"Your name." I already opened the dimensional storage, quickly pulling out my sword. "What is it?"
"That's quite a rude introduction, isn't it?" The man cracked a small smile. "But I'm already used to it now."
Meanwhile, he slowly pulled the sword out of his belt, revealing the deep, black double-edged blade.
Its construction reminded me of the swords from the nordic lands across the sea.
The sword's blood-red hilt contrasted its golden guard and pommel while also harmonizing with the black blade, creating an intimidating look.
Almost a demonic one.
Even without him using the sword, I knew that the sword was bad news.
I glanced over at my sword, comparing them both.
Just judging by the sinister aura that his sword gave off, I understood that his sword was superior to mine in its current state.
Although I never bothered to think about learning to use my sword's full potential, as it just seemed needless to me, I regretted it now.
As in its current state, it was already vastly superior to any other weapon I'd ever seen, I never bothered to learn to unleash its full power, but focused on extending my mastery over Ether.
My eyes narrowed as I judged my opponent to be a threat I had to take seriously.
"Nadir." He continued to speak. "I'm glad to see you again, Zenith."
I momentarily panicked at the mention of my first name, but acted like it didn't bother me.
The sole fact that he knew my name meant that I was at a major disadvantage, as he had informational superiority. As such, I had to either proceed carefully or end this quickly.
"How do you know my name?"
Instead of answering, he just smiled. "How are my people?"
I raised an eyebrow at the sudden topic switch but decided to just follow, as it gave me more time to find out information about my opponent.
"Dead."
A hint of sadness flashed in his eyes before he cracked a weak smile.
"That's a shame."
I was used to seeing evil leaders treat their subordinates with apathy and carelessness, seeing them more as objects than people, so his reaction of sadness kind of surprised me.
Although I wasn't sure if they were all dead, I knew that ―right now― they were fighting for their lives.
"You know, Zenith." Nadir readied his sword, shifting into an unorthodox sword stance. One that I had never seen before. "You should really do something about your habit of killing."
I narrowed my eyes in response.
Even though I knew that he was telling the truth, it irked me that the advice came from someone like him.
"Says the one who sacrificed people in exchange for Umbral's tears."
Nadir's eyes narrowed, his friendly expression turning into one of anger.
"It was necessary."
Suddenly, some red energy formed itself beneath his feet, building a platform that propelled him forward.
He was the first one to attack.
Like a red trail, he flashed forward, thrusting his sword at me.
Seeing that attack coming, I stepped sideways, raising my arm as I struck down with the pommel of my sword.
Airborne, he had no way to dodge.
"Hypocrite."
I struck down.
However, instead of my hit connecting, it hit the empty air.
Using the red energy again, he pushed himself away, dodging my hit.
"It's ambient mana." My eyes widened at the realization.
I turned my gaze towards Nadir, who was flexing his mana, focusing it onto his legs.
"You really have a talent for attacking people's weak points, don't you?" Gritting his teeth, Nadir dashed forward again.
"Not only with words." I stared back at him with a calm expression, pondering about what steps to take next.
Seeing as he was not trying to start off with a lunge again, I also advanced, meeting his sword strikes head-on.
***
***
Although Acedia's body hurt too much to actually move, she somehow managed to sit up, leaning against a nearby wall, as she watched the fight about to unfold.
-Says the one who sacrificed people in exchange for Umbral's tears.
Acedia's blood froze cold as she heard what Zenith said.
Hearing him saying that now, everything made sense.
Umbral's tears were a black liquid that is gained by sacrificing the lives of dozens of people, bringing out their 'despair' and 'inner darkness'.
Although it was only used one time in history, its effect was widely known.
The ability to corrupt anything.
However, the exact effects of that corruption were never found out, as all the researchers died a few hours after the creation of a corrupted object.
The corrupted object immediately disappeared after that.
The research was never picked up again for two reasons: first; it was too difficult to recreate, as the way to attain Umbral's tears was just too cruel and hard.
One had to torture dozens of people until they shed tears of black ink. A confirmed sign of one's soul cracking due to pain.
It is said that the soul, filled with despair, tries to flee out of the body, mixing in with the blood and coloring it black.
That had to happen a couple more times until someone had to force their mana into it while being in the Depths so that the black ink could absorb mana and ether at the same time.
And the second reason was due to the lethality rate of that research. Everyone partaking in it died, thus nobody ever dared to try it out.
At first, she thought that it was her imagination, but it seemed like the rotten smell that had lingered around for a while now, was a byproduct of those tears.
She swallowed at the thought of what had happened to all the previous prisoners.
So that's why they all vanished.
They were disposed of after losing their useability.
Her fist trembled at the thought of it.
However, there was one thing that still puzzled her.
How were they disposed of?
There were no traces of ashes left, so they didn't burn them. And th-
CLING
The clashing of two swords snapped her out of her thoughts.
She raised her head, looking at the two swordsmen fighting with each other.
Her eyes widened, revealing a glimpse of admiration as she watched the unfolding battle between the two swordsmen.
To her, it didn't seem like a fight, but a dance, where each dancer tries to win the upper hand.
While the man, Nadir, had an aggressive style of fighting, reminding her of a raging typhoon, Zenith's fighting style reminded her of the ocean.
With his calmness and analytical observation skills, he tries to create a possibility of ending the fight with a clean hit.
If she were to make a fair comparison for both of them, it was like a skillful display of pure power and the concept of the skill itself clashing against each other.
Although every single hit of Nadir changed the environment, Zenith deflected them with fluid movements, calmly flowing like the ripples in the ocean.
CLASH
Another sword clash.
The two swordsmen locked eyes with each other.
Burning crimson-red ones met cold grey ones.
"Your skill is unfair, Zenith." Nadir remarked through his gritted teeth, trying his best to overpower Zenith.
"Thank you." Zenith used the weight of Nadir to redirect the force of the swing to the ground.
That upset Nadir's balance, causing him to trip.
Seeing that, Zenith delivered a knee strike to the falling Nadir.
However, he grimaced, and instead of hitting Nadir, he hit the sword with his knee.
Nadir managed to block the strike in time, getting thrown back by the recoil.
"Annoying," Zenith remarked, ignoring the pain in his knee.
Nadir slowed down the recoil, by smashing the tip of his sword into the ground, scratching it in progress.
Nadir cracked his neck, before letting out a heavy breath, "Let's get serious now, shall we?'
"I am serious."
"But you don't feel threatened yet." Nadir narrowed his eyes, his smile disappearing. "Let me change that."
Taking a step forward, Nadir pulled his sword back, twisting his upper body, as the ambient mana started collecting around him.
The ground beneath his foot got crushed by the sheer pressure that he emitted.
Acedia gulped as she saw that.
She turned her face to Zenith, looking for any confirmation that he could face such an attack head-on.
"Brace yourself."
The space began to tremble at the charge up of Nadir's attack.
Zenith's face hardened as he watched Nadir charge up his attack.
Immediately after that, Nadir dashed forward, vanishing into red particles.
"Blink." He whispered as he appeared in front of Zenith, his demonic sword vibrating with energy.
Zenith's eyes widened, as he locked eyes with Nadir, who just flashed him a provoking smile. "You better use it."
Clicking his tongue, Zenith raised his sword, holding it with two hands and closing his eyes.
With a satisfied grin, Nadir released the demonic energy within his sword.
The red ambient mana went on a rampage, filling the whole room with a violent, oppressive force.
Acedia couldn't breathe. The pressure was just that powerful.
"Dawn of ruin,-"
The red mana pulled itself together, collecting all of it on the tip of the sword, as it started spinning, twisting a distortion in space with it.
Acedia's eyes trailed to Zenith.
She wanted to shout his name and tell him to dodge, but her voice didn't come out.
She couldn't breathe, let alone speak.
Zenith kept closing his eyes ―no sign of fear or nervosity could be seen in his body.
He took a deep breath.
"Ex-"
Zenith tore his eyes open, releasing a powerful energy from his sword, as the invisible air around it disappeared, revealing its true form.
An illusion that was far more beautiful than anything she had ever witnessed.
Although Acedia could sense the power of that sword, she didn't feel threatened by it at all.
No, it was more comforting to her, easing the pressure in the room and letting her breathe again.
She could feel how her wounds slowly healed, and the fatigue washed away.
"-Gram!"
"-CALIBUR!"
A deep red and radiating purple clashed with each other.
Both of those swords embodying opposite energies, but equal power, clashed against each other.
The strongest demonic sword, Gram, made of the branches of the world tree, and the strongest holy sword, Excalibur, made by the fairies, howled as they tried to overpower their respective counterpart.
The red and purple energy mixed together into a white light that filled the entire room, blinding Acedia.
When Acedia could open her eyes again, the light died down, revealing the destruction that occurred on the battlefield.
Although Nadir was on one knee, bleeding in the corner of his lips, Zenith seemed to be worse.
He was on his knees, barely even able to keep himself upright, using his ―now invisible― sword to support his body, panting heavily.
"Zenith!" As Excalibur healed some of her wounds and eased her pain, Acedia could move again.
She rushed to Zenith immediately and prepared some low-tier healing magic.
"Huff..that was a great warm-up." Nadir laughed, as he leaned his head back, staring into the air. "Now let's proceed with the main cours-urgh."
Nadir's upper body jumped forward as he released a cough of black ink.
"I see..." He wiped the ink from the corner of his mouth. "..without the soul, the guardian is going to vanish soon."
"What do you mean?" Acedia glared at him, already brainstorming a few options to defend herself in her head.
"After I fully consume the soul, the ruin will vanish." He slowly stood up, turning his back to them as he walked to the gate. "I should probably look for any survivors and take them back with me.."
"Hey! Are you chickening out right now?"
Nadir glared at Acedia. "Shut your mouth, woman. You are only still alive because you are needed for it to progress."
Raising her eyebrows in confusion, Acedia tilted her head. 'progress'?
"You don't have any time left. The guardian will wake up soon." Nadir glanced over at the incapacitated Zenith. "And looking at his current condition, he can't fight him either."
With a loud creaking, the gate opened, and Nadir stepped through.
One last time, he turned his head back, looking at Acedia.
"The exit to the Overworld is the entrance to the main room of this castle." Nadir's eyes trailed over to Zenith one last time, softening for a moment. "Survive for now. Don't disappoint me again."
And with those words, he left the room.
Although Acedia wanted to attack him, she knew that her condition wasn't the best, realizing that Nadir retreating was actually a blessing to them.
With him gone, she relaxed, concentrating on Zenith's treatment.
She wasn't a healer, but her healing magic should be sufficient for now.
Acedia put his head on her thighs as she continued healing him.
"You dummy," Acedia whispered to the injured Zenith, who just grumbled in response.
She cracked a weak smile, reminiscing about old times.
RUMBLE
Snapping out of the moment, she froze up at the realization that it wasn't over yet, recalling the words of Nadir.
At first, she just assumed that he was bluffing, as there was no reason to reveal such a thing to an enemy.
However, only a few minutes after Nadir left the room, a rumbling occurred, coming from underground.
The guardian of Drazuba has woken up.