Luke first noticed the rapid rise of heat, similar in severity to the immediate area around the Unholy Flame. He felt an intense glare from the spectating court and devils around him. Before, it was feigned interest, but now, the various demonic and nether beings around the transparent barrier gave the fight their full attention. A shrouded figure atop a throne watched.
The Reaver didn’t care much. He momentarily split his attention to check on Sooty and assess the changed Spectral Lord. Sooty had gotten up, to his relief. Another vortex sprang open behind the Spectral Lord as if to smother that feeling.
Sooty flapped, and a few drops of blood and feathers shed. The crow cast an Iron Feather around her and then fearlessly charged as she had done many times before, veering away from the Spectral Lord.
The green flames began to heat the sword, and the ghost steel around the boss showed signs of becoming molten. Green disembodied eyes traced Luke’s subtle movements. With each step, the flaming creature emitted a green flame nova. Fire licked the serrated blade and danced around the air.
Luke didn’t rush in; the young man observed the adjusted patterns and the environment around him. There was, of course, the circular transparent barrier the fight was boxed in by. The bleached white soil, the noxious air, the unsettling moon, and there was just one aspect he’d noticed in this fight.
This boss would guide the fight away from only one place, the white-blue pillar a few feet behind him. Even now, the Spectral Lord took its time coming forward. With its previously displayed speed, there was absolutely no reason to do so.
Unless it wanted to avoid something.
Moreover, he noticed an additional detail when Luke stopped blocking out what he previously deemed unnecessary information- anything not immediately relevant to survival. The closer he was to the white-blue pillar, the easier it was to control his essence overall. The effect was slight, which escaped his senses until now. A plan rapidly formed. The creature had voluntarily stepped out far enough that the summons no longer let it leech health with the pale red aura.
As if bound, even if reluctant, the Spectral Lord still came forward, and the heat built with it. Luke checked on Sooty a final time. Despite her repeated injuries, the corvid handled the recently summoned specters well. A companion with flight was well suited to counter them.
Luke stepped back, closer to the white-blue pillar. His eyes never left the Spectral Lord’s ignited form. Heat began to press against his face, and in a subconscious reaction, frost from within poured out in retaliation. The assistance of the pillar made the simultaneous control less intermittent. Frost began to coat Xera, and a layer protectively imbued his feet, a measure against the pulses of green flame. By now, he was within three feet of the pillar—the assistance to his essence capped here.
“Watch for the moment, lad. The walking suit of undead flame armor will snap any second,” Wayfinder said.
“Let your ice and my blade do the work. We’ve almost made it, master,” Xera said.
A pause took over the battle, where newly frosted mist met shimmering heated air. Then, Luke strained his eyes. The expected step came, and he jumped, formed Xera into a wand, and took out Whispering Edge at the beginning of the jump. Calculated to a frightening degree, the Reaver felt his body clear above the molten great sword. The flame further weakened this close to the pillar, as did the Spectral Lord.
Luke aimed Xera midair while he thrust Whispering Edge into the soil, his palm striking the hilt. The move gave him the desired time to let his reflexes do their work. The Spectral Lord’s blade struck Whispering Edge, flinging the sword far away. Essene Lance formed, and Luke felt a large chuck of his frost essence sucked out of his body compact into the ability. He aimed Xera at the cracked, molten breastplate, unable to completely protect the Spectral Lord’s heart.
His icy blue eyes met the Spectral Lord’s floating green ones. Luke’s feet pointed toward the pillar just behind him. He smiled, and his lips opened.
“Boom.”
The practical ice missile that was Essence Lace exploded in its single target form. Ruinous echo sprang out, weakening any resistance to the ability. The contrasted polar ice solidified. The rapid heating and cooling of the Spectral Lord’s armor made it dangerously brittle. The lance punched and broke the newly weakened ghost steel armor, then rotated through, ripping out the Spectral Lords' back. Frost mist and ice enveloped the immediate area, taming green flame. A fresh green wave pushed out the Spectral Lord right after, and ice battled fire.
The Reaver used the pushing force to land his feet against the pillar behind him. He bent his legs, then jumped back toward the Spectral Lord. With Xera still on her three-second cooldown, he tried to coil ice essence around his left hand instead, reaching for the exposed chest of the Spectral Lord. Alarmed, the creature brought its blade back into a defensive stance. Luke knew pushing here would result in a lost hand. He adjusted the trajectory and placed his hand on the monster’s shoulder.
Luke rocked back, and the Spectral Lord’s armor released another screech, which ruined his landing. Near the white-blue pillar, the effect wasn’t as potent. That fact saved him as he partially dodged the ignited serrated great sword. A deep cut sank into Luke’s chest. Ice essence rushed to the blistering wound and cooled the seared areas. Adrenaline must’ve been pumping full force, as Luke barely felt a thing.
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While he took a grievous hit, if the armor wail had been as strong as before, Luke would’ve been cut in two, unable to move. He ignored the pain. His eyes saw the beating heart of the Spectral Lord, thinly covered by gray rotted flesh. The blue-tinted heart appeared more spirit-form than solid to him. Once his attention caught sight, his own heart started to thump. Two beating hearts echoed near the pillar, louder than natural, and a resonance formed.
Xera reformed into a sword. As the local battlefield witnessed a recent mass creation of ice, Luke found coating Xera with frost easier than ever. The sear across his chest begged for attention, but he had none to spare. The Spectral Lord swung his sword, and a lash of green fire blasted out to Luke. Xera sliced the flames in half, but embers still cooked his skin.
He let out a grunt of pain. He wanted to scream, but the situation wouldn’t allow that. Luke stepped in, and a blade dance began once more. A frost blade clashed with an ignited one. Luke only sought to redirect or slow any swings his way. Usually, he tried to pierce into the thin armor gaps. The Spectral Lord was especially protective of its exposed chest. With the breastplate gone, it was forced into a more defensive style.
The boss returned to its two-handed, harsh swings but tightened the displayed swordplay; Luke, with his lack of experience, failed to find substantial gaps. The lick of flames and the pale red aura would win the fight at this rate, and Luke couldn’t land enough potent attacks to out-heal the passive loss. The frost mitigated the green flame’s effects, but his side was the weaker of the two.
Luke didn’t give in to doubt and continued searching, understanding, and seeing. The Spectral Lord attempted numerous times to cleave him, but its current style was too slow, too tight. Luke finally sliced Xera through the ends of its gauntlet. If this monster wouldn’t let him near the weakest points, he’d ruin its grip and regain health while he did so. Luke forced a stalemate in the tug-of-war between health bars with this method.
While the fight entered a different lull, Luke faced another issue: the constant use of frost essence drained his essence rapidly, and the rate soon consumed faster than he would regenerate.
Infusion danced, and Luke applied two separate stacks, one to Xera and the other to Sooty, despite her not being in his immediate sight. He used the most substantial initial stack and redirected the serrated great sword to the side. It sunk deep into the white soil. Luke took the chance and sliced Xera into the Spectral Lord’s side. Her armor penetration aspect, frost imbuement, and brittle armor all coalesced, and his blade cut apart the targeted spot.
Xera stopped midway through the Spectral Lord’s torso. Luke stomped both his legs, which let him rip the sword out. Simultaneously, he left a pulse of frost through the sword wand as a gift, and the internals of the Spectral Lord were eviscerated.
Sooty appeared out of the shadows, unnoticed even by Luke. Her shadow essence empowered Reaver Beak veered off slightly, and she struck plate armor just above the hole ripped through by Essence Lance.
The Spectral Lord broke his extended silence, “The perceptive companion appears. I waited for you.”
Shadow chains ripped out the white soil and materialized instantly. The boss flexed its muscles and tried to split Sooty in half with its following sword strike. Luke pierced Xera into the weak palm armor holding the blade, but it wasn’t enough.
The crow was never the helpless type, and she managed a Talon Strike directly onto the oncoming great sword. The chains strained, and her body forced itself just above the attack’s arc. Luke twisted Xera and ruined the Spectral Lord’s right hand.
A ghastly wail forced itself out. Disorienting both Luke and Sooty for half a second. The chains that held Sooty dematerialized. The boss monster dropped its sword and used its free hand in full force. A plated hand smashed into the vulnerable bird, and her body meteored. Unfortunately, her Iron Feather had been used in the earlier wave of summoned creatures.
She didn’t get up.
Luke could only see red. Yet another family member would be taken at this rate. His breathing rapidly increased. He bit his lips, and they bled. His eyes took on a dangerous slant.
The Reaver’s muscles expanded and flexed past a safe threshold. Xera smashed against the Spectral Lord’s body, and the boss crashed back, thumping against the pillar. The pillar cracked, and frost exploded out.
Like a torch gone out, the embers of green flames took a final dousing. The boss didn’t appear flustered. Luke struggled to stay rational. Essence Bond ran its course once more, but Luke didn’t dare to let up.
His blade pierced into the Spectral Lord’s chest, succeeding in slicing through. Unfortunately, the heart phased out, incorporeal again, yet the frost essence nearly forced it back to physical reality.
Luke didn’t have enough mastery over elementalization yet, at least in normal circumstances. But a trial never cared for normal. The young man sliced and diced his blade over the monster’s body as he tried to end the Spectral Lord’s life. He let the last green flames sear him, and the pale red aura stole away more health.
“Keep your head straight, you bull-headed boy. The bird still lives if you’d pay attention. She’s barely breathing.” Wayfinder saw the glint change in Luke’s eyes and continued, “Rather than thrash about, end the trial, lad; remember what I told you earlier.”
The Spectral Lord moved its right foot, withstood Luke’s constant strikes, and instantly moved. Luke’s lapse in judgment due to subsiding his emotions too late cost him dearly.
As the young man turned his body and brought Xera down on the Spectral Lord behind him, the boss used its remaining useable hand to thrust its sword through Luke’s heart. The Reaver’s momentum carried Xera through the Spectral Lord’s armor and connected to the hole below the Spectral heart.
Luke lost his grip, and blood spurted out his lips involuntarily. A darkness began to cloud his vision. A crazed look overtook his visage, a smile too broad to be normal, eyes too alive for someone about to die. Perhaps most out of place was the man’s spirit still hadn’t broken.
The Reaver took his left hand around the great sword lodged through his heart with a death grip so tight that the blade sliced into his hands. Luke fearlessly stared back at the unholy green eyes coldly watching him.
Essence Lance formed in his right hand, and he stared at the being that attempted to upend him.
He spat out, “You fool. Checkmate.”