39 Fentanyl

With all that left in his strength, Kivas sent out his own torch to the direction of the source of the incoming attack at the speed faster than himself. He sent out his light, his hope, his one and only guidance in the world of everlasting darkness that awaits them.

Kivas had held onto that torch for the majority of his life in this 'second chance' of his, gripping tight onto the stem of the culmination of his hope, where he believed that one day, he would experience the day and night like normal again.

That very same hope let him see the sword that was flung to him. At the same time, letting him be engulfed in a perpetual darkness where not a single sense of his body and soul could be stimulated by any means, not even the ache and the pain of exhaustion could be felt when he was out of his torch's basking light.

While he threw his hope away, he stayed true to himself, and made his decision under the empty void.

Eventually, both Delamuion and Naraka were covered by the illumination of the torch. The flare was sent to Delamuion, the closest threat in the vicinity of the torch.

His scarf fluttered under the hymn of the wind as he accumulated his energy to form a sword, slashing the torch upward. The torch wasn't damaged by the slightest. Instead, it got thrown into the air right above the scene that was about to unfold.

At that point of time, Kivas lunged forward to the hulking steel of a projectile.

And grabbed the giant sword that was meant to impale him with his dorsal hand.

That attempt recoiled his momentum, stretching an already weakened body to the point of excruciating pain. Kivas didn't feel the pain because that event didn't happen under the blight of his torch. He kept moving onward and brandished the greatsword in the air as he took his final leap.

Kivas entered the limelight of his blight. With determined inks that he kept unleashed to move him further, he managed to get into the range of Delumuion. Enough to slash down the dodecahedron device that was cradled under his wounded belly, but also not enough range to deal a deadly damage beyond half of the device's length of volume.

Kivas hurled the sword downward with great strength.

It was quite questionable where he managed to gain that strength. It was always like this to him, everytime. When it comes to someone other than his own, he made an effort beyond his limit just because of the mindset that he was not worthy to feel what he was supposed to achieve.

His allergy to his own selfishness shall be the success of his life.

At the same time, it was not only Kivas who gave his utmost all.

In a split second, Delamuion shoved the device to the behind and used his back, his own body as a shield from the attack.

Kivas couldn't stop his own attack.

And thus, an illustrious blooming red flower was painted in the air. Scarlet thorns and sickly petals, Naraka couldn't help but to witness the beautiful painting in the making as he dashed closer into the skin.

'Just, what drives you to act to such an extent!??' Kivas wondered of the motivation that Delamuion had. Whatever it was, there was no denying of its value to him.

"Why do we practice sorcery?" asked the little Delamuion, to the figure that seemed to be her late esteemed mother. "We can make tools, and I heard that the progress of mechanical technology on the west has far exceeded the use of our sorcery. I see no reason why this tradition kept going."

"You want to know why, Delamuion?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, truth to be told, there is no significant goal at the end of the road for this extra journey in our life." Delamuion remembered that gentle smile that his mother donned. "As for why I teach you sorcery, unlike others in our tribe, you can say that your mother just wants to be with her cute child all the time, no?"

"That sounds hollow."

"That exact hollowness is the reason why. Because it's hollow at first glance, we can put anything inside of it, to make it worth the time and effort. Say, I wonder what kind of worth that you put into your sorcery in the near future~

"If you find one, care to tell your mother about it?"

Delamuion really wanted to tell his mother about the worth that he found in magic, but his mouth was submerged in the blood of his guts.

"Ghh!" He gritted his teeth, and began to force his body to move once again.

In a desperate attempt, Delamuion formed an energy blade on his right hand where he swung it back to the mysterious creature that he was fighting with. But before his arm could reach his enemy, it was already separated from his body, flying off and the energy that was supposed to be pumped into the veins were lost in the gaping wound.

But his body kept on turning, as his gaze trailed a red line of blaze.

"DEELAAAMUUUIIOOOONN!!!"

Naraka tried to reach for him from afar, but the gap was still too big for him to do anything in such an instant amount of time. At last ditch effort, his arm began to disperse into light.

And transferred onto Delamuion's gaping wound to replace his lost arm.

With the innate reservoir of energy that was given along with his muscle-filled arm, Delamuion formed the same sword that was ten times bigger than the last.

"HUUURRRRRAAAAAAA!!"

The sword of light that he formed pierced the blazing smoke and beyond. The violet petals danced along with the violent force as though they were meant to be together. The smoke from the fire subsided, and along with the menacing shockwave it unleashed, the group of trees in a huge area of 70 meters beyond the meadow was cut down like it was a patch of grass being mowed.

All of that happened at the same time with the sound of a broken shard on his cradle. A few second later, a dampened thud was made by the greatsword that was significantly thrown to the side.

As if there were no meanings left to be found, both of their motivations dispersed almost instantly as they saw the creature that cut the device in half with his wounded limb.

Both of them stood in silence until their muscles couldn't help but to rest their sore souls, sitting along with what was left of the violet flower meadow as they sighed.

Kivas felt no ill thoughts from both of them. While being calmly observed, he mustered what was left to pick up his torch and get away from the scene, leaving both of the confused and resting warriors behind.

"I never thought that the beast would be that small," said Naraka.

Delamuion pondered as he tilted his head. "It felt like we were fighting a giant for a second."

"This world is more vast than we thought, huh."

"Can you move?"

"Not as much."

"Well, same here."

Unknown to Kivas, both of them soon begin to be enveloped by the mist. Their fate was no longer up to them, for it would be in the hand of the grand protector of this realm to cast upon such judgment.

As for the winner of this fight, he seemed to be disappointed by something.

'There is no purple orb…'