Leon Crackwell's pov
The figure that had appeared in front of me was undoubtedly Ventus, he had ditched his childlike form and taken his true appearance and with it came greater control over his powers, the aura surrounding him was fierce and sharp and he was now free of the limitations that came with a smaller form like reach and endurance but that didn't mean he would win this fight, the silver haired man righted himself not long after being sent flying and Ventus dashed after him, he slammed his blades into his with such force that the floor beneath them cratered and massive shockwaves spread out destroying the trees and kicking up dust around them the man swung out and blew away Ventus by a few steps he then sent a thrust directly at Ventus's head but the blow glanced off the side of his face Ventus had constructed a wind barrier around his body so as dull the impact of blows the man had to bring his sword back in order to block the hundreds of blows that Ventus replied with but just when it seemed like Ventus was letting up he spoke
"scream banshee"
two crescents of wind flew out of his blades while unleashing an unearthly wail, the man was blown back a few feet and Ventus leaped into the air intent on striking him with the added force, that's when I saw it
'VENTUS NO'
the mans face was passive, he wasn't being overwhelmed he was simply watching and it was obvious he could have stopped Ventus's assault at any time a fact which he showed by placing a spin kick at Ventus's jaw before his attack could reach, Ventus got sent flying, he broke through trees and dirt digging a trench similarly to how I had
"too slow and not enough force, I suggest you give up"
he said, whether it was meant to be kindness or pity I couldn't tell but Ventus simply smiled and said
"as I thought, half-assed methods won't work on you, no matter we'll try this instead"
and with that they air around him changed, he seemed to have instantly suppased me and even Eron in power becoming someone who I couldn't recognise, the silver haired man looked at him in bewilderment before his face switched to resolve saying
"I see so thats your answer, then I shall respond in kind"
he then took a stance a beautiful one that lacked absolutely any openings, too that Ventus replied with his own, one that mirrored mine, they charged at each other at speeds I could follow, a clash rang out that spread destruction that dwarfed the one before, it seems the two of them stayed glued to each other before disengaging landing a fair few feet away, they looked at each other for a moment before
"BOOM SFX"
they were off again they raced across the forest as silver and green blurs that crashed into each other at odd times causing 10 feet wide depressions at every exchange of blows
"gale blaze"
said the voice of my friend as he made a motion I assumed to be swinging his blades out wide, hundreds of 30 foot long crescents flew out towards the silver haired man, dicing the trees and tearing up the land
"edict of reflection"
and as the silver haired man spoke all of the attacks ended up being sent back to Ventus, Ventus waved his blade in a particular manner and the vortex surrounding him increased in speed and power, he then proceeded to rush the wave of crescents head on but just as they were about to strike him the barrier absorbed them adding to its power as he made a beeline towards the silver haired man, he attempted to dodge but before he could dozens of balls appeared, all of them had been shaped from wind. I could sense the power within them each one held enough force to drill through a mountain, the first one rushed at him even faster than Ventus he proceeded to block it but from the way he grunted I could tell that even his monstrous strenght felt taxed, after all the power of the attack had been multiplied due to its high speed, he managed to redirect it only for another to appear in need of the same treatment, he began to dodge them quite skillfully disappearing into a haze of after images to fast for me to make sense of before the light around his sword grew stronger and he swung in a circle slicing all the balls in half, his Arcanum enhanced ki had managed to dissipate the attacks preventing an explosion a masterful move but it was too late, he wouldn't be able to dodge Ventus now
"sorak style imbalance"
he whispered as he sent a thrust directly at Ventus's charge, it shouldn't have worked, I kept telling myself that, there was supposed to be no way a simple thrusting technique should have been able to stop that charge but I knew, when he sent out his sword there was something else accompanying it, it wasn't simple power it was the will, the essence of someone who had truly comprehended the blade, that technique although lacking in power had more weight than Ventus's full powered attack, as the two sides met my entire line of sight was dyed in white an eruption of heat and force shook the land in an explosion that would have killed any other spectator, I had managed to set up a barrier before the two attacks met a powerful one that wouldn't so much as shake in front of God class magic, yet here it was covered in cracks of all sorts
"you damaged me, impressive"
the silver haired man hadn't moved from his spot his sword arm was a little mangled up but not beyond the realm of a few healing spells but Ventus was not so lucky, he had managed to lean to the side of the attack just as it hit and in doing so he saved only that side of his body the rest had been blown to bits completely disintegrated like it was never even there, he was currently lying on the ground 1/3 of his face was gone as well as half his torso rather than blood his essence leaked out in a slow stream, except it was black, it wasn't supposed to be black, Ventus was a spirit rather than blood their bodies was completely composed of highly purified attribute type mana that was simply referred to as essence and it was supposed to be gold
"it seems even with essence burning this is the best I can do"
he said with a small smile
"power is nothing without the skill to use it we had similar energy levels but unlike me who is fully accustomed to my powers for you it was like learning how to walk again not to mention how many worlds we were apart in combat experience basically lots of mana without enlightenment can't make you a swordsmaster"
mana form and enlightenment, the three perquisites to becoming a swordsmaster, the mana to use your techniques the form you practice and enlightenment to make proper use of both Ventus was lacking in the last and arguably most important part but that's not what I wanted to focus on
'you used essence burning'
as if registering that I was here both of them looked at me with startled expressions the silver haired man changed to pity while Ventus started smiling again
'no, you can't, you can't die'
essence burning was what it sounds like using your own existence as fuel in order to aquire more power
'please'
I said as I crawled towards him, the attack earlier had disrupted my nervous system so even though I had healed myself I was unable to stand
'please you can't'
i said sobbing, his smile didn't waver instead it brightened as he said
"I thought you didn't care about me"
'I was lying ok, I do care about you, I care about everyone, you Ari, Delvi, Dollegeron, Reya, Pical, Erenigal all of you, I care and I'm sorry so please, please don't die, i beg you'
I offloaded my heart heart to him in a desperate attempt to keep him here he responded with
"haaah, I knew it, you always were a shitty lier you fucking bastard"
'Ventus please please please big brother don't go'
I had reached him by now and was crying on his chest sobbing so much that I didn't realise the words that had come out of my mouth and how Ventus had taken them
"it's been a while since you last called me that, feels nice to hear it one last time"
he said with a small smile with his eyes cloudy as if relieving the past
"goodbye Fisher"
he said as he closed his eyes his form dissipating into motes of light, or at least it should have
'world stop'
I muttered, God class magic capable of stopping time for a limited duration, all the colour in the world disappeared as I activated that spell, I could sense the confusion of the silver haired man who weirdly enough could still move in stopped time but I paid it no heed, I was not going to let it end like this
'perfect revival'
I activated magic of the same caliber, a spell that could perfectly bring back the dead, normally Don's couldn't bring back the dead but that wasn't true, any magic caster of suitably high level could do it only with cost, the cost most of the time was a portion of the casters soul but even then there wasn't a hundred percent chance of success and the caster would undoubtedly end up half dead if not an imbecile for the rest of his life but that wasn't what I was going for, perfect revival had a 98 percent chance of success and a price just as steep, I was going to bring back my friend, no my brother if it was the last thing I did
'I don't care how much you want just take it, take everything my soul my heart my bones take every single drop of blood from my body and leave me as nothing but dust so long as you bring him back'
the magic cirlce came to life underneath us both, the spell was almost complete I could see it now Ventus's condition was improving a few more seconds and he would be saved, that was when I was sent flying, the silver haired man had kicked me in the side of the head and cancelled the spell
'you bastard, why did you do it, why did you stop me'
still in stopped time he looked passive as he said to me
"because you were about to do something stupid"
'what does it matter to you'
I screamed out
"I don't like it when stupid things happen in front of me"
I was crestfallen
'so because of a reason like that Ventus is going to die'
I said as I fell on all fours crying
'no its because of me, Ventus is going to die because of me, it should have been me, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME'
I shouted banging my hands on the ground in fury, I couldn't bring myself to cancel the spell so within that world of black and white I continued to vent for several seconds until he spoke
"are you done"
I looked up at his uncaring face and said
'kill me'
"no longer in the mood"
he replied, I pulled out a dagger from within my clothes and said
'then I guess I'll do it myself'
"so what about your friend"
he said pointing to Ventus
'what about him'
"aren't you going to save him"
'how'
I asked genuinely puzzled, he rolled his eyes and said
"idiots, I can't believe you're an Arcanum user know how to do this, Field: Glistening Field"
he activated his field, a plain of silver that seemed to stretch on forever appeared, long and wide but only a few feet higher than the average human height i looked up only to see my reflection on a sky identical to the ground
"now listen up, a field isn't just a weapon, it an entirely new world where the rules are up to you the Arcanum user to set"
he said, World stop had given way for his field and Ventus was dissipating even faster now
"within it you can bypass the laws of magic and enter the realm of miracles like so"
he then waved his hand at Ventus and in a flash that lasted a few seconds my friend was as good as new, he himself didn't seem to understand what was happening until he looked at the man and said
"you were holding back on me"
the field disappeared as he said
"yep"
Ventus brought his hand to his face as he
"dammn"
the members of the 2nd Don's party finally arrived at where we were, they looked at me looked at the spirt and looked at their rescuer probably wondering what to make of this situation but when they confirmed that we were no longer fighting they set themselves in fixing the forst while I nursed my Wounds
'how did you get here even'
I asked the spirit
"Kid I've been sneaking out of the spirit realm for centuries without the aid of a spiritualist, that's how we met remember"
'true'
I said as my mind wondered to our first encounter by a lake in my village all those years ago
"but now what do we do"
he asked, the party had finished repairing the forest and was currently discussing with their rescuer
'I don't know, he says he's not in the mood to kill us anymore but'
I couldn't really tell what was up with him, who he was why he was so strong or even why he helped us
'but I do know he's close with that second Don'
"hmmm, maybe we shouldn't have messed with that guy"
'you're right'
I said with an embarrassed smile, I had never fought Eron but there was no doubt in my mind who was scarier between he and the man in front of me, like literally in front of me, I hadn't even noticed when he got here, he calmly asked
"do you know where that guy took Kalen"
I answered honestly after flinching of course
'I don't really know, if anything only Eron would be able to know but I don't think he'd tell you, he's made of much harder stuff than me'
"is that so"
he said with a smile that sent shivers downy spine for some reason
"oh and before I forget, you're not actually weak, even in fights between Arcanum users magic still gets used, I mean it's still part of your power don't hold back on using you spirits they're still part of your strenght"
"you tell him man"
said Ventus agreeing to what he said
'they're part of my strenght huh, please who are you and why did you help us'
"me, my name's Damien and I'm something of Kalens big brother and as for why I helped you, I I guess due to my position I'm a sucker for these kinds of relationships, you've got something special treasure it"
I thought carefully at his words
'Kalen's big brother huh, I'll remember that and yes I'll treasure it, thank you'
at that he smiled before turning to the side his smile growing brighter as he said
"it seems he back"
out of nowhere a man appeared, he was wearing all black and covered in wounds his blue eyes had a tinge of red to them as if he had been crying but his face was expressionless, his party quickly stood up like soilders at attention but he bid them to relax, he took a look around probably sensing the traces of destruction but before he could say anything his gaze landed on Damien and with that his expression softened as he spoke
"can we go home now"