The Sword and The Shadow

Marolyt held the wound near his ribs and shot the mounted Kevin with a complex glare.

"You're chosen to go on that path in the end? You… dog of Pyro!"

"Sinners deserve to be punished!" He ignored the insult and raised his lance before he charged forwards on the back of the unicorn.

The unicorn Pyro granted him wasn't just a glorified mount. It could run as fast as lightning and as it ran, Marolyt could see how even light and shadow parted for it.

Kevin's lance glowed bright gold as it shot towards him like a shooting star. His eyes narrowed as he strafed to the side, only barely avoiding the fatal thrust.

But Kevin raised his left hand and shot a bolt of light accurately to the swordsaint's chest. It caused him to spit out yet another mouthful of blood.

Marolyt turned around with great difficulty and noticed that the terrified Wayerliss had returned to his former calm.

"Looks like working with a true god was the right choice after all." He smiled and bowed before he beckoned at Marolyt. "Don't worry, I won't strike anymore."

"Wayerliss!"

Marolyt knew he couldn't fight Kevin anymore. He could only finish Wayerliss off.

The crafty elf had long figured out his plan. He abandoned any thought of fighting and withdrew with a cold, strained smile, once again blending into the lightless environment of the Dusk Zone.

"Divine punishment shall be meted!"

Kevin lashed out like an emotionless machine without the slightest hesitation. He summoned near a thousand hammers of judgment in the air.

Marolyt had wanted to charge at Wayerliss, but his target was now gone. He didn't have enough energy remaining to use his Domain of Sword either.

The scales of the battle had tipped in the opposite favor completely.

He avoided the hammers haggardly and forced himself to continue moving quickly. No matter where he stood, he would be struck by a hammer fractions of a second after coming to a standstill.

He felt his steps getting lighter. His feet felt soft like they had lost bone and Azureflash could feel the weakness of its master as its glow dimmed.

However, he had never thought of giving up. If he didn't continue to fight, his daughter might be in danger.

When the last hammer landed, Marolyt stumbled and fell to the ground. Azureflash was sent flying when his grip loosened and fell some three meters away from him.

So he can't even hold a sword up now, huh? Wayerliss thought from his hiding spot. He wondered if he should give Marolyt one more stab to end it all, but thinking back at his last few sneak attempts, he dropped the notion. It wasn't like Kevin would lose anyway, so he didn't need to take that risk.

Kevin stopped his attacks. Riding on the unicorn, he looked at Marolyt as he crawled towards his weapon in desperation like a hound with broken legs. There was a great, red wound on the back of his body out of which his ribs poked, out of which he continued to bleed. It was only but a flesh wound, however. The strike that truly harmed him was the lance thrust he narrowly avoided. It had injured his innards.

But even if his body gave out from the thousands of wounds he incurred, he didn't stop. He crawled on like a hateful bug and spent half a minute to regain possession of his weapon.

He then thrust the sword into the ground and used it to support him as he struggled to stand.

"Cease your futile resistance and accept judgment!" Kevin churned out like an answering machine.

"Resistance? This isn't resistance," he said, shaking his head.

Kevin kept silent. It wasn't even certain he could hear what he said.

But Marolyt continued to prattle on.

"This is something even more dignified, Kevin. It's something you always claim to be doing."

He pulled his sword out, swayed a bit before regaining stability. "This… this is protecting…"

He activated Dance of Wind after he said that. With power he got from who-knows-where, he once more began moving at breakneck speed.

He circled around Kevin at high speed. From afar, the light Azureflash gave off formed a blue ring around him. As his speed increased, the brightness of the ring increased.

When his speed reached its peak, the ring shattered. He launched an attack on Kevin in the center with swordsmanship faster than the eye could see. He launched two attacks on average each second, with each attack having up to ten slashes each. Kevin would be cut more than ten times each second.

He can actually still move so quickly… Wayerliss was awed by the sight. He felt fortunate he didn't try to engage him again, given how much energy he seemed to have left.

But if Marolyt's power could impress him, Kevin's would cause him to despair. No matter how fast the attacks, his defenses weren't broken in the slightest. He was covered entirely in a golden barrier of light. It seemed as if nobody other than Pyro himself could break the barrier.

Clangclangclangclangclang!

Wayerliss could hear the nonstop ringing of the sword clashing against the barrier. Some of them were the sounds of Azureflash crashing against Godsolar while others were created from the collision between the sword and the barrier.

Either way, there was nothing he could do to break the divine protection at all. While he was a saint, he still couldn't compare to Pyro, who was considered to be among the stronger beings in the divine realm.

"Aaaaaaaargh!" Marolyt roared as he continued his high-speed attack from all directions.

The rapid clashing sounds stopped a few seconds later when he finally expended every last ounce of potential in him. He once more appeared in Wayerliss's sights before he took a few steps forward and fell without a word, ramming his head against a tough stone. Blood began to flow out from his forehead and stained his short, blue hair red.

Is it over?

Just as Wayerliss thought so, however, he heard a surprising clash of metal once more.

Kevin's Blazing Golden Sun armor could not withstand Marolyt's frenzied attacks and shattered once more. Even his barrier of light shattered. The light in his eyes faded and seemed human once more.

He fell weakly off his unicorn, but he seemed to be in a much better state than Marolyt. The dark man stood back up on his own not long after and shakily approached the fallen Marolyt.

Wayerliss appeared beside him slowly and walked towards his right hand and Azureflash. He had wanted to disarm him and take revenge for his lost arm.

But a golden bolt of light struck his arm. He coldly turned around and asked, "Are you trying to stop me?"

"My Lord, please listen to your humble servant's request." Kevin sounded much humbler after the trade with his god.

"Pyro's order is for Marolyt to be killed. You can't go against it."

He didn't know whether Kevin was really conversing with Pyro, but he desperately wanted to take Marolyt's life. So, he thrust his longsword towards his heart.

But another bolt of light stopped him.

"My Lord didn't give such an order." Kevin's body shone bright once more, proof of being granted power by Pyro again. "He only demands that Marolyt is unable to let anyone know about this news. This can be achieved by imprisoning him!"

Wayerliss remained silent and estimated the difference in ability between him and Kevin. After making sure he was no match for the deity-backed paladin, he decided to take a step back.

"Since we're working together, I'll respect Pyro's sincerity. I'll leave Marolyt to you."

He once more disappeared into the darkness, this time, for good.

"Guess you get to live after all."

He looked at the bloodied Marolyt and began to pray for a healing divine miracle.

……

"Hey, Kevin," the caged Marolyt couldn't help but ask, "How did you convince Pyro to spare me and even heal me?"

"Would you believe me if I said I did no such thing?" Kevin lazily replied.

"No! If you don't wanna say, then fine!" He couldn't be bothered to say anything else.

But Kevin wasn't lying. He only asked Pyro to spare him, and the speed at which he agreed surprised even him. However, he didn't understand what Pyro said in the end.

"It's enough that we achieved our goal. I wouldn't want to offend that fellow completely. This one here's his father-in-law, after all."