The instant we advanced, I felt something different in the air.
It wasn't just the General's magical pressure.
It was the weight of everything that had happened up to that moment.
The war.
The battles.
The companions fighting outside the fortress.
The lives being protected in that forest.
Everything seemed to converge into that single point.
The General appeared before me in a swift movement, wrapped in an intense black aura. His sword came down in a brutal strike, loaded with far more force than any previous blow.
I raised my blade.
The impact exploded between us.
The metallic sound tore through the ruined hall, echoing across the broken structures of the fortress.
But this time, it was different.
My body didn't give in.
The golden armor absorbed most of the pressure, and the sword's energy responded immediately, vibrating as if it were alive.
The General stepped back half a pace, surprised.
I advanced.
My blade traced a fast and precise arc. He blocked, but the impact pushed his body several meters back, shattering stones beneath his feet.
For the first time since the beginning of the battle, I could feel it.
We were equal.
He smiled.
"Now this is it."
The black aura around him expanded even more. The pressure of demonic mana spread through the hall like an invisible wave, making fragments of stone slowly float in the air.
I kept my sword steady.
The armor's energy continued flowing through my body, clear and powerful. Every movement felt natural, as if my strength had been raised to a completely different level.
The General advanced again.
This time his speed was absurd.
He disappeared from in front of me.
Instinct.
I turned my body at the same instant.
His blade came from the side, but my sword was already there to block. The two weapons collided with an explosion of energy.
The impact opened a deep fissure in the fortress floor.
He kept attacking.
Blow after blow.
Fast.
Precise.
Violent.
But now I could follow every movement.
I blocked a vertical strike and responded with a direct attack. He barely dodged, but the wave of energy from my strike tore through the wall behind him, destroying part of the remaining structure.
The entire hall began to collapse slowly.
Columns cracked.
Chunks of the ceiling fell.
But neither of us retreated.
The General attacked again, concentrating an absurd amount of black mana into his sword. His blade became wrapped in a dense aura that distorted the air around it.
I felt the threat immediately.
He leaped.
The sword came down in a devastating strike.
I raised my blade with both hands.
At the moment of impact, the armor shone intensely.
The force collided.
An explosion of energy tore through the hall.
The ground beneath us gave way partially, opening a massive crater at the center of the fortress.
But I remained standing.
The General's eyes narrowed.
I took a deep breath.
The sword's energy began to concentrate.
Something within me clearly understood what needed to be done.
It wasn't just a strike.
It was everything.
All the energy.
All the strength.
All the will.
I held the sword in front of my body.
The golden light began to grow again.
More intense.
More concentrated.
The General noticed immediately.
He smiled.
"So you've finally reached that point."
His black aura also began to condense around his blade.
The two energies began to oppose each other in the air.
Golden light.
Black mana.
The ground trembled.
The remaining walls of the fortress cracked further and further.
But at that moment, nothing else mattered.
I pulled the sword back.
All the energy of the armor converged into the blade.
The light became so intense it almost blinded.
The General advanced.
He also raised his sword, concentrating all his demonic power into that final attack.
We moved at the same time.
Two strikes.
Two absolute forces.
The blades crossed at the center of the ruined hall.
For an instant…
The world became completely silent.
Then the energy exploded.
A gigantic wave spread in all directions. The entire fortress was torn apart by the force of the impact, the walls disintegrated, and the remaining ceiling was hurled into the sky.
The shockwave swept through the surrounding forest, bending giant trees as if they were mere branches.
Golden light dominated the field of vision for a few seconds.
When it finally began to fade…
I was still standing.
The sword remained extended in front of me.
Silence slowly returned.
The General's body was a few meters ahead.
Motionless.
A deep line crossed his torso.
From shoulder height down to the waist.
The cut was perfect.
Clean.
His body began to separate slowly into two parts.
The black aura vanished.
The demonic mana that dominated the environment began to dissipate.
I remained still, watching.
The two halves of the General's body fell onto the broken stone ground.
This time…
There was no immediate regeneration.
The silence of the destroyed fortress seemed to confirm it.
The battle had ended.
And yet…
I did not lower my sword.
Something inside me still told me to wait.
Because that fight…
Had not yet revealed everything.