The Sword and The Shadow

Is it Over?

"Shadows of the endless abyss, I summon you in the name of Njolvinr. Ye shall be my sword to wield per my will. When ye taketh form, slay mine enemy and show the world the power of shadows!" Leguna spoke the incantation and summoned countless shadow swords in mid air.

"There are ten thousand swords…" Nidhogg said as he narrowed his eyes. The swords he had summoned swarmed around like insects. If they were made from normal metal and enchanted, they wouldn't be able to harm Nidhogg. But every one of these contained Njolvinr's divine power. It's something that can harm even true deities, to say no more about Nidhogg.

However, Nidhogg wasn't intimidated by that alone, being a magus who could even toy with the planar laws. While his expression was grim, his voice was calm as usual. "Looks like you really plan to settle this quickly."

"I already said…" He looked at him with his crimson eyes and wore s sinister smile. "A man should be ashamed to let women wait!"

Leguna and his demonic silhouette charged at Nidhogg. The swords rained down on him at the same time. Nidhogg roared like never before and his body instantly doubled in size. His robes turned into fierce-looking armor as it expanded to accommodate his body. His exposed skin looked orange and yellow. It looked as hot as flame and as solid as the great earth.

"Get ready!" Angelista said before the next clash. Her eyes glowed silver as she dictated rapidly. In a few short seconds, she not only added two extra magic barriers outside Leguna's divine barrier, she also used a force field on everyone inside the barriers.

When Angelista finished all of that, the shockwaves blasted all across Melindor Plaza. Even the distant shopping streets were completely flattened, but that wasn't the end of it. Leguna and Nidhogg's every clash sent off unimaginably powerful shockwaves, which dispersed into multiple smaller ones. They beat up lots of dust and covered the entire plaza in it.

"Ptooey!" Angelista spat out a few mouthfuls of sand and saliva. The first shockwave sent quite a lot of dust into the barrier. She had just finished her dictation and sand found its way into her mouth before she could close it. She turned to look around and saw the dust cloud. Nidhogg and Leguna couldn't be seen at all. They could only be felt through their monstrous shrieks and nonstop minor shockwaves from their attacks.

"Even though those two are fighting with physical force, they're causing as much turmoil as high-order magi," Angelista said with disdain, "They're no longer normal lifeforms."

"Leguna…" Innilis's face was filled with worry. She grit her teeth and raised her hand in an attempt to dictate a spell. But the moment she probed her diatagi, her dried-up mana reserves protested by sending a wave of vertigo to her. She paled and spat out some stomach acid. Helpless, she could only turn to Angelista.

"Ah, got it." She nodded when she saw Innilis's pitiful gaze. "Same thing like ten years ago. We're only going to watch. Don't expect me to go between the fight of these two monsters."

She waved and a gust of wind blew the dust in the plaza away. Coincidentally, their battle had reached its end right after the dust dispersed.

All of Melindor Plaza was reduced to rubble. Angelista couldn't see a single unmarred spot. Craters littered the whole place. The white tile she was standing on was the sole reminder that this place used to be a plaza.

They could only see a blurry figure half kneeling on the ground with tens of longswords embedded into him. Normally, anyone who suffered that kind of attack would've died, but the person still seemed to be alive and shuddering.

Footsteps broke the silence. The dust continued to disperse and another person's figure could be seen. From his gait, it could be seen that he wasn't in prime condition. But at least he could still stand. More importantly, Innilis could barely see the devilish silhouette above him despite it weakening.

Angelista willed once more to use a windstorm spell to blow the rest of the dust away. Sunshine illuminated the two people. Only after that did Innilis breathe a sigh of relief.

Leguna had won.

Nidhogg coughed drily and expelled blood and chunks of innards out of his mouth. His lungs had been pierced through and every breath he took caused even more blood to flow out of his innards and greatly pained him.

"I didn't think you'd choose the most foolish method to fight me," Leguna said as he grabbed Nidhogg's head from behind, forcing him to look up at him at a difficult posture. "This is over."

"No," Nidhogg whispered, with his same, calm gaze, "It is only the beginning."

Leguna didn't ask anything else, but his eyes did show his doubts.

"Kill me and you'll understand everything."

"As you wish." Leguna's right hand shook and Nidhogg's head separated from his body.

Holding on to the head, he put it on the ground in front of him, as if he was waiting for something. Ten minutes passed just like that.

"Didn't he win already?" Innilis mused. Since killing Nidhogg, Leguna did nothing but look at his head like it was a sculpture.

Angelista didn't reply. She narrowed her eyes and honed her sharper-than-human senses. She did feel that something was off as well.

As expected, some time later, Nidhogg's voice rang throughout Melindor Plaza once more. "Looks like you want to stop me no matter what. But what can you do, now that you no longer have any divine power?"

Leguna wasn't too surprised. He tossed the head away and said, "Since I promised Eirinn, I will go through with it. Come. Let me see your final power."

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