Arlon watched Asef's face, hoping—maybe—that sothing in his words might have reached him. But all he saw was fury, twisted by years of silence and poison.
Whatever pieces of the boy who once wished for his mother's happiness remained, they were buried too deep.
Arlon gripped his sword tightly. No more words. No more truths.
If reason couldn't pull Asef back, then force would have to push him down.
And so, the final battle began.
Arlon didn't wait. The mont he closed the distance, he activated his fused ability—Ti Slash.
The air warped as the strike left his blade, skipping the space between them entirely.
The slash appeared in front of Asef instantly, bending the laws of distance and ti. It should have cut him clean through.
But Asef raised his arm.
The attack landed, yet the result wasn't what Arlon had hoped for. Asef had reinforced his body with such intense enhancent magic that his flesh might as well have been steel.
The blade hit, but it didn't break through. Sparks scattered, but blood didn't follow.
Arlon's eyes narrowed.
He didn't let up.
He sent another Ti Slash, then another—each one skipping across reality to strike without travel ti.
But Asef stood firm, unmoving, swatting away so, bracing through the rest. His feet didn't shift. His stance didn't falter.
Arlon knew the limits of his dual-casting. He couldn't hold two spells fully at once—not with the precision of a specialist.
So instead, he was relying on relentless rhythm, testing Asef's defense with each blow. Waiting for even a flicker of weakness.
But Asef didn't give him one.
He was like a wall.
A wall born from pain, rage, and unnatural power.
Fine, Arlon thought. Then I'll break the wall directly.
With a flash of light across his blade, he activated Mana Surge—his strongest buff—and flooded it with dark mana.
The energy crackled, coiling around the steel like shadows drawn to blood.
And then he lunged forward, blade low, eyes locked.
---
The fight lasted longer this ti.
The ground beneath them had long since been scorched, cracked, and torn apart by spells and slashes. But now, everything was still. Just for a mont.
Arlon stood with his blade drawn, faint wisps of ti mana weaving around his arm like smoke clinging to skin.
His breath was steady. His eyes locked on Asef's figure through the haze of the last explosion.
Asef didn't flinch.
He raised his hand slowly, flexing it once, and then lowered into a stance that didn't belong to a mage—but a brawler. His feet spread slightly apart. His fingers curled like claws.
There was no chant. No glow. No charge.
Just the sudden thud of his foot hitting the dirt, and in the next instant, he was already in front of Arlon.
Arlon barely got his sword up in ti. A punch t his blade with an echoing clang, the force rippling through Arlon's arms and knocking him back a step.
Fast.
He's fast without using Blink, Arlon thought.
Ti magic surged around him, and he activated Haste. His reflexes sharpened, and the flow of movent around him slowed slightly, giving him just enough edge to duck the next punch and swing low with Void Edge.
Asef twisted, his body moving unnaturally with the kind of fluid strength only high-level enhancent magic could allow. The blade grazed his side, cutting through armor, but not drawing blood. Not deep enough.
Before Arlon could follow up, a knee drove into his stomach.
His armor caught most of it—but not all. The impact lifted him from the ground and sent him crashing into a jagged rock.
He gritted his teeth and cast Blink sideways just before the follow-up strike caved the stone in.
Asef didn't chase imdiately. He turned, letting his crimson eyes glow through the smoke.
"You're not slow," he said. "But you're not fast enough either."
Arlon didn't answer.
Asef was at a higher level than him. He didn't think this would be easy.
But he knew there wasn't an existence level difference.
He gripped Void Edge tighter and started moving again. He slashed, infused it with ti magic, and released another Ti Slash. The attack warped space again, appearing at Asef's side with no travel.
But this ti, Asef didn't defend. He leaned.
The blade missed.
Arlon clicked his tongue and lunged in with a flurry of swings—each infused with mana surge, shifting between fire and dark magic in bursts.
Sparks lit up the air.
The two moved too fast for the human eye. Arlon blinked from one side to the next, using ti-accelerated movent to land one, two, then three strikes.
Asef caught the fourth slash with his bare hand.
His skin crackled under the energy, but it didn't break.
Then his fist t Arlon's ribs, and Arlon was airborne again.
He flipped midair and steadied himself with a wind spell before hitting the ground. He coughed.
One rib, maybe two, cracked.
He didn't have ti to heal it.
Because Asef was already coming.
Boom.
The ground exploded under Asef's steps. He'd boosted his legs with another layer of magic, and now his body blurred like an afterimage.
His foot snapped toward Arlon's temple, and Arlon dropped, casting Slow around himself in a narrow field.
The effect rippled. Asef's movents dulled for half a second—and that was enough.
Arlon swung upward. Ti Slash again—this ti point-blank. Asef crossed his arms, letting it strike, and the blade tore through cloth and enhancent.
This ti, it cut.
Blood trickled from his arm.
But Asef didn't react.
He turned his palm, and from it, a pulse of raw red magic burst like a wave, hitting Arlon point-blank and launching him backward once more.
Arlon coughed again as he rolled across the broken ground.
He stood. Barely.
He was starting to see it.
Asef wasn't a traditional mage.
He didn't rely on long chants or spell formations.
His casting was instinctual, primal—powered by the parasite within. Every spell was an extension of his body.
It made him unpredictable.
Unrelenting.
But Arlon wasn't out of tricks.
He focused. Pushed mana to his limbs. The blade of Void Edge shimred as he poured his will into it.
He lunged forward again, this ti ducking low and casting a shadow field around his feet. It spread outward, making it harder for Asef to gauge his position.
Then he blinked—twice in a row, once behind, once above—and ca down hard with a vertical strike.
Asef raised his hand again—but this ti Arlon had anticipated it.
He cast Flashpoint, a blinding burst of light magic, right into Asef's eyes.
Asef flinched—just enough for the strike to land.
Void Edge bit into his shoulder.
The wound wasn't deep enough to stop him, but it burned.
Asef staggered and snarled, then spun with a backhanded fist that cracked Arlon across the jaw and sent him skidding back once more.
Both stood still for a mont.
Breathing hard.
Bleeding.
Asef's body glowed faintly red now. His magic was spiking. The parasite was feeding him power—and the cost didn't seem to matter anymore.
"I warned you," Asef said, low and grim. "You can't beat ."
And then he rushed again.
Arlon raised his sword, ready to parry, but Asef didn't punch or kick.
He dropped low, gathered all his strength, and launched himself forward with one guaranteed strike. A straight punch, enhanced by every ounce of magic left in his body.
Arlon knew.
He wouldn't be able to dodge.
He wouldn't be able to Blink away in ti.
The force behind that attack was enough to kill him.
It was a finishing blow.
Arlon didn't think. He didn't hesitate.
His hand reached toward his armor—the black and silver Wraithguard Set, enchanted and honed ever since the day he'd claid it in Morealis nearly a year ago.
He had rarely used its active ability.
But now was the ti.
Shadow Shift, he commanded.
And the world around him inverted.
His body beca shadow, formless and untouchable, and the punch passed through harmlessly.
For a mont, he vanished.
Just a flicker of movent. A blur of shadow underfoot.
And then he reappeared.
Right behind Asef.
Void Edge already drawn back, humming with mana.
He thrust forward.
The blade drove cleanly through Asef's back.
A sharp gasp escaped from Asef's mouth as the edge pierced through his ribs and erged from his chest.
His breath caught.
Arlon's expression was cold.
And then, without a word, he wrenched the blade free and blinked backward, creating distance once again just in case Asef tried sothing on his deathbed.
---
Important Announcent!
Hi everyone. We are reaching the end of the novel.
The next chapter will be the final one. I will talk more about the story and what cos next there.
This announcent is about sothing else.
When I started this book, I planned for it to be around 300 to 400 chapters since it was my first ti writing a novel.
And even though it turned out much better than I expected, it still did not fully satisfy .
But do not worry! I learned a lot while working on this story.
So, here is the big announcent!
My second book, I Need to Log In, will be released on May 14!
I promise the story and the flow will be much better this ti. And I will not be limiting it to 300 chapters.
It is not a direct sequel, but it will take place in the sa universe as this one.
I hope you will check it out!
That is all from for now.
Thank you so much for reading!
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