|Jude|
After a few moments of regaining our energy, the peaceful silence was shattered by the sudden appearance of the three Scythes. My heart raced as I quickly assessed the situation. All my swords had been broken from the previous battle against the mana beasts. I cursed myself for not being better prepared.
Cadell, Dragoth, and Melzri stood before us, their eyes burning with fury. Cadell, as usual, had a cold expression, but it was now twisted with anger. Dragoth, a towering figure with a muscular body and grey beard, looked like he could crush anything in his path. Melzri, a stark contrast to Seris with her silvery-gray skin and thick black horns, appeared to be both fierce and deadly.
I knew we were in for a difficult fight. I quickly used sound magic to communicate with Master Galahad. "I'll take on Cadell and Melzri. You handle Dragoth."
Master Galahad nodded in agreement, and we charged towards our opponents. The three Scythes also charged towards us, and in seconds, we clashed in a fierce battle.
|Third POV|
Jude's swift movements allowed him to dodge Cadell's soulfire-clad fist, which left his armor cracked from a seemingly weak attack. As Melzri gathered mana around her palms, Jude prepared himself for another round of battle.
Cadell conjured up obsidian blades of soulfire and released a barrage of attacks, but Jude effortlessly weaved through them and landed his own attacks on Cadell. "Did you not learn from the last fight?" Jude taunted as he landed a powerful roundhouse kick on Cadell's chest, cracking open his armor. Cadell groaned in pain and took a step back.
Just as Cadell was about to strike again, a mana shield appeared, momentarily stalling his movements and allowing him to scratch Jude. More shields formed, restricting Jude's movements. Irritated, Jude used his power to break the shields more easily.
But then, everything turned dark for him. His body bent down as his blood turned purple. "Dammit, I was poisoned!" Jude thought as he tried to suppress the poison using the aether in his body. Cadell took advantage of the situation and landed a devastating punch on Jude's jaw, sending him flying away with a broken jaw.
Jude yelled in anger and released a powerful black ice that momentarily froze Cadell. As Cadell attacked him again, Jude had already suppressed the poison and managed to deliver a counter-attack. However, just as he was about to land a fatal blow, Melzri cast her poison again, bringing him to his knees.
This allowed Cadell to stab him in the gut before he could suppress the poison again. "I see now," Jude thought as he froze his wound, "Melzri's poison is deadly against weaker opponents, but Scythe-level opponents like me can suppress it. Her mana shields are also strong against lower-level opponents."
Jude's mind went into high gear as he figured out the timing of Melzri's spells. He then readied aether and mana to suppress the poison quickly after it hit him. After several attempts and many broken bones, he was able to predict where mana shields would form and avoid them.
With this new tactic, Jude was able to get the upper hand again. He dodged most of Cadell's blades and landed many hits on him, trying to break the blades so that Cadell would need to conjure them again. Soulfire was unable to break past Jude's flames of destruction, and Cadell was taking many wounds from his attacks.
However, Melzri's decay arts were affecting the inside of Jude's body, weakening him as the fight went on. Jude could not effectively use the vivum of healing and started to accumulate damage.
Suddenly, Dragoth charged at him, hitting him with a red fire-clad fist that rattled his skull. Jude countered by using Dragoth's momentum to spin in the air and use [Black Dragon Cross Strike] through his legs on both Dragoth and Cadell to distance them from him.
Jude then used [Nilfiem] and [Helheim] at the same time to attack the three scythes and stop them, even if only for a second. He turned to where Galahad's mana signature was and saw him lying unconscious. Jude silently cursed before dodging the incoming attacks from Dragoth and Cadell, using his footwork to avoid their strikes.
|Jude|
As I faced my opponents, I knew I needed to take Melzri out of the fight first. But the poison coursing through my body made it difficult to concentrate for long periods of time. I needed a way to distance her from the other two scythes, so I decided to use a technique Arthur had taught me - a combination of [Burst Step] and [Twelve Thunderbolt Steps].
I focused mana and aether into the muscles of my legs and executed the explosive technique, instantly appearing behind Cadell and Dragoth before they could react. Melzri's eyes widened as I struck her with a powerful punch, sending her flying. I pursued her relentlessly, using my superior physical durability to avoid her attacks while chipping away at her defenses.
My plan was working perfectly. The other two scythes were desperately chasing after me, unable to intervene as I kept pushing Melzri further and further away. She could only rely on her mana shields to dampen the strength of my attacks, unable to land a blow on me in return.
As I inflicted countless wounds on her and her armor began to crack, I knew it was time to finish this. I gathered violet flames on my right hand, infused with the soulfire I had copied from Cadell, and manipulated them around my fist.
With a final burst of energy, I launched my attack - [Solar Flare]. But just as the massive amount of mana and aether was about to hit Melzri, a sword came out of nowhere and pierced through my forearm. I turned to see who had attacked me, muttering under my breath in confusion.
"Why...?"
But there was no reply, only silence. Suddenly, Cadell and Dragoth's attacks tore through my weakened aetheric defenses from behind, leaving me vulnerable and defeated.
|Galahad|
"I'm sorry, Jude," I said with a heavy heart. "I know my words cannot heal the pain I've caused, but I must do this for the sake of my family."
As memories of my loved ones flooded my mind, my resolve strengthened once more.
Cadell sneered, "Bring him over here."
Melzri sighed and disappeared into thin air. Moments later, she reappeared with a body, tossing it callously to the ground. As my eyes scanned the lifeless face, my heart sank.
"No," Jude muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. Suddenly, a dark aura enveloped his body, and I felt myself being pushed back alongside the other Scythes.
Tears streamed down Jude's cheeks as the will that had kept him going began to crumble like a sandcastle. Melzri's poison, which had been slowly killing him, was almost completely suppressed, and both Cadell and Dragoth were pushed back by the force of his cries.
I watched in horror as Jude's muscles began to contort, and mana and aether gathered around him in copious amounts. Chills ran down my spine as he looked at me with dead eyes.
|Jude|
My existence in both worlds could be captured in one word: genius.
In this world, I was the strongest, the smartest, and beloved by the sword. Perhaps, they would also say that I was loved by mana. But none of that mattered when Galahad betrayed me and all of Dicathen, leading to my father's death. Seeing my father's limp body on the ground while Cadell looked at me triumphantly, my blood boiled.
Pushing my body to its limits, I focused on condensing and strengthening my muscles. I activated the Yin-Yang Body, the ultimate martial art physique I had acquired in my old life. My right side turned pale blue, freezing the very air with my aether-infused ice mana, while my left side caused the ground to vaporize with aether-infused fire mana.
I looked at the one I had once called my master with eyes void of pity, filled only with coldness. With a well-oiled machine-like precision, my body obeyed my every command as I leapt towards Galahad. He raised his mana-augmented sword, but it cracked with just a single punch from me.
I unleashed the full extent of my power without hesitation. The destructive force of the rune combined with the soulfire pushed Cadell and Dragoth back, and even Melzri's poison failed to slow me down as I relentlessly attacked Galahad. His armor and sword were no match for me as I shattered them both with ease.
Cadell's soulfire materialized on my right side, but I quickly neutralized it before it could harm me. I continued my assault on Galahad, reducing him to a shadow of his former self as I destroyed him piece by piece. The once-imposing strikes that had terrified me as a child now felt like nothing more than feeble attempts to stop me.
It was time to end this. I gathered lightning, ice, and violet flames around my left palm, forming a devastating attack. With a piercing scream, I unleashed it upon Galahad, tearing through his sword, armor, ribcage, and finally crushing his heart and mana core.
As he uttered his last words, "I am sorry, Jude," I felt nothing but satisfaction as his life faded away.
Turning to face Dragoth and Cadell, I could feel my body trembling with the intensity of my mana. My left hand was frozen in place while my right hand was burning with the recoil of my spells.
I shattered Cadell's blades with ease and absorbed the impact of their punches, before pressing my hands onto their faces and unleashing a barrage of mana and aether.
Cadell was instantly frozen solid, trapped in his own soulfire, while Dragoth was consumed by a furious inferno.With a flick of my wrist, I launched the two spells I had condensed earlier - Absolute Zero and Infernal Fury - straight at them.
Despite being contained, the impact was devastating enough to leave them barely conscious.But my attention was quickly drawn to Melzri, who stood in front of me with her armour now crushed.
Even in her weakened state, she warned Dragoth and Cadell to run before collapsing on the ground.Enraged by her sacrifice, I turned to face her, only to see her mana core and horns dissipating into the air.
The poison coursing through my veins didn't help my anger, but I pushed it aside and locked onto the escaping duo.
Creating a glass spell to concentrate light, I heated up the surrounding sand and created another glass shooter. Frostfire, soulfire, and flames of destruction were all channelled into the cannon, intensifying its power.The concentrated light gathered and shot off straight at Dragoth and Cadell, who were still within range.
But even that wasn't enough. I was determined to end this once and for all.Making my way to the Wall, I searched for healers to assist me, my mind burdened by the death I had witnessed.
(A/N: Just wanted to tell you this, the two of them are not dead.)
|Alice|
As a healer, I knew the horrors of war all too well. It was my duty to tend to the wounded and keep them alive, but the constant influx of new patients was overwhelming. And then, a guard burst into my tent, interrupting my work with urgent news.
"We need healers here!" he shouted. I turned to see Jude, my son, slung over the guard's shoulder. His body was battered and bruised, his skin a sickly shade of purple. Panic surged through me as I rushed to his side, along with a few other healers.
Jude's wounds weren't too severe, but I could feel my hands shaking as I worked on him. He had always been incredibly strong and could heal himself, so seeing him like this was a shock. Hours passed as we worked on him, extracting poison and healing internal injuries. Thankfully, none of his wounds were fatal.
Finally, Jude's complexion improved, and he woke up from his unconscious state. Relief washed over me as I hugged him tightly, unable to control my emotions. His response was surprising, tears streaming down his face.
He whispered, "Mom..." before breaking down in sobs. I held him as he cried, feeling his body shake with grief. When his tears finally subsided, he looked up at me with sadness in his eyes.
"Mom, I'm sorry," he said, his voice heavy with sorrow.
I patted his back, not knowing what to say or do. And then he dropped the bombshell.
"Dad...died, Mom," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
My heart stopped as I struggled to process his words. Tears streamed down my face as the world spun around me. How could this be happening? I hugged Jude tightly, unable to find any words to say.