I am not too impressed by myself, most of the time, but I have to say, the bloodbath below me was formidable, the souls running towards me, the undead slaughtered as trained knights faced the sea of shambling corpses, the eight professors marched under my command as well, tearing down walls and incinerating sharpshooters, while two hundred snowborn remained to run through the gate the moment it broke. The King was too busy defending himself to attack me, and thus, the only one who was still around my level of power rose to fight me.

An old man in his seventies, his robes bursting apart as cultists and students alike began forming a ring around us.

“I did not expect a calamity within my lifetime, and yet I trained every day to stop creatures like you. Ragnar, is that your name, or just an alias? I will find out, because this arena has been build with your name in mind.” Immediately, I felt myself restrained, the arena glowing all over with runes that had been hidden before, the binding keeping me inside even as I tried to escape with a part of my spacial presence.

“You are prepared, this is the first time something like this happened, which means this fight will be all the more interesting. Surrender now, and you will become eternal, resist and our battle will be legendary.” I saw the moment his eyes glazed over, and he began to read me, learning everything he can, before my ‘Close access’ spell hit him, closing his most powerful weapon, while this reduced the amount of power I could put out.

“You vile abomination will die right here and now, and your name shall be purged from everyones mind, so you must eternally rot in the beyond.” My jaw unhinged, and I felt my body crack and twist as all Arcana changed me at once.

My body yearned to mutate, both spatium and necros having reached their next threshold inside my body. Aqua controlled my blood, making it flow perfectly. Vita strengthened my muscles and organs, optimizing them in every way the limited time allowed for. Lumen encased me, optimizing the way light fell into my eyes, and slightly twisted the way others saw me. Pyro controlled my temperature, burning calories to keep me at the maximum amount of energy.

Spatium connected me with every single part of this ritual circle and my opponent, ensuring that none could flee while I was here.

Necros filled me, destroying impurities and increasing my metabolism together with pyro.

Geos cemented my skin, hardening it to become almost scaly, and when Tempora began shifting my perception of time, everything came into perfect focus.

I was a scaled monstrosity, my jaw unhinged like that of a snake, my tongue flicking between my lips while slitted eyes of ember traced my opponents every step. I was not done yet, but this was the closest I could achieve now.

“All hail the serpent, god of eternity. All hail the scaled one, for his armor embraces me. I worship Ragnar, his high prophet and the most loyal of his servants. I call for this duel to be uninterrupted.”

A hand dashed towards me, something I Identified as a ‘Focus Projectile’ almost hit me, though ‘gather projectile’ absorbed my opponents spell, where it disintegrated before I could throw this one back at him.

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Next, he cast ‘Projectile Area’ on the ground below us, catapulting us a good ten meters into the air before I decided to cast my twisted mirror upon it, the rocks being turned back towards the ground, though both of us were affected as well. I turned even more monstrous, my hair turning white and my scales becoming black, while my teeth turned shark like. He instead turned seemingly more human, his muscles exploding and shredding his robe. My body had easily countered the effect of a spell I knew so well, my opponent had to spend awhile to counterspell this, his distraction something I used to dash into melee range, my nails turning to viscous claws as I tore them across his body, at which point he finally decided to counter me. When the vibrating palm hit me, I immediately dashed away, unsure of his next spells effect as the surrounding magic began to stop working. He was separating our connection to the other realms, deleting all traces of magic and pulling a sword out of the sheath on his back, many an inscription telling me this one was used to kill permanently.

My flesh twisted more as I began inscribing it with pyro and necros, an Animalistic scream escaping me as the smell of burnt and rotten flesh filled our Improvised arena. Somewhere else, I saw the two kings duel, every discipline at work, before I had to focus on my opponent again.

His guard was almost perfect, but mistakes were human, and for all his bravado, he was still one of them.

I felt the power of faith rush through me, as my followers chanted my name, the undead had started to focus on the castle long ago, and that moment, I realized how I would have a chance.

A running start brought me directly into my opponents area of attack, his blade almost slicing me in two before I teleported, reappearing right behind him, where my claws were buried in his back, tearing apart his armor. Just before I managed to actually meet skin, cold steel pressed against my arm, and I had to abort this mission.

Casting was impossible, as his skin kept on pulsating, the same way I blocked him from simply declaring me dead by accessing my soul.

My mouth formed a wicked grin, and his face looked serene, as I searched for any indication on why he was so sure of his victory.

“You already accepted your death, didn’t you, old man?” I ask him, the realization almost turning my blood cold and draining the remaining color from my face.

“I have. I am fighting a potential calamity, and if it costs my life to seal you away, then so be it. Our Academy has sworn to protect the people, and you are a menace to society already. I will die a Hero.” I laughed, my body bleeding and spasming as I ran at him.

I teleported again, struggling for a second to resist the call to rest from the world itself.

A bite is all I landed before I had to teleport again, dodging his blade. The world was spinning at this time, but my next hit was sure to cripple, and potentially kill him.

With a running start, I lunged. My next slash opened up his abdomen, and once again, I teleported, knowing that a single slice of his blade would spell my doom.

My opponent crumpled to the ground, and I sighed in relief, not noticing the way my body unraveled at first. String after string of my reality used my connection to this arena, further drawing me in, as I became part of the grand web.

I became immortal in the most mocking way possible.

The fight commenced, but my awareness of it slipped, only a single person was still in my focus.

I returned to awareness whenever they called my name, ‘For Ragnar’ they called. The Headmaster tried to escape this circle, but I was still here, and we were bound by the strands of fate.

A healer rushed in to save him, but the moment she entered, I took control of her, flooding her with my essence and drinking deeply of her soul. She managed a single spell to stabilize the headmaster before I felt a bit of my own soul seep into her then empty husk, a slash of the headmasters sword destroying the small part of me, and decapitating the young woman.

To return would take more than a single persons mistake, and he was ready to kill hundreds just so I wouldn’t return. But that was fine, I had just become immortal, and he would die soon anyway.

Darkness took me as I resigned myself to waiting.

They called me the devourer, they called me murderer. They called me many names, and many names make up the being I have become.

But they know my rhythm, they will read the story of my life, and some might even find the right text to sing along this desecrating melody.

No, that is not right. I guess, if we look at this life, the lives I lived before, and the life I yearn to achieve once I break out of this.

They do not sing a desecrating melody.

They do not sing some sad song.

The followers of Ragnar, the friends of Luce Bravelight, and even my enemies.

What they sing is a symphony written from beyond.

They sing my Eldritch requiem.