Chapter 27: An ending to complete the sacrifice.

Chapter 27: Chapter 27: An ending to complete the sacrifice.

Draven watched Greydarn.

There was something important, and it was that preparing different spells required changing the way he moved mana.

Greydarn could do it quickly, but not instantly.

Fire, stone, air, electricity, and ice required a different structure.

The problem was that Greydarn switched between them before Draven could take advantage of it, so he needed to interrupt something.

Then he remembered a conversation with Zenash years ago during one of their training sessions.

She had shown him a demonic technique.

’No.’

He had promised not to use it unless it was necessary, so he looked at Greydarn and then at Taliah.

’I think this counts.’

Taliah attacked again, so Greydarn created a barrier, and when the sword struck the barrier, it held completely.

Greydarn raised a hand, at which Taliah tried to dodge, but a blast of air hit her and sent her flying.

Draven ran toward her.

"Taliah!"

She got up with difficulty.

"I’m fine."

Greydarn walked slowly toward them.

"I must admit something."

Draven raised the daggers.

"What?"

"You’re better than I expected."

Taliah breathed hard.

"What an honor."

Greydarn observed Draven.

"Especially you."

Draven did not respond.

"I know you’re still hiding things."

Greydarn raised his hand and an enormous concentration of mana appeared.

Draven recognized it, not from the game, but from the intent.

’He’s going for me.’

"Taliah, get away."

She looked at him.

"What?"

"Get away!"

Greydarn fired, at which Draven tried to enter a shadow, but he could not, since the light generated by the attack itself had eliminated the nearest shadow.

’Damn...’

He changed direction and the attack did too, since it was following him, so Draven reinforced his legs to run.

The energy approached and he realized he could not avoid it, but then someone pushed him.

"Taliah..."

She placed herself in front and the attack struck her directly, sending her body flying.

Draven saw blood as Taliah fell to the ground and did not move.

For a second, Draven heard nothing.

"Taliah...?"

Greydarn spoke.

"That was unnecessary."

Draven did not respond.

"Taliah!"

He ran toward her.

There was an enormous wound in her torso where the blood was pouring out rapidly and the passive healing tried to act, but it was not enough.

Draven raised his head, seeing that Greydarn was still approaching, but something changed.

Draven stopped thinking about patterns, calculating distances, and thinking about how much mana he had to reserve.

’I’m going to kill him.’

Greydarn raised his hand.

"Let’s finish this."

Suddenly, a hand grabbed Draven’s wrist, and he looked down to see that Taliah had opened her eyes.

"Draven..."

"Don’t talk."

"Still..."

She coughed and blood came from her mouth.

"We can..."

Draven understood and Taliah tried to get up.

"Stay."

"No."

"Taliah."

"I’m not going to leave you alone."

Draven clenched his teeth while Greydarn began to prepare another spell, so Draven decided to use that technique from Zenash.

"I need to touch him."

Taliah breathed with difficulty.

"Then go."

Draven stood up, at which Greydarn launched a discharge, but Draven entered a shadow and appeared to the left.

Another discharge was launched and he disappeared to appear behind Greydarn, who turned, at which Draven changed again.

Each use of the daggers consumed little mana, but after the entire fight, even that little was starting to matter.

Greydarn launched several ice needles, at which Draven disappeared and reappeared closer, so Greydarn smiled.

"You fell for it."

A blast of fire covered everything around, so Draven tried to retreat, but it was not enough, and the fire reached his left arm and he felt pain.

Greydarn used a second technique, making a blade of air pierce the same place, at which Draven saw his arm separate and fall to the ground.

The pain was immediate.

"Draven!"

Taliah tried to move.

Draven clenched his teeth, since he could not stop, so his mana began to concentrate around the wound.

He was not going to regenerate the arm because he could not, but he could reduce the bleeding and he had to maintain enough energy for that.

Greydarn looked at him.

"That must have hurt."

Draven disappeared into a shadow, then another while Greydarn launched fire and Draven changed direction.

In one of those, Greydarn turned thinking he would come from that place, but Draven appeared from behind and with his hand touched his back.

"Sixth demonic path."

Greydarn opened his eyes, since he had been affected by one of the arts belonging to the demonic codex.

Zenash had shown it to Draven years ago, but normally he would not have had enough capacity to use it correctly.

With Oram’s blessing, that changed.

The bond with Zenash allowed him to access certain abilities that would otherwise be too far beyond his natural capabilities.

The technique had a condition.

It could nullify one specific magical ability of the target for fifteen seconds, but only one, and during those same fifteen seconds, the user also could not use that same ability.

But he could not choose to nullify something absurd like "magic"; it had to be specific.

Summoning, fire control, or what Draven did not hesitate to choose.

"Healing."

Greydarn turned.

"What?"

The technique activated.

Draven drove one of the Shadows of the Forgotten into his side and Greydarn launched a blast of air, so Draven disappeared into a shadow.

Greydarn tried to close the wounds, but nothing happened, so he immediately understood what was going on and his expression changed.

"You damn brat!"

Draven appeared behind and Greydarn created a spear of fire, at which Draven disappeared again, not without giving the signal.

"Taliah!"

She was already moving with a little difficulty, but she advanced, so Greydarn raised both hands.

Draven felt the dagger react, since that wound in the side had been draining mana and Greydarn was already on his last reserves.

Draven appeared behind once more, at which Greydarn tried to turn, but it was already too late.

Draven drove the dagger into the back of the head and then pulled it out to drive it in higher.

Greydarn remained motionless and his spell disappeared, since the brain damage had interrupted his capacity to maintain the technique.

The dagger continued absorbing mana, so Draven clenched his teeth and drove it deeper.

"Now...!"

Taliah reached Greydarn, who tried to move a hand, but it did not respond correctly, since his mana was disappearing too quickly.

Taliah held the sword with both hands while Greydarn tried to regenerate, but the sixth path was still active and he could not.

Taliah aimed.

"It’s over."

The sword pierced his chest directly into the heart, at which Greydarn opened his eyes, his body tensed, and then he stopped resisting.

Taliah held the sword inside for a few seconds while Draven did not withdraw the dagger and waited.

’Five, four, three, two, one...’

The technique ended, but for Greydarn it was already too late.

His heart was destroyed and his brain was pierced, in addition to his mana reserve having been reduced to a level that was far too low.

Greydarn fell, so Taliah withdrew the sword and Draven pulled out the dagger, letting the body hit the ground.

For a few moments there was silence, where Draven breathed and looked at the corpse, which did not move.

They had won, they had really beaten the final boss, at which Draven lowered the dagger.

"We did it..."

But then he heard something behind him, which was the sound of a weak groan, so he turned and saw Taliah, who dropped the sword as her legs gave way.

"Taliah!"

She fell and Draven ran toward her.

The victory stopped mattering.