CHAPTER 31: AUTHOR VS. PROTAGONIST

An author and a protagonist... what a great duo to throw into a fight, am I right? Ahem... I’m probably in no position to be joking right now.

Glorius charges at me again. The heat in this cramped space surges, and I feel like I’m being cooked alive. His movements are fast—too fast for me to follow. We need to fix that, don’t you think?

I scramble in the air as quickly as I can:

{Quill’s eyes can now see movement in slow motion, allowing him to track his opponent’s attacks and dodge in time.}

The blazing letters dissolve into the air. My vision begins to twist until every speck of dust becomes clear, every flame flickering from Glorius’s body dances like a serpent with fangs bared toward me. His armor blazes under the light, his leg pushes off the ground with such force that the floor beneath cracks.

Every detail unfolds before me. I shift my body to the side very slowly; it’s not like I’ve gained supreme speed, but now I have the time to react at least.

I move right, slipping past the arc of his blazing sword, and raise my scythe with one hand. It’s awkward and heavy, far too long to control cleanly, but I still manage to let it swing at Glorius as he rushes past. His eyes don’t widen, his expression doesn’t shift. No surprise at all.

Is that even him... or has he become a beast?

My vision returns to normal. Is that because there’s no danger right now? The scythe connects with his golden armor, and sparks fly. Not even a scratch... shit... I guess my scythe is useless here.

While he takes his sweet time turning around like some sort of bull, I slide the scythe back into my system inventory. Just me and my quill now. This space is too small for me to fight creatively, so—expand! I draw in the air, picturing the room stretching outward. It widens for me and Glorius into a full twenty square meters, while outside, it should look unchanged... I hope. At least, that’s how I imagined it.

The floor spreads instantly, the walls pull back until they’re far away, and the ceiling soars higher than ever. Nice!

"Come then, show me what you’ve got, Glorius..." I taunt, scrambling into the air and shaping a massive rock wall between us. Ten meterstall—I look up—he shouldn’t be able to leap that high. I shove him back, willing the wall to twist into a labyrinth. It obeys, slamming into him from all sides. I can see it all clearly, because I made sure only I could see through the stone.

He struggles against the shifting maze, his body battered by thick, living walls that writhe like vines, even though they’re solid rock. I can’t help but smile... and laugh. So fun!

"RAHHH!" A roar tears from Glorius’s throat, followed by an intense blast of energy bursting from his body like a sun going supernova. The shockwave instantly shatters the wall I built, sending the pieces hurtling toward me. I slash my quill through the air, erasing the debris from existence, and quickly lift myself higher by raising the floor beneath me into a narrow pillar.

And thank the gods I did. Glorius shoots upward like a spear, ripping through the pillar as if it were paper, his sword aimed dead at me. I leap away just before the platform collapses, drawing an invisible one in midair to land on. No hesitation—I sketch the next strike, but freeze. What’s heavier than stone? Think, Quill, think! Steel.

I imagine countless swords fusing together into a massive, thick wall and drop it straight onto him, giving him no space to dodge. Don’t turn into a pancake and die... survive this, please... I pray silently and let it fall.

KABOOM!

The wall slams down on Glorius—but something’s off. The impact isn’t even.

"HAAAAAA!" A scream of raw agony erupts from below, and then the massive wall is launched back at me.

What the hell is this guy made of?! I quickly erase the wall from existence. Glorius is a mess of blood now, crimson spilling from the joints of his armor, his eyes bloodshot, and red streaming from his mouth, eyes, and even his ears. Yet the look he fixes on me says only one of us is walking away from this.

"Hey, you started this! Why are you looking at me like that?" I frown from above. The nerve this guy has... "I think it’s about time I finish you off. You’re barely standing, after all."

It’s my victory—I can see it. I beat the protagonist. Can you believe it? Hah!

A rush of joy floods me, my body feeling weightless, electric. I’ve never felt anything like it, and I let it take over. I sketch a massive stone hammer in my hands, the head as tall as Glorius himself. I try to lift it—no good.

"Even with boosted stats? Seriously?" I scowl. Yeah, this is going to hurt later...

I write in the air:

{Quill picks up the hammer as if it were a feather, gaining superhuman strength.}

"Bye, Glorius. See you some other time," I say with a wave, gripping the hammer and swinging it upward from below. My muscles tear, my grip slipping—but it’s fine. The hammer smashes into him, sending Glorius flying.

I carve open a gap in the realm I built, making it look as though he’s been hurled out a window. His body sails far into the distance, crashing straight into the massive statue of the city’s founder—or someone. I have no idea who that guy is, but he looks suspiciously like my grandpa. Just a coincidence... right?

"It’s all over..." I sigh to myself as dizziness sets in, my vision blurring. Something warm and metallic swells in my throat, and I spit out what feels like a small bucket of blood. It all happened so fast...

Am I dying?

No... I still have just enough time to cancel my author powers, returning everything to normal—before the darkness starts to pull me under.

No... wait... I...

I try to write in the air, desperate to heal myself. But then everything goes black.