Voidflame
The first real swing came without hesitation.
Ether surged, not forcing, but guiding. Wind and fire flowed together, no longer opposing forces but twin blades of the same weapon.
The air ignited.
And when he swung—
The blade erupted— and then failed.
Kai could feel it the moment he swung.
The Ether surged, the fire crackled, the wind howled—but they weren't synchronized.
The fire pulled ahead. The wind resisted.
And the moment the balance shattered, the attack collapsed.
The flames fizzled into nothing.
The strike turned into a normal slash.
Weak. Unfocused. Pointless.
And Vaelin punished him for it.
______
"Too soon."
Vaelin's voice was calm. Dismissive.
"Still incomplete."
His counterattack was instant.
No wasted movement. No hesitation.
His arm lashed out, twisting mid-motion— not into a blade, but into a crushing mass of blackened roots.
A hammer of pure force, aimed straight at Kai's chest.
Kai barely had time to Phase-Step.
But Vaelin had predicted it.
The moment Kai flickered away, Vaelin turned with him.
The roots followed.
And this time, Kai couldn't dodge completely.
CRACK.
Pain exploded through his ribs as the blunt force sent him flying backward.
He skidded across the dirt, boots digging trenches into the battlefield.
His lungs burned. His vision blurred.
Vaelin didn't stop.
He stepped forward, closing the gap.
"I thought you had it," he mused.
The ground beneath him shifted.
The battlefield reacted to his command, the roots beneath Kai's feet twisting and snapping upward.
A cage. A coffin. A grave.
"But you were close."
_____
Kai Swung the blade again. No time to think, he could only react.
It wasn't clean.
It wasn't perfect.
The moment Kai's hands tightened around the hilt of his sword, his body moved on its own. The greatsword came up in a wide arc, lashing forward like a desperate fang snapping shut, carving through the thick of the entangling roots.
And this time, it worked.
The fire didn't resist the wind. It rode it.
The wind didn't suppress the flames. It carried them.
And the Ether—it finally understood its role.
It was never meant to control them.
It was meant to guide them.
The moment the blade met the incoming attack, the world ignited.
The sword tore through the oncoming roots like they were paper.
The flames surged forward, licking across the severed tendrils, burning them before they could regenerate. The Sheer Cutter's razor-thin edge sliced effortlessly through the blackened limbs, the Rift energy snapping through the impact like a second, unseen blade.
Vaelin had barely registered the failed trap when Kai pressed the attack.
The blade came around again, carving into Vaelin's torso, cleaving through his side in a deep, searing gash. The Rift surged through the wound like venom, and this time—it stuck.
Vaelin staggered back.
For the first time since the battle began, his body jerked violently, twisting in unnatural spasms. The fire clung to him, refusing to be shaken off. The Rift energy pulsed through his form, rupturing his frame from the inside out.
His wounds did not heal immediately.
His body wasn't responding the way it should.
For the first time—Vaelin faltered.
_______
Kai's breath came in short, sharp bursts, his grip white-knuckled around the hilt of his weapon. His entire body was screaming, aching, barely holding itself together. His ribs burned from the previous impact, and the sheer force of channeling his Ether this way was leaving his limbs heavy, his vision tunneling at the edges.
But he didn't stop.
He couldn't stop.
The wound he had landed was deep, but not fatal.
Vaelin was still moving.
And he couldn't let that continue.
Vaelin exhaled slowly, and for the first time, the amusement was gone. His lips pressed into a thin line, his gaze flickering downward at his torso, studying the wound Kai had inflicted.
And then, before Kai could react, he reached for the battlefield.
The moment Kai realized what was happening, it was already too late.
The ground shuddered violently.
The battlefield answered its master.
The corpses. The roots. The remnants of every Deathroot that had fallen.
They began to move.
Like carrion being drawn into the maw of a beast, they surged toward Vaelin.
Kai's stomach twisted as he saw what was happening.
Vaelin wasn't healing.
He was consuming.
The moment the wave of blackened, lifeless matter rushed into him, Kai saw the effects immediately.
The deep wound across his torso began to close.
Not entirely.
Not perfectly.
But enough.
The scars from Kai's flames remained, but the flesh knit itself together, the damage undone as Vaelin drained the field dry.
A Deathroot General standing atop a field of fallen soldiers, reclaiming their strength as his own.
Kai gritted his teeth, jaw tightening, eyes flashing with fury.
He couldn't let this continue. The next strike had to end it.
Vaelin rolled his shoulder, exhaling. His stance had stabilized. His presence had hardened once more.
And yet—he wasn't smiling anymore.
He watched Kai carefully, the flickering embers along his arm still glowing, the remnants of fire magic clinging to him in the places he hadn't been able to heal.
For a long moment, he was silent.
Then, softly—"You were close."
Kai's fingers flexed along his sword hilt, his breathing steady.
Then, he grinned.
"Gonna make me do it again, huh?"
Vaelin inclined his head, his voice low, unreadable.
"Yes."
"Fine" Kai Sighed.
_____
Kai was tired.
He let it show.
His breathing was ragged, uneven. His shoulders sagged, his grip on the sword loosening just slightly, as if his strength was beginning to falter.
The battlefield around him was painted in fire and ruin, the air thick with the lingering heat of their battle. His wounds were burning, aching, screaming for him to stop.
And he let all of it show.
Because he wanted Vaelin to believe it.
Vaelin's gaze was unreadable, his movements slow, measured. He wasn't rushing. He wasn't desperate. He had absorbed enough energy to stabilize himself again, but he knew that stability wouldn't last. The flames still clung to him in places where his stolen regeneration had failed, the scars of Kai's previous strikes refusing to fade.
He was still damaged.
He was still vulnerable.
Kai had pushed himself far beyond his limits, had burned through his Ether, had taken strike after strike, had clung to life through nothing but sheer will. His resilience was impressive, but not endless.
The battlefield had been emptied.
The undead hordes that had once filled this space were gone—absorbed into Vaelin's own body, devoured to sustain him.
The only figures left standing were the remnants of Kai's forces, distant silhouettes against the orange haze of dying flames. He caught a glimpse of Sasha, her bow lowered, her expression stunned, a mixture of awe and terror as she watched him fight.
Somewhere further, Darren stood, his arm hanging limp at his side, bloodied but alive.
Even the Deathroot corpses littering the field were no longer whole.
This place had become a graveyard without bodies.
Just ashen bones and smoldering ruin.
And at the center of it—them.
Kai. Vaelin. The final two.
One would walk away.
One would not.
_____
Kai had taken this fight beyond them.
Beyond any of them.
It was him and Vaelin now. One of them would walk away. One of them would not.
He exhaled sharply, letting his grip loosen on the sword just slightly. Vaelin noticed. The Deathroot General's form remained still, his burning, hollow gaze locked onto Kai. He had stabilized himself again, stolen back his footing, but the scars of their battle still remained. The burns refused to fully fade, the seared wounds from the Rift energy still etched into his form. He was still damaged. He was still vulnerable.
But he thought he had time.
That was his mistake.
Vaelin took a step forward, slow, deliberate, towering over Kai's seemingly frail form. There was no need for words. No need for hesitation. In Vaelin's mind this would be the last clash. Kai let himself stagger slightly, tilting forward as if barely holding himself up. He waited. Another step. His vision blurred, his sword dipped lower. Just a little closer. Now.
Ether surged.
Kai moved.
And this time, he didn't Phase-Step away.
_____
The world slowed.
Time stretched, seconds unraveling into eternity as Kai flickered through space—not away from Vaelin, not behind him, but into him. Directly into his side, where the Colossus had left himself open. The battlefield blurred around him, firelight dancing in waves across the scorched remains of the ground, flickering embers drifting in slow motion through the dead air.
Vaelin's eyes widened.
He had expected an escape. Not an attack.
For the first time, he was too slow.
The sword was already swinging.
______
Every ounce of power surged into the strike.
Ether burned hot, fusing into the blade, binding wind and fire together in perfect synchrony. The compressed air sharpened the arc, creating an invisible cutting edge finer than any steel, a force that could split the very fabric of existence. The greatsword, heavy and destructive, became something more than just a weapon—it became the culmination of everything Kai had mastered, every technique, every battle-forged instinct, every drop of willpower he had left.
For the first time, the elements did not struggle for control.
They merged.
The wind did not sharpen separately—it fed the fire, fueling the heat into a cutting wave more refined, more devastating than ever before. The Rift energy did not detonate randomly—it threaded itself into the motion, forming a fracture of reality that did not simply cut through Vaelin's form but tore at his very existence.
For the first time, Kai was not using three separate abilities.
He was creating something entirely new.
"Voidfire Fang." He rasped under his breath.
A technique born from instinct, from battle, from everything he had learned.
This was no longer just Sheer Cutter with the passive fire from the blade. No longer just Rift Palm woven into the slash.
This was destruction given form.
The energy flared, but it did not burn him.
The force surged, but it did not resist him.
The strike became something more.
The sword screamed through the air.
A crescent of raw destruction ignited everything in its wake.
The air howled, parting before the sheer force of the slash.
Flames detonated outward, not as a separate force but as part of the attack itself, woven into the Rift energy that tore through Vaelin's core. The slash too fast to be seen, a black-and-orange arc of annihilation, moving like a whisper of death.
And the blade itself was ready.
The passive effect had reached its peak, the energy building over the course of the fight now primed for release.
The moment the edge struck, it detonated.
A wall of fire exploded outward, searing the air, igniting the battlefield in a final, consuming blaze. Rift energy ruptured into Vaelin's form, tearing apart his core from within, unraveling the very structure that held him together.
And then, before the flames could even settle-
Echo Strike activated.
The second cut followed instantly.
A perfect shadow of the first.
The exact same force, the exact same execution.
A second, identical execution.
The first cut had torn through him. The second cut ended him.
Vaelin lurched.
He didn't stagger back. He didn't counter. He didn't react. Because there was nothing left to react with. His form had been cleaved straight through, split in a perfect diagonal from ribs to shoulder.
Not just his body.
His very essence.
The fire refused to leave him. The Rift refused to let him heal. The wind carried the last pieces of him into the fading twilight.
And at last, Vaelin the Deathroot Colossus fell.
Even as his form crumbled, even as the last remnants of his power faded into the flames, his expression remained serene.
As if he had been waiting for this.
As if he had always known.
His lips parted, his voice low, weak, barely audible beneath the crackling fire.
"Ah… so that's what you were chasing."
His head tilted slightly in understanding, in admiration.
"Beautiful."
Then, the flames devoured the rest.
__________
System Alert: The Final Boss Has Been Slain.Tutorial Complete.
__________
Kai didn't move.
Didn't breathe.
Didn't speak.
The battlefield was silent.
The fire still burned. The embers still glowed. But the fight was over. His grip on the sword finally loosened. His shoulders relaxed.
And for the first time since the fight began, he let out a slow breath.
The exhaustion crashed into him, but even now—he was smiling.
He rolled his neck, wincing at the pain lacing through his body.
Then, quietly—
"Damn right, it was."
________
System Alert
You have slain [Vaelin, the Deathroot Colossus] (Level 50).
You have achieved an Unlikely Victory.
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
Level 34 → Level 38.
Through battle, destruction, and mastery, you have forged something new.Your understanding of Ether, Wind, Rift, and Flame has transcended limitations.No teacher, no system guidance—only instinct, adaptation, and raw will.
New Skill Unlocked: [Voidfire Fang]"A fusion of wind-carved precision, Rift's internal devastation, and flame's consuming destruction. This technique does not cut—it erases. The air ignites in its wake, the strike unseen until it is already over. Wounds inflicted by Voidfire Fang resist healing, searing deeper than flesh, striking at essence itself. An that reduces all it touches to ruin."
The tutorial is complete. The last test has ended.The System has acknowledged your strength. The world will remember this moment.
Your path forward begins now.
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