"Foolish boy!" Brannath said after putting a magic artifact on Doevm's spear, sealing his demonic weapon away from him.

'Fate,' Doevm thought as he hung from the Grand Shaman's web like laundry put outside to dry. 'Is that why I lost?' His heartbeat incessantly drowned out his thoughts. His fingers shook like a drunk too long without a sip of liquor because there wasn't enough sweat dripping down his bound limbs. The brief fight did not serve as a proper warm-up. 'I got ahead of myself. Why did I start fighting her with my fists? I should know better than that, I could have drained her magic. I could have paralyzed her. I could have...' he cursed under his breath. His hands clenched. 'I say that but for once, I just want to win how I want to win. Fate and magic be damned.'

Brannath cackled. She touched her spider threads and pulled them tighter with her mana. The white web dug through skin before dripping with Doevm's red blood. "Fate binds everyone together like this web. You cannot escape from it, no matter how strong you become or where you run. Vampiric Touch."

The last remnants of Doevm's mana shot through the web and into Brannath's clutches. She then skipped up to each Undead, traced a sigel into their chests, and shunted them into the swamp below. "That is that," she said, clapping her hands as if rinsing herself of the matter. She took out a communication stone from her spatial ring and spoke into it: "Sire, I have taken care of him."

"Brannath?" Zolgon's voice sounded hurried if not a little more high-pitched than usual. "Oh. Good. That is good. You didn't kill him, did you?"

"Per the terms of the agreement I did not, although...'' She glanced at Doevm. "If you wished for it, my king, it shall be done."

"Just fire the beam already!" Zolgon barked.

"As you wish," Brannath sighed, put the stone away, and chewed on her lip. "You know boy it would be easy to slay you right now, because you are weak."

Doevm hadn't heard a single thing she said.

His gaze was locked onto the demonic spear, wherein dwelled a demon named Larque. Since the seal locked the spear away from Doevm, the contract he had formed with Larque became void. Doevm blinked and he was drowning in an infinite sea of red.

Everything was red. His skin was red, his eyes were red, the sand at the deepest, darkest depths was red, and the blood pumping through his frantic heart was the brightest red. He shook his head and struggled. The web dug deeper, constricting his muscles. 'I need to find a way to get out of this. I need to...hurt someone.' It was like he caught fire. He could hardly breathe. The pressure was enough to flatten the hardest steel.

Meanwhile Brannath, who was oblivious to the inworkings of Doevm's mind, spread her hands out. She wove her mana into an enormous magic circle for the third time since the battle began. Her towering pillar of mana twisted and shrunk down. Deep breaths brought her into a deep state of focus.

The world went dark around her.

Sound ceased.

"Obliterate." That one word accompanied her beam of destruction as it darted down towards the Magic Academy. Rising to meet her spell came a thick, translucent crystal. The two energies collided with an ear piercing screech that rivalled heaven's greatest fury.

"What spell is this?" Brannath gasped. She took a deep breath in through her nose and her eyes went wide. It wasn't magic, nor was it a physical phenomenon. She yanked her communication stone from her spatial ring. Before she could say a single word, a fit of laughter came from the otherside.

Zolgon reveled in the unexpected clash: "Keep going Brannath! The old man is finally reaching his limits!"

"Zolgon, what is that?" Brannath asked with arms crossed. "Were you keeping a secret from me?"

"It doesn't matter, not for long. Keep it up. Kill him."

"I don't know what you are talking about but I understand." Brannath raised her palms and slammed a surge of mana through the magic circle. Cracks spouted along the crystal's surface. The mana drained away from Brannath faster and faster, burning through half of her reserves in a matter of seconds.

"Glenin Ostroch; that bastard's finally going to die!" Zolgon sung. "Shatter it! Destroy it! Our assault truly begins now!"

'Destroy it,' Doevm thought as he struggled to get free of the web. His dark blue life essence dimmed. Brannath hardly paid any attention to the Lich in her state of concentration. 'Frey, Thomas, Lance, Elero, Olpi, Menla, are you going to let them die?' He thought to himself. 'Get up!' Fresh blood seeped down his lacerated body. He pushed and pulled and screamed and bit and kicked and chewed. 'Get up! She'll kill them if you don't!'

Brannath rolled up her sleeves. Blood trickled down her eyes as her mana surged once again. Her magic circle could barely handle the raw energy but it held. The crystal did not. With the loudest, deepest crack since the collision, it finally shattered. Brannath collapsed, gasping for air. While she did have a decent amount of mana left, she was mentally spent.

"You did it!" Zolgon continued to praise the Grand Shaman. "He keeled over! All units, charge! I want every angle to be swarming with my army! That crystal room can no longer stop us!"

"Sir," a second voice came from the stone.

"What now?" Zolgon's question was the last thing before the communication stone was cut off.

"You've lost," Brannath cackled as she finally took notice of Doevm's pathetic display. The web may have weakened but they could more than hold someone of his strength. "You cannot beat fate. You could bleed every last drop of blood in your body and it wouldn't be enough to get out of those threads. I'm going to meditate and cast that spell again, assuming your friends are even alive by then."

Doevm's life essence flickered out of existence as if to prove her point for him. He was weak. He wasn't a Lich anymore. He didn't have his Undead army. He was alone. He had no weapons. He had no friends up there. 'What do I have?' he thought.

What point was there in continuing, knowing he could never win against his enemies? What point was there in life anyway? He would just die in the end. He spat and pulled against his restraints. The web sunk into his bones. There was so much red.

...

"Just spit it out, heir to Maximus Draken. You cannot win against the War Monks. Where is your father's map?"

"I'm sorry Doevm, but I can't train you if you don't have muscles. I'm sorry, friend. It's impossible, even for you."

"You'll never be a soldier under our lord. You're just a bookworm who cleans books all day."

"You can't attack people who offend you, Cerlius. There are rules in this academy. Just fall in line. It's easier."

"You cannot overcome fate, foolish boy!"

...

All warmth seeped out of Doevm's wounds and dripped onto the cold, dark cloud. The searing pain along his body gradually numbed. Starlight dimmed. 'Death, again? I refuse.' His life essence may have vanished but it was still there. It had simply darkened to the point that it appeared as black as the night sky. He could still feel it as it changed into something else. A hot gust of air swept through his entire body.

As his heart rate slowed to a stop and his life began to slip away under death's tightening grip, a new color emerged: copper.