Julius led us to a small chamber under the palace nestled away in the darkness. Julius' monotone expression locked onto mine at the opposite end of the makeshift arena. Liliana was swigging her feet on a nearby armchair, she had dragged into the arena. A large bag of nuts in her hands throwing them haphazardly into her mouth.
"I thank you for agreeing to kill me and finally end my boring existence," exclaimed Julius.
"What? I didn't agree to kill you, I just said I'd fight you. I'm not allowed to kill you even if I wanted to; you're a Divine String. Not some devil."
"Oh, is that how it is? Ashame, I didn't want to put effort into my death, but so be it, I'll make you kill me."
Julius' body shifted into an offensive stance. Although unarmed, I could sense a great deal of power emanating from his body. His soulless eyes suddenly locked onto me, his gaze directed straight towards my heart.
Instinctively sensing an extreme amount of hostility, I flashstepped to the left of my original position. As I turned my gaze right, a swarm of metallic hands rushed forward, impaling and grabbing hold of the air where I once was. I didn't expect such brutality from Julius; if I got caught in his attack, my body would be mangled beyond repair.
"I see. I suppose I'm going to need to use more force," declared Julius.
Julius' arms outstretched, an ominous aura spilling out.
"Edict of Creation, House of Misery."
Multiple metallic skeletal figures broke through the stone tiling pulling their wicked bodies up, their gazes solely focused on me. The cracking of their bones and jaws echoed throughout the arena, suddenly sprinting full speed at me.
There were at least one hundred of the bony soldiers, far more than I could deal with without using my more powerful spells. Although if I were to use Gate of Elpis, I'd gain nothing from this battle.
My mind was set on creating a spell able to give me supreme authority in a set area. This idea had been swirling within my mind ever since I fought with Karravok. If I wanted to battle against Ickni, who commands absolute order, then I'd need my own order to counterattack.
Julius gave me the perfect medium to test my new creation; his skeletal army was the perfect test for dealing with controlled husks.
"Edict of Light, Crimson Halo, Sanctum of the Everlasting Light. May your light reach the ends of the earth."
Upon finishing my chant, a crimson halo appeared in the center of the room, shrouding the room in crimson light. Golden pillars of pure light burst through the ground, encompassing the army of skeletons in its overwhelming divinity.
And finally, a pillar of light appeared in front of me, its form glistening, a small trace of crimson running throughout its peerless image.
"Don't tell me that is that weapon from earlier?" asked Julius, his face paling slightly.
Grasping hold of the top of the pillar, I slashed outwards, revealing a white and crimson scythe oozing the putrid aroma of death.
"No. This is just an imitation. I wouldn't dare use Helios again."
"Ooooo! Now, this is getting interesting. Evernight, I command you to kill this weirdo!" said Liliana jokingly.
Twirling the scythe around, its blade emitted multiple strings of pure light spreading throughout the arena, weaving their way around the skeletal warriors, binding to their very essence.
With a single strike to one of the skeletal warriors, they all fell. The impact of my first strike spread throughout the strings, delivering hundreds of fatal blows at once. The clatter of bones shattering spread throughout the arena. Julius looked around at his fallen warriors, his expression filled with curiosity and excitement, practically jumping up and down.
"Ha! This is amazing, I want you to kill me even more now! Yes, yes! Kill me, shatter me like my comrades!" shouted Julius.
"Edict of Creation, Four Hellish Fiends!"
The shattered remains of the skeletal warriors began to hover, morphing into a single entity. They converged and fractured into four even piles of bones. The bones began to intertwine and form humanoid forms, their armour and face being completely made of bones. Although they appeared to be humanoid, their skin was ashy white, and instead of eyes, they had a hollow flame twinkling. Julius commands his four fiends to dig their claws into my flesh, their greatswords twirling and their skeletal forms launching for my neck.
The four fiends closed in at a staggering speed, being in my face in less than a second, their four greatswords all inches away from beheading me. Protecting my neck with a thick layer of light, I dropped low after their greatswords impacted with my protection, failing to crack its flawless design.
I slashed my scythe in a full moon, severing their feet from their bodies, but they didn't fall, the gap being swiftly filled in by more bones scattered across the floor.
Kicking myself off the floor, I distanced myself from the four fiends quickly surveying their forms before rushing back in and dismembering them and kicking their remains away from their heads. Unfortunately, my efforts to prevent their regeneration were in vain; they still regenerated, instead using the scattered bones around. I couldn't possibly destroy them all from my earlier strikes; there were at least a thousand bones littering the arena.
Envisioning a crimson light to spread around the battlefield, locking onto the four fiends, creating a boundless field of overwhelming light. I confirmed my spell and spoke the command words.
"Okay, then I'll try something else. Second Stage, Crimson Veil."
The spell did exactly as I commanded, trapping the four fiends in a cage of crimson light; they couldn't break through, no matter what tricks they employed.
"Once I cast my crimson gaze on your little toys, there is nothing you can do to free them."
"Hehaha! Absolutely brilliant, now swallow me in your crimson light and take my life! Edict of Creation, King of the Dead, Mordred!"
The thousands of bones morphed into a single being appearing in front of Julius, a skeletal masculine figure adorned with multiple medals, jewels, gems, and a mighty crown. He held a pristine shortsword, it pointed it directly at me declaring my days to be limited.
The azure and violet energy in its eyes swirled intensely before bursting out, covering its head in a sea of azure and violet flames.
Mordred disappeared from view, although its visage was gone, I could still sense its overpowering hatred and malice coming from my left in waves. I blocked to my left, the monstrous power behind Mordred's blow made me step back slightly as our blades collided, a piercing shockwave rippled throughout the arena.
I released my grip on my scythe, flashstepping out of the way. Mordred faltered and stumbled forward, both Julius and Mordred shocked by my sudden exit. As my scythe thudded to the floor, its blade releasing a sea of strings binding Mordred and sending a web of strings to bind to Julius' feet using his distracted mind.
Mordred was swiftly caught in the bindings, his struggles futile, only scratching his bones. Grabbing the chain of jewels, I pulled Mordred closer, placing my palm on his skull.
"Bang."
A blast of light burst from my palm, traveling downwards, totally annihilating Mordred's body. The crown floated into my hands, and I threw it into the air, blasting it with a second dose of light.
Picking up my scythe by the end of its pommel, its blade backwards facing my back. I flashstepped behind Julius, placing the blade against his neck.
"This is over." I declared.
"Do it! Kill me! Bring me sweet death!"
"You don't deserve death, you couldn't even give me a real fight. I'm done. I don't fight people who hold back. Find someone else to kill you."
I withdrew my scythe, returning it to its natural state of light, dispelling my Crimson Halo; the crimson light receded into the darkness, replacing it with soft torchlight. I walked towards Liliana, beckoning for her to come with me.
"But. You were supposed to kill me by battle if I—" exclaimed Julius, stopping his own words and slumping to the floor.
"Hehe. Did you hear that, Julius? He said you're not worthy of death, how ironic for someone who loves the concept. You really are quite pathetic," teased Liliana.
Julius didn't respond, keeping his eyes focused solely on the floor, his fist clenched tightly, drawing a small sliver of blood.
"If you want to die in battle, then you should give it everything you have. Don't limit yourself; only the strong have the right to claim the lives of the strong." I said.
I'd known since we started fighting that Julius wouldn't reveal his true strength to me. My suspicions seemed to be correct. It was disappointing, but I didn't have a shadow of a doubt that Julius would soon learn that he would no longer be able to limit himself.
Just as I left with Liliana, I noticed Julius' ear twitch at my words, a small trace of tears rolling down his cheek. For some odd reason, this invoked a small smile to grow on my face.