Cláudio looked at the boy in front of him with an expression full of doubt. There was something about the situation that did not make sense to him, especially because Kael seemed far too calm in front of someone who was about to attack him.
"Who are you?"
"Kael."
"Well, Kael, I don't know what you're talking about, but you're going to die anyway, so it doesn't matter."
Enrico, still using Kael's identity, spun his water spear to block the powerful earth punch coming toward him. The moment he realized that Cláudio intended to advance from the left, he threw his own spear at the wall where his opponent was going to pass. Then he closed his hand, making the weapon explode into a large amount of compressed water that struck Cláudio and pushed him away.
"I'm not going to let you escape."
In the original story, a few months from then, Cláudio would cause the deaths of half of the friends Kai had made during his journey.
Only Kai and Valença would manage to return together. In the future, he would also make three large cities disappear from the map to become a vessel for the god he followed: Thragoros, the Evil God of the Eternal Abyss. In the future, Cláudio possessed not only earth magic, but several branches of it, including the ability to control the world's tectonic plates at will. If it were not for the world's natural resistance, he would have managed to pulverize all those territories.
'Well, he was one of the gods that Kai managed to defeat with Tolen's help... but that won't happen that way anymore.'
If he killed that man now, Thragoros's appearance would be delayed. That would give Enrico more time to prepare, and he did not intend to waste an opportunity like this. Thragoros had been the first evil god to appear in the original story. If he could eliminate or delay any of them, Enrico would do what was necessary.
'After all, there are forty-three.'
[It's going to be a lot of fun for you.]
'Fun? Only if it's for you.'
An enormous earth hammer appeared in the air and was launched at Enrico. He barely dodged it and placed one hand on the ground. Water spread across the surface, surrounding the hammer until it dissolved its structure and turned it into mud. Then, Enrico raised his hand toward Cláudio, making several water tentacles emerge from the surface beneath him. The tentacles wrapped around his body and began pulling him downward.
'Even if they can't see me properly, I'd better move farther away.'
Cláudio released a pulse of earth magic to destroy the tentacles and launched himself at Enrico again.
The boy spun one of his fingers, and the water around them began forming an increasingly stronger whirlpool. The current eventually pulled both of them toward an even deeper region of the dungeon, making them lose their balance and fall into a dark area.
The space was wide, with several suspended platforms and, at different points, water falling from the ceiling like small waterfalls. For Enrico, that environment was perfect.
"I knew I should have focused on you. From the moment I saw how confident you were, I should have realized you were strong."
"Not everyone who's confident can demonstrate that their strength is real. Unlike me."
He answered so naturally that Cláudio was left speechless for a moment.
[You're still acting even though they aren't watching? You take your job very seriously.]
Cláudio advanced across a platform above Enrico and touched its surface. At the same instant, the structure began descending, trying to crush him. Enrico created two water spears, fusing them into a single much larger weapon, and launched it at the platform coming toward him.
"Earth Golem!"
A Golem appeared behind Enrico and struck his back with a punch. More blows followed, but he managed to defend himself by creating a dome of water around his body. The technique resembled the one Caelan used, something Enrico had carefully observed during his training.
'Good thing I paid attention to Caelan's magic.'
Enrico rotated his hands and altered the structure of the dome. The water began spinning faster and faster, transforming the defense into a violent current that surrounded the Golem.
"Water Vortex!"
The whirlpool launched the Golem upward. Enrico barely had time to regain his posture before feeling Cláudio approaching from behind. He turned around and created a sphere of water between his hands. The sphere spun and became increasingly flatter, transforming into a compressed blade.
Cláudio noticed the danger and jumped away, but he could not completely escape. The attack passed through his shoulder and opened a cut. His eyes analyzed the boy with great concentration.
'He's strong, but not that much. Did I worry too much?'
Cláudio placed his palm on the ground, and several Golems appeared around Enrico. At the same time, a hidden trap beneath the platform was activated. An enormous mouth opened and swallowed the Golems, while the surrounding structure slowly began to shrink. It was a trap designed to become increasingly smaller as time passed, and Cláudio had placed the Golems there precisely to prevent any chance of Enrico escaping.
"Besides, the trap's resistance is the best of all the—"
A punch struck Cláudio in the back.
His body was sent flying and crashed against the platform beside him. For a few seconds, he could not understand what had happened. When he raised his eyes, he saw Kael advancing toward him.
'How did he get out?'
Enrico had prepared that before even falling into the trap.
'Good thing I left my fire clone to fly behind.'
The hidden fire clone disappeared, and, taking advantage of the distraction, Enrico created a water clone behind Cláudio. The copy grabbed the boy from behind, restraining his arms.
Surprised at having been captured by something he had not noticed, Cláudio made several earth spikes emerge from his body. The points pierced through the clone, but even while pierced, it continued holding him.
"Damn."
"Spear coming."
A water spear pierced through Cláudio's stomach and sent him backward. His body struck one of the waterfalls descending from the ceiling, leaving him momentarily stunned. When he managed to regain his balance, however, he realized that Kael had just stepped onto another one of his traps.
A smile appeared on his face.
'I placed many traps for you. It's impossible for me to lose.'
Cláudio clenched his hand, activating several earth spears hidden around the platform.
They emerged from different directions and advanced toward Enrico, but the boy seemed to know exactly where each one would appear. His water spear moved rapidly, destroying the weapons before they could reach him, and, without giving Cláudio time to prepare another defense, Enrico charged directly at him.
'It's impossible... does he have some ability to see mana?'
Another spear appeared in front of Cláudio and struck his face. Staggering backward, he immediately created an earth dome around his own body to protect himself from the next attack. In addition, he covered his skin with a layer of earth magic that increased his resistance.
"I had to create this at the last minute, but with this resistance, your water magic won't cause serious damage."
"That's a problem."
To his surprise, Enrico was already inside the dome, directly below him. His two hands were positioned in front of his body, as if holding an invisible arrow. Cláudio noticed the concentration of mana and reinforced his defense even further, convinced that the attack would not be able to pierce it.
"Flaming Shot."
The attack was fired.
The energy quickly pierced through Cláudio's chest, striking exactly the area where his heart was. The earth defense could not stop the impact, and an enormous hole appeared in his chest. His body immediately lost its strength and fell onto the platform.
Enrico spent a few seconds observing the corpse before deciding that it would be better to hide it.
He picked up the body and threw it into the water below, allowing the current to carry it away until it disappeared into the darkness of the dungeon.
'With this, I eliminated one of the threats of the future.'
[Good job, but I think you should eliminate some of the others you left behind as well.]
'Are you talking about Elowyn and Lan? First of all, their threats are more annoying than actually dangerous.'
The two of them had never killed any of Kai's friends in the future. Because of that, Enrico did not consider them threats that needed to be eliminated immediately. Instead, he had decided to try to change them, just as he intended to do with Lan in the original story, even if he needed to put that into practice with his fists.
'Besides, the princess cares a lot about being the queen and making Sanos continue to be the best territory. So, even though I don't like it, her evolution could manage to reach the level of an evil god.'
Enrico decided to recover some mana while heading to observe the other battles. He had deliberately left Kai and Elowyn to face those opponents. He wanted the two of them to be pressured enough to finally reach the Second Circle.
'Besides, Seraphina has matters to settle with her.'
[How cute. Caring about your friend.]
"Yes. Quite a lot."
Seraphina had told Enrico about her history with Elowyn and Narisse. Because of that, lately, he had been helping the girl improve more and more. She was already close to reaching the Second Circle, and perhaps, when he returned to the academy, he would discover that Seraphina had finally managed to reach that level.