Chapter 237: The Glint of Steel (5)

That chuckle was more of an answer than anything she could have said. 

She was disgusting – no different than Alina and Joshua. No, she was worse than them. At least at some point, even if it was after making sure I had no way of escape, they had shown me their true intentions. The inquisitor I just killed had died, still believing the other two had her back.

It would be the same if Asher chose not to create a barrier around me to block a lethal attack. Or if Mona and the others retreated, leaving me alone in the middle of this small Ereth army. And that was simply unforgivable to me.

I dashed forward without a moment of hesitation. These two were going down – now! I could almost feel Asher's panic as a barrier appeared around me. I shook my head ever so slightly – now wasn't a good time for his magic to interfere. It was too dangerous for him.

I pushed his magic away with my own. My left palm itched with anticipation and I felt the power just beneath my skin pulse. As a distraction, I swung my sword, but allowed it to bounce off the Ereth inquisitor's barrier. She seemed amused for a moment – to her I was seemingly acting out of anger, with no thought behind my actions.

As she clearly laughed at me, I struck the barrier with my left hand. I felt the skin of my palm burn as a dark power clashed with that of the Divine Pillar's and the inquisitor's. I gritted my teeth and powered on despite the mild pain, but even that soon disappeared. Instead, the barrier cracked, then shattered into tiny fragments as the flow of Divine magic was interrupted by the dark, shadowy power spreading from my palm. 

That power disappeared as quickly as it appeared, but it was present long enough to allow the inquisitor to notice it and, from her almost fearful backstep, form and idea about its origin. 

Seeing her shock and terror, I didn't any time. My sword found her heart as she scrambled to cast a spell – any spell. The magic she gathered in her palms dissipated as her lifeless body hit the ground.

I turned my gaze onto the third and final inquisitor, ready to defend myself, but then paused. It was my turn to hesitate and be surprised – she hadn't moved a muscle. Was she even aware of what was going on around her? While the logical part of my being believed the answer was no, my instincts screamed of danger.

Without a second of hesitation, I chose to trust my instincts and threw myself aside. A decision I did absolutely not regret, as a circular ray of light with a radius of nearly an arm's length went through the air where I was just standing perhaps a half a second ago.

I drew a sharp breath as I noticed the inquisitor gather power once more. Was she going to cast the same spell again? I scrambled to get up and once more jumped aside as another ray of light passed through where I was, leaving a trail of ash among the grass right below where it passed.

"The hell is that?" I heard Alex shout. I gritted my teeth – I couldn't let the inquisitor aim at them with her deadly ray of light. So, I did the only thing I could think of within two seconds.  I threw myself at her.

We fell to the ground with a thud as her focus was interrupted. I almost grinned as she shouted in surprise. What could a spellcaster even do when forced in such a close combat situation, right?

My smile shattered before it even formed as the inquisitor's first reaction to being pinned to the ground was to kick between my legs. I almost yelped in pain as much as in shock. She took advantage of that and bit my left hand, then headbutted me. 

"What the hell – where did you learn all this?" I cried in annoyance. Her wooden mask had made the pain just so much worse. Of course, I wasn't stupid enough to let her reply – instead, I just released my flames and while she was busy screaming and trying to fight them off, I reached for my sword.

I felt her struggle under my weight and hated myself for this. Mother wouldn't have approved, I was sure. Honour meant everything to her. But then again, she wasn't stranded away in a fake, virtual world with no way home. She hadn't lost her sense of self because of some guy who was supposed to have died such a long time ago. And she didn't have the threat of the Demon Lord's words hanging over her, threatening to kill everyone she cared about.

I did. And thus, honour and chivalry were the last of my concerns. I was focused on survival, and as such, I swallowed whatever guilt I felt as I cut the inquisitor's throat with the black blade of my sword.

I felt sick as blood rushed out of the open wound and the woman's struggles came to an end. I pushed myself up and stumbled away, tired, in pain and even a little dizzy with power. 

As soon as I got up, I felt Asher's magic gather in the skies above. He was getting ready to finish the soldiers off.

I walked away from the battlefield to give him free reign over it, and with a loud whistle that we had previously agreed upon, called Mona, Alex, and Lucius here too. They all seemed surprised as they quickly retreated. Perhaps half a second later, lightning began to rain down upon the few remaining Ereth soldiers.

"You got it done fast." Mona said as they came to my side. I shrugged and looked away. I didn't want her to see me like this – unsure, scared and, worst of all, brimming with demonic power. I still hadn't let go of the Soul's Aspect transformation. The Divine Pillar was still standing after all, my work wasn't quite done yet.

I took a deep breath. That was the reason my left hand still pulsed with dark power, nothing else. 

The Demon Lord's words came to my mind and I shivered as I glanced at my left hand. Was this a mistake? No, I needed this. I could do this, resist the temptation of near unlimited power. My work was almost done after all. Once the war began and our own plan was a success, I and all other players would be free of this fake world. So, just a few more days.

"…Kai?" Alex's voice sounded as she shook me by my shoulder. "Hey, Asher's done. Can you destroy the pillar, or do you need a break?"

I shook my head. I hadn't realised the lightning strikes were over. I blinked a couple of times, then forced a weak smile. "No, I can handle it. Cover me in case more Ereth arrive."

"Sure," The tall, snake tailed woman nodded. As I turned my back on them and approached the golden Pillar, I could almost feel their doubt. Had they noticed the dark power I had used? No, I thought to myself. There was no way, everyone was focused on their own battles. The only person who could even so much as have a doubt was Asher, and I doubted he would say anything while the others were present.

I drew a deep breath as I approached the Divine Pillar, still pulsating with golden light. "Ah, I hate this…" I grumbled as I tightly grasped the hilt of my sword with both hands and struck the first of the seven focal points of magic – seven white crystals that made this whole structure into what it was.

For some reason, I felt much more satisfied than usual as the crystals cracked and shattered under the weight of my blade. One by one, I destroyed them. My smile widened with each destroyed crystal, and when I broke the final one, I sighed a breath of relief.

"Finally." I exhaled as cracks appeared on the golden structure. The now useless pillar crumbled before our eyes as Asher, Laura, Theresa, and Rina arrived here.

"Good job everyone," Laura said with a wide, happy smile. Rina ran to hug Alex and Theresa quickly went to check up on the rather tired Mona. I watched as they hugged each other and celebrated our victory.

"You seem like you took a punch to your face," Asher's voice sounded. I glanced at him and chuckled. "I got headbutted, so you're close." He raised his brows in surprise, then chuckled. "I guess so," He raised his hand as a soft, golden light appeared in his palm. "Let me heal that, and the bite mark." He hesitated. "And your skin." He added as he glanced at my mostly charred hands.

I showed a bitter smile. "Thanks, I can't really use any more magic if I want to have enough mana for a rift." I let him heal me. The soft, cosy warmth of his spell felt like a blessing as the skin on my hands healed and my bruises disappeared.

"Let's not waste any more time," I suggested once he was done. "There is no point in staying here, let's go back." I raised my hand to form a rift as everyone gathered around me. I couldn't help but smile – we had done it! We had all survived, and the battle had been much easier than any of us dared to expect.

Yet, my smile shattered as I sensed a familiar difficulty in opening the rift. 

No, not now!