Chapter 52：A glimpse of power

James, Alcie, William, and Jack were the first through the portal. Alcie led the way to where she thought Olrah would be by taking them up the stairs into a large throne room. It was about the size of a football pitch with marble floors, walls, and ceiling that was painted with a night sky surrounded by a flowery garden containing musicians and dancers. Along the walls were massive stained glass windows with large, engraved stone pillars holding the weight of the roof between each one. At the other end of the room, was a silver and gold throne on which a man sat. He was wearing a large, titanium, suit of armour that covered his whole body with a massive templar sword resting on the the side of the throne with a bulky helmet resting on it's handle.

"Mind if I deal the first hit? Just to gauge his strength." asked James. William nodded; he was going to enjoy this.

James began walking towards Olrah and brought out his swords which ignited into flames. The floor shattered under the force of James' step. Olrah stopped and turned. Soon coming into view, Olrah looked at James through the gaps in his helmet in the air with both swords held in position. A single bead of sweat raced down Olrah's forehead as he tried to brace for the hit. The swords came around. Striking in the centre of Olrah's chest, the swords sent him flying in one of the pillars in the room. The pillar collapsed onto Olrah, encasing him in a stone tomb. James landed on the floor and looked at the pile of stone.

"You did it! You're so-" Alcie started to celebrate but James igniting blitz made her stop and get ready for the fight to continue. Sure enough, the stone burst out in all directions and Olrah hoisted himself up using his sword.

"Hahaha! Now THAT is some powerful swordsmanship! You've quite powerful for someone as young as you!" boomed Olrah.

"You're not too bad yourself. A little slow it that bulky armour of yours but you can sure take a hit or two." complimented James. They both started to chuckle.

Olrah suddenly stopped and appeared directly in front of James. Because of their height difference, Olrah towered over James with his sword held in his right hand beside James. The air around the two of them blasted into the wall behind James as the speed of Olrah forced it along. All the windows shattered into millions apon billions of tiny shards.

"Who said I was slow in this armour?" asked Olrah. In a matter of milliseconds, James' position was replaced with Olrah's sword and James skidded to a halt with both swords dug firmly in the ground leaving two large and long cuts in the floor. His body was bruised and a stream of blood ran down his left cheek.

The blood dripped onto the floor and started to form a pool on the floor. Olrah turned his back on James and stared at the rest of them. William tried next and formed his water and ice giant. It bounded along the floor and went to kick Olrah but he merely became a streak that glided all over the giant before coming to a stop a few metres ahead of where he started. The giant crumbled and created an inch of water on the floor that slowly leaked out through the doors. William collapsed to one knee. It had been fifty years since the last time he used the giant and even then he was fuelled by the loss of the one he loved.

Olrah took pity on William and advanced towards Jack and Alcie. Jack brought out his scythe and slammed the base of it into the ground. Darkness swallowed him up and parted like a blooming flower. It enveloped Olrah and created a nightmarish face that whizzed around Olrah from one side to another. Jack stepped out of the darkness towards Olrah with crazed dark energy encasing his right side. Placing his right hand on Olrah's armour, the armour started to become infested with the dark energy and it started to spread from where Jack was touching. Olrah simply backhand slapped Jack and knocked him halfway through a nearby window.

Finally, Olrah reached Alcie who froze in fear.

"You failed me Alcie. I gave you a second chance and you failed me." said Olrah is a disappointed tone. He raised his sword above Alcie and began to bring it down on her. For James, time seemed to slow. His reflection in the pool of blood didn't show his own face but instead it showed Josie's. He smile was imprinted on his brain whether she betrayed him or not and he would never forget her. This person about to be ahead of him wasn't Josie or Alice yet his heart dragged him up and towards them. Everything else in the room turned white and only Alcie and Olrah were visible. James began limping towards them. He knew that he wouldn't be able to stop the attack yet it was as if wings were carrying him along. Before he knew it, James was in between Olrah and Alcie with his arm raised ... ready to catch the sword.

Time resumed and the sword came down on James. It's force was like a bomb exploding and James felt like the gravity had been multiplied by one hundred. Yet he still stood. Alcie watched in awe as James, shrouded in a veil of white fire, clenched the sword tightly and snapped it in half. Olrah wasn't fazed and instead dropped the rest of the sword and punched James in the face. As if there was nothing there, Olrah's fist went through James' head. James stepped forward and punched Olrah in the stomach. Just like before with Olrah and James' head, James' fist past through Olrah's stomach and came out the other side. Olrah smirked, annoyed.

"What kind of jok-!" Olrah tried to speak but no air came out. There wasn't anything left to push it out in the first place. Shakily, Olrah looked down at his stomach.

There was a thirty centimetre wide hole that went through his armour and his body. Olrah collapsed to the floor and James sat down beside him. Lifting Olrah's head, James took his helmet off and fired a quick blast through his skull to end his suffering quickly. The white fire ended and Kyle walked into the room.

"We found him!" he cried.