Dance with the Nightingale-Chapter 113 - 108: Ray Vs Varkain III

-Tang!

I clashed with the demon, while swinging my sword covered in five elemental lights. The elements exploded as soon as we clashed, but brushing them off like it was nothing, the demon struck with his other hand, hammering me like a nail into the ground.

Arrows rained on Varkain’s demonic self as he chased after me, but with surprising agility, he caught some arrows aimed at him while dodging rest, before he returned the favor by throwing them back.

Getting out of the sticky position myself, I was faced with a purple laser of destruction.

Increasing the output of holy element, I somehow cut that beam in half, indirectly causing the dead trunks behind me be split in half.

At the same time, Fostoria shot more arrows, with huge amounts of mana compressed in them, at the demon.

’That elf must have a truly outrageous mana pool to keep up that bombardment.’, I thought.

But even that didn’t do any damage, only managing to stop the demon momentarily that too because the demon was focused on attacking.

Using that moment, I escaped, but so did the demon, using the cover explosions provided to hide. I was sick of him doing that at this point.

I activated [Mana Reading] to check for any mana fluctuations, when I didn’t find any, I said in Fostoria who was in a call with me, "He’s coming for you!"

As I said, he was indeed aiming for her, but she managed, with my remainder. Staying alive till I interfered and gave him a solid kick on his face, in a quite literal sense as he slashed my leg knee down, keeping it with himself.

It was not first or the second time this happened, so while I still wasn’t numb to that pain, I knew what to do.

Retreat, recover, rush and repeat.

And while I tried my hardest at fighting, I hadn’t forgotten about the new sub objective, a thought process of mine dedicatedly thinking about it:

Now, how should I exactly disrupt the pillar of darkness?

First, it was demonic sorcery that I couldn’t make head or tails of. Second, approaching it in itself was huge challenge.

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The demon was guarding it like a dog. Even if I rushed at it by stacking [Acceleration] eight times, it would only take the demon a second or two to catch up. Yes, the demon had just gotten that stronger, that he was starting to keep up with me even when I was using [Acceleration]. And unlike me, he wasn’t that fast just linearly, it was his overall agility that had been boosted at that level.

It felt like he had already reached B+ rank, inching closer and closer to an Archmage.

Having Fostoria distract him wouldn’t work too, the most she could buy me were a few seconds.

And without analyzing the sorcery, a few seconds weren’t enough.

I wish, it was as simple as destroying or erasing the formation.

’Wait, isn’t Agnil camping down there?’

I belatedly remembered the old guy’s presence, not my fault that he had little of it. But since he’s there, ’I’ll act a bit’, I decided it was worth a try.

After all, it was always old geezers like this that had something up their sleeve.

So, after parrying the demon with all my might, I tried to direct him towards the pillar with each subsequent clash. Not that our exchanges lasted any longer than three clashes at best.

Still, the demon was difficult to lead. With hundreds of years of experience in both sword and magic, his skills were leagues above mine.

He was seeing through each of my moves like an open book and countering them as easily as breathing.

It was a strange impasse, he couldn’t kill me because of the artefacts protecting me, and I couldn’t kill him because of my powerlessness.

But dragging this longer didn’t favor me one bit, I had to break it somehow, in my favor too.

That’s where Agnil came in, or should come in, atleast.

The old guy had his own perils. Due to the strange array set up by the demon, he couldn’t actually enter the underground chamber containing the Tree of Light. Instead, he was stuck in the 4 meter long cave that lead to this chamber.

Also, being an old soul, he was much more susceptible to the dark, demonic energy blanketing in the area, meaning he should have perished long ago, but given that he survived, boosted my confidence that he did have something up his sleeve. I hope it is something related to the Tree of Light, instead of some random holy artefact.

So, betting on this, I was about to summon another artefact and told Fostoria to buy me a few seconds, instead of agreeing, she said, "Buy me five and I’ll buy you fifteen."

’As you wish ma’am.’, I lamented, reading myself for another beating.

Meanwhile, Fostoria started preparing her spell.

Instead of hooking an arrow to her bow, she simply pulled on the bow string. As she did intense winds started blowing around her, as slowly a dark arrow head appeared at the bow. It wasn’t correct to call it an arrowhead. Rather, it was a dark vacuum shaped as an arrowhead, dark because there weren’t even dust particles there to reflect light. And yet, there were some magical shiny spots visible in it.

It was scientifically impossible to do this, but somehow, with a flash of green, the arrow fully materialized.

’Run!’, Fostoria shouted in my mind, and maybe because she was so focused, the name of the spell was also flowed into my mind, [Abyssal Tempest].

Thankfully, he demon hurled me away with a vicious blast, the air crackling with dark energy. Sensing a devastating strike, he erected a glowing crimson barrier, ready to withstand the impact.

But the arrow never hit. Instead, it disintegrated in front of his shield, imploding into a fierce vortex that devoured everything around him. The demon stood at its core, unyielding as chaos erupted but not for long.

Winds howled, trees snapped like twigs, and the very forest bowed to the swirling force, as debris from the forest floor tens of meters below was pulled skyward. Even from half a kilometer away, I felt the pull, the vacuum threatening to suck me in.

If not for [Acceleration] blasting me way harder, I might have been another victim.

As for where I was blasted? Definitely towards the pillar of darkness.

I didn’t have time, just fifteen seconds.

Landing heavily, I pulled out another holy vial, and cracked it, causing another holy explosion.

Then with five mana disrupting talismans in my hand, I ignored the blast and rushed into the cave.

Unlike the last time, I didn’t have time to weave my mana into a thread, nor did I have time to analyze the formation.

So, in a desperate effort to become lucky, I threw them all at the formation while trying to cross through it.

Needless to say, it was a failure, the formation stood firm, barring my path. So, I gave up, finally turning to Agnil who was standing a few steps away. "We don’t have time, so listen.", I started as five of fifteen seconds had already elapsed.

"We have to destroy that formation—it’s feeding the demon with strength. If he reaches Archmage level, we’re done. We’ll keep him distracted for a while, during that time I want you to destroy the formation. Can you do it?", I said in one breath, giving him exactly one second to process what I said as I activated [Mana Reading] and stared at him.

After that one second, I didn’t wait for his reply and simply added, "I know you can do it.", before rushing out of the cave, not because I believed in him, but simply because I saw the same ethereal golden mana coming from his chest as I did from the leaf of Tree of Light.

What Rayne didn’t know was… that Agnil had eaten the leaf.

***

[Agnil’s POV]

Agnil was in a dilemma. Ever since he came to the Misty Root Forest, escorting the demon, he was in a constant struggle. Trudging on a thin line.

Every moment, the demon showed a weakness, he had to choose. To attack or to not. His trump card was the leaf of Tree of Life, one of the only two harvested.

Meaning he only had one chance. If he screwed that chance, then he was dead, maybe even worse than dead.

Only God knew what fate awaited him if he failed, in the hands of a psychotic demon.

Maybe that was what failed him, fear. Cause days went by, the demon completed his preparations one step after another, planning truly sinister things that he couldn’t imagine and yet, he just stood by like a complete bystander.

He kept asking himself, ’Is this the moment?’, again and again but every him he denied it.

But now, he was sure. When the young man who came to him asked for his help he knew this was the moment, this was the moment he waited.

And yet he had already ruined it.

All because of his cowardice.

For many he was a war veteran, a battle hardened soldier that took part in the unification war, fighting bloody battles for humanity’s supremacy, for the empire’s supremacy.

They didn’t know the true him though. Yes, he took part in the war, yes he was present in those bloody and gruesome battles but he never fought in any of them.

He was boy at that time. A little boy inducted in a training camp forced to become a soldier. A little boy who at most was an errand boy. He delivered ammunitions to soldiers or helped treating their wounds, sometimes carrying wounded to safety or even burying the dead ones.

Unlike the training camp, no one in his unit expected him to kill dozens of enemies down, making his days during the war extremely rigorous but not dangerous.

Maybe the scar on his face gave off that veteran vibe. But it was simply something he got from a pretend dead soldier when he was taking care of dead bodies. Yes, he killed that disabled barely alive soldier but only after losing a good chunk of flesh.

That was in fact his first kill, in which he even peed his pants. After that, he was extra careful while taking out dead bodies, be it enemies’ or his unit mates’, growing numb after three years of constant death and before he knew it the war was over.

He was sent back to his home, honored as an ex-soldier, when in fact he was just a poser.

It turned out though, that he hadn’t grown numb to death. When his own came, he had shivered hard, like kid again. Choosing to use his only weapon for his survival.

Yes, the leaf was bane of anything remotely dark or unholy, but it was also ethereal and inert.

He could trigger it with his mana but that would be like using a grenade, using the leaf up in a instant.

Naturally, it only burned the demonic aura that came in direct contact with it, leaving Agnil by himself to brave the storm of darkness.

It was a dreadful feeling, growing weaker bit by bit, slowly losing parts your consciousness, slowly losing the energy to even blink.

He lost against that feeling, eating the leaf in a last ditch attempt.

And yes, he was saved, feeling completely fine, even getting younger as if he returned to his prime, but at what cost?

None.

He decided.

There were many times where his unit lost, losing lives in battle. But never once was it because of him.

He had always done his part, he had made a rule to do so.

Now, two young ones were fighting with their lives on the line, to protect his.

So, what if he died?

He will die after doing his part.

Even if it meant exploding a grenade in his stomach.

With that determination, Agnil stepped out of the cave.

It’ll didn’t take long for the demon to spot him. It seemed like the demon had paid special attention to his movements.

So, as soon as he stepped out the demon went on a frenzy, lunging at him with murder in his eyes.

"I knew you’ll crawl out of that den yours sometime!"

The young man in turn jumped on the demon’s back trying to stab his demon with his sword in a wasted effort. The demon was too tough for the sword to pierce.

Just as the demon had thrown him away, arrows exploded on his back doing little damage, but stopping him for a moment.

Taking that moment to recover the young man jumped back in.

’All that for this old one.’, Agnil mock laughed, as he closed the distance while dodging demonic beams of purple that the demon still managed to deliver.

Then taking another step he stood at the center of the formation, watching with horror as the demon tore all of the young man’s limbs away before throwing him away like a puppet.

Hurrying, he felt the leaf in his stomach, while the demon shook off the arrows and lunged at him.

"You are dead!", the demon exclaimed, just as the his claw reached Agnil’s head.

But before he could decapitate him, Agnil’s figure exploded in a golden light.

-Thump!

A silent shockwave phased through the forest as Agnil’s figure emitted blinding light, making it impossible to look at him directly. But if one persisted then, they would see cracks appearing on his body at a frightening pace.

As he said before triggering the leaf was equal to exploding a grenade, and his vessel wasn’t strong enough to bear with the explosion.

More and more cracks appeared on his body, as he drew his sword for the last time in his life.

’Live, young ones!’, with a single thought in his mind, he plunged the sword into the ground.

"Haaaa!"

Channeling all the power into the ground, Agnil screamed as the power overloaded both him and the formation, creating hideous cracks on both of them.

But that was just the start of Agnil’s worries.

’At this rate, I’ll die before the formation breaks. I have already used my life so I must achieve something!’

Answering his will, were the winds, as the crackling light all around him merged with the winds, forming a golden swirling tornado that ravaged the formation.

"Haaaa!", trying harder even as his mana pathways ruptured, Agnil held, enduring the pain of being his body being destroyed from inside.

Even as the pain intensified, even as his vessel broke he held on.

He had never failed anyone, and he never will. It was funny, he had never fought at frontlines, even at his dying breath, he was never the one fight at the front and yet it was a grand ending for him.

But before he ended, he had to destroy this formation!

So, giving it one last push, controlled the power of the leaf to his limits, engulfing the whole pillar with golden winds as finally, with a cracking sound the demonic formation was erased from the existence.

’Finally!’, Agnil smiled a little, he had completed his objective after all.

***

[Rayne’s POV]

After recovering, I stood on air, completely dumbstruck watching the scene before me, watching Agnil, with my mouth open.

The dark curtain was torn apart, light devouring the sky as far as I could see. The whole sky was shining, as the forest basked in holy light carrying the power of all positive elements.

And the one who did it, Agnil, had cracks all over his body, stood still, enduring the pain as he turned to look at the demon who was blown away before.

Unlike before, the demon wasn’t pristine, his body that had been unharmed before was covered in red hot burns. Burns that were still burning, sizzling the demons flesh, not healing a bit even with a vessel’s super regeneration.

Then without speaking a word, Agnil turned, resolutely keeping his body together as slashed the empty air.

-Flash

There was no sound, just a streak of light, that I could barely see even with [Split Second].

Before, I blinked the demon did a evasive maneuver, and when I opened my eyes again, his arm flew off, the same red hot glow covering his stump, slowly devouring more and more of him.

Unlike before, the demon looked surprised, not panicked, but still surprised and yes, angry too.

Muttering something that I couldn’t hear, the demon looked at Agnil with a piercing gaze.

Not paying him any mind, Agnil just took his stance and was ready to swing again.

And he did, doing another slash on empty air.

Unlike the last time, there was no flash of light, for a moment I thought it was too fast for me to see.

But that was not the case, I realized when I heard the demon cackling hideously.

Agnil, he wasn’t moving. Holding the stance of a finished downward slash, he stood still, almost too still.

Looking almost like a stone statue with a whole lot of cracks.

Then as the wind blew, just like a statue, he crumbled into pieces...