Alexander The Great Mage

"TEN Planet Grade treasures?! Feeling rather rich, aren\'t we? Fine! Since you\'re so confident, if you win, I\'ll give you thirty!" Alexander snapped. "You two will seriously regret underestimating my Giant Skeleton Mage. I have given it a generous amount of power, including the SPACE element. Although I have confidence in Liz\'An, fifteen moves is IMPOSSIBLE! In fact, I think that she would require at least a HUNDRE-"

"Ehm. I would like those thirty Planet Grade treasures as soon as possible, Your Majesty. I, ah, have to prepare a dowry for my daughter. I hope I am not asking for too much." Blackfire said apologetically.

"Hmmmm. I do have to prepare a dowry for my foster daughter as well, Your Majesty." Dubaza chimed in. "I would appreciate it if I can receive my payment in rare treasures."

"WHAT?!" Alexander looked up at the battle just in time to witness his prized Giant Skeleton Mage exploding into pieces.

"Was that thirteen moves?" Dubaza asked Blackfire.

"Twelve." Blackfire replied seriously. "Shira\'s fireball doesn\'t count. It didn\'t do much damage anyway."

"Hmmmm. I need to give her a good reward for helping me earn so much." Dubaza said solemnly. "What do you think I should get?"

"I assume your annual salary is quite a significant amount?" Blackfire asked.

"Enough for a few Planet Grade treasures." Dubaza replied easily.

"WHAT? SINCE WHEN YOUR ANNUAL SALARY IS SO HIGH?" Alexander shouted.

"Ever since Princess Aleyria commissioned me to take good care of you during our trip to the mainland, Your Majesty. She assumed that such an outrageously difficult mission would require an equally outrageous compensation. In fact, all of the King\'s Guard received a generous boost in our salaries." Dubaza informed him seriously. Well, as serious as his wide smile allowed anyway.

"Damn it, woman. You should have told me!" Alexander grumbled to himself.

WHOOSH!!

In an instant. Two more Giant Skeleton Mages rose up from the ground. However, the two monsters looked much more fearsome than their previous counterpart. Their eyes glowed an eerie orange and although their bodies were slimmer, they gave out a much more powerful aura.

"Packing too many types of energy was a mistake. This time, I\'ll just give them Space energy to blink, and Fire energy to deal damage. Plus, the fat shape earlier made it clumsy, this slimmer contour should make it more agile. And let\'s not forget tripling it\'s energy capacity and pathways. Let\'s see how she deals with them this time." Alexander muttered evilly.

"Ah Your Majesty. I see you\'ve changed the design of your Giant Skeleton Monster." Dubaza remarked lightly.

"IT\'S MAGE!" Alexander bellowed irritably. "And yes, it\'s much stronger now. No point sending a weakling to test her skills."

"If that\'s the case, then I would like to change my bet as well." Dubaza said.

"Yeah? Well of course you can. Go ahead! How do you want to change your bet?" Alexander smirked. He was feeling rather confident of his creations this time.

"Liz\'An versus two of your vastly enhanced and improved Giant Skeleton Mages." Dubaza began.

"You got that damn right." Alexander said proudly. "They ARE vastly improved."

"Very impressive, Your Majesty. I dare say that each Giant Skeleton Mo- Ah, Mage\'s fighting prowess has more than tripled. What do you think, Lord Blackfire?" Dubaza analysed.

"Tripled is an understatement. With the extreme focus on only two types of energies and the tripling of the energy capacity AND energy pathways, the effect on combat prowess is closer to five times. It is indeed a vastly superior unit compared to the previous one." Blackfire nodded sagely. "Well done, Your Majesty."

Alexander\'s chest swelled lightly at their words of praise, even as his heart screamed "SUSPICIOUS!!"

"Shut up, heart, and be in awe for once!" His brain scolded his heart. "Just look at that. It\'s awesome!"

"In that case, I, Ah, I would like to bet a hundred years worth of my annual salary on Liz\'An\'s victory." Dubaza said mildly.

"Ehm. Yes, I would also like to bet a thousand Planet Grade treasures." Blackfire added.

"WHAT? Are you guys insane? Do you think my money grow on trees?" Alexander shouted.

"Forgive me Your Majesty! I did not mean to put in in a bind. You see, I am absolutely filled with PRIDE over Liz\'An! These past few days, I\'ve been training her and watching her improve. Seeing her claw her way forward step by step, moving three steps forward and two steps backwards, finally reaching the level where she is now… I am PROUD of her!" Dubaza said with uncharacteristic passion.

"My pride simply does not allow me to bet any less than that! I would not go as far as claiming that Liz\'An is my creation, because she is not. But I still feel a huge amount of pride! What would people say if I do not take pride in the result of my training? I can already hear them and their evil words!

YOU SCUM! YOU USELESS BAG OF ROTTING MEAT! HOW CAN YOU NOT TAKE PRIDE OVER YOUR OWN WORK! HOW CAN YOU BE ASHAMED OF YOUR OWN EFFORTS! YOU\'RE A DISAPPOINTMENT TO ALL MAGES! WEAK! WEAK BEYOND WORDS! YOU\'RE A SORRY EXCUSE FOR A KI- I mean, A SORRY EXCUSE FOR A TRAINER!" Dubaza bellowed while glaring at Alexander angrily. Alexander winced slightly at his \'hypothetical\' words.

"YOU\'RE SO SHAMELESS AND USELESS THAT YOUR MOTHER HERSELF WOULD BE ASHAMED TO CALL YOU HER SON! YOU BAST*RD! YOU OLD BAST*RD! YOU UGLY, USELESS, SMELLY, SHAMELESS BAST*RD!! They would say." Dubaza shouted.

Dubaza continued to shout and narrate what \'other people\' would say, and every time he came to a particularly delicious curse, he would stare at Alexander in the eye and shout it out loud!

Alexander felt extremely miserable inside! Although Dubaza\'s curses were hypothetical, it still felt bad to be shouted at while being glared at so emotionally!

Plus, he had no idea that the old man had such a colourful range of vocabulary! He had to endure being called all sorts of names and son of all sorts of mystical horrid creatures. All \'hypothetically\', of course.

"So that\'s why, Your Majesty, I have to bet such a huge amount! It\'s for the sake of my pride and my self-worth!" Dubaza concluded while gasping for breath. He had exerted a lot of effort in his shouting and cursing.

"Alright, alright! I\'ll take that bet!" Alexander finally gave in. He couldn\'t take another second of being scolded \'hypothetically\' anymore!

"While I did not train her personally, I did give her ah, many words of wisdom. I see her as a foster daughter as well." Blackfire shamelessly added.

"FINE! FINE! I\'LL TAKE YOUR BET AS WELL!" Alexander said hurriedly before Blackfire could launch into a series of curses of his own.

"Excellent, Your Majesty!" Blackfire gave Alexander a wide smile.

Alexander glared at both of them suspiciously before instructing his vastly enhanced Giant Skeleton Mages to take to the skies and begin attacking Liz\'An.

*-*-*-*-*

Unaware that she had just been the cause of a massive transfer of wealth which could easily build ten large cities, Liz\'An continued to release countless windblades at the horde of undead charging in their direction.

There were so many of them that even after thousands had been stuck in the sticky mud which the Earthmages had created, thousands more came from behind and stepped on their comrades\' bodies which served pretty effectively as a carpet for the backlines to avoid getting trapped in the mud.

These undead charged rapidly and began to climb over each other and over the walls. They would reach the encampment very soon.

Liz\'An glanced up and sighed as she beheld the endless waves of undead which stretched far into the horizon. However, two giant figures similar to the previous giant monster suddenly rose up and flew quickly in her direction.

"We have two more giant monsters incoming!!" Shira shouted.

"Let me handle them! You keep focusing on commanding our forces!" Liz\'An shouted back.

"Alright! Be careful!"

"I guess there is no point hiding it any longer." She muttered to herself.

"Wywy, are you ready to show the world what we have worked so hard to achieve?" Liz\'An asked her Wyvern fondly.

GROAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

A loud roar answered her. Basically Wywy said, "YOU\'RE DAMN RIGHT I AM READY! LET\'S GO!"

Liz\'An took a deep breath and slowly guided her vast, near-limitless energy to circulate around her body. As her energy began to move, she placed her palm on Wywy\'s back and directed her energy to her palms, and downwards into Wywy!

GRAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Wywy roared in pain! However, there was a distinct sense of excitement within her roar too!

WHOOSHH!!!

Because of their contract, Liz\'An and Wywy shared an extremely close relationship. And by getting her energy to enter Wywy\'s body and slowly merging together with its own energy, Liz\'An was able to do the unthinkable.

She managed to create a temporary fusion of her and Wywy\'s powers!