28 - Mind Battle

What could I do? My willpower was being pushed aside by the centuries-old Boss, who was intent on possessing me.

If only I could stop him with a barrier, like in the mortal world.

Wait. Barrier?

Pieces from multiple stories I had read came to mind. Theories about splitting the mind or sealing memories. Could I do something like that with barriers? The Ancient had already made so many different barriers...

I pulled some of the mana from my body into the space of the mind, reinforcing my blockade against the Boss.

"How does a mortal have such control of mana?" his presence demanded.

I slammed him with my memories of the Interplane, wandering from world to world. Anything to distract him and get the edge.

He stopped pushing back for a moment, suddenly attacked by the onslaught of images.

I pushed against the immovable force. How much longer would the ritual take?

The Boss pushed away the memories, and shoved back. We had a reverse tug-of-war going in my brain, and I was losing. I was pushed into the Ancient, and we were being pushed away from controlling my body.

I fought back. I couldn't lose! I had vowed to protect them! Juliana, Silence, Thomas, and Katie. If he possessed me, I wouldn't be able to to talk to Katie. Tell her stories. Tell her how I feel.

For the first time in our push-battle, I gained ground against the Boss.

Suddenly, one last syllable echoed out of my mouth, and the immense presence of the Boss stopped.

It shrank, until it no longer existed. Only one thought remained, *He did it. The mortal held me off. Now I've seen everything.*

My awareness of my surroundings gradually returned. I lay alone, the blade of a broken dueling cane in one bleeding hand and the simple shortsword called the Ancient in my other.

I had no strength to move, and the Ancient retreated, resting himself as well.

"Marcus!" Katie's voice called to me. Heavy footfalls. Slide. Katie's face appeared in my skyward vision. She was crying.

Her blond hair reminded me of an angel. I mustered enough strength to smile. "The Boss is no more."

"You dummy! Why did you risk yourself like that?" She wrapped me in a hug. "I could have lost you."

"I did it for you. I love you, after all."

She only hugged me tighter. "Just don't ever do that again! Because... because... I love you too!"

We laid there for multiple minutes, until I could sit up. Katie let me up, kneeling next to me.

"So, how long?" I asked.

"What?"

"How long have you been waiting for me to say it?"

Katie blushed. "Since we got here, honestly. I think it's really hard not to like you. You're smart, courageous, and honest. What's not to like?"

"You do realize that I'm decades older than you?"

"Just because I don't remember it doesn't mean I wasn't alive during all that. I was simply asleep for those decades."

"What about-"

"Nope." she interrupted, "I've seen a lot of guys. Nobody's perfect, but none of the other guys had imperfections I was willing to put up with."

I blinked. "That's a rather... mature way of thinking about it."

She smiled, getting up. "I'll get the Angel. That shoulder wound looks nasty."

As promised, she got the Angel from within the Temple of Swords. The others, Thomas, Juliana, and the Boss's former host followed her.

As Katie knelt down to heal my shoulder, Juliana spoke.

"I don't know whether to shout at you or congratulate you."

"I already got the yelling part from Katie. So congrats would be welcome."

"What you did was stupid."

"I know. I almost lost."

"Don't do it again."

"I don't intend to."

She smiled. "Congratulations. You killed a nearly-invincible madman."

I smiled back. "Thank you."

The five of us left the Temple to share the good news with the other camp, as well as to reunite with Silence. We arrived at the same time that they were getting ready to leave. Besides a patch of ice that extended farther down than I could see, and the demolished cage, nothing remained. The nearly fifty people, Silence included, were holding all their tents and other supplies.

They looked ragged. Life in the Boss's camp wasn't kind.

I lifted a half of the broken dueling cane to greet them.

"Is that really?" one of them asked.

"Is he under the Boss's control?" another wondered.

"Of course not, he isn't wearing a suit."

"The Boss is dead."

"The Boss is dead!" the shout rang through the clearing.

Celebration spread through the group, leaving the band of fifty-four invigorated.

Silence and I led our new group of survivors to our home camp at the Temple of Swords. Some of them gasped at the sight of the giant building, as we arrived in the clearing.

"Did you build that?" One of the survivors asked Thomas. He had started conversations with many of the refugees during our trip back.

He laughed. "Of course not. That's our handy work, right there," Thomas gestured to the half-built brick shack.

Someone tugged on my sleeve. I glanced in their direction to find a boy, almost in his teens, with brown hair, looking at me with a question in his eyes.

"Do you hear that voice?"

I furrowed my brow in confusion, then I realized. "Is it coming from that building over there?" I asked, gesturing to the stone temple.

He nodded.

That meant...

"How many of you hear voices coming from that building?" I asked the group.

Four raised their hands. The boy was among them.

I exchanged glances with the other four who had their own blades. They knew what that meant.

I turned my attention to the four who had raised their hands. "How many of you would like their own sword?"