"Torel, you go," Alex simply said.

Maybe this was how a ruler should be, Alex had been exposed to all sorts of leaders throughout humanity in his studies in his old life. In political science, they had read about a great variety of rulers and governments, many with good intentions, but more often than not, everything ended up twisted in strange ways.

Sacrifices had to be made when the time came; Alex had been making sacrifices for a long time now. He had known for some time that this war wouldn't be won with the power of friendship; it would be cruel and bloody. And if they won, their only prize would be time to prepare for an even crueler and bloodier war.

"I understand," Torel replied.

Although the elf didn't know what was going through the young human's mind or what kind of calculations he was making right now, he understood that a big part of the reason he was here was because Torel had directly requested his involvement. So, to a certain extent, he felt responsible for what they had to face.

Torel's transformation wasn't as spectacular as Athena's from Alex's perspective, but it had a quality that left everyone awestruck like all transformations did; they exerted a psychological pressure on the surroundings, instilling in the minds of those who watched a certain greatness. Torel became slightly smaller, and his hair changed to an intense emerald green. Moreover, it seemed that the wind behaved strangely around him, flowing in all kinds of erratic ways that accompanied his breathing and seemed to change at his whim.

"Come, cursed bird, let's dance," Torel said to the Umbravian, who still seemed to be ignoring him even now.

Torel lunged forward, striking with a series of sword blows that finely manipulated the wind around him to maximize the area damage his sword could do.

The Umbravian, for his part, responded with a snort, not withdrawing his hand still exerting pressure on the book, and countered all of Torel's attacks using only his free hand.

The clash between them was brutal, and the surroundings sounded as if two large steel bars were rhythmically colliding, producing a brutal rumble.

Slowly, Torel began to press the Umbravian until he had to use both hands to withstand the constant assault.

"Insignificant insect, think you have power, think you are strong, but worry not, soon you will be nothing," the Umbravian said almost like a hiss.

"They're dead, they died protecting, they died according to the teachings of Ret Etal, now they are together with the sun god, there's nothing you have to do," Athena shouted, somehow hurt to see this corrupted version of this being.

"They suffer, they suffer alongside the impostor one, alongside the false sun, I will give them no more peace, they shall be Void," the Umbravian responded.

Torel and the ancient being both lunged at each other's throats.

Both responded with all their skills, moving their feet and attacking with a synchronization that made it seem as if everything were planned.

Torel noticed that where he had previously hit the Umbravian with his arrow was still affecting him, so he decided to focus his strength on that part.

The Umbravian, for his part, unleashed more of his power, although he was running on borrowed time that would soon run out, he felt no fear. He would only return to the void, waiting for the next time he could unleash his power; he couldn't be truly destroyed in the true sense of the word.

The battle began to intensify with both sides attacking with increasingly stronger powers, making Alex's troops useless in this situation if he didn't want to lose them. Alex had heard that there were ways in which ordinary soldiers could defeat a powerful warrior, however, he had not yet trained his troops in that style of combat and therefore did not know how to do it. It was something he would have to investigate in the future.

"Complete the ritual."

"What thing?" Alex asked.

"What's happening, Alex?" Athena asked.

"I could swear you said something," Alex told her.

"Alex, be careful ahead!" Athena exclaimed.

The fight began to head towards Alex's location, who had been distracted by a voice, barely able to escape the powerful blows and area effects of the fighters.

A frantic fight where Torel began to look overwhelmed, that's what was happening while Alex had been distracted.

"Atenea, help him gain distance," Alex commanded.

The owl nodded and rose from the human's shoulder to fly a few meters above his head and begin to conjure her magic.

In the midst of the desperate fight between the Elf and the Umbravian, suddenly ice stalactites began to emerge from different directions attacking the Elf's opponent, causing him to retreat slightly to protect himself from the attack.

Torel took advantage of the brief moment to take a wide leap backward.

"I am the north's gale, guardian of the holy winds," Torel recited a brief prayer.

With this, both Torel's sword and legs seemed to be enveloped in a mini whirlwind.

Torel jumped forward to attack the Umbravian again before he chose another opponent, but this time Torel's speed had tripled.

With his significant advantage in speed, Torel was quickly able to gain the upper hand. However, it was obvious to those who could see the Elf's face that he wasn't having a good time either; the ability he was using was taking a toll on his body.

"Complete the ritual; it will expel the Umbravian."

"That voice again," Alex exclaimed.

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"What's wrong, Alex?" Atenea asked worriedly.

"A voice, don't you hear it?" Alex said, still dazed.

"No, Alex, there's no voice," Atenea replied, maintaining her concentration on the fight as she still had to assist Torel with her magic when necessary.

"The voice urges me to finish the ritual to expel the Umbravian," Alex said.

"It's madness, Alex, you shouldn't listen to that voice; the void rituals are not something you should be involved with," Atenea assured him.

Alex didn't respond, leaving the owl concerned. It could be that the corruption of the void in Alex's body was too much, that it had started affecting his mind.

Atenea began to notice how Alex was looking more and more intensely towards the book, unfortunately, she didn't have the mental capacity to monitor what both of them were doing, so she could only focus on supporting Torel with her magic in crucial moments.

Right now was one of those moments when Atenea had to take flight to cast her magic and help Torel land a powerful blow on the Umbravian. However, when she tried to land back on Alex's shoulder, she noticed that the human was nowhere to be found.

"Alex!" Atenea cried out, confused.

"Stop, don't go there, it's dangerous!" Kragash suddenly shouted.

Atenea quickly glanced sideways, intending to quickly turn her gaze back to Torel's fight, but what she saw left her stunned.

"Alex, Alex, you're Alex from St. Edmund's College, we met, I'm Solis, we're friends, remember, even though more than 50 years have passed, we're still friends, Alex, help me, Alex, please don't do it, help me!"

Next to the altar where the mysterious book was, there was a person all this time, a man (although at this point you could hardly call him that with all the void corruption he had undergone), he was the source of the cries all this time, all the anguish came from him since his life was deeply interconnected with the ritual; for him, every destroyed altar was as if they cut off a part of his being.

Alex paused slightly.

He analyzed the tattoos and marks on the man's body, and what he saw was a void fanatic who had offered himself to nothingness. Alex didn't understand what was so tempting about the void for living beings, but what he knew was that if you were willing to give up your life, you had no right to claim it back.

"You brought this fate upon yourself when you joined that beast," Alex replied coldly.

"You're wrong, I was deceived, I didn't know what I was doing, Alex, help me, I remember you reached out a hand to me when it all started, I know you can help me, Alex, I'm Solis, do you remember me? I've always been your friend," Solis tried to convince Alex, but he remained impassive to Solis's pleas.

Alex continued to work on modifying the circles around Solis; being bound by the ritual, Solis couldn't do anything to prevent Alex's work. On the other hand, the Umbravian's sixth sense had an alarming sense of danger, but he didn't know where it was coming from, and he didn't have time to find out because his fight with Torel was reaching its climax, where any distraction could result in the defeat of one.

Atenea still couldn't leave her vigilance to interfere with what Alex was doing, so she was forced to use another method.

"Kragash, stop your master, void rituals are not something living beings should be involved with, whatever is affecting his mind won't bring him anything good," Atenea shouted.

"But, but the master knows what he's doing," Kragash replied.

"He's confused by the void corruption; if you don't help him, he could suffer irreparable damage," Atenea exclaimed.

Kragash was feeling a crisis inside; his master had always been a reliable source in which he trusted leadership. He never had to consider interrupting his work; rather, he always worked to help him finish his plans as best as possible. And although now it seemed he wasn't in his right mind, something deep inside Kragash urged him to trust his master once again.

"We can't stop him," Kragash shouted, stepping in the way towards Alex, with the clear resolution to stop anyone who tried to interfere with his plans.

"Damn it, boy, you'll condemn your master," Atenea cursed, unfortunately not having enough time to discuss these matters as Torel once again needed her assistance.

Atenea flew across the battlefield, casting a rapid succession of ice magics to support Torel, who seemed to be losing the initiative against the Umbravian. When the situation could stabilize slightly, Atenea turned her attention to the rest of Alex's troops, mainly among his initiates.

"It's your duty to stop your master; you must know that nothing good will come from void corruption. If we can bring him back, we can cure him with the help of the matriarchs," Atenea shouted to the initiates.

These warriors had been chosen by Alex to cultivate in the forest's energy; they were absolutely loyal to Alex, and although Kragash's stance caused them some doubts, they had no doubt that dealing with the void would bring problems to their leader. Besides, they didn't need to harm him; they just had to keep him away from the ritual. With this in mind,

"Kragash, step aside; we must save the master," one of the initiates shouted, to which the other six advanced.

Both Kragash and the initiates discarded their spears; there was no point in harming their comrades in arms, it wasn't necessary. However, the boy clung to his shield in the hope of being able to stop them long enough. He didn't know what Alex was doing, but he knew he needed time. The boy trusted his master so blindly that he would help him even in those uncertain circumstances.

Atenea had hoped that the six initiates would have been more than enough to interrupt Alex and prevent him from proceeding with the ritual he was performing, but after a while, when she took a quick look to the side, she saw that Alex was still making changes, seemingly almost finishing the preparations for the ritual.

Damn it, what are those useless ones doing, Atenea thought. She hadn't had time to get more involved; the fight between Torel and the Umbravian was at its peak, and more often than not, the latter tended to come out on top. The only thing that comforted her was knowing that his time was running out; soon he would have to return to the void, and by then, it would be a victory for Atenea and Torel... but not for Alex.

"Expel the void, keep it away from me."

"Who are you, what do you want?" Alex asked.

"Don't let them tear me apart, not anymore."

"That doesn't explain anything, how does this section end?" Alex asked.

"The patterns follow the flow of the rain, forming a river... keep it away from me," the voice briefly explained to Alex what he needed to know to continue with the ritual and then returned to its usual pleading attitude.

For a few brief moments, the exchange continued, with the voice providing detailed and very informative details about the necessary ritual, explaining all the intricacies and workings of each part, explaining it in a way that would allow even a novice in the field to understand what he was doing and why.

Finally, the ritual was ready.

Alex briefly looked around, and finally noticed Kragash involved in an intense battle against six other initiates of his, he didn't quite understand what was going on, but just before Alex was about to ask for explanations, a loud scream echoed in the room.

"Stop it, don't do it, if you finish this, you'll condemn me, you'll force me to join that being, you'll give him control of my body," Solis shouted.

Alex gave Solis only a cold look before raising a dagger.

"You chose your end when you started worshipping the void; now accept your consequences," Alex exclaimed.

Finally, with all his strength, he stabbed Solis in the middle of the ritual he had prepared.

The moment Solis was stabbed, he began to writh in pain, and slowly, a single drop of blood began to come out of his wound, which slowly descended very slowly down his body until it finally reached the ground.

The moment the drop of blood touched the ground, the entire ritual circle illuminated with a transparent purple glow, and Alex began to chant mystical words he had recently learned with the help of the strange voice echoing in his head.

This event did not go unnoticed by the Umbravian; however, it was too late for him.

"What have you done, human?" the ancient one exclaimed.

Before getting an answer, however, a change in force stopped his advance abruptly. Despite struggling against the force field, it slowly began to drag him towards Solis's body.

Both fought with all their might to move away from each other; however, all effort proved futile, and finally, both bodies came into contact, just at that moment, both bodies began to melt and merge into a single fluid.

Finally, it was over, and Torel, who had been in a desperate struggle moments before, looked at Alex, surprised but too tired to question at that moment.

However, the time for questioning would come later, as from the pool of purple liquid, a figure would soon emerge.