“Feel like running away again?” I taunted.
“Don’t get cocky, boy,” he growled, grinding his teeth, his fangs showing. “You’re still a human, and I’m a greater vampire lord! I’m the true Blade Saint—I have to be! Your defeat is still set in stone! That relic belongs to me!” Then, he disappeared once more.
“That same trick isn’t going to work anymore,” I said, sensing him going for El. Even though he was fast enough to get to her before I could react, I instinctively knew that didn’t matter. A new image of another blade formed in my mind.
“Voidmaker,” I said, calling forth a broadsword forged of a black metal with circular cutouts spanning the middle of the blade—and the same red gem by the hilt.
I swung it vertically, and a rift appeared in front of me and another in front of him. His eyes widened as he stumbled through the rift and appeared not in front of El but before me. Because of how taken aback he was, he didn’t react in time to counter my attack to his neck, which cleanly separated his head from his shoulders.
I knew from experience, though, that the battle wasn’t over. His eyes remained fixed on me as his head flew through the air, and his body reacted accordingly. After regaining its balance, it swung the sword, threatening to cut me in half. I blocked it and was flung back slightly, but I used that opportunity to cut a new pair of rifts open, this time one at where his head was landing and one in front of me.
His eyes met mine as his head fell through the rift finding himself, not safely by his body, but face-to-face with my sword.
“I can freeze time for three seconds,” I said, coldly glaring at him. “But for you, I’m sure it’s gonna feel like an eternity.”
Before his body could react, I switched back to the Flash Blade and immediately froze time, unleashing a flurry of attacks, first making sure to cut his eyes, and then his ears, and then anything else I could. By the time three seconds had ended, his head was reduced to a bloody pulp, unrecognizable from what it used to be.
Even so, his body didn’t stop moving. Right after time resumed, it rushed toward me, swinging its blade wildly and inaccurately, making it all too easy for me to cut off his limbs, one after another. At the end of everything, he was reduced to nothing but a torso.
I knew that if I didn’t go this far, I couldn’t win. His regeneration was strong, but if I could keep up my attack, then I could keep him down. But is this enough? No, his heart. I should stab it too. I’d been told that the weaknesses of vampires varied, but typically, it was either their head or heart. As my sword pierced his heart, his body slowly but surely lost its strength before it collapsed to the ground.
I didn’t even realize how much of a toll this was taking on me. My limbs felt like lead, and I was doing everything I could to catch my breath. I knelt on the ground, finally able to let my guard down.
With this...it’s over, right? Soreya, I—
“His blade!” El shouted.
At the same time, something inside me screamed that I was in danger. My eyes flew toward where his blade had landed on the ground. Blood had leaked out of it, forming a puddle, and in it, a pair of red eyes glared at me. He’s still alive?! I gotta assume a stance, but I—
His fully recovered body burst out of the puddle, grabbed me by the throat, and pinned my arm holding the Flash Blade against my body. I can’t move! Blood began to leak from my arm where his long, sharpened nails were piercing past my muscle, threatening to go into the bone itself.
“End of the line, boy!” he spat as his grip tightened.
I need to break free! Focus! What can I do?!
“I’m the true Blade Saint! Me! Do you know what I’ve sacrificed—whom I’ve sacrificed to get here?! Rrrgh! This damn ringing in my head! It’s me. It has to be! That blade is mine!”
I tried freezing time, but it changed nothing. His hand was still closed around my neck and my arm with his full strength. I couldn’t move even if I wanted to. But if I didn’t figure something out soon, his fingers would easily snap my neck. There’s gotta be something!
Then, I saw a familiar knife twirling in the air above us. He was so focused on me that he didn’t seem to have noticed it at all. But in the next moment, I heard an unexpected voice.
“Reset,” El said. And she appeared beside him and caught the knife she’d thrown.
Her body had been reset to the state that she’d been in before he’d cut off her hands, back when she’d set it during our fight before any of this craziness had occurred. But she’d had to throw the knife to use it since she hadn’t had it when she placed the reset point. On the handle of the knife, I saw faint bite marks. Did she use her mouth to throw it? After using Reset, she should have barely any mana left in her, which would stop her from using any spell or most of her physical strength. She’d risked everything on this, on the chance that we could still win, and it’d paid off.
Before he even had a chance to turn his head, she drove the knife into his hand, making him release his grip around me. He flung her off, knocking both her and the knife away.
I couldn’t let this chance go to waste. I froze time and then sliced through him one more time, then another time, and a third time, drawing a loud scream from him as time resumed.
Just as I went for the final strike, my instincts made me block my side with my blade as his blade flew at me as if it had a will of its own. It’d been as if his blade had warned me of its attack.
While I had my hands full blocking his heavy, massive blade, he used the opportunity to fly away toward the top of the barrier. The only way anyone could get out of the barrier was if the caster died or if he dispelled it. Obviously, he’d chosen the latter option. The mist at the top of the barrier was slowly beginning to disperse.
He’s running again? No, I can’t let him get away. But how am I supposed to stop him?!
“Leviathan,” El croaked as she fell to the ground, gasping for air.
As soon as she said that, something clicked in my head. A clear image of a certain blade came into my mind, and its name was... “Leviathan!” I called.