Miasma was in a dire situation.

Elliott was overpowering him, yet his movements felt only more sluggish by the minute.

'This body... it is only hindering my strength!'

Avoiding the sword by a thread of hair, Miasma began to sweat. Yet, he had to move rapidly, leaving that same bead of sweat behind.

Layla's body was hers. Through the power of corruption, her body was reforged somehow to withstand the soul of the Corrupted Remnant, but ultimately remained one of a human.

There was no other being besides Elliott capable of unleashing the true potential of his power.

In his eyes, even Elliott was nothing against Noah. The real struggle he felt against the former Hero of humanity was still perfectly imprinted in his mind, yet, here he was, struggling against his son.

'If I had been more careful, I could've snatched that Hero's body, but he had to self-destruct!'

'Fate really has it against my plans!'

Oblivious to Tetra and Henrietta's meddling through time, Miasma cursed fate for his misery.

'I won't be able to succeed in my plans if I stay locked in battle with him. I have to find a way to break away from him...'

'Or better else...'

A devious strategy formed inside his mind as he countered Vanitas with his hand.

Elliott noticed confidence return on Layla's face, which made him even more determined to rapidly end the fight.

Taking this chance, he took a step back after trying to slash diagonally, and went for a piercing move. Pointing Vanitas' tip at Miasma, he lunged at him using Acedia.

Miasma also became serious. There was one ability he obtained from Layla, which he had barely used so far. Her ability to use water magic.

Her lethal and imposing water magic.

Watching the glistening sword closing in, Miasma held his hand in front of him, using the last trump card in his possession.

A wide wall of water formed in front of them, stopping Vanitas with ease as its blade sunk into the water.

"Tsk."

Elliott pulled his sword out and rapidly began to cut a path through the magic.

As he came straight for him, Elliott was a perfect target. Miasma pointed his index finger at him, before releasing another form of magic in Layla's pool of magic.

Before he could break past the water wall, Elliott was forced to defend himself, as water bullets pierced through it, ready to leave his body full of holes.

One of the abilities he rarely used came to play, as the situation became too much for his natural thinking process.

Superbia was used, enhancing his ability to treat information and improving his reaction time.

The downside was that he couldn't use it for more than thirty seconds, or his brain would melt from the heat created.

Each bullet appeared to slow down drastically. He took two steps back to bring some distance between him and the water wall, and avoided the first two bullets in the process.

Then, he positioned himself and Vanitas in a way that made it easier to defend himself.

Hundred of shots were fired in his direction, but Elliott stood his ground.

Elliott began to slash the projectiles at a stupefying speed, making them explode and drop to the ground, forming a puddle of water under him.

It took barely fifteen seconds to defend against the attack, as he released Superbia to avoid putting more pressure on his brain.

Without breathing a sight of relief, Elliott took another step back, and placed Vanitas back into the scabbard hanging at his waist.

"I really didn't want to use this, but there's no time. Especially against you."

Miasma felt a different energy focus inside the sword his wife Frey used in the past. The wavelength emitted was calmer, refined, but breathtaking.

The feeling transmitted by the sword stated that if it could, with just of glance of its form, it would cut the one staring at it.

Vanitas' shape morphed alongside the scabbard. An elongated sword replaced the crude and unoriginal medieval blade.

*

This form was the culmination of Elliott's knowledge about one book. While having a discussion with Orion, they delved into the world of swordsmanship.

Orion, who wasn't very interested in it, shared the content of one of his books with him, written by a man named N.

On its pages were written the details of the blade itself. It had a peculiar look, showing an entirely unique shape from Vanitas' old-fashioned type.

With a blade being 70 centimeters long, and an unfamiliar curve that made it rather difficult to use, Elliott trained hard to master it.

At first, he believed that this was a joke weapon, only created by a child, until its sharpness blatantly removed any semblance of doubt from his mind.

It had only one drawback. The blade, even though sharp enough to slice anything, was brittle in nature. Rarely was it able to slice bones, limiting it to softer materials.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The name of the blade was called: Katana.

But only once did the book explain the fundamentals of this sword art.

'A single, clean cut.'

Working to decipher this line, Elliott finally obtained his answer, which took the shape of a skill.

*

"Iai."

When Vanitas attained its new shape, Elliott drew it out. The blade escaped the scabbard without emitting a single scratching noise, and slashed the entire water wall diagonally.

With a lightning-fast movement, the blade was back into the scabbard before his attack was even registered.

Miasma covered himself with a water barrier, but feeling a deep feeling inside his chest screaming danger, he also decided to warp away using corrupted energy.

Moments before Elliott attacked, he was already far away, looking at the result with disbelief.

A diagonal cut appeared on the thick aqueous surface, before splitting in half. The water flowed down and evaporated the instant it met the ground.

Violent gusts of winds then continued forward, cutting the air itself as it approached Miasma.

An invisible pressure was felt, before Miasma released everything he could to defend against the skill.

Ten layers of corrupted energy enveloped him, before he used Layla's entire stored energy to form five more water obstacles in front of him.

The blade sliced the obstacle with such ease that even Elliott felt impressed by its power. Then, it began to eat away at the corrupted shields protecting Miasma.

The first one held pretty well, as Miasma converged his entire power into it, only for it to break.

With a groan, he continued to defend against the invisible strike.

Slowly, his barriers slowly vanished, as his expression showed more and more anxiety and hopelessness.

Until the last one broke. As a last resort, Miasma warped away once again at the very moment the layer vanished, and glared at Elliott.

Still, the fight wasn't finished. Elliott had countered each attempt Miasma made against him, which only frustrated him further.

Elliott's trump card was used, which made this a failed effort at getting rid of his father. With disappointment, he made Vanitas return to its former self, and prepared to for another clash.

But Miasma looked exhausted.

'It's my chance!'

The moment was perfect. Miasma had used up all of its energy, and was unable to defend, or move around.

Not taking this opportunity would only be foolish. And Elliott wasn't a fool. He took the chance, and appeared in front of Layla after using Acedia.

Time slowed down for both of them, as Vanitas fell down on Miasma.

Miasma showed a look of concern as Vanitas slashed his chest diagonally, before turning into a look of horror.

The red hue in his eyes blinked in and out, before his knees fell to the ground.

Father and son locked eyes for one last time, before Layla's face fell to the ground, dead.

Elliott crouched, and looked into the lifeless eyes of the woman, and confirmed that Miasma's energy had disappeared.

With mixed feelings, he stood up, and placed Vanitas back into its scabbard.

"It's done."

With a low tone, Elliott spoke.

"Bring her to me."

Orion's voice echoed in his ear. Hearing the neutrality in his voice, Elliott understood that he would do his best not to bring his conflicted feelings about the matter forward.

Picking up the corpse of Layla, he walked toward the forest Orion was waiting at.

...

"There."

Elliott carefully placed Layla's back on a tree trunk, and looked at Orion.

"I don't have much hope, but she's in your care."

With a nod, Orion looked at the woman.

Bad memories returned, but he closed his eyes and ignored them.

'She tried to kill me before. Unless I get an apology, I won't let her slip away easily.'

Believing the words of Elliott, he crouched next to her. If what he said was true, her heart wasn't as tainted as the others, which made her a potential ally.

Though, now that Miasma was gone, her help was unnecessary.

After being engulfed in light, wings appeared behind Orion's back. A white halo formed behind him, before Orion placed on hand on her forehead.

'This is confusing. She looked like an old lady when I first met her, but now, she looks as young as Amelia...'

Seeing the youth back on the woman, Orion felt strange. He had no idea corruption could bring such effects.

'First, let's heal that wound, and remove the corrupted energy out of her body.'

Since her body was still warm, there was still time to work on her. And even thought Miasma perished, the corruption he had released upon the world still persevered.

"..."

Elliott observed quietly the wound on Layla's chest close. Thereafter, a dark liquid flowed from her mouth, dripping down onto the ground.

"Corruption... and not a little."

Orion couldn't hold himself from commenting. Inside of him, he knew that the reason for this amount was obvious.

Yet, he focused on removing every smudge of dark matter from her body.

After a few minutes, her body was thoroughly cleaned, and healed.

"She's not waking up, is she?"

"No..."

Shaking his head, Orion glanced at Elliott.

"I'll try to bring her soul back."

"You can do that?"

Surprised, Elliott blinked wildly.

"No. If I could, I would've brought my parents back a long time ago."

"Right."

"But in this case, I can try without risking anything."

Turning to the woman, Orion focused his powers on her. Elliott shut his mouth and observed with little hope in his heart.

'I need to look for any trace of her soul.'

Using light magic, Orion scanned every nook and cranny of her body, her magical circuits, and forced his way into the void of her heart, where the soul was.

But, he was unable to enter. With no soul to find, it was a wasted effort.

'...'

Suddenly, Orion focused on another way entirely. While Elliott looked at his back, he blinked a few times, thinking that he was hallucinating.

For a brief instant, he saw two Orion overlapping each other, one in angel form, the other in demon form.

As the two merged, a miracle happened.

"I found it!"

Orion exclaimed with shock, as he found a dying light inside the void of her heart.

This dying piece was the very last remnant of her existence. As it was almost extinguished, Orion had to work fast, but carefully.

'Restoring her soul is a priority! Then, linking it back to the body.'

Light magic healed the fragment, while dark magic pulled it out from the void gently.

Slowly, very delicately, the light magic restored the fragment of the soul, while the dark magic attached it to the edges of her 'heart'.

*BOOM*

Suddenly, Layla's body shook, as a loud heartbeat escaped her chest.

"!"

But it was too early to celebrate. Elliott contained his hope as he looked at Orion's expression. The focus in his eye wasn't gone, which meant that the process of bringing her back was still going.

With life returning to Layla, all that was left was to keep the soul alive. The receptacle was ready to accept the content, but the opposite couldn't be said.

The content was still being mended by Orion.

'This is awful... Miasma shattered her soul into far too many pieces.'

Orion was familiar with the notion and idea of the soul. He knew how his soul was made from Tiohr-nam, but recovering it from nothing was incredibly difficult.

But at last, he managed to heal her entire soul, exactly at the time when his overlapping self seized to exist.

'Strange... why...'

Looking at himself, Orion noticed that the form he was in was the demon form.

'I don't remember turning into the Abyssal Sovereign form?'

He stood up and released his transformation, before glancing at Elliott. The two exchanged a glance, before Orion nodded.

"Mmmh~ Nn?"

The previously deceased woman opened her eyes, which glistened faintly as the light of life returned to them.

With a groan, she looked at the two hazy figures in front of her, until her vision focused.

"Lord... Elliott... and..."

She looked at them alternatively, before opening her eyes wide.

"I am alive?!"

Elliott smiled, and heaved a sighed of extreme relief.

"You've done an incredible prowess, Orion. I can't thank you enough."

He placed a hand on his shoulder, before Orion shook it off.

"Don't. It was only an attempt before doing it on my parents. It was only by chance that I managed to bring her back."

"You're too shy to accept a compliment?"

"Leave it!"

As the two were exchanging, Layla dragged her body in the grass, and grabbed Elliott's leg.

"Lord Elliott! Please! Miasma!"

"You should rest. I've already dealt with Miasma, so there's nothing to worr-"

"No! He fooled you!"

Those words bothered Orion and Elliott greatly, realizing that the Corrupted Remnant hadn't said his last words.

With the woman's memories of being under control, they were disclosed information that only Miasma knew.

Details that left a cold sweat dripping down their back.