Silas fully expected the Pirate King to move on him. He had been the one to cause the man the most damage. He was also the most dangerous threat remaining. However, he should have known the pirate wouldn't let go of his desire to make them suffer. It seemed to be ingrained in him.
Any normal fighter would have put all of his focus into eliminating the most dangerous threat and then cleaning up the rest. That was the smart and tactical thing to do. The Pirate King operated on his own paradigm.
He lunged forward, and Silas readied himself for the strike. The blade fell fast, but when Silas prepared to block, he realized it had simply been a feint. Before he could swing out, the Pirate King was already moving past him. Silas spun and lashed out with his spear, but he was already teleporting to the side as the weapon passed through an afterimage.
Silas's soldiers fired a mass of shots towards the man. He dodged and deflected them all. Before they had a chance to fire again, the Pirate King was diving at them. Silas raced across the cavern, trying to reach his men in time. He knew that there was nothing he could do.
The Pirate King came up from his dive and his blade arced downwards towards a soldier's head. The man managed to get his mistblade up in the nick of time. It didn't matter. The incoming attack teleported past, and the soldier collapsed to the ground with blood pooling from his neck.
An object was lobbed at the pirate from the side. He sidestepped it, and it whistled past before detonating against the cave wall.
Silas had already cut the distance in half, but it still wasn't fast enough. He raised his arm and threw his spear with all the skill and power he possessed. His body worked in concert with his mist to perfectly align the necessary weight to make the incoming strike tremendous.
The Pirate King teleported to the side, allowing the spear to whistle past. Silas gained a few more feet as the man moved on to the next soldier. The final remaining men. The last of them. The very last…
They moved as one unit. The first raised his shockblaster and fired. The second raised his blade as he prepared to ward off the attack. Silas gritted his teeth as his body weight decreased to the absolute minimum he could do without killing himself. His muscles still worked exactly how they did before, only now he weighed far less.
He practically flew the remaining distance. It took him only moments to arrive. Moments that seemed to last eternity.
The Pirate King teleported inside the first soldier's guard and slew her before Silas could register what happened. The second man's shot whizzed through their wretched foe, undamaging. The glowing blade came up and slammed through his chest. The man's body sagged, and his arms dropped. At the last moment, his gaze landed on Silas.
As his lifeblood seeped from his lips, he mouthed, "Live."
Then his chest detonated.
Silas found himself thrown backwards as he crashed into the sandy ground. He heard a grunt of pain and felt satisfaction flow through him. The Pirate King had actually been hit. The man couldn't teleport out of that one.
Landing on his feet, Silas watched the dust flutter through the air as it slowly sank to the ground between them. The Pirate King stood a dozen feet away, his entire chest singed by the explosion. He wiped at his coat, but only soot remained.
Silas trembled. "You bastard…"
The Pirate King turned on him slowly. "Well, this all seemed to have been for nothing."
Silas clenched his fists as he felt his spear reforming in his hands. He was nearly out of mist from so much usage. There would be no healing from his injuries if he were too badly wounded. Not that he cared anymore.
They had told him to live, but it was worthless with all his men dead. It was worthless with the traitorous scum before him still alive. It was worthless if Redwynn and Derrin didn't succeed.
There was no running from this fight. Despite what he had told Redwynn, he had known that accepting this fight meant death. They hadn't beaten the Pirate King with everyone together. There was no beating him with everyone apart. Had they all been together, then perhaps he would already have fled.
In a one-on-one fight against the man, Silas stood no chance. He knew that, and he still refused to flee. Despite everything resting on this moment, it wasn't the reason he chose to stay. He remained to prove that the Pirate King was a coward. He would have run in the same circumstances, but Silas would not.
So raising his spear, he said levelly, "I'm going to kill you now."
The Pirate King raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? In such a battered state, you think there is any chance that you could defeat me?"
"You aren't in a much better state yourself. Besides, I know that in a fair fight, you won't run. It would prove you're a coward and that you wouldn't be able to stand that."
"Run? Who said anything about running?" The Pirate King shook his head. "You know, despite how much I despise you Valencians, I must commend you on your strength. You refuse to give in even when there is no chance of success. At this point, you must see that whatever plan you concocted, it is at an end, Silas. Why don't you just give in?"
Silas narrowed his eyes. "How did you know our names? Mine and Zara's? You never met us before, and yet you seem to know all about us."
The Pirate King cocked his head. "On death's door and you're looking for information instead of pleading, how commendable."
"Once you're dead, I'd have no way of knowing." Silas took a step forward, knowing that his death was upon him.
He also knew that there was still one last card he had yet to make use of. It was something he had insisted on just in case things went south. It was made just for a time like this. His men had given only a taste of what was in store.
"Very well. I'll answer if you give me one of your own. I learned your names through my…master," He seemed to choke on the last words as if he didn't want to accept their truthfulness.
"You have spies, don't you, traitor? That would make sense for how you knew the layout of the island so well. We will have to be more careful in the future."
"Spies?" The Pirate King laughed. "Nothing so difficult. In fact, his knowledge comes from an entirely different source. A source…let's just say…out of your reach. Yours and everyone else here."
Silas narrowed his eyes but remained silent. He wasn't sure he understood the bastard's meaning. It didn't matter, though. The information was more for his own interest than any proper investigation. He wouldn't live past the day.
"Now, how about you answer my question then? Where are your allies?"
"Go to hell."
He sighed, "Such brutality. You could have made your death quick, you know. Now I'll have to prolong it."
With that, the Pirate King began slowly walking towards him. Silas felt all the anger and rage, all the sadness and grief, all the pain and suffering; he felt all of it leave him. He had held it on for so long, and now all he felt was peace. He had made peace with him long ago.
He moved to meet the Pirate King in one last dance.
His final dance.
It was his time to die.