The assignment had gone well for the most part, all things considered. Ryno and Vera navigated the temple's catacombs, successfully recovered Hallicent Blossom samples, and destroyed the rest after, leaving nothing behind. Despite a few kinks in the execution of the mission, mainly coming from Ryno, everything had worked out fairly good. John Reech would be satisfied with their work.

  Both of them were quite relieved to see the sunlight as they climbed up the final staircase that led out of Saanvoleg Temple. Despite the sunset from an ending day, they both relished in the deteriorated light that was still shining. It was a sign to them that they had been down in the maze for many hours – nearly half a day.

  Tired, hungry, and nearly out of water, Vera was ready to get both of them back on the desert's main road, and to a rest stop where they could refuel and recover until they made it to the nearest inn. The only thing left on her mind was getting back to the Crystal Cavern in one piece, and hopefully convince John to never have her accompany Ryno on a mission again.

  With the ten best flowers secured in her traveling bag, they departed from the Temple. Both would be happy to not see the place again. It had not been a pleasant experience.

  While the sun was nearing the horizon, and the color of its shining rays were changing to a hue of orange, Vera estimated they still had an hour or two of sunlight before it would get dark. It would be just enough time to find themselves in a secure location.

  Past that point, they were looking at a couple weeks worth of traveling to return back home.

  "You know, if I was alone, I could get back to the cavern in a day. Two, tops," Ryno bragged.

  Vera was tired and didn't feel like talking, but the idea became enticing.

  "I almost wish you could do it," Vera responded, fantasizing about a peaceful trip back home without her main source of stress.

  "Same. But Reechie was specific. Gotta protect you from anyone bad." Ryno reminded himself, inspired to obey orders for the rest of the mission.

  So far, there had been no danger from anyone. No person had tried to stop them in any way. Even in the temple, no one was there to oppose their actions. The whole ordeal happened seemingly with no one else knowing. Unless John knew something they didn't, Vera wondered why he had been so paranoid if their mission was classified. Who would know what they were doing?

  The only danger in the mission had come from the very one who was supposed to stop it. Truly, how much at risk were they if having Ryno babysit was a better alternative than her traveling alone?

  John had to know something she didn't. Vera settled on that. It had to be the case.

  "Last time I checked, it doesn't rain in the desert, right Vera?" Ryno suddenly spoke out.

  She looked at Ryno, who had his head turned behind him. She glanced behind as well, looking back at the temple now in the distance.

  A wave of dark gray storm clouds were steadily moving towards them, from the location of the temple.

  "That is odd," she agreed.

  The thought left both of them quickly. They continued walking west, trying to locate the main road again. Seeing as the cobblestone path ran vertical through the middle of the desert, it was certain they would land on it at some time if they continued traveling in their current direction.

  They carried conversation among themselves in a typical fashion. Once or twice, Vera had to stop Ryno from getting distracted from the occasional land formation or cactus. Eventually though, they drew near to the main road as the sun continued to descend into the horizon.

  That's when Vera felt a strange wind she had not yet experienced the whole time she was in the desert. She turned around towards the direction the wind blew, and above her, the storm clouds had crept up to both of them. The menacing gray blobs were now overhead, and looked ready to drop rain at any moment.

  "This isn't normal. Not right," Ryno stated while also gazing upward. His brown cape rippled in the sudden wind.

  Vera hadn't ever been in a desert before, but even she knew that Ryno was right. She got a creeping feeling that some sort of wrath was closing in on them for disrespecting the Temple in the way they had.

  Vera's initial thought was to race away from the clouds, getting to safety before a thunderbolt or other natural disaster targeted them.

  That's not how Ryno worked, though.

  Instead of gearing towards a retreat or a flee attempt from the irregular sight, Ryno turned to face it head on, waiting for whatever mysterious force was taunting them.

  "I'm right here!" Ryno exclaimed, arms wide open to the sky. "Stop with the games! Present yourself before me, if you have an issue you'd like to take up!" Ryno's declarations were boisterous in nature, almost as if he was ready to challenge God himself.

  Ryno never cowered from any sort of force, even if he didn't know the amount of danger behind them. He embraced it all without knowing if it was friend or foe.

  Seeing the way Ryno was acting, Vera was feeling fairly confident this was no coincidence of weather. Something strange was happening that Ryno was picking up on.

  At the shouting of Ryno's words, a torrential downpour suddenly occurred. Vera raised her arms over her head in some poor attempt of not getting completely wet.

  Ryno ignored the rain, still staring up into the clouds, with both hands on either side of his waist. The display didn't impress him, he was waiting for the games to be over, and for a point to be finally made.

  The rain clouds deteriorated quickly from the rain. As it poured down, the clouds shrunk from emptying their load. Before Ryno could watch them dissolve to nothing, a particular occurrence began that caught his eye instead.

  The pooling water on the sand before him began rising up, taking on a form.

  Vera was mortified at the completely unnatural action of the rain. Paralyzed at the sight, all she could do now was watch in terror as the sentient water began collecting itself into an upright position.

  Ryno crossed his arms, feeling indifferent as the water continued to collect itself into the shape of a person. When the rain finally ended, the water transformed into Monzane, who stood before them in his straw hat and bamboo staff.

  Vera didn't have words. She quivered, trying to decide if this was the world's most powerful elemental or God himself. She wanted to speak, but words did not come to her. It wouldn't matter though, Ryno was more than happy to address the man suddenly before them.

  "That was a cute display. A little extra, but points for presentation," Ryno casually said as a greeting.

  Monzane stroked his beard. "Interesting," he responded. "Most would be dumbfounded at the sight of such an arrival, much like this young lass here, but you seem unimpressed," he stated to Ryno.

  "What business do have with us?" Ryno immediately asked, not entertaining any of Monzane's observations.

  Vera could see that Ryno was on guard. The display of turning from rain into a person caused him to not act like his usual playful self. Ryno understood that this person had abilities that went far beyond the heads that he usually crushed.

  "Seeing as you're the only two people that have left the temple after the destruction of Arno Halicent's room, I have reason to believe that you're behind it," Monzane explained.

  Ryno had no reason to deceive him.

  "Yes, that was me. I destroyed it! Do you have an issue with that?" He boldly answered without an ounce of fear in his body.

  "Very much so."

  Vera took one step backwards.

  Both of the men noticed. Ryno turned towards her.

  "Run along, Vera. Let me settle this dispute and I will catch up with you later," Ryno ordered.

  In some way, she knew that Ryno was protecting her. She dashed away.

  Monzane let her go, knowing that she wouldn't get far from him in a vast open desert.

  Ryno then faced Monzane. "My boss feared that someone would be unhappy with me destroying the Hallicent Blossoms. I guess that's you. Have a problem with the erasure of those pretty purple flowers, do you? Well, you found the right guy to file a complaint with!" Ryno gripped his hands into fists.

  "You foresaw my arrival?" Monzane repeated.

  "Indeed I did!" Sparks began dancing around Ryno as he prepared for a duel.

  Monzane took note that he was electric elemental immediately. Then, as he started noticing many other subtle features about him, too many things in his mind began to line up. Just as he had deduced Marin earlier, he had an idea who this person in front of him might be.

  "Could you possibly be Ryno?" Monzane asked.

  Ryno raised his eyebrows. "Oh, you know me!"

  Monzane's suspicion was confirmed. He gripped his staff tightly in anger. "I surely do. You work for John Reech. You carry out his malicious schemes."

  "That's me!"

  Monzane held out two connected fingers. A sudden wave of water appeared out of nowhere, racing directly at Ryno. Before he had time to react, it crashed into him, shoving him backwards. He tumbled, flipping in the water as it washed forward with him enveloped. The wave died down the further out it went; the sand drinking the water until it was all gone.

  Soaking wet, Ryno began coughing as he stood back up, trying to get the water out of his lungs that was so forcefully injected into him.

  Monzane casually walked towards his displaced location, several yards away.

  "You killed my friend, Kole Sarvoro, didn't you? I doubt you'll deny it, seeing how tall your hubris is," Monzane stated in great anger that he held back.

  Ryno was collecting himself. He didn't recognize the name, but the statement was likely to be true. He had killed so many people, he couldn't keep track of them all anymore. "Who's that?!"

  "The sensei in Arkari. You murdered him and most of his students."

  Ryno then remembered. He was the sensei in the mountains that he killed in order to obtain the skill book he refused to give up. He was told by Reech that Sarvoro was an electric wizard. Seeing as Monzane claimed they were friends, Ryno guessed this guy who threw water on him was also one who studied at Arkana.

  "Yes, I remember him now. He put up a decent fight," Ryno confirmed.

  "Then I will be avenging him." Monzane swung his staff, and another wall of water materialized from the power plane. As quick as it appeared, it moved forward, ready to smack into Ryno and send him backwards again.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  This time though, Ryno was ready. He flexed his muscles and braced himself.

  The water collided, but passed by him, the liquid being forced to move around his unrelenting body. When the wave was gone, Ryno coughed again as water dripped off his sopping wet leather gear.

  "If you do that one more time, I'm going to put you in the ground like I did your buddy," Ryno uttered in great frustration.

  "I don't think you know who you're messing with," Monzane responded, fully determined to drown the ruthless electric elemental in his torrential waters.

  Monzane swung his staff again, smacking the ground.

  Water erupted out of the sand in every direction around Ryno. His head darted around at the sudden bursting geysers. A great flood washed over him, Ryno was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of generated water Monzane had somehow produced. The water and sand began to mix into an inescapable mud that would surely bury Ryno the same way he had threatened to end Monzane.

  Just as all the water and sand began to sink into itself, a sudden explosion in the center caused literal tons of mud to be flung in every direction, including the sky.

  Ryno floated in the air, dancing sparks of electricity circling his body. His eyes were glowing white as he grit his teeth. He had entirely denied Monzane's attempts at swallowing him into the ground.

  "Alright, now you die," Ryno declared.

  The powerful defiance of Ryno took Monzane by surprise. He had expected his attack to seal away his enemy, but it was becoming apparent that getting rid of Ryno was going to require much more effort.

  Ryno lunged at Monzane at the speed of a bullet. He instantly collided into him, causing an explosion of dust and sand.

  Ryno had expected to feel Monzane's body get slammed deep into the sand, but instead, he was just greeted by more sensations of water.

  His body tumbled in liquid, his mind unable to tell if he was up or down. The water finally subsided, and he was picking himself off the ground again, desperately trying to breathe air.

  Before he had the chance to calibrate himself and view his surroundings, a smack of water hit his back, sending him forward again, tumbling in the sand.

  Ryno was getting a stark reminder that there were forces in this world as strong as him or more. He hadn't been tossed around like this in a while, but it was a wake up call to him that not every person was as weak and helpless as he'd like them to be.

  Picking himself up off of the wet desert sand again, he hit the side of his head a few times, knocking water out of the opposite ear.

  "I hate water elementals," he uttered to himself.

  He turned around, and Monzane was standing behind him.

  "You're really stubborn, you know that? The force of my water skills would rip apart the bodies of ordinary people. How much Enhancement have you mastered to be able to withstand my attacks so far?" The Grand Wizard asked.

  "I've enhanced five times over now? It's hard to keep track past a couple," Ryno casually replied, still feeling no fear for the fight, just moderate annoyance.

  The statement was hard to believe, but Monzane had a creeping feeling that he might be telling the truth. It would take a large amount of strength to defeat Sarvoro, who had mastered skills outside the realm of even what Arkana taught.

  In ages past, there was a maximum limit that the Enhancement skill could augment ones strength and durability. In more recent times, a dedicated practitioner of the skill found out that he could utilize separate instances of the skill, stacking the augmentations past what was ever imagined. A single execution of the skill at maximum strength took a considerable amount of focus. Utilizing many at once could only be done by the most talented and dedicated masters of the Enhancement skill.

  If Ryno's claim that he was Enhancing five times over was true, he could focus on five separate instances of the skill at once if the situation called for it. That would result in power so great, those without the skill would have the strength of insects compared to him.

  "Answer me this: Why kill him? What action warranted his death?" Monzane tried.

  Ryno had no issue sharing information up to a point.

  "He had developed a new skill that he refused to share with anyone. I simply got the book from him. If he had let me take it, he'd still be alive today. But he guarded it with his life, and that is why he lost it," Ryno replied.

  Monzane sadly nodded. "The magnetism skill. I told him to never record the method on how to use it. Now, because of his desire to leave an eventual legacy, it is out in the world."

  Ryno shrugged. "Makes no difference to me. I just kill who's in my way."

  Monzane's look went from sorrow to anger again at his words. "A person like you no longer deserves to live. I will drown you here, stopping the potential death of hundreds more at your hands."

  "If I had a silver piece for every time someone declared my death to me, I could afford a new house in the estates of Emporus."

  "None of them were me," Monzane snapped back while raising his staff.

  "You're not getting me wet again," Ryno stated.

  Monzane chuckled at the absurdity of his claim. He continued on with his motion, starting a new watery assault. A new wave of water appeared, one taller than the previous he had made.

  Ryno had endured every attack so far, but Monzane was banking on him eventually getting fatigued and falling prey to the water.

  As the monstrous roaring wave homed in on Ryno, he became aggravated.

  "I said you're NOT!"

  Ryno threw a punch into the air just before the wave swallowed him.

  A powerful shock wave was created from the throwing of his fist, defying the wall of water before him. The magnitude of it overpowered the wave, breaking it backwards in every direction away from him.

  Monzane was taken back by the sudden counterattack Ryno had not displayed before. It was becoming apparent how many physical skills he had mastered without the use of his electric element.

  Impact and Shockwave were two powerful skills in Ryno's toolkit. He could perform both just by the flick of his finger. Throwing a punch to activate them would result in a force so strong, it could push back a tidal wave.

  That had been proven to be true just now.

  Monzane was washed away in his own created water, but that was hardly an issue. Any water he pulled from the power plane was just an extension of him at this point.

  Linking his own brain to the lingering water, he commanded it to reform back into a structure.

  Ryno wasn't having any more of it. He was getting bored, and wanted this fight to be over now. He leapt into the air, and emptied thousands of volts of electricity into the sphere of water Monzane had enveloped himself in.

  Monzane was now seeing Ryno open the throttle on his strength in a sudden effort of retaliation.

  The grand wizard knew his bubble of water would in no way shield himself from the incoming electricity. Water conducted the bolts of lightning nicely, and that would result in some serious damage.

  Monzane commanded the water to eject him from behind. He flew out of the sphere before it took on the entire payload of Ryno's electric attack.

  Just as he thought he was safe and avoided the attack, Ryno suddenly burst through the water bubble, entirely intent on ending him. Monzane had just a split second to shift his physical form into water, narrowly avoiding a damaging impact.

  The fight was now growing intense. Monzane created new water, and altered his method of attacking. Instead of brute waves, he manipulated the water into forms. At one point he tried using watery whips, but Ryno was unmoved by them.

  Each attack Monzane tried, Ryno countered it and threw one of his own. Monzane would narrowly avoid the physical or electric attempt.

  The two continued to dance in this way, subtly testing one another, neither yet fully unleashing their entire strength. But as they unsuccessfully damaged each other, that statement would not hold true for long.

  Ryno was unyielding. He defied any attempt at drowning. Whenever Monzane would engulf him in some way, he would either unleash large amounts of electricity or simply use his shockwave skills to get him out.

  The fight was not as physically taxing on Monzane as it was on Ryno, but mental fatigue was starting to be a weighing factor for the grand wizard. He had hoped that as the fight progressed, Ryno would eventually tire, but he never did. He was like a horse that could not be broken. He bucked every time, no matter how much starvation he was put through.

  Monzane had enough tricks up his sleeve to stall Ryno's relentless attacks, but he was growing weary, and it was becoming apparent that he had to start thinking of a way to end this fight, and soon.

  Eventually, Ryno pushed through a wall of water quick enough to finally score a punch into Monzane's chest. He had enough time to activate a small amount of Enhancement of his own to absorb the damage, but it still knocked him down.

  "You're slowing down, water boy," Ryno mentioned with satisfaction.

  "How are you not?" Monzane struggled to ask while clenching his chest.

  "I'm supercharging my muscles to keep fighting. I used up all of my own endurance a while ago. I'm running off my own element at this point," he explained through labored breaths.

  Monzane had knowledge on that electric skill, but it was rarely practiced due to the dangers of performing it incorrectly.

  "I underestimated your strength," Monzane admitted.

  "Everyone does. It's okay, I'm used to it. But it will be your downfall."

  Sparks danced around Ryno's body as he reared back for an electric haymaker. Before he could complete his swing, however, Monzane had not yet been defeated.

  A gush of unexpected water blasted at him, shooting Ryno backwards and throwing him off yet again. Monzane was still able to keep stalling him, despite his waning mental abilities.

  It only bought the wizard a few seconds to get back up and recover. Ryno was already charging again, his unrelenting assault similar to moths drawn to a light.

  The water wasn't stopping him anymore. Monzane was no longer able to keep an opposing current in the water that protected him, and that just allowed Ryno to shoot through it almost as if it was not there.

  Seeing Ryno cutting through the water so quick, he held up his staff to block the incoming assault.

  It was a poor defense. Ryno bashed into him, sending the grand wizard flying backwards, tumbling into wet sand.

  He laid there for a moment, one arm reaching behind to touch his hurting back.

  Ryno slowly approached him. He was sopping wet. His hood had fallen off, and his hair was dripping with water. Despite all the liquid he had fought, it seemed that he was somehow still warming up. This entire fight had been a light jog for him, hardly a sprint.

  "Having a hard time turning into water now? That's what I had expected you to do," Ryno commented on an exhausted Monzane.

  Monzane grunted as he tried to sit up. "Not used to doing it fifty times in a single session."

  There wasn't much else he could do in face of Ryno. Another attempt at pushing him away with a gush of water would just bring him right back. It was clear at this point Ryno had overpowered him through endurance alone, something Monzane initially thought he would be doing.

  Ryno still seemed keen on terminating him. Monzane knew this, and didn't bother trying to pathetically beg for mercy. Instead, he insisted on some final questions as his dying wish.

  "Why do you listen to him…?" Monzane almost said to himself.

  "What?"

  "John Reech. As powerful as you are, why would you let yourself be reduced to nothing more than his puppet? What has he given you in exchange?"

  Ryno chuckled. "Is that what I look like? A puppet? I was hoping something more along the lines of his right hand man."

  Monzane gently shook his head. "He's using you, don't you see? That's what he does."

  "I see it as a mutually beneficial transaction. Seeing as my years of service will earn me my Immortality."

  Monzane flinched at his words. Could Reech truly have a method for it? Was he able to give it out to those he deemed worthy?

  The Hallicent Blossoms. They were the key to it, and Marin's cure. It all made sense now to Monzane. Perhaps Reech and Marin had some secret connection that was beyond his knowledge. He now knew why Ryno had also come to the temple, and why he had destroyed any remainder of the main ingredient for the forbidden potion.

  So many things were now lining up for him, but it wasn't looking like he was going to be around to see it unfold.

  "It's been fun, water man. I never did catch your name. But it doesn't matter now," Ryno started. He began charging up a final electric attack. "You're just another elemental I've put into the ground. Nothing new."

  Before Ryno could deliver the final strike, Monzane spoke.

  "I would never let you get the killing blow on me."

  Ryno went to unleash a bolt of lightning, but when he did, Monzane shifted into water, and the sand below him soaked it up.

  The electricity collided into the ground, but it made no difference. He had no target anymore.

  "Oh c'mon man! You're not gonna just blend into the ground like that. What a lame way to go!" Ryno shouted at the sand with white glowing eyes.

  He jumped into the air, and unleashed an even stronger attack at the location Monzane melted away, and assaulted it with a flurry of electric bolts, blasting the wet sand in every direction, creating a small crater.

  After he was done, he landed back down in the center of it, and looked around. He waited a moment or two.

  Monzane never reproduced himself.

  Ryno eventually began leaving the scene of the battle. He threw his wet hood back up over his head.

  Next time, bring an army of yourself.