Chapter 42: Between Fury and Despair
Through the dense woods, Darius and Crelos made their hasty escape, their hurried steps crashing through the peace of Fang Root. Crelos, struggling in Darius's firm grip, yelled over the sound of their flight, "Put me down! I can't leave my master like this!"
Darius, his gaze fixed forward, shot back, "He's as good as dead, and we will be too if we go back!" The urgency in his voice left no room for argument, his determination clear as they plunged deeper into the forest.
---
Back at the destroyed campsite, Hoggle, battered and coughing blood, dragged himself toward his tent. Each labored movement painted a dire picture: blood oozed from a deep gash along his side, and the way his legs laid limply suggested a back twisted or broken. "Damn you, Ramman... just need to make it..."
An explosion and a rush of wind erupted behind him.
Ramman's voice, twisted with a deranged affection, echoed, "Darius! You are making me fall for you even harder!"
Urged by the threat, Hoggle's efforts to crawl quickened, each move a grim struggle against his failing strength, "No! I can't die li-Ahggh!"
A glowing green foot slammed into his reaching hand, pulverizing bones and mangling flesh. "Don't kill me! Please! I'll do anythi—" His plea was abruptly silenced as Ramman's other foot descended on his skull, the impact emitting a grotesque crunch.
"Run, little wolf, I'm coming for you."
Ramman's twisted form dissolved into the breeze.
----
Darius and Crelos continued their escape. "You're too slow! You should just let me carry you!"
"Not everyone is a freak like you! Why are we even running? Didnt he say he marked you!"
Darius suddenly stopped, his feet digging into the ground. Crelos glanced back, slowing his pace, "I didn't mean we should stop!"
"Do you have any more crystals? Give them all to me."
"Did you just grab me to rob me?! We don't have time for this!"
"Exactly! We don't have time! So if you have any, give them to me!" Darius's voice carried a hint of killing intent on the final word.
Crelos complained under his breath as he quickly rummaged through his pouch and produced four high-grade mana crystals, throwing them to Darius. "Now what?"
"Find a place to hide. He said he marked me; maybe he hasn't marked you yet. Don't try any heroics like earlier, no matter what. Ramman isn't someone you can face." Darius knelt, beginning to scribe an array, his movements swift.
Crelos stepped closer, eyes darting back to their trail. "What are you going to do? You can't possibly fight him. We're talking about a fourth-tier knight, Darius; he's going to kill you!"
"Shut up and hide!"
"Fine! When he kills you, then me, at least I'll be broke, free from wordly desires!" Crelos's tone, dripping with sarcasm, faded as he stormed off, his aura dimming.
Crelos began to run, noting the ground's rise ahead. After climbing a bit, he found a large, fallen tree, pushed aside the dirt and wedged himself beneath it, keeping Darius's location in the distance within sight.
'This better work, a fourth-tier knight can weild around a hundred cauldrons of force.' Darius flashed back to his duel with his parents, his brow tightening further as he carved the runes, 'This is all my fault. Every choice I make only makes things worse! Why did I let Haku leave? Why did I think I could handle this?!'
"Waiting for me?"
Darius's head snapped up, his gaze sharp. In the distance, a wave of leaves and twigs surged towards him, sinister strands of dark green mana woven through the wall of wind.
'Not yet!' Darius returned his focus to the ground, his movements accelerating as he continued to etch the array.
The rolling cloud finally hit Darius as he continued to work, leaves and twigs swirling around him, his clothes fluttering in the wind. He called upon his wind mana, a bright green light surrounding him. This light clashed with the dark green mana in the cloud, protecting his work from being spoiled.
"You are exquisite, but you know that, don't you?" Ramman's silhouette emerged within the shadows, arms wrapped around himself. "Is it a spell? An artifact? Or...is it your body?"
His words were soft, almost a whisper, as he spoke to Darius. "how are you doing it, Darius? Tell me how you hide your aura. Tell me how you are this powerful."
'Almost there!' Darius kept his gaze fixed on his work.
"Darius!" Ramman's shout pierced the air, the wind intensifying around Darius.
"Your not a mage, not a knight..."
"Do not ignore me!" Ramman's voice took on a pleading, high-pitched screach, his aura gathering around his manaforged gauntlet. In a flash, he swiped his hand through the air, unleashing a half-meter long, dark green wind blade that soared towards Darius.
"Done!" Darius yelled, his hand hitting the ground. The array under him burst into light, along with a high-grade crystal that started to glow intensely beneath his palm.
The moment Ramman's attack was on the brink of impact, the array beneath Darius sprang to life. A five element barrier surged upwards, the collision with Ramman's wind blade emitting a sharp clash that echoed through the woods.
Ramman, eyeing the glowing pattern at Darius's feet, erupted in ecstatic laughter, "you keep surprising me! I want you more and more! With you, I will have a chance to ascend! Do you know what it feels like? The agony of reaching your limit?! How?! How did you do it Darius?! I will tear into every inch of you, remove every scrap of your will until you tell me!" His laughter spiraled into hysteria, his presence swirling into a cyclone of power around him.
"Your a fucking dead man." Darius's icy, unyielding words sliced through Ramman's laughter.
"Yes, this is how it should be, a wolf should bare its fa.."
"Silence!" Darius's killing intent unfurled like a rolling fog of death.
Ramman panicked. He lashed out violently, leaping back as his blades cut through the air towards Darius. Each strike collided with the barrier, which held firm, each impact igniting the glow of the crystal at its core.
"Like a frog at the bottom of a well, who knows nothing of the sea. You will die here, a worthless pebble on my path. Unnoticed...forgotten." With determination in his eyes, Darius produced the last three crystals and cracked them, their fragments scattering in his palm. Without hesitation, he gathered the broken pieces and swallowed them whole.
"You selfish prick! Suicide?! I won't allow you!" Ramman's onslaught intensified, a furious barrage aimed at Darius's protective shield. The crystal at its core flickered, its glow waning rapidly. Only a handful more of Ramman's strikes, and the stored mana would be utterly depleted.
Within the vibrant glow of the array, the air began to visibly warp around Darius. His skin flushed deep red as his veins protruded, muscles swelling under the immense pressure. Mana from the shattered crystals, all five elements, surged through his twelve major meridians, cycling at an uncontrollable pace through his bones and five elemental tattoos. The power within him built to an unbearable intensity.
Ramman's smile widened, his attacks relentless, as he watched the high-grade crystal's glow nearing its end. But just as the array's light started to flicker, the forest was rocked by a monstrous roar.
The ground trembled, trees swayed violently, and from where Darius stood, an explosion burst forth, sending shockwaves through the surroundings.
A bolt of flames shot towards Ramman. In the nick of time, he raised his arms, now sheathed in a spectral shield. The impact set off an explosion, dark green wind and red fire mana spiraling outwards, a clash of the elements that cleared the area for thirty meters, trees turning to dust instantly.
Then, without warning, another detonation rocked a different area, the two figures vanishing and reappearing rapidly. It was as if they were teleporting, their forms blurring into streaks, each encounter marked by the violent exchange of mana.
The two fighters suddenly broke off, distancing themselves, both radiating intense auras.
"More, more, more!" Ramman's cry, feverish with excitement, echoed as he leaned back, arms wide. His aura thickened in his hands, shaping into two short swords, each blade adorned with menacing hooks on its reverse.
Darius faced him, his tunic burned to ash, skin bursting with a fierce red as his fire tattoo on his stomach ignited with visible flames, his hair was a wild dance within the storm of his own aura. 'I'll burst apart before he gets the chance to end me!'
Torrents of fire erupted from his mouth, "Solar Tyrant's Fist!"
Darius unleashed his martial technique to the extreme. Each punch was a explosion of mana erupting across the charred clearing. In his agitated state, Darius estimated his speed now matched the ferocity and strength of someone with 80 Cauldrons of Force—each fist capable of launching dozens of attacks in the blink of an eye.
Explosions riddled through the forest, the blasts tearing through the air like rapid-fire thunder, shredding trees and destroying the land, as if the earth itself were cracking open. The forest transformed into a living hell, a battleground that shook from the barrage.
Ramman, reveling in his madness, countered by expanding his aura outward. The expanding force caused Darius's burning fists to land steadily further away, exploding before they could reach him. "I have already seen this, Darius. I was watching you when you used it to kill my men." Ramman's words slithered, whispering to his ears on the wind.
As Darius continued to launch his Solar Tyrant's Fists, Ramman began to close the distance, his movements swift and elusive. Darius, recognizing the shift, kept his distance, the two figures blurring in a dance of defense and attack, their exchange a rapid, devastating clash of wind and fire.
Suddenly, Ramman's aura intensified, a dark green flare enveloping him as he unleashed a knight skill. In a moment of dazzling energy, his form became hazy, splitting into two, each "Ramman" then becoming solid and radiated the same menacing aura.
Darius paused his barrage, keeping space between them, pushing his ethereal steps to the brink.
"Sweet child, why did you stop?" Ramman's voice echoed in unison from both figures, "don't worry, you were..."
Darius crashed into the ground, halting with such force that the earth itself seemed to deform beneath him. His arms, a blur of motion and power, launched two punches with blinding speed. The air around his fists compressed, unleashing twin shockwaves that tore through the earth behind him, carving out parallel trails of destruction.
In this moment, the world seemed to pause. Behind the assault of the twin knights, a series of fiery fist imprints began to appear, dozens upon dozens stacking upon the same spot instantly, each gradually glowing brighter. Then, as abruptly as time had held its breath, it exhaled—a massive explosion shattered the stillness of the moment.
The concussive force obliterated the fading images of both knights. Ramman's scream, a blend of surprise and fury, added to the chaos of the mana unleashed.
At the moment Ramman had used his Knight's Skill, Darius's Arcane Gaze became his advantage. His vision technique exposed the true nature of Ramman's duplicates as mere constructs of his aura, with his actual body was invisible within the wind. It was a sinister and devious skill, but, with a glaring weakness if one could spot it. The skill left the real body's aura spread too thin, divided between the three Rammans, unable to focus on defense.
Seizing this critical lapse, a result of Ramman's overconfidence and oversight, Darius executed his counter. In that frozen moment of time, he delivered fifty-four strikes, each imbued with eighty Cauldrons of Force, straight to Ramman's exposed chest.
In the aftermath of the explosion, Darius gasped for air, his breath like bursts from a thermal vent. "I can't keep them in anymore!" His aura abruptly transformed, the fierce blaze of fire giving way to a towering surge of water mana, his tattoo on his chest bursting with a deep blue radiance.
Darius struggled, finally dropping to his knees. His body wracked with effort, he slammed his palms onto the earth. At his touch, the landscape within a kilometer radius transformed; every tree still upright was encased in ice, the whole area turning into a frozen tundra.
Darius's scream tore through the night, his head thrown back as a beam of blue light, slowly shifting to yellow, burst from his eyes and chest, violently shattering the frozen trees nearby.
The sudden sound of a mountain falling echoed through Fang Root as Darius, with a primal force, drove his fist into the ground. Deep fissures began to split the forest floor.
In a rush, Darius leaped away, his aura and tattoo shifting from solid yellow to a vibrant green. Upon landing, he unleashed a roar, god-like in its fury, as a massive tunnel of wind mana burst from his mouth, destroying everything in its path.
After releasing his surging wind mana, Darius bent over, his body twitching and shaking as monstrous bolts of purple lighting tore from his body, 'I'm out of time!'
Seizures instantly dropped him as his lightning mana escaped control. Darius's lightning tattoo screamed, his skin cracked and burned, blood poured from his eyes and immediately began sizzle and smoke. Lightning ravaged the ground around him, the air vibrating from the unleashed energy.
In a patch of land strangely untouched amid the surrounding havoc, Crelos lay under the downed tree, his complexion ashen, his breaths uneven. Holding a monocle to his eye, its frame etched with runes glowing softly, he inspected the chaos. "Shit!" clawing his way free, he dashed to where Darius writhed in spasms.
As Crelos dashed towards Darius, the storm of mana that had engulfed him finally stopped. From a distance, he saw Darius's form still and smoldering, fissures marring his skin, bleeding into the scorched earth below.
Arriving at Darius's side, Crelos recoiled, struck by the sight before him. "Gaia protect him," his voice barely a whisper as panic edged his movements. Clutching a small vial, he knelt beside Darius, gently raising his head. With careful hands, he tipped the vial, allowing the silver liquid within to cascade over Darius's broken body, a soft white glow emanating from the opening.
"Get your filthy hands off him!"
"You have got to be joking!" In a mix of anger and desperation, Crelos upended the remaining contents of the bottle into Darius's mouth. Scrambling to his feet, he drew his wand, pointing it in the direction of the voice with a shaky but determined grip.
In the night's darkness, a lone figure approached Crelos. The only light in this desolation was a dark green glow, oozing from Ramman. His wind aura, a ghostly vapor, swirled lazily around him, casting eerie shadows as it moved.
As Ramman advanced, his ghostly aura focused intently on his chest, where strands of dark green mana crawled across his injuries. This spectral light wove through the torn flesh, closing his wounds, his once shattered bones in his chest visibly realigned and solidified. Battered and torn, his armor showed signs of a fierce battle, with sections shredded and hanging loosely. Patches of his hair were singed off, revealing freshly healed skin beneath.
"You shouldn't have left the tower," Ramman said, spitting out blood and bits of flesh as he approached Crelos.
"Eirg-"
Smack! The sound pierced the calm as Crelos's body ragdolled across the ground, skidding to a stop some distance away.
Ramman, standing alone, loomed over Darius's charred figure. "Still alive," he sighed, his eyes lingering on Darius. After a moment, a chuckle bubbled up from his throat, gradually escalating into maniacal laughter that echoed through the devastated forest, "You really almost killed me, Darius! If I hadn't encased my heart with aura, I would be dead right now!"
Suddenly, Ramman's twisted smile and echoing laughter froze, "YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT!"
With a violent kick, Ramman sent Darius's body tumbling across the ground.
Ramman moved forward, his aura swirling with fury. Then, from the depths of the forest, at the edge of the scorched and frozen clearing, far in the distance, a massive bolt of blue lightning erupted from the depths of Fang Root Forest.