The closer the distance between the two of them got, the more black mist started gathering around them. Despite the pain that accompanied each and every step and despite the various wounds on their bodies, the two of them were grinning, likely for the same reason. While the king’s smile waned, Vaar’s smile only grew until eventually, it turned into full-fledged laughter. The laughter was followed by the black strands inside of his body dissipating, turning into black mist and then, instead of escaping and floating up into the clouds, it formed a small layer around his body, compressing itself to make the sickly glow that he once had. The more he laughed, the more emotions he unleashed, the stronger he got. The two of them got closer and closer until they were right next to each other, but neither one of them attacked first.

“This reminds me of the time we fought each other in the barracks, except we were much weaker and much more naive. You’re a fool, don’t you know that? Even after fighting for what was initially yours and even after killing her, you spared me and sent me off, perhaps hoping that I would one day come back, completely changed and perhaps even call you my brother once more. From the day our father died, you stopped being a brother to me, instead, you became someone who I needed to beat.” Vaar laughter turned maniacal as he held the serpentine sword to his chest. The sickly glow that surrounded his body merged with Vaar and started rushing towards his chest, more precisely, towards his heart.

The sickly glow surrounded his heart and created a cocoon of sorts, constantly becoming smaller and at the same time, much darker. Similar to the pulsing of Orou’s blood core, the cocoon started pulsing, sending waves of the sickly glow through his body. The crystals embedded within his body started shaking and one by one, they started shattering. Along with the crystals, his skin started cracking and drying up. He aged several years in a second until he looked nothing more than a pile of skin and bones, but as the skin withered away, the bones started turning from pure white to dark and a new layer of skin started growing around the bones. Similarly to the bones, it started turning black and instead of skin, it looked more like a piece of metal.

As Vaar’s transformation was in process, the king wasn’t simply idling, waiting for Vaar to finish. Instead, he plunged his sword inside of the weakened crystal platform and the platform beneath his feet also started to shatter. Initially, the green crystals on the sword glowed as the king was doing this, but even the crystals on the sword started shattering and instead, the blue crystals became brighter and brighter. All of the sudden, the platform beneath their feet started cracking down the middle, where the bracelet had cut through the platform and with a loud crash, the two of them tumbled down onto the ground. The king softly landed on his feet and, his sword, still in one half of the platform, became brighter and brighter. On the other hand, Vaar landed with a heavy crash, sending dirt spraying everywhere, burying himself deep into the dirt.

Orou didn’t care about drawing attention as the only thing he currently cared about was seeing about how the fight would conclude. He stood up to his full height and looked into the slightly lowered pit, excitedly waiting for the next thing to unfold. The two of them were in their own world as if they had forgotten that they were ready to kill the other a few moments ago. The king completed his move first, the crystal platform was entirely gone and so were the green crystals on the sword. The red crystals were completely dim as the sword was dominated by an azure light was covered the entirety of the sword and the king.

The king sighed and with his free arm, he brought it up to his face and placed his palm on his face. A few moments later, the crystal sword cracked and shattered, turning completely into an azure light. The light started to wrap itself around the king’s body and the shattered fragments of the crystals around him started levitating and spinning around his body. From the tips of his fingers, blue crystals started growing and spreading through his palm, his arm and then, the rest of his body. The thin layer of blue crystal started digging into his skin and flesh, but the more it did so, the thicker the layer of blue crystal became. The king held up his right arm in the air and the crystals started to thin out, becoming sharper and sharper until the entirety of his right arm resembled a sword. Similarly holding out his left arm, it started deforming and growing more layers of crystals, until it resembled the shield that he carried earlier.

His entire body underwent transformation to resemble his original state, his golden armor, now colored completely blue and a blue serpent coiled around his neck. With another sigh, the king started moving towards the still immobile body of Vaar, that was half buried in the dirt. Vaar didn’t react even when the king was right next to his body and so, the king stretched out his right arm and swung it towards his neck. The swing was so quick that Orou only saw a blue flash, but instead of a decapitated head, Orou saw a thin barrier form around Vaar. The barrier completely stopped the strike, but it didn’t dissipate as Orou expected it to. Instead, it started to expand and expand, creating a protective bubble around Vaar.

The king swung countless times at the bubble, but no matter if he tried to pierce or slash it, it simply wouldn’t burst. The king was like a tireless machine, waving his time multiple times in a second and battering the bubble with his shield and although it looked like it was weakening, it would take a while for the king to completely shatter it. Several minutes later, the bubble was covered in scratches, but it didn’t burst. Instead, Vaar started to slowly open his eyes, which had turned completely dark, though the red in his eyes became that much more prominent. He smiled and punched out towards the barrier, sending multiple vibrations through it before shattering it in its entirety.

His feet finally landed on the ground and when they did, it resembled a small earthquake. The ground started intensely shaking as he started dashing towards the king and the sounds of air exploding could be heard when he punched out towards the king. The crystals making up the left side of the king’s body cracked and caved in, but the king showed absolutely no emotion. Using his right arm, he stabbed through Vaar’s body multiple times, leaving several holes behind as a result. Using his left arm, he brought down the massive shield onto Vaar’s head and smashed Vaar several meters into the ground below them. Vaar’s entire head was cracked and he had tens of holes in his body, but he was smiling and laughing like just like before.

Leaping several meters into the air, Vaar swung his leg towards the king’s head, but all that greeted him was a massive, blue shield. The force from Vaar’s leg was so intense that the king’s body shuddered and the shield cracked, but once more, in response to Vaar’s aggression, the king mechanically swung out his crystal arm towards Vaar’s leg, digging half-way through before stopping, retrieving his leg and continuing the process of slashing Vaar’s leg. In the few seconds that he was in mid-air, the king delivered more than thirty slash wounds that pierced Vaar’s skin and flesh, until it reached the bone. No blood came out and instead, his metallic skin started repairing itself, closing the wounds as he was inflicting them.

Still in mid-air, Vaar used his other leg to swing at the king’s crystal legs and this time, he was successful. The king lost all balance as he was sent flying for several meters, but before he was, his crystal arm delivered a fatal wound that would kill any regular man. Extending much longer than it was originally, the king swung out his right arm towards Vaar’s neck and moments later, his arm came out on the other side of Vaar’s neck. He was blown away milliseconds after doing that, but instead of grasping at his throat, Vaar let out a laughter which sounded like metal scratching against metal and, crushing the dirt beneath his feet, he sprinted towards the king.