Endgame (ii)

Recap;

"I have no intention of killing or even fighting you" I said as the aether around me fluctuated "But if things have come to it, I won't hesitate to kill those who threaten my family"

3rd person POV:

"Hollow threats are all you're capable of lesser. Hand over yourself now, and your people will still live. I don't know what you did in order to fight against us, but you have no chance of winning. In the end you're just a human. Someone sitting in the bottom of the chain. That's the natural order." Aldir said, trying to make his voice as spiteful as he could.

Arthur scoffed at the words that escaped Aldir's mouth.

"If that's the natural order, then I fear you'll die here. You see" Arthur reached for his secret weapon. "I'm no longer a human."

Arthur's form shimmered as he started to transform. Just like how the asuras were able to take on pure mana fuelled forms, his body started to morph into one.

Black scales as dark as the night sky grew all over his body as two horns sprouted from the side of his head pointing forwards and down to frame his jaw.

"T-th-that is impossible." Aldir managed to say without shivering at the sight in front of him.

"What have you become, Leywin?" Kordri asked as his heart thrummed with excitement.

Arthur didn't reply, the air around him trembled as arcs of black lightning coiled around his whole body, sticking to him like an anaconda while flakes of ice started to fall from the sky and clouds covered the horizon.

The brisk morning wind was replaced with bone chilling wind. Kordri got into stance and Aldir brandished his weapon, its sharp end directed towards Arthur.

Arthur conjured huge tornadoes and directed them towards Kordri while he himself burst stepped towards Aldir. Their weapons clashed as they sent tremors across the city. The building shook heavily from the mere clash of swords. The deafening sound of swords clashing made people watching over the spectacle cover their ears. Sparks flew everywhere as they exchanged a thousand strikes in a matter of a few seconds.

Kordri, who was trapped between the tornadoes, hurled his hand backwards as veins popped at his biceps. He punched the empty air and the mere force of that punch created ripples in air molecules and cancelled out the tornadoes.

He dashed towards Arthur who was currently engaged with Aldir. Arthur delivered a slash as his sword formed an arc from above his head. Aldir brought up Silverlight to block the incoming attack.

The split second when the sword was about to make contact, Arthur dispelled his sword for a fraction as he manifested it right after he passed his weapon, manifesting it again and threw a stab at him. Just as the tip of the sword pierced Aldir's chest Kordri appeared, his mana signature completely concealed and he punched Arthur in his solar plexus causing the air to knock out of his lungs.

Arthur flew a few yards back as he fell to the ground with a loud boom.

"I don't have any other choice." Arthur sent telepathically to Regis.

"No you can't. You atleast need 5 layers of aether. You're still at 4, and 5 is a minimum. We don't know what will happen." Regis said as his voice quivered in realisation of what Arthur was about to do.

"Don't worry, I'll manage. Kill Windsom and go back to Caera." Arthur sent back to Regis as he started his aether art.

"How am I supposed to face her or even talk to her when you're doing this? If your aether core cracks it'll kill you instantly." Regis said with genuine concern and panic in his voice.

"Thanks for worrying about me buddy, but I have to do it." Arthur said. Regis tried to retort but pushed the thought to the back of his head knowing that if he had made his mind nothing or no one could change it. He lunged the sword in Windsom's heart and severed his head. After that he flew with a boom as he went back to where everyone was.

*huuuuuufffffff*

Arthur took a deep breath as his body and the air around the 3 of them started to warp. Aldir and Kordri looked around, totally oblivious to what he was doing. But they both knew that whatever he was doing would be the death of both of them.

Aldir's form enlarged as the purple eye on his forehead began to shine vibrantly. The mana around the whole area started to compress under immense pressure of Aldir's ultimate technique and was ready to set off a chain reaction. Just as the first mana particle exploded Arthur completed his preparation and all 3 of them arrived in a separate space.

Aldir felt the effects of World Eater vanish, as there was no atmospheric mana in that space. The space between Arthur's scales shone a radiant golden as he looked down to the two figures.

"The only mana you have will be what you have in your cores. Now," Arthur said as his fist got coalesced with aether. "Let's end our fight."

Arthur said as he disappeared and then reappeared in an instant behind them before they could even blink. Aldir ducked to the right while Kordri dodged the attack by lowering his head and immediately followed by a punch.

*boom*

An explosion resounded in space as Kordri's eyes widened. Just as his fist was about to make a collision with his gut a purple sheet made of pure aether appeared between them turning his hand into a bloody mess. He shook his hand and backed away. He eyed Arthur with an expression of admiration and fear, but even more with excitement.

"This is my domain. Everything that manifests is a result of my wish or desire." Arthur said smugly as ambient aether around him danced at his fingertips.

"Such a misleading world. If it wasn't a battlefield I might've been tempted to live here and live a life where I didn't have any regrets." Kordri said, his eyes turning soft.

"There's still time. I know what kind of genocidal maniac kezzes is. And I know both you and Aldir don't want to be ruled by him. Join me Kordri. So you can redeem yourself for the atrocities you committed, just to please the man to whom your loyalty matters nothing." Arthur said as he lowered his sword.

Aldir looked at Kordri waiting for him to respond.

"I have a condition." Kordri said as he eyed Arthur.

"Name it."

"Fight me without holding back. Just me." Kordri said, his hazel eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Pfft, ahahaha" Arthur let out a hearty laugh as he wiped a tear from the corner of his eyes.

"Expected nothing else from you." Arthur said smiling but soon his expression changed, resembling a hungry monster, "If that's what you want, I'll gladly give it to you."

Aldir stepped to a side, withdrawing Silverlight, pulling the strings from his shadows. Arthur and Kordri went 15 metres away from each other. Arthur let his arms dangle to the side, slightly shaking them as he eyed Kordri. Kordri got into a low stance as he prepared himself.

With a curt nod they readied themselves as mana danced around them. Augmenting their bodies they leapt towards each other as they started to exchange a flurry of attacks. Punches, jabs, kicks. Everything was delivered. While Kordri paled in comparison to Arthur when he's using aether, it's a different story when they're using mana and hand to hand combat. Kordri had devoted more than an average human's lifetime worth of time honing his skills.

While Arthur may be the better swordsman but Kordri exceeded him in hand to hand combat. They danced along the field as huge booms resounded in the sky. If it wasn't for the craters created every time they clashed, one might've mistaken them to be engaged in an elegant dance. Minimal Movements and Maximum Destructive Damage. That was what Theystes Clan mana arts were based on.

However Arthur showed similar movements as Kordri. The advantage he thought he had vanished as Arthur pushed started to push him. More of his punches connected as Kordri started to bleed internally from Arthur's punches. Blood seeped through his pores as Arthur didn't stop his onslaught of attacks.

At this point he could die. But Arthur didn't stop. Afterall, if he stopped it would've been a disrespect to him. They would fight until either of them died or yielded.

Kordri willed the last bit of his mana that he had in his body as he arrived in front of Arthur, his hand shaking from the sheer amount of mana he had willed into that one last punch. He punched Arthur, but the footing Kordri had disappeared like it was never there as he saw a smirk on Arthur's face.

"Looks like you've forgotten you're still inside my domain." Arthur said with a sneer.

The next moment he bashed his head I'm Kordri's face making him recoil, followed by multiple punches straight to the face all the while dodging Kordri's feeble attempts to defend himself. With one last kick to the side of head Kordri was sent flying as he crashed into the ground.

Aldir's eyes widened as he quickly flew towards where he had crashed. Blood seeping from multiple wounds as his face was totally mangled from the headbutt he had delivered.

The domain got cancelled as Arthur stumbled and fell on his butt. His breathing ragged as 2 trails of blood were formed from his eyes due to over-exerting his aether core. Aldir left Kordri as he went towards Arthur. Arthur was in no condition to fight. He could've defeated them both without the domain but he needed to prove his worth.

Aldir came even more close, his weapon in his hand.

"You fought well, Leywin. Better than we ever could." He said as he raised his weapon.

"Damn it, I don't have any aether or mana left. Will I fail again.?" Arthur thought as multiple emotions flooded his mind.

*stab*

The sound of metal resounded as Arthur looked down. Aldir had stabbed his Silverlight, which was a rapier to the ground, a few centimetres away from Arthur's leg.

"As you said, we don't like the way Kezzes rules and uses us as disposable pawns. It's pathetic. So let us join you." Aldir said taking a knee "you're more than worthy to place our trust in."

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief as he placed his hand over Aldir's shoulder.

"I'm glad you understood. Now let's patch him up." Arthur gestured towards Kordri who was already recovering since he had access to ambient mana, because he was outside his domain.

Aldir stood up and went towards his brother as Arthur started to replenish his mana and aether cores. With sufficient amount in his core he scanned his surroundings.

The asuras sent as backup were already retreating. Some from the prospect of a lesser capable of defeating strongest asuras and some due to the fact that Aldir, holder of the current world eater technique has sided with lessers.

Whatever the reasons were, they all had two things in common, "Fear and Anger." The battle Arthur fought wasn't only fought with the purpose of taking Aldir and Kordri to his side. But it was to show the asuras that they shouldn't act so arrogantly and recklessly against him.

Just as Arthur stood up he saw multiple people rushing towards them. The lances, seris and caera who was seated upon Sylvie. They descended and got into a fighting stance around the two asuras.

"Hey guys don't worry. They're on our side." Arthur said

"Weren't you just fighting them?" Cecelia asked, already forcefully drawing a minuscule amount of mana from the asura's core making their eyes widen.

"I'll explain later. Rest assured they're on our side."

The pressure radiating from her was dispelled. Caera shot up from above Sylvie as she tackled Arthur to the ground. Arthur conjured a wind spell not letting both of them fall as he slowly stood up with caera in tow due to wind.

"Why do you keep doing that,?" Caera manager to say between sniffs.

He just patted her head, remaining totally silent.

"Ehmmm." Regis interrupted, his face covered with blood and his clothes in tatters. "Sorry to ruin your moment, but what to do with this?" He asked as he casually tossed Windsom's head towards Nico.

Nico caught it and stood silent for a few seconds as he tried to understand what exactly he had grabbed. His eyes widened and nose wrinkled as he realised what he was grabbing on to. He let out a scream as he tossed the head back to Regis.

"What a scaredy-cat." Regis scoffed.

"Don't toss that like it's some sort of ball." Nico yelled.

Regis rolled his eyes as he stored it in his aether fuelled ring.

"Send that to Kezzes." Arthur replied, peeling himself off from Caera.

"Oho, is it what I think it is?" Regis said his lips curled into a smirk.

"Exactly." He replied.

"And what would that be.?" Kordri asked, now fully healed as he approached the group.

"What else? A Declaration of War" Arthur replied with a smug expression as everyone gasped at what he just said.

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(A/n I'm so beat rn that I can die. Anyways I hope you enjoy the chapter and I'll ya'all next time. Until then, happy reading and stay blessed.)

Whooper signing out,

SAYONARA