"X-xerxes..."
I stammered as I was overwhelmed by the dark presence of Xerxes Advent. This whole time he concealed his aura so we wouldn't suspect a thing, but now that we figured out everything he wasn't afraid to reveal it.
"This whole time, you had us fooled, this whole time you were just using us weren't you?"
Questioning his motives to stall time for Rachel to get a feel of her body after being chained for two to three days straight, I stepped backwards slowly with her in my arms.
"How did you know I figured out who you are?"
Xerxes chuckled on hearing the question I presented before his ears, clearly I haven't been paying attention to my nemesis.
"Like I told you from the beginning, I've been watching you Xavier, ever since your mother died, before you even ran away from your relatives house I watched you without even being there. I know the every move you make and every plan you formulate and that's how I found the perfect vessel."
My eye were shaking in disbelief, if what he says was true, that means he knows everything that transpired between me and the old man. It seemed with every host body he took over, he also takes over their abilities adding it to his own, that was the only plausible explanation to how he watched me from afar.
"We trusted you, she loved you like a father!. And this is how you repay that trust!?"
Xerxes yawned as I spoke, he really wasn't interested in anything both of us had to say. After all after he saved us from Delkon, the life span of his current host dropped from 5 years to 3 months so he needed the perfect vessel immediately.
"I do not have time for your insolence child, hand yourself over to me instantly or that girl dies."
Rachel gasped as soon as Xerxes finished speaking. He referred to her as "that girl " with no regards to the years they spent with each other. It was very disheartening and little by little tears rolled down her cheeks from her eyes.
"No Xavier...you can't let him have you, if you do it's all over..."
Rachel sobbed as she spoke with her head resting on my chest, I was left in a difficult situation as it is.
"Which is it, Xavier?"
Calmly, Xerxes questioned my decision making capabilities putting his hands right behind his back already coming to a conclusion to what he assumes I'll decide, his inevitable victory.
"I'm sorry Rachel but I won't let you die, not while I'm around."
I muttered looking into the eyes of Rachel and Xerxes let out a laugh, ascertaining his victory.
"That's it Xavier! now come, we shall purge humanity from its own doom together with your body and my powers!."
I laughed a bit in absurdity, his ideals really were forged in a twisted mind.
"I won't let Rachel die, but I also won't let the likes of you take over my body you bastard!."
Xerxes eyes twitched at my resistance, it was already getting late and his 3 months had begun counting down so there was no time to negotiate. Xerxes plunged forward towards me with his right hand stretched out, he didn't use his magic so he wouldn't damage his "soon to be host".
"Your mine!."
As he approached me swiftly, I pulled back on my right right arm with my fingers balled into a fist instantly. Bright green particles of magic surrounded my arm before manifesting into strong surges of wind energy that covered my entire arm.
"Tempest...Canon!!."
Using the same process necessary for the aero surge, I compressed the wind energy that surrounded my right arm and immediately Xerxes came into range. I crouched to prevent his arm that was stretched forward from grabbing my face and swiftly sent a blow to his chest with the wind manipulated arm.
On contact with his chest, I released all that energy in the form of a powerful air canon which blew Xerxes backwards through the door, the wall supporting the door also broke down due to the sheer force of the Canon.
Xerxes spat out blood on impact with the ground, originally an attack of this caliber wouldn't affect him but given how greatly his body was weakened by the leaking essence of the dark society that ate through his host body, it did.
Xerxes groaned on the ground and instantly I took advantage of this opportunity, Rachel had her head down earlier to prevent being blown away by the sheer force of the wind, I carried her in my arms before dashing through the path I created after blowing Xerxes away.
I raced up the stairs and out of the kitchen swiftly as I couldn't afford to waste even a fraction of a second, no matter how weakened his body was this was someone who attained the power of a Greek Dragon Sage and evolved into a Beast Sage.
As I raced for the door, a strong gush of wind carried me off my feet and both Rachel and I crashed into the wall and fell to our knees. Gasping slowly for breath we looked up to see Xerxes standing meters away from us with a bloody mouth.
"Damn it all! you goddamn insolent brat!."
Xerxes was pissed off, and not in a way I'd say we'll manage to survive, suddenly he inhaled a considerable amount of air with his mouth and my eyes widened in disbelief, I remembered this, it was the same technique he used to knock a 15 foot tall beast off it's feet and through several trees. His eyes also glowed golden yellow and on realization I yelled towards Rachel.
"Run! if that technique hits you, your dead!."
Not giving us a moment to react Xerxes placed his right index and middle finger at the side of his mouth and yelled out a spell.
"Beast Sage Art: Wind Dragon's Roar!."
He unleashed a huge blast of wind which was visible as transparent gold to the eyes towards us from his mouth, it's range was wide not to mention it was infused with beast Sage magic. Running away was a suicide option. Instantly I used another Tempest Canon on Rachel but with a reduced damage rate and sent her flying several meters out of the inn.
After ensuring her safety I surrounded my legs with manipulated wind energy and propelled myself out of the wind dragon's roar trajectory with the manipulated wind being an added propulsion just in the nick of time.
Xerxes blast completely wiped out the inn which descended as chunks of wood, metal and glass on the ground. He panted heavily as he unleashed such an attack, on the ground I watched how the destruction unfolded and saw the current state of Xerxes and with that an idea popped up in my head.
"Hey Xerxes! if that's the best you can do, then your really not worthy of attaining my body! can't believe you were once my teacher!."
I exclaimed getting up on my feet and those words enraged Xerxes even more than he already is.
"Shut up!!."
He raised his right fist and surrounded it with wind magic infused with the evil essence of the dark society and sent it towards the ground, the impact shattered the ground and created a huge shockwave which was directed towards me.
Before Xerxes realized it I vanished from the spot I stood in.
"Over here."
He heard a voice from behind and instantly turned around and attempted to swing his fist towards me, however his motion was stopped by a sharp pain in his chest.
"W-what..."
He was confused about what was happening in his angered state but I wasn't.
"You can't move can you, you've reached your limit. Driven by anger you didn't realize when you used more beast Sage magic than you were supposed to and weakened your body to it's limit, it's over...Xerxes Advent."
On realizing that he got too cocky after cornering Xavier and Rachel, he unintentionally used the beast Sage magic and weakened his body even more, now his host body had barely an hour left before it dissipated.
"Curse you! Curse you Xavier-.."
Before he could complete his statement, I sent my fist towards his face and released another Tempest Canon which catapulted him several meters away from the vicinity carrying along the debris of the destroyed Inn.
Putting an end to his plans, I approached Rachel who still laid on the ground a bit in pain and picked her up in a bridal style position.
"It's okay Rachel, everything is going to be alright."
I looked her in the eyes and a radiant smile was drawn on her face as I ventured deep into the forest with her in my arms. It was unlikely that Xerxes will survive, he had mere hours left and without the perfect vessel a great evil will be eradicated from this world.
With that, came the end of the story of Xerxes Advent as we faced the new path life laid out for us.