Chapter 198 Volume IV - Chapter 43: One Tiny Little Mistake
I turned back to the door, confident that I was going to go out, but I didn't do it, or rather I couldn't.
As I turned back to the door, a figure slowly materialized in front of my eyes, literally out of the shadows. I saw brown eyes fading to red, followed by black hair as coal-black as mine. Then a worn-out light armor.
"Ezareth."
Another smile appeared on my face, and the door behind me rattled again. This time more violently than before.
"You survived."
She raised her eyes and waited for a short time without saying anything. Then she spoke indifferently.
"Yes, I was following right behind you."
Huh, she's been following me behind my back until now... is that it? Yet I had never felt the presence of something passing through the door... Her stigma ability is definitely more than simple stealth.
But... it doesn't seem to matter much at the moment. We need to focus on surviving.
"Then let's go, we have to be quick."
My footsteps were the only thing that echoed in the huge room, breaking the silence. There was nothing but the sound of the sealed door behind us being forced with a battering ram.
The first step, then the second… and the third one. Then, again, a metallic and harsh sound that shook the whole room.
'Aiden...'
I paused at the sound of the Sith's voice. As the silence hung eerily around the room, I noticed something strange.
Something... Something is not right.
I looked up at Ezareth, her eyes lingering where they were on me. I narrowed my eyes slightly and met hers.
"Why are you standing there? We have to go."
Ezareth let out a deep sigh, then raised her hand so that the ring on her finger suddenly caught my attention. It was on the middle finger of her right hand, and it looked plain. Yet it had strange inscriptions and runes on it.
It was a dimensional inventory ring.
The runes on the ring glowed, then slowly an object appeared in front of Ezareth, a dagger. My eyes twitched, my brows furrowed, and I gripped the obsidian sword tightly in my right hand.
"What does this mean?"
This time not only the door behind us rattled, but literally the whole room. Ezareth, her cold eyes fixed on me, pointed her dagger at me as if nothing abnormal was happening.
"Sorry. You… have to die."
I frowned once again, not succumbing to my confusion. I wanted at least an answer.
"But why?"
She replied with a sigh.
"You don't stand a chance against me. You are weak against me... So don't make it difficult, wiera."
My frown suddenly rose in surprise. My narrowed eyes suddenly widened. Her words, or rather the last one, echoed again and again in my mind.
Does she... know about wieras?
But how?
"There may be very few who know your kind and your nature, and I am one of them. Let me introduce myself to you once again, as tradition suggests."
Ezareth's cold, crimson eyes suddenly flashed light blue, and my eyes widened once again.
"I am Ezareth Mansaar, one of the Guardian Candidates of Patience, first in line."
All the pieces fell into place in my mind one by one as ordea, the energy of order, slowly made itself known in the room, coating Ezareth's dagger.
Once... I had used the caora against someone on purpose just once to survive.
My whole body trembled. I was furious, I clenched my fist and teeth as hard as I could.
How could it be?!
"Present yourself."
I clenched my teeth even harder, gripping my obsidian sword tightly as my nails made the palm of my left hand bleed. The throbbing in my shoulder intensified, yet I ignored it and repeated to myself.
I will live.
Sith took shape in front of me without saying anything, gave me a very brief look, and shook his head. We didn't need words.
Seeing that I had no intention of doing what she said, Ezareth sighed. Then she rushed at me.
She had only her dagger in her hand, not the other short sword she had used to fight the umbanth.
The mana inside me suddenly warmed. As an asymmetrical but majestic crown appeared on my head, teal in color, studded with jewels and seemingly made of tree branches, I begged the caora, once more.
I... will live no matter what.
The left side of my vision turned purple and the caora spread throughout my body. The throbbing in my shoulder disappeared, if not completely. My body filled with strength and with it, I used the wind to defend myself.
Ezareth's dagger landed on my sword, though she did not continue when she realized she was being targeted by the wind. She dodged the wind blades aimed at her by sliding her dagger over my sword and spinning around, and without even waiting a moment, she aimed for my stomach.
She was very fast, and if she had fought against the umbanth at that speed, maybe it would have been enough for her alone. I could not see her clearly even in my ascension form.
I tried to step back, but I was still slow. A strange burning sensation spread through my whole body as the dagger made a not-so-deep gash in my abdomen.
I bit my lip, not caring about making it bleed. I focused even more, feeding the caora with even more emotions. Absolute Mind was not automatically suppressing my emotions, the skill was practically deactivated because I was using the caora.
So I heard a voice behind me, in my mind, a familiar voice whispering quietly and sarcastically.
'You're going to die, Aiden.'
Ezareth moved again without wasting a second, our eyes met for a moment as the bruising in my vision increased. Then I saw a huge look of surprise appear on her face.
She was looking at my right eye, the one that hadn't turned purple even though I had used caora.
This made her hesitate a little. Then I positioned my foot, supported myself, and swung my sword diagonally, swiftly at her. Ezareth deftly dodged my attack without much difficulty and stepped back, the surprise still on her face.
"Why do you have only one purple eye?"
I ignored her, spreading more and more caora over my body, while I felt something strange inside me, a slight... pain.
Caora, the energy of chaos, which represents destruction, was burning me.
I gritted my teeth, ignored the blood coming out of my mouth, and attacked Ezareth.
She skillfully dodged each of my attacks. Even my wind spell, strengthened by the Spiritual Ascension, did not work. It was as if she was seeing the spell before I cast it.
She shattered all the Mana Barriers I had created in a single attack. Finally, when I swung my sword vertically at her, she stepped aside as usual and pressed her dagger against my sword. Preventing me from lifting it, she approached me and looked me in the face.
"Your mana flow is also strange, interesting..."
'She doesn't even take you seriously.'
I raised my hand, loaded it with as much mana as I could, and sent waves of harsh wind that almost filled the entire room.
Ezareth's body disappeared into the shadows, out of my sight. For a brief moment, the only sound in the room was the door behind us being forced by something. Then another sound came from behind me.
"Are you a hybrid? No... that's not possible. What are you? Are you one of the subjects who escaped from Saligia?"
Her dagger suddenly entered my shoulder, the very shoulder that had been hit by the bullets. I struggled not to groan as the sharp metal, powered by ordea and mana at the same time, slowly sank deep into my flesh, even touching the bullets inside it.
I didn't know how to use caora, I only had a limit as someone who knew how to manipulate it. But, then... something came to my mind.
Ah...
One... Except one.
'So that's it? How weak you are...'
I spread a wave of flame around me, so that Ezareth was forced to retreat whether she wanted to or not.
I shouted and ignored my teeth, which were chattering as if they were about to break because I had clenched them too hard.
In this short fight between Ezareth and me, I used everything I had learned from Professor Calvin. I swung my sword as best I could. I used the wind, the flame, and the caora all at the same time. Blood came from my nose, from my mouth. My vision blurred, my body couldn't take the pressure.
I was kicked, struck in the face. A few of my fingers were broken after my power struggle with Ezareth. Her eyes were always on me, her dagger piercing my flesh countless times but never killing me. She studied me, trying to figure out what I was.
Then, after a while, after a short period of time spent literally toying with me, she finally gave up.
"Anyway, time is limited. So, I have to finish this."
Ezareth lunged at me for one last attack.
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