The Tower King

Kael'Zir roared. A roar that made the walls tremble, awakening the sleeping echo of the room. With a violent setback, he swept the room with his halband. Jarek dodged narrowly, the blade brushing against his shoulder by a few millimeters.

He stepped back a few steps, turned his sword in his hand, then resumed the offensive. His movements became more fluid, almost dancing. He was no longer just a fighter, he had become a controlled storm, a contained fire ready to devour.

A quick blow cut through the air and reached the colossus' hip. A deep fissure formed there, more marked than the others. Jarek went on without waiting, exploiting this weakness, hitting with all his forces in the opening.

Kael'Zir chancela.

Nerris, still at the bottom of the stairs, held his breath.

Sora, on the ground, had still not regained consciousness despite the surrounding noise that filled the small underground room.

Kael'Zir attempted a new assault, a downward strike of unprecedented violence. Jarek raised his sword, absorbed the shock with both arms. The ground broke under his feet, but he held on.

Then, in a furious cry, he pushed away the colossus' weapon, turned on himself and, in a burst of red light, cut sharply to the back of Kael'Zir's knee. The giant fell to one knee, his movements becoming slower and slower.

Jarek slowly approached, his face covered in dust, his sword always raised. "We are nearing the end for you, stone soldier."

As if tapping into his last resources, an Ushi of extraordinary power emanated from the body of the colossus. A dark bluish glow escaped from the interstices of his armor, irradiating the entire room with a bright light. The cracks left by Jarek's attacks began to pulsate, like veins revived by a heart too long asleep.

The ground vibrates. The air became denser, almost unbreathable. An overwhelming pressure fell into the room, forcing even Nerris to kneel for a moment, his hand clenched on the stone railing.

"What is that?" she whispered, her eyes widening.

Not seeming to feel the surrounding pressure, Jarek examined his opponent for a few moments without moving. "Surely a mechanism that allows it to deploy its full power."

Kael'Zir slowly straightened his head. His eyes, previously dull and red, had become two incandescent blue gleams, almost unreal. The fissure on his hip slowly closed, fragments of rock clumping together to reconstruct his armor. Its creaks became calmer, but deeper, like the rumble of a smoldering storm.

Then he stood up.

With a single blow of his heel into the ground, he made the entire room tremble. A gust of Ushi spread around him, forcing Jarek to step back several steps. The mercenary sank his heels into the ground to stay standing, but the power of the breath made him wince.

"He is getting stronger..." He murmured, his jaw clenched.

Kael'Zir left no respite. In a movement of inhuman speed, he leaped forward, his halbert falling in an arc of a circle. Jarek narrowly escaped, but the impact sent him rolling to the side, scraping the ground for several meters.

He immediately stood up, panting, his arms numb from the violence of the shock. He attempted a counter-attack, but Kael'Zir blocked with his forearm, then proceeded with a kick so powerful that he sent Jarek waltzing against a stone pillar.

The shock caused the pillar to explode in a cloud of dust.

" There's nothing to say, you're rather strong..." Jarek muttered, barely getting up, a trickle of blood running from his lip.

His blade, still in hand, trembled slightly. Not out of fear, but because his body began to accuse the blows. And yet, he was smiling.

"You got a second wind, huh? Too bad for you, me too."

He closed his eyes for a moment. The glowing sword in his hand seemed to pulse in unison with his breathing. A glowing flame escaped from it. For the first time since the beginning of this fight, Jarek was using his Ushi.

Nerris, a few meters away, felt the heat wave emitted by Jarek's blade and immediately understood the power of a mercenary of rank Gold.

Without even having to fight him, she had just understood the gulf that separated her from the flamboyant man who stood in front of her. Never in her life had she seen a Ushi of such power.

"Nerris, take Sora with you and step aside both of you, it would be a shame if you two were to burn alive." Announced Jarek, as he slowly advanced towards the colossus.

Not for a second, the hostess of the Mercenary Order also used her Ushi and made two branches grow under Sora's still unconscious body and take him higher up the stairs, where she had just taken refuge as well.

At this distance, she could not see the entire combat room, but still managed to distinguish a small part of it.

After checking that they were both safe, Jarek focused once again and further amplified the power of his power. The red flames emanating from his sword had doubled in power and now matched the power of Kael'Zir.

"Well, this time I won't hold back, my big one. You better not disappoint me." He replied while rushing towards the guard in front of him.

Kael'Zir, as if moved by a dull rage, screamed at the approach of Jarek, lifting his halbert for another assault. But this time, Jarek was faster.

He dodged the first blow with a dazzling side-step, the flames of his sword tracing a burning bow in the air. Without giving the colossus time to regain his balance, he knocked. A diagonal blow, quick as lightning, that split the stone breastplate at Kael'Zir's left shoulder.

Fragments of rock flew.

Kael'Zir immediately responded, sweeping away the air with his gigantic weapon. Jarek leaped back, narrowly avoiding the attack, but feeling the burning squall of the blade's passage. The ground, where the halbert fell, exploded in a sheaf of broken stones.

"Too slow." Muttered Jarek by planting a foot in the ground to propel herself forward.

He charged again, this time aiming at the joints. His sword, bathed in incandescent Ushi, struck Kael'Zir's elbow. A sinister crack echoed in the room. The colossus' halbert wobbled in his hands, his movements becoming more jerky, less precise.

Nerris, concealed behind a section of wall in the stairs, felt his heart beat to break. Each impact vibrated the stone under her feet. She had never seen a confrontation as fierce... nor a man as determined as Jarek.

Kael'Zir, driven by a desperate fury, delivered several powerful blows, seeking to crush his opponent with brute force. But Jarek, sharp and precise, dodged like a dancer, each step evading death by a few centimeters.

A streak across his cheek reminded Jarek that even a fraction of a second of inattention could cost him dearly.

"Tch... I mustn't dawdle." he susurra, wiping the blood with a backhand.

Kael'Zir tried a thrusting, straight towards him. But Jarek, rather than dodging it, advanced, slipping under the halbert, and planted his sword deep into the colossus's hip, where the rock had already cracked.

Kael'Zir's howl made the air vibrate.

He stepped back with a massive step, staggering. His armor creaked on all sides, and the blue glow that surrounded him wavered, unstable.

Seeing his luck, Jarek concentrated his Ushi in his blade. The heat became unbearable around him, the air swaying with each breath. He raised his sword above his head, a flaming red trail following his movement.

Kael'Zir raised his arm to defend himself, but this time the power of Jarek surpassed everything.

In a fierce roar, he brought down his sword.

The blazing blade cut off Kael'Zir's forearm. The massive limb collapsed in a thud, lifting a cloud of dust.

Kael'Zir, unbalanced, fell to his knees, his chest exposed.

"Let's finish it, goalkeeper." Grogna Jarek, his eyes sparkling with a wild glow.

He took a lightning-fast impulse and leaped.

His sword cut through the air, one last time.

In a deafening impact, the blade penetrated right in the center of the colossus's torso, through the layer of armor already weakened. The bluish glow of Kael'Zir flickered one last time... then suddenly died out, like a flame blown by the wind.

The immense body of Kael'Zir slowly rocked back, crashing to the ground in a monumental crash. Cracks spread like a spider's web under his weight, and the silence suddenly fell back in the room.

Jarek remained motionless for a moment, his chest breathless, his sword still planted in the heart of stone of his opponent.

Then, slowly, he withdrew his blade and let it fall back along his side, the fuming tip brushing against the split slabs.

"Rest in peace, stone soldier... Your guard is over." he blew.

Nerris, still trembling, stepped forward carefully, still carrying Sora thanks to his branches. His eyes, wide open, could not detach their gaze from Jarek.

He was standing, alone in the midst of ruins and dust, a figure blackened by soot and fatigue, but triumphant.

The mercenary turned his head slightly towards her, a sparkling but tired smile stretching his lips.

"You can go down, it's over."

And as Nerris approached, relieved, Jarek let out a small croaked laugh, before storing his blade in its case.

" Are you still standing? " she asked worriedly, while closing in on him.

He raised his head with a smirk, still panting. "I'm not made of sugar, don't worry. And anyway, it's not an opponent like that who can beat me."

His gaze then settled on Sora, still inert on the branches that Nerris had grown. His face was pale, smeared with dust and traces of dried blood, but his chest rose weakly: he breathed.

"Here, give him this." He continued while rummaging in the bag attached to his belt.

He handed him a small glass vial containing a light blue liquid. The few flashes of light that emanated from Jarek reflected in the potion, giving it the appearance of a star trapped in a bottle.

"It's a healing potion that I created. Make him drink gently. Not all at once."

Nerris nodded, taking the vial preciously. His hands, though usually agile, trembled slightly under the tension of everything that had just happened.

She approached the vial of Sora's lips, gently tilting it. The liquid slowly slipped down his throat. For a moment, nothing happened.

"Is it normal that he doesn't react?" Nerris asked, worried about his condition.

"Given how he has suffered, it doesn't surprise me that he still doesn't wake up. We'd better bring him up in the temple so he can rest, he's still just a kid after all." He replied while rubbing these clothes to bring down the dust that had accumulated there.

Nerris nodded without discussing. With a thousand precautions, she reinforced the branches that supported Sora, ensuring that he was perfectly stable, closely followed by Jarek who turned one last time towards the stone colossus.

Together, they slowly ascended the dusty staircase, leaving behind them the silent body of Kael'Zir.

The way back was long, their steps echoing against the cold stone of the temple. Nerris constantly inspecting Sora's condition, watching for any sign of awakening.

They finally reached the main hall of the temple, after a few minutes of walking, much less oppressive than the depths where they had fought. The light filtering through the cracked stained glass windows bathed the room in a pale, comforting glow.

They placed Sora lying on the ground, where they had set up their temporary camp.

The next moment, Jarek sat down heavily with his back against a wall, closing his eyes for a moment. His fight seemed to have exhausted him more than he let on. Despite his apparent fatigue, he always kept that same smile intact.

Nerris looked at him a few moments before finally imitating her and landing by Sora's side; she watched over him silently, waiting for him to wake up.

A long silence settled in, seconds becoming minutes and minutes becoming hours.

...

It was only when the sun went down that Sora finally started to move. It was very subtle, but bright enough for Nerris to notice. She moved closer to him and examined his slightly moving fingers.

After a few moments, he finally opened his eyes and stared at the stone slabs on the ceiling for a few moments before finally speaking. "I didn't know the ceiling was so beautiful..."

He expressed himself while trying to straighten up with difficulty.