FLASHBACK

"What do you mean 'go do whatever I want'?"

Arthur looked at the two-colored crow named Bilgart, not quite understanding his words.

In response, the Watcher flew down from the tree and landed on a rock just next to Arthur, its two strange eyes focusing on the man it created and basically raised for a few years.

"You don't have to go around doing this and that. Even for an undying person, life is always too short and it's wasteful to do nothing but fight for peace."

"So I'm just supposed to give up on everything? Is that what you really want me to do?"

"Give up? Of course not. Just be responsible for your actions and do not mind the others. Take your family and go live somewhere quiet, a place utterly void of wars and conflict. You have to understand that even without you, there will be someone else who'll fill your place. A nameless hero who rises from the ashes and defeats the source of 'evil', it doesn't necessarily have to be you."

"You tell me to do whatever I want then advise me to live peacefully… isn't that contradictory?"

The crow opened its beak, emitting serene and mysterious music that filled the lonely courtyard.

"You said it yourself, I'm only advising you. If you continue like this, I'm afraid you won't be able to handle the truth and by attempting to fix things, you'll only hasten the time of doom."

*****

Seeing Zodiak take a martial fighting stance, Arthur said:

"So you're finally going to fight seriously?"

The old man looked at the parasite, whose body became enveloped in green lightning and dark flames.

"Looking at you like this… how can I not?"

Though Zodiak's self-empowerment abilities were not as flashy as Arthur's, it still increased his aura by several folds, making him look much more energetic and threatening. Black lines revolved around his body, dancing around as if they were sentient.

The last battle commenced when Sol'khin, the fully grown Black Dragon, attacked again. Despite its great size, the monster moved with surprising agility, damaging the environment around him with just the wind waves caused by his massive wings.

Instead of dodging the incoming massive beast, both Arthur and Zodiak lunged at Sol'khin, each performing a punch. Arthur's fist started glowing with a green light then was enveloped by crackling white thunder, boosting its already monstrous might. As for Zodiak, his hand vanished and its place was some sort of a black hole sucking all the light around it.

With the restrictions disabled, the two became much stronger so it wasn't surprising to see the dragon sent flying by their attacks. Arthur struck Sol'khin forehead while Zodiak hit the lower jaw thus making the dragon looked miserable.

Blood flowed from its gigantic mouth as it stabilized its airborne body and tried to counter-attack only for an unstoppable force to pull its wings. The parasite teleported above Sol'khin and used his inhumane strength stat to grab the black dragon's wings, spin around before throwing at it Zodiak.

The old man was more than ready as he rotated around himself, resulting in a transparent dark magic sphere to surround him. When the target was in his range, the sphere broke and a black-clothed old man jumped in the air, a thick jet black gauntlet on his right hand.

Before Sol'khin could do anything, his body was struck again by Zodiak, whose gauntlet dealt considerable damage. The tough black scales along with sturdy bones shattered like glass, causing the beast to roar in pain as it was yet again sent flying high-up.

A series of explosions occurred at the same time, all originating from dozens of creepy-faced fireballs detonating one after the other. Although they did not that much damage, they still stopped Sol'khin from stopping the parasite's next attack, which was in the form of a dragon.

A beast made of blue and white lightning twirled in the air, let out a deafening roar then clashed with the black dragon, which was thrice it's size. The beast was a lightning dragon created by Arthur, it had an absurd damage potential if it accurately hit the target, which, this time, it did not, unfortunately.

At the very last second, Sol'khin changed forms, became a much smaller and faster creature. It was also a dragon but the black skin vanished and was replaced by shell-like emerald scales that resisted the lightning dragon.

The new form was some sort of a drake or wyvern, it had thin wings and an unusually long jaw riddled with protruding red spikes. Sol'khin charged at Arthur, resisting all the attacks unleashed by the latter, however, when it was about to hit him, it was stopped by a watery-like surface coupled with a very thick dark barrier. The green shells started vibrating and within seconds, both of Arthur's layers of defense crumbled.

The parasite had already retreated far back as its speed was faster than the enemy, moreover, Zodiak finished his follow-up attack.

With a speed that even Arthur paled in comparison to, the old man shot at Sol'khin and stabbed a long dark spear into his abdomen. It all happened with a split second, before neither his fighting companion nor his target could react.

While still holding the spear, Zodiak dragged the wyvern-like monster around, the black lines dancing around him shooting at the wings and corrupting them, rendering them practically useless.

Sadly, before he could finish Sol'khin, the latter released an awfully ear-piercing cry and took a spiritual form that was untouchable by Dark Magic. Arthur swiftly intercepted by using a combination of Space and Lightning magic.

The sky was filled with thunderbolts hitting everywhere, the space magic provided support by locking the present dimension and making it impossible for the monster to escape.

Indeed, a few seconds later, Sol'khin was forced to switch forms again, this time looking like a human. He had azure hair that reached the ground, a fit build, and two strangely closed eyes.

"Let us finish this."

Zodiak talked to Arthur then retrieved a few black talisman, throwing them around the motionless Sol'khin. Arthur took a more passive approach as he retreated a hundred meters then started writing runic silver symbols on the air.

Soon, the area around him flashed with a blinding sight and a hundred sword made of silver light made their appearance. They followed Arthur's will and were part of an offensive and pretty strong formation that belongs to the Mirage Era Hall sect.

As Sol'khin took out thin chains that had scythe-like blades at their very end, Zodiak started attacking. He vanished from his initial position and appeared from one of the talismans closely surrounding the humanoid monster.

In retaliation, Sol'khin swung the chains in a try to stop Zodiak but they just passed through him as if he was made of gas. It ended up with the enemy taking the first hit, his shoulder was struck by a violent kick from Zodiak, which pushed him back a few steps.

Right after finishing the first attack, Zodiak disappeared again and rushed from another talisman. Meanwhile, Arthur manipulated the hundred swords and began assaulting Sol'khin, who did his best to fend off against the continuous attacks.

Even when he tried getting away from Zodiak's talismans, he failed as they followed his every movement and always surrounded him. Furthermore, the silver swords were not only numerous but too fast for him to block all of them, diverting his attention and making him suffer Zodiak's punches and kicks, which were embedded with Dark Magic.

Two minutes later, Sol'khin was pinned to the ground with more than twenty swords stabbing his body and dark magic chains wrapped around his neck and waist. He wasn't able to change form as Arthur and Zodiak did their best to block any kind of transformation.

The green-haired monster struggled to break free while crying loudly but it was totally futile. At some point, it was about to self-destruct but Zodiak managed to stop it by throwing a gigantic black ball made of Dark Magic which struck the immobilized enemy and everything around him.

All that was left of the fight was a split earth which seemed like an opened and bottomless mouth, a blackened and scarlet sky, and a devastated city. Half of the western part of the city no longer existed as it was swallowed by the earthquake, nonetheless, there few if no casualties and all the enemies were successfully eliminated, ending this battle once and for all.

After making sure that Sol'khin was really gone, Arthur landed next to Zodiak and inspected the area, neither of them saying any congratulatory word.

Only after a while did Arthur speak, his head facing the other way.

"You said it's absolution? I feel like there's more to it than that."

The old man calmly wore back his grey and tattered robe, hid the talismans under his sleeves then answered:

"What if there's more? It concerns me and although I'm grateful for your help, that doesn't mean you're eligible to hear a truth that you don't need."