There was a reason Axis was avoiding those arrows like they were the devil himself, and Lucas quickly realized why as soon as he got close enough.

A strange mana energy surrounded them, making them tremble slightly. The mana wasn’t like the explosive arrows Flavya had used before, but whatever their secret, it was clearly what had Axis so wary. At one point, he tried blasting them away with a wind slice, but it was no use; it was as if they weren’t relying on the wind to fly at all.

After following Flavya for so long, Lucas had come to appreciate the versatility of witches. He wouldn’t be surprised if one of those arrows could turn Axis into a frog. Actually… that would be pretty badass.

Unfortunately, as much as Lucas admired the witches’ methods, he doubted Flavya could keep those arrows going forever. As much as he hated to admit it, Axis could likely outrun them at his current speed if left unimpeded. But Lucas had no intention of letting him escape and was already firing multiple shots in his direction.

His Magic stat had received quite the boost from his recent elixir, not enough to cause serious damage to someone like Axis, of course, but Lucas wasn’t aiming to kill him with just that.

Forced to decide between continuing to run or defending himself against Lucas’ shots—far faster than Flavya’s special arrows—Axis chose to keep moving. But after three of them struck his back, he regretted his decision.

He could try to ignore Lucas’ attacks all he wanted, but his body instinctively reacted to the painful burns by cringing slightly, costing him precious speed. That was enough for the closest arrow to reach him. Forced to stop and deflect it with his saber, Axis didn’t manage to stop the other two that arrived moments later from different angles.

In a matter of seconds, Lucas registered Axis coming to a halt. One of the arrows had pierced Axis’ left arm, the one holding the saber, rendering it stiff. Lucas quickly realized what he was seeing, having had a similar experience when hunting those two. It was one of Flavya’s muscle-stiffening arrows, which was great news because it meant Axis could no longer use his saber, given that his other hand had been blown to bits.

The other arrow, Lucas noticed, had struck Axis’ right leg, forcing him to close his eyes in deep concentration. Just before reaching his target, Lucas recognized what that arrow was, and the only reason he knew was because he had seen that expression on Axis’ face before: he had been poisoned.

Lucas had no idea where Flavya was—only the three arrows confirmed she was still alive—but he imagined she was in bad shape, having used a lot of mana to camouflage the arrows’ true purpose.

There wasn’t anything special about them; the chaotic mana surrounding them was just a ruse to catch Axis off guard. Lucas suspected she even anticipated Axis would defend against the first arrow, which is why she had the others prepared to keep him busy.

After all, Lucas was almost certain the poison wasn’t just any poison. It was likely a concoction from the Promised Child himself, something Flavya believed could stall Axis despite his usual methods of purging foreign substances from his body.

In other words, she had given it her all to give Lucas a chance to kill Axis, and he only had a few seconds to do it. Otherwise, it would be game over for both of them.

Almost unconsciously grasping all of this while dashing toward Axis, Lucas immediately punched out the moment he was within range.

Axis opened his eyes just as Lucas’ blade reached his abdomen, but it was too late; the glass broke deep inside his torso, leaving the necrotic effect behind. Axis, who had never been so close to death, grew desperate as Lucas’ left arm sprang into action.

He hadn’t yet managed to purge the nasty poison when the necrotic effect began corroding his insides. Panicking, Axis turned to his last resort, the one the elders of the Empire had specifically warned him not to use lightly.

Lucas, who was about to deliver the final blow, couldn’t believe his eyes when the prince activated another boosting skill, his skin turning red as he bellowed to the sky. The power waves were so strong that Lucas couldn’t keep his footing and was sent flying back. His heart sank when he finally stabilized and looked at the powerful figure before him.

I was so close, Lucas thought. Just one more second, and he would have pierced the prince’s heart, ending the fourth floor for good. Instead, he now faced what seemed to be the prince’s fourth and final boost—in all probability not one Lucas would survive.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Unwilling to give up, despite the dire circumstances, Lucas watched as the prince—still surrounded by that chaotic red mana—raised both arms to the sky and began chanting in a language Lucas couldn’t recognize, despite his multi-language skill.

I have a bad feeling about this, Lucas thought, and was prompted to action Whatever Axis was doing, he knew he couldn’t afford to let it reach completion. I need to stop him now.

Just as Lucas was about to start running, a small ball of fire appeared above the prince’s single palm, freezing him in place. The reason was simple, yet deeply disturbing. His eyes were glued to the fire—it had an unnatural, almost supernatural quality, even in such a unique place as this desolate city.

But it wasn’t just fascination that stopped him; it was because he no longer had control over his body. He couldn’t move, couldn’t turn, couldn’t even close his eyes. That thing, whatever it was, had rendered him completely useless. Powerless, Lucas watched as the strange fireball grew larger and larger.

A flicker of hope ignited within him when one of Flavya’s arrows pierced the right side of the prince’s body, making him spit blood and nearly lose control of whatever he was doing. But despite being severely wounded, Axis managed to stabilize the spell and continue his chant.

Lucas waited for another arrow to come, but after a few minutes, it became clear that none would. Either that arrow had been released before the fireball’s hypnotic effect took hold—fired from a distant location where Flavya now stood frozen—or it was her final act before collapsing from exhaustion, or worse.

With the situation as it was, Lucas saw no choice but to quit and restart the floor, hopefully with a better plan. But something held him back. He justified staying by telling himself he needed to understand what he was up against for the next attempt. Yet, deep down, he knew the real reason was his unwillingness to quit. He had already quit once, when the comet came for Earth, and the thought of doing it again, after everything he’d endured, was unbearable.

As Lucas postponed the inevitable, he felt the heat in the air intensify with every passing second as that thing in Axis’ hand grew larger and larger. Clearly, whatever this final boost was, it protected Axis from the searing heat waves emanating from the fire above his palm.

Why hasn’t he thrown it yet? Lucas wondered, watching the scene. Clearly, that fireball was already large enough to turn him into ash easily, especially considering how he couldn’t move, but the prince seemed to have no intention of doing anything with it. A couple of minutes later, though, Lucas understood why in the worst way possible.

With a powerful bellow, Axis’s fireball suddenly spiked in size, and the heat became unbearable in a matter of seconds. He already couldn’t move before, but now, due to the intense heat, he could no longer think properly, and within a few extra seconds, his skin began to melt, the pain only further hampering his cohesion.

There was an option, a way to escape that terrible heat... but he couldn’t remember.

Why was the sun so damn big?

How could it be so painful?

Oh, right, he thought through the pain, there was something he could do to alleviate the pain, what was it again? Something about a life aura...

His eyes were still open, but he could no longer see, his eyeballs long roasted from the raging inferno the new sun had brought. He could still hear, however, and not long after, he heard one last sound—it was the sound of someone screaming, someone he vaguely remembered as being the prince of somewhere far away.

…

Axis fell to his knees, depleted. That last spell had nearly killed him. It had used way more mana than he expected, and sustaining it while heavily injured had been no simple feat, but he had done it. He was sure of it; no one could have survived his Burning Sun.

At least not without the protection of the fire-boosting skill he had activated just before Lucas managed to kill him. Still, that had been too close of a call. He never expected to be put in such danger by two people he hadn’t even bothered to learn the names of.

Trying to rise from the ground elicited great pain, and Axis realized, somewhat surprised, that his health pool was dangerously low. He had ignored everything in order to complete the ritual and had nearly died because of it.

When he thought back to the fight, he realized there were less troublesome methods he could’ve used to escape his predicament and end the battle, but in that final moment, he could think of nothing else but his Burning Sun.

Fortunately, he hadn’t died and was the ultimate winner of that battle. Looking around, Axis stopped at the spot where Lucas had been standing. In his place was only a set of badly churned bones.

He couldn’t help but be surprised by their transparency. When he saw the glass coming out of his limbs earlier, he assumed it merely stemmed from a peculiar skill. It was still surprising, of course, but not completely unheard of. There were plenty of weird skills in the world, after all.

However, looking at the crystal bones on the floor, he discarded that possibility. They were made of the same glass that had been inside his body not long ago and were surprisingly resistant to heat, considering they hadn’t completely disintegrated.

Although he was somewhat interested in that curious sight, whatever secrets that mysterious figure held, which allowed him to regrow an arm in a matter of seconds, had clearly died with him.

The disturbing silence that fell over the place after everything that had happened made Axis feel uneasy about his position.

Clearly, either the archer girl or someone else was still alive, considering the Showdown hadn’t finished. Which was odd, since the range of his Burning Sun wasn’t small, but since that was the case, he needed to take advantage of the fact that they were likely near death to finish them off and get it over with.

Limping heavily through the broken pavement, Axis began his search through the silent city, his victory almost palpable now.