A Fight Between Pillars

Phew...phew...phew...

Clang!

"It's still not enough!" Merlin thought to himself as he looked ahead to see Yithrus had created distance between them. Merlin quickly dashed to Yithrus, covering the distance, not giving him the time to cast a spell.

Merlin charged his sword with Mana and stabbed it into the ground in front of Yithrus. Yithrus sensed the mana within Merlin's blade and used air magic to shoot himself up into the air. The Mana that was discharged from Merlin's blade leaked into the ground.

The mana turned black and shifted into black spikes that launched into the air. Yithrus remained calm, as if he had expected the attack, and put his hands together. As one of the black spikes made its way toward Yithrus earlier than the others, it shattered into pieces.

The rest of the black spikes soon met the same fate as the first. Yithrus landed on the ground unscathed and looked at Merlin. "Why are you fighting so hard for the king?" for a moment, Yithrus moved his sword toward his waist, getting out of a proper sword stance in the process.

"King Arthur has abandoned you and his people. Why do you think the capital was empty and easy to invade?" Yithrus took a few steps towards Merlin calmly.

"Merlin, it's still not too late to join us. My soldiers are rushing into the royal capital as we speak. It's only a matter of time until this continent is taken over by Aesis. I'm only giving you this offer because out of all the weak ones of your race, you possess value."

Race, a concept that is used to describe a person or group of people's ethnicity based on characteristics such as skin color and facial features. The war between Lavin and Aesis started because of Aesis' view of Lavin. They saw and deemed Lavin to be inferior to them.

That, and the fact that Aesis' land geographically is not suited for development. Aesis's land is 45% rocky terrain. Taking over Lavin would allow for the Aesisens to be able to develop at a greater rate than what they could have imagined. The thought of his people being labeled inferior and being robbed of their homeland enraged Merlin. The very man that ruled Aesis and led the invasion on his home was right in front of him.

Merlin charged his sword with mana and entered himself into a stance. He took a deep breath and purified the mana he had charged his sword with. Allowing his upcoming attacks to be more effective in the process.

As Merlin expected Yithrus to ready himself for his attack, Yithrus instead dropped his sword onto the ground. Merlin was confused about what Yithrus was doing until he inferred an outcome he prayed wasn't true.

Yithrus saw the devastation on Merlin's face and smiled. "That's the despair I wanted to see." Merlin quickly created distance by stepping back and using the mana to form a barrier around him. Yithrus responded to Merlin's actions verbally, "There's no escape Merlin, bare witness, a grand spectacle."

Merlin continued to reinforce the barrier he surrounded himself in as Yithrus began to transform. Two pairs of black wings sprout out of Yithrus' back. One black horn sprouted out from each side of Yithrus' head. Mana that turned black surrounded the entire area where Yithrus was standing.

In only a few seconds, the long black-haired mage was no longer visible; instead, a black dragon that stood fifteen feet high took his place. The black dragon spoke in a deeper voice, "There is only so much you humans can do. This is your limit."

The dragon opened his mouth and charged a sphere condensed of purified mana. Something that only elite mages could generate. Even then, it would take a few minutes for an elite mage to generate pure mana into a highly condensed spell.

The sphere of purified mana was shot out towards Merlin as he braced himself for the impact. The sphere of mana transformed itself into a wave of purified mana that collided with Merlin's barrier.

Seconds that passed felt like minutes as Merlin hoped his barrier would stay standing. Twenty seconds passed and the barrier barely remained intact as the wave of purified mana dissipated into thin air.

Merlin looked around to see the surrounding buildings destroyed. The leftovers from the once glorious-looking buildings were on fire. As Merlin looked at the damage caused, he sensed pure mana in the air again.

Merlin looked to where Yithrus was before the attack to see him charging up another sphere of pure mana. Merlin was shocked, "Are you fucking kidding me?" Merlin didn't have enough time to form another layered barrier. Realizing he didn't have any more options left, he took off his eye patch. The pure mana that Yithrus was about to cast dissipated.

Yithrus showed a surprised look that was visible even in his dragon form. He looked at Merlin to see the eye patch that covered his left eye gone. The eye that was covered up was now visible. The iris was red and the outer part was black.

"So, you finally revealed your trump card, Merlin. May I ask where you got Vijar's lost eye?" Merlin looked displeased from Yithrus' point of view. This agitated Yithrus to respond to Merlin's expression with, "Oh, I see how it is, you think just because you canceled out my spell that you are all this now? Fine then, I'll make sure to give you a long painful death."

"I'll end this battle quickly, soon, this world will have no place for you or me. The cost of using this Vijar's eye is my life force." The cold and lifeless tone in Merlin's statement made Yithrus flinch. Yithrus stood frozen and watched as Merlin raised his hand and produced a sphere of pure mana.

Yithrus was shocked that the eye Merlin possessed allowed him to produce pure mana at the rate Aesisians could do. The pure mana sphere that Merlin had produced flew into the sky. Yithrus followed it with his eyes and saw the sphere turn a nasty black.

The sphere began to enlarge itself until it became a similar size to the capital's royal palace. Yithrus exited his dragon form and began to produce a barrier from pure mana. Yithrus didn't have enough time to add layers to it as Merlin unleashed the black sphere.

"Black Sun, spare nothing."

The black sphere made its way to Yithrus and collided with the barrier he had set up. The barrier didn't last long and shattered. The black sphere hit Yithrus as he screamed in pain from the immense heat burning up his skin and organs. After a few seconds, the screams of pain stopped and were replaced an eerie silence.

The black sphere did more than just eliminate Yithrus, but the surrounding area around them as well. The collapsed buildings and the pieces that were on fire from Yithrus's earlier attack were no longer visible. Merlin was left unscathed, standing in a large crater in the ground.

Merlin was at peace with himself knowing its finally over. Merlin's vision was slowly becoming black until he remembered, "Oh yeah, I'm going to die, I completely forgot."

Merlin didn't feel any sadness or regret. Other than his mother and Morgan... he didn't have regret leaving anyone else behind. He served as King Arthur's knight solely out of his family's responsibility of serving the Pendragon family, nothing more.

Merlin's heart stopped beating, and he took his last breath. He dropped his family's heirloom sword that had been engraved with his name and collapsed. Merlin's corpse turned to ash and was pushed into the air by the wind. In under a minute, just like Yithrus, Merlin's corpse was no longer able to be found.

Huff...phew...huff...phew...

"Grim! Thank goodness you're safe."

Merlin opened his eyes to see a young boy with light purple hair and glasses crying for him. A scar was evident from the bottom of his left eye to his cheek. His glasses were getting fogged up, but he looked at Merlin with a confused expression with tears still evident.

"Grim?"