Ethan had barely caught a breath after the exhausting battle. Sweat dripped down his forehead, and his body could hardly stand upright. But the raspy voice of the cloaked man in front of him shattered any sense of relief.
"I am Otso, the dark sorcerer who serves the eternal one in the world without light! I won't die so easily!" Otso's voice seemed to come from the depths of the darkness itself, filled with hatred and unbearable madness.
Ethan, nearly drained of all his strength, looked on in horror. Otso's partially destroyed body began to move, with broken bones and torn skin.
Yet behind all that destruction, a force kept him alive the darkness. With a sinister grin, Otso stood up again. His wounded face was a reflection of pure darkness, his shadow merging with the stillness of the night as if he were a part of it.
"You… you should be dead!" Ethan shouted, his voice hoarse and filled with pain. Every word felt like needles piercing his lungs. His breath was labored, his body trembling from the agony that consumed every inch of him.
Otso just laughed. "Behold the power granted by my Master!" He raised his hands to the cloudy night sky. Dark energy flowed from his fingertips, filling the air with the stench of death.
In an instant, a fierce wind blew, sending a bone-chilling cold through Ethan. The anguished cries of suffering souls echoed from all directions, as if the damned were screaming from within hell.
Otso drew the souls from the corpses strewn across the battlefield, raising them from death to fuel his power.
Despite his bloodied and wounded body, Ethan tried to rise. But his knees trembled, his body too weak to stand. "No! This can't be!" Ethan shouted, though in his heart, he knew this darkness was stronger than anything he had ever faced.
As Otso absorbed the souls around him, his body began to transform. His muscles swelled, his skin turned pitch black, and the aura of darkness around him intensified.
His eyes glowed red, and the wicked smile on his face became even more terrifying. "Watch closely!" Otso laughed. "This is the true power! The power of my Master!"
"Don't let fear control you, Ethan!" Valdraxx's voice echoed in his mind. "If you die, I too will be lost from this world!" Valdraxx, the entity flowing through Ethan, tried to save him. But the darkness surrounding Otso was so thick, so strong, that Valdraxx's voice was faint, almost drowned out.
Ethan gazed at Otso in terror. In front of him stood a monstrous being darkness in physical form. "You will become a part of this power, Ethan. Come, let's end this here!" Otso stepped forward, each step causing the ground beneath him to tremble.
Ethan raised his small dagger, the only weapon he had left. It seemed insignificant. "I won't give up," he said, though even he felt the emptiness in his words. The darkness surrounding Otso was so thick, it seemed hope had been swallowed whole.
With incredible speed, Otso lunged at Ethan. His sharp claws slashed toward Ethan's body. "Witness your destruction!" Otso roared, filled with arrogance.
Ethan tried to dodge, but Otso's attack was too fast. The black claws struck his body.
"Devourer Slash!" Ethan tried to retaliate with the last of his strength, but his dagger shattered upon contact with Otso's skin. The wound it caused was barely visible Otso had become a creature immune to ordinary attacks.
Otso's laughter echoed, as if it came from the depths of hell. "You're a fool if you thought you could defeat me. I am now the embodiment of darkness itself!" With one powerful kick, Ethan's body was thrown far, crashing into the ground with a heavy thud.
Ethan lay on the ground, his body no longer able to move. His breath came in gasps, and blood flowed from his wounds.
Every passing second felt like the end of everything. "No… this can't be… this can't be my end…" Ethan muttered, but the flame of hope that once burned in his chest was now nearly extinguished.
Otso, standing proudly before him, slowly approached. "It's time, Ethan. You will die here, and the world will be consumed by darkness." His sharp fangs glistened as he smiled, ready for the final strike.
"Ethan, you must rise!" Valdraxx's voice screamed desperately in Ethan's mind, but the voice grew weaker. Ethan knew he could no longer fight back. This was the end.
As Otso raised his claws, the air around them grew colder. Ethan could feel the icy wind brushing against his face. In those final moments, before the claws could strike, he remembered all his goals, his dreams of vengeance, his desire to conquer Arkhana.
"What about my revenge… what about my destiny…?" Ethan thought, his voice drowned in the darkness. But destiny was no longer on his side.
"Goodbye, Ethan. Live in darkness forever!" Otso's roar echoed, and his claws swung downward, ready to end it all.
One strike, one second, and all hope vanished. Otso's claws struck Ethan's body brutally, and in an instant, the world around him turned to total darkness. The screams of the souls trapped in the void echoed in his mind, mixing with Ethan's final cry.
In that darkness, Ethan disappeared, lost to the world, swallowed by eternal shadow. Otso had won, and with Ethan's fall, darkness began to envelop the world.
But in the midst of that void, a faint whisper from Valdraxx echoed, deep within the lost mind. "This is not the end… Ethan…"
But by then, it was too late.