60th chapter

desperation

The purple crystal burned as it made its way through the blood red skies.
Bits and pieces fell burning with it and the sky became full of burning crystals.
They fell down and burned out, exploding, splitting and vanishing with a magical blast
It was the sight of a lifetime. A giant crystal burning violently through the skies with bits of it falling all round each burning in a different color.
It was too bad that beneath all of it the fight had begun a new.
Exen’tor jumped up, attempting to smash ace down, while Wisim shot hundreds of arcane missiles from each of his hand, targeted directly at ace.
But none of it seemed to matter. Although the few hits Exen’tor managed to land made serious impact on the dragon they were few and far between while ace dodged, blocked and counterstriked at every turn.
Wisims magic however appeared to do nothing, not even succeeding in annoying the bastard. Wisim was quickly running out of spells and power.
Weariness and injuries were starting to show on Exen’tor, his moves were slow and sluggish compared to the first attack.
It was becoming obvious where this battle was heading.
Exen’tor spun with a furious growl, faster than before, not allowing himself to slow down.
“It’s the world we’re defending here,” he reminded himself, “we fail here, if we kill ace, the world will be filled with monsters far greater than this one.”
It gave him strength, filled him with some kind of resolution to be fighting for something more than just his own survival.
But in the end that was what this was ultimately about.
They had to win here, they had to defeat ace or they would all die.
He jumped around, spinning his body and throwing bolts of darkness wildly without any effect.
And then there was Mesfer. Allowing the imp to take over so quickly and violently had made the imp a large part of his consciousness and sometimes taking fully over.
Sure, it made him more powerful,stronger,faster and possibly smarter but if there was anything Exen’tor hated was not being in control.
He struggled for control of his own mind, which slowed him down but in the end it didn’t appear to matter.
For in the end he was hardly a fight for ace.
But he did not care; losing was not an option here. No matter the pain, no matter the sacrifice he would have to make, he would not fall.
He would not fail his companions, so he struck once more and received a pounding
He threw his fists, engulfed by darkness straight towards ace’s face.
Ace almost yawned while he grabbed the weak punch: “you know, this is really beginning to bore me. “
A large boulder flew at them, directed by Wisim’s magic. he let go of Exen’tor and pointed at the boulder which immediately blew up with dark flames.

Crystals were falling towards the earth leaving massive craters and crystals in its wake.
All around them explosions could be heard and seen, some even falling on fire plume ridge itself.
At first Wisim didn’t pay any heed to them but then he felt a distinct tug towards a nearby crystal. He looked at it and a plan was formed.

ace bashed Exen’tor down with a blow that would shatter stones and he fell to his knees, feeling all power leaving his body.
He tried to stand up, his knees shaking, his breath sharp and hard.
Ace kicked him in the back, spitting out the words: “stay down.”
But Exen’tor didn’t listen, he would not fail his friends no matter the cost.
He let down all his inner guards to allow Mesfer to take over, prepared for the coming helplessness. But it did not come, Mesfer was pleased for the opportunity, but in the end was his power also spent.
Laying there on the ground before the most powerful enemy he had ever faced, he felt the despair taking hold of his heart, he felt what little hope he had allowed himself wither away he felt the coming doom knowing that his death would only be a part of a plan to enrage Wisim into killing ace.
And that thought, to but a pawn in a power play of someone else enraged him beyond measure.
He stood up, screaming, his hands made of sand, shooting at ace, covering him in sand.
It was not an act of hope, it was not an act of survival or goodwill.
It was an act of rage and anger, hate and resentment.
And those emotions flowed wildly and made the sand even more powerful.
It engulfed Ace , pressed him, suffocated him and slowly began to eat him.
At least it tried to.
The sand attacked the flesh and the scales of ace, attempting to disassemble him, but failing.
A shockwave rippled through the air around Ace, knocking all the sand helplessly around.
And from the shockwave, ace burst through, charging at exen’tor and grabbed him by the neck.
“Why do you persist”, ace asked genuinely interested, after all the end of the world was inevitable in his mind, why fight it?
“Why do you stand up? Don’t you recognize your death when it is delivered to you?”
Exen’tor coughed and hit ace’s hand weakly, then with a gurgly voice answered:
“I am descended from people responsible for the destruction of the old Kalimdor,the same who were later exiled by a bunch of fanatics worshipping trees and leaves.”
“The ones who were mercilessly slaughtered and destroyed for the sole purpose of reviving a dead human as a sack of bones.”
“Slaughtered ,betrayed by our friends and exiled from this very world our spirit has never wavered.”
“So why should I ever stop fighting, knowing the history of my people?”
Ace smiled and raised his fist.
“Because it’s the end, my friend. This is the end.”
Suddenly and furiously Wisim appeared behind ace, screaming.
Around him flew crystals as a kind of armor , and in his right hand he held a piece of crystal in the shape of a sword.
He screamed manically and said with madness in his voice: “No one. Hurts. My. DAUGHTERS!”
And with a powerful thrust Wisim cut through ace’s lung, mortally wounding him.
Wisim had killed ace at the top of his magical circle.
The earth began to shake, glyphs appeared in the grass, trees and leafs, and the sky turned magically glowing blue


And far away in the middle of the great sea, the maelstrom grew even more chaotic.