Amidst the cloud of dust from his powerful move, Sylvester watched as Zama'tar's body started to turn into dust. He knelt down quickly and tried to interrogate the creature, hoping to know more.
"Who gave you this pendant? How do you know my full name?" Sylvester questioned with a sharp glow of fierce fury and confusion in his eyes. "Speak—It's useless to talk in riddles."
The skeleton face of the Demon kept the smile as it was, "They can hear us… Human… They hear everything."
Sylvester's heart nearly skipped a beat, and he looked up toward the sky, "Not me… Someone sacrificed themselves for my protection. Tell me, what is your world called? How do I get there? Is Diana there?"
"What you want me to speak; is reachable as long as you seek—Do not be a fool... do not waste this chance to rule," Zama'tar exhaled and finished his last words as he completely dusted away with countless cracks all over him.
Sylvester realised something then, just as the dust was settling, "You! For how long have you Demons invaded this world just to reach me? Did you kill the dragon to assist me?"
Sadly, the Demon was gone, and there was no way to get answers anymore. Only the little pendant that was the Demon's key rested in his hand, but he knew it needed to be destroyed as well, to fully free Zama'tar from the shackles that held his soul.
Crush!
He clenched his palm and made some fire inside, burning and melting away the pendant. He failed to notice when the dust swept away, and Rathagun began approaching him. All he could think about were questions, countless and each more grave than the other. The slight possibility that Diana could be there made his breath ragged and his heart pound heavily. He wanted to go there right away but didn't know how to.
"Sylvester! Where is the Demon?" Rathagun's voice echoed behind him.
But Sylvester only came out of the daze when the elven king tapped his shoulder.
Sylvester shook his head and stood up, turning to look at the man. He brought his mind back to focus and asserted the situation. "Yes… The Demon is dead. I was able to destroy the key. Divider Swamp is free from the dark forces now… I believe the Merkins will be able to return to their habitats soon."
"What happened to you? You seem strange." Rathagun asked, having noticed a slight change in Sylvester.
'It's useless to share these things with anyone right now. I need to confirm my doubts about the demon world myself before spreading the word,' Sylvester made up his mind and smiled rather forcibly.
"Nothing, just wondered why and who sent the Demon here—We seem to have enemies that we aren't even aware of. If the demon realm is as advanced and massive as Zama'tar said, I fear it will pose a challenge in the future," Sylvester gave a redacted version of his thoughts and picked up his spear from the ground.
Woosh!
He swung the spear with one hand so fast that a humongous tornado formed, sucking all the dust and piling it under him. Eventually, he began to notice the destruction he had caused with Piercing Hell's move.
He found himself inside a gigantic crater, even larger than the Divider Swamp. This meant the swamp didn't exist anymore, nor did the walls around it. The entire region had turned into a massive crater with sloping walls at the edges.
Rathagun sighed, knowing if such an attack had fallen over Alfia, his kingdom would have vanished. "W-We won, Sylvester."
"Not yet," Sylvester refuted and looked at the far edge toward the rising slopes of the crater. He noticed two men sliding down and coming towards him. They were easily recognised to be Bloodrain and Soulbreaker.
At the same time, on the other side, Sylvester saw a few elves appearing, all clad in armour and their blades unsheathed. There were ten of them, and he easily recognised them from the Elder Council.
"The Demon is dead!" Sylvester bellowed before the new arrivals could come close. His purpose was to make sure they heard him. "But this peace we have earned won't last for long. For the elves still wish to enslave my people—Deplorable, but not something I didn't expect. So hear me, King of Elves! I challenge you to a duel since only the two of us remain at the peak—the victor shall be the ruler of all, the spearhead that shall guide our civilisations as a just ruler."
"May the Holy Light bless us!" Bloodrain reached them and prayed for Sylvester's victory right away; the bleeding eye sockets on his visor clearly showed how deep his belief went.
Soulbreaker wasn't far behind, either. "Only His Holiness can guide our world to a better future. Accept your fate, elf—don't be the healthy mind's disgusting tumour."
"..."
Sylvester wasn't expecting that sort of insult, but he welcomed them as the Elder Council of the elves were agitated by those words.
Ellitran, the king's father-in-law, scoffed and raised his spear toward Soulbreaker, "Hold your tongue, human. A mere Supreme Wizard who was born yesterday cannot win against the strongest bloodline of the elves—King Rathagun will quash your foolish Pope and rule your lands. Your kind are only worthy of being our good servants—nothing more, nothing less."
Sylvester sneered, finding some genuine hatred for the elven man, "And that's exactly why there can't be peace unless I step on your head… I don't speak of all the elves, but only you, Elder Ellitran—Alfia may have ten problems, and I have no doubt you are the reason for nine of them."
"Indeed… I mean, how dare you!" First Elder, Rathagun's loyalist, Florian, shouted out of instinct but changed his mind midway.
"No good comes out of violence," the legendary eleven General, now a retired elder, Zelphar, suggested. "I have seen countless young elves die for nothing—Let us discuss the matter of slavery and find a solution."
Out of ten, almost half of the elders nodded at Zelphar's words. After seeing the destruction their battle had caused, the elders couldn't help but accept reality. There was nothing good in getting the two monsters to fight anymore.
"NO!" However, not all of them thought that, as Ellitran still firmly believed in the superiority of rank. Sylvester had become a Supreme Wizard merely a few weeks ago, and at the same time, Rathagun had been a Supreme Wizard for almost half a decade. "We need a definite answer to see who the true victor of the Thousand Year War is. Malisius is dead—that only leaves us and the humans."
"Do not be swept away in your greed for victory, Ellitran," Elder Zelphar voiced sternly. "I have fought in the battles as much as you have. We both know there is no good in continuing it. Not when humans desire peace as well."
Looking furiously red, Ellitran's long blonde hair fluttered as he firmly pointed his spear toward Sylvester, "What will you tell our people? How will you justify their years of sacrifices after accepting a truce without a proper concession from humans?"
Sylvester sighed and lifted his spear as well. His armour was very dirty and broken in places. His hair was messy as well. However, he still appeared as the brightest in the crowd. "Elder Ellitran, will you be able to tell your people that their king lost to humans? That the elves must surrender to the Pope? Because that is exactly what is going to happen today, and you will be responsible for it."
Ellitrian prepared himself to fight despite knowing he was going to die, "So be it! Let's see how a boy born yesterday battles against us with millennia of experience."
Sylvester scoffed and prepared to strike, "Your millennia of experience is akin to an ant under my foot—absolute power absolutely triumphs."
Just as Sylvester stepped forward to strike the old man, King Rathagun stepped forward and covered Elder Ellitran. "He may have a hateable mouth and an appalling personality, but he is still an elder, my teacher and my father-in-law. To harm him, you must go through me."
"Then, let us begin," Sylvester created Light Tiles for himself rather embarrassingly and walked towards the sky. "Guardian Bloodrain and Guardian Soulbreaker—give them hell!"
The two masked men bowed their heads towards Sylvester. Bloodrain unsheathed his longsword, dripping in blood. Soulbreaker began swinging his thurible, a chained contraption that gave out streams of smoke.
Boom!
The moment Sylvester and Rathagun's magic struck each other and created a loud sound, the battle began. On the ground, the two Guardians and Ten Elders fought while two Supreme Wizards exchanged blows in the sky.
Sylvester quickly made perfect Light Clones for himself. They were perfected to such a degree now they even looked like Sylvester and matched the aura from his body. Even the fake spear they held in their hands was rather painful to regular foes.
Woosh!
Sylvester began to run around Rathagun; more than twenty of his clones confused him easily. Since the elven king had also lost his sword, he had nothing but his magic and hands to fight.
"You never stop surprising me, my son," Rathagun muttered so only Sylvester could hear. "I wonder what else you have in store."
Sylvester chuckled and began forming the Wrath of Heaven beam using both his hands, "I must say your acting skills have improved in such a short time."
"Haha—All thanks to you," Rathagun laughed and reacted the same way. He was able to fly faster than Sylvester, so he formed some distance and punched the air multiple times towards Sylvester's clones. However, to Sylvester's surprise, instead of an Air Elemental attack, it was a Green Elemental attack.
Snap!
Out of nothing, multiple sharp rods of wood formed and pierced through the clones, destroying them. That left only Sylvester visible, who had already prepared his Wrath of Heaven.
♫O' mighty king of the elven kind,
To the power of light, do not be blind.♫
Boom!
The massive, shimmering beam of white and golden light flew from Sylvester's palms and headed towards King Rathagun. It clattered through the air as if it contained thunder from the sky. The air itself burned away in its path, forming hints of mists.
"Hah—Not today, son," Rathagun exclaimed and took a stance as if shooting an arrow through a bow. However, he had no bow or arrow in his arms. But not for long, as wood formed from his very skin, radiant in its golden colour, covered with beautiful green vines and flowers as the bow formed. It was massive in Rathagun's arms.
Then, a bright, shining green arrow formed over the bow, being stretched backwards along with the invisible thread. The mere arrow radiated such energy that even Sylvester felt it from a distance.
BOOM!
And with that, father and son collided. The echoing blast of their clash rang blindingly radiant throughout the northern and southern edges of the continent.
Thank you for reading. Gifts and GT votes are highly appreciated.
