"...I hate you."
Xerxes looked at Leiya, his expression turning into something that could only represent guilt, as if he were caught doing one of the most heinous of crimes.
But this was what I deserved, he thought.
All of this is my fault. The hate in Leiya's eyes. The resentment that is flaring in her mana. All of it.
Despite all the bad Xerxes felt responsible for, he knew he could still do good at the very least. Mentally speaking to his companion, he gave her a swift order, 'Airi, we were separated, and Aemon has his hands full. If I fight Leiya now, I will not be able to keep track of Yves and Aemon. I need to keep her safe, damn it. I cannot let Aemon worry, so I need to end this quickly.'
Replying with bewilderment in every letter, 'Why are you even fighting with Leiya?! And I cannot help as much as you think I can, fusing with your body to save you back there drained the power out of me.'
Xerxes replied, bringing some finality to this conversation he was having with her, 'I told her the truth about the 'message'; it was the only way...'
Airi hesitated, then replied compassionately, 'I can sense your guilt, Xerxes. I am so sorry, do not let it swallow you, I will be here.'
It was not Airi's fault. Xerxes knew that. It was not anyone else's fault but his own.
In one last attempt, he tried to convince Leiya not to go through with this, because the moment a fist or a sword is drawn is the moment everything changes. "If you go through with this, Leiya, you will only be killing yourself. You saved me once. You taught me how to live again after everything was torn from me. Let me have the chance to help you."
Leiya replied with a sick sense of sarcasm, "Help?" she asked.
"You have done enough, Xerxes!" His words were meaningless and only fuelled the raging fire burning inside of Leiya.
Leiya generated water and formed it around her legs. Xerxes raised his blade, ready to parry as she dashed in and drove her leg forward. Xerxes tried to angle his blade, but he had forgotten one key thing.
She had mastered a mana beast soul fragment, fully developing it, and what Xerxes knew was that it provided rapid bursts in strength. Her speed and strength were considerably multiplied. Xerxes' eyes widened as the air left his lungs from a devastating roundhouse kick that felt as if it tore through him.
But she was not done yet with the attack; a second shockwave of power released from her water magic that she had wrapped around her leg. It was a benefit of the mana beast soul fragment, creating magic that could not be sensed upon the point of release, and that was what made him propel backwards, tumbling through the rubble.
Xerxes immediately raised himself, clutched his stomach, and began running in an arc to offset Leiya's footwork. When he found the opening, he went in. Jumping into the air, Xerxes raised his sword, imbuing it with flames, and used Conrad's sword style.
Landing a metre or two away, he flashed in a blur—with the aid of the Orion's Hunt style— directly behind Leiya, using his speed and agility. Then, he struck Leiya with the flat side of the blade against her back. She stumbled forward before generating an aerial whip of water that slashed across Xerxes' chest, causing blood to pour from the wound.
It was hard fighting when he had to hold back. He could not give it his all, and Xerxes was not used to holding back his strength when he had been so weak for so long.
However, that was not the only disadvantage he was dealing with.
Airi shouted a warning in his mind, giving him no time to rest. A BEAST IS COMING! Xerxes looked over his shoulder and noticed seven beasts, their maws stained with blood.
Generating fire in his hands, Xerxes pivoted on his back foot and unleashed flames imbued with wind directly at the beasts charging at him like steeds, incinerating them all. But that was all the time Leiya needed to close in.
With water still hovering over her right hand, she threw a cross towards Xerxes' face. Knowing he would not be able to evade, Xerxes pushed back the force of her punch with wind. Not only did it shake the water from her hand, but it also significantly reduced the potency of the attack.
Still, it did not mean the punch did not hurt like hell. Xerxes then dove forward and slammed his forehead against Leiya's nose. As she dropped to one knee, Xerxes pointed his sword forward triumphantly.
If they had not known each other beforehand, how would the battle have turned out? Xerxes wondered. Would Leiya have killed him if she disregarded who he was? Would he have done the same? It did not matter. This was not about a show of abilities. It was not about winning or losing—it was about survival.
"Leiya, I am not going to fight you anymore. Do not make this hard for me. Please, let us just do as Aemon says. Let us just—"
Leiya's expression then turned to horror as she saw what was behind him. "XERXES! XERXES, MOVE!"
Xerxes quickly looked back as the man who had spawned like a nightmare loomed over him, watching his every move, hearing his every word. Ready to silence them, he muttered the word: "Decay."
Xerxes looked at Yves in horror.
Reacting abruptly, mana rippled up Xerxes' arm as he extended it. Though the mana could not be filtered through his soul core, Xerxes tried whatever he could to survive, attempting to draw it from the mana point on his hand and instantly expel it.
Tearing and burning his arm, unfiltered mana, raw mana, began streaming out of Xerxes' arm. It did not feel like fire, water, wind, or earth. It was pure mana, so intense it practically tore the skin from Xerxes' arm and blackened it.
Yves, not expecting it, was blown back by an explosion of force that surpassed Tier 5 mana. As Yves crashed through the castle, debris rained from the sky, impossible to escape.
But Xerxes' eyes almost rolled back, as he screamed in a pain that was so unique but searing, he felt as if his soul core was awakening once more.
However, that was not the case; Xerxes was just the first man to utilise raw mana willingly.
***
The large ebon sword Yves had reanimated from Aemon's original attack was sprawling towards Aemon. It was terrifying in nature; it was a spell that Yves had acquired that rendered something as grand as tier 1 magic useless under its darkness.
All that Aemon could do was look on in despair, as his greatest strength immediately turned into his greatest weakness.
"My power is cooling down," Aemon regrettably mumbled. He had already abruptly leapt from his 1st palm of the truth technique to the next, and his eyes needed moments to rest. Even with all the amplification the 2nd palm applied onto regular magic, it still was not enough.
Bitterly facing the facts, he turned towards Airi, voicing a command that she would definitely have to follow through with if she cared for the lives of Xerxes and Leiya.
Heeding the command, she immediately flew from the vicinity, but Aemon was not given that leverage; even with the speed he could move, this attack was known to hone onto an enemy's body not stopping until it reached its target, and if he was to place himself by Leiya and Xerxes, it would only spell danger.
So, Aemon began darting backwards, as far as he could manage within his state, and prepared for impact. But as the creator of the tier 1 ice move, Aemon knew its counter and was banking on the fact that the time he was sparring would be enough.
Yves peered at his brother, who was fleeing helplessly from his own creation, and began clapping his hands together, "Perfect, this is perfect, Aemon, now I have the chance to find the rest you hold dear."
Raising his arms left and right, pulses of darkness began emanating from Yves, "With this, I will be able to locate the shadows of the boy, Xerxes and my dearest granddaughter, Leiya."
Scanning through hundreds, if not thousands of shadows, Yves was searching for where they could have possibly gone. Even for someone at his level of power, with all the chaos ensuing before him, it was difficult to get a read on mana.
Whilst in his search, Yves could only think about the flames that emerged from that phoenix's throat; it was something not even his darkness could swallow, which struck him as odd, but he paid no mind, as he had found his target.
Leaping through the battlefield, with speeds that were untraceable, Yves saw Xerxes pointing his sword at Leiya.
With his decay ability in his hand, Xerxes was in reach. 'This is it, it is time to eliminate the perpetrator of all that power 5 months ago.'
"XERXES, XERXES, MOVE!" Leiya screamed, and as Yves' hand was about to reach Xerxes' head, with a swift pivot of his foot, mana, not ordinary mana but raw mana expelled from Xerxes' wrist, colliding with Yves' body, causing serious pain, as he was propelled back into the castle, with the foundations crumbling all upon him.