Otto stood on the fancy marble stairs leading up, they stretched infinitely up and down.

His lungs felt like they were on fire, he was sweating heavily.

“I think… this is the end…” Otto admitted looking up and seeing the Abel also visibly exhausted, he sat on one of the steps.

“This… is no place… to die…” Abel said between gasps for air extending a hand towards Otto.

Reluctantly Otto accepted the help.

“Originally, we had flight spells and teleportation… but the Murlin decided those were too powerful for people to possess…” Abel said, his tone failed to hide his displeasure with the current situation.

Abel picked Otto up like a sack of potatoes, carrying him over his shoulder.

“At this rate, we should make it up by sundown…” Abel said looking up to the sky.

He took a step up, then another.

“I didn’t expect you to carry me…” Otto remarked.

“Fear not… this is all… part of my plan…” he explained.

The journey took about half an hour and once they reached the top Otto fully recovered his stamina.

Meanwhile, Abel looked visibly worse for wear.

“G-good…” Abel exclaimed placing Otto down on the ground.

“W-we’re almost there…!” he exclaimed excitedly.

“Ok…” Otto nodded.

Abel didn’t slow down for even a minute as he headed to his room followed by Otto.

Otto looked around the room, it was small and had nothing remarkable aside from books and candles.

“W-welcome to my room…” Abel said gesturing around himself.

“It looks pretty plain…” Otto remarked.

“Y-yeah…” the Archmage nodded.

Abel wiped the sweat from his face.

“Ok…”

He gestured for Otto to take a seat opposite him, a small wooden table stood between them.

There were no chairs, only pillow-like seats, they looked expensive and felt soft.

“Do you usually get this exhausted every time you go to your room?” Otto questioned.

“No…” Abel replied.

“Typically, my magic armour keeps my strength up, but I expect to have to fight someone tomorrow, as such I sent it very, very far away to be polished,” he explained.

“Same thing with my sword,” he added.

Otto looked at him uncertainly.

“Tomorrow?”

Abel nodded.

“Yes, that’s the number my gold-feathered pet gave me and I would be a fool to not blindly believe my companion,”

Abel scratched his chin.

“Hold on, since you do look remarkably like Otto Einhart, would you mind if I had a practice-conversation with you?” Abel asked.

“I wouldn’t want to accidentally say something stupid and have the criminal laugh at me!“ he added.

Otto nodded.

“Great!”

Abel cleared his throat.

“It took you long enough to get here, Otto, I mean that in more than one way…”

"A mage such as yourself!"

"A world where the unworthy use magic cannot exist!"

“I’d like to say I looked over this world in your stead, but as you may know…”

Abel removed his scarf revealing his perfectly normal-looking neck.

He tapped it with his finger revealing a golden collar with a chain that stretched far into the distance, presumably all the way back to the Murlin.

“I don’t really have that kind of freedom right now…”

He looked Otto up and down.

“Beard aside you haven’t changed much, again, I mean that in more than one way,”

“When you told me that you were going to die and just hope your soul manages to make its way back here two hundred years ago, I said you’re full of shit, I guess I was partially wrong,” he smiled.

Abel gestured to his neck again.

“I do not age,”

“I do not thirst,”

“I do not hunger,”

“The stairs… year the stairs still suck…” he admitted.

“I can’t even follow in your footsteps and end my life,”

He looked down to his pale, smooth hands.

“I have killed more people than I can count,”

His expression became much more sarcastic.

“Well, it was for the king of course, so I can’t complain!”

Abel breathed a sigh.

“I simply cannot allow you to defeat me and take my insignia to grant you access to the castle where you would have direct access to the king,”

“Luckily the castle itself is protected by various anti-elemental protection spells,”

“It is regrettable to admit that the king himself cannot cast any spells since all his strength goes into defending the castle itself, though I have no doubt his guards are more than capable to slay one such as yourself!”

“However, if you were to enter with my insignia as well as an illusion you would have enough time to come close to the king, which is something I cannot allow!”

Abel breathed a sigh as he turned to face Otto.

“How was that?” he asked.

Otto looked at him uncertainly, a mix of pity and sadness pooled inside him while the rage of Abel murdering his village lingered in the back of his mind.

“I… see…”

“It was good…” Otto said uncertainly.

Abel crossed his arms.

“Thanks! I bet it’ll shake the very heart of the original!” he said smugly.

Otto stood up.

“Could I by any chance have a look at your insignia?” Otto asked nervously.

Abel shook his head.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible, the king wisely forbids me from ever removing it, I have been ordered to defend it with my very life, you see,” He explained with a hint of sadness in his voice.

“I see…” Otto replied, his heart was pounding as uncertainty set in.

“Do I actually have to kill him?”

“If I mess up and ask him the wrong question, he might be forced to attack…”

“What if-” Otto’s train of thought was cut off by the sound of wings flapping.

He looked up and saw a gold-feathered owl fly in from a small opening in the room, it sat down on Abel’s shoulder.

He brought his ear closer to the owl as if it was speaking, to Otto is just sounded like generic owl noises.

“Uh-huh…”

“yeah…?”

“No way…!”

Abel faked surprise as he looked over to Otto; he covered his mouth with his hand.

“By god, this is Otto Einhart!?” he asked.

He pet the owl on the head a few times before whispering a goodbye to it and gesturing for it to fly away.

The pet did as instructed before Abel turned to face Otto.

“Thank god he made the first move…” Otto breathed a sigh of relief.

Abel cracked his neck.

“How horrible, Otto Einhart was here this entire time! If I had known I wouldn’t have sent my weapon and armour away!” he exclaimed.

“Not to mention how exhausted I am after carrying him up the stairs,” he added.

“Nevertheless, I’m going to fight you, ex-Murlin…”

“Hold on! Isn’t there another way into the castle?!” Otto asked.

Abel shook his head.

“This sacred insignia allows you passage, there are no exceptions!”

Otto hesitated; he took a step back.

“Hold on, what if I just… take the finger?” he asked.

“I could never allow such an act, especially since I know it would endanger the king!” Abel replied.

He took a step forward.

“Now come, Otto! Fight me!”

“I am not deserving of any pity you hold towards me!”

Abel swung his fist at the air near Otto.

“Great! My stamina is slowly recovering!” he exclaimed.

Otto punched Abel lightly in the chest receiving a much worse punch to the face in return.

“MagicBullet!” Otto exclaimed as Abel was flung backwards into the brick wall of his room knocking down several candle-holders.

Otto observed Abel for a few seconds before seeing him stand up, it was clear he sustained some damage from the hit, one of his shoulders was slumped as he walked back towards Otto.

“Now I will cast my own spell which will blind you!” Abel exclaimed.

“F… L… A… S… H………. O… F………. L… I…-” Otto cut him off by smashing him against that same wall again, this time one of the candle-holders went clean through his chest, the already red candle sticking out of his torso.

“Oh… dear… I think I’ve lost...” he remarked as a steady stream of blood began coming from his mouth.

He looked up to Otto.

“A world where the unworthy wield magic cannot be good… I’m counting on you, Murlin…“ Abel said with a weak smile as his eyes unfocused and his breathing stopped.