"They were necessary sacrifices."
The words left Xalier's mouth without hesitation.
Then he vanished.
Antanasia's eyes widened.
'Again—'
He appeared in front of her and slashed toward her torso.
*Clang!*
Antanasia crossed her katanas and blocked, but the impact still pushed her feet through the dirt.
Their energy collided at the same time.
Her black aura and his red aura crashed against each other, pressing outward like two storms trying to occupy the same space.
"Uh..."
Antanasia's lips curled.
Then she laughed.
"Ahahaha! I knew it."
Xalier's eyes narrowed.
"I knew you were just another hypocrite!"
Her words left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Xalier twisted his longsword and forced her guard aside, aiming for her ribs.
Antanasia shifted and blocked the sideways slash with one katana.
"Do you know how many of us have died in this war?" Xalier asked.
"What?"
The question caught her off guard.
It was too sudden.
Too calm.
Too far away from the rhythm of the fight.
Still, she answered while meeting his next strike.
"I don't know. A few hundred thousand? Maybe a few million?"
Xalier's expression did not change.
"Not even close."
The words came slowly.
Antanasia's smile faded.
Xalier's dagger struck toward her throat.
She caught it with her second katana, and for a moment, they locked into a stalemate.
Both of Xalier's hands were occupied.
Both of hers were too.
Their blades trembled against each other while their auras bombarded the space between them, red and black energy bursting in small explosions around their bodies.
Xalier leaned slightly closer.
"Over three hundred million vampires have died since this cursed war began."
Antanasia's eyes widened.
"And the elves have lost just as many."
For the first time since the fight began, Antanasia froze.
Only for a heartbeat.
That was enough.
Xalier gathered energy into his leg and kicked her directly in the chest.
*BOOM!*
"UGH!"
Blood burst from Antanasia's mouth.
Her body flew backward like a cannon shot, tearing through trees one after another.
*Bang!
Crack!
BOOM!*
Hundreds of meters of forest shattered behind her before she finally slammed into a massive trunk hard enough to split it.
The tree fell beside her.
*THUD.*
"Fuck..."
Antanasia pushed herself up with one trembling hand.
Blood spilled from her lips and ran down her chest.
'Most of my ribs are broken...'
Her energy moved through her body, checking the damage.
'My lungs are crushed too...'
She lifted her head.
Xalier stood far away, calm and silent, his red longsword lowered beside him.
'That bastard was hiding his strength.'
Her breathing turned ragged.
She was not stupid.
Pride was one thing.
Dying for no reason was another.
'I need to get away.'
Antanasia kicked off the ground and shot into the sky.
Xalier looked up.
He did not speak.
He simply disappeared.
Antanasia's pupils shrank.
'Not Transcend—!'
She realized it too late.
Xalier appeared in front of her in the air and kicked her in the face.
*BANG!*
Her body crashed back into the ground, creating a crater beneath her.
Dust rose.
Earth cracked.
Blood spread.
Xalier remained above, looking down at her through the settling smoke.
"My and Elah's dream is to stop this never-ending war."
His voice was no longer casual.
It carried weight.
Dominance.
"And no one will stop us."
Antanasia staggered to her feet.
Her legs shook.
Blood dripped from her chin.
Even so, she laughed weakly.
"Even with this power..."
She coughed.
"...you can't stop this war."
Xalier's eyes remained cold.
"Even your father, the previous king, couldn't stop it." Her voice grew steadier as black energy crawled into her wounds and began forcing them closed. "The casualties are too high. The hatred is too deep. Even if the king orders it, vampires and elves will not simply stop."
Xalier looked at her for a long moment.
Then his gaze lifted toward the sky.
"Maybe you are right."
Antanasia's smile froze.
"We did not start this war," Xalier said. "So perhaps we cannot stop it from here."
His fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword.
"From the Heavens, they see war."
Red energy rose around him.
"But on this earth..."
For the first time, Xalier truly raised his voice.
"There is only carnage."
A chill ran down Antanasia's spine.
"You..."
Her eyes widened.
"You're insane."
Xalier lowered his gaze back to her.
"No one has ascended in thousands, hundreds of thousands of years," Antanasia said, her voice sharpening. "And even if you do, you can't defeat them."
"We will see when we get there."
Xalier vanished again.
"But until then, we cannot let anyone stand in our way."
"Fuck!"
Antanasia released both katanas.
They fell beside her.
Then her right hand moved to the final sword at her waist.
The one she had not drawn.
The black sheath with red markings.
The moment her fingers touched it—
"AGH!"
Pain exploded through her arm.
Her scream shook the forest.
Red markings crawled from the scabbard onto her skin, spreading over her hand like burning veins.
She exhaled harshly.
"Huff..."
The markings continued moving.
Up her wrist.
Her forearm.
Toward her shoulder.
Xalier appeared in front of her.
His eyes sharpened.
'Cursed blade.'
He moved instantly.
Before Antanasia could draw it fully, Xalier grabbed her elbow and tried to force the weapon back into its scabbard.
The red markings jumped onto his hand.
"Ugh."
His fingers tightened.
For one split second, pain tore through him.
It felt as if invisible teeth were chewing through his muscles while blades cut along every nerve in his hand.
His body trembled.
Only once.
Then his will crushed the pain down.
Without releasing her arm, Xalier thrust his longsword through Antanasia's stomach.
*Shhk.*
Blood ran down the blade.
Antanasia glared at him.
"You... fucker..."
Xalier's face was emotionless.
Antanasia's was full of rage.
The red markings reached her neck.
Her voice distorted.
"I have my own dream..."
Blood spilled from her mouth.
"...to protect."
The whites of her eyes turned red.
The markings covered her skin.
Her teeth sharpened.
Her veins darkened and rose beneath her pale flesh.
Then she screamed and pulled the cursed blade free.
The katana was pure black.
Too black.
Not like metal painted dark.
Like a thin wound in the world had been sharpened into a sword.
Xalier's eyes narrowed.
Antanasia swung.
*CLANG!*
Xalier blocked, but the force behind the strike pushed him back.
His cheek split open.
For the first time in the fight, blood ran down his face.
He landed several meters away and touched the wound with two fingers.
The curse crawled inside the cut.
Slow.
Hungry.
Persistent.
'More dangerous than I thought.'
He looked at the black katana.
'A dozen wounds like this, and even I would be in danger.'
Antanasia growled.
She looked less like a woman now and more like something barely holding its shape. Black energy poured from her body. Red markings pulsed across her skin. Every breath sounded painful, but her strength had risen dramatically.
Xalier lowered his sword slightly.
"I'm sorry."
Antanasia's eyes narrowed.
"I underestimated you too much."
His posture loosened.
The air changed.
"In exchange, let me show you one of my trump cards."
Xalier closed his eyes.
Antanasia's instincts screamed.
"Fuck that!"
She rushed forward.
Her cursed katana blurred.
One slash.
Two.
Three.
Then dozens.
Then more than a hundred.
The black blade tore through the air again and again, and a giant cloud of dust swallowed Xalier's figure.
Antanasia continued cutting until her arms shook.
Then she stopped.
Her breathing was ragged.
'What is...'
She stared into the dust.
Her attacks had not missed.
She had felt them hit something.
Something hard.
Something that did not break.
A sudden pressure pushed against her blade.
"Uh!?"
A force struck her guard and sent her flying backward out of the dust cloud.
Her feet carved deep lines through the ground before she stopped herself.
'This strength...'
Her arms trembled.
Then a gust of wind burst from inside the cloud.
The dust scattered.
Antanasia looked up.
Black wings unfolded within the clearing.
No.
Not wings of flesh.
Wings of energy.
Feathered shapes formed from dark power, each feather burning at the edges with red flame. One wing stretched outward and cleared the remaining dust, while the other still covered Xalier's body.
'Transformation...?'
The second wing slowly opened.
Antanasia's eyes widened.
Xalier stood in the center of the burned ground.
His long raven-black hair had turned white.
Whiter than his skin.
His eyes were no longer blood red.
They glowed purple.
Black-blue flames circled his body without smoke.
They moved like fire, but felt closer to something spiritual, something that burned more than flesh.
The grass beneath him turned to ash.
'Spirit Fire...?'
Even from hundreds of meters away, Antanasia felt the heat.
Not only on her skin.
Inside her blood.
Her hand tightened around the cursed katana.
Then she noticed it.
Her hand was shaking.
'Why am I shaking?'
Xalier looked at her.
That was all.
His eyes moved.
And every instinct in Antanasia's body screamed danger.
"World Crossing."
Xalier's voice was calm.
"Phantom Step."
He disappeared.
There was no warning.
No red flash.
No visible path.
No sign of movement.
Only images left behind, like the world had remembered where he had been too late.
'Fast!'
Antanasia raised the cursed katana on instinct.
*CLANG!*
She blocked.
For a fraction of a second, relief flashed through her.
Then her arm exploded.
"AHHH!"
The cursed blade did not break.
Her body did.
Bones shattered.
Muscles tore.
Her right arm became a ruined piece of blood and meat, barely attached to her shoulder.
The cursed katana slipped from what remained of her hand.
"NOT YET!"
She caught it with her left hand.
Her eyes were wild.
She swung toward the afterimage in front of her.
*Chop.*
Her pupils shrank.
Her left arm fell.
For a moment, Antanasia did not understand.
Then blood sprayed from the stump.
The black katana fell with the severed arm, landing beside her in the dirt.
"Fuck..."
Her voice was quiet now.
All the madness vanished from her face.
Xalier stood in front of her.
His purple eyes were empty.
Not cruel.
Not angry.
Empty.
He raised his right arm.
Antanasia did not move.
There was no point.
*BANG—SLICE.*
The world split.
The clouds above.
The forest behind her.
The earth beneath their feet.
Everything in front of Xalier's lowered arm was cut in a straight line, nearly ten miles long.
Antanasia's body fell.
*BOOM.*
The impact created another crater.
Xalier looked toward the long scar carved across the land.
"I did get stronger..."
His voice was quiet.
Almost thoughtful.
Then he descended.
Antanasia lay in the crater, her body almost split apart. Her regeneration was trying to pull her back together, but the cut had gone too deep. The damage was too clean. Too absolute.
Her heart still beat.
Barely.
Xalier stood above her and raised his sword.
"Let's end this."
The tip aimed for her head.
"Please..."
The word stopped him.
Antanasia's eyes were half-closed.
Blood filled her mouth.
"Please... take my sister somewhere safe..."
Xalier looked down at her.
"You're the king..."
Her voice trembled for the first time.
Not from pain.
"...you can do that, right?"
For a moment, Xalier said nothing.
Then he lowered his gaze slightly.
"Alright."
His answer came without much thought.
Maybe because she was dying.
Maybe because the request was not for herself.
Maybe because some part of him still hated wasting lives that did not need to be wasted.
"Don't worry."
A weak smile touched Antanasia's lips.
"Thank you..."
Her eyes closed.
Xalier lifted his sword again.
No more words were needed.
'This is the end...'
Antanasia felt the air move against her face as the blade descended.
For one final moment, she remembered a girl who looked almost like her.
A little younger.
A little softer.
A little less ruined.
'Sorry, sis...'
A tear slipped from the corner of her eye.
Then—
*BOOM!*
An explosion shook the battlefield.