The air was thick. Heavy with the scent of damp earth and leaves, it pressed against Artair's lungs as he ran through the dense forest. Branches clawed at his arms, leaves swiped across his face, but he didn’t stop. His heart pounded louder than his footsteps, thudding like a war drum in his ears.
“Damn it... I should’ve known they’d target her next...” Artair cursed under his breath, his legs pumping as hard as they could, the forest blurring around him.
The air grew warmer with each step, carrying the acrid scent of burning wood and ash. It clung to his skin, thick and suffocating.
"This isn't good..." Artair muttered under his breath, quickening his pace.
His eyes darted ahead as he weaved through the forest, the dark silhouettes of flames licking the blackened trees just up ahead.
"They're already here..." Artair thought, pushing his way past the collapsing tree branches. The scorched grass crunched beneath his boots with every hurried step.
As he drew closer, the silhouette of a massive tree came into view, its towering form engulfed in flames. The fire danced around it, wrapping the trunk like fiery tendrils, the heat radiating so intensely that even from a distance, Artair could feel it on his skin.
"Damn it!" He shouted, pushing himself to run faster. The very thought of being too late made his hair stand on end.
The charred vegetation crackled beneath his feet as he drew closer to the towering tree. Each step brought him nearer to the entrance. Finally, he burst through the last layer of trees, his path illuminated by the fierce, licking flames. With a final, desperate push, he crashed through the large doors marking the entrance to Rosmerta's hideout.
Before him, shelves that were once pristine and meticulously organized with alphabetically arranged books now lay in ruin. Many were destroyed or burned beyond recognition. The floor was pockmarked with debris and scattered rubble, and patches of fire still flickered here and there. Maps hanging on the walls had turned to ash, their once-detailed contours now nothing more than smudged remnants.
“Rosmerta!” Artair shouted desperately as he rushed deeper into the library, his voice echoing through the chaotic remains of the once peaceful sanctuary.
He leaped over piles of rubble, his eyes scanning every shadowed corner for any sign of his friend.
“Are you here?!” His voice cracked with urgency as he made his way toward the grand staircase at the far end of the library.
Suddenly, a loud crash reverberated from the wall to his right, a thunderous impact that shook the very floor beneath him.
Artair spun toward the sound, rushing forward with quick, frantic steps.
“Rosmerta?!” He shouted at the wall, his voice filled with worry.
But before he could take another step, the wall cracked, and chunks of stone exploded outward, scattering across the floor in a cloud of dust and debris.
From the swirling dust emerged the gleaming blade of a massive battle axe, slicing through the air like butter.
In the blink of an eye, Artair felt a sharp, burning pain shoot through his right shoulder, leaving him gasping.
The axe tore through his shoulder, and the sheer force of the blow sent him flying straight into the bookshelves on the other side of the room.
"AGHH!" Artair screamed, clutching desperately at his shoulder, trying to steady himself.
Out of the swirling smoke emerged a figure. It was a woman with long, reddish-brown hair tied back in a ponytail, with a few loose strands falling across her pale face. Her eyes were a striking blue, sharply contrasting with her fair skin.
"Who... is this?" Artair thought, struggling to rise from the rubble.
"And who do we have here?" The woman asked, her voice dripping with mockery as she cast a sly smile in his direction.
"Who are you, and where is Rosmerta?!" The professor shouted, leaning on his staff for support.
"Oh, you mean that little guardian?" The woman replied, resting her massive axe in front of her, the metal gleaming ominously. "If that's who you're asking about... well, I killed her." She answered, her lips curling into a mocking, wicked grin.
At those words, Artair gripped his staff with all his might, feeling it strain under the pressure, cracks beginning to form along its upper section.
"You’re lying..." He hissed through clenched teeth, his voice low and fierce.
The woman drove her axe into the wooden floor beside her, a confident smirk playing on her lips as she reached into her pocket.
"Are you sure about that?" She taunted, pulling out a small, malachite-glowing crystal that pulsed with an eerie light.
At the sight of the crystal, Artair felt his legs go numb, all his strength funneled into his hands, crushing the top of his staff in the process.
"Your name?" He gritted out, his gaze fixed on the floor.
"Emmerich Esserg." She replied, gripping her axe with a predatory gleam in her eyes.
"I..." As Artair lifted his gaze to meet his opponent, tears streamed down his cheeks. "I will kill you, Emmerich."
“Everyone says that...” Emmerich taunted, charging at Artair with her massive axe raised high.
With a swift motion, Artair ducked just in time, the blade slicing through the air above him. He sprang forward, determination fueling his every move as he aimed for her legs.
Artair swung his half-crushed staff with all his might, but Emmerich deftly stepped back, her axe tearing into the floorboards around her.
“I thought I could take you down with a single blow...” She muttered, feigning disappointment.
Without a word, Artair lunged at her, channeling a surge of mana into his right hand. Emmerich swung her axe, aiming straight for his head. Artair ducked just in time, feeling the rush of air as the blade passed overhead. He pressed forward, targeting her abdomen with a fierce strike.
In that moment, Emmerich blocked his attack with her left hand, countering with her axe from his right side. Artair felt a sharp, searing pain shoot through his already wounded shoulder before he was sent flying through the wooden wall, crashing into the room next door.
The sound of the impact echoed loudly throughout the library, reverberating against the walls. Artair's vision blurred, and every muscle in his body screamed in agony.
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Footsteps rang out in the distance, growing louder and closer with each passing second.
“Get... up...” Artair thought, forcing his battered body to make even the slightest movement.
Artair strained with all his might to stand, but his battered body refused to obey. His vision blurred, and the overwhelming pain coursed through him. Then, looming above him, stood Emmerich, her cold smile curling at the corners of her lips.
"So... two strikes were enough." She laughed, pointing the edge of her blackened axe toward Artair’s chest.
"Get up! Get up, get up!" Artair's mind screamed, pouring as much mana as he could into his limbs, desperate to move. He knew if he didn’t, death awaited him.
"Goodbye, Artair..." Emmerich raised her axe high above her head, her eyes gleaming with sadistic anticipation, ready to cleave him in two. "Havo—"
Before she could finish, a loud shout echoed from the upper levels of the library.
"Kraa-Zethar!"
Suddenly, a massive bolt of lightning tore through the upper levels of the library, disintegrating everything in its path. It crackled and roared, descending with tremendous force toward the spot where Emmerich stood. With a swift, agile movement, she barely managed to dodge the attack, leaping onto one of the nearby shelves and shielding herself with her axe.
The shelves around her exploded into splinters as the lightning struck, the energy still crackling in the air, illuminating the smirk on her face as she prepared for the next move.
"I'll buy you some time, professor! Please, focus on regenerating!" Colla shouted from the upper floor, streams of electricity sparking from his hands.
Emmerich glanced up at him, brushing the dust off her armor with a calm but calculating gaze.
"So, Ewald lost?" She asked, hefting her massive axe as she prepared to leap toward Colla.
"Unfortunately, he managed to slip away... but you won’t be so lucky!" Colla yelled, pointing his right hand at her, the air around him crackling with energy.
"We'll see." Emmerich sneered, launching herself toward Colla, pushing off the shattered walls with brutal force.
In an instant, a volley of lightning bolts shot from Colla's hand, scattering across the upper floor and converging on Emmerich from multiple angles.
"Not bad..." She praised with a smirk, swinging her massive axe with blinding speed, deflecting the incoming bolts with precision as they ricocheted off the weapon in bursts of light.
She then leapt toward Colla, her black axe smashing into the floor in front of him, shattering the ground with a deafening crash.
Colla barely dodged, springing backward just in time. His hand shot out once more, crackling with energy.
“Not so fast!” Emmerich roared, charging at him again, her axe slicing through the air as she swung it in a wide arc aimed directly at Colla.
As the blade neared his neck, Colla conjured a small energy barrier around his forearm, deflecting the axe and shielding himself from the deadly strike.
Emmerich pulled back, her eyes narrowing as she swung the axe again with even more force. This time, the black blade tore through Colla's defense, slicing into his arm and nearly severing it.
“AAAHHH!” Colla screamed in agony, stumbling backward and clutching his injured arm, blood seeping between his fingers as pain wracked his body.
Without hesitation, Emmerich charged at the boy, swinging her massive axe high above her head.
“AHH!” Colla yelled, dodging to the right just as the floor where Emmerich's axe struck shattered into splinters.
“Do me a favor...” She growled, tearing through the debris with her weapon and aiming an upward strike at Colla. “...and stop running!”
The sheer force of her swings left cracks and fissures in the ground as Colla narrowly avoided the next blow, his movements growing desperate.
"Professor... get up... I can't hold out much longer..." Colla thought, desperately dodging each of Emmerich's vicious strikes.
"Come on! Let me kill you already!" Emmerich roared, swinging her axe wildly in every direction, her attacks growing more erratic with each passing second.
Colla ducked and weaved, his body aching from the relentless onslaught, barely managing to stay one step ahead of her chaotic blows. The sound of her axe cutting through the air was deafening, as if the very room itself trembled under her fury.
As Colla dodged once more, his ankle twisted sharply, and with a gasp of pain, he fell to the ground. Helpless, he looked up just as Emmerich loomed over him, her axe poised for a fatal strike.
“Die!” She screamed, bringing the massive weapon down with brutal force.
The axe tore into Colla’s body, ripping through flesh and bone. Blood sprayed across the shattered floor, the crimson droplets painting the wreckage around them. The air was filled with the sickening sound of tearing flesh and Colla’s agonized screams.
"AAAAAHHHHH!" His voice echoed through the ruined library, hands clutching desperately at the gaping wound that stretched across his torso.
“Oh? You broke already…” Emmerich sneered, a cold laugh escaping her lips as she lifted her axe once more.
“Ahh! A-Ah!” Colla gasped, each breath ragged and shallow, his bloodied hands pressing desperately against the wound, trying in vain to stop the relentless bleeding. His vision blurred, pain radiating through his body as he struggled to hold on.
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Artair's heart raced wildly as he poured every ounce of mana into healing his wounds. Blood trickled from his lips, a grim reminder of the internal injuries he sustained, but his thoughts were consumed by Colla's plight.
“Just a little longer…” He urged himself, pushing against the debris to rise, scanning the devastated floor around him.
He wiped the blood from his mouth, determination igniting within him as he grasped his battered staff.
“It has to be here...” Artair muttered, opening the bottom of his staff and rummaging through the hidden compartment for one of his precious scrolls. The weight of the moment pressed down on him, but he refused to falter. He would fight for Colla and everyone else who depended on him.
With a shake, a small red scroll slipped from the cane and fluttered to the ground.
“So it still works...” Artair thought, bending down to retrieve the scroll and unfurling it with urgency.
As he opened it, the scroll ignited, flames dancing across its surface. Ash swirled into the air, then wafted down like soft snow, seeping into Artair's wounds. The searing pain turned to a soothing warmth as the ash sealed his injuries, mending him as though the scroll was weaving a protective spell around him.
“That should do it.” He muttered, glancing up at the ruined ceiling. “There’s no way I can climb up there in this condition... but there should be stairs somewhere around here.” He thought, scanning the room.
He then pushed himself up from the ground. With determination, he rushed toward the back of the room, finding a hidden staircase behind a toppled bookshelf.
"Got it!" He shouted in delight, running up the staircase.
In the distance, the clash of metal against wood echoed, a reminder that the fight was still raging.
“I’m coming... hang on a little longer, Colla.” Artair urged, quickening his pace as he climbed the spiral staircase. Each step felt like a battle in itself, but he pressed on, adrenaline fueling his resolve. At last, he reached the upper floor, ready to confront whatever awaited him.
His eyes were met with a grotesque scene. The floor and walls were utterly ravaged and splattered with blood, at the center, next to a massive gaping hole in the ground, Colla was gasping in pain, clutching at his wounds. Standing before him, poised to deliver the final blow, was Emmerich.
She held her axe high above her head, but then turned her gaze toward Artair. “You’re still alive?” She spat, her voice dripping with irritation. Her left eye glowed a deep crimson, a stark contrast to its usual blue.
“Colla…” Artair uttered, his heart sinking as he looked at his wounded companion.
Emmerich turned to face Artair, flinging Colla against the wall with a powerful swing of her axe.
“AAAGHHH!” Colla gasped, bouncing off the wall and crashing onto the wooden floor.
“Colla!” Artair shouted, desperate to rush to his friend’s side, but Emmerich blocked his path with a sinister grin.
“You could have played dead...” She began, raising her axe ominously toward the professor. “...but now I’ll have to kill you.”
Suddenly, orbs of mana began to swirl around her, converging at the blade of her axe.
“Rising crimson winds, grant my blade the fury of the storm... Vyris-Kael!” With those words, the gathered mana surged into the axe, coloring it a fierce red.
“You want to play this way...?” Artair asked, slowly channeling all his mana into his hands and legs, feeling the energy pulse through him.
Around Emmerich's axe, streaks of wind materialized, swirling as if caught in the eye of a miniature cyclone. The air crackled with tension, ready to explode at any moment.
“To the flames of my spirit...” Artair began, but Emmerich instantly lunged at him, unleashing a barrage of wind blasts from her axe.
“I won't let you!” She shouted, swinging her weapon with ferocity.
“Too late...” Artair thought, executing a swift dodge. “...Let my fury ignite! Kraen-Thar!” He roared, striking with all his might against the blade of Emmerich’s axe.
As his fists and legs ignited in crimson flames, his senses sharpened, and he felt an overwhelming surge of power coursing through him, elevating him to the brink of divinity.
Feeling the resistance, Emmerich stepped back, fury flashing in her eyes as she focused on the man before her, particularly on his limbs engulfed in crimson flames.
“So this is your power...” She whispered, a hint of both respect and anger in her voice as she charged at Artair.
“I’ve already told you... I will kill you, Emmerich.” Artair reminded her, launching himself at her with all his might.