Ace - Ace of (No) Hearts [ending]

Ace and Sir Burns backed away as they saw their Queen pointed her staff on the ground between herself and the King. A pentagram formed almost instantly on the cavern ground, glowing and livening up before it cracked the earth beneath it. She meant to collapse the whole ground and isolate her uncle in a flaming prison below when the soil caved in.

Seeing as he had no place to run or back away to, and no magical arts to protect himself if he's trapped… King Guinn decided to run straight to his niece, intending to end her before she could destroy the very place they were fighting in. Reaching forward, his greatsword swooped in a deadly slash.

The Witch had raised her left hand to cast yet another spell to withstand his attack, but it was too late. She decided to back away at the last moment, but the greatsword chopped the air so fast, and the slash could still reach her…

She would have been dead if it wasn't for Chasma. Her aura exploded when the blade almost touched her, pushing it away. She ducked.

The Witch spun the staff she had on her right hand, wielding it as a sword as it burned sharp and hot. She swung it to the left. Now that he was very close, she tried to cut off her uncle's legs…

Knowingly of this, the King rolled sideways, evading the attack and repositioning himself in a better spot. The side in which The Witch was even more vulnerable. She glared at him in anger.

The Witch stirred her staff and activated her previous spell. She had the cavern collapsed as the ground with the pentagram exploded, swallowing half of the room into the magma instantly formed below them. The earthquake it created took King Guinn's balance, and he used his greatsword to hold himself from falling down to the pit of fiery death beneath him.

Ace took his chance. He might as well flew as he never ran so fast, raising Lancelot's sword before twisting it down.

Blood sprayed as he cut off the man's arm.

The King cried in pain and anger. As his magical protection broke, the reflection spell activated itself, and his aura burst out, engulfing him in his own bluish flame. He chanted yet another spell to renew his protection.

Again? Ace thought as he turned around to the man.

King Guinn focused all his power to his only right hand, and he was able to hold the greatsword for a vertical, fatal swing, aimed at the Witch.

But the woman had prepared herself this time. She snapped her fingers. A force of fire shield formed, protecting her from the deadly attack. When the greatsword touched it, flames exploded powerfully. The impact sent King Guinn's flying above. He hit the ceiling of the cave so hard that his newest protection spell broke once again.

The reflection spell activated.

This isn't good.

Bursting in power, the King strengthened himself in mid-air. The greatsword on his right hand turned face down and burned in a blue fire. He fell in to kill the Witch and put an end to this.

Sir Burns moved as fast as he can. He jumped over the magma pit and touched his feet on the wall on the other side. He stomped and used the wall to propel him away. His own black aura burned, as he flew in outstanding speed, right into the falling King Guinn. Sir Burns' black longsword flashed…

He knocked the man off from the air, so strong that it seemed to broke the King's ribs. The crown he wore slipped off as he tumbled down on the ground, far from where his enemies stood.

Sir Burns landed on the ground beside his queen. The three of them stood side by side, watching as the king of the usurper tried his best to stand up once more.

He managed it. He stood.

"It is your time to die, Guinn," said Sir Burns. The King only shook his head in rejection. The blood had stopped flowing from his stump of a left hand, where Ace had cut it off of him. The pain must have been excruciating. "Men!" the old knight called the elite guardsmen still standing beside the stone door where they had entered.

"Apprehend this man!" Sir Burns commanded. The two of them nodded and went to the weakened King.

"Imperious as ever, Burns," said Guinn in a mocking tone. He took up his sword to fight the men approaching. In reply, they too unsheathed their swords.

"Give it up, uncle." the Witch called.

"I will not, girl…"

King Guinn raised his able right arm, pointing at his crown that sat on the ground where it fell.

"Mi Agra Guinny…" he whispered.

It was his final trump card. The most powerful spell that he himself had had since years ago.

His body glowed in blue, as his aura flared and blasted everywhere. The elite men instinctively backed away from him. Now the King was completely engulfed in his own aura, hiding him from the views of his enemies. It was the first time Ace saw a power that he would say able to match that of his Queen's.

When the blue aura faded. Ace couldn't believe what he saw.

There he stood, King Guinn of Crypthin. With both his hands finely intact and his crown yet again on top of his snow-white hair. He had renewed his health completely, at the cost of all his magical mana.

Sir Burns cursed. Ace spoke absently instead, "You are mad," he said. "If you spend all your magical mana, there will be nothing to support your physical power."

But King Guinn only nodded to his words. He chanted an ancient spell, "Siphon: Chasma"

The Witch was unable to do anything. "Wha–?"

With the ancient spell, the King had absorbed a large amount of magical mana from Chasma, the Witch's own aura of flames. She herself would have no problem with it, as Chasma's magical mana was practically unlimited. But if her foe were to use it as a source as well, that would mean her uncle would be able to cast out his renewal spell over and over again. Endlessly, rendering their fight completely unsolvable.

"Is this kind of cowardly way, is how you fight, Guinn?" Sir Burns asked angrily.

"Calm down, sir." said the Witch, she turned to the King. "If you intend to use Chasma to renew yourself again and again. Then I would simply have to leave this fight."

King Guinn said not a word. It was, unfortunately, the right answer.

"Leave him to me, Your Grace," said Sir Burns, smiling. "Let Ace be with you when you go further to the depths of this place."

King Guinn gritted his teeth, but he himself had no choice.

The King watched in worry as the Witch and the younger man left the fight and went for the deeper tunnels, in which he had no chance to stop them. King Guinn shook his head. There was no way he could go past Sir Burns to save his family. In the end, he only prayed that God would somehow help him.

And He did, as Zest, Pearce, and Levia opened the stone door...