The Sword and The Shadow

"You cowards!" Saron roared.

Annelotte looked at him and moved him five meters in front of her with Magus's Hands.

"You want them to sacrifice themselves for you, yet you use the same cowardly tactic by holding Leguna hostage… I don't see how you're any braver than they are."

She didn't seem to have recovered from the mental blow and her voice sounded a little weak.

Is she finally at her limit? Saron calmed down at that moment and glared at her venomously. "Don't think I'll let this end like that. I'll remember this. Even if I'll lose a stratum of power thanks to the clone spell, I, the crimsonflame fiend, will come back with power thousandfold to kill Leguna! But before I do, I will make to toy with you before him until you die! I will keep my word, and I swear on my power! One day, you will understand the consequences of messing with me. This is the most foolish thing you will ever do in your life!"

Saron knew that there was no way he would be able to defeat Annelotte with his level of power, but he thought that wouldn't last forever. He was the only twin gifted in this world, after all. As long as he was serious and worked hard, he would definitely gain more power than she had!

Annelotte quietly watched Saron make his declaration. It was then when she understood that Saron truly was a mad dog like Leguna had said. She sighed helplessly and asked, "Are you finished?"

"So what if I am?--" His eyes were bloodshot. "--If I don't die today, I'll definitely come to pay you back a thousand fold. Remember this! I am Saron! The only twin gifted in the world! The favored one of the heavens! Harming me will be your gravest mistake!"

"Then you can die today."

Annelotte mustered what remained of her mana and dictated a spell.

"You can't kill me! I have a body clone!" he yelled, as if it would instill him with bravery.

But halfway through Annelotte's dictation, Saron's face paled in an instant.

"No… Impossible! You can't possibly still have mana! You can't possibly know that spell!

His face finally morphed into a genuine amalgamation of fear and terror. It was none other than an expression of the primal fear of death. His arrogance and pride shattered like glass.

A ten-meter tall, giant silhouette appeared behind Annelotte clad in tattered black robes and held a scythe in hand. It was a gigantic skeleton radiating the essence of death. In its hollow eye sockets was a red glow that could stoke the primal fear of those who looked into it.

"It's Hell's shade…" Saron muttered in fear, "Hell's shade…"

It was true that the clone spell was an ideal way for a magus to guarantee his survival, as no matter the damage to one's body, the clone spell could recreate another perfect copy. In other words, even if the body was reduced to ashes, the magus could recreate another body and be revived as a result. The cost was lowering one's magic stratum by one.

However, it wasn't a spell without weaknesses. It could only restore physical and corporeal damage, but couldn't heal any damage to the soul. In other words, once one's soul was destroyed, they wouldn't be able to revive using the clone spell.

Most techniques used by fighters and magi focused on destroying one's body and was unable to harm the soul, but there were naturally exceptions. Since the birth of magic eons ago, some spells were created to damage the soul directly.

One of the most famous and powerful ones was the level-nine spell, Death Sentence.

Death Sentence required the user to offer up vast quantities of mana in exchange of the power of the death god, the personification of Hell itself. As the god of death, Hell had the power to control the power of mortal souls. That was how Death Sentence was able to extinguish the target's soul directly.

It was the ideal spell to counter the clone spell!

Saron had never imagined that Annelotte would actually master it, nor did he think she would have enough mana to use a third level-nine spell! Little did he know that had she not had Bluestar of the Frozen Sea's support, she wouldn't have lasted that long.

His face was currently pale as ashes and his mouth uttered unintelligible sounds. The use of such a spell had utterly crushed the last remaining semblance of sense and broke him down mentally.

"I didn't have a grudge against you, you see," Annelotte said as she motioned her right index finger skyward, "But you shouldn't have harmed him. That is one of the few things I won't tolerate. Since you have offended me, you shall pay. So--" She levelled her blue fingher at Saron. "--Go to hell."

"Fgggaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The shade of Hell let out an inhumane bellow as he swung his scythe towards Saron.

"Aaaaaaaagh!" He spent the last moments of his life shrieking in utter horror.

The giant scythe struck him squarely and the sheer force beat up a cloud of dust around him.

After using Death Sentence, Annelotte was completely drained of mana. However, the recovery afforded by Host of Glacier gave her just enough to cast a windstorm spell to blow away the dust.

Surprisingly, while Death Sentence seemed powerful, the target looked practically unharmed. But Annelotte knew that the crimsonflame fiend's soul had been erased for good. All that remained before her was a soulless corpse.

After making sure that he was dead, Annelotte was finally able to quell her anger. She looked at the unconscious Leguna and stumbled towards him.

Almost there…

When she was some five meters away from him, she stopped. She was still maintaining Host of Glacier. If she approached him now, the low temperatures might harm him considerably.

But she couldn't just undo it that easily. There was a real possibility she would suffer blowback and fall unconscious like how Leguna would after he stopped using Host of Darkness.

She considered it for a moment and decided to undo it. Even if she hung on, she would fall unconscious all the same when the time was up.

Her heartbeat and breathing returned, but she felt the cry of pain from every cell in her body. Host of Glacier lowered her body temperature so much that even a water swayer like her wasn't able to resist.

I just need… to hold on a little longer… She never shouted her motivations like Leguna did and only kept repeating it to herself in her mind and doing her best to follow its directives.

The great pain assailed her mind, but she held on with insurmountable will. While they weren't at Fort Kesta, that didn't make it a safe place. The Stokians would be there in a few more minutes.

They had to leave as soon as possible!

Annelotte swayed to his side and took out an intricate dagger from her dimensional pocket, spending the last of her energy to cut the ropes binding him.

His body slumped forward, and she hurriedly tossed the dagger and turned to hold him with her weakening arms. Though Leguna was on the light end of the spectrum, his weight still caused her to stumble halfway to the ground.

She grit her teeth and stood up, squeezing out the last bits of mana remaining in her diatagi and dictating another spell.

The transference spell was something she used often and she could finish the incantation in one second. But today, she took four whole seconds for it.

The mana was expended as the spell was completed. She transported herself roughly a hundred kilometers from where they were, but her mental anguish caused her to miscalculate the coordinates. They ended up 200 meters up in the air.

With her consciousness blurry, she hoisted Leguna on her back the best she could and became his meat shield.

There's not one inch of him that hasn't been harmed. He can't afford to get hurt more, she thought, before the fall caused her to cough out a mouthful of blood. She had completely drained herself of mana, energy and will at that moment. No longer being able to endure the pain, she let out an agonized cry and passed out.

Back there on the battlefield, all was quiet. Hundreds of bodies lay sprawled in the open.

But a few seconds later, a humanoid figure approached Saron's body…