Garantep was intent on finishing this right away. He wouldn’t let himself get slowly worn down while James was recovering. Each time James managed to push the carpet forward and increase his speed, Garantep would burn even more Darkness, launching himself forward. And missing by mere inches, which was a lovely time for the group. Half of them were already white as ghosts, only turning whiter with every attack they barely dodged.

It felt like they had been at it for hours, but since every second felt like eternity, no one really knew how much time had passed. Were they almost done, or was it just the beginning of this nightmare?

James wasn’t a diviner, but he was the only one who knew. He could sense that the fight was nearing an end, one way or the other. Even though he had dodged everything so far, Garantep’s slashes were getting closer each time.

Garantep lunged forward, his sharp crescents striking at the group. James dodged, but this time he wasn’t able to fully avoid the attacks.

Lunaris’s hair had been cut in half, and Helios’s chest was slashed. Even though it was just a graze, their shrieks were enough of a sign for James.

The plan had failed.

It wouldn’t work. It was too stupid to work after all. It seemed for a while like they had a chance, but he was risking his friend’s lives with each attack Garantep launched. Every successful dodge was just millimeters away from being a tragedy.

It had to end now.

He hadn’t recovered to a satisfactory degree, and Garantep still had a whole lot of Darkness left within him.

But he couldn’t risk his friends taking any real hits. They were fine now, but he couldn’t guarantee that the next attack wouldn’t hurt them.

Without warning his friends, he infused even more mana into the carpet, sending it flying forward. But he jumped off.

“Keep going, no matter what!” James screamed without looking back.

“What are you doing?” Helios shouted.

“You haven’t recovered enough!” Lunaris implored him.

Their hearts were heavy, but they didn’t jump off the carpet. They knew they’d just be hindrance at this point. They were ants in comparison to these giants. All they could do was trust in James.

James knew that he hadn’t recovered to the point he could confidently clash with Garantep head-on. It wasn’t enough, no matter how he looked at it. If they both unleashed all of their powers, he’d still be the one to lose.

But that didn’t mean he hadn’t recovered at all. He already felt much better than before.

His own mana recovery was impressive, but what was even more useful to him now was the amount of healing Lunaris had poured into him.

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She had nearly drained herself to a husk by forcefully pushing out every ounce of healing she had within her. But she had indeed made a difference.

James could feel the difference in his body and soul. He wasn’t in tip-top shape though, he couldn’t sacrifice all that much. But it was enough to give him hope.

“This ends here.” Garantep said in an unusually quiet tone. His usual rage and arrogance were gone.

“I know.” James whispered.

There wasn’t anything left to say. Both of them knew that for one of them, these would be the last words he’d ever say.

Without a moment of hesitation, James sacrificed every single hit point that Lunaris had painstakingly recovered for him.

He couldn’t even tell how many sacrifices he had cast. He didn’t care. Survival or self-preservation weren’t important right now. If he didn’t squeeze every ounce of power within himself, they’d all be dead anyway.

He could feel Garantep closing in for the kill, but he didn’t fling himself away. He couldn’t delay the inevitable any more, nor did he want to. The fight had to end here and now.

While he was recovering mana during the chase, he had time to think. It was weird, he had so many spells in his arsenal, but none of them were useful now. Being a jack of all trades was both a blessing and a curse.

He couldn’t stop himself from chuckling at the thought of how many spells he knew. He was warned repeatedly about spreading himself too thin, but he couldn’t help himself. It was in his nature, it was who he was and nothing could change that.

That was definitely his biggest flaw. Someone with as much mana as him could’ve probably ended this fight already if he just had a spell that he had focused all his training on. A devastating nuke that would take full advantage of the downright stupid amount of energy he had available.

But his flaw had its advantages too. Even though he might never reach the heights that would be possible by focusing on and mastering one single spell, he was a lot more adaptable than a one-trick pony.

And by letting his tendencies of spreading himself too thin get out of control, he became quite proficient at picking up new spells.

This time, he hadn’t invented a new spell through his arcane meditation or simulation. Not that the reckless thing he had thought of could even be imagined through a simulation. It was way too simple and dangerous for the arcane simulation to give it the green light.

What he decided on doing was as simple as it was dangerous. Dangerous not only to his enemy, but even to himself.

But he knew he had to do it. He had no other choice. He had pushed himself to his limits, and yet his enemy was still alive and well.

So he didn’t dodge. James felt Garantep and his crescents approaching by the second, but he didn’t move an inch.

Instead, he moved forward. Garantep was fast, but not even he could predict James lunging into him.

James had sacrificed to the point he couldn’t move any part of his body. He could only move due to SARM.

But he didn’t need any fancy movements.

With the Chaos Barriers from the sacrifices fully focused on his head and heart, James detonated himself.

He had seen several times before just how powerful self-detonations could be. The whole reason this mission took such an unfortunate turn was the self-detonation of the three giant agents.

He wouldn’t have even considered such a thing, but he didn’t have any other answers.

But in his moment of desperation, as soon as he thought about it, he realized this move was perfect for him.

His biggest strength was having an ungodly amount of mana. His body was basically a bottomless container of energy.

What better way of making use of all that energy than detonating it all at close range?

It was the perfect attack. Not one other thing could deal more damage than this. This was the biggest attack anyone could ever muster.

It was the only thing that could actually kill this monster who didn’t even seem to be mortal.

But even if he was nearly immortal, not even he could resist such an attack.

The only thing he could do was hope that he wouldn’t die along with it.

Before Garantep could even react, James had already detonated himself.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, the images of his two friends being the last thing on his mind as the crimson inferno consumed both him and Garantep.