"I have no more words to spare on you, Evert."

"I don't want to hear it from you, anyway! You're just a dog who ignores everything below you because it doesn't involve you in the slightest!" Our voices sparked over the whirling wind that flowed through the ruined scenery. The once blooming village with it's lustrous merging colours turned to a wasteland decorated by rubble and debris, gouges from our clashing battle imprinting itself on the land.

My attention was caught for a brief moment, by the sight of all who perished whilst I remained unable to contain him. Bodies snuggled side-by-side under the remnant's of trees and houses which faltered under the pressurised quakes scattered from our back and forth exchanges in devastating blows which terraformed the previously picturesque, insignificant town; which would now be remembered not for its beauty or the casualties that surmounted it, but rather the person who would be buried here and what it would mean for the world to pass, come the end of this significant event.

The patches of singed grass that remained ignited from the spells creating a unique scent of charcoal and a repulsive, slowly-spreading smell that arose from the swamps of the stringy, viscous blood that splurged the dirt filled land that upscaled in random places from the conjured earth spells domineering our defensive arsenals.

"For what we once were, I'll warn you now. I'm coming." I announced, wiping the residue of the metallic tang of blood leaking from my lips. My old friend, who stood in front of me only snickered at my warning, his features that played back memories in my head revolted continuously. The sincere way his brows would edge when he smiled, the gentle glistening hue emitting from his purple iris and the distant smile he would shine when he was hurt and would toughen the burden by collapsing it on himself.

What caused us to grow so far apart, I thought to myself.

"Stop talking and come! If your going to seriously do this that is!" His response taunted me, scraping at my shell trying to evoke a reaction out of me and get under my skin. His spit flew from his showman-like performance as his teeth gritted revealing a clear discrepancy in his heavy eyes and his firmly clenched grin.

"As you wish." My breath smoked as the exasperated look on my face converged into a focused one. In an instant, my previous standing figure blurred behind me and the wind picked up a few seconds after, my starting position formed into a crater in my wake. His sharp gaze fixated on my mine as the few meters of distance formerly separating us, seemingly collapsed behind me, a massive dust cloud bursting and masking the already dark sky as it floated upwards.

A hard surface intercepted my fist aimed at his face, his forearm firming the blow nigh effortlessly, yet I knew he kept an impenetrable front concealing his pain. A firm stamp etched into his skin that slowly tore off from the heavy blow he opted to block rather than dodge. No, that's not right. He couldn't doge it.

"Tch!" He clicked his tongue and narrowed his vision to an even more compact point, making sure to track every minute movement I made and guaranteed he'd assess it with enough time to grant him being able to generate a decision.

As soon as my feet graced the floor again, he made an expeditious attempt to sweep me of my feet, using my blow to accelerate himself to the ground and use the momentum to flexibly spin his legs at my ankles. Anticipating his counter, I made my own countermeasures that I made from studying his battle sense all along through our fights these past years, including our final stand, and exorcised a heavy breeze of wind mana thrusting me from out of his reach.

He seemed to catch on near instantly, propelling himself towards me and retrieving the blade from his waist which enkindled in radiant flames extending to the tip that pierced through the air at me. My head near resembled a shashlik ready off the grill, yet fortunately my head, on pure animalistic instinct, flung itself backwards, the temperature sizzling my skin even when no contact had been established and burning the front of my crimson hair as the air around it and the blade itself dashed past me.

Off balance, my back grazed the crude ground, sliding out of Evert's reach and leaving a nasty flesh-wound open and exposed to the oncoming attacks that would follow. I wasted no time and also salvaged my curved blade that laid comfortably at my waist in it's scabbard and conducted my lightning attribute mana, whilst pulsing it around my system to enhance my already implausible reaction speed. Instead of charging ahead, I began to deliberate and concluded to step back and create the necessary space to study his movements more attentively.

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"Running like a coward! You always did do that! Remember our bouts in the academy!? It always ended in my victory!" His words sounded conceited, influenced by the past, but more, I understood he tried to alert a feeling of uncertainty and doubt within me to substantially throw me off my game. Pillars blasted from under the steps he'd jump to, even before it manifested, displaying his incredible confidence in his skill as well as his proficiency in his mana control. Midway, his expression lit up similarly to the dancing flames breathing from his blade, as he ever so carefully brought his hilt above his head and slashed downwards facing me. An unsettling claw of fire snarled and curled it's way to the mountain of the ruined houses I rested upon.

My composure remained poised, blitzing even faster than before thanks to the assistance of my spell, spawning on the pillar behind him he had created as a stepping stone to the current one he climbed. In the last vision of my eyes, before the world around me turned a bleak and hazy colour, I noticed the doom he carried deep inside his heart as he comprehended my new position. His neck scrambled to divert his attention to his back, but he would not make it.

Both him and I realised this. So as the veteran warrior with the countless years of experience he boasted under his belt, he resorted to his last resort that would prevent his death by my hands. Even if he would become severely wounded in the process.

"BURST!!" He shouted in a desperate attempt, snickering at my face which twisted into a conflicted expression, biting on my already pierced lip.

BOOM!!!!

The air around him combusted in an instance, ricocheting me and dealing a heavy blow to the front of my body, erasing my chest plate and the dark robes I donned as I crashed into the ground tumbling into a crowd of corpses. Evert himself didn't walk out unscathed either, suffering even more damage from the explosion than I had. Half his face burned off with lingering marks deeply imprinted in his faces structure, his hair scorching at the roots as his tears whittled away at the immense pain he must have felt.

"H-healing!!" He proclaimed, holding his face in the palm of one of his hands, commencing the restorative mana that he studied back in the academy. He was certainly good at it, but I, more than anyone, understood his limits. The reparation of his face wouldn't occur, the pain would only briefly falter. Adding to his damaged body that had chunks of flesh blown away, it seemed this battle was more than decided.

I pushed the pale-bodied corpse of a young woman off me and wafted her dark hair out of my face and dug my blade into the ground as a supportive pole that would facilitate my recovery onto my feet.

Huff, huff, huff

I progressively allowed myself to retain my breath and ease the fatigue that had domineered my body for these past 24 hours that had been dedicated to stopping him. The sweat beamed of my forehead and dripped past my tear ducts and flowed along my cheek before hitting the floor with a silent whiplash. I let the rest do the same as I mopped the surplus and began trudging onwards to meet his slumped body that could only stare at me helplessly and await its demise.

"No words?" I asked from a distance.

"It would be so lame of me to now scream and beg for my life. Especially after all I've done. You see no redemption in me, right?"

"As you know, in my eyes, redemption is hopeless, because at your core you were still at some point something you changed. You can't erase anything about yourself. People just conceal those quirks they've hidden. Redemption, is about as good as death. At least in another life, if the chance may fall upon you, you haven't done what you have before. Technically a clean slate. As long as you remain in this body, and attempt to conceal your hatred against the world that had been cultivated inside of you, you'll just be suffocating yourself under water. Killing yourself. That, is redemption." His body lacked the strength to do anything but to turn his frown into a smile that projected a ghost of him. Something that had been discarded. His mask. Or rather something that hadn't been sculpted yet and was possibly once him before his true discovery.

"Goodbye. For all it was worth, you were my best friend. And will always be, no mater your wrong doings."

"Hahahaha..." He let out a weak chuckle. "See, that's why you're stronger than me. You don't have anything you care about...even me." Shallow breaths served as pauses as he continued. "Strength, was only important to you...an obsession. For no good reason at all either."

"Spare it." I uttered as I arrived before him. My expression remained still, similar to the bodies scattered round this desolate warzone, or at least I gathered from his hush violet mirrors, as I slipped the blade into his heart.

His smile remained fortified and his right hand slowly grasped onto my blade. "Persistent." I spoke.

"I don't regret all I did, and I will continue my revenge...This is just confirmation you won't be here to stop it." My eyes jumped at the sight of his hand, an insignia fully embroiled in the remnant's of his fading mana drawn directly from him exploding in an outlandish upheaval, levelling the ground at now point zero and erasing both of us from this world.

My thoughts dwindled at the sight of blank white, filling my view.