Silence covered the plains as Sebastion’s domain bubbled up from under the rock. The domain wavered and pulsed unstably as Sebastion roared in fury. The light from his innate talent lashed out sporadically, striking the ground and disappearing into the air with none of the finesse shown in the earlier fight. One of these wild beams struck Svend, sending him flying backwards, while others carved long lines into the rock nearby.

Nox answered Sebastion’s fury with a thunderous roar of his own. He dashed forwards, intending to pounce on Sebastion but before Nox could even get close, the wild domain froze him in place. Naga and Sylvie were both struck in a similar predicament, unable to move under the intense pressure.

“Lock him down,” I commanded calmly.

A loud, boisterous laugh echoed from a large hill to my right. Standing atop the hill was a man wearing a blood-red cape and a crown of golden flames upon his brow. “This is what you call karmic retribution!” Ragnar the conqueror shouted as he pointed down at Sebastion.

Behind Ragnar, two thousand archers gave a mighty shout as they raised their bows and fired. Thousands of arrows flew through the air and struck down on Sebastion like a never ending swarm of insects.

Despite his fury, Sebastion knew better than to waste his energy taking control of the arrows. Without even glancing at the archers, he condensed his domain armor around his body. The arrows rained down around him, bouncing harmlessly off his domain without any effect.

However, in condensing his domain armor, Sebastion was forced to stop suppressing Nox, Sylvie, and Naga. The three beasts did not hesitate and rushed towards Sebastion in a whirlwind of golden flames.

Sylvie was the most flamboyant. Flames exploded out and took the form of a giant ethereal phoenix that wrapped around the small bird and shrouded her body in fire. Her speed skyrocketed and the flaming bird became a blur that could not be followed with the naked eye.

Sebastion was caught by surprise by the sudden change in speed and the beam of light he had fired towards Sylvie completely missed. Before he could even think to fire another shot, the golden blur had already struck his chest, engulfing the man in flames.

Domain armor protected Sebastion from the heat of the flames, but the golden fire blocked his vision long enough that Naga was able to close the distance. The giant reptile did not even bother using the golden flames as her massive body crushed down at Sebastion like a small mountain.

Brilliant light wrapped around the remains of Sebastion’s sword as he shouted like a madman. The melted sword was not even big enough to be one of Naga’s toothpicks but when it struck the scales of her giant body it exploded like a cannon. Naga was sent careening into the distance as blood splattered across the ground.

Sebastion did not get any respite, however, as while the other two attacked from the front, Nox had circled behind Sebastion and pounced with a deadly silence that only a true predator could achieve. Almost simultaneously as Sebastion sent Naga flying, Nox’s jaws clamped down around the back of Sebastion’s neck. Golden flames dripped like venom as the domain armor was corroded away.

Sebastion screamed in pain and fury as his weakening defense allowed Nox’s fangs to tear through flesh. A golden burst of light exploded in every direction, rending Nox free of his prey. Both Sylvie and Nox were sent flying out of the crater.

Sebastion gripped the wound on the back of his neck as blood dripped down across what remained of his clothes. “You cannot defeat me with these puppets, Aurielle. Come out and face me!”

I shook my head at Sebastion’s desperate taunt and sent a mental command to one of my undead. “Start phase two.”

Sebastion looked like he was about to shout something else but froze when a shadow blocked out the sun overhead. He looked up to see Dragon’s Nest, the entire floating island, glowing with thousands of blue glyphs. I could see the shocked look on his face as he realized what those glyphs represented.

Sebastion flew up, trying to move out of the range of the war glyph before it activated but he had noticed the danger too late. Giant icicles began to grow from the bottom of the floating island until the entire thing looked like a flying glacier. The glyphs then changed color, from blue to orange, as countless explosions rocked the bottom of the island.

All at once, icicles shot from the island like tens of thousands of glistening swords. Each shard of ice carried enough force to shatter stone and pierce through metal. A war glyph like this could wipe out an entire army but right now, all of them were aimed at just one person.

Sebastion was not able to get away in time and could only turn and face the hailstorm falling down on him. A ray of light spread out, disintegrating the ice before it could reach him but for every icicle he destroyed, two more pierced forward.

If Sebastion had still been at his full strength, this hailstorm might not have been a threat to him but exhausted as he was, Sebastion was unable to completely obliterate the incoming attack. Icicles crashed down on his domain armor like endless hailstorm.

Even from a distance, I could feel Sebastion’s power wavering as his stamina finally began to fail him. When the war glyph ended and the smoke began to clear, Sebastion still stood but only barely. Three icicles had pierced his domain armor, one stabbed into his shoulder, another in his arm, and the third went clean through his thigh.

I had no idea how Sebastion was still conscious after everything I had thrown at him, but he had not surrendered yet. He pointed at Dragon’s Nest, firing a ray of brilliant light that slammed into the floating island, sending it careening down to the ground.

I felt my heart catch in my throat as Sebastion prepared to blast the island again. Everyone was still in there. The walls of the Preateritum remnant were tough but even if I knew they could take Sebastion’s attack I could not stop myself from worrying.

Before Sebastion could fire his second attack though, the ring of a blade being drawn echoed across the plains. Sebastion quickly raised his melted slag of a sword to meet an unseen attack as a domain unlike any other began to spread towards him. It did not carry a weight like a normal domain, nor did it suppress the surroundings in an attempt to manipulate the environment. This was a domain that had discarded all of that to express a single idea, a single word, sword.

Sebastion fell still as the domain passed him like a gust of wind. The blade of his damaged sword clattered to the ground. The metal where it had once connected to the hilt was now mirror-smooth.

Sebastion looked down at his blade in confusion as blood began to drip from a new wound on his chest. Sebastion took one unsteady step, looking towards where the attack came from before he collapsed to his knees.

I glanced over to my left where Sigmund, the Sword Saint, was slowly sheathing his blade without any hint of pride or arrogance. His simple black and white attire only emphasized the crown of golden flames on his head.

“You were not supposed to act until phase three,” I complained.

“My priority is to protect your family. Your plan to get the final blow when he was weakened was unnecessary.” Sigmund replied without any care for my protest.

I shook my head with a sigh and walked up to where Sebastion knelt. His blood stained the dirt as it flowed freely from his wounds. His eyes were unfocused as he struggled to remain conscious.

Before I could approach, Svend crashed down like a meteor. In a single swift motion, he placed his halberd at Sebastion’s neck. I could not see his expression under the helmet but I knew he wanted nothing more than to follow through with that blow.

“Calm down, Svend,” I said as I walked towards where Sebastion knelt.

Svend growled as he leaned down close to Sebastion. “Give me a reason and I will not hesitate.”

Sebastion ignored Svend as he struggled to focus on me. “Is that you, Aurielle? Your real body?”

“Yes,” I whispered softly.

Sebastion’s eyes glowed with a white light and for a moment I thought he might attack me regardless of Svend’s threat but just as quickly as the light appeared, it faded. Sebastion gave a self-deprecating chuckle as his hand fell limply at his side.

“Will you kill me now, just as you did Lucia?”

I shook my head as I reached out towards Sebastion with trembling hands. He tensed, preparing for the worst and I paused. After so many years I was finally standing in front of Sebastion once again. I had imagined countless times what I would do if I ever got this opportunity. Many times, I thought I would beat him to a bloody pulp for being such a bullheaded fool. I thought I would chastise him for all the mistakes he had made over the years, or maybe remind him of a lesson from the past, but now that I was standing here in front of him there was only one thing I wanted to do.

Reaching out once again, I wrapped my arms around Sebastion and held him tight. “I am sorry. I am so very sorry… for everything.”

Sebastion found his strength as he shoved me away. His furious shout echoed across the now silent fields. “You think I could ever accept your apology, after everything you have done! Lucia thought of you as a mother but you did not even try to save her. Instead, you turned her into one of those things!”

“Of course, I did,” I whispered as I tried to keep down the pain in my chest, “How could I ever let Lucia die… to rot in the ground like spoiled meat? She deserved better than that.”

“She deserved better than being one of your puppets!”

“What was I supposed to do, let her become a monster?” I shouted back as green flames ignited around me in response to my grief and anger.

“You were supposed to save her! Sebastion shouted back before falling down to a whisper. “You were supposed to save her, just like always. You always had a plan, a backup to a contingency. You said that nothing is absolute but when it mattered most, you did not even try.”

The flames around me dispersed as I turned away from Sebastion so that he would not see the tears I was struggling to fight back.

“The world is not one of your fairy tales. People die every day and there is nothing we can do about it. You can drown yourself in grief and revenge if you want but I will continue fighting it until my very last spark has burned away.”