Chapter 13 – Dealing The Final Blows

There was no gradual transition this time. The gray void blinked out at once, and she was instantly back in Vainfall as if someone switched the lights on.

Oh, shit! I wasn’t ready for this!

She caught a split-second glimpse of everything playing out. Her last movement was driving the Warblade into Sarka’s abdomen through the gap Fominel created with his mana blade while flying above.

Several things happened all at once. The Warblade sank into Sarka. It was more like Sarka materialized around the Warblade. His right arm, which was coming down on her, gripped her by the head. His other arm, which was flying away after being severed, flew away. Purple lightning cracked around him, mana bursting out of his glossy black body.

Fominel was screaming from above, entering a head-on dive towards Sarka. Darya caught the red and black energy trails of his other sword, mixed with the white-blue.

Sarka pushed her down with all his strength. He was fixated fully on her now, even in this corpse state; he had correctly designated her as the greatest threat if he let her go.

He had to be nearly out of HP now. Darya was sure she had dealt more than the amount that she needed already. Perhaps he had some emergency replenishment. He slammed her to the mud with all his weight behind the hand.

“Princess!” Fominel’s desperate screams rang out.

Darya couldn’t raise her head with the seven-foot-tall druid trying to suffocate her in the mud.

[Vainfall: Terminate]

She used it just in time to prevent the crushing. She was still disoriented, mud filling her mouth and nostrils. She rolled away, phasing through Sarka’s hand as she coughed up large chunks.

She lost her grip on the Warblade, and it became gray and frozen like the rest of the world instantly. There was a hard cutoff between her as a character and the world. Anything inside her shape could move in the monochrome world; anything even slightly outside or disconnected immediately froze.

The mud blobs that she coughed out also froze mid-air as she rolled away. She could phase through everything. During Terminate, the only solid things were her and the ground.

She didn’t even get to count her seconds before the world caught up to the prediction dots. Sarka’s foot was an inch away from her face. She did her best to roll out of the way as a thick splash of mud fell on her as Sarka adjusted his footing.

He took one glance at her through his glowing purple eyes and lifted his heel to stomp on her.

A white-blue line of mana slashed across his face and sank into his chest. A black-red line of mana slashed across his shoulder and neck.

Fominel was screaming in rage from above. Darya watched as his blades firmly anchored into Sarka’s body. His golden wings had turned to a mist of feathers. Fominel was falling feet first. He twisted his manablades to carve a chunk out of Sarka.

He missed the heel that he wanted to slam Darya with by inches. She managed to slide out of the way just as Fominel twisted his long blades. Clear liquid splashed out of Sarka as he fell on one knee.

Purple mana flashed from his body, and white vapor trails burst from his wounds.

Fominel splashed into the mud, sliding across as he shortened his manablades. He was ready to dash right back at Sarka.

Sarka’s foot was still an inch away from Darya. She realized she was in the perfect position to help Fominel land the blow for sure. First, she had to get back on her feet.

[Vainfall: Terminate]

It took a second to stand up out of the mud as fast as she could. She readied her fist during the next second.

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Sarka was hunched with his back turned to her, leaking white-purple mana from his gaping wounds. His neck was missing a chunk, spurting clear liquid as if through a broken pipe.

She saw a luminous crack on his back where Fominel’s blade had already burst through.

[Skill: Hammer Fist]
-15 SP • 280s Cooldown
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She lunged forth during the third second of the Terminate.

“Fom! Go for the head!” She yelled as loudly as she could, driving her fist into Sarka’s damaged spine with her strength fully unlocked. It was more powerful than she thought. She broke straight through his muscles, lodging her fist wrist deep into his blackened flesh.

Sarka drove his elbow into her side. It hit like a truck. The world flashed white for a second, and she felt weak at the knees. She didn’t have the body to brawl with a seven-foot giant man. Fominel dashed past, his white-blue blade slashing across Sarka’s neck. The manablade almost caught her as she hunched forward in pain.

The blade didn’t cut through his neck. Sarka had strengthened his body with mana. The blade was lodged halfway into his neck.

Fominel would’ve lost his weapon if it weren’t made of mana. He retrated the blade, switching to the red-black one. He pointed it straight at Sarka’s head and extended it as Darya swayed away weakly. The blade pierced through Sarka’s forehead and burst from the back of his head.

Sarka twisted in place, a second elbow heading towards Darya as she slipped on the mud. He was glowing purple with mana now.