Chapter 95: The rift (First Part)

How many foes had I faced in both of my lives to get there?

How much blood did I spill to be able to confront such a formidable mage?

None of these questions crossing my head in this instant truly mattered.

My training and the experience I gained on this savage land day after day didn’t matter either.

Only my will to confront him counted.

“You won’t stop me, Sillath,” simply declared Ilan.

His previous uncontrolled rage was gone, replaced by a cold and absolute determination. The kind of silent fury even more threatening than any kind of scream or curse could hope to ever accomplish. Him towering over me with his deadly artifact sword in his hand didn’t help either.

Yet, he stood with his back slightly less straight than before and his eyes a little less sharp.

Obviously, I wasn’t the only one visibly shaken by the previous chase. There has to be a reason for him to never have used such a powerful magic before. Judging by his face now devoid of green spots, but still deathly pale, I was sure that the mana he used to heal himself and summon his wind magic was anything but irrelevant.

If this was the truth, then I had a chance.

I could do it.

Cold air gathered around me in response to this realization as the ground under my feet started to freeze. Inside the Advanced town, during the month of peace I lived with Paul and Alianelle, I had learned to better control my sacred magic by sacrificing a large part of its lethality.

Once back to civilization, I couldn’t afford to use such an unpredictable magic able to devour me and everyone around anymore.

So I made a choice.

Better control for less power.

I didn’t want to kill Ilan, even in this situation. More than that, the possibility of losing control of my magic once again terrified me. I could manage the risks this magic at full unrestrained strength represented to me, but with Alianelle and Paul so close, it definitely wasn’t an option. I chased the disturbing image of Alianelle trapped in a coffin of ice, and focused on my opponent, trying to remember all the magic and tactics I saw him use along our journey.

“You’re shaking, Sillath,” he noticed softly.

Thinking he was talking about the effects of the poison making my body unusually weak, I was ready to counter that he didn’t look that good himself either when I understood that the shaking of my hands wasn’t entirely due to this.

No matter how weakened he truly was, Ilan was by far the strongest Human mage I ever faced and my body betrayed this reality.

“We don’t have to do this,” he said sincerely.

Certainly, I never imagined things would turn out this way.

I just wanted for our group to stay together for the rest of our journey so we could look out for each other once again and cross the reassuring gate of the first Advanced town together. Fighting for Seth's and Himara’s freedom would come afterward, the same way as saying goodbye to Jazor, Paul, and an awakened Alianelle.

But some things just weren’t destined to be.

The fragile equilibrium of our group was completely shattered by this betrayal. Paul couldn’t trust Ilan with the truth and the reason for his betrayal while Ilan would never forgive this kind of treason nor allow Alianelle to put all of us in as much danger as the last time.

There was no coming back from this.

I couldn’t deny that Ilan’s previous words were a painful reminder of the fear and apprehension gripping my heart.

However, he was wrong.

There was already no turning back.

“Unless you back down, we have to do this!” I declared unflinchingly while clenching my fists, ridiculously smaller than his, with enough strength to put the shaking of my hands under control.

“I can do and tolerate many things, but I definitely can’t have a traitor as my comrade, and I can’t allow your refusal to let this girl die peacefully to doom us all,” he solemnly declared.

“And I can’t let you kill them! I exclaimed inflexibly.

It was all I could reply. Despite my racing heartbeats trashing in my ears or my wobbly legs, I couldn’t back down.

“So be it,” he simply sighed with eyes of steel.

I took a deep breath and intensified the gathering of my mana. The air around me turned cold enough to see my breath, but even confronted with my growing power in his tired form, I could see him looking at Alianelle out of the corner of his eyes as she continued to release her mana without control. That’s when I realized that his will to kill her was even stronger than his desire for revenge against Paul. The memory of the invisible monster that confronted us, probably because of Alianelle, made it more than obvious why he would make that choice.

“I can help shorten her crisis, Ilan,” I suddenly explained, trying to defuse the situation one last time.

However, Ilan stayed ominously silent, his eyes completely fixed on me this time.

“I can help her!” I continued to plead, cursing that my last attempt to calm her wasn’t as conclusive as I would have liked.

“She is already dead, Sillath. Accept it,” were the only words that left his mouth before his sword started to glow once again.

The mana suddenly gathering in his weapon put an immediate end to any negotiation. With a sharp cry, I released my magic in a hurry as he swung his sword in a wide arc.

Ice and water collided in a thunder-like noise.

Surprisingly, his attack was frozen solid before powerlessly crashing to the ground while mine continued its course toward him.

Without any hurry, he simply stabbed his sword into the ground in retaliation. The summoned wave of water, easily exceeding his height and hiding his figure, suffered the same fate as his previous magic when confronted with mine and turned into a dense wall of ice in an instant.

The realization that, despite using the same element, my sacred magic was both superior and countered his perfectly, made my hope for victory stronger than ever, as if I was about to taste it with my next attack.

However, before I could rejoice, the sound of an object splitting the air made my heart skip a beat and turned this fantasy into a much harsher reality.

I used my wind magic to propel myself like a cannonball toward Alianelle just in time to intercept Ilan’s cunningly thrown axe with another violent gust of wind barely strong enough to make it deviate from its course.

*Bam*

Powered by Ilan’s magic, the axe left an impressive gouge where it landed just next to Alianelle.

Before I could feel any relief or wonder where Ilan had gone after being hidden by the wall of ice, my superior senses noticed an almost imperceptible amount of mana vibrating inside the axe as if desperate to be released. In this split second when I realized the consequences of such a magic, I activated my wind magic in a rush to fly toward her.

*Boom*

Just a few seconds later, the explosion of compressed wind, that I almost missed, sent me flying like a ragdoll with Alianelle held protectively in my arms. The earth I hurriedly summoned to cover us as soon as I reached her, was immediately blown to pieces. All I was able to do was awkwardly use my wind magic to land as softly as I could.

Not gently enough for my shaky legs as my knees buckled under my weight as soon as my feet touched the ground. Just as quickly, my weakened arms let go of Alianelle, unable to hold her unconscious body any longer without my magic.

Disoriented, shaken by the previous impact and with my ears ringing from the explosion, I didn’t see the following kick in my ribs, knocking the air out of my lungs. I barely avoided the pommel of his sword trying to knock me out by awkwardly rolling to the side.

The taste of blood and dirt in my mouth along with the sharp pain where I was hit was barely enough to make me realize what had happened and what was going to follow with Ilan right next to Alianelle. Without any time to properly aim, I fired as many earth bullets as I could in mad abandon.

Without any armor to protect himself or any relevant defensive magic he could summon in an instant, Ilan was forced to abort his deadly attack on Alianelle to avoid, giving me just enough time to once more stand up.

“Wait!” I shouted, trying to gain some time.

However, Ilan didn’t hesitate a single second. Alianelle, releasing more mana after the explosion, apparently made him even more desperate than before to end things once and for all.

“Ah!!!”

With a sharp scream, he sent a slash of deadly water toward me. The attack was much faster and wider than any before making it impossible to block or avoid in time. I could only cross my arms protectively in front of my face while covering them with the densest earth I could summon.

However, it wasn’t enough.

I couldn’t repress a scream of pain as my right forearm was mercilessly lacerated by the compressed water, barely stopping before reaching the bone.

If my magic had been even slightly weaker, my entire arm would have been cut off. It was then that I finally realized, with my left hand pressing firmly on the wound of my forearm to somewhat stifle the incessant flow of blood, that my personal experience against such a ruthless mage, tempered by years of wandering these lands, was ultimately worth very little.

Fortunately, Ilan didn’t follow with another of his slashes, but simply aimed the tip of his sword straight at me. I was wounded and unbalanced, the perfect time for him to give a decisive strike, but Ilan had finally made a mistake.

He had forgotten how unfair an advantage I had against this kind of focused attack.

With my magic sense spread wide, I was able to immediately know where he was aiming. No matter how fast this magic was or how difficult it was to read its trajectory with eyes alone, the bullet of compressed water still missed my leg. It took four more missed attacks with barely any movement for Ilan to finally realize his mistake, but he had given me the time to regain enough composure to finally counterattack.

Among the deadly exchange of elements that followed, only a few words could be heard because of this terrifying devastation, easily drowning our respective voices.

“What are you waiting for, Paul!” I suddenly screamed from the top of my lungs to overcome the noise made by the constant clashes of our magics. “Take Alianelle away from here!”

I nearly missed Ilan’s following attack to give this order because, no matter how hard I tried, I would always be at a disadvantage if I had to constantly protect Alianelle or Paul.

Ilan knew it just as well as I did and redoubled his efforts to prevent this from happening.

Twice, Paul nearly lost his head while trying to reach Alianelle. Without my ice magic perfectly countering his water magic, one of them would have already lost their life.

No matter how hard I tried, things weren’t looking great.

Paul wasn’t able to take Alianelle away and each minute of this confrontation gave me the disturbing impression that I wouldn’t be able to prevail.

Despite the advantage my sacred magic gave me, none of my magics were able to deal any significant damage no matter what kind of trick I used. Like an immovable mountain, Ilan stayed unwavering while my strength was progressively leaving me, once more overcome by the poison coursing through my veins.

Desperate to end things quickly, I threw caution to the wind and propelled myself toward him to tilt the battle in my favor with close combat as I had done so many times in the past before.

The small sneer at the corner of his lips, when I landed next to him was the only confirmation I needed that it was my time to have made a mistake.

I was agile, knew how to fight, and easily predicted my opponent's movements which was usually more than enough to overwhelm them despite my lack of strength. The hard punch that landed on my face after my kick failed to do the expected damage to his knee was a painful reminder that Ilan wasn’t the same as the others I had confronted in this world.

With wind magic, I was twirling around him while delivering as many blows as I could. Only avoiding when he was aiming at a critical part and countering with deadly accuracy, Ilan hammered at me just how important the difference in physical strength was between us.

Unable to gain any advantage, and even worse, progressively losing ground, I tried to gain some distance. However, this time Ilan had his entire focus on me and prevented me from disengaging.

I barely avoided a swipe of his leg only to be hit by a devastating right hook that almost knocked me out then and there. I tried to gain some distance once again, but Ilan caught my leg as I tried to fly away and dragged me back toward him.

And this time, nothing I did was able to shake him off.

Tackled on the ground, a few other punches landed on my face and stomach like boulders smashing onto me without mercy. Pain and blood filled my vision as the shadow of defeat loomed over me.

The flood of blows stopped just as quickly as it began, but I was too disoriented to immediately react or understand why. I gritted my teeth and awkwardly used my wind magic to fly away without knowing in which direction I had landed.

Out of breath, stunned by the blows and covered in blood, I struggled to open my right eye properly, having already given up on my left, swollen beyond any salvation. I blinked a few times to adjust my blurry vision and finally understood why Ilan had stopped.

Wild animals, drawn by Alianelle’s mana, had arrived and attacked him from behind.

Their arrival had saved me for now, but Ilan didn't allow their fangs and claws to do their work without reacting. A whirlpool of attacks from his trusted glowing sword confronted this new threat suddenly appearing too few in number to truly stop him.