The duel raged on, incandescent and terrible, between Karla and the corrupted demon. Each second seemed to stretch into eternity, every breath a struggle to survive. The battlefield was now an ocean of corrosive black matter, swallowing the ground, gnawing at the air, suffocating hope. Karla had almost no ground left to stand on. But she didn't need the ground.
The demon, furious, unleashed its onslaught. Karla, the ardent knight, sped along the wall with lightning speed, like a blazing arrow. Her mana burned in her veins, amplifying her momentum and her adhesion to the wall. She ran like a shooting star, defying gravity, her goal clear: to reach the monster hovering in the air.
Once high enough, she pushed off and leaped. Her jump was a majestic arc, a promise of death. Her blazing blade reversed, and in an incandescent flash, it pierced the demon's chest. The ensuing cry tore through the air, shrill, inhuman, before the creature collapsed in a cloud of black smoke that flooded the room.
Dust obscured our vision, but amidst the chaos, the red glow of Karla's blade danced, lacerating the monster. The demon's claws, powerful and relentless, shattered her armor piece by piece, making the metal sing a symphony of pain. Yet, Karla did not falter. She struck again, and again, and again, even though each wound regenerated in an infernal loop.
It was a war of attrition. A fight she would ultimately lose.
The clang of weapons ceased. Karla retreated, panting, to assess her enemy. The ground had become an impassable hell. The demon was already recomposing itself, its limbs reattached by the black matter.
"This is hell…" Raysley murmured behind me, her voice trembling. The demon's energy was not waning. It was suffering, yes, but condemned to regenerate, over and over, a prisoner of its own corruption.
And suddenly, in that tumult, a voice wormed its way into my mind. A girl's voice, broken, weeping endlessly, screaming for help.
"Damn it!" I growled, the screams mingling with the corrupted mana gnawing at my sanity. The voice was so close… and I understood. It was the demon's. Its imprisoned soul, howling in the darkness.
Estris placed a hand on my shoulder, his red hair flaring in the gloom.
"Nico! What's wrong with you?"
"Don't worry… I've figured something out. But tell me… do you know about mana?"
Meanwhile, Karla fought on. Her armor was but a memory, her flesh marred with black blood and dust. But she was still fighting, refusing to yield.
So I shouted:
"Karla! Hold it back!"
She shot me a brief glance, a slight, confident smile. She believed in me. And I, I believed in her. I grabbed Hiyro's sword and charged, Estris at my side, his greatsword dulled but still valiant. Our plan hung on mere moments. Moments to live… or die.
"I'm counting on you, Estris! Don't let go of me!"
"If you die, I die too. So no foolishness."
Karla immobilized the demon, her blade piercing its flank and emerging against its wing. Estris, roaring, drove his sword into its belly, embedding it so deeply that it pinned the creature against the wall.
It was my turn.
I concentrated all my mana into Hiyro's blade. Irregular, unstable, but enough. With a sharp thrust, I pierced its chest. My mana core began to spin, like a demented tornado, sucking in everything within reach.
My goal in doing this was to absorb as much of the negative mana this monster had accumulated in its mana core. This idea had come to me moments earlier during my brief discussion with Estris.
"Tell me, Estris! You know quite a bit about mana!"
"Rather, yes! But this isn't the time."
"Listen, I want to know one thing! How do we absorb mana?"
"Well… our mana core acts like a heart or a lung, or a mix of both. It's an organ that pumps surrounding mana to absorb positive energy, transform it into neutral energy, and then expel small particles of negative energy."
"I see. Then it can work! But I'll need your help! Will you lend me a hand?"
"What are you talking about?"
I wanted to absorb the maximum amount of negative energy from this monster to purify it, making the confrontation at least simpler. I was counting on three essential things in this suicidal strategy: time, my resistance, and the rotation capacity of my mana core. Because that's where everything was truly at stake. Unlike the cores of others, mine didn't pump or beat; it spun, which meant it absorbed much more mana than normal. So, by connecting directly to the energy source, I could absorb the creature's negative mana directly, with perhaps the chance to filter it just as quickly.
Which brings us back to this precise moment. The moment when everything was at stake. By spinning my mana core to the extreme, I was absorbing a massive amount of this dense, corrupted energy. It was working.
The creature screamed, its body writhing in pain. I was suffering too. My bones trembled, my chest vibrated, blood gushed from my mouth. But I couldn't stop. My core spun, absorbed, devoured the corrupted mana. My eyes darkened, my screams echoed in the hall.
Karla, Estris, Raysley, Rayzo, Hiyro… they all watched me, helpless.
And then… nothing more.
The demon collapsed. I had succeeded.
I collapsed, spasms and black matter invading me. I was on the brink of death, or corruption. But Estris, true to our plan, rushed forward. Six bluish vials, six shards of hope. He opened my mouth, Karla held me up, and the luminous liquid flowed into me.
Pain exploded, then dissipated. I vomited the blackness, the blood, the suffering. For thirty seconds, I spat out hell. Then, exhausted, I raised a trembling thumb toward my comrades. A fragile sign, but a true one.
I had survived. I had won.