''Let him go, you son of a bitch!" I shouted, cornered. ''As you wish, here catch!" he replied to me and threw my brother's body against me with a violent force so that it hurled me and him against the wall. I paid no attention to Ivern for a moment and checked my brother's pulse. His heart was still beating, but very weakly. ''I'll heal him. You take care of him!'' Onaki shouted to me and came running to us. One thing I was sure of, a direct hit, would have been enough to kill me. So now, it was important to fight distantly and carefully.
I needed a balanced strategy to stand up to him. ''What's going on? How long are you going to keep me waiting, kid?'' Ivern shouted, losing patience, and charged at me, lunging with his hand. He was fast, so fast that I was barely able to react. But I lunged with my hellblade and delivered a blow. Ivern blocked my attack with his bare hand. He was hard, more complex than steel.
''Don't look so shocked. Those horrified eyes are making me fuzzy,'' he replied to my blow mockingly and started laughing wildly. 'What am I going to do? Should I increase the energy input? That would mean exhaustion. But I have no other choice! So I grew the energy input, and the consequences were a much hotter and sharper hell blade. With a roar of determination, I cut off Ivern's arm.
''That hurt! You'll pay for that, you brat!'' he replied angrily and began to scream in pain. His arm was completely restored. So he could regenerate too. Why didn't I think of it much earlier? Full of anger that I could hurt him, he let fly a shockwave of several blows in my direction. I concentrated my strength on my legs and narrowly escaped the impacts. But there was no time for me to catch my breath because before I knew it, he was behind me and lashed out with his fists, hitting me in the pit of the stomach and hurling me across the hall into a pillar. This punch was powerful, breaking several of my ribs at once.
Onaki cast the healing spell and tried to heal my brother. The spell could stop the bleeding, but it could not close the hole in his torso. It merely delayed his sealed fate.
I coughed up blood and gasped. With slow and menacing steps, Ivern came closer and closer to me. I must wait for the right moment and then use a freezing spell to stop his movements. I thought to myself that I could then cut through his head with my hellblade. When he got close enough to me, I shouted ''Freeze!'' and was able to catch him before his blow hit me.
Sure of victory, I summoned my hellblade in concentrated form. This one blow should kill him once and for all, no matter if it robbed me of all my strength afterward. There was no other way out for me. But before I could cut off his head, he broke out of his stupor with pure power. My blow did not hit his neck for this reason, but his left eye. He cried out in pain. I could only gasp in exhaustion. I was at my limit.
''How ironic that it caught you in the eye, you son of a bitch,'' I replied to him, drained of energy, and fell to my knees.
Damn, that was it. I don't have any strength left, I thought to myself, panting harder and harder. The eye regenerated again. He went toward me threateningly and in slow steps until he stood before me. ''I really would have played with you longer, go ahead and say your last words, you worm,'' he replied coldly, ready to kill me. I remained silent and closed my eyes, accepting death. Images of my past came to me like in a kaleidoscope. I saw my family, still alive, strolling with me in the city. I heard about how such images would appear to one before immediate death. I would see my family again, that thought comforted me, and I accepted death.
Just as Ivern lashed out after the fatal blow, the Merthyl crystal, which was now a part of me, reacted. It emitted an all-encompassing shockwave and erased Ivern in the blink of an eye. Nothing remained of him, not even ashes. It was as if he had never existed. I opened my eyes again, only to find that he was no longer there. I was confused and fell over. I passed out from pain and physical exhaustion. Minutes passed, and I woke up again, breathing loudly, and looked around. We were still in the hall, but I was lying next to my brother.
Onaki had laid me down with him, and during my absence, she also freed the last hostage. Both of them were talking, but I could still hear very muffled and could not understand what they talked about.
I was startled and then looked around. My brother was alive, but he didn't have much time left. Kishimoto... I'm sorry, I couldn't save you,'' I said in sorrow and took his hand. ''I'm glad you're alright... It's not your fault, little brother.'', he answered me, gasping and coughing. He was at the end of his rope. He tried so hard for so long not to die so we could talk one last time. ''I am too weak. How can I rid this world of them without your help,'' I answered him, sobbing and overwhelmed by tears. ''We will be stronger together, Aramoto, I will always be with you,'' Onaki responded to me comfortingly and empathetically. Kishimoto smiled one last time, and as he closed his eyes, he lost his life to the high council.