I watch my friend slowly vanishing, his body instead of falling simply disintegrated into specks of blackish light.
'So many people have died'
I look at the battlefield where everyone is giving their all to fight. Both armies' numbers have dwindled, but the ferociousness of the fight instead of lowering has heightened.
A heavy sensation weights on my stomach and my shoulders as I take a deep look everywhere, ignoring the being in front of me.
'I am sorry, everyone…'
I clench my fist tightly unconsciously and close my eyes. Death surrounded me from every direction. Almost as if it has become second nature to me, I move my hand and it flows with it.
I open my eyes and stare at Grudell Scardi.
'First, I am going to take care of this'
I extend my hand towards Grudell's direction, and I do a grabbing motion.
Grudell reacts fiercely as I see him gritting his teeth. His finger that has the ring explodes along with it. A powerful shockwave sweeps his place liberating a huge amount of Death energy.
Jules and Isca use that time to attack him.
After doing that, I look at the being in front of me looking at me warily.
"I have fuzzy memories of your name, is it Dontoshi?"
His eyes squint and then smirks at me.
"Well, if it isn't the awakened Death Lord. It was fun watching you go crazy and kill your allies, even more, when that insect desperately tried to wake you up. Pitiful, so pitiful."
I stare at him and nod, "I see."
He frowns at my answer and then steps back when he looks at my eyes again.
"I can't redeem myself, nor can I bring back people to life again."
I step forward, taking two swords of their scabbards. Both of them are beautiful as if they were carved by the finest artisan, both of them lethal as if created by the greatest blacksmith. One white and the other Black.
Both halves of Death's Sword.
With a thought, Death revolves around me as I keep a firm grasp on both swords and proceed to put them beside each other.
Death starts coming inside the swords as they become engulfed by them.
Dontoshi steps forward wanting to attack me, but I keep my posture without moving.
"But as the Death Lord, I will bring them another chance. To bring death to their enemies"
Death starts revolving furiously. A storm of death comes out of my hands grasping the swords.
Dontoshi steps back while gritting his teeth.
Dread appears in his eyes as he looks at the sword appearing from the storm of Death.
"Ultima… HOW!?"
Dontoshi howls at Zenith as he runs towards him wielding his Warhammer.
I grasp at the beautiful broadsword that has appeared on my hands. Its hilt and back are a mesmerizing black color, while its body and edge show a cold white.
Dark purplish lines filled its entire self, glowing dangerously.
I hold Ultima, the Sword of Death, above me as I look at Dontoshi coming towards me.
He stomps hard and swings his Warhammer with all his power. Debris turned into dust by the sheer pressure, feeling the air solidifying as the hammer came down to crush the earth.
I swing Ultima against Dontoshi downward as I remember the words of my master.
"Remember Zenith, the technique is called Heaven Splitter informally because most are not able to use the second phase of its power. Only when you can use it, you can call its full name with no shame."
"The first phase is Split the Heaven… and the second phase is Crush the Earth"
"The second phase might not sound so mighty as the first, but when you are truly able to say it, you will see. It is a terrifying skill"
The grin of his master as he said that surfaces.
Power runs through every cell of my body as I shout.
"Split the Heavens, Crush the Earth!"
It is at that moment, that I finally see what my master saw when he first used that skill.
The Heavens being cut in two, falling and razing through the Earth, crushing every last bit of it.
And the one facing the falling of the Heavens is Dontoshi.
--------------------------------------------------
'I am finally here…'
Aren steps forward to attack Dorek, but he is easily repelled by Dorek, despite Arksen leading the attacks and Kagito holding the seal on Dorek.
'But I still can't get near!'
His grip on his sword tightened as he looks at Dorek almost ignoring them, focusing mainly on Arksen who was being pushed back.
The ever-smiling face of his friend now was frowning constantly.
'I want to put a hit in'
All his body focused on getting one hit on Dorek. His breathing flowed smoothly despite the lowering of the temperature.
'I want to fight with them'
Arksen keeps his eyes on Dorek, remembering the entirety of the fight.
On each main battlefield the Kaisers were there, but he…
'I want to wield my sword proudly beside them'
His body twitches as he receives a part of an attack of Dorek, but even then, he steps forward.
He remembered the stories of Gardan, valiantly fighting until the day he died. He promised since he was a child to one day bring the legend of Gardan back to life.
Azalea when she heard his dreams smiled warmly and patted his head.
When he saw her smile, he made another promise.
To make her smile more.
Aren has always been a simple-minded person, but despite that, those two promises were very hard to fulfill right now.
But he didn't care about the difficulty as he stepped forward again.
The violent aura of Dorek assaulted him firsthand but he didn't feel cold anymore.
In fact, he starts feeling warm as he moves his body. The complex power surrounding his body starts becoming simple for him.
His eyes unbeknownst to him, start shining a blood-red color.
Dorek then looks at him with an annoyed expression and then his face changes. Stunned at the sight.
Aren gives another step forward as the color of blood starts reflecting on his eyes.
'Am I bleeding?'
He thinks as he wields his sword in front of Dorek, but soon he ignores that thought as the only thing it mattered to him at that moment was to be able to swing his sword proudly.
Just like them.
"Gardan?"
Those words are uttered by Dorek as disbelief shows in his eyes.
Aren surrounded by a blood-red aura reflects on his eyes as his eyes changed color along with his hair. His muscles swell as he slashes.
Dorek receives the attack with his body as a wound appears on him.
Blood trickles from his body but he didn't care, looking fixedly at Aren.
Then his face twists as he pierces with his Halberd.
"DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"
But before he could fulfill his words, Arksen's spear appears in front of him and clashes with his.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
Shockwaves make everyone step back as Arksen appears beside Aren.
"Can you keep up?"
Aren looks at Arksen beside him and grips his swords tightly.
"YES!"
His muscles were screaming at him, but he didn't care as he gave that answer.
The other Barbarians also surrounded by a blood-red, although visibly weaker than Aren's full transformation, step forward too.
Valiant spirit exudes from everyone.
No more words were needed as Arksen steps forward, this time the martial aura only surrounding his spear as if everything he had would solely be dedicated to attacking.
Aren leads the Barbarians to step forward besides Arksen as both of them face Dorek.
Dorek who looked so majestic when the entire battle began, now had his face twisted, wounds all over his body. Chaotic energy comes from him because of the powers fighting inside him.
Arksen and Aren wield their weapons and attack.
Pride fills Aren's chest as he thinks.
'I am finally here'
Today, he would make the legend of Gardan come back to life.