CHAPTER 47: CH 47: EVEREST.

His last saving grace had just been obliterated.

The being didn’t move. Not yet. Just watched Aegon crawl, almost pitifully, yet with no emotion on his blank face.

’Come on.’ Aegon dragged himself with everything he had left in him, which wasn’t a lot, towards his items.

~KKKRRC!~

A violet crack in the storm above made him freeze but he felt the vibration from all around him. But most especially, below him.

His eyes shot wide with realization.

There was hope. Not a lot, but when has he ever needed a lot? Just a sliver. An iota. A hair’s breath of hope, but it was enough for him to pull himself off the snow.

He still didn’t look the anomaly in the eye. No matter how much of a chance he had, he could still be fried in an instant if it called upon lightning.

He bent over and picked up the canister. Cranked the top in either side before he twisted it off.

A searing white light bloomed from the canister, enveloping him. And he felt it.

He took in a deep puff of air like a man who’d been suffocated for days. His muscles regained their vigour and his senses sharpened.

He let the canister drop to the ground with a soothening smile plastered on his face. He clenched his fist in front of his eyes. "Shame, I almost forgot how good this felt."

Aether pulsed through every cell in his body, exciting him back to life. The system popped into view.

[ Spike Detected: Aether-capacitor used.

Aether Reserves: 85% — Sufficient for combat. However, prolonged combat is unadvisable.

WARNING: All Anomalies, high or low, now see you.

Advice: Use Aether wisely, there’s no backup. ]

The message faded from existence, leaving Aegon face to face with the Elcid anomaly.

’God, I hope this works.’ He gestured out his hand at the anomaly, sharp straight before curling them back in, in a silent taunt. "Come on."

For the first time since appearing, he finally had an expression on his face, disgust.

The storm above them stopped. Once plaguing the grounds but suddenly, silent. Save for the howling wind blowing all around them.

~KKKRECH!~

The clouds released all their pent up strikes onto the anomaly’s frame— charging him beyond supernatural.

He, slowly, marched for Aegon. Each step singed through the snow, leaving steam curling up to the sky.

His steps quickened, each footfall came faster than the last before— he lunged into the sky.

~BAM!~

He came crashing down where Aegon once stood.

Aegon had already paced a few steps away before he landed. He folded his hand into a fist— then ignited it.

It illuminated his face as he smirked back at the being getting back up on his feet. Lightning rippled as his frame as flames singed the ends of Aegon’s.

They marched towards each other. His arm stretched out in a brigade of attacks. Each one too slow for Aegon as he dodged and avoided them with a dancer’s grace.

Aegon’s fist burned—no, thrummed—with aether as he shifted his stance, boots angled, weight centered.

The anomaly didn’t wait.

It blurred.

A streak of blue-white violence rushing him, kicking up a wave of snow so sharp it stung Aegon’s cheeks.

Aegon saw the shoulder twitch— telegraphing the strike a half-second before it landed— and pivoted right, letting the punch skim past his ribs.

The air warped.

The shockwave alone lifted him off his feet for a heartbeat, flipping him through the cold haze like a loose page in a storm.

He landed on a knee, sliding across an ice shelf that glittered beneath a thin veil of snow.

A slight panic flashed across Aegon’s eyes, but only for a second as he steadied himself.

The anomaly walked toward him—not running. Not lunging.

Just closing in, casual and cruel, like something that knew the fight was already over.

Steam curled off his skin in soft spirals, melting every flake of snow that dared come near him.

Aegon ducked under the anomaly’s backhand and countered with a tight, compact uppercut—no wasted motion.

The anomaly blocked with the inside of his forearm, redirected, and shoved Aegon hard enough to send him skipping back across the ice.

But Aegon kept coming. Not to win, but to stall long enough for—

"Shit!" He screamed as a bolt of lightning flew past his head and sparked the snow a little distance away.

He just nodded. His arms shot forward with sharp blasts of flames. Every movement of his limb now came with the extension of fire.

Aegon surged forward, flame flaring around his forearms, and slammed both fists into the anomaly’s chest.

The impact boomed like a compact explosion. Snow rippled outward in a ring.

The anomaly slid backward across the ice for the first time.

His face twitched.

Annoyance. The anomaly responded with a blur of motion—charging him again.

Aegon let the anomaly swing. Ducked under. Rolled away from the next blow, letting it crack the ice behind him.

The ground fissured with a deep thrum, a fracture crawling across the black ice under the snow.

"Come on, baby. Just a little more" he muttered, breath foggy.

Aegon retreated toward higher ground— a ridge of snow piled against a tall slab of ice. Not high, but enough altitude for momentum.

The anomaly lunged. Aegon vaulted backward up the ridge, gaining height, then dropped down with both fists raised.

Flame trailed from his knuckles in a sharp orange arc.

The anomaly caught one wrist mid-air.

Twisted.

Slammed him into the ground so hard the snow contracted under the impact.

"Agh—!"

The breath punched out of Aegon’s lungs.

The anomaly didn’t let go. He hauled Aegon up by the collarbone, eyes empty, lightning already crackling across his arm.

The storm above them rumbled in sync, like it lived inside his bones.

Aegon’s face twisted in pain as electricity wormed through his chest in sharp, stabbing pulses.

Too much.

So he stopped struggling. He went limp.

The anomaly hesitated for half a second—just half—but it was enough.

Aegon snapped awake, rammed his thumb into a nerve cluster under the anomaly’s jaw, and simultaneously kicked off the ground, wrenching himself free.

He stumbled back, hands trembling from the shock still buzzing through them.

The anomaly flexed his jaw once.

Annoyance deepened.

He lifted one arm.

Lightning coiled around it, ready to fire.

Aegon breathed out.

Slow.

Centered.

And then he revealed his hand.

A single spark crawled up his arm. Then another.

Then a full-blown arc of blue-white lightning erupted across his skin.

The anomaly froze—not in fear, but in genuine confusion—as Aegon raised his hand to the sky.

"Yeah," Aegon rasped. "Replication."

The sky detonated.

A brigade of lightning broke through the clouds in a vertical barrage, slamming into the anomaly.

Thunder drowned out the world. Light swallowed the tundra whole.

The anomaly was launched backward in the storm as bolt after bolt ravaged him, every one louder than the last.

Aegon stood with his arm outstretched, breathing hard, letting the power flood through him, every nerve screaming. He could already feel deep within that his Aether had run thin.

Then it stopped.

Smoke rose from the crater where the anomaly lay facedown, body twitching with residual current.

Aegon let his arm drop.

His shoulders sagged.

"Fuck! I really hoped that’d keep you down longer," he muttered.

The anomaly moved.

He pushed himself upright, eyes brighter, angrier, more offended than before.

And now the ground was betraying them.

The snow around their battlefield had thinned to a translucent film. A black sheet of ice glistened beneath, fractured lines spiderwebbing outward.

One wrong move and the tundra would open its jaws.

The anomaly cracked his neck, lifted his arm, and leapt— lightning spiraling down the length of his arm as he descended toward Aegon for the final strike...

Aegon used the last ember of Aether within him as a beacon, holding it in place like a battery until...

Just a clean, simple slip of movement.

The anomaly, still in the air, coming down until—

~KRIKK-KRRAKK!~

The black ice beneath their feet finally let out, plunging the anomaly down under.

But only for a second.

His arm resurfaced, grabbing onto the edge of the still stable ice as it pulled itself up, eyes fixed on Aegon’s.

’Come on, princess. This is your time to shine.’ He thought as he took one more step backwards for good measure.

~GNNNKKK-CHHHHK~

Something in the freezing water beneath the ice suddenly shot up in a swift motion.

Snapping the anomaly within its jaws just before descending back down into the waters.

Aegon could only see it for a fleeting second. Pitch black scales like nothing he’d ever seen before and a head so big it could capsize the Titanic.

He fell back onto the snow in an exhausted pant. Turned to the mountain in the distance, "Next up, Everest."