No, I couldn’t have heard that right. It is impossible for an Apostle of God to say such a thing. No matter how blithe, antagonistic or conniving he may be, he can’t possibly describe Maleosis as anything less than divine and still retain His blessing. And yet the aura I’m sensing from him is unmistakably our Lord’s.

“You heard me the first time, Tascus. “Maleosis” may be a higher being but he is no god, let alone an almighty one. He was spawned from the precepts taught by Wisdom King Maleosis, an enlightened sage but ultimately mortal. Millenia of worship, long before the Golden Age, has deified his memory.”

“*Sigh* I was a fool to ever think you would respond with sincerity. Clearly, I was mistaken that your strength was from the divine.”

“Oh, but it is, Tascus,” says Enbos as he draws closer. I can still sense the Lord’s power emanating from his form. “Worship is all fine and good, but really, the only prerequisite is to recognise Maleosis’ existence. From there, it is no longer a matter of piety but of terms and conditions. I mean, why else would there be so many different cults to Maleosis, with some drawing enough power to rival yourself? Are your beliefs not more complete than theirs, or mine?”

“And yet fate has led us here, not them. You shall not shake my faith, Enbos. His will-”

“Is a complete illusion. And the prophecy? A string of semi-coherent terms derived from an accumulated database of interpretations, by tens of thousands of individual cults across time. The only reason it is real is because you made it real, but you are too self-convinced to see-”

“Enough,” I utter as I finish enchanting my bones and sinew. “You have made your stance clear, Enbos the Black. I will no longer convey His wisdom to the likes of you.”

“*Chuckle* That’s the thing, Tascus. You were right to say we have something to learn by fighting each other. So, whether you like it or not, I’m gonna beat the “truth” into your skull!”

With a stomp louder than thunder, Enbos bursts forth with his sword reared back to his opposite side. I immediately take to the air as his brutish swing misses my legs. The resulting shockwave churns the stone floor like a whirlwind through sand, and with the mana-infused fragments, I cluster it on Enbos with the force of crashing tides. However, like a rising leviathan, he parts the waves with a single, overwhelming motion. He then plunges his hand into the ground and extracts a piece of masonry fit for a trebuchet.

“!”

“!”

BANG!

A cloud of dust showers the immediate area, and within the lingering plume, I dive in and engage Enbos in blind melee. Reading each other’s spiritual signatures, he brushes aside my attacks with overwhelming strength while I divert his with my superior reach and spearplay. The glowing blade of Horizon’s Edge darts like a firefly in the abyss, but Enbo intercepts every move by a hair’s breadth.

… No-

“!”

“Ngh!”

The gap is growing. It’s subtle but he’s becoming more agile with every exchange. Don’t tell me… is his connection to God actually strengthening?

“!”

I fire a blast of holy magic from above, buying me time to jump back.

I mustn’t allow myself to be distracted. The important fact is he’s getting stronger with every swing. Although he’s rightfully wary of Horizon’s Edge, prolonged combat will eventually give him the advantage. I have to kill him with ranged holy magic, yet his physical and magical defences are incomparable to before. In that case…

“.”

Recalling Horizon’s Edge to my hand, I begin channelling an immense amount of holy mana into the blade. However, Enbos doesn’t let up and closes the distance in an instant. I take a defensive stance and repel a tempest of powerful strikes, all whilst imbuing Horizon’s Edge with my finishing spell.

“[O mighty Maleosis watching from yonder…]”

“Good grief, Tascus. Would you quit it with the glorification?”

Bang!

Although I block his kick with my arm, the force transfers straight to my chest as I’m pushed several feet back. Nonetheless, I manage to keep my silence before continuing my recital.

“[… I stand in the abyss and bear your standard.]”

“I already told you, Tascus. He’s not the god of everything. If anything, the original Maleosis was probably the progenitor of necromancy,” he lies while ramping up his assault. “However, when Tiel was destroyed by the Elder Lich…”

“[In darkness, I feel your light guide me…]”

“… all dark magic became stigmatised as a result. Eventually, the image of the spirit of darkness and Maleosis became one and the same.”

“[… and through me, you shine for others to see. Let the heathen…]”

“So you see, Tascus, he’s not even the embodiment of darkness…”

CRUNCH!

“… let alone of light.”

Flicking aside Horizon’s Edge with his sword, Enbos manages to land an open-palm directly into my breastplate. I stagger for a moment, but I don’t have the luxury of breathing as I parrying a following thrust. In the same motion, I try striking his head with the back of my spear, but in a black blur, he contorts his body and kicks my arm while evading. It might be a light attack for him, but it’s an impactful one to me. For all my mastery of the spear, it’s as futile as confronting a mithril golem with a bronze rapier, except he’s far nimbler and of smaller stature than I. I need to immobilise him.

Crack!

“Eh? These are…”

Expending one of my scrolls, three coffins suddenly appear around Enbos and explode into pieces as my undying warriors assail him. They’re the last risen from the capture operation, empowered by the loss of the other undead in their set. However, for all their strength and magical arms, they are still no match for Enbos as he grapples them with one hand and brushes off their bone-crushing attacks. Nonetheless, I have time to distance myself and wait for an open-

BOOM!

Before I can aim my attack, I take to the air as Enbos tosses one of my undead toward me with bone-crushing velocity. Rather, half an undead.

Correction: I only have one shot and it needs to be now.

“[Let the heathen find dread in your everlasting luminosity.] !”

As my personal guard latch onto Enbos, I fire a fully-empowered blast of holy magic. Unfazed, he calmly grabs my struggling undead and uses them as shields. The collides with the bodies and splinters into a dozen searing streams. My undead immediately begin disintegrating, however Enbos still stands. Just as I expected.

“Is that all you- Wait, what!?”

To his horror, he realises my was cast from palm. As he braces against my attack, he turns his head see Horizon’s Edge, hovering to his side, fire a second . Enbos is caught in a crossfire of blinding lights, and having completed a chantless invocation with , it is just as powerful as the first. Nonetheless, for one horrifying moment, I spy him walking against the stream of cleansing mana, but it proves to be an illusion as my twin attacks propel him all the way into the back wall with a thunderous crack. The entire wall then collapses on top of Enbos’ remains, becoming a crushing coffin.

BANG!

“*Huff, huff, huff*.”

“…”

“*Huff, huff*… Deliverance.”

I drew far too much mana near the end. My hands are beginning to shake. Did I vanquish him once and for all? No, I best not doubt his unnatural fortitude. I can still detect his lifeforce beneath that pile of debris, although it’s markedly weaker than bef-

“Heh. Hahaha…”

I almost choke on my ragged breaths as Enbos quiet yet haunting chuckle fills the vast room. With narrow eyes, I watch as he extracts himself from the rubble and extinguish his smouldering robes. He’s still holding onto the charred remains of my personal guard, and as he raises their skulls to show me, he crushes them in his hands.

“.”

“What!?”

That cannot be- No, both his lifeforce and mana are recovering at a staggering pace! Moreover, I can sense his base strength is even greater than before. He really used , the ability to feast on the living and dead alike… But how!? How can he possibly possess an undead exclusive skill while being-

“What’s wrong, Tascus? Can’t handle your own blessing? It’s almost as if Maleosis couldn’t give a damn about your condition, and I really stress the words “could not”.”

“… No. You will not inherit the Watchful Light’s power. I won’t allow it.”

“Then you better shape up soon, “brother”. .”

Taking a covert approach, Enbos sinks into the ground while I quickly recall my spear with unsteady hands. His mana has fully recovered, which means he’s free to use his ancient skills once more. As for me, I need time to recover from the backlash, especially after using so many times in one night. For the first time in decades, I feel I am at a knife’s edge.

I can distance myself if he comes too close, but doing so will allow him to attack with his powerful magic. I could approach him with , but I wouldn’t be able to bring Horizon’s Edge which is my only defence. I should keep teleporting until his mana is exhausted, but for some reason, he’s been able to intercept my movements. In any case, he is far too cunning to just sprout from the floor. I must…

“…”

… What on Garea is happening? I’ve managed to recover in the time he’s been hiding beneath the ground. Is he preparing an even grander spell, or…?

“…”

Don’t tell me… He actually…

“You shameless heathen! !”

Following the lingering mana from my latest attack, I make my way through the twisting corridors at great speed. As feared, he’s headed in the direction of the closest terminal, but I should be able to trace him once I reach one myself. Nonetheless, I’ve already given him too much of lead.

I can’t believe he actually took flight. But for what? Is he seeking reinforcements from the outside? Did he decide to target my flock? Why did Enbos change tactics when I was clearly weakened while he had clearly recovered? There has to be something to-

“Hm?”

This room. I don’t recognise it. Moreover…

“*Sigh* I must reflect.”

… the doorway I just entered is gone. There is no other exit.

(.ybdnats no :secnefeD .orez :detected stegrat fo rebmuN .detavitca moor lliK)

“Hm?”

(.degagne :secnefeD .eno :detected stegrat fo rebmuN .smrofefil namuh ot smrofefil detcefni morf degnahc tegraT .detpecca edirrevO)

All of a sudden, four levitating orbs phase into existence on each side of the room. Each of them are composed of a different element: water, fire, glass and metal, with brilliant gems acting as their cores. Although I’m fascinated by the ancient artefacts before me, an immediate sense of alarm crawls down my spine. I narrowly jump to the side as the metal orb fires a blast of forked lightning. The rest of the orbs follow suit, casting different elemental attacks. I cast , but a powerful scythe of water cuts clean through my defences, followed by a continuous beam of burning light.

“!”

Letting go of Horizon’s Edge, I teleport directly above the glass orb and throw my spell, turn it into a shower of fragments. The lightning orb attempts to attack behind me, but I catch it’s attack with Horizon Edge and redirect it at the water one, frying its core. The ball of water collapses, and I use to turn it into a wall to extinguish the fire orb’s attacks. From the resulting steam, I ambush the lightning orb and crush its shell in my hands.

Powerful they may be, but far too fragile. Enbos couldn’t possibly have expected these weapons would-

(.yletaidemmi moor llik eht etacav esaelP .detaitini locotorp noislupxE)

“That voice…”

(…enin …net ni noislupxE)

As I backflip away from a wave of blue flames, I land in a crouching position and pour my mana into the stones. My mana spreads to every brick and I soon realise…

“Well played, Enbos.”

(…neves …thgie …)

“!”

I rearrange the masonry to create a opening beneath the fire orb, and instantly, a geyser of dark mana erupts and extinguishes the construct. I immediately close the hole but there’s mistaking it. This room is no longer connected to the main structure: it’s adrift in the sea of dark magic that sustains this dimension. And if Enbos truly wants to kill me…

(…evif …xis …)

I must hurry and create a barrier to- No, even if I somehow survive, I’ll still be buried under a hundred feet of earth…

(…eerht …ruof …)

There is no terminal and I have no way of overriding Enbos’ control. My only choice is to teleport, but…

(…owt …)

Coordinates, a mana link, anything that will allow me to teleport back to- Hm? This is-

(.eno …)

A cold breeze sends shivers down the sentry’s back. He pulls his green robe up while maintaining a clear view of the war-torn fields. The moon is full and the scene is as silent as the grave, although he notices a subtle change in the hue of the sky. The sound of shuffling grass alerts him to the presence approaching from behind, but as he whips his head around, he recognises the woman dressed in the same style of robe as himself.

“Rise and shine, Mist. Is your head doing okay?”

“It was only a mild concussion, Lyon, although I have to say I feel miserable all the same,” says the woman as she sits a few feet away.

“… How many survived?”

“… I lost over half my squad,” Mist says with a bitter smile. “And I wasn’t even conscious to protect them.”

“I lost half my guys as well,” says Lyon, “except I wasn’t even at the front. We had two imposters in our midst, and… *Sigh*.”

“Fifteen fablars per person. I’m guessing you have to be alive to collect that in the end.”

“Yeah. We might have been greedy bringing more people, but those goddamned knights were counting on us to drop like flies.”

“I won’t argue about that. If I wasn’t grouped up with that Novuseus mage, I’d being lying over there as well,” she says as she gazes over the war-torn landscape. “I really owe him a favour.”

“His apprentice helped us plenty as well. He held line while we sifted through our members. *Sigh* It’s a shame then that those knights dragged the both of them along in their first incursion. They haven’t returned from the cave since.”

“Great. Another reason to despise the Church’s dogs.”

“That reminds me, where’s my replacement at? A big guy with an axe should be covering my shift.”

“A just passed a guy like that on my way here, but he seemed to be staring into the air in front of a makeshift grave.”

“I see. Well, I don’t blame him. While you were out cold, one of his “friends” turned out to be wearing a flesh mask. So, are you here to replace him?”

“No. The knights are rounding up everybody to mobilise. I heard from some survivors that they’ll bury the place at dawn, the hostages and their own men included.”

“That is seriously cruel, but first light is still an hour or so away. Why move now?”

“How would I know? But that’s beside the point, Lyon: should we just take our remaining crew and leave, reward be damned?”

“I don’t know, Mist. Boss won’t forgive us for losing half our parties and returning with nothing to show for it.”

“But if it’s another suicide run, it’d be too late for us to-”

CRACK!

All of a sudden, there is a violent tremor as the side of the mountain suddenly erupts. Mist and Lyon look back at the cloud of dirt and debris while the adventurer camp enters a state of pandemonium. The pair immediately enter full alert and signal to the other lookouts in the distance. However, there is nothing to report, and the mountain quickly returns to silence.

“W-what was that, Lyon? An enemy attack?”

“N-no clue. But at least it didn’t trigger a landsli- Look out!”

Both adventurers leap to the side as a long object lands nearby and releases a burst of blinding light. As they meekly look over the smoking crater… there is a dull, brass polearm embedded in the ground.

“Honestly Tascus, I should have attacked you while you were still recovering, in hindsight. I never imagined you could escape the kill room, and yet here you are.”

Having teleported to safety by the narrowest of margins, I now stand before Enbos in the original terminal room. Contrary to his claims of surprise, he is in the middle of enchanting his cursed sword for his next attack. A shrewd man, but he has yet to realise my escape was enabled by his own spell.

“You are a cunning adversary, Enbos the Black. I must confess that was the closest anyone has ever come to killing me,” I say as I resupply my mana.

“And I will come closer still,” replies Enbos as he reactivates his blessing. “Especially without your spear to defend yourself. It was about the only thing that could have killed me in a single hit, so as far as I’m concerned, it’s checkmate.”

True, Enbos has recovered his mana and finished imbuing his longsword with unknown magic. Curiously, it shares the same symbology as , but with several new runes. He’s also stronger than ever before, having absorbed the souls of my personal guard. Nonetheless, I now understand the idiosyncrasies behind his strength… and his weaknesses.

“!”

Seizing the initiative, Enbos fires a torrent of destructive flames. I teleport above him and twist my body just as a stone spike protrudes from the roof. I narrowly avoid his attack then snap off the construct to launch at him like a ballista. Instead of enduring the blow, he casts to defend himself while redirecting his fiery barrage.

I knew it. Enbos’ power is not holistic. He has three distinct states and can only embody one at any single time: a state of superior magic; a state of overwhelming physical might; and, most crucially, a neutral state while transitioning between the two. It’s the reason why he didn’t use his massive strength back in the great hall, and why he resorted to that “kill room” once his mana was restored.

He should be vulnerable to close-quarters combat in his current state. I can close the distance in an instant with , but up to now, Enbos has countered my teleportation by pre-empting my destination. That being said, I’ve finally figured out his trick. He must have planted this spell back when he struck me in the great hall. Nonetheless, I won’t sever this magical link just yet… not when I can exploit it instead.

Checkmate, you say.

Yeah, yeah. I know, Helena. I was being presumptuous, but I really need to sell the act.

In a deadly test of quality versus quantity, I cast Helena’s destructive magic as Tascus evades and teleports without abandon. Even with Helena tracking his teleportation, he’s doing too many, too quickly for her to convey everything at once. I hate to admit it but he’s got the right idea, to bleed me dry of MP and force me to equip the pseudo ravager’s soul. Worse, the skeleton’s soul is already on the verge of collapse, so I can’t sustain that herculean-state like before. I’ve got to find a way to push Tascus to his limit while I still can.

“! !”

Flooding the entire floor with my fabricated water, I proceed to chase Tascus with dozens of electrified tendrils using . Very wisely, he keeps himself airborne and evades every attack before teleporting to the ceiling. However, from his bird’s eye view, he immediately realises my elaborate trick: a full-room magic circle made out of “water”. While actual H2O wouldn’t work, the conjured liquid is no different from a fast-drying, ready-made magical ink.

“!”

“! !”

BOOOOOM!

Hundreds of fireballs fly past my feet and completely decimate the roof, including the room above. There are not even chunks left as they are all blown upward by the sheer force of the barrage. The spell quickly disintegrates, however, leaving a thick cloud of dust to linger.

“Tch. .”

I absorb the personal guard soul I secretly stashed, recovering a fair portion of my HP and MP. The shockwave was so strong that I even received damage from down here. While I doubt it would have killed him, there is no way he could have dodged-

Tyler, earth wall!

“!”

Conjuring a stone barrier in an instant, I catch a fleeting glimpse of Tascus as he bursts forth from the cloud with a spear of light. It cuts clean through my barricade, however, as I barely parry his deadly blow. He then conjures another and presses the attack. I evade out of desperation, however, as the dust cloud descends to ground level, I use to hastily retreat. Casting , he immediately clears the air and looks at me in deathly silence. For the first time, I see his unmasked face, golden-haired with eyes as cold as the steel he wears. But aside from a few scorch marks, he’s barely scathed! How on Garea did dodge that attack!?

He used to create a vacuum around himself, which cushioned the blast. But there’s something else, Tyler. He closed his eyes while-

“.”

Behind!

Out of pure reflex, I obey Helena’s command and whip around to intercept him. However, what greeted me was not Tascus, but his infamous gold mask hovering in mid-air. To my horror, I find Tascus mirrored in its polished cheek, about to crush my head from my right flank.

He used the reflection to redirect his teleportation, which means… he knows about .

“!”

Pouring an obscene amount of mana into a single punch, Tascus launches an all-or-nothing attack. He’s too close to dodge, too close to block. His steel gauntlet connects with the back of my head and…

BANG!

… doesn’t even tilt it at all.

The disbelief on his face is almost palpable. A few milliseconds becomes a prolonged silence as Tascus’ eyes begin to widen. I can spell out the shock from his open lips as he fails to react to me raising my blade.

“!”

Blessed by Maleosis, I bring down Bloodletter with all my unholy might. Almost everything was for this single moment. The window immediately closes as Tascus teleports out of reflex, leaving me to cleave through his afterimage. However, the red sheen running along the edge is no illusion.

Crack!

“Ugh!”

Splitting his mighty armour, I leave a bloody trail running diagonally across his torso. Still, I can’t help but mentally click my tongue considering all the effort I put into this bluff. In the end, he forced me to play my hand too soon. If I had finished charging Bloodletter he would be in two pieces, but I guess a cursed wound will have to do. Of course…

“I’m not going to give you the chance to breathe!”

I launch myself at Tascus and begin attacking at lightning speed. He conjures a to defend himself, but his other hand is busy keeping the blood in his body. Unable to endure my assault, he vanishes out of sight but the spiritual energy leaking from his injury betrays his airborne position. More blood spills from his wound as he refocuses on healing.

“!

“ on self!”

“!”

I conjure a massive spike from the ground to skewer him in the air. He handily drifts out of the way, however, I immediately switch to the Pseudo Ravager’s soul and grab the stone protrusion, turning it into a gigantic club. Distracted by his injury, I swat Tascus into the nearest wall with a resounding crack, before throwing the remnants of my “club” like a ballistic missile.

The entire wall collapses, revealing a massive hall in the room over, but Tascus manages to conjure a in time. Nonetheless, there are red blotches staining the floor of his protective sphere.

“!”

“!”

Switching souls again, I rain fire on Tascus’ shelter while running towards him. His overcharged defences hold, however, as he focuses on dispelling Bloodletter’s curse. Unfortunately for him, I manage to reach his airtight bubble.

“!”

Touching his , I stain his translucent spell into a pitch black sphere. Effectively a sitting duck, I dance around his barrier while firing a barrage of that phase through his magical defences. I can sense his lifeforce being whittled away, until…

“!”

… pop goes the pirate. Converting his into a , the dark dome explodes in all directions and forces me back. He then immediately attempts to teleport away… only to find he’s surrounded by four sturdy walls in a deadly cage match.

“!”

“!”

Trapped in here with me, I launch a chain of deadly attacks as Tascus masterfully parries my blows. However, with each and every interception, he replaces his and leaves several drops of fresh blood. He’s also weaker than before as I’ve already stopped using my Pact of Power, and yet he still can’t confront my strength. But despite it all…

Your sword can’t contain any more energy. It’s ready, Tyler.

Thank you, Helena. Hopefully, I can end it all in my next move.

Please be careful. The look in his eyes-

Yeah. He plans to unleash the full power of his blessing. And I plan to let him.

Are you sure, Tyler?

Of course. It was my plan in the first place.

Now then, since he can react this well in a closed-off space, he must have the skill . If so…

“!”

“Hngh!”

… he’s probably forgotten he’s standing in the dark. I warp behind him and launch a powerful kick into his armoured back. Tascus stumbles a few steps before hunching over and coughing a not-insignificant amount of blood. Slowly, I walk over to his flank and raise my sword to decapitate him.

“Say hello to that collective figment for me. ”

“!”

“Eh?”

Fully expecting him to unleash his Pact of Piety, I’m instead taken aback by the dull, brass glaive that’s reappeared in hand. Damn it, he must have marked it before he escaped from that kill room! Tascus reignites his weapon into a golden spear, while I desperately switch souls and activate my Pact of Power. is on cooldown and I’m too close to jump away. I have to…

“!”

Shiiing!

“…”

“…”

“… I-impossible. T-that’s…”

With one hand, I stop his attack by grabbing his spear… by the brilliant blade. I can feel the inferno of holy energy condensed within its steel, but it’s far from incinerating me in an instant. Once again, Tascus is left dumbfounded by my miraculous feat, only this time he’s well and truly paralysed.

“I told you before, Tascus,” I say as I pull back my sword. “Maleosis is not the embodiment of light. .”

Saying those magic words, a brilliant blue hue envelops Bloodletter as Helena’s and my transcribed runes interact. My wrist threatens to shake to pieces as I unleash all the accumulated energy from my recent bout, before focusing all that power along the length of the sharpened edge. Tascus immediately realises what I’m about to do and pulls back his glaive to defend himself. But it’s too late.

“!”

SHIIIIING!

As I swing my sword in a wide arc, the surrounding stone walls seemingly fracture without contact. Tascus braces his golden spear against the coming edge, and as it makes contact, he’s beset by thousands of oscillations beating against a single point. With a guttural roar, I push with all my might, until…

Clink!

… I begin cutting through his weapon. Tascus is stunned by the change in sound, but before I can push through and cleave his body in two…

BOOOM!

… all the accumulated energy within the glaive bursts out of the fracture and sends us flying in opposite directions. My stone box crumbles from the explosion as I rattle across the floor before sliding to a stop. I instinctively “cough” with all the dust flying around and look down at my sword which has reverted to its red tint.

Damn it, I couldn’t finish him off again. Looks like I have to resort to that final plan, after all. How much damage did I manage to-

“*Cough, cough.*”

I look through the thinning dust to find Tascus staring at the shattered glaive in his hand. He gazes up at me, but instead of the usual bloodlust, there is only confusion on his weathered face.

“How?”

“…”

“How could you touch Horizon’s Edge and be unharmed? I can still sense the dark magic infused in your entire body, and yet you weren’t reduced to the smallest of cinders. How can your darkness possibly-”

“Tell me, Tascus. Have you ever wondered what darkness, as an element, truly is? By definition, it’s the absence of light, and yet mages call upon it like they’re drawing power from nothing.”

“…”

“In the Golden Age, the element went by a different name: aether. The most fluid of the fundamental elements that form the fabric of reality. Only in the void can aether be pure… but originally, it was never the antithesis of light.”

“What?”

Of course, the truth is that Helena’s soul has superior light resistance, but my point still stands. The fragment of an undead should unravel at its enchantments no matter what the foundation is. And yet, when I was forced to go through Maximillian’s teleportation circle, Helena was able to shield me from the light. I confirmed my theory with her earlier, but it seems…

“After the Apocalypse, the natural index of magic was reset, and during that formative period, the Watchful Light reappeared and the Church of Eden was accredited with cleaning up the event. As a result, the idea of “light vanquishing darkness” became ingrained. As someone who wields aether, the original darkness, it’s only natural I can defend myself, unlike yours which has been degraded by a millennium of misconceptions.”

“My darkness… is inferior? N-no, that cannot be. I was bestowed this affinity by the Lord Almighty. He converted my light to-”

“Then answer me this, Tascus: if Maleosis named you the “Apostle that conquers Light”, why would he give you that ability… and not mine?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, if your lord is truly unbeholden to mere public opinion, why can I embrace both light and dark, while you flip-flop between the two as a cheap workaround?”

“Enough…”

“Face it, Tascus. Either your aspect is a lie-”

“Enough!”

“… or Maleosis is an imposter of the spirit of darkness after-”

“ENOOOOOUGH!!!”

With an unhinged roar, Tascus projects a massive field of dark mana. It’s not an attack, but it feels as if an earthquake just rippled through the air. The mana around him is spinning faster and faster as dozens of tendrils of tainted energy suddenly materialise and feed the sphere. The concentration is so dense that I have to turn off just to see his outline within that localised storm.

He actually did it.

Yeah. I told you he could do something like this. His Pact of Piety is supposed to be a support ability, and yet he’s exploited the mechanic for all this time.

Even though it’s unfolding as you predicted, are you sure you don’t want to attack him now?

The stronger he gets, the easier it will be for the others. I’m prepared.

I see... I’m really happy you found friends you can trust, Tyler.

Yeah. That said, I must admit this is looking a bit much…

Suddenly, the ball of dark mana shrinks as Tascus further compresses all that power. His form becomes visible, and behind him, his twin black halos have increased to three. The ethereal tendrils of mana are still there, plugged into his back like ethereal power cables. Ominously, black markings now cover his body, constantly writhing, sometimes peeling, with a massive dark scar sealing shut his wound. Finished, he looks up at me with eyes like obsidian marbles.

“I will… flay every inch of your flesh, in slices as thin as grass. Cast your bones… in the fiercest furnace, then watch as every fragment is reduced to ash. Grind your soul into imperceivable specks… before scattering them across the entire Wasteland! A heathen like you does not deserve His embrace… only oblivion beyond the mercy of death. And so, I swear, on my title as champion, in the name of the entire order, for the sake of our one, true Lord… DELIVERANCE!”