Ashar could not find any weaknesses in his opponent, except one.
It was so subtle that he had not noticed it at first, and hardly anyone would have at the pace the fight was progressing. But now Ashar was certain. In the two moments when the spider hissed, it had been an expression of emotion.
Behind those black eyes, Ashar thought, this thing has emotions. And if it had emotions, then it had weaknesses.
That was where his counterattack would begin.
The spider sent its leg attacks out again in rapid succession. As Ashar retreated, it controlled the space, laying down more poisoned webbing. Its legs whipped out and glanced against Ashar's head. Again they whipped out, brushing his body. Ashar did not attempt to counter. Another strike grazed him, and this time the spider hissed, its eyes widening as Ashar danced lightly on his feet.
They both knew how the next phase of this fight would progress.
From this point onward, Ashar's focus would be entirely on defence.
He circled, always just outside of range, always standing at an angle that felt uncomfortable to the spider's offence. Every time it missed, Ashar smirked and taunted it. He was no longer trying to harm its body, but instead he was attacking its mind.
Even so, the spider still controlled the battle. The centre of the cave belonged to it, and it was only a matter of time before Ashar collapsed from exhaustion. All it had to do was wait for him to collapse.
The rhythm of battle flowed on.
A whoosh, and it missed. Ashar circled away. Another blow, and it missed again. Then the spider feinted with a leg and instead shoved Ashar into the cave wall. In that instant, both knew they had to trade.
Ashar's Axiom blade swung. The spider's palps clamped down. They separated, retreating to their previous positions.
But now there was the faintest mark on the spider's body.
"Got you," Ashar said, smiling.
The spider increased the pace of its leg attacks, cutting off space more aggressively. Momentum shifted. Ashar was no longer dodging cleanly, but was catching blows on his Axiom Earth guard. Again and again the spider struck, lost in the ecstasy of focus. It could not miss. It could not lose.
It was in total control.
Then it dropped one leg, just for a moment.
Ashar lunged.
He carved a deep gash into the spider's body and took a brutal hit from its palps in return.
Now both were wounded, and both were losing time.
It was a lapse in focus, but the spider still did not expect Ashar to advance so recklessly, almost guaranteeing his own injury. What if the fang had struck? There was no logic to this prey.
The spider advanced to pressure him, but saw that Ashar was ready to trade again. It retreated, and Ashar advanced. This repeated several times, until the pressure gave Ashar what he wanted.
Now he had taken the centre.
He did not need to make suicidal attacks. He only needed the spider to believe he would.
As long as it believed that, he could control it.
Then the spider made another mistake, overextending its palps. Ashar struck, and made light cut between its eyes.
Now everything changed. Now it was the spider circling, and now it was the prey.
This was Ashar's final chance. If he failed now, his remaining energy would be drained by the webbing within minutes. He stalked the spider, catching attacks on his Earth guard, waiting for the finishing blow.
It did not come.
The spider held distance.
It had been here before.
Ashar slowed. His steps faltered. The spider reclaimed the centre. The signs were clear that this was the end. Its legs lashed out. Ashar dodged on instinct alone. More strikes followed, evaded through Axiom Air without conscious thought.
Ashar could barely see anymore.
All the spider had to do was advance and strike with its fang.
But it did not.
It stayed still.
Ashar circled, but weakened.
Everything blurred, and then faded away into a darkness of sleep.
"Is this where it ends for you, Ashar?" a voice asked.
Ashar did not need to turn his head. He knew it was Shenric standing beside him.
"Where are we?"
"You are in the Higher Realm. You have been here many times before. It is the place we are always travelling towards."
"The Higher Realm... does that mean that I am about to die?"
"That depends. Let me ask you something. Why are you here?"
"For revenge. To purify the Realms of filth."
"You blind fool."
"What are you talking about, Shenric?" Ashar snapped. "You brought me here to bring the Lords down. That's why you visit me. That's why the Shadow Clan wants me."
Shenric scratched his beard as his form drifted in and out of focus.
"And do you know who created the Shadow Clan?" he asked.
"Who knows?" Ashar scoffed. "Some sad fools who got tired of working fields for nothing."
"It was the Lords, Ashar."
Ashar's brow twitched.
"That's impossible," he said.
"It was a lie from the very beginning. A trick meant to make you believe someone was fighting for you."
"And the Hawk of Shadows?"
"There are some who are genuine," Shenric said quietly. "That's why they're killed, when the time is right. He will be killed too. He is not the first."
Shenric drifted closer. Ashar felt as though his spirit were being torn open.
"And they will kill you as well. You are not the first, Ashar. Others came before you, demons driven by revenge, by hatred. I was one of them."
He paused.
"And there will be others after you. Doesn't it make you sick?"
"I—"
"I'll ask again," Shenric said. "Why were you brought here?"
"I—"
"If it's revenge, then you should die here. If it's to purify the world, then you are nothing but a joke. So why are you here?"
"I—I don't…"
"Speak, Ashar."
"I don't know!" Ashar shouted. "I don't know why you did this to me! Look at me! Do I look like a saviour you can place your hopes on? I'm a putrid, wretched thing who only knows how to stab others out of spite! I'm doing this because I'm worthless, and I want the Lords to understand just how worthless they made me feel! Do you understand that?"
Shenric's face was still, like glass with nothing behind it.
"I never told anyone this," Ashar continued. "But as the final battle approached, I hated my brothers in the Shadow Clan. They wanted to tear down the Lords and build something new. That disgusted me. It was meaningless. But how could I tell them that? How could I make them trust me after that?"
"Your enemy was the Lords," Shenric said. "You wanted to destroy them."
"No, Ashar. My enemy was the world."
Ashar realised then that the Eye of Sophia was watching them.
"You understand now, don't you?" Shenric said. "It is not the Lords who are impure. It is the world itself. There are things far more beautiful than this world, and reality. We are demons who fight for those things."
The Eye drew closer. From it emerged the face of a woman.
"Sophia…" Ashar said. Tears fell as he turned away in shame.
"This will be the last time we speak," Shenric said. "And I know you understand now. You truly are a demon, but not in the way you think. You came here to purify, but not as you imagined."
Sophia's hand reached into Ashar. Light erupted around them.
"You were not brought here for revenge, my son," she said. "You were brought here for a revolution."
Ashar saw it, kingdoms and towers in flame, people raising their hands in ecstasy and triumph.
The final act.The true fight.A real apocalypse.
The Revolution of the Realms.
He woke.
Ashar dodged a series of blows, his legs stumbling, blood barely flowing to his limbs. His head snapped back from another strike—but it was weak. And in that weakness, he finally understood.
The spider had held back.
In the moment it could have killed him, it chose not to. That was when it had decided the fight was over.
Ashar saw the spider lower its leg too far.
He waited.
When it struck, he delivered his final attack into the opening.
The next time he woke, he lay beside the corpse of his opponent.
"The Revolution of the Realms…" Ashar murmured. "That's why I'm here."
For the first time in his life, he prayed, for the foe he had faced.
"Now, you are saved," he said.
Then he climbed from the cave and, with the last of his Axiom energy, knocked the boulder aside.
Fresh evening light washed over him. He breathed it in.
There was nothing left in his body.
"Look who it is," someone said.
Ashar turned.
"Remember me?" Rovick asked, grinning. "I was in bed for three nights because of you."
There was no escape. Ten bandits surrounded him.
"Looks like I get to pay you back now. In your last moments, what do you have to say?"
Ashar smiled with the warmth of a Winter's night from memories.
"At dawn, the struggler leaves his rusting gate,
Road-dust clings to clothes, the long miles await.
A laughing gull drifts high beyond his breath;
One whistle parts the grey, the day awakes to fate."