Rall stepped back with a grunt. The Aegis had stopped most of the force from the monster's slamming fists, but he could feel the ripples still traveling through his bones.

The creature roared and rushed him with another bestial assault. This time the mage was prepared, so he swiftly dodged to the side. A blood-dripping mass of purple muscles flew inches from his face, slamming headfirst into the raised ceiling of one of the underground dwellings. The stone was thick, but it was unprepared to withstand such ferocious offensive, and it cracked open like an eggshell. The monster fell into the newly-formed crater, giving Rall the chance to take a quick breather.

"Can you beat it alone?" Asked Tui in a concerned voice.

"I will deal with him. You keep the Lighthouse up," replied Rall confidently.

"Fine. But remember, your survival is my priority," Tui declared. If she let the Lighthouse go, the fight would become a lot easier, but all the elves would die. Maybe the adults deserved such horrible deaths, but not the children.

The earth shook as a monstrous hand rose from the stone. With one smooth motion, the creature climbed out of the dwelling.

Its eyes met Rall's, and it roared in rage. However, the mage saw something else in those black beads.

Pain.

The abomination was suffering, and only the power of the dark arts kept it from falling apart at any moment. Every one of its stumbling steps left pools of purplish blood. Every jump caused the snapping sound of muscle fibers tearing up and recomposing. It was a creation that should never have stepped on the Continent's ground. And then there was the boy within. Was there still a chance to save him?

Those thoughts fled Rall's mind as the creature roared with enough intensity to clear the air from the dust he had left in its wake. Then it dashed towards him once more. This time it kept low to the ground, and its arms extended wide on each side. It did not want him to dodge again. Not that Rall planned to anyway.

The mage moved his arms forward, causing the white symbols forming his barrier to condense between him and the incoming monster. Then he took a deep breath and braced for impact.

The monster slammed onto the Aegis with all the force it could muster. The impact broke the barrier, generating a shockwave that knocked down most of the snow elves who had yet to find refuge. The monster howled in pain as its left arm could not withstand its own force and now dangled lifelessly off his shoulder. That pain further fueled its rage. It raised its right arm, readying another slam on the seemingly defenseless mage.

Rall's arms remained extended, trembling from the impact but unmoved. A new light now crackled around them, making the air around the mage wail. The particles condensed around a point of dazzling brilliance just above his hands. For an instant, all the light vanished from the scene, sucked mercilessly into that one single point.

The monster stopped its arm mid-air and jumped to the side. It was a movement born out of pure animalistic instinct, uncaring of the muscles it would sacrifice with it - a sixth sense that every living creature possessed by nature to alert them of immediate danger and struggle at all costs to survive.

"Smite!" Shouted Rall. A brilliant ray of pure destruction flew from the point of light, cutting through the air, traversing the Lighthouse, and parting the Fog in its way towards the distant sky. If the abomination had dodged one instant later, there would have been a large gaping hole in its chest.

It took a step back, fear had sobered it up from that unearthly rage, and now pain dominated its senses. Looking at its body, it was clear that it was rapidly decaying. And yet, the menace around it remained. As for Rall, he fell on the dry soil on one knee, panting profusely. Drops of sweat burned around his eyes, forcing him to close one of them. His scarred arms returned to his sides, still quivering inside the sleeves of his dusty black cloak.

"Damn, he dodged that," muttered Rall.

"If only I could use the Chains to help you..." whispered Tui. "You have one more shot left. Make it count."

He nodded. While light mages had an invaluable role in society on the Continent, that was not the main reason for their scarce use in battles. While they had access to many spells serviceable for combat situations, those spells were usually inefficient. All in all, even the most battle-ready of light mages could only fight for a few minutes, while arcane masters could keep casting spells indefinitely as long as there was energy in the surrounding environment and food in their bellies.

With a pure Fairylight and his bond with Tui, the current Rall already had a lot more energy than an ordinary light mage. He could maintain a village-sized Lighthouse for about a month. However, each cast of Code Aegis would consume an amount of energy equivalent to five days of that Lighthouse, while a single Smite would require ten. If he wanted Tui to keep the dome up, he had one single Smite left. That was also the reason why Rall usually avoided frontal confrontations in favor of more guerrilla-style tactics. As long as he could surprise his enemy, the fight would end in one move, and he would still have magic to spare.

The young mage took a deep breath, using this moment's respite to glance at his surrounding. They were still in the middle of the village. Most of the snow elves had taken cover behind the ceilings of their dwellings. Instead, the bowmen kept their eyes on the fight with arrows nocked on their bowstrings. However, they had yet to take part in the battle. They had probably realized that killing Rall would result in their deaths, as well as all of their dear ones, but they could not easily betray their chieftain. And so they watched, paralyzed by the difficult choice between their beliefs and their lives.

Watuu seemed even older now. The dark arts always demanded sacrifices, and it seemed that this one required a constant supply of her life force. She could not permit the fight to prolong any longer. Her focus moved to her malformed creation, her eyes full of disdainful contempt. That chosen boy still refused to be of use and would soon collapse. In the end, vermin would always remain vermin.

Her hoarse voice sounded once more, her words full of hatred as she pointed her bony finger towards Rall. The monster shook, roaring at the mage with renewed rage after receiving its master's orders.

Rall sighed and carefully got back up on his feet, using the back of his dusty left hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead. His emerald eyes opened once more, silver arcs of electricity now sparked with them. His right foot moved back, and the rest of his body lowered slightly on his knees as he took his combat stance. He was ready.

The monster lowered its head and opened its jagged jaws wide. Blood tripped down the broken aberration, forming a dark pool of miasma under its twisted feet. This charge would be the last.

The ground groaned under its pressure, but just before it could jump towards the mage, a woman put herself in between them. It was the mother of the boy, two streaks of tears endlessly falling down her eyes. It was not a child that stared back.

She said something, trying to convince the monster that once was her son to stop this madness and go home. Her words were foreign, but the cries of a desperate mother were universal in their message. Rall watched the back of the elven woman as she tried to grab onto whatever part of her boy that still endured the dark arts. Rall had never met his mother, but he hoped that she would do the same for him.

For one instant, the monster halted its movement. A trace of reluctance appeared in its eyes. The woman smiled wryly, slowly stepping closer. In that grotesque body, there was still a shard of her boy's soul. Then the elder's voice sounded again, followed by a violent swipe of the monster's arm and the cracking noise of the woman's skull.

Some elves around gasped at the scene while others cried in terror. What was once a festive occasion had become a nightmare. Alas, the monster did not care, stepping on the body of its host's mother without thought. Eyes locked on the mage, it lowered its body once more, ready to rush Rall for one last clash.

A whistle sounded as an arrow cut through the air, embedding itself into the abomination's side. Another followed, then another more. The chieftain scremed at her underlings. Rall now knew another word in their language. Kinjo - traitor.

Nonetheless, the bowmen did not stop, steadily increasing their rate of fire as more of them joined in the fight one by one. Two arrows became twenty, and twenty became one hundred. The monster tried to cover itself with the twisted trunk of fiber that was its arm, but the bowmen attacked from every side, accurately hitting every weak spot whenever they saw one. Still, what they had in precision, they lacked in power, and no arrow could penetrate deep enough into the creature's thick skin to put an end to it.

However, the distraction was enough. As the monster howled at the archers around, its instincts screamed once more. They told the same story it had heard before. Death was coming. Its eyes returned to their original target, but the mage was not there anymore. One of the arrows arrived at that moment, piercing through its right pupil. It growled in pain and frustration. Where was he, where was the mage!?

Something tapped on the middle of its back.

"Smite!"

The last thing the monster saw was a pale ray of energy piercing through its heart. For that one instant, it was finally free from its torment. It fell dramatically to the dry soil. And when it did, its head ended inches away from the dead woman's face. As its final breath flew out on its jaws, one single tear escaped its left eye.

At the same time, Watuu's screams ceased, as she too fell to the ground. "Cursed mage," she whispered. "May my ancestors ever haunt your dreams--" Her weak voice finally stopped. In the end, her corpse was a lot shorter, thinner, drier. She looked like she had died a decade before.

"Dreams? Never had those..." Rall said as he too fell back on his knees, his gaze trained on the corpses in front of him. The elder had seemed like a wise leader at first, but she did not have to think twice before throwing everything away for beliefs. In some ways, the young mage admired her resolve. "Those who die for what they believe," he muttered in between quick panting breaths, "they untrust their judgment to the living. Only those who witness and survive get to choose if they were heroes or villains."

"I wonder what they'll choose for you," Tui said jokingly, as thirty or so bows pointed at him at a distance.

"Yes... I wonder that too..."