"АААААААААНННННННННН!"
Emir cried out in agony as blood sprayed from the grievous wound.
"...Deserved I'd say. You look down on people too much—"
"АААААААААНННННННННН!"
"Does it hurt that much? You should be used to this... you were tortured-"
"АААААААААНННННННННН!"
"SHUT UP! STOP FUCKING SCREAMING!"
"AAHHH.... Uhhh, alright."
Sigh...
"But still... it hurts a lot, you know. Even though I'm used to it. Though I guess there's a first ti for everything."
Alex dumbfoundedly stared at Emir, his mouth agape.
"... You, you're not scared? I'll kill you, you know?"
Emir's twin swords hovered before his head as if saying hi to their owner, whom they were about to kill.
"Well, I don't know, to be honest..."
"I just can't believe it."
"...I always won, against all odds, with plans in mind that had always worked."
Emir scoffed.
"I guess it just didn't this ti..."
Alex's confusion continued.
"Seriously?"
After a slow nod, Emir confird:
"Yeah, though it's sad..."
"I'll die at the hands of an unnad character, soone absolutely worthless."
But that wasn't the truth.
Throughout the fight, hidden from Alex's view, Emir had been secretly crafting a multitude of Aether constructs in the form of swords, like gleaming phantoms, forming them above the battlefield.
The entire confrontation had been a cunning ruse, designed to buy him the ti he needed to prepare this formidable arsenal.
Emir had forged them with every ounce of his Aether, waiting for the right mont to reveal his secret.
"? A worthless unnad character? You dare?!"
"Cat got your tongue or sothing?"
"No, Alex..."
"Yes? Your last words?"
"Not that, I just want you to look up."
"What do you-"
"GATES OF ETERNITY!"
With Emir's roar, the battlefield was transford into a spectacle of Aetheric blades.
They were all summoned with a forceful command as they descended upon Alex like a relentless storm...
An army of shimring blades.
"DAMN YOU!"
Alex, caught off guard by the sudden attack, attempted to kill the source, but Emir's blades t others, blocking the attack from going through.
Now that he didn't have enough ti to attack, Alex focused on his defense instead.
With his telekinetic prowess, he deflected and blocked the tens of the blades coming for his head.
So ca to his back, others to his front, his right, and left. And many more shot from above.
But Alex's defenses proved insurmountable.
A fortress of rock and augnted suits, which allowed nothing to reach him.
Yet, as the blizzard of swords continued to rain down, one remained concealed.
Another card that Emir housed.
"YOU'VE GOT NOTHING ON !"
Just as Alex thought he had thwarted Emir's last-ditch effort, a single sword materialized right before him.
In that fraction of a mont, it beca a blade of reckoning.
With a precise motion, the blade cut through Alex, cleaving him in two.
"AUGHHHHH!"
Crash!
Bang!
Rumble! Rumble!
Alex's floating weapons began to fall to the ground all around them.
And soon, the battlefield fell into a sinister hush as the dust and debris slowly settled.
Emir then gradually felt his control over the augnted suit return as he too fell to the
ground.
A sigh echoed in the aftermath.
"...I did it."
"I actually won...."
After a mont's rest, a smiling but wobbly prince stood back up.
He checked his pockets, and swallowed so old-world dicine, hoping to stave off the
pain.
"Heh..."
Yet it felt like almost nothing changed.
However... it was sothing he expected.
After all, Emir's arm was now severed, he wasn't only covered in dirt and blood like usual.
His remaining hand trembled with effort and pain, yet his eyes didn't show anything but a
fiery glean.
Across the field, Alex's fate was far more grueso.
His upper body lay separated from his lower half.
His uniform, once regal, was now stained with a grotesque scene of crimson.
Alex's face bore a twisted grin, and his countenance had turned pale.
His once-confident eyes, which had taunted Emir throughout the battle, stared at the
darkened sky above.
Cough! Cough!
".....Hey, I'm still alive, you know... my suit's doing wonders right now."
Alex spoke, his voice raspy, dizzy, and confused.
Emir remained silent, simply staring at what remained of Alex.
Cough! Cough! Cough! Cough!
"Ahhh, stop coughing, ya fuck!"
"...Whaaat? Then why don't you kill ?"
"...Even though I look like this, I can still attack you, you know?"
Cough-
"Shut up; we both know that you won't."
Emir snickered.
"You're not strong enough to kill , and besides, you ca here to control , maybe even
force into your fold, not to kill ..."
"You just got too excited at the end."
""
After a mont of silence, Alex's coughing fit returned, which stopped after an 'eternity' of
struggle.
"...So you're making excuses for now?"
Emir shrugged his shoulders.
"Whatever. I've got a question for you. Stay alive till then."
Cough! Cough! Cough!
"...Go ahead."
"How did you figure out?"
Cough! Cough! "...Oh, quite simple, really.... I used our network to find out any inconsistencies and or special
circumstances..."
"The usual."
Alex scoffed or rather coughed at Emir's comnt, and continued:
"After finding one out, I only needed to raid your sector, and yeah... the rest was history."
Emir nodded, understanding his words in an instant.
'So he was after the breach back when I was five....'
'He even ca to the convoy to watch over .'
"Your n?"
Cough! Cough! Cough!
"...Rattlers Group."
"I see," he mumbled.
Emir's face presented extre happiness at the news that he didn't need to waste ti
cleaning up another hunter group.
"Why send an assassin after ?"
"I wanted to-"
Cough! Cough! Cough! Cough!
Emir let out a sigh and fished out so old-world dicine from his pockets.
After shoving them down Alex's throat, a few seconds passed and the man finally stopped his
constant fits.
"It'll work its magic; c'mon, speak."
Ignoring Emir's urging, Alex spoke slowly, his every word an inward tussle:
"I wanted to test if you were really the Order's chosen or not."
"...That makes sense, but why act now?"
"I knew you were up to sothing-a counterattack against the Elite-"
"So you ca along, and it only confird your suspicions." Emir guessed the obvious.
"Exactly... so I acted. I knew way back then. The... the mont
knew... I knew that you were sothing special, and this..."
"It only proved it."
Emir sneered.
I t you in that convoy, I
"So you're happy to be proven right? Even if you're about to die?"
Alex would've nodded his head if he could, but now he could only speak.
"Yes, a man that dies with pride is a happy man..."
Emir shrugged his shoulders.
"Is that why you lied?"
"To who? I lied to many."
"That's exactly what I ant... Why did you lie to everyone about ?"
"Why tell them about the Old World Network but not this?"
The Spell Weaver closed his eyes, which were twitching, his state appearing to enter its final
monts.
"...I wanted the credit. All of it."
Alex coughed out a chuckle.
"What? I was greedy, there's nothing wrong with that. Or did you expect so sort of noble
cause?"
He took Emir's silence as an answer and continued:
"No then? Well, that was your 'role' in the first place, but it looks like you won't be playing
it."
A long sigh escaped Emir's lips.
"Alex, I'm done... You got any last words?"
"How the turn tables..."
"That-"
"I know, I know, it's just a dumb joke."
||||
Emir stared blankly at the grinning Alex.
"So?"
"Well, no... but I've got a question I want to ask."
"Go ahead." "Do you think you're a good man?"
Emir's brow quirked as he replied:
"Not really... but are you... A good man?"
"Yes... I think so."
"..."
"Then, Emir... are you corrupt?"
"Oh, yes... Are you?" "Mm-hmm..."
"...But what brought up that question?"
Emir waited for an answer, but it never ca.
He looked to his right and finally noticed that Alex had long since passed.
His face no longer sported a grin, but a... smile.
That of a fulfilled man, as if he had done his life's purpose.
Alex... he who once was an acquaintance, a montary comrade, a formidable adversary, now
lay dead.
No more than a lifeless, broken corpse.
His blood painted the ground red.
The upper half of his body, especially his face, bore the signs of relief, while his lower body
twitched feebly, like a lizard's lone tail. 'Aether is probably recking his body right now...'
It was a grueso sight, one that would haunt the mories of anyone who witnessed it.
But that didn't affect him in the slightest, in fact, he almost felt pity, for he knew the journey
of this man's head wouldn't be pretty.
Anyone else in his position would've hated Alex to the core, after all, he killed and most probably tortured those he held hostage, using them for information.
Kiera and the other five he dove with might've died as well, ruining his plans that involved
them.
Simply said, It was bad, really bad. Yet Emir was indifferent. He only took that as a possible
fact and moved on.
He let out a chuckle and stood up, balancing himself as he did so.
Still not used to having a single arm.
Emir stepped closer to the chilling aftermath.
He then raised his left, which now wielded his betrayer of a sword, and swung down, cutting
Alex's head off.
Thud!
"...Rest in peace... my 'good' friend."
Emir's gaze never left Alex's dismbered form.
He who had stayed his cards until the right and final mont had won.
An undeniable victory.
However, the cost of his triumph was etched across his body.
A hulking toll, that left him maid and bloodied. Emir knew that he needed to regroup with Lyra but for a mont...
He simply stood there.
With a heavy heart.
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