64 The End?

The Spectre boss furiously stared at all that lived with its non-existent eyes, its gaunt skull shaking from side to side. Waves of mana kept rushing out of its body, keeping away all the Humans and Jaguars until it was done with its transformation. One person, in particular, it gazed at was Stanis, his whole body cold as an electric shock passed through him.

It was not a tier-four, that he hoped, but at least a higher tier-three!

Stanis briefly surveyed his surroundings, his dismay slightly lowering as he saw that most of the tier-two Spectres had been dealt with, only a few rabbles leftover.

"KILL THE SPECTRES AND IMMEDIATELY RETREAT!" Stanis yelled. He didn't check with Serb this time, no, instead the Jaguars were now as much as his as they were Serb's. Serb seemed to grunt in approval anyway, after all, any of the lower-tiers joining the fight against this monstrosity would just leave them in a worse position than otherwise.

His sole worry now out of his mind, Stanis refocused his attention back on the Spectre boss. The flawless shroud that had previously covered it was now completely gone, burned away to release energy for the Spectre to transform. This left behind the gaunt figure that was the Spectre boss, a mocking copy of a Human's.

It had an open rib-cage, or better still cage, at the centre of its body, its flailing arms sticking out of this cage. It had no feet or legs as it simply floated, nor did it have eyes, ears or a nose, after all, it did all its sensing through mana. The claws it housed on its bony hands were malicious: they had been built by a cruel god with the intent to do pure damage, the serrated edges screaming bloodlust. However, it wasn't the Spectre's body that was the most frightening, rather what was coming off it: its red shine.

The blue light coming off it had been threatening enough, almost like announcing to the whole world that it was the Spectre boss and they should take double the care with it. This red light gave a whole another feel, rather than one of prestige and royalty, it gave a feeling of madness and malicious desire, even when compared to the other Spectres around it. In fact, the second the Spectre boss had begun to transform, the remaining tier-twos had begun to fight doubly hard, almost as if scared of the consequences if this transformed boss caught them sane.

The fight, so far, had drained Stanis of about half his mana. The time he had been staring at the Spectre boss hadn't been wasted, instead he had been Destructively recharging his mana. This now took quite a few seconds as his mana pool had exponentially increased since the beginning. In all truth, he still had his reservations about using this skill for what it was made for, after all, it worked better as a finisher for a fight instead of the mana recharging ability it actually was. However, this notion had been largely kicked out of him after having fought Yils so many times, she proving that it was a useless skill as long as the enemy could produce a mana barrier. Considering the fact that the boss had made a pseudo-barrier before, Stanis was almost certain that its transformed version would be able to create almost a complete barrier.

Finished with its transformation, the boss screeched a shrill warning before blasting its way towards Stanis. It looked like he was target number one…

Stanis cut off his mana supply as he retreated back, the air left behind stale and lifeless. The Spectre boss blasted even faster after seeing him retreat, giving neither time nor care as it chased him down, its mind set on shredding him. This was a feeling half brought by anger and half by fear; Stanis was the most dangerous person here, the only one it considered having a chance to kill it.

*BMMMFRP*

A mega fire-bolt crashed into the Spectre, it shaken to its core as it realised the danger hidden in the other prey.

"FLAMING ARMOUR" shouted Serb, his whole body emerging in thick, sinuous flames. When he had last used this skill against Stanis, he had done so half-heartedly in order to conserve his mana. This, on the other hand, was not the time to be hoarding up mana…

The Jaguar launched itself at the Spectre, the two directly clashing as the Spectre used its menacing claws to counter his own. The two of them continued this scuffle, the Spectre boss coming out on top as time passed, its mana pool still half-full.

Niss and Sil kept well away from the scene, watching with both excited and worried eyes as they saw the strong battle it out. The fight was really only between Stanis, Serb and the Spectre boss since it was obvious from the fluctuations rolling off the Spectre that it would simply rip apart anyone weaker. It would have been helpful if more of the people here had been mages like Sil was, or at least had ranged abilities so that they could support from a safe distance, but such a style of fighting was not the Jaguar's forte.

The growing number of ice crystals around Stanis, now 9, suddenly left him as they shot towards the Spectre boss, the boss only feeling an awful premonition in the final second as it turned around, only for its body to be stabbed with blades of ice. It bellowed a sickly scream before doubling down on its attack on Serb, its teeth grating themselves smooth as it did all that it could in order to finish its current fight, more-than-eager to start the next one with its wretched enemy.

Stanis, however, wasn't going to allow it such a smooth ride as he immediately cast Blueshot spitfire, beads of mana shooting out with explosive force, a ringing sound as they harmfully bounced off the boss's cage.

Before it had been just its mind but now its body too was infected with anger.

The Spectre boss decided to risk it as it immediately drained half of its remaining mana in order to cry a blood-curdling scream towards Serb, the Jaguar thrown more than off-his-feet as he stumbled back, the flames dying down as he dazedly watched the World. The Spectre manically grinned as it slashed Serb across his chest, its laughter polluting the air as it turned around to face Stanis.

Stanis felt the wind tugging at his back as he immediately turned around and began running. When Serb was using his Flaming armour, his physical body was far stronger than Stanis's. And yet, he'd still not come out on top when he had gone head-to-head with the Spectre; Stanis wasn't enough of a fool to try his luck against such clearly bad odds.

The Spectre shared his previous sentiments as neither was it going to allow him the easy way out after all that he had done. Its speed began to gain as it cackled out a skill, a bit more of its mana drained but worth the cost as it could now practically see Stanis within its jaws.

It was in the last second, the Spectre just a metre away from Stanis, that he turned around, his lips mouthing Layman's Rush as he fiercely punched out towards the Spectre. The Spectre had been expecting this and countered with its own claw, both fists hitting each other with similar force but Stanis's arm turning to mush after the first strike.

Seeing that the odds were just as bad as he had feared, Stanis used Blueshot spitfire once more to momentarily distract the Spectre as he retreated back, his mind close to hopelessness. Close but not there yet, instead he had one last string left that he was hanging off.

The only problem, however, with this string was the fact that not only did he not know whether it would work, but he was also equally unsure about the after-effects of it. What he did know for certain was that he would be out-cold after using it, his body left defenceless to the World but more importantly the Spectre if he lost the bet.

Stanis was half-about to just use the rest of Layman's rush to pick up as much distance from him and the Spectre as possible, fully intent on running away, when he remembered the amount of time and effort he had put into these fucking Jaguars.

He couldn't help but curse as the weak part inside of him grew, fed by the warm emotions and memories he had.

"fuck, fuck, FUCK", the wind carried his last words as he turned around, his palm emanating a chill. Out of it grew an ice crystal, reaching palm-length like the rest of his ice crystals in half the time. Only, unlike them, it kept growing, Stanis this time shrilly screaming as he held dearly onto his life, his consciousness threatening to self-destruct every-second he kept growing the crystal.

It was after the third second that he finally let go, his face torn apart into segments by rushing tears as his body collapsed, crumbling under its own weight.

The ice crystal he had let go off was a hand's length, not that larger than his palm-sized ones. However, the major difference was in the aura it had, the mana saturation it had. The ones he had released before had always left an ethereal chilly trail behind, a glimmer of blue if you focused your eyes hard enough. That wasn't the case this time as everyone, including the Spectre boss, could see the bright blue trail the crystal left in its wake, the crystal only growing jaws in the Spectre's mind as it focused all its remaining mana to create a mana-barrier.

*PHHHMPF*

The mana barrier was immediately cut through, although not at a cost as the emerging ice crystal was now half the length it was before, the Spectre this time hardening itself for an unavoidable strike.

"KRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHH" screamed the Spectre, the prickles of pain it had been told about turning out to be more like multiple stabbings of pain. Worse still was the aura of the weapon: the Spectre might have transformed itself to higher tier-three but this crystal was at the peak, giving no cares as it bit deep into the Spectre's life-force.

The Spectre screamed out one last time before beginning to rise into the air once again, now fully aware it would die in moments but nevertheless intent on taking its killer to the grave before that. It managed to float half the way before having to crawl the rest, the other people and Jaguars only now rushing to stop it as they awoke from their shock.

Sil had drained herself of mana after her mega fire-bolt and couldn't even use wind's embrace, forced to watch as the Spectre finally reached Stanis, Jaguars leaping at its cage but too late as it deliriously laughed, its serrated claws high up in the sky before slicing down…