"Nathan Lee. We meet again."

  Nathan tilted his head. The faint sound of crickets chirping echoed through the clearing.

  "Did you just say that unironically?" Nathan said. "Like, you actually thought that would be a good line to use?"

  Leviathan scoffed and twirled his daggers in his hands. "I see that you haven't changed a bit. Still the jokester, even after I've long since surpassed you."

  "You surpassed me? When?"

  "A while ago."

  Nathan popped open the leaderboard and stared at his name. He was still in number one. He reached up and scratched the back of his head.

  "I hate to tell you this, but—"

  "I know what the leaderboard says!"

  Nathan brought his hands up. "Okay, okay. Sure, you're the greatest, awesome."

  "That's right." He clanged his daggers together. "And I'm going to prove it. Right now."

  Nathan looked from left to right. There was nothing he could see in the tree line, but he wasn't exactly in a particularly perceptive state of mind right now.

  "You do know that there's something else in here, right?" he said. "Like, some sort of miniboss? Do you really think it's a good idea to do this under the current circumstances?"

  "I'll defeat you, then take down the miniboss. Easy."

  "That seems really stupid—"

  "Enough talk."

  A wicked grin flashed across Leviathan's face. "Now, it's finally time to get revenge for everything you put me through on the last circle!"

  "It was two circles ago, actually."

  Leviathan disappeared in front of Nathan's eyes. His instincts screamed at him and he jumped to the right, pivoting his fishing rod to parry an attack from the left.

  The fishing rod and the dagger clanged against each other. Leviathan's other dagger moved in. Nathan tilted his head backward and the dagger shaved across the top of his forehead.

  Nathan slammed the pole of the fishing rod into Leviathan's head and it rang like he'd hit a steel bar. The vibrations traveled up the pole into Nathan's arm and he shuddered.

  Nathan jumped back and swung his arm around to get the sensation out. "Did you replace your skull with titanium?"

  "Adamantium, actually. I knew that if I wanted to take you down, no expense would have to be spared."

  Nathan's jaw dropped. He'd said that as a joke—he didn't actually think Leviathan was insane enough to metallicize his skeleton.

  Leviathan's eyes lit up. Fire burst forth from every pore in his body. Nathan summoned water out of the air and intercepted the fire before it could reach him.

  A black sheen sliced through the fire. Nathan parried the strike with the fishing pole, then tried to do the pole maneuver again—but this time, Leviathan parried the attack and made another slash with his other dagger.

  Nathan pulled back. His breaths came in and out, faster and faster.

  "I've been studying you—" Leviathan slashed forward again. "—ever since our last fight."

  Nathan jumped back and gained some distance. His back slouched and he rubbed some sweat off his forehead. "Oh yeah?"

  "Indeed. Our last encounter was humbling. I had to remake myself from the ground up. I had to consider each of the flaws in my strategy. You made me realize for the first time that I wasn't invincible, so kudos for that."

  "You are wildly egotistical, aren't you?"

  Leviathan shrugged. "As soon as I defeat you, there won't be a single other competitor who comes close to me in terms of power. So I think that it's earned."

  Nathan pointed his fishing rod at Leviathan like it was some sort of epic weapon of destiny. "Yeah, but there's no guarantee that's going to happen."

  "Will it?" Leviathan teleported to Nathan's left. "I've been studying you, as I explained."

  Nathan pivoted and tossed his hook. Leviathan blinked out of existence just before it landed.

  "You rely so heavily on the sheer power of your fishing rod—especially at medium to long range."

  Nathan threw out another strike. Again, it failed to land.

  "So the trick is simple,"

  A presence appeared right behind Nathan.

  "Close the distance, and make sure you never get a chance to use that explosive power."

  Nathan reared back his elbow and crashed it into bony ribs behind him. He turned to follow up only to come face to face with a dagger right at his eye.

  Every part of his brain kicked into overdrive. Water wrapped around Leviathan's hand and tugged it to the right, while he moved to the left.

  Even so, the dagger met flesh. It dug into his skin and carved a huge gash across his cheek.

  Leviathan's grin widened. "Face it, Nathan. You're outmatched. And this time, there's no one to help you. You're on your own."

  Blood trickled down Nathan's cheek and hit the ground with one droplet after another. It then struck Nathan that Leviathan had seriously spent the entire circle training exclusively to take him down.

  "Why did you even do this?" Nathan asked, genuine confusion coloring his tone. "What does it even matter if I beat you?"

  At that, Leviathan's grip slackened before his hand tightened around the dagger.

  "None of your business. Now can you quit ducking and weaving like a hamster and fight back?"

  "I have been fighting back. What are you talking about?"

  Leviathan scoffed. "Where's the tidal waves? Where's the attempt to pressurize my body into a fine paste? All you're doing is using that stupid fishing pole!"

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Leviathan took two steps forward and slashed out with his daggers twice. Nathan dodged both, then kicked Leviathan's legs. A metallic clang echoed out and Nathan winced as pain flooded up his ankle.

  Leviathan kicked Nathan's chest, throwing him onto the ground. He brought his daggers to Nathan's neck.

  "You're not taking this seriously!" Leviathan hissed.

  "Of course I'm not! Do you seriously think that I'm about to try to kill you?! What would Thalassa think of me?!"

  Leviathan brought the dagger closer to Nathan's neck. Blood dripped out from the cut.

  "What does Thalassa have to do with anything?" Leviathan said.

  "Everything! Especially after she—"

  Nathan's mouth clamped shut.

  Leviathan's grip slackened. He furrowed his eyebrows together. "Especially after what?" he asked.

  Nathan's heart sunk like a brick.

  Leviathan didn't know.

  And Nathan would have to be the one to tell him.

  He opened his mouth when a shifting noise caught his attention. Leviathan perked up and faced in the same direction Nathan was looking.

  "I don't suppose that's one of your allies," Leviathan said.

  "I can almost guarantee that there's nobody coming to rescue me." Nathan raised an eyebrow, even with Leviathan's dagger still at his throat. "I don't suppose you suddenly made some friends who are out to say hello?"

  "No. I don't have friends."

  "Wow, what a shocker."

  Leviathan's left eye twitched and he opened his mouth to respond—

  A black, shadowy mass exited out of the tree line.

  Nathan's breath was stolen away merely at the sight of it. Its arms seemed to extend out in every direction. Shades of colors that Nathan didn't even know could exist wrapped around it like a canvas. Nathan's breath came in rapidly, one after the other.

  Nathan was starting to wonder if he'd gotten in over his head—

  The ground shifted.

  A massive black silhouette appeared out of the ground and swallowed up the formless monstrosity.

  Dust kicked up everwhere like a tidal wave. Nathan coughed. It cleared away, revealing a hole in the ground. Up above, the silhouette flew into the air until it became a dot.

  Nathan stared at the dot for several seconds.

  He looked back at the hole in the ground that had been created by whatever creature was now in the air.

  He squinted at the silhouette.

  His jaw dropped.

  That slithering body. Those long, outrageous teeth.

  "Not you," Nathan pushed Leviathan off of him and stood up. He raised his fist toward the air. "I literally just sent you to space! How are you already back?!"

  An infernal cry from above ripped through the air. Nathan dug his hands into his hair and pulled hard enough that it threatened to rip everything out of his scalp.

  "This is the second time I fought you in five days! Leave me alone!"

  Another infernal cry.

  The silhouette expanded in the air.

  It was getting closer.

  Closer.

  Nathan gulped.

  "What are you screeching about?" Leviathan glared at Nathan. "The second time you fought it? Don't be absurd!"

  The silhouette had gotten close enough to where Nathan could make out every single detail on its slimy, flesh-like body.

  Nathan shook his head. "Nope, that's it. It's the same thing I fought earlier." Nathan glanced back forlornly at the monstrosity he'd been about to fight. "I was really looking forward to that fight, too."

  Leviathan's knees dropped and he glared up at the creature. "Does it have any weaknesses?"

  "Not really."

  Leviathan squawked and glared at Nathan. "What?!"

  "Yeah, the worm's gimmick is that it can adapt to pretty much anything."

  "Anything?"

  "Yeah, and it's been sliced to ribbons, burnt, pressurized, sent into the cold expanse of space—and it survived all of those. So the number of weaknesses it has are rapidly diminishing."

  Leviathan grabbed Nathan by the shoulders and shook him back and forth. "Why didn't you kill it when it was still weak?!"

  "You think I didn't try that?! It always managed to slither away at the last second!"

  "Of all the incompetent, idiotic, stupid—" His face paled. "That thing is getting really close, isn't it?"

  "Yeah, it is."

  "Was it always that big?" Leviathan asked.

  "No, it's definitely gotten a little bit larger."

  Nathan squinted his eyes. And it was still getting bigger. The closer it got, the wider it seemed to become. Nathan glanced back at the hole it had created when it devoured that mini boss.

  He hadn't seen the edges of the hole—more, he hadn't really factored it in when he'd glanced at it. But now that he was paying attention, gosh, that was a really big freaking hole, wasn't it?

  If he had to guess, it was about four city block squares at this point.

  "Hmm, that's not good," he muttered.

  The worm fully enclosed them from every direction.

  In retrospect, Nathan probably should have started running a while ago.

  The worm's mouth descended down and they were cast into darkness.

  A spark of flame, held inside of Leviathan's hand.

  He was floating in mid air... while Nathan held onto him like a koala bear.

  "You still haven't figured out how to fly?" Leviathan asked.

  "Yeah, I have, but we wouldn't be able to communicate. And I presume that getting out of this will probably require both our talents."

  Leviathan snorted. "Speak for yourself. I'm going to get my way out of this on my own."

  The teeth flexed and got closer to Leviathan. They were surrounding them from every angle. The front, the back, the sides—there was no escape.

  "My regeneration is through the roof." Leviathan snapped his fingers and flames went out in every direction, searing the worm's insides. The teeth drew back and shuddered in discomfort. "Even if I'm chewed to ribbons, I should be fine."

  "Yeah, but do you really want to spend the next hundred years being slowly digested by a worm until you presumably get shit out the other end?" Nathan asked.

  Leviathan sucked in a breath. "No, not really."

  Nathan adjusted his grip on Leviathan's back. Sure, he could have turned into water and just probably slipped out through the worm's mouth, but he didn't feel like tipping his hand to Leviathan and revealing his new abilities. If Leviathan really was dead set on killing him, and there was nothing that Nathan could do about that, probably best not to give up his biggest advantage until there was absolutely no other option.

  "To be clear," Leviathan tilted his head back to look at Nathan. "This is a temporary measure. It's not worth the effort of dislodging you or attempting to murder you at the current moment." His voice dropped. "Besides, I still want to know what exactly you were going to tell me about—"

  He stopped.

  "About?"

  "Nothing. We'll talk about it later."

  The world twisted and Leviathan twisted with it. All of a sudden, gravity was affecting Nathan in such a way that he was being pulled to the side.

  "It's flying through the air," Leviathan said. "Probably looking for another group of victims."

  To Nathan's left, he could see a trickle of air and light.

  "You know," Nathan said. "We actually have an opportunity, here."

  "What do you mean?"

  "We can kill it from the inside. Take out its internal organs and—"

  "Didn't you just explain to me that it's immune to cutting damage?"

  "I don't think we tried to fry its internal organs. With your fire ability..."

  Nathan's words trailed off.

  "The fire ability you just used and that it's presumably adapted to..."

  "That fast? That's absurd."

  The teeth were closing in again. Leviathan snorted. "Here, watch."

  Jets of fire blasted to his left and right and crashed into the teeth, and then to the flesh beneath.

  The teeth moved closer. It seemed unphased by the fire.

  Leviathan's eyes shot open. "I must be having an off day."

  Another two jets of fire blasted out. They'd turned so hot that Nathan was frying his lungs a little bit just from breathing in the air that the fire was touching.

  The teeth got closer, and closer, and closer.

  "Why didn't you warn me?!" Leviathan shouted.

  Nathan was about to retort when he stopped and clicked his tongue. "Yeah, probably should have. But then again, you do have, like, a bajillion different abilities, all of them unique. So we should just be able to use that, right?"

  "Even so, we won't be able to eliminate it completely. I would have to simultaneously destroy every cell of this creature using one of those powers. And in case you haven't noticed—" Leviathan gestured at the massive interior of the worm. "That seems a little bit impossible!"

  "Maybe on your own. But if it were the two of us..."

  The teeth were a scant three feet away now. Leviathan's face twisted in displeasure.

  "You're proposing that we work together?" Leviathan said.

  "Yep."

  Leviathan, to his credit, put his hand to his chin and looked like he was genuinely trying to mull over whether this would be worth it.

  He shook his head.

  "No, I'd really rather not," he said.

  He reached into his inventory and pulled out a crystal.

  "What the heck is that?" Nathan asked.

  "Escape Crystal. Teleports me 50 miles from my current location at random. Of course, it avoids solid objects so that I don't get my body embedded into a tree."

  Before Nathan could say or do anything, Leviathan crunched the crystal in his hand. With a flash of light, he disappeared, leaving Nathan suspended in mid-air.

  "That asshole!" Nathan shouted.

  Gravity hit him like a brick. He sped toward the teeth and shut his eyes.