(KALAN)

My mana, like a bottomless well of light was flowing through me, becoming part of me, more and morewith every step.

Everything under my profusive light condensed and froze. The moisture in the air around me turned into misty jewels that danced around me like a snow globe, kept afloat by the chilled dense air pouring out towards the thinner atmosphere. The sand beneath my feet, although devoid of moisture, froze and cracked under the pressure of my aura. Nothing was able to withstand the pressure of my cold light.

My eyes traveled up my radiant form, my outstretched arm, and followed the edge of my sword, the blade crackling along with the buffeting wind, towards Shezmu. His axes were raised in a defense in front of him, that annoying smile completely gone.

“Your air of confidence has vanished, don’t tell me you’re scared now?” My voice sounded as if it came from the light itself.

His face quickly twisted into a bestial snarl as he charged towards me.

His movements that before had appeared as nothing more than blurs of black and red, something that I could barely react to, now appeared as clear as if he was taking a stroll.

I could read every movement he made, feel every shred of emotion that leaked from him, and for the first time in this game of cat and mouse. I felt I had the upper hand.

Throughout my thoughts I watched his axes tear through the air down towards me, and brought my blade up to meet them.

Bloody edge met radiance as our blades made contact, sending sparks across the sands. Causing pops and sizzles in the frozen slurry. I angled my blade to the side, drawing his blade down mine to the guard. Once it was stuck, I twisted my wrist forcing his axe to warp and spring away. He was quickly thrown off balance from the gap of strength that had been created from this transformation.

A flash of bloody mana encircled the blade of his axe. As if he had gripped it with his hand, the axe froze in place for a fraction of a second then swung in the opposite direction.

Predicting its trajectory, I side stepped to dodge by a hair's breadth. I admired my radiant reflection in the frosting blade as it passed by my nose. At the same time I repositioned my feet and twisted, bringing my sword across his stomach intending to spill his guts on the sand below.

I saw a golden arc rake across his stomach, but he leapt back at the last second leaving only slight cut on his clothes.

‘Damn it, he's adjusting already.’

As if to prove me right, in the middle of his jump he released his other axe in a perfect throw behind his back aimed right at my throat.

Without time to fully dodge, I released a blast of mana to my right which pushed me out of the way. Except the blood aura surrounded the axe again and it shifted just enough to graze my arm.

Despite the pain, I couldn’t help but let a smile cross my face as his victorious smile at spilling my blood, which would normally have granted him a power boost, turned to confusion then pain.

“What did you do!?” He asked, as pain wriggled across his face.

“I told you Shezmu. you've given me too much time to prepare. I’ve trained for this moment ever since that day. I knew you gained power from blood, that’s why I designed this spell specifically so that my blood was beyond your reach. Now I am Radiance, I am Cold Light itself.

The battle seemed to lull as I readied my sword, maintaining my stance. In reality though, I was exhausted to my core, literally. My arm, which was already getting better, started to throb again and a dribble of liquid light, my blood, dripped from my lips. This form had more of a cost to maintain than I thought. If I don't finish this soon… .

“I see, so this is your determination to kill me.” Pausing as he brought his head up so his eyes could face mine. “Then allow me to show you the same respect, Kalan.”

With a sudden burst I watched as the air around him darkened and the sky turned a sickly blood red.

‘This is it, no more hiding our power, no more holding back. This is the fight to the death, the fight to bring all of this to a close.’

“There’s one thing I want you to know before we start.”

“What’s that?” My voice, ringing hollow.

“Your wife’s screams for you, were the best ones I’ve heard.” He said as his sick smile returned to his face.

“I'll make sure to cherish yours," I seethed, but kept the anger from overwhelming my sense.

Realizing his words didn't have the intended effect, like last time, he immediately charged towards me.

I could feel our movements becoming sharper, and faster every second. Every block and parry came with better timing and calculation. Every strike is harder, and more fierce.

Our blades rushed across each other in a flurry, and it felt like my body was moving on its own.

Sparks were sent flying in every direction, dust constantly kicked up around us. But our bloodlust wouldn’t allow us to lose sight of each other.

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I fell into a fugue-like state, constantly parrying, dodging, and stabbing at Shezmu, and he did the same.

The first one to make a mistake, would decide this battle.

‘I need to be faster, I need to stay concentrated, I need to win.’

I felt my power increase more and more as my determination became stronger, sharper.

But no matter how much I improved, I could feel him keeping up with me. Never missing a step.

‘At least the longer this battle drags on, I’ll have bought more time for them.’

The realization that I was about to accept losing was like a slap to the face. That wasn't what I wanted, not why I was here. I wanted to see their faces again, to make memories with them, to see them grow. I wanted more time.

I forced myself to take a deep breath and cleared my mind. I'm here to give them that future and to rip and tear him apart for the future he took from me and attempted to take again.

I feinted my next slash, and caught one of his axes by the handle as it ripped through the empty air.

Dissipating my sword, I extended my other hand and shot a beam of light at him.

He blocked the strike with his other axe, but the force shot him back a few feet.

Not wasting any time, I lifted my already reconjured sword in the air and forced as much mana as I could into the blade. With both hands maintaining the unstable blade I slashed.

The strike cleared the landscape in front of me for miles, and standing where I had swung down...

Was a now bloody and burnt Shezmu.

I took a step to finish him but found myself on my knees. A searing pain now ravaging through my brain. My body shivered and liquid light was now streaming down my nose. I was out of time. I only had a few minutes left before I couldn't win like this anymore.

So with wobbly legs and all the determination I could muster I stabbed my sword into the frosted sand and pulled myself back up to my feet.

I looked over once more, and saw Shezmu still staring at me, panting with anger lining his bloodshot eyes.

I couldn’t help but laugh, and I signaled with my hand for him to come fight me.

I readied myself, anticipating the pattern of movement he’d take to come after me.

But he began dashing from all angles, appearing and then flashing out of existence in every direction.

I wasn’t able to figure out what his plans were before I realized it. I couldn’t see him or anything at all.

‘A sand screen. How crafty.’

I expanded my senses as I closed my eyes, and began to search around me for any signature of him. I knew I couldn't sense any mana from him so instead I took in everything else around me, looking for any sign of him being there.

Then I felt a small disturbance in the sand behind me, but I decided to wait until the most opportune time to swing my sword, looking to finally finish this fight.

Moments that felt like hours passed by, then as the sand a pace away shift, I turned and swung my sword.

I couldn’t hide my surprise, as my blade only met sand.

Then he was next to me, blazing in a crimson red, and I continued to watch as his axe ripped through my wrist.

I felt pain shoot through my arm, as a river of liquid light burst out of my wrist.

But I pushed that to the back of my mind for now, and quickly went to attack him again.

I watched his expression change from a triumphant grin, to a snarl of anger.

Creating a flash effect with my aura as I had before, I quickly swung my sword, however this time he didn’t dodge completely.

As he flew backwards, I watched his arm from the elbow down fly off and land in front of me.

'Arm for an arm.'

Then I felt the searing pain across my chest, as I once again fell to my knees.

I hadn't realized it in my rush to attack, but as I looked back over at him and saw the light blood on the blade of his axe, I knew I had made a mistake.

Thinking quickly, I put my sword into the ground, and formed a ball of light in my hand.

I pushed the light against the open wound, from where my other hand had been moments ago to cauterize the wound, before doing the same with my chest.

I felt blood leak into my mouth as I bit down on my lip, as not to scream from the intense pain. Then I readied myself to continue.

“You're almost as monstrous as you think I am, you know that?” Shezmu said as he spat up blood. “I’ve never had to fight like this in my life.”

I just stared at him, not wanting to humor him with a reply.

I only readied my blade, and began to charge.

But before I could fully charge, I heard a crunch in the sand from behind me.

I felt my stomach drop, as I spun and saw two satanist scouts come into view.

I looked back at Shezmu quickly, and saw that evil smile appear once more.

Knowing exactly what was about to happen, I quickly turned around and charged them. I had to kill them before he could power up from it.

The two of them tried to flee from me but I was slowed in my weakness. A bloody shadow overtook me from the side as Shezmu neared, axe already raised. Forcing with everything I had, I blasted through the distance and appeared in front of them with my sword mid slash. Then Shezmu's axe came down.

They didn't even have a chance to scream. Both of their heads rolled on the frozen sand towards me, towards my other severed arm.

Standing up, I saw their blood begin to flow into Shezmu and his arm grew back, and he regained all his power, no he was even stronger than when we started.

I felt despair set into my mind, as he turned back to look at me.

“Well what do you say, Kalan? I think it’s time to finish this.” As his laugh echoed in my mind.

Before I could think, he was in front of me.

I conjured a shield on my remaining nub and brought it up to block. But with his new power, it shattered into pieces and I was sent through the air.

And then before I even landed, I felt his axe pierce through my shoulder.

“I’ll give you this, Kalan. If those two hadn’t showed up you would have won this fight. So at the very least you gained my respect.”

Unable to think of a response from the pain, my concentration faltered and I watched the light that had once made up my body disappear.

‘I’m sorry everyone. I wasn’t able to kill him, I couldn’t make him pay for everything he’s done.’

“Any final words, Kalan?”

Memories flashed through my mind. Meeting my wife when we were both so young. The awkward naivety I had that for some unknown reason charmed her. Our marriage on the golden field. Her beautiful white dress I equally couldn't take my eyes off of and wanted to take her out of. Her teary smile that warms my heart to this day. The excitement of her pregnancy followed by the happiest day of my life, holding my baby girl in my arm with my other wrapped around my love.

I smiled.

Finding Eve in that desolate village, no structures or bodies around. I saw her as someone as broken as I was yet she hadn't given up. Her strength and determination reminded me of my reason for living. With Ryla by my side I hadn't thought I needed another… yet she proved me wrong. The final thought of the three of them making it safely away from this monster was all I needed to push one more time.

I had theorized one final spell, an impossible one.

A blue white light began to fill my ravaged bloody body, giving me the strength to stand.

Shezmu simply watched, unsure of what I could possibly do now.

My head splintered once on my feet and I began to fall. Until a phantasmal hand landed on my shoulder, helping me to stay standing, while a small hand grabbed onto the stub of my remaining arm.

"I'm sorry I took so long." I struggled to get the words out through a broken voice.

"I missed you, daddy."

I took a shuddering breath.

"It's time, Kal." My wife's voice said from behind me.

I nodded and looked at Shezmu who seemed frozen. No, everything seemed frozen in time around me.

The gentle blue white light inside of me ignited at once and I nearly blacked out from the pain. Then translucent blue chains tore out of my torso, sending whatever dregs of blood I had left onto the thawing sand, and wrapped themselves around Shezmu.

Shezmu's eyes widened but he couldn't move. He tried to release his aura, to lift his axe, to run, but he could only watch in fear.

I inhaled my final breath and felt my daughter and wife tighten their grips on me.

“Legacy of Indarus.”