Chapter 32 - Desperation

Braxis steeled his heart once more as he reminded himself that all was not lost. If he failed this life, he always had another chance.

"Very.. funny. You come in here like a coward, sneaking around afraid, and then speak as if you're powerful. You toy with my emotions as it's the only way you can harm me, by picking on the weak around me.." Braxis said as he got up and entered his combative stance.

"Tough words for a man who couldn't protect a single girl, who was guarding you quite desperately I might add. What a sad sight. Don't fret, you'll be joining her very soon." Raven said as she lifted her hands up, beginning to use the same spell.

A troubled expression emerged on Braxis's face.

'I know it doesn't matter, but for just once, I am not going to hold back.. I'm going to have reverse time anyways..'

"Come at me bitch! I'll show you exactly who I am." Braxis roared with anger as he prepared himself.

'Interesting.. perhaps he has a trump card left afterall?' Raven couldn't help but think as she looked at the sudden change in Braxis.

"A feeble and desperate attempt is all the more satisfying when crushed by true power. I honestly have not a clue on how you managed to defeat Fox if this is all you're capable of." Raven chuckled as she taunted Braxis further.

"You sound just like my insane brothers. Shut your mouth and let's fight to the death already." Braxis said as he charged forward.

Raven then held her hand out, finishing the preparation for her spell. Once more a dark energy danced around her fingers, but with more intensity than it was previously used.

Braxis grinned as he looked at the strange act. 'Spell or not, I can deal with it.'

"Go my ravens.. converge upon your enemy!" Raven commanded and a flock of ravens made of darkness shot out from her fingers, aiming for Braxis.

Braxis stood still, waiting just before the attack approached him.

"It's not always fun to crush bugs, I also abuse them." Braxis said with a smile.

"What are you talking about?" Raven questioned with a sudden worry in her heart.

'No.. he's just boasting before death, this spell has never been broken before..' Raven reassured herself as she looked onward at the storm of ravens converging upon him.

And at the final moment for Braxis, it was like time had stopped.

The only thing moving, were his thoughts..

'Using my mana on my brain like this will paralyze me, but it doesn't matter. This frame perfect attack needs to be precise!'

Braxis then slowly let go of some of the mana he concentrated on his brain, allowing the attack to barely enter his range, until..

"Summoning.." Braxis said as he swiped his blade upward and focused all of the mana onto it.

Time resumed as a black shadow appeared onto Braxis's blade which absorbed all of the ravens in the path, but the attack did not stop there.

The dark energy along with the summon, shot outward in a vertical slash that cut the entire building in half in front of him!

The dark energy wave continued on past the ruined building the two were in and struck a nearby mountain, cleaving it in half.

Raven lay on the ground with her body detached, her mask broken.

"How.. this power wasn't.. expected." Raven thought as her eyes closed and she died on the cold floor.

Braxis didn't have time to celebrate as he fell over directly after, exhausted.

"Yep.. about how I expected things to turn out.. I'll have to redo this event, but now I know she's coming.." Braxis thought as he desperately kept his eyes open.

Braxis had summoned his knight into his sword directly when the attack appeared and consumed the darkness and energy, he then shot it outward combined with his summons strength, something that was almost impossible to pull off without cheating. It was only able to be pulled off due to the fact that the attack and his summon were both of the same element, aided by overloading mana onto his brain.

'Killing her may have been useless, but I feel satisfied knowing that she's dead. This life is a dead end now though, overloading my brain with that mana is going to cripple me when I wake up..'

He smiled then carefully took his sword, directing it upon himself, and slit his neck open, killing himself. 

Everything momentarily turned to black for Braxis until reconvening and becoming light once more. 

The first thing Braxis heard was a voice that was very close to him.

"I'm just a lone raven." 

Braxis, knowing what was about to happen stood still, knowing the woman would soon shift from his side. Instead he prioritized staying near Julianne.

"So you managed to defeat Fox's vessel while he was off guard and now you're cocky. That's humorous. Especially given your lack of a reaction time." Raven laughed once more in a crazed tone.

"What do you know about Master Braxis!" Julianne shouted, just as Braxis remembered.

"Summoning." Braxis said quietly and a darkness erupted out from his feet, launching itself at Julianne until it completely covered her.

"What are you doing Master Braxis?!" Julianne shouted with a panicked expression but soon calmed her heart, trusting that he would not do something to harm her out of no where.

"A summoning huh. You don't see that every day." Raven commented as she looked at the scene, allowing Julianne to disappear. 

"I'll just have to deal with her after you." Raven smiled.

"Try it." Braxis replied.

"With pleasure" Raven said as she jumped forward at Braxis with a kick to his head, only for him to guard it with his hand.

Braxis threw Raven off with ease, but Raven flipped doing a sideways somersault, kicking with her other leg mid air, Braxis sliced at the oncoming leg only for the leg to turn into a torrential downpour of ravens, along with her entire body.

Raven then shifted appearing in front of Braxis.

"So you do have some reaction time. Well, you would need at least that much to defeat Fox. I think it's about time to put the game away." Raven said as she held two of her fingers in the air.