The fight had more words than battle had come out of it.
Mercy had cleared up all of the things Alone was throwing at him, and it was time for the final showdown, and it seemed Lucifer had prepared Alone just for that.
As Mercy walked, he felt each step take away his star energy.
"A new passive ability of the realm? He even gained that!"
It was happening for a while, and as soon as Alone had made another mistake, his realm gained its third ability. To drain away his enemy's star energy and use it for himself.
"The crystals were different. Alone mixed them with the roots."
This ice crystal also had poison spores inside them; the poison from them was deadly for a weak warlord.
"I bet a Mantha family member could handle this."
Mercy did not care much; he was confident enough to fight, but something else troubled him.
"That means he has the power of 17 orbs, at least." Mercy knew it from experience in the past.
"That means Lucifer can increase the power of people above 15 orbs."
Mercy recalled that Lucifer had previously claimed this wasn't possible during their encounters in the past. Why had Lucifer lied back then?"
Mercy then stopped thinking about the past and focused on the battle of the present. He looked at the pillar from afar and began walking forward.
As Mercy walked forward, the pillar of flame was slowly becoming more and more visible. Soon enough, Mercy could see Alone's body walking slowly and crooked for some reason.
Mercy realised the flame resembled a sword, with Alone at its centre. 'There's no handle, though,' Mercy mused.
'The wielder of this sword is underground in hell.' He continued forward as Alone did the same.
Mercy and Alone were close enough that one step from Alone's sphere of direct influence.
Everything in the sphere was burning; the flame concentrated its effect there. Burying the air and turning land and rock into lava.
The temperature was still scorching hot nearby, and Mercy was standing on air above the land that was nearly melting from the heat.
Mercy thought about making some jokes about Alone, but when he saw Alone's face, his clothes, eyes, and hands, His heart didn't allow him to make a joke.
"…."
Alone's clothes were torn for the most part; he couldn't stand straight, and he was still holding his broken spectre. The fake persona of a crazy or cold man was not there anymore.
"A weak, feeble man."
"Mercy… You… Why didn't you kill me when we met? Why didn't you stop him when I was making the sacrifice? You knew I wasn't in my right mind. You could've stopped me. Why!!?"
Alone's face was becoming worse; he scratched his fingers on his face and tore down his skin, leaving bleeding marks. The flame grew brighter and stronger, and its size grew.
Mercy took a step back.
"My poor Seraphina... My poor grandchild... Sorry. I am so sorry." Alone feels on his knees. The flame became bright yellow, and even the lava began boiling.
Mercy took another step back.
"Seraphina… Is that your daughter's name?" Mercy asked.
Alone heard the question and gave Mercy a stare of hatred.
"Why do you care?! You didn't care earlier; why now? Does that even matter to you?" Alone spit with every word he spoke, pointing his finger at Mercy.
"Answer my question, Alone Riza. Is Seraphina your daughter? Answer me now because we won't have this conversation ever again." Despite Alone's response, Mercy questioned.
Alone fumed for a second, but he calmed down and smiled a second before he spoke.
"Seraphina is my child; she has small, sharp blue eyes, and her heart is white and pure. Unlike her mother, she stayed beside me when I was in grief. I made the grandest wedding for her with the person she loved, and then I gifted her a new mansion. Then one day she told me I was going to be a grandfather; that was my happiest no matter what lies I told my council. My grandchild was coming in two months." Alone wiped his running nose.
"so … I had bought, like, those small clothes." Alone began moving his hands, trying to explain the shape of those clothes, while more and more tears rolled.
"I can't do this... I can't do this. I want my daughter... What was her fault? Answer me, Mercy. Lucifer! Answer me, anyone." Alone collapsed on the floor, crying and hugging himself.
Mercy looked at Alone, his eyes unchanging and pitiless. He had no words to offer to Alone; there was no comfort or care in his eyes. Alone was regretting what he did, and he should. His will to fight had been broken.
"Remember the one who brought you this pain alone." Lucifer's voice echoed in the air.
"The devil leaves no prey." Mercy was angry.
"I will!! I will kill you! I will kill the very gods themselves." Alone's red, hatred-filled eyes rose, and he burst with anger.
"?!" Mercy enchanted his protective powers to the maximum as he realised that his amour and skin were burning from the heat after his sword absorbed the incredible heat.
"Lucifer told me your sword absorbs and releases the power of flame. Are you feeling warm now? Why don't you rub some snow on your face?" Alone finally made fun of Mercy.
"I will kill you with my next step. Your journey ends here." The flame was so hot around Alone that it turned violet. Mercy jumped three steps back. Mercy knew no power would save him if he entered the sphere of influence.
"Die…" Alone began walking towards Mercy.
"Alone, I am sorry, but I did not lie earlier. I can't die right now; my Seraphina is waiting for me too."
Mercy mashed his hands together before Alone added him to his sphere of influence.
「Star Spell: Lord of Contradiction.」 "Question of Completion."
"What do you think you can stop-" Alone stopped right there. He tried to move his feet forward, but he couldn't, and he saw that Mercy was releasing the energy of a warlord.
"Alone Riza, I pose you this question. To move a foot of distance, you need to cover half of a foot, but before that, you need to cover half of that half foot, and so on. Then tell me, How can you move even a foot?" Mercy posed the question.
"I can't move!! I knew you were a warlord. What have you done to me?" Alone tried to raise his feet, but he couldn't walk. He felt like he was walking an infinite distance, but he wasn't moving a step forward.
"The answer to my question was your freedom. Give me the correct answer, and you will be free." Mercy spoke in a monotonous voice, as if it were an announcement.
"And the spell is completed. I thought this would work for you. You only read the books of magic; maybe read a book or two on mathematics, and you wouldn't waste a life." Mercy didn't laugh; he just smiled at him.
Alone's flame began to calm down, the temperature began falling, the violet came back to yellow, and the pillar grew smaller. The sword was vanishing down and down.
"Lucifer, help me!!"
"To hear a sentence, you must hear the first half of it, then you must hear the other half of it." Mercy repeated his spell just for the distance.
"Lucifer can't help you now." Mercy spoke.
"What is he saying? Why aren't words coming out of his mouth? It feels as if he is talking?!"Alone realised.
"What have you done to me? I cannot hear anything." Alone cried all he could.
"Lucifer has put some of the soul into you, alone. I can't let you die and give him back his soul and your power." Mercy grinned his teeth with anger but began speaking regardless.
"To die, your body must pass a time of living. For a second to pass...." Mercy repeated the spell like the other two.
"Don't do this, please..." Alone begged, as he knew what the words meant.
"To see, you need to..." Mercy went along for one last time, and soon Alone lost his ability to see, talk, walk, and, most significantly, die. He was struck at this moment forever.
"A worthy sacrifice, you have become Alone Riza. You will stay alone forever; Lucifer won't help you because he comes when invited and you can't read or see his answers. "
"You don't have the back flexibility to write an invitation on the snow, and since your body can't evolve forward, you will never gain it, and neither will Lucifer's soul be able to grow upon you."
"You will not be a loose end," Mercy said regardless, knowing that Alone heard nothing.
Alone was standing like a stone, his flames exhausted and trapped forever in this world. All because he made the deal with the devil.
"Or maybe because he fought the one who wants to hunt the devil?" Mercy chuckled.
Then he looked at Alone for the last time. Before he made his exit, he had a look of pity.
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