I'm almost out of time before, they can remove Tiw's pact I need to head to the church of shadow. I've heard from Ifoik that the church of shadow is the only location that Theresa could possibly remove Tiw's pact, it is apparently a large black building on the south side of town. I prepare to exit Jax's home but am stopped at the doorway.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Huh?

"What could I be forgetting? I am about to go into a life or death battle, you know." I question him. He walks over to me and rips off the talisman on the blade of my sword. Oh yeah, I was so focused on the upcoming battle that I completely forgot about Hope.

"FINALLY I AM FREE!" She yelled. I feel so bad.

"Good to have you back at my side Hope," I said smiling lightly.

"Master, how could you do this to me, it is quite terrible being under a seal for so long." Yeah yeah. I know.

"Sorry, it was necessary for my training, I promise that I will not seal you away again."

"You better not! I am angry about this!" Okay, mom!

"Sorry to interrupt, but I thought it would be important to inform you that will Hope on your side you can build up Aspectu almost twice as fast as you could during training. Keep that in mind. Also, take this it is a personal gift from me." Jax toses me a small badge shaped object. I catch it and inspect the object it has a gold outline with a symbol of a sword in it. "You put it on your sword, right now it will be useless to you but, in time it will be pretty valuable." I don't have time to ask what he means by this. I exit his house and head straight toward town. Once I arrive, I waste no time heading to the south part of town where I, eventually, find a large black building, this must be it. I approach the door and am stopped by a scene of fear.

No, I can not give in, I need to save my friend. I will my myself forward into the sinister building. The inside of the building is better decorated than I thought, black banners with complex patterns are draped across the walls. Across from my lies the main altar with Tiw laying on it, surrounded by robed figures.

One of them notices me and heads toward me. I draw my sword and prepare for the battle that is able to unfold. The figure pulls off her robe, it is none other than Theresa!

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"I never expected you to actually show up; I thought all members of Ifoik were extremely selfish and evil. You have the potential kid. How about this? I will cut a deal with you. You will fight me one on one, if you win we will release your ally and never attack you again, but if you lose, you must relinquish your contact with Ifoik and join our faith instead." Damn this bitch!

"I will take that deal, you are going down! I am much strongest than before!" I declare. Who cares about my safety?! Tiw is top priority!

"Ha, I would like to see you try and hit me." I charge at her armed with my spirit sword. "The same move as last time I see. Do you really think that this can defeat me?" She begins chanting and the same purple rune as before appears below my feet. This is what I have been preparing for! I channel my Aspectu as I begin to cast one of my brand new spells.

"Bind Spirit." Chains rise from the ground and wrap around her sword, at the same time the rune beneath me disappears. My new spell Bind Spirit combines the spell Bind Monster with the principals of the talisman Jax gave me to seal off her connection to her spirit. Theresa looks surprised at first but soon regains her composure.

"I guess you have improved, but this is still not enough." She lunges at me, her blows raining down on me, this is bad I can tell that her swordsmanship is far superior to mine. I cannot win is straight in the battle like this. I leap back to gain some distance from her.

"Hope, let's go!" I yell.

"On it!" Hope and I both begin to build up Aspectu at the same time, I can feel the energy begin to well up inside of my body. My next attack with taking some time to charge up. Hopefully, I can hold off Theresa longer enough.

"I know you are plotting something do not think I will let you do as you please!" Crap, she's onto me! She leaps toward me and swings her blade at my head, I barely manage to block. This blow was much more powerful and faster than before; could she have been holding back before? No, I can detect a faint energy leaking from her sword, she must be using Aspectu to strengthen her attacks. Shit! I continue to block attack after attack but my arms are in great pain from the shockwaves created from Theresa's blows. I can barely keep them still.

How can I buy time? Magic seems like my only option, I wanted to save this spell for later in the fight due to the risk, but Theresa's power leaves me no choice.

"Bind Space." Bind space is a spell I created based on Theresa's rune, it allows me to take control of the space around me, unfortunately for me whatever I do to the space around me also affects me. I have increased the gravity around me greatly so neither Theresa nor I can move an inch.

"This accomplishes nothing!" Oh no... Theresa's releasing a massive amount of Aspectu into the air, this amount of energy could possibly dismantle my spell. Slowly by surely, I feel the force upon my body lesson.

"Ready!" Theresa finally manages to move and lunges at me for a killing blow, but it is too late. I whisper my attack to myself.

"Ultima Blade."