Crimson lightning continued to spawn from the pit as the Lex did his best to avoid being struck. Everything the energy touched seemed to be either superheated or downright turned to dust. Each arc seemed to have a destructive aura which Lex discovered as one of the bolts just missed him but ignited his jacket. Said jacket was quickly removed and tossed away as Lex tried his best to get injured further.

Several seconds passed of this is the intensity and quantity of the hazard steadily increased as Lex suddenly noticed the sound of heavy wing beats rising from the pit. "Ahh shit, here we go again" Lex grumbled.

As the wing beats grew louder, the lighting intensified greatly which made it harder and harder for Lex to dodge. After a few more seconds the lightning ceased as a winged figure rose from the pit.

The figure was clad in partially destroyed armour that covered all but parts of the left side of its body. It's neck and left part of its face was exposed, the majority of its chest was exposed. The skin that was exposed with a bright red that reminded left of a sore wound. It's exposed left arm had strange writing up the length of the limb. It's exposed eye with black with glowing yellow pupils. A pair of red large batlike wings protruded from the creatures back.

Part of the entity's mouth was exposed, revealing a series of black needle like teeth when the being pulled it's lips apart. "YOU THINK DROPPING ME DOWN A PIT WOULD END ME!!" The creature roared in anger as Lex realized that the being in front of him was the caster from before.

"Well in all honesty…i was kinda hoping for that" Lex said as the monstrous caster launched a volley of magic bolts at the man. Each bolt of energy was no bigger than a bottle and glowed purple. Each bolt made an unnerving whistling sound as it ripped through the air. They had a long trail, tracing the path they took as they raced towards Lex.

The man managed to dodge most of them, failing to avoid one as it hit his right shoulder in a small explosion of purple energy. "Damn" he growled in pain as he noticed the remaining missiles had changed course and were heading for him again. "Shit!" Lex said as he attempted to avoid being peppered by the remaining eight bolts. This proved to be ineffective as one hit his knee, forcing him to drop to his knee while the rest zoomed passed over head. A sickening laughter filled the room as Lex pushed himself off the ground as Lex heard the missiles coming around.

"THIS IS QUITE ENTERTAINING" as Lex narrowly avoided the remaining six.

"Come on Lex, think" He muttered to himself as he watched the missiles coming around again. "Wait maybe I can recreate what I did earlier" He muttered as he crossed his arms in front of him and prepared from the missiles to slam into him. As his arms crossed, the man felt a vibrating sensation from his hand so he squeezed his hand tightly moments before a partly transparent barrier formed around him. Just as the barrier went up, the missiles slammed into it and harmlessly detonated against it.

"YOU RUINED MY FUN!" The caster roared as it appeared in front of Lex and slammed it's leg into his side, shattering his barrier and sending him tumbling backwards a few feet. Which wouldn't have been too bad except the man had unfortunately moved near the exit and began tumbling down the stairs. The man groaned as he looked up the stairs of what appeared to be a massive castle. "JUST GIVE UP, WHAT'S THE POINT IN STRUGGLING AGAINST AN OPPONENT WHO OUTCLASSES YOU?!" The caster asked as Lex pushed himself up to rest on his undamaged knee. He spat a small amounting blood as he wiped his mouth, wincing as he felt the sting of pain of his lip being split. "This is honestly just me being mean" the creature said in a calmer tone as Lex looked up the stairs to see it standing about ten metres away from him.

"So question?" Lex said as he struggled to get to his feet, feeling his wounded knee screaming at him. "Why didn't you look like this when I blew you up earlier?" Lex asked.

"Simple, this is my true form but it cannot survive in the realm for too long without killing me, and using magic hastens that." it stated as Lex smirked. "What?" It asked.

"So all I need to do is stay out of range out your melee attacks and you should just die." Lex stated.

"You make it sound so simple" the caster stated as it rushed forward. "But its not" it said as it threw a punch, which narrowly missed but it followed up with a kick. It's armour leg slammed into Lex's side, resulting in a few audible cracks to be heard. The force from the attack caused the man to be moved several feet to the side as he struggled to keep his footing. " Face it, you are going to die" it said with a wicked smirk.

"Your cockiness with be the end of you" Lex retorted as the monster took a step forward before forcing it's fist forward through the area. The move sent a deafening shockwave of thunderous energy towards Alex.

Lex could only guard as the wave of thunder slammed into his form before it launched him fifteen feet backwards and onto his back. The wave of energy ripped apart the dirt, rocks, small trees and general debris and scattered them.

Lex groaned in pain as he forced himself up onto his arms. "Okay don't do that again" Lex stated as he noticed that the monster had dropped to its knees while clutching it's chest. Seeing this, Lex pushed himself to his feet and moved towards the caster. The man's entire body cried out in pain as his top was quickly becoming soaked with his blood.

The man spat a decent amount of blood from his mouth which he felt eas quickly replenishing. "Wonderful" He growled as felt it seeping out the edges of his mouth. As he got his barings he managed to notice a thick broken tree branch which seemed sharp on one end just sitting not far from the caster.

"Don't you see that what you are doing is killing you?" Lex stated as he slowly approached. "What do you possibly achieve from this crap?" He asked only to dodge sideways as the caster threw a small chromatic orb towards Lex, which flew off and collided with a tree a few metres behind the man. The tree began to bubble and decay while Lex continued his approach.

"You don't know anything… you are just a pathetic insect that deserves to be crushed under heel" It retorted as it glared daggers at the man.

"Well you nearly did… but then you kind of screwed yourself over" Lex explained as the being before him extended its hand out and pointed at Lex with its index finger. "You are barely holding yourself together, don't try it." Lex explained as he watched a vibrant green energy begin to grow at the tip of the casters finger.

"You… underestimate my po…" it said with a wicked grin until Lex quickly moved forward, grabbed the branch and struck the caster's hand away. As he did, the energy surrounding it's finger launched off to the right of the pair and vanished off into the forest. A few seconds later a massive tree in the distance slowly began to fall. The caster cried in pain as it collapsed onto the ground while clutching it's chest tighter. "H-how dare you" it snarled as Lex looked down at him with a saddened expression.

"I am offering you the chance to live, leave now and never return… Don't hurt anyone and just live out the rest of your life in peace" Lex ordered as the caster bore it's teeth at him.

"I don't desire your mercy… nor shall I accept it… I shall watch you die in agony… ev-even if it costs my own life" the caster replied as it pushed itself up onto it's knees.

"Please don't make me do this" Lex replied as his grip tightened on the sharp branch.

"Coward" the caster taunted as white energy began to encapsulate it's arms and torso. "you are pathetic" it snorted as energy sparked from it's form only for it to vanish in a flash of light as the caster lost concentration as Lex slammed the chunk of wood into casters face.

"Shut the fuck up, your going to fucking kill yourself! So stop this whom 'oooh look at me I'm so edgy and evil' i never wanted to fight you and I don't want to kill you!" Lex shouted not noticing the eruption of rainbow energy from the castle.

"But I'm evil and your go…" the Warforged replied before Lex cut it off.

"Enough with that shit, the world isn't black and white. You have the chance to live if you simply surrender. Like if you don't kill anyone while proper reason and such" Lex explained as the caster frowned and looked down at the ground.

"Do you really think I have that choice? The chance to vanish and live my life?" The caster asked in a quiet tone, barely audible.

"Of course everyone has that…" Lex replied in a calmer tone only to be cut off instead.

"Well then you are a damned fool!" The Warforged shouted as he grabbed the collar of Lex's top. The monstrous creature moved so it's yellow eyes were level with Lex's. "Do you honestly believe that my master would allow me such a luxury of choice? A chance to be free?! No I am his fucking fodder to be used and discarded at his whim!" The caster shouted as Lex noticed tears begin to well up in its eyes. "I am not trying to die for him… death is the only freedom from him" the caster explained as he released Lex and dropped to his hands and knees. The man took a step back and looked down at his opponent.

"I am just a slave to his whims" the caster explained as it shook faintly as it looked down at the dirt.

"So that's it? You were egging me on to kill you?... but why? Why not do it yourself?" Lex asked as he frowned.

"Don't you think I have tried?" It asked without looking up, tears streaming down it's face. "i-i can't do it" it continued while weeping.

After sighing, the man moved forward in front of his opponent and knelt down. He then placed his hand on the caster's shoulder and smiled softly while giving it a soft squeeze.

"What if I swore to you that I would free you from your imprisonment? To free you from this damned existence without you being forced to die?" Lex asked in a soft voice as he gave a kind smile, locking his gaze with the entity.

"How could you possibly do that… if you are dead?" It remarked before slamming it's metal palm into Lex's damaged sternum, sending the man backwards onto his back with a pained gasp. Lex didn't get a chance to catch his breath before the metal demon had mounted his chest, its right leg squeezing the large second degree burn on left side. The creative's left leg pressed into Lex's broken ribs on the right side of his body. The new sensations of pain made the man cry out in pain before he felt his cry cut short as the armoured entity wrap it's hands around his throat. "Pathetic" the caster snarled with a wicked grin as Lex tried to pull its hands off his throat.

"I'm going to...take… my… time" the caster said as it loosened its grip just enough for Lex to inhale before tightening its grip again. "I'm going to enjoy watching you die… and then I'm going to present your corpse to my master" It stated as it squeezed tighter to the point Lex thought his windpipe would be crushed.

Lex's mind was in a panic as he grew closer and closer to passing out from a mixture of pain and lack of oxygen. The panic lasted for a few seconds until he felt warmed from his left arm that seemed to melt the panic and fear away. As his mind calmed, he noticed a massive ripple of rainbow energy filled the sky overhead behind the monster atop of him.

"I would say that you fought admirably, but you didn't." the caster said mocked as it squeezed and began cackling loudly.

"F-fuck you" Lex choked out as he snarled at his aggressor as his hands searched the ground near him for anything to help.

"Those are you last words?" The demon asked with a cackle "That's sad" it mocked as Lex's hand brushed against the sharp branch he was using earlier. "Come on, give me something better" it smirked as it put more weight onto Lex's neck.

"Cunt" Lex growled as he rapidly moved his right arm up after he grabbed the branch and plunged it into the soft flesh of the Demons neck. The caster's eyes went wide in shock and pain as it gave a giggled cry as the branch sunk deep into its neck. "Get the fuck off me" Lex said as he twisted the branch and shifted it inside of his opponent so the tip was pointing down. Once correctly orientated, Lex pushed with all his available strength, plunging the three foot long branch deep down into the soft body of the creature attacking him. Lex felt the Demons grip vanish from his throat as it choked and gagged on its black blood.

Lex met some resistance as the tip touched the inside of the Demon's ribcage so he jerked the branch upwards and pushed. With the remaining amount of strength he had within himself, Lex forced the demon off of him and onto the ground next to him. Once it was off of him, Lex was finally able to breath with as much ease as someone with broken ribs and an injured sternum could. "Fuck sake, are you gonna die this time?" Lex asked as he turned his head to look at the caster, who was too preoccupied with dying to pay attention. Lex turned his gaze to the sky as he panted, his body was coated in sweat, blood and dirt. His entire form burned with a mixture of complete exhaustion and pain as Lex watched the dark sky slowly be filled with orange, red and blue as the sun started rising.

As he laid there, Lex could hear birds chirping, trees rustling and other fauna waking up. "This is kinda nice" Lex said as he felt the adrenaline slowly leave his body, allowing him to feel his injuries. "Scratch that" he groaned as he held his chest in his arms and groaned in pain. He felt the exhaustion also beginning to set it as he fought to stay conscious but it was a losing battle. The man glanced at his foe to see that it had fallen still and it's breathing had stopped. The sight made the man groan as he didn't want to kill it.

"I got to move or else I'll pass out" Lex said as he attempted to sit up but was stopped do to the immense pain in his chest. "Shit" he groaned uncomfortably as he attempted to roll over onto his side. As he finally managed to roll over, he braced himself with his injured leg. With what finesse he could muster, he managed to get onto his hands and knees even though his body seemed to be actively fighting against him. He pushed through and gritted his teeth as he got up onto one knee. "Okay… Okay now what?" He asked as he looked around only to see the group of mares coming down with two extra Alicorns.

"Well look at that? They were successful" Lex said with a smile as he waved to them, gaining the attention of a few of them as Lex suddenly felt dizzy and faint. "What the fuck… oh right blood loss… fuck" he muttered as he collapsed face first into the dirt hard sending a new wave of pain through his body which was somewhat dulled due to his new state. "Fuuuuuuuuuuun" he groaned as he felt his consciousness fading.

"Lex!" He heard Dash shout as she landed by him.

"Morning" Lex groaned to her without looking.

"Oh my days, what happened?" Dash asked concerned as Lex pointed to the corpse of the demonic Warforged. "Ah alright yeah that looks kinda nasty… how are you doing?" She asked as he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Dying… mostly" Lex groaned.

"Oh no! Princess Help!" She shouted as he heard footsteps approaching. "Hang in there Lex, you'll be fine" she said trying to comfort Lex as he gave a thumbs up.

"Well this is not a good sight, hello are you alright?" Lex heard a new divine voice ask him.

"Not really" he groaned painfully. "I think I'm dying." Lex explained as he suddenly felt his entire body begin to go numb.

"That's no good, let's get you to a hospital" the voice said as Lex gave a thumbs up moments before his strength failed him and he passed out from a mixture of exhaustion, blood loss and his injuries.

Author's Note

So here is the next chapter, hope you enjoy and leave a comment for any suggestions.