After the beam of light descended down onto the shaman, the only thing left was silence. Grizz mouth was open in shock at what just happened and Orou was too exhausted to rejoin the main battlefield, so the two of them simply stood there. After a while, Grizz approached Orou, making sure that he wasn’t critically injured. Although he seemed to be fine from the outside, his insides were still a mess, the wild strands had done quite a number on his organs. Still, his blood core had gotten quite a bit more effective as even those injuries were quickly being cured. Orou’s mind was filled with thoughts of the black strands and how the shaman had weaved them together to create such devastating and effective spells. Unfortunately, as both Orou and Grizz approached the massive hole left by the beam of light, they could see no belongings of the shaman which would give away his secret.

After scouring the previous sites of battle with the shaman and determining that he had not reformed his body once again, Grizz started heading towards the main battlefield. Grizz’s eyes were sparkling as most likely, he thought about joining the battle himself, but Orou was in no condition to fight and he wouldn’t let Grizz fight without his protection. Menacingly hissing towards both Grizz and the direction of the battle, Orou started climbing the building that they were on previously and with a reluctant sigh, Grizz followed behind him.

As they were climbing the building and approaching closer to the battlefield, Orou noticed something he had missed during the heat of the battle. The drums which were constantly beating sounded like they were right next to his ear, beating with such strength and with such intensity to muffle the sound of his own heartbeat. His blood, as if responding to the drums, was moving through his body, covering the entirety of it to heal his wounds quicker and to reinforce his skin with an extra layer of defense. This, combined with Orou controlling the blood core to heal his wounds, made sure that Orou could recover at a rate visible to the naked eye, though he had no outer injuries to boast of.

The view from up above was both spectacular and bloody, the soldiers were dying by the second and more and more bodies were starting to stack up. Although it looked that the battle was going to be won by the king’s soldiers when it started, upon a closer inspection, Orou could see that the majority of the soldiers that were getting killed were from the king’s side. The dead soldiers from Vaar’s side were missing the wild strands from their bodies and soon after, Orou saw where they went. As one of Vaar’s men fell, the wild strand that was coiled around his neck like a serpent slithered through the ground and merged with the closest wild strand, belonging to one of the other Vaar’s men. Each time it did so, it became much more ferocious and deadly, capable of killing tens of men from the king’s side.

Just as Vaar’s men were empowered from each death, so were the king’s men. Each death made the drum that was beating next to his ear a bit louder and a bit clearer, which in turn, made him more bloodthirsty. The king’s men started fighting like berserkers, ignoring their own safety in order to bring down someone with them. With each death, their movements got quicker and their swings became more powerful. The fewer soldiers there were on either side, the more powerful the remaining soldiers became, capable of taking on even greater threats than before.

Once more, Orou looked down towards the corpses and found something unsettling about them. The corpses were slowly decaying and decomposing, the black strands that they were made of were sinking into the ground and swimming in a particular direction, that is, the site of battle between the king and Vaar. It was a battle of an entirely different scale than the one between the soldiers, an area of a few hundred meters was completely clear of anyone, and that was rightfully so, anyone who would get close to the battle would die without exceptions. The ground had turned completely dark, the stone had crumbled away to reveal the dirt below it and even the dirt had withered away, making sure not a single trace of life could be seen. What was much more interesting was that the withered dirt had a thin layer of green crystals covering it, reflecting the sun around it and giving the illusion of a green and luscious meadow.

The closer one went to the site of battle, the thicker the green crystals were. The ground beneath the two of them had completely withered away and they were standing on a thick crystal platform, the sound of swords clashing could be heard every second or so. The king looked miserable, his originally golden armor had several spots of black on it and his massive, golden shield had a large hole inside of it. His crystal sword was untainted and still holding strong, but with each swing, the crystals that were making up the sword became smaller and smaller. The red crystals were constantly healing him while the green crystals were making sure that with each stab wound he received, he would be able to inflict grievous injuries to Vaar. It was still unclear what the purpose of the blue crystals was, but Orou saw the blue crystals slowly lighting up and becoming brighter as the battle progressed.

On the other side, Vaar looked equally as worn out. He was in a completely different outfit than when he approached the city. Strange, black armor, which was very similar though different in both design and the runes on it to the shaman’s armor, adorned his body. He was covered by a massive, black cloak which was making it very hard for Orou to track down where Vaar was at any time. The king was struggling with the same issue as half of the time, Vaar didn’t have to parry the king’s blows and could slip behind his back, threatening to end the fight in one stab with his serpentine sword. The sword was almost the same as the cane that Vaar was carrying earlier, though much more slender and much more sinister. A black, sickly glow surrounded the sword and each time Vaar swung the blade, the black glow would assault the golden armor and the king himself, making him weaker and weaker with every swing.

Now that Orou noticed the glow around the sword, he could make out a similar glow around the entirety of Vaar’s body. It resembled the mist that Orou was constantly giving out, though much more concentrated. The black strands around him were only fuelling the black glow as he was constantly draining the ground and the clouds for black strands, as well as receiving a steady supply of strands from the decaying bodies within the battlefield. Besides empowering the glow, the strands cured any wounds that he suffered and made him grow in size, becoming quicker and more powerful the longer the fight lasted.

Still, the situation was nowhere as good as it seemed for Vaar. Most of his body had crystals sticking out of it and when the king pierced Vaar’s body with his sword, some of the black strands that Vaar was absorbing were also going to the king. One of his arms was completely covered in crystals and even though the black strands were struggling to heal the arm, the crystals simply wouldn’t go away. His eyes were constantly darting between the king and blue crystals on the sword, a worried look on his face. Both the armor and the shield were repairing themselves and the shield looked like it was drawing in sunlight, creating an incomplete circle of runes drawn on the shield.

The fight was progressing very slowly, both of them had ways to heal themselves and as soon as the battle between the soldiers was over, Vaar wouldn’t have a way to recover. Although no one could know how the battle would turn out and whether Vaar or the crystal sword would break first, Vaar had no intention of delaying the battle anymore. Taking several steps back on the crystal platform, he held his sword up high and cut his finger. Using the bleeding finger, he drew a single line on top of the sword and immediately, the sickly glow around his body gathered on the tip of the sword. The king charged forwards, but Vaar was prepared for him. The both of them struck out at the same time, though this time, it was Vaar who drew blood.