My sandals hit the ground as I dropped out of the portal next to the massive castle. The fortress was as large as city the stone was a glossy compressed substance similar to what I could have done with Compress Earth or Hell Dragon’s Armory.

“Arthur!” I called out my voice shaking the land.

Siege missiles launched at me as they were alerted to my presence. I raised my hand and stopped them midair before launching them back at the siege engines turning what had likely been priceless works of enchanted engineering into metal and wood scrap.

“Come out and fight,” I challenged my nemesis. “You came to my home with a blood curse, you put my daughter on the brink of death, I come to your home now and will do the same to you unless you meet me alone in battle. I will finish what should have ended in the arena.”

I waited a minute and was prepared to begin to bring this fortress to rubble when Arthur finally appeared on the battlements.

“Mordred, I wondered when you would come,” Arthur said his voice projected by his armor his words sounding slightly slurred. “Today your will pay the price in blood for your sins.”

“I have not come here to be judged by the likes of you,” I said my body covered in black smoke as I activated all my abilities. “I am the Shadow of Judgement, and I am here to exact the full cost of your transgressions.”

Arthur leapt towards me, and I sprung towards him enlarged to equal his size with Heir of the Titans. Clarent and Excalibur screamed as they swung towards each other a sonic boom blasting across the skies knocking down the knights and soldiers on the wall as the two swords collided. Arthur and I were knocked back, but we didn’t fall to the earth wings of light emerged from the back of his armor and scarlet lightning wreathed my body as we took to the sky.

Copies of me appeared around us as I activated Shadow Guard, Excalibur sliced through where I had been only for me to switch places with one of the doppelgangers and ram my spear and sword into his back. The Atlas armor shrieked but I didn’t manage to pierce his metal shell. A blast of wind rocked me back and Arthur turned and leveled his sword at me.

“Impaling Charge,” he intoned.

Arthur crossed the gap between us in an instant Excalibur piercing through my side. My blood sprayed out and began sizzling and eating into his armor. I twisted and ripped the sword out of my side, I roared and the force of my voice hit Arthur like a ballistic missile and knocked him a hundred yards back crashing into a tower. The stone of the fortress cracked but it didn’t break but the windows of the castle did shatter as the force of my roar surpassed that of a sonic boom.

Scarlet lightning blasted from my fingers and tore across Arthur’s armor. He leveled his sword at me again but I was ready for his charge this time. I flashed to another doppelganger and ripped off the top of a tower with Force of Will and hurled it at him from below. Arthur coiled up and the tower impacted him launching him a mile up into the air.

I pursued him and we met at the halfway point or weapons colliding again. One of Arthur’s hands coiled around my neck and began to squeeze, I let him the need to breath not something I even required anymore. Like two falcons locked together we spiralled down and down neither willing to let go as we hammered at eachother our weapons skidding off armor and skin sending up sparks and splattering poisonous acidic blood.

The castle shook as we impacted sending up a plume of dust in a mushroom cloud as we struck with the force of a bomb. My helmet and head morphed into that of snarling beast as I lunged forwards into Arthur’s grip; he released me and rolled back as my jaws snapped where the armored helm of his mech suit sat.

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“Anvil Strike!” Arthur shouted and Excalibur was briefly transformed into the visage of a hammer as it swung up taking me in the groin.

While I didn’t feel the agony of that devastating groin shot my body still felt the force as I just like Arthur had been was launched skywards. I raised my hands and the shattered stones around us sharped into blades flying up with me and slashing into Arthur from behind as he kicked off from the ground to fly after me.

I spun in the air till I hung upside down block Excalibur with a crossed spear and Gauntlet sword. Clarent swung down and managed to carve a deep furrow through his Atlas armor. Through the darkness and sparks of the interior I caught a glimpse of another helmet deep withing the metal shell. Arthur and I rose higher and higher our weapons slashing at each other. I lost several fingers and a foot and Arthur’s Atlas armor continued to get more holes in it.

Ice began to form on our armor and skin, but we didn’t even bother. At our rank the Cold damage done by elemental forces and even the vacuum of space wasn’t a threat to us. Arthur drove Excalibur through my chest just as I drove Clarent through a hole in Atlas armor directly into his torso hidden with the mech.

We dropped. Down again we plummeted through the sky until moments later we crashed upon one of the castle towers. Despite being reinforced to likely be nearly as hard as diamond the tower broke beneath us. I rolled to my feet as my spine knit itself back together. Arthur pushed himself up his armor sparking, and the whirring of gears and mechanics labored within it.

“Armor Repair,” Arthur said and his suit began to stitch itself back together as fast as my regeneration fixed my flesh. “You can’t win Mordred.”

“Your goddess said the same thing,” I said with a shrug. “Its been awhile since I wore your mantle, tell me, how does it feel to be the Warlord?”

Arthur roared and swung at me and I dodge his sword slicing cleanly through the stone of the wall behind me.

“I may have your goddess’ tainted power but I wasn’t abandoned by mine, I still carry her gift, I am The Duelist!”

He came at me in frenzy of blows and I let him. I had to keep him enraged I suspected he was on drugs the grogginess and slowness of his voice and movements showed he was likely hopped up on all the pain killers Gifted normally took when ranking up their abilities. Those drugs were likely the reason he wasn’t able to shut down my rage effects but if they wore off I needed him mad to keep my advantages over him.

“The Duelist, the Warlord,” I said with a shrug and blasted him with lightning. “She’s not my goddess, she’s all yours now although I guess she has to share you with others, funny I didn’t think she swung that way.”

“Enough!” Arthur shouted. “Just give up and die already! You can’t win!”

I smiled.

“I can if I cheat.”

Arthur’s feet froze. Ice crawled up them locking him in place.

“Hello cousin,” Guinevere said.

I opened a portal behind Arthur watching as his armor began to glow as he activated his break free ability. I pointed Clarent at him and waited, the ice around his feet shattered; I activated Clarent’s roar. Arthur rocketed backwards through the portal into the Void the front of his armor melted. I shut the portal.

“You think that will kill him?” Guinevere asked.

I sighed shrinking down to my normal size. “Probably not,” I admitted. “But it will handle him for now.”

Villainous Rewards (Rank 1); The strong and ruthless rule, be stronger and more ruthless if you with that to be you. You select one enemy at least two Rank tiers above you. If you are the one to slay them while this effect is active you gain an additional 20% to gain a Ability from them on their death. (5 day cooldown time after successful use)

Cost:

50 mana per second

Casting Time:

Instantaneous

Rank up this ability to increase the percentage chance of gaining a new ability. Each rank increases your Power Attribute by 2.

“Or maybe he’ll just die,” I said with a shrug.

“You died too,” Guinevere pointed out.

“Yeah, your right,” I agreed with a sigh. “I hope there was a cool reward for my death.”

Guinevere gave me a look. “You hope Arthur got stronger by killing you?”

“Hey!” I said defensively. “The System rewards risk after all my hardest battles and killing the boss I’ve always gotten an ability, if Arthur didn’t get one….”

Guinevere shook her head but smiled. “You and your pride, let’s go home.”