CHAPTER 45: THE FALL OF THE WALL AND A SOLDIER'S END
"The battle has only just begun."
Morde grinned, his power nearly refreshed after draining the energy of three shadow soldiers. Along with his seven remaining shadow soldiers, he was now eight strong. Before him stood Sun, her energy restored but now utterly alone, preparing for one last stand.
Morde charged forward with all his shadow soldiers.
"DIIIIE!!!"
Nexan Capital, Urug:
The door to the main palace chamber was knocked open, and a messenger rushed in. Inside were King Swain, Terex, and Po.
Swain demanded immediately:
"What's wrong? What's happening?"
The messenger began to speak, out of breath:
"My King! At the border wall... Commander Sun is fighting someone!"
Swain leaped to his feet:
"Fighting someone? Who?"
"M-my King, we don't know! But they've seen dark energy explosions around the wall! Massive blasts!"
Upon hearing this, Swain's face turned white with fury. He slammed his fist on the table, the wood groaning.
"MORDEEE!!! I won't let you escape this time!"
Po interjected in shock:
"Hey, Swain! Don't tell me you're planning to go yourself! It's too dangerous! You're the King! What if it's a trap?"
Terex agreed, turning to Swain:
"Po's right, Swain. They could be waiting for you there. We can't send you."
Swain gritted his teeth for a moment, eyes closed in thought. His instincts screamed at him to go, but his mind and advisors were right. Kings only entered the battlefield when everything was prepared.
"Alright," he grumbled, opening his eyes. "You're right. But Sun is not alone."
He pointed at the soldier:
"Messenger! Inform the Blood Mage Vlad immediately. To the border wall, at once! Hurry!"
The messenger bowed:
"As you command, My King!" and hurried out of the room.
Nexan Border Wall:
Morde and his seven shadow soldiers surged toward Sun like a black storm. "DIIIIE!!!"
Sun, however, assumed a calm, almost serene posture. She placed one foot back, extended her left arm forward. Holding her broken staff horizontally, she took a defensive stance. Her eyes were closed. She seemed detached from the world, the noise, the fear.
At the very moment Morde and his soldiers were about to land their blows, Sun's eyes snapped open. A faint whisper came from within:
"Transparent Body."
Sun's body instantly turned transparent, like a ghost, a mere apparition. Morde and the shadow soldiers' lethal attacks passed right through her form, striking empty air behind her with a whoosh.
And Sun seized this moment.
"Revolving Staff Dance!"
In rapid succession, she unleashed staff strikes in four directions – up, down, left, right. The attacks were so fast they seemed to create a whirlwind in the air.
Morde's shadow soldiers instinctively leaped forward to protect their master. Four shadow soldiers took the full brunt of the staff strikes, dissolving into dust, dispersing like black smoke.
Seeing the effect of her attack, Sun immediately retreated, panting. Only three shadow soldiers remained now.
And Sun finally admitted the truth, her voice weary but respectful:
"Morde... You've leveled up since the start of the fight. I admit it. It seems you grow stronger with every moment, every clash. That must be... an advantage of your shadow power." She fixed her eyes on Morde's. "You're stronger than me now. But that doesn't mean you can breach these walls. Until help arrives... I will protect them."
Morde laughed, his voice cold and merciless:
"I appreciate your loyalty to Swain, Sun. But loyalty alone is useless. What matters is power. Power... overcomes everything."
And he attacked suddenly: "Dark Shock!"
In response, Sun lunged forward with a final move. There was no more escape.
"Final Staff Dance!"
Just as Morde was about to unleash his Dark Shock on Sun, she suddenly stabbed her staff into the ground and used it to vault over Morde, landing behind him. Morde's attack missed. Seizing this chance, Sun swung her staff down toward Morde's head.
But the shadow soldiers instantly surrounded Sun like a black wall. Sun completed her strike anyway, but her staff only hit a shadow soldier, dispersing it. The attack was wasted.
Morde laughed and issued a single-word command:
"Attack."
The remaining six shadow soldiers attacked Sun simultaneously. Caught off guard, Sun couldn't counter. Punches, swords, axes... all these weapons formed from shadows struck Sun's body one after another. Each blow brought a groan, each impact a shudder.
After the final blow, Sun was sent flying backward and slammed onto the stone surface of the wall. A dust cloud rose.
Morde walked up to Sun with an expression mixing respect and victory. Shadow fell over her.
"Sun... You were truly strong. But it's over now. Surrender. I'll make it quick. Painless."
Sun, lying on the ground, coughing blood, laughed inwardly:
Is it really over? So quickly? NO. King Swain trusts me. I can't betray his face, his trust. At the very least... I must use my final technique.
With a final surge of willpower, she stood up. Morde took a cautious step back.
Sun began to speak, her voice broken but spiritually intact:
"Morde... I admit it. You're stronger than me. I never stood a chance against you from the start. But I... am a soldier. And I must fulfill my duty." There was sorrow in her eyes. "I feel sorry for you. No one... has ever survived this technique. The outcome won't change for you. Prepare yourself!"
Sun took her last breath with a deep, shuddering sigh. Then, her body began to change form. A warm, golden-yellow light emanated from around her. Her body swelled slightly, taking on a calm, Buddha-like form. The broken staff in her hand began to glow with a golden, sun-like radiance, as if whole again.
"Ultimate Technique: The Monkey's Final Divine Assault!"
She channeled all the remaining energy from her body, her soul, her life into her staff. The staff shone so brightly it was blinding, illuminating the area like daylight. Then, she raised her staff, aiming it at Morde's heart.
And with a roar, a scream, she unleashed her attack with her entire being:
"DIIIIE!!!!"
A beam of pure, concentrated sunlight streamed toward Morde. The air heated up, stones began to melt.
Morde was immensely affected by this power. But there was no time to flee or hide. He, too, had to play his final card.
"Ultimate Technique: Dark Art – The Four Arrows of Darkness!"
From Morde's back, four massive arrows woven from pure darkness materialized. Each was filled with pure hatred and destructive energy.
He fired the first two arrows.
Sun's golden beam and Morde's dark arrows met in the sky, right above the wall.
VUUUUOOOOMMM!!!
The collision was so immense it seemed to split the sky in two; one side golden daylight, the other midnight darkness. The sound shook the mountains. The wall began to crack slightly, stones shifting.
But Sun's attack proved stronger. It obliterated the two dark arrows and continued forward unabated.
Morde, drenched in sweat, fired the third arrow.
BOOM!
The dark arrow and the golden beam clashed again, but the result was the same. The beam destroyed the arrow and pressed on.
Morde fired his last, fourth arrow. This arrow split in mid-air, one part heading straight for the attack while the other arced toward Sun. This assault was so violent that even other city-states within Nexan were watching the battle in the sky through telescopes.
The wall, beyond cracking, began to crumble. Massive stone blocks tumbled down.
Morde was using all his power, his veins bulging as if about to burst, but he knew it wouldn't be enough. With a final move, he roared:
"Shadow Soldiers! Withdraw!"
The remaining six shadow soldiers instantly dissipated like faint smoke, and their entire existence, their energy, flowed into Morde. Morde's power visibly increased, his body darkened further, his eyes turning completely red.
But Morde knew even this might not be enough. He had one last chance. He channeled all this gathered power into the remaining fragment of the fourth arrow and launched it at Sun's beam.
THE FINAL COLLISION.
The beam and the arrow merged at the epicenter of the explosion, right above the wall.
And then... everything turned white.
There was no sound. No time. Only blinding light and then... a massive explosion with the brilliance of the sun.
When the explosion subsided, the wall was gone. The fifty-meter-high, seemingly impregnable Nexan Border Wall was shattered into a pile of rubble. A massive crater lay in its place.
Within the dust cloud, Morde stood upright. But his body trembled, he struggled to breathe. He had used, expended, ninety-five percent of his power. He was almost spent.
As the dust slowly settled, a figure began to walk out from within the wreckage of the wall and the dust cloud.
Morde's eyes widened in disbelief.
"H-How? This... This can't be..."
It was Sun.
But it was no longer Sun. Her arms hung limp, her eyes were about to close, her face and body covered in blood and dust, she walked as if dead. Unconscious, driven only by a final instinct of duty, she moved toward Morde.
She tried to make one last attack, throwing a punch at empty air. She didn't even know what she was doing.
Morde watched Sun with shock and a shred of respect. He wondered inwardly: Is it over? Is she... dead?
Sun stopped right in front of Morde. Slowly, with cracked lips, she turned her back. She opened her eyes one last time, fully. In her eyes, there was no anger, no fear, no pain. Only a deep, naive curiosity.
And she asked just one thing, her voice barely a whisper:
"All this... death... why?"
Without waiting for an answer, without the strength to wait, her eyes flashed one last time and went dim. Her body crumpled to the ground like a puppet. She was lifeless.
Morde stood not with the joy of victory, but with a heavy sadness and emptiness. Sun's final question echoed in his mind.
The answer is clear. Morde, looking at Sun's lifeless body amidst the ruins, murmured, his voice cold and distant:
"As long as people exist... war and slaughter will never end in this world. I will show them such power... that no one will even want to fight anymore. Because they will all... be dead." A dangerous light gleamed in his eyes. "When the time comes, I will show this to the entire world. I will not die... before showing this."
After saying this, exhausted yet with the strange satisfaction of being one step closer to his goal, he slipped away through the rubble. Leaving behind a destroyed wall and a dead hero.
A short while after Morde's departure, the Blood Mage Vlad swiftly arrived at the border wall. But he was too late.
Before him, there was no wall. Only a massive pile of rubble and a crater. Nexan was now exposed, defenseless, open to the Ice Kingdom.
Vlad, in shock, moved forward a little. He crossed to the other side of the destroyed wall, toward Ice Kingdom territory. The dust cloud was slowly dispersing.
And then, he couldn't believe his eyes.
Sun lay lifeless amidst the rubble, covered in blood. Her face was frozen in that calm, questioning expression from her final moment.
Vlad slowly knelt. He placed his hand on Sun's neck. No pulse. No breath. Only coldness remained.
He closed his eyes. A curse, a mourning, a rage passed within him. Then, he stood up and began to run swiftly back toward the capital to deliver the news. War was now inevitable. And the first martyr had already been given.