Elias whipped around to see ric sitting on the checkout counter. His heart jumped up into his throat as he stumbled back, preparing to defend himself.


    He did willinglye here, but he wasn''t going down without a fight. He didn''te here to give up. He came here to try to spare his friends.


    "We need to talk," he said once he got his bearings.


    ric chuckled as he tilted his head at Elias.


    "Talk? We don''t do much talking," he replied as he hopped off the counter, his boots hitting the ground with a heavy thump.


    Elias tightened his fingers into fists, making himself ready for anything. He didn''t trust ric in the slightest.


    "I wanted to propose something to you," he said. He wasn''t sure if ric would take him up on it, but he could at least try. He owed it to his friends to try.


    "Propose what?" ric asked, looking intrigued.


    "You and me just fight. We have onest battle right here, right now. You leave the others alone," Elias replied. Maybe he was basically sacrificing himself, but he was giving himself a somewhat fair fight.


    It would just be him and ric. No distractions from anyone else. They would fight until someone was defeated, which he figured was death.


    ric lifted an eyebrow at Elias, looking surprised by the proposal.


    "You think that you can take me by yourself? Did you see what happened thest two times that we fought?" ric questioned him.


    Elias nodded, fully aware of the results of thest two fights. That was in the past, though. Those were different circumstances. He didn''t know if he stood a chance against ric on his own.


    The whole point of the trip was for he and Melina to fight together. That hadn''t worked out yet, so he was trying things solo to spare his friends.


    "I''m aware. I want my friends and Melina to be left out of this. I just want it to be me and you," Elias replied, remaining firm on his idea.


    ric hummed under his breath as he crossed his arms, tilting his head slightly.


    "Interesting," hemented. "Until the death?"


    Elias felt his body freeze up for a moment, but he pushed through the sensation so that he could nod.


    Those were the terms that he was agreeing to. He didn''t want to die, but he wanted the chance to kill ric.


    "Yes," he said. He wasn''t going to let ric escape with his life again. If he was going to fight this hard and risk this much, someone was going to die during this fight.


    He refused to walk away, and he knew that ric wasn''t going to stop until Elias was dead or he was dead.


    "You care about them that much?" ric smirked.


    Elias nced away from ric. His friends meant the world to him. They faced this situation together, fighting alongside each other and taking care of each other.


    He had grown too attached to them to let them get hurt again. They had lives to live that they deserved to experience and explore.


    "Yes," he replied. "I want you to leave them out of this."


    "Fine," ric sighed. "If you want to be some honorable sacrifice, go ahead. At least I can kill one of you."


    Elias tightened his jaw, narrowing his eyes as he watched ric roll and stretch his neck. He hoped that he could kill ric.


    Wiping that smirk off his face would make him feel incredibly satisfied.


    "Outside," Elias said before walking out of the store. He didn''t feel like having shelves thrown at him inside of a dark store.


    He stood a better chance outside in the parking lot near the fuel pumps. He took his spot, turning to face ric as he strode out of the store.


    He couldn''t believe that he was actually here. Everything came down to this. He either defeated ric, or he died right here. It was weird thinking of himself dying.


    He didn''t expect the possibility of it toe so soon, but everyone died. If he was going to kick it, he wanted to die doing something for his friends.


    "Sure you don''t want to call your friends? You''re looking nervous," ricughed coldly.


    Elias didn''t want to die alone, but it was better than watching his friends die. He narrowed his eyes, standing his ground and refusing to let ric get into his head.


    "Let''s get on with it. I''m not here to y around," he said firmly.


    ric shrugged, looking disappointed that Elias wasn''t reacting the way he wanted him to.


    "You asked for it," he replied.


    Maybe Elias did, but he was in no way prepared for what was in store for him.


    Elias made the first move. He was taking all sorts of risks today. He sent shots of fire toward ric, feeling his palms burn.


    If he wanted a chance at winning, he had to lean into his abilities like ric did. ric''s strength came from his demonic powers, while Elias had witch and demon abilities to pull from.


    ric dodged around most of the shots. One of them caught his cheek, burning his skin and making him grimace. He sent a newspaper stand flying at Elias'' head with a wave of his hand.


    Elias ducked, being mindful of things that ric could throw at him. He had learned that the hard wayst time.


    He wasn''t going to make the same mistakes this time. His threshold for mistakes that he could allow was very small. Any mistake could put him six feet under.


    "Come on, Elias. You have to put up a better fight than that," ric taunted him.


    Fueled off his anger, Elias rushed at ric, mming his shoulder against ric''s chest. He didn''t knock ric off his feet, but he made him lose his bnce, which was good enough.


    Elias grabbed ric''s arm and tossed him against the only window that was intact on the storefront.


    ric crashed through the window, ss raining down everywhere.


    He grimaced as he picked himself up off the ground, shaking ss off him.. Cuts littered his arms and face as he climbed through the hole where the window used to be.