The cavern echoed with the clash of metal as Amukelo advanced, his mana-fueled aura blazing around him like a tempest. Oltax, still reeling from the initial powerful strike, scrambled desperately to regain his footing, his eyes wide with the realization of the grave threat before him. But Amukelo, undeterred and unyielding, pressed on with relentless determination.
Amukelo lunged at him again, but as he did that he sensed an attack from his side. It was a magic wind blade directed at his neck. This attack wasn't meant to kill him but to slow him down to give Oltax time to recover. But Amukelo's assault didn't even stop, as he fluidly lowered his head while closing the distance to the lizardman and delivered another slash. Oltax tried to block, but the force of Amukelo's attack was too strong; his defenses crumbled as he was thrown back with the impact.
Before Oltax could recover, Amukelo was upon him again. This time, the swordsman's strike was aimed with surgical precision. As Oltax staggered to his feet, unsteady and disoriented, Amukelo's blades came down in a sweeping arc, severing the lizardman's hands in a clean, decisive strike. Oltax screamed in agony as both of his hands fell beside him.
Meanwhile, Oxius, witnessing the swift downfall of his right-hand man, conjured a desperate wind spell aimed directly at Amukelo. With a single step, Amukelo dodged the dark magic, his focus unbroken, his advance relentless.
As he closed the distance, Oxius's follower, in a last-ditch effort to save his master, shoved Oxius aside. Amukelo's blade, initially aimed for Oxius's neck, instead left a gruesome trail across his face. The cut was deep, gashing from his forehead across the nose and down past his eye, which now wept blood rather than tears. Oxius's cry of pain was almost drowned out by the thuds of his followers' heads hitting the ground—severed by the same stroke meant for their leader.
Oxius stumbled backward, clutching his bleeding face, his eyes wide with shock and fear. As he looked up, he saw Amukelo advancing, his expression as relentless as the tide. The man who had once commanded fearsome power and loyalty was now reduced to a quivering wreck, begging for the mercy he had denied to so many.
"Please, spare me. I won't hurt anybody anymore," Oxius pleaded, his voice cracking under the weight of his imminent doom.
Amukelo's advance did not falter; his voice was cold, almost detached, as he responded, "You're as cowardly as your master was. I will end you as I did with him."
Each of Amukelo's steps was measured, the air around him crackling with the power of his mana. Oxius's plea for mercy seemed to fade in his wide grin, "Spare me if you can stay alive." But Amukelo was unswayed, his mind clear, his resolve unbreakable. He raised his swords, the mana streams dancing violently around them, a stark reminder of the fate that awaited Oxius—a fate sealed by his own cruel ambitions.
As Amukelo was about to deliver the final slash, he sensed a murder intent from his side. It was Leviathan who was trying to ambush him. The beast's massive tail, like a dark whip of bone and shadow, struck with devastating power. Amukelo, anticipating the attack, crossed his swords in a defensive stance, the blades absorbing the brunt of the impact. The collision sent him flying and he crushed against the wall.
Oxius, his face twisted in a malevolent grin, taunted from the sidelines, reveling in the chaos he had orchestrated. "Kill this one," he hissed to the Leviathan, his voice echoing ominously through the cavern. "With him gone, our path to unsealing Satan will be clear."
Leviathan, turning its ghastly skull toward Amukelo, seemed to size him up, its eyes glowing faintly red in the darkness. "I see why you are considered a threat," it rumbled, its voice like the grinding of stones. Without warning, it lunged, faster than one would expect from such a gargantuan creature.
Amukelo, though winded from the first exchange, reacted with lightning speed. As the Leviathan bore down on him, he rolled aside, narrowly avoiding a crushing blow from its limb. The ground where he had just stood cracked under the force, sending shards of rock flying.
Scrambling to his feet, Amukelo didn't pause. With a fierce shout, he charged his mana-enhanced speed a blur to any onlooker. As he closed the distance, his swords sang through the air, twin arcs of lethal precision aimed at the Leviathan's leg.
The Leviathan, surprised by the counterattack, attempted to retract its limb, but it was too late. Amukelo's blades met their mark, severing one of the creature's ghastly claws with a satisfying cleave. Dark ichor spilled from the wound, sizzling where it hit the ground.
The Leviathan recoiled, a guttural roar of pain and rage echoing off the cavern walls. It fixed its void-like gaze on Amukelo, who stood ready, swords dripping with the dark essence of the beast. "You cannot hope to survive," the Leviathan snarled, its voice a chilling promise of doom.
With a renewed fury, the beast lunged again, its remaining claws poised to rend and tear. Amukelo braced himself, knowing this fight was far from over. His muscles tensed, his focus narrowed to the looming shadow before him, ready to dance with death in the flickering shadows of the underground.