Rune managed to distract Calista well enough, he supposed. That woman was so caught up in his partially revealed mastery over water that she neglected to notice Lilith disappeared under the waves. That suited him. Searing flames— assisted by that Domain ability the higher ascended abused—battled against his walls of water and mist.

He set up this environment too well, however. Endless water to draw from, fed into by the consistent flow of the wide river connected to the lake. He'd never run out of water here, and after becoming an elemental, could control almost all of it. The only limiter would be the strain on Rune's mind and the quality produced. Although it took some getting used to fighting with water rather than ice, Ghost Blade literally changed his elemental property, some of it was illusory, the rest, a fundamental alteration until he took off this mask and returned Ghost Blade to Whispering Tome.

Counter to the improvised plan, he hit a snag.

Double tier suppression and multiple level advantages turned out to be a greater disadvantage than he anticipated. Far from impossible to overcome, now that he evolved to a race the ether itself saw as superior.

[You are in the presence of a tier 3 being. Your higher life rating partially nullifies the suppression]

Using Xera to deflect a blazing comet arrow, Rune staggered back, the flames scoured into him, drowned in black water seconds later. Each time left its mark, albeit moderate compared to what should be occurring inside.

Scanning Calista, the tier 3 flare hunter, Rune paid special attention to that Sun Orb. Calista hadn't used it much yet, if at all. His mists burned away instantly if they touched it. He rapidly moved to avoid Calistia's comet fire of flame-imbued bolts. Both kept back their deadlier abilities.

It hit Rune. We're both feeling each other out. Neither knows what the other is truly capable of.

Archer types, or similar, pained Rune. He struggled the most against them. And his first real fight against a tier 3 hunter, or noble, happened to be against one. Rune started to adapt to this Domain ability that most tier 3s had, maybe all of them did. In his past experiences with Iona, she neglected to use it. Not that she ever needed to.

Truth be told, Rune knew he couldn't win this fight while holding back. The odds tilted toward losing in either case. As such, the usual caution was thrown to the wind. He could deal with the fallout if it came. The blazing Flame Domain pressed in, in an effort to reduce his territory.

"Fruitless," Rune said aloud.

Firing every so often while staying on the move, Calistia continued to imbue her bolts. New ones materialized in her quiver automatically. Rune thought it would be either an armor or weapon ability. So far, this woman had two or three ranged attack abilities, a defensive ability, and two movement abilities, along with Adept Fire Elementalization.

All information he used to concoct a plan and counter her innate advantages enough to win here. The first use of Polar South fed him insight at a tremendous rate, but its activation period ended a while ago. At some point during this battle, other tier 3s stood outside Calista's flame domain, near the edge of the docks.

They entered an armistice of sorts, content to watch and contain the clash between him and Calista. But with this many 'guests', he couldn't exactly slip up on what he revealed. Above all else, survival was paramount. A blazing comet smashed into Rune's shoulder, making him bounce several times on the black lake water. Black water leaked from the shoulder, restoring quickly, all things considered.

Damnit, brain, turn off. I don't have the luxury to overthink. Let them see what they see.

Standing, Rune dodged as Calista unexpectedly closed in. Her Sun Orb melted into one of her fists, and the Reaver avoided an automatic crossbow shot. Calista's fist connected with Rune's chest. He felt like a scorching sun was trying to melt him into a puddle. Blasting a hole into his side, he shifted before the energy fully transferred. Black water and mist flooded away, intermixed with blood.

She's got extreme skills with martial ability too, a ranged specialist who can use her fists up close? She's faster than I am, stronger, more experienced, and…. God, it's so damn fun.

By consuming essence through Elementalization, Withering Echo sapped away at his enemy's attack power. He purposely hadn't used a Reaver ability up to this point. During the three second weakening, Rune pressed harder against Calista, as the power gap between the two would close a bit. Then widen when its three second duration wore off, returning things to the norm for six seconds. This threw Calista for a loop, and she constantly had to recalibrate expenditure. Certain vital blows hadn't been as effective as anticipated.

Rune's elemental body also proved a severe headache for Calista. With this environment, he regenerated better than a standard tier 3 did. Once the elemental started to bleed, Blood Haze made things all the more clear. Vampiric Regeneration kicked in better the further he sustained damage. Using the Mist Shroud to cling to Calista, Rune gleaned better insight into her actions, dodging more as time went on.

As belied her experience, Calista landed unexpected blows often. Parts of Rune's forearm blew off, replaced by black water. His sinful ability to sap away at his opponent's strength started to sink in. A shame it'd all vanish due to current threshold limits. An advantage nonetheless, especially in a fight with his life on the line. Rune strained to keep up with multiple moving variables. Calista switched between ranged and melee at a moment's notice. One half second, three meteoric arrows threatened him, the next half, a Sun Orb empowered punch tried to shatter his claviacle.

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Heated steam rose from around Calista, and humid mist emanated from Rune. The crackling of flame dominated the sky, and the swell of boundless water usurped the depths. Calista was forced to use part of her Domain to keep back the black lake constantly raging to drown her. Ghost Blade better adhered to the water than Xera did. The usually ethereal blade solidified into black water. Its shorter length and weightless specialty allowed it to be a swift defender or opportunistic damage dealer.

Rain drizzled. The interchange of water and fire formed clouds, sizzling from the sky-rending flames.

Sickly yellow runes appeared on larger chunks of elemental water the Reaver controlled to consume Calista. Crimson flames ignited to burn them out of existence, but without the assistance of her Domain, she simply lost in that department. Techniques cared less about tiers than any other form of power, influenced, sure, dominated by? Never. Calistia landed another shot to Rune's stomach—he dragged it within. He aimed to shatter the blow by using a yellow symbol to vastly increase durability. Their exchanges in the fight intensified, as the two adapted to one another.

Bouncing four times against the water, Rune crashed down into the lake, sinking down. Calista fired off seven bolts at him, but their searing effect extinguished shortly after coming into the lake's murky embrace. The bolts pierced into elemental flesh. As the fight got increasingly desperate, clarity deepened.

I'm getting the hang of this. The tier suppression and Domain are a pain in the ass, but far from invincible.

Calista stepped down into the water, her Flame Domain shrinking considerably to keep back the lake water sieging her every inch. Her Sun Orb reappeared. Rune noticed it had limited uses, more charges if used on her body to fight up close, and less if imbued into powerful ranged abilities. Incredible amounts of heated steam pushed against the lake, embers entered Calista's eyes.

"Get used to the sight, Rune, this will be your watery grave." She readied her crossbow, the Sun Orb entered her quiver, and radiant flame blazed out from it.

Rune coughed up a blot of blood through his mask. "This experience before they come is invaluable. The difference between tier 2 and 3 really is immense. Enough messing around."

Over the course of slowly losing this fight, the Reaver felt the chains bind his class abilities loosen, especially the further he enhanced them with Elementalization. He linked it back to stealing two drops of Diluted Ichor in the Shimmering Expanse. A thick, shadowed line with yellow symbols ripped open behind Calistia. Simultaneously, Rune applied Essence Bond to Xera, spreading afterwards to Calista.

The runic language covered Xera, spreading onto Rune's skin like a plague. More ether sucked into Rune, accelerating healing yet again. The building exhaustion from controlling staggering quantities of water lowered. The Reaver shot forward, far faster underwater than Calista was, another miscalculation of hers. Coming to the depths where he ruled would be a mistake to punish harshly. Starting immediately.

She realized her error, about to surface. Rune controlled water to seal off the air pocket above his opponent. She'd break free eventually, but not fast enough. He used a different tactic. He inverted the pressure from Essence Fissure, making it suck in rather than push out. Calista fought against that too, as she escaped.

A quarter of the Sun Orb came out of Calista's quiver. She imbued it into her body, flame symbols danced upon red, golden-trimmed scale armor. She shot a dozen arrows at Rune to slow him down. Twin shadowed lances appeared behind his back, shattering all eight shards around them. They exploded into Calista's offensive shots, canceling them.

Jet streams shot out of Rune's feet, and he sank Ghost Blade into Calista's shoulder. She shifted her body at the last millisecond, avoiding a grievous blow. The sun energy balanced with her Flame Domain, she charged it up to her fist.

"I've seen it too many times already, smoldering flame." Rune's voice shook Calista's composure for an ephemeral gap. A whirlpool of black water sucked into Xera, meeting the sun-lit fist. Calista summoned her Inferno Shroud to reverse the battle of elements. An air gap created itself as the two forces ate into each other like ravenous beasts—neither willing to submit.

"Just…go…DOWN. All who oppose the Pyrites are ash!" Calista commanded, as the sun symbols expanded out temporarily boosting her Flame Domain.

"Drown in your inferiority, flame puppet."

Lilith jumped out of Rune's shadow, chaining her offensive abilities. Her tendrils pierced into the flame user's chest, as a clone of her absorbed most of the Flame Domain's pressure and temperature. Calista landed a kick on Rune's side, sending him flying back. Greenish rot appeared on her leg as Lilith sliced a tendril across it.

Black water funneled in, tearing at the new infection. The Flame Domain condensed further, finally leaving Rune out of its range, but the blazing heat worked to purify at a frightening speed. Lilith kept onto the enemy, using Shadow Wing to absolve herself of any real retaliation.

Fed up with being at a disadvantage, Calista used both movement abilities, Ash Step to evade Lilith long enough to create a gap, then Flame Dash to finally exit the suffocating lake depths. But unlike before, she hadn't come out on top in an exchanged set of moves. Harming her pride and dampening clarity of mind.

Siphon attached itself to the tier 3 noble from beneath the lake in that slip-up. The mark melded with the element, draining her faster and pulsing damage into her core. Condensed flame battled with the effect. Calista's flame technique wasn't nearly as sustainable as Rune's water. A difference in evolution and mastery level. The longer this went on, the greater the opportunities would open up for the Reaver.

Huffing, Calista burned away lake water, its waves rippling back. She could pierce through the depths and aimed her crossbow at Rune. Lilith started to close in, but Rune communicated through Reaver's Link to prevent that. Without his assistance or coverage by Shadow Wing, she would be torn to pieces in seconds. Unless she could hop into a shadow and land a sneak attack, anything else would be foolish.

Instead, the companion needed to constantly stay in Calista's blind spot, skirting out of her immediate range. If the flare hunter started to shoot her bolts at Lilith instead of Rune, the Reaver planned to eviscerate the woman in the required attention switch. He knew each clash between them slowly stripped away her attributes.

Once a cycle of Withering Echo began anew, he struck. Slicing Xera in an arc, he deflected a comet bolt. Water jettisoned from Rune's soles, black water subsumed following along as he willingly came into Calista's Flame Domain. He struck with Ghost Blade, aimed at her neck. Her Inferno Shroud shimmered into existence, timed perfectly. Ghost Blade shattered the defensive ability—stalled for a fraction in the resisting force.

Sunflame licked at her skin, eeking out black water. She aimed her crossbow, Heenmaris, at Rune's chest. The Reaver's sixth sense screamed, Calista was about to use something he'd yet to drag out of her. To make things worse, her Sun Orb regenerated. She consumed the majority of it into the oncoming shot. A hunter's gaze froze Rune in place, shattered by multiple resisting factors, yet it was enough.

Acting on instinct, Rune twisted his frame and commanded Lilith to attach a shadowed Iron Feather. The defensive ability showed up, snapped in apart, as a liquid Sun Lance shot out of Calista's crossbow, with dozens of echoes rattling Rune's insides. The impact caused Rune to split the lake as he rocketed dozens of feet back.

Blood leaked from all over him. Lilith struck at Calista right as she fired the ability, reinfecting her with Vorpal Touch. One tendril ripped out a chunk of Calista's side. The eldritch beast vanished, lurking near the edges of Calista's Domain.

For a second, both sides breathed in pain. Agony wracking, Rune used elemental water to right himself. Hearing deafened. Sight sharpened. The Mist Shroud roiled, and pain receptors fried. He could taste salty blood. In his midsection, a hole settled below the Spectral Heart. Its pump sounded distant, its vibrations shifted the water in his body. The usually deadly wound already slowly started to close.

Calista openly betrayed fear in her eyes. "You're not a regular human. I've never even heard of an evolved at tier 1. It's impossible. Who made your aura suppression mask?"

Rune gave her the middle finger as an answer.

"You'll have to kill me to find out."

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