kael. Still so sure of yourself?"
Kael smiled.
"Yes."
He leaned over the dragon's neck.
"Burn him."
The dragon opened its maw.
A torrent of black and red flames surged.
Maëldor replied with a wave of burning ash.
The two blasts met.
The white space cracked.
The outside world trembled.
And the duel continued.