67. Final Stand

Valex then punched downwards. Castus felt his perception warp and time seemed to slow for a second. He could see every detail of Valex's hand. The rippling purple skin, the pointed claw like nails and the misty like essence flowing around it. Castus stared at if for a moment. 

'What is that misty stuff.' Castus thought. Surprisingly he wasn't too worried about the death approaching him. He felt calm. The rage from before was gone. After dying once before, death felt different, but he wasn't dead yet. The longer he looked at that hand come towards him the more he started to notice more of it. His eyes darted downwards, and he saw parts of himself emitting that essence. His skin looked like a dry cracked dirt. Out of the cracks that misty stuff came out. 

Valex's hand was close now. 'Well, I guess another eight years of life was more than most get.' Castus started to close his eyes, but he felt something in him fight it. A last strand of hope in him. The will to keep living. 'No, I want to know more of this world. To live a better life than before. I always laid down and took it back then on Earth. Even here I've barely been doing my best. There's more I can make. More I can analyze, I can be stronger, better than I was before. I'm tired of just surfing life.'

Castus' eyes flashed open. Memories of his past life and the aspirations he once had before failing and falling into mediocrity. As more of that essence leaked from him he was seeing memories flash through his mind and disappear into nothingness. One memory he had as a child of harnessing powers beyond himself and going on adventures flashed through him. As he felt it leaving himself he reached out and grasped it.

Castus grimaced from the pain, but he felt more alive than he had ever been. The colors of the world seemed more vibrant. His mind felt renewed. Like a fog had lifted. 

He gripped the misty material leaking out of his hand and tried to analyze it. It vanished suddenly and he now knew what it was. It was the material of souls. Valex's hand reached his chest and touched him. He could see his chest caving in and his soul starting to rip apart and dissipate. 

An unbelievable pain shot through him, but he gritted his teeth and started to make that soul material. He used it to cover the cracks all over himself and to contain the damage Valex did. 

Valex returned to his standing posture and looked down at the rapidly created swirling mass of soul forming around Castus and holding himself together. Valex took a step back. "What are you?" He asked. Valex was the son of a very old and legendary creature. He had heard about most everything on the mortal plane to look out for, but his father always told him that nothing could repair or create souls. That is why they stood so high in the world. They could hurt the invincible, but this child was doing the impossible. Not only was he preventing his soul from collapsing and disappearing, but he was actively reinforcing it with more and more material. A skill and technique never seen before. 

Castus felt amazing. He could move again and for the first time he felt stronger than ever. His mana ran dangerously low, but he moved his arms and realized something. His body was different now. He could see more, feel more, move better than before. It was like leveling up, but different somehow. He flexed his arms and legs as Valex stood in astonishment. He looked at Castus with fear now. Castus used his remaining mana to summon his hammer. He didn't have the mana to afford defenses right now and his only option was to destroy Valex.

For a few seconds Valex studied Castus and Castus studied Valex. Then Castus rushed at Valex. Valex jumped back avoiding Castus and looking at him still. Valex was cautious. While he could regenerate from most wounds, taking damage to his soul would be something serious. He had never been on the receiving end of it. He didn't know if Castus could do that, but he was worried. 

Castus struggled to keep up with Valex's speed, but eventually Valex in his panic made a mistake. He took a backstep and didn't account for the barrier surrounding the arena. He slammed into it and Castus swung, nailing Valex in the chest. His chest caved in and Valex kneeled down. Castus took a back step and took an overhead swing at Valex's head. He wanted to finish this before Valex could snap out of his panic. His hammer smashed down and Valex's skull split and smashed into the ground. 

Castus took a few steps back. He panted heavily. He was gaining some mana back, but he was still nearly empty and his less than stellar stamina was also getting low. If that didn't finish off Valex he wasn't sure if he would be able to. As Castus recovered he remained fixated on Valex. For a few minutes he thought he was really dead, but the barrier still hadn't fallen. Finally Valex began to reform. 

Castus rushed forward to bash him down again. There had to be a limit to the regeneration. Valex didn't give him a chance though. The still headless body tackled Castus like a linebacker. Valex pushed him to the other side of the arena, smashing him into the wall. Then Valex's head started to return. Castus used the hammer like a crutch to stand. Valex looked at him with renewed confidence. "I was worried for nothing." He then reached a hand out and a quick sigil formed on his hand. 

Castus focused his vision. The misty soul material became visible again. Multiple beams of it rushed at Castus and he struggled to move around to dodge it. He took a hit to the chest and his leg. Looking down he could see the soul material he used before disappearing as it absorbed the hits. He lost feeling in his leg, and it became much more difficult to breath. Valex laughed at he walked towards Castus. "I can't believe I believed you could actually hurt me. You're interesting though. Do that thing again." Valex teased Castus. 

Castus struggled to move. His body was at its limit. Castus used the meager amount of mana he had recovered to try to seal his leaking soul. Valex watched with curiosity. Seeing Castus stop he looked back at him. "Ah, you're out of mana. Here." Valex moved his hands and Castus could feel mana around him compress onto himself. It was crushing, but his mana rapidly refilled. Then it started to be too much. He could feel something inside of him stretching and it felt like it would burst. Castus quickly channeled it all into making soul material. Quickly it began to form, some of it wrapped around Castus, repairing the damage, but the overload of mana was forcing Castus to make much more than he normally would. 

Valex reached out and some of it rushed into him. "Interesting. It's pure, washed of any influence. With you alone I could succeed my father considerably faster." Valex blackened lips parted into a dark fanged smile. Castus struggled to use the mana rushing into himself, as he did Valex took the excess and strengthened himself, but Castus closed his eyes and felt around himself. He could feel the material he made rushing into Valex. He quickly felt the hammer. 

This was the last chance he would probably have. He started to channel mana into the hammer, shaping it, reinforcing it, compressing and building. The small size quickly enlarged and it took on an ax like shape. Valex was none the wiser as he relished in plans to abduct Castus and force him to produce soul material forever. Castus continued to supply soul material as the large ax increased in size. Castus waited though as Valex continued to grow in size and power. 

Choceny looked terrified. From what it could see, in the beginning he could have easily killed Valex, but he was now rapidly approaching a level where Choceny wasn't sure if it could fight Valex, at least not without Fulsin. Something Fulsin had omitted was that, while Choceny had access to Fulsin's skills he couldn't use to many of them for long. The periods between fights was long enough for it to be able to cast again. 

Castus continued to pour out soul material and slowly rose to his feet. He reached his other hand out and wrapped the soul material around the ax. Valex was staring up and greedily sucking what Castus made. Valex swelled in size, markings starting to form on his body and Castus could feel even the compressing mana around him shudder to Valex's form.

'Now!' Castus thought.

Suddenly Castus dispelled all the soul material in Valex. Valex suddenly felt a massive void within himself. His larger form collapsed from the sudden void. Valex blacked out from the sudden change and when he regained his senses, he noticed the now rather large ax by Castus' side. 

His eyes widened in fear. He could see the misty wrappings around the head of the ax as it slowly rose up. Castus struggled to right it. It was heavy, far heavier than anything else he had lifted. He cranked back as Valex raised an arm weakly to defend himself. Castus pushed himself beyond what he physically should be able to, forcing the large weight of the ax over his shoulder like a cantilever. The force of it brought the ax over Castus' head into a chopping motion. 

Valex formed a barrier with strange runic symbols in front of himself. The ax solidly landed on the barrier causing small cracks to form, but it held. Valex slowly started to gain his bearings again and Castus started to panic. This was his final gambit and he doubted Valex would allow him to live now. 

Castus still felt the mana swirling into himself, charging himself. With all the concentration he had left he made Shoulk powder and ignited it on the back of the ax. The resulting explosion and subsequent feeding of the now jet of flames on the back of the ax allowed it to begin cracking the barrier more. Castus put all his weight into the ax as it slowly made it through the barrier. He was producing powder and using mana faster than he was gaining it. 

Valex's furious expression turned to panic as the ax cracked the barrier more. Castus felt his hands start to burn from the heat transfering into the ax, but he ignored it and pressed forward, and finally the barrier broke. 

The ax freed from its resistance slammed down in a devastating attack. The ax bisected Valex cleanly before imbedding itself deeply in the arena floor. Castus let out a held breath and fell to his knees, still holding the searing handle. He could feel himself struggling to remain conscious. The constant fluctuations in his mana were taking a significant toll on his mind. He could barely move. He looked to the barrier; it was still erect. 'Even that didn't kill him?' He thought to himself. 

He had nothing left, no stamina, no strength, and no mana to resist if Valex was still alive. He looked over to the half of Valex he could see. He watched in defeat and agony as parts of the body wiggled and squirmed, moving to the two pieces together. Slowly Valex rose up from the devastating blow. He had a nasty scar that ran down the center of him and looked to refuse to heal. 

The twisted face on his purplish body snarled as he looked at Castus. He spoke no words, but the monstrous rage was apparent. Valex stabbed forward with one arm to spear Castus' chest, but it never reached. The flesh of Valex began to disintegrate. Starting from the limbs, it worked its way up his body towards his head. "Wait, no, how could this vessel already be at its limit!" He shouted as his legs disappeared from under him. 

His torso was slowly chipped away and soon only a head remained. Valex said nothing further, but his gaze remained focused on Castus. His lungs were gone but Valex mouthed one last thing. "You will die by my hand." Then his head was gone. Castus kept his gaze on the ashes that drifted away. He could see something misty, a soul, Valex's fragmented soul as it drifted away, through the barrier. 

Once Valex's soul left, the barrier released. Castus felt a surge of strength through his body for a moment, a level up. Once his newfound strength left him though he quickly collapsed onto the floor.