65) I want you to die!
…
{3rd Pov}
Ember’s body vanished from its original position and appeared directly in front of Merina almost instantly. The moment he closed the distance; he swung his sword with his full strength without holding anything back.
Merina calmly raised her own weapon and blocked the attack using only a single hand.
Their swords collided head on, releasing a burst of sparks into the air. A powerful shockwave followed immediately afterward, causing the ground beneath Merina’s feet to crack and sink slightly from the impact.
Yet despite the force behind Ember’s strike, Merina’s figure remained completely nonchalant compared to Ember’s serious expression.
She blocked his attack so casually that it almost looked as though she barely acknowledged him as a threat at all.
Still, a faint trace of surprise appeared on her face.
“Peak Level 2…” she muttered quietly.
It genuinely surprised her.
From what she knew, Ember had only been a Level 2 for a little over a year. Reaching the peak of Level 2 within that period was already an incredible achievement by normal standards, especially for someone who supposedly did not train obsessively and had originally taken seven years just to rise from Level 1 to Level 2.
However, Merina did not dwell on the thought for long.
With a casual motion, she simply pushed him away.
The force behind that single movement caused Ember’s body to jolt backward violently before he landed several meters away from her position.
And from just that brief exchange alone, Ember already understood one thing very clearly.
The difference between them was enormous.
“Is this what gave you confidence to stand against me?” she wondered out loud.
A part of her wanted to kill him immediately and end everything right there.
But that felt too easy.
No, she wanted him to suffer first.
And she intended to begin by crushing his confidence piece by piece until nothing remained in his eyes except despair.
In the next instant, she appeared beside him.
Without hesitation, she kicked forward, her leg slamming directly into Ember’s stomach. The impact sent him flying like a ragdoll before he crashed violently against the ground. His body dragged across dirt and scattered stones for several meters, leaving countless scratches and cuts all over him.
At the same time, the pain exploding through his stomach felt horrifyingly intense, almost as if an ordinary human had just been punched directly by a professional boxer at full force.
Saliva spilled from his mouth as he coughed uncontrollably, struggling to properly breathe.
Merina did not give him even a single second to recover.
A shockwave burst behind her as she accelerated hard enough to break the sound barrier, her figure instantly appearing next to Ember before he could even react properly.
Then she kicked again.
Her foot slammed directly into Ember’s forehead with terrifying force.
A trail of blood burst outward immediately as his body was launched high into the air.
His forehead split open from the impact, blood pouring down rapidly and spraying outward like a fountain.
A moment later, he crashed back onto the ground heavily.
Blood pooled beneath his head while his ears rang violently without stopping.
At the same time, his vision blurred so badly that even focusing on his surroundings became difficult.
His original plan had actually been very simple.
First, he would only display the abilities of a normal peak Level 2 adventurer at most. Then, at the right moment, he would launch a surprise attack aimed at damaging Merina’s mobility, preferably targeting her joints or legs to slow her down even slightly.
After creating enough distance, he planned to begin chanting his spell and pour as much mana into it as possible before unleashing it directly against her.
Of course, the entire plan relied heavily on several critical conditions being fulfilled.
First, his weapon needed to be capable of properly injuring Merina in the first place. Thankfully, because Athena herself had replaced his previous equipment, his current sword was no worse than the gear used by most high-level adventurers.
Second, and far more importantly, he needed to completely catch her off guard.
By initially revealing only the combat prowess of a peak Level 2, he intended to make Merina subconsciously assume that she had already seen the full extent of his physical capabilities.
Even if she was aware that his magical power could potentially rival a Level 3 adventurer, she would still likely never consider the possibility that it might actually become dangerous enough to seriously injure someone on her level.
Unfortunately, while Merina clearly intended to toy with him and make him suffer, she was not stupid enough to completely hold back against him either.
Ember had barely begun recovering from the previous attack when Merina suddenly appeared beside him once again.
His grip tightened around his sword, which had almost slipped from his hand due to the earlier blows, but before he could properly react, Merina drove her sword straight through his palm.
He grunted sharply in pain as the blade pierced through his hand.
However, Merina showed absolutely no concern for his suffering.
In the very next moment, she planted her foot directly onto his face and slammed him down against the ground beneath her.
A loud crack echoed outward as the earth below him sank further from the force.
Merina looked down at him mercilessly.
Then, without hesitation, she pulled her sword free from his pierced palm and casually threw the weapon aside. Immediately afterward, she also kicked Ember’s own sword far away, removing any chance of him reaching it quickly.
After disarming him completely, she pinned his body beneath her and began beating him directly.
The first punch slammed into his face hard enough to break his nose instantly. Blood burst from his nostrils as pain exploded through his skull, mixing together with the blood still pouring from the wound on his forehead.
Before he could even properly process the impact, another punch crashed directly into his chest.
A sickening crack followed.
Several of his ribs fractured under the force as the ground beneath both of them sank even deeper, forming a large crater around the area from the sheer power behind her strikes.
Ember coughed violently, blood spilling from his mouth as his body struggled to endure the relentless assault.
Then another punch landed directly against his elven ears, crushing part of them apart with a sickening crunch as Ember finally howled in pain.
But Merina still did not stop.
She continued beating him relentlessly, venting all of her fury through a merciless storm of punches and brutality. Blow after blow crashed into his battered body without giving him even the slightest chance to recover.
By the time she finally stopped, only Ember’s bloodied and broken figure remained lying inside the crater.
His breathing had become extremely weak and uneven.
Without a doubt, he was already standing at the edge of death.
For a brief moment, Merina felt the urge to spit directly on his face in disgust. However, she restrained herself before actually doing something she considered vulgar and beneath her.
Instead, she slowly stood up while staring down at him coldly.
She could have continued torturing him further if she wanted to. However, she understood that his condition had already become unstable enough that he could die at any moment now.
Rather than accidentally killing him too early, she decided it would be better to let him cling to life for a few more moments before personally finishing him off completely.
With that thought, she finally turned around to retrieve her weapon, leaving Ember’s ruined body lying motionless behind her.
…
‘Am I going to die?’ Ember thought weakly.
Most of his senses had already begun fading away, and deep down he understood that he was no longer far from death.
‘I want to live,’ he thought desperately.
His mind instinctively drifted toward the people important to him.
He thought about his Goddess, his wife about the promise he had made to her.
Then more faces surfaced one after another.
He thought of his sister, Riveria. He thought of his mother and father, of his maid, of his teachers, and of everyone else who had ever believed in him.
The people who trusted him.
The people who loved him.
The people who genuinely cared about him.
‘Fight!’ something inside him screamed desperately, even while his broken body refused to properly respond anymore.
‘Fight!’
He wanted to shout those words aloud with everything he had left, but no sound came from his throat.
‘Fight! FIGHT! FIGHT!’
The desperate cries echoed repeatedly within his mind.
But it was useless.
It felt as though his subconscious was simply trying to cling to something impossible during the final moments before death.
Even Ember himself realized how meaningless and futile those thoughts currently were.
‘So this is how I die? Without ever fulfilling my dream?’ Ember wondered weakly as his thoughts gradually became cloudier and more difficult to hold onto.
‘Dream…?’
His fading mind struggled to grasp onto it.
‘What was my dream again?’
For a moment, he could not remember.
And that terrified him.
It was something incredibly important to him, something he had carried for years, so how could he possibly forget it now of all times?
Then suddenly, countless voices overlapped inside his mind all at once.
‘Ember.’
‘Son.’
‘Darling.’
‘Your Highness.’
‘Tet.’
‘Bahiya.’
The voices echoed one after another, familiar voices belonging to the people connected to his life.
‘Ah… right.’
A weak smile slowly formed on his lips as understanding finally returned to him.
Meanwhile, in reality, Merina had already driven her sword through the left side of his chest. The blade slowly pierced deeper as she twisted it at an agonizingly slow pace, intentionally prolonging the suffering.
But Ember’s thoughts no longer focused entirely on the pain.
‘How could I possibly forget?’ he thought.
Then, finally, the answer surfaced clearly within him.
‘To see what lies beyond the farthest horizon I can reach!’
The moment that thought solidified within his mind, he allowed overflow of Falna completely overtake him and allowed it to surge through his body without restraint.
In an instant, overwhelming strength erupted outward from him, rising to a level where the fact that he was only a Level 2 no longer seemed to matter anymore.
Back outside, Merina frowned the moment she heard Ember’s heartbeat suddenly spike upward. Even then, she still doubted that he possessed enough strength left to actually fight back in his current condition.
Calmly, she pulled her sword free, preparing to sever his limbs and finally end any possibility of resistance.
Then Ember moved.
One moment he had been lying motionless on the ground like a dying man.
The next moment, he was suddenly standing directly in front of her.
The sheer speed at which he moved shocked her completely.
Before she could properly react, intense pain exploded through her hand.
A scream escaped her mouth involuntarily as her sword slipped from her grip.
Ember had directly bitten into her wrist and torn through the tendons there with his teeth, instantly rendering her hand nearly useless.
The sudden brutality of the attack caught even Merina off guard.
Instinctively, she moved to strike him with her remaining hand, but Ember dodged immediately. At the same time, he caught the falling sword before it could hit the ground.
Twisting his body sharply, he swung the blade toward her with enough force and speed that even she was forced to dodge backward.
But Ember did not stop moving.
Immediately afterward, he charged away at full speed.
Merina’s still shocked eyes narrowed as she prepared herself to retaliate, only to suddenly realize something important.
Ember was not trying to escape.
He had rushed away to retrieve the second sword.
Now, standing a short distance away from her, Ember tightly gripped a sword in each hand, both weapons held firmly as blood continued dripping from his battered body.
Even after gaining that sudden surge of power, Ember still understood one thing very clearly.
Defeating Merina was not going to be easy at all.
Even if his current physical prowess had temporarily risen to the point of rivaling a Level 4 adventurer, the only reason he had managed to injure her earlier was because she had completely lowered her guard against him.
She had been caught off guard by his sudden burst of speed and never imagined that he would target her wrist tendons so viciously, much less bite through them with his own teeth.
So Ember had simply chosen the most logical option available.
If he could not overpower her directly, then he would make her unarmed while ensuring that he himself remained armed.
Suddenly, a bright glow covered his body.
Merina’s eyes widened slightly as his injuries began healing at a rapid pace. The blood flowing from his wounds gradually slowed while damaged flesh visibly repaired itself.
And the strangest part was that he had not even chanted a healing spell.
He already knew healing magic by heart, the magic activated without any spoken incantation at all.
Merina stared at him in shock as Ember finally spat the torn flesh and damaged nerves from her wrist out onto the ground.
Under her stunned gaze, his condition continued improving rapidly. The bleeding stopped completely, and the fatal wounds that had nearly killed him moments ago stabilized into injuries he could tolerate.
But the healing still did not end there.
The moment the first glow began fading, another wave of light immediately appeared around his body, continuing the restoration process further.
His broken nose repaired itself.
Even the crushed parts of his elven ear regenerated visibly.
‘When?!’ Merina thought in complete disbelief.
‘When did he cast healing magic?!’
A moment later, her expression twisted into something far uglier as anger and fury surged violently inside her once again.
“You bastard!” Merina shouted furiously as she launched forward like a rocket, shockwaves erupting behind her from the sheer force of her acceleration.
“O’ Flames of Legends!” Ember chanted immediately.
His mind throbbed painfully from simultaneously maintaining two different magics at once, yet his will remained unwavering as he swung both swords toward Merina without hesitation.
Merina raised both of her arms to parry the attacks directly, even though one of her hands now moved weakly and sluggishly due to the severe damage to her wrist tendons.
But Ember did not hesitate as he continued attacking relentlessly, each swing aimed with the clear intent to kill.
Even though he had never truly mastered dual wielding before, his current physical strength allowed him to handle each sword almost as though both were being wielded with two hands individually. His movements were far from perfect, lacking the refined precision of an experienced dual swordsman.
But perfection no longer mattered.
His attacks were deadly, and right now, that alone was enough.
The movements of both fighters became blurred as shockwaves continuously rippled outward from their clashes.
Merina was now at a severe disadvantage.
Without a weapon of her own, even her superior speed could not be used freely. She was forced into constant defense and parrying because making a single mistake would be fatal.
The swords Ember wielded were high level weapons designed specifically for powerful adventurers, and now they were backed by strength rivaling a Level 4.
If one clean strike landed properly, it would absolutely be capable of killing her.
On top of that, one of her hands was barely functional anymore.
Merina quickly realized the seriousness of the situation as cuts slowly began appearing across her body one after another. Her damaged arm prevented her from properly defending against every incoming strike, allowing several attacks to slip past her guard.
“Burn brighter than thy enemy!”
Ember continued chanting without stopping.
At that moment, Merina finally felt something she had not experienced since the battle began.
Fear.
Because for the first time, she truly realized that she could actually die here.
That realization caused the slightest hesitation within her movements.
And Ember instantly took advantage of it.
“Agrhhh!” Merina cried out in pain as she was forced to retreat backward suddenly. A sharp burning sensation erupted from the side of her head, and instinctively she turned her gaze downward.
Then she froze briefly.
Lying on the ground nearby was her severed left elven ear.
For a moment, she stared at it in disbelief before rage exploded across her face.
Now she only had one ear remaining.
“I WANT YOU TO DIE!!!” she screamed furiously, her voice filled with pure hatred as a massive magic circle suddenly appeared beneath her feet.
The circle was far larger than the one glowing behind Ember.
“Oh, Thunder roar like lions!”
“Turn them into cinders!”
The two clashed once more immediately afterward.
Their movements blurred beyond ordinary perception as the battle intensified even further. Merina repeatedly surged forward and then fell back again while exchanging attacks with Ember at terrifying speed.
The ground cracked apart beneath them while shockwaves spread outward continuously from every collision.
As they fought, the battle gradually moved along the outskirts of the city itself.
“Burn fiercely like a blazing inferno, mightiest weapon of the Gods! Let nature’s judgment descend upon my enemies! Let it fall! Let it fall!” Merina chanted loudly as she continued forcing Ember toward the location where she had already decided this battle would finally end.
Their figures collided repeatedly at terrifying speed.
After being thrown backward into a massive tree, Ember instantly kicked off the thick trunk. The moment he launched himself forward, the tree shattered apart behind him from the sheer force of the movement.
However, that brief rebound gave him additional acceleration far beyond what he could normally achieve while moving on the ground.
Using that momentum, Ember swung both swords in deadly arcs toward Merina.
The blades sliced across her chest, tearing through her clothes while leaving fresh bloody wounds behind.
“Put an end to the one standing before me! Bring me victory in the name of Nike! Bestowed by the Goddess of Wisdom, Oh Thunder roar like Lions!”
Merina continued chanting even while exchanging blows with him.
The surrounding forest trembled from the force of their battle as shockwaves spread outward continuously, tearing apart the ground and scattering debris in every direction.
Then finally, after all the pushing and maneuvering during the fight, they reached the exact place Merina had been forcing him toward from the very beginning.
The lake.
Ember instantly understood what Merina’s plan was.
She intended to force him into the water and make her attack completely unavoidable.
Even if the concentrated destructive power of her magic weakened slightly after spreading through the lake, the massive area of effect would guarantee that the attack became a sure hit regardless.
And while Ember’s body currently possessed physical strength comparable to a Level 4 adventurer, his durability itself still remained around the level of a strong Level 3 at most.
A weakened Level 5 magic attack was still more than enough to kill him instantly.
Realizing this immediately, Ember reacted smartly.
Instead of staying near the shoreline, he rapidly created distance by leaping toward a nearby slope. Not only would it place him farther away from the water itself, but it would also give him the advantage of higher ground from which to unleash his own attack.
“Let their ashes wash within your blue flames!”
He finally reached the final stretch of his chant.
And at almost the exact same moment, Merina reached the final stretch as well.
“Burn fiercely like a blazing inferno, mightiest weapon of the Gods! Let nature’s judgment descend upon my enemies! Let it fall! Let it fall!”
Lightning crackled violently around Merina as magical energy surged outward from her body.
Their eyes met.
This was it.
Merina thrust her palm forward, ready to unleash the attack she had prepared.
At the same time, Ember brought both of his swords together side by side. The blades gradually turned bright red as overwhelming magical power coursed through them.
“Athena’s Bolt!”
“Cremation!”
An overwhelming bolt of white lightning erupted from Merina’s magic circle. The attack compressed tightly around her palm for a brief instant before blasting forward toward Ember’s attack.
At the same moment, an enormous burst of blue flames surged outward from Ember’s swords, the fire so intense that the surrounding air distorted and burned simply from existing near it.
Both attacks carried power of Level 5 magic.
And the instant they collided, the entire atmosphere around them violently ionized.
The clash resembled plasma itself as lightning and blue flames consumed one another in a chaotic explosion of destruction. Thermal expansion immediately followed, creating a massive shockwave powerful enough to uproot every nearby tree instantly.
The force nearly launched both Ember and Merina off their feet.
Steam exploded outward and covered the entire area within seconds, followed by countless smaller explosions that continuously shook the surroundings.
At first, Merina’s lightning magic gained the advantage due to its superior propagation speed and explosive spread caused by steam.
However, almost immediately afterward, Ember’s overwhelming blue flames surged forward and swallowed the lightning whole, forcefully dispersing much of the attack.
But the clash was still not over.
The leftover electricity spread wildly across the battlefield, crackling uncontrollably through the surroundings before striking both Merina and Ember simultaneously.
Merina, as both the caster of the lightning magic and a Level 5 adventurer, merely shivered slightly from the residual shock.
Ember, however, instantly lost all the power supporting him.
His limit breaking state wore off completely.
The overwhelming strength that had temporarily elevated him vanished, causing his physical abilities to plummet back down to around the level of a low Level 3.
His body immediately gave out.
He collapsed onto the slope before rolling helplessly downward, eventually crashing into the lake below with a loud splash that sent water spraying everywhere.
Ember had lost and now, he no longer had anything left with which to fight back.
Merina breathed heavily, her body still trembling from the intensity of the battle.
Cuts and scratches covered her entire body, with blood slowly flowing from many of the wounds. However, despite her injuries, none of them were serious enough to bring down a Level 5 adventurer like her.
Her gaze immediately shifted toward the lake.
Even though the steam spreading across the area greatly reduced visibility, she still roughly knew where Ember had fallen.
Without hesitation, she moved to finish the job.
This time, she did not even think about torturing him further.
All she wanted now was to kill him as quickly as possible before anything else unexpected happened.
She stepped into the lake, the cold water rising up to her waist as she advanced forward. Soon, she noticed the water ahead becoming slightly reddish and black from the blood spreading through it.
That was where Ember’s body floated.
The moment his unconscious figure surfaced slightly through the water, Merina grabbed him tightly by the neck, fully prepared to twist it and snap it apart instantly.
Then she froze.
The dye coating Ember’s hair had finally washed away.
Now his real hair shimmered beneath the moonlight and steam like brilliant green emeralds in their purest form.
Green hair.
Among elves, that color belonged only to those possessing the highest and purest noble bloodlines.
Merina’s eyes widened slightly.
Then, as hesitation overtook her, she grabbed Ember’s unconscious face and turned it toward herself properly.
And froze even harder as she remembered something.
‘Blue eyes…’
Her breathing stopped for a moment.
‘Green hair and blue eyes…’
She did not want to believe it.
At the same time, terror and horror surged through her mind together.
“No…” she muttered weakly before finally speaking the name aloud in disbelief.
“His Highness… Ember?”
The realization hit her like a nightmare.
Instantly, her hands released his body completely.
Ember’s unconscious figure fell back into the water with another splash.
To be continued…
(A/N: Here is today's chap. Btw I will see if I can upload daily next week, for this week five and next week we will see. Also brain's funny again, 3Pm and already damn sleepy. Sheesh.)