Dueling the General (2/2)

The moment the death energy seeps into Kaalhyme, Kaalhyme feels his powers grow and his will sharpen. Everything slows down for the old general as if his reaction times are brought to an entirely different level. His next attack is twice as ferocious as the last.

Without even missing a beat, Kaalhyme ducks below Haalfrin's next strike, and he thrusts his spear forward. As the general thrusts the spear forward, Haalfrin barely manages to step back just in time to not get impaled.

Kaalhyme stepped forward, not giving Haalfrin any room to do anything. He then swings his spear upward with such newfound force that Haalfrin's new sword he had taken from the sword mage's corpse is broken near the hilt, where Haalfrin batted the spear aside.

The general steps forward and thrusts his spear again. Haalfrin is backed against a wall now, and he has nowhere to evade. So, Haalfrin jumps up on his one good leg to avoid having his heart stabbed (If he had ducked down, his head would have been hit instead).

The spear goes straight through Haalfrin's gut – the spearhead only stopping at the two wings beside the blade. Otherwise, the entire shaft might have run through the man.

Then, before Haalfrin's own eyes, he sees Kaalhyme start glowing… though nothing else happens.

New mages usually fall unconscious when they open their first gate. You'd think Kaalhyme would've fallen unconscious in the middle of the battle as he opens another gate..., but this doesn't happen to him.

After all, when you get a magic teacher, one of the first things they teach you is how to hold off on opening your gate, so you don't drop unconscious at a crucial time.

Haalfrin gasps in pain and blood gushes out of his mouth. He looks at the hard look in the general's eyes and feels a strange type of admiration for the man.

The wounded mage smiles and curses aloud, "Sh*t."

Then, he finishes the rest of his thought in his head 'My Death energy stimulated his soul and helped the man open up another gate? Did I literally just make this man stronger?'

He then remembers that his Aura specifically instills his opponents with a sense of Death. When faced with death, not everyone wilts and cries in fear. Some people only get stronger.

'Ha… haha…,' Haalfrin laughs in his head, 'This man's… pretty brave, huh?'

Feeling that he's about to die, Haalfrin relaxes all his muscles and lets out a breath. Seeing that the peaceful look on Haalfrin's face, Kaalhyme feels a little pity as he tells Haalfrin, "Tell me your name, so I can bury you properly."

A few tears run down Haalfrin's cheeks. He had spent many decades not even respecting himself, as he lay his decaying bones on a bed, unable to even sh*t by himself. Yet now, he's being respectfully offered a proper burial by his enemy.

"Ha… Haha," the dying soldier croaks, "Well, my name was Haalfrin."

Maybe it's because Haalfrin knows that he'll be remembered by someone in this life and that there will be someone to bury him once it's all done. Maybe this will explain the peaceful feeling in his heart.

'Yes,' Haalfrin thinks, 'I'm glad I at least got to fulfill my dream before I died...' Thinking this, Haalfrin feels his soul stirring as another Name lights up in his soul.

"W-why...?" Haalfrin coughs as blood dribbles out his mouth.

"Just because" Kaalhyme replies while occasionally glancing over the battlefield still in view below.

In the general's mind, he and Haalfrin are both soldiers. Killing the enemy is merely their job, so there's no need to make things personal by holding grudges.

"Anyway, tell my friends hi on the other side. Offer them a drink sometime in Freyya's basement," Kaalhyme says in a low voice as he raises his spear for the final strike.

"T-thank you..." Haalfrin genuinely comes to admire this man from the north… and seeing the pure look in Kaalhyme's eyes makes Haalfrin feel ashamed of himself. Kaalhyme just lost his friends outside, yet he put his honor and his people over his feelings. Kaalhyme is a much better man than himself.

'Me, on the other hand,' Haalrin quickly thinks as he feels another state of Enlightenment come over him,'"I've been using my comrades as a crutch all my life… and this made me weak. I felt like I was never complete unless I had clansmen or comrades to cheer me on and tell me I was useful – that my existence was necessary. I couldn't even FUNCTION without my life revolving around them.'

As Haalfrin feels his consciousness fade, he looks at Kaalhyme and thinks dully, 'This man in front of me… he has a similar heart… he's like me… I can feel it…'

Haalfrin gives an ironic smile. 'So long as I can find enemies like this, I'll never be lonely again... or rather, so long as I'm true to my heart, I'll never be truly alone, for the dead and the living will be there to accompany me.'

Haalfrin then looks up with desire in his eyes. 'To be given such respect by my enemy... I have to return it! I have to go out swinging my broken sword, at least!'

The mortally injured Haalfrin swings his sword with all his might with his one good arm at the general's head. There's desperate strength behind it, and the general jumps away – not expecting a sudden attack.

As the general jumps back, he attempts to yank his spear out of Haalfrin's torso… but Haalfrin had already locked the spear in a tight grip by wrapping his broken arm around the shaft and wedging it between his elbow and wrist.

Mages with reinforced strength may be a lot stronger than normal men, but they still weigh the same. With the force of the spear being yanked back, Haalfrin is lifted up along with it. On top of that, Haalfrin lightly taps his feet to get in the air.

After he uses Kaalhyme's own backward pull to give himself forward momentum, Haalfrin tightens his grip on the spear and shatters it in half…. But, his momentum still carries him toward the general's face.

Since this all happened in a split second, the general's eye is directly impaled by Haalfrin's broken sword – the eye being the place hardest to toughen with reinforcement spells. Haalfrin is still carried forward, and he falls on top of Kaalhyme's now limp body.

The victorious mage looks over with bleary vision and sees some of the common soldiers on standby – still too frozen by Haalfrin's Death Aura to do anything, but unwilling to completely abandon their general.

So, they had watched the entire duel, and their faces all grow horrified once they see their beloved general fall.

Feeling insulted for Kaalhyme, Haalfrin turns to them and spits out in rage, "Bloody cowards! You wouldn't even protect your general! What? Look at me! I'm almost dead! I can't even move, so now's your chance! At least avenge your general!"

Despite Haalfrin's immobility, his aura of death spreads out thicker than ever and completely chokes out the men.

Overwhelmed by unprecedented fear, they turned and flee.

Haalfrin didn't intend to scare them off, but they made him so angry that his killing intent rose unconsciously.

Feeling frustrated, Haalfrin just flops over and lay beside Kaalhyme. He turns his head weakly to Kaalhyme's corpse and mutters, "You deserved better, brother. No matter. Tomorrow we'll be Freyya's soldiers. See you next time."

The man can't take it anymore, and he blacks out completely in a pool of his own blood.