Not even an hour before Clara had attempted to call him, Fishy laid on the ground with his hands tightly compressing the recent wounds. He looked up at the man who stood above him and watched his smug expression as he proceeded to pull out another knife.
"If those other wounds won't kill you, then this will."
Fishy looked at his reflection in the blade. A thin clean blade, hidden in the man's cane, that seemed to have no sign of ever being used, and yet, it seemed as though it had taken many lives.
"DON'T LET THAT HIT YOU!" The voice screamed in Fishy's head as he used all his strength to propel himself off the ground, launching away from the Venenum but tripping backwards on the snow.
"Smart…"
"You're Venenum, right?" Fishy struggled to stand, slowly running out of time.
"So you've heard of me?"
"It was an educated guess. Those people that stabbed me just now mentioned you. And I even hear that you've met King Soth."
Venenum's smug face was quickly erased when he heard the words that he didn't want to hear. The Tanban empire tried to remove everything related to them, but in front of him, was a man who knew far more than he should.
"I can't let you live." Venenum dashed forward. His dark coat blowing around by the snow that picked up around them. Slashing through the tiny dots. Fishy dodged out the way again. He used whatever strength he could muster to push himself off the ground and land elsewhere, but this was stopping him from recovering.
"You can't run forever!"
"I know…" Fishy looked around hoping to find anything that would give him an advantage. But there was nothing. Everyone had left. The streets were silent and the snow was already replacing their footsteps.
Venenum's onslaught continued as Fishy tried and tried to stay upright. His steps were thought out but his wounds kept opening up at each movement, and eventually, he was caught.
One tiny slice was all it needed to bring Fishy crashing against the ground. His body succumbing to an unprecedented amount of heat in the middle of a blizzard as his body quickly froze.
"What is this?"
"Like it? Some would call it a curse, but ultimately, it's magic. My magic. Poison magic."
Venenum spoke with Fishy under his feet. Holding his head down with his foot as he went in for another slice, cutting his arm clean off.
Fishy didn't scream for he was clenching his teeth to the point they would shatter. As Venenum walked away, assuming the job was done, Fishy stood up.
"Don't try and fight it. It's already in your blood, no magic can cure it. The only way is for me to die. And we both know you are in no state to kill me."
Fishy didn't react to Venenum provoking him. He instead quietly breathed through his mouth as he grasped his lost arm. As if he was a different person, he charged forward with one last strategy.
In a fight with magic, there were no rules. There was no such thing as a cheap move or a banned attack. It was a battle of intelligence. And, as Fishy stumbled up to him, holding his own severed hand, Venenum watched.
It was his ignorance that made him think he wouldn't lose, which is why he watched as Fishy could hardly walk. By the time Fishy was at his face, Venenum was about to kick him away. But, it was Fishy's intellect that gave him the upper hand, because he didn't want to hit him. He never had such an intention, instead, all he did, was shove the blood of his hand into Venenum's taunting mouth.
Venenum couldn't do anything as the effects of his own magic were used against him. The poison in Fishy's old arm was now in Venenum. Causing both of them to crash to the ground.
The snow continued to fall, Fishy and Venenum laid looking up at a blizzard that was being held back by a magic barrier. The swirling vortex that came to a halt thanks to unknown magic.
The two rested next to each other.
"Never did I think someone would use my own magic against me," He said as he quickly started to run out of breath.
"This'll be an endurance test... If I die first, you live… either way, it seems like I'm going to die"
Venenum smirked as the snow continued to cover them both. Fishy couldn't say anything to responded as his chest was already crushing his lungs, but eventually, he did ask one thing:
"How did the blizzard start? What caused it?"
"Ditor told me it was the Celestials cursing the land for our crimes… but I know the truth." Venenum continued to speak in his last moments, accepting that Ditor, who was watching the whole thing from his golden palace, was not going to save him.
"It is a curse that was created by King Soth. Before dying he placed a curse on this place that will only come undone when the true king sits on the throne."
"Someone from the East?"
"Possibly… I was young when this all happened. I was just a kid who's been following one order my whole life… This was always going to be how it ended..."
The conversation stopped, Fishy attempted to ask one more thing but it was useless, for Venenum had already passed due to his own magic with a smile on his face.
"...I see" Fishy said, "The poison has gone… but I'm still going to die… What a horrible way to go…"
Fishy's eyes started to close as his body cooled down from the blanket of snow. But he couldn't stop the blood from pouring out his severed arm. He had accepted his failures but was called out by a voice that said:
"Is this really how you are going to die?"
Fishy struggled to open his eyes, hoping to get an answer as to who spoke to him. Through his blurred vision, he saw a large red material with blonde straw-like hair that was different from the last time he saw her.
"Oh… you're here… the girl…"
"I was in your shadow… I can heal you, but only if you agree."
Fishy tried to continue to listen but saw the girl's red eyes and fanged teeth. Thinking back on all that had happened, his memory that returned from what happened in the forest, putting the puzzle together.
"I see… what do I have to do?"
"Protect me. Forever."
"Ha…" Fishy smirked, "I was going to do that even without you asking…"
The girl smirked but Fishy could no longer see her cute smile that was filled with shy happiness, as he had finally passed out.