The sparring room shook with every connected hit.
Cassiel and Nahka were both pouring blood, panting from exhaustion, yet despite that, they both continued as if they were just fine.
Each time their blades connected, a shock was sent through their bodies.
The very cells in their bodies were screaming at them to stop. The agony and torture their bodies were going through for this fight was indescribable.
And yet, they both smiled.
It wasn't a declaration of strength, nor was it to come off as relaxed. They were simply enjoying their fight, despite it being life or death.
.....
Gliding across the sparring floor on his feet, Cassiel stops himself just before falling off the three inch edge.
Grinning, he dashes back in, slamming his feet into Nahka's chest with a drop kick, which sends Nahka flying into the ground, stopping just a foot from the edge.
"I suppose you won in that department." Cassiel groans, upset in his shortcoming.
"Which is why I'm more fit to be king." Nahka mocks, getting back up shakily.
Across the room, the two stare at each other, their eyes connecting as they smile devilishly.
"I suppose we should've stepped it up a notch before, I'm going to use magic now, be prepared." Cassiel states, readying his sword in front of him with one hand, while his other hand starts surrounding itself in mana.
Without a response, Nahka does the same.
The only difference, however, is Nahka's mana glows with a faint purple.
Noticing this, Cassiel's eyes burrow, as he recalls Jenk's death. There was a hole in his chest, and the flesh around it was burnt, leaving purple cracks surrounding it.
"Nahka... what is that mana?" Cassiel questions, the mana swirling his hand growing more vicious.
Instantly, Nahka's eyes go dark, and his lips seal shut.
Without a word, Nahka charges forward, no longer smiling as he clashes blades with Cassiel as two spheres of purple mana back him up.
Caught off guard, Cassiel is slow to block the attack, which in turn disrupts his mana before he's able to make use of it.
Forced to defend himself, Cassiel barely keeps up as Nahka sends a flurry of attacks his way.
Noticing his attacks continuously get blocked, Nahka sends his mana spheres straight in, exploding onto Cassiel from each side, causing him to sputter out blood.
With a final attack, Nahka pushes Cassiel's blade to the side, before kicking him in the stomach, launching Cassiel into the ground.
Panting, Cassiel gets back up without a word, only glaring at Nahka.
Releasing one last deep breath, Cassiel lunges forward in an instant, conjuring a sanguine spear on his side, which he launches straight at Nahka's chest.
Quickly calculating his options, Nahka decides to defend himself, blocking with his blade right in front of him, only for it to not be enough as Cassiel's spear shatters alongside Nahka's weapon.
Taking this chance, Cassiel swings his blade in an arc, leaving a huge slash across Nahka's chest.
Soon after, Nahka jumps back, only for Cassiel to follow pursuit, sticking close to Nahka as to not allow him to plan his next attack.
However, in a flash, an explosion of mana sends Cassiel off to the side, causing him to tumble on the ground with half of his armor burnt to a crisp.
"You don't have as much affinity for mana as I had thought, Cassiel." Nahka mocks, coughing out blood as he does so.
Standing up despite the violent shaking in his legs, Cassiel glares at Nahka, taking his words as a challenge as his sword disperses, being replaced by lingering mana.
Within a snap of his fingers, a legion of arrows and spears form around Cassiel, pointed towards Nahka.
The amount numbered in the dozens, enough to shake Nahka up as he stared in awe, surprised by the vast numbers Cassiel was able to conjure in just a moment.
"You're bluffing." Nahka says, his voice meek as sweat drops down his face.
"Am I?" Cassiel says, hurling the spears and arrows towards Nahka without further notice.
In the singular second he had, Nahka poured half of his remaining mana into forming a shield purple of color, big enough to block most of the projectiles.
The aftermath of the situation resulted in Nahka's shield being shattered by the last spear, allowing two of the arrows to connect with Nahka, one grazing him, while the other stayed lodged in his right thigh, before dispersing into the air.
"Allow me to ask again, what is that mana, boy." Cassiel questions, his voice filled with rage as he steps towards Nahka.
"You act as if the fight is over, fool." Nahka grins as two thick chains of mana wrap around both of Cassiel's ankles.
Only a split second had passed before a multitude of small, thin beams were shot through Cassiel's body.
They were like needles on a cactus, thin and weak, yet many.
Dropping to his knees, the chains disappear as Nahka charges forward, kicking Cassiel in the face.
"You've lived for so long, so how do you still remain so arrogant and foolish?" Nahka mocks, grappling on top of Cassiel.
"You'll die here."
After those words, Nahka wrapped his hands around Cassiel's neck, before he began to choke him out.
Just a few seconds had passed, yet they felt like minutes.
Both of them were running off fumes of adrenaline and rage, leaving them both weak and exhausted.
Without realizing it, Cassiel had used up most of his mana with his last attack, rendering him almost powerless, as Nahka had done the same.
"Remember this as you leave for the afterlife, Cassiel. Your foolishness is what led to Rampiel's destruction. Humanity is peerless, and we should have joined under The Void so long ago." Nahka announces, still choking Cassiel out as a smile spreads across his face.
"The Void shall prosper under a new sky!" Nahka continues, laughing as he notices foam form around Cassiel's mouth.
Moments before losing consciousness, Cassiel hears Nahka's words, his mocks, his speech... and it forces him into a state of frenzy.
Exploding in a ball of mana, Nahka is launched off of Cassiel at light speed, bouncing off of the roof before slamming back into the ground.
Despite his vision being blurry, and his head spinning like crazy, Nahka looked up to meet Cassiel's gaze, only to be met by the devil's eyes.
Without a word escaping his lips, Nahka, in fear, begins crawling away, dragging his nails across the cold hard floor, blood scraping off his hands as he forcefully moves his entire body.
However, with just the sound of Cassiel's footsteps, Nahka stops moving.
"Sixth tier magic, Rain of Blades."
Tens, Hundreds, Thousands.
The amount of different swords that had appeared hovering above Nahka ranged in the thousands.
.....
Having virtually no mana left, Cassiel shouldn't have been able to use such magic. However, his body was filled with so much rage and despair, that it had pushed past its own limit, allowing him to achieve the impossible.
.....
As his hand was waved towards the blades, keeping them afloat about Nahka, he waited not a second longer before dropping his arm.
.....
Blood was splattered all across the ground, forming pools of it for Cassiel to walk over.
Nahka's body practically didn't exist anymore, as most of it was cut and torn to pieces from Cassiel's magic.
In disappointment, Cassiel walked to where Nahka's body was laid just moments before.
Staring down at the ground at the small parts of flesh mixed in blood, Cassiel's lips would part one final time this day.
"It was a well fought fight, Nahka Aion, however, I shall pray your name be forgotten forever." Cassiel mumbles, a frown forming on his face as he passes out, falling to the side as his eyes shut dark.