One swing

'I'm trembling...' Keita thought, looking at his own hand in astonishment.

He came here prepared to die but actually doing so took a lot more resolve than he thought. The moment he saw the face of his comrades, he hesitated. Sacrificing himself was easy enough. Knowing that his death would mean the death of his comrades was not so.

The Death Knight growled like a mutt prepared to attack. Keita lowered his stance, prepared to dodge any attack coming his way. He made sure his Skills were still active and prepared himself. The Undead came charging, with a speed that did not match it's humongous body. It had a crude fighting style to say the least. It swung it's blade diagonally, trying to cleave Keita in half. He crouched down and avoided the blade, preparing to make a counter attack but the Death Knight's attack wasn't over. It kicked towards Keita with it's skeletal foot.

"Heaven's Path: Statue!" Keita howled and blocked the kick with his weapon.

He was pushed a dozen steps back but he was unharmed thanks to the Skill. He really was like a statue. Even though he stopped sliding, his form hasn't changed at all. He was still holding his katana in front of him, as if he was frozen in time.

Keita let out a long sigh. 'That was dangerous...' he thought shivering. He checked behind him.

Nao was sitting on the ground. His breathing was ragged and his eyes blurry. The damage that he received instead of Koba was considerable. If it was anyone but him they would have been most likely dead. Koba was meditating at the moment and so was Lia, in an attempt to recover mana even a moment sooner. Reika and Anne, were watching over them, just in case any new enemies showed up, stealing glances his way.

'It shouldn't be too long now.' he thought with optimism.

The Death Knight was already charging at him. It really was relentless. Keita made his decision. Even if Nao could join the battle, as things stood now, he wouldn't make a difference. He had to cripple the Undead before that. He lowered his stance and took a long breath, putting the back of his sword on his arm. He was going to gamble everything in this one swing, in this attack. The Death Knight was getting closer but Keita did not move. He closed his eyes. His breathing was calm and he could hear the Undead's feet stomping the ground. The moment the Death Knight entered his range, he opened his eyes and disappeared, leaving only a white trail behind him. He appeared behind it, a moment later. The white magic power, surrounding his blade flickered before the light died.

Keita raised his head and looked behind him. The Death Knight was frozen, staring the place where Keita used to be. It finally turned it's head and prepared to charge but it couldn't. It's right leg fell the moment it tried to move it and it's whole body came crushing down.

Keita was drenched in sweat. He deactivated Haste so he won't pass out. That last attack almost completely depleted his magic power. Taking the Death Knight's leg was the best he could do. Now all that was left was to wait until Nao was healed and resume the attack. The Death Knight, pushed the ground with it's hands and stood up, using it's sword as a crouch. Now that it's mobility was gone, it was going to be easy to avoid it, even without his Skills. Just as he was beginning to feel the joy of his impending victory, there was a burning sensation on his foot.

* * *

"Truly intriguing." Morran, the Elder Lich talked to himself. He was sitting on a tree branch, looking through some fancy binoculars with a golden pattern. His legs were moving back and forth, like a kids.

"He obviously has battle experience unfitting for his young age but at the same time it feels like he was never taught how to properly fight. He keeps attacking like he doesn't have to worry for what comes next, instead of chaining his attacks. As if he can end everything in one swing of the blade. Is he overestimating himself too much or-" a sound, stopped him from continuing what seemed like ranting.

"Yes, of course. I know. It doesn't matter. But I really do believe he is intriguing. Of course, I won't hesitate. If he isn't the one you are looking for, I will kill him without a thought. Ah... He did it again. I really don't understand the man. What? Ah, yes. He used all his mana just to cut off a Death Knight's leg. Of course I do! I'm not some second rate necromancer. He must be consumed by the enemy in front of him. Of course, he is completely surrounded. My Undead are waiting for them to be completely out of energy. Yes, I won't make the same mistake. I'll send them in waves instead of all at once this time. Until they used their last drop of mana. It would be easier for you as well if they are in such a state, correct?" Morran said, seemingly conversing with something only he could hear.

"He isn't doing badly. For someone with no Skills that is. He completely saw through the Death Knight's orders. It won't attack his merry friends as long as they don't fight. We don't want them dying on us now, do w-" another sound, like the an incoherent language stopped him.

"I understand. I guess I played around too much. There is no point continuing this anyway." Morran started to chant a spell.

"Dragon Lighting!"

***

Keita's leg was pierced by a lighting attack. He fell to the ground, screaming and turning.

'Where the hell-' he thought.

"Sorry to intrude but we have to wrap this up." Morran entered from the dark portal. "Playtime is over." with a wave of his hand the Death Knight's leg and fingers flew towards it and reconnected.

"What-" Keita was stumped. All his and the parties efforts amounted to only this? Something that can be undone with a simple wave of the hand?

"You know..." the Elder Lich scratched the behind of his head. "I did tell you that I was leaving but you really dropped your guard. Were you so eager to believe me?" he said with his eerie voice.

"Everyone..." Keita said. It was difficult for him to say the words but as the leader he had the responsibility to do so. "Run! Leave the rest of us behind, and run as fast as you can!" he shouted. As long as even one person made it out, that would be fine. He was going to struggle to the end to make enough time for at least one person to live. So what if one of his legs was useless? He was going to crawl and bite and tear until his last breath.

"So you really, haven't noticed... I am afraid, you are completely surrounded, Keita Raigon. You have nowhere to run." Morran said.

Everyone thought the same thing at that time. This is the place they were going to die. It is all over. Just as their minds turned to despair, a pillar of fire appeared in the distance. It looked the similar as the Spell Lia used but at the same time it was completely different. The size was three to four times bigger than Lia's and even though it was at least 300 meters away, the scorching heat could be felt all the way here. There was only one Human mage that could produce such outstanding Fire Spells. The Quad Mage, Jona. Rumored to be the strongest Human mage alive.