Elbert stepped cautiously through the desolation, his voice a sharp whisper, laced with venom. "What do you truly understand of vengeance, Fitran? It resembles a shattered mirror, reflecting agonies long consigned to oblivion. It rises anew when you forget the one who first plunged you into the abyss." His eyes shimmered with a malevolent resolve, a silent challenge daring Fitran to offer a retort.
The cracked sky above them twisted into a grotesque vortex of sickly green sorcery, cascading down like a noxious fog. Shadows coalesced into a ghoul-like figure, crafted from bitter memories and unbridled malice. "Look closely," Elbert taunted, gesturing toward the phantasm. "Can you discern how it echoes our suffering?" Its eyes, as deep and dark as the void, pierced through Fitran, igniting his soul with unwavering hatred.
The laughter of the ghoul ripped through the dense air, raw and chilling. "Are you prepared to lose everything?" it jeered, its voice resonating with a haunting familiarity that sent shivers down Fitran's spine.
Fitran raised his chin, feeling the chill of the air seep into his very bones. "What is dear has long since been surrendered to the earth," he whispered, barely meeting Elbert's gaze as he confronted the shades of his history. "But you, Elbert—what do you have left to cling to?"
Elbert's sneer was a mask of bitterness, distorting his features like a warped reflection. "Enough vengeance to obliterate your very essence, Fitran. My beloved is lost, yet her spirit shall find rebirth through Rinoa's soul." The anguish woven into his words clung heavily in the air, overshadowed only by the encroaching darkness that pervaded his heart.
A fierce aura surged around Fitran, thick and oppressive. "Do you truly believe you can play the role of a deity?" he snarled, advancing with measured steps, his eyes aflame with restrained fury. "Have you forgotten the cost of such magic?"
A sorrowful wind howled about them, enveloping the atmosphere with a green miasma that clung like a suffocating embrace, dragging Fitran toward memories he wished to forget. "Release them, Fitran," the whispers seemed to echo, tormenting him with shadows of moments he had long buried. He inhaled sharply, momentarily closing his eyes. When they fluttered open again, they shone with an unwavering resolve, arising from the depths of desperation.
"I will not be your pawn," Fitran declared, his voice steadier than he felt within. The torment of his past ignited his defiance. "You shall not take another from me."
"Blessing," he muttered, golden light coursing beneath his skin—both a safeguard and a shackle, marking him as prey to his own formidable might. "It transforms protection into something perilously dangerous, does it not?" he murmured, the weight of his words settling heavily around them. The magic feasted upon his very essence, bolstering his combat prowess whilst etching scars deep within his heart.
Elbert let out a sly chuckle, malice flickering in his gaze. "Do you feel fear, Fitran? You ought to. This is but the beginning. Revel in the terror you have unleashed; it is now your legacy."
"Fear?" Fitran's lips twisted into a predatory smile, his voice laced with irony. "An old companion whom I name and cast away each night. I wield it, not the other way around."
"Speed of Light." The incantation erupted from him like a thunderous roar, saturated with repressed fury. Magical chains uncoiled from the very core of his being, momentarily suspending the flow of time itself. Fitran danced in flashes of gold, weaving effortlessly around the ghoul's venomous claws, his movements resembling a wisp of smoke. "You struggle in futility, Elbert," he mocked, exhilaration coursing through his veins like wildfire.
"Divine Vision," Fitran exhaled softly, his eyes alight with ancient symbols that shimmered with life and purpose. Visions whirled around him—specters, buried guilt, and a searing vengeance—all intricately woven into the very essence of his soul. "Every soul carries its weight of regret, Elbert," he conveyed with striking clarity, the bitterness lacing his words unmistakable. "Every grudge is but a shadow, cast forth by the sins of mankind."
Elbert's laughter rang out, laden with scorn. "Protection? It is nothing more than a gilded cage fashioned from your own fears, Fitran. You believe it offers you sanctuary, yet it only binds you more tightly."
"Angelic Protection!" Fitran asserted, his voice filled with defiance, as azure energy surged around him, coalescing into a brilliant dome resembling feathers intertwined with frost. The familiar whispers encroached upon his consciousness, their fervor doubling, gnawing at the fringes of his mind while amplifying his anguish. "No more chains, no more haunting echoes," he murmured, a solemn mantra amidst the surrounding chaos.
"Shell, Aegis Veil!" he bellowed, conjuring a crystalline mist that enveloped him like a fragile cocoon. Yet with each strike he unleashed, a painful reverberation resounded in his being, echoing the torment of bygone sufferings. Memories of loss and regret coiled around him like cold, unyielding tendrils, suffocating yet familiar.
Elbert's lips twisted into a malicious smirk as he relished Fitran's torment. "Are you ensnared by your own nightmares?" he taunted, his voice laced with venom. "This, my friend, is justice served cold!"
Fitran lifted his chin, determination etching lines of resolve across his anguish-worn face. "Shell, Obsidian Bastion!" he declared, calling forth dark magic to encase his form. The protective barrier shimmered into existence, deflecting the oncoming assaults but simultaneously amplifying the haunting whispers of his past transgressions. Faces of those he had betrayed flickered in his mind, each visage like a dagger to his heart, while distant cries clawed at his sanity. His breaths came in ragged gasps, desperation igniting a fierce light in his eyes. "I will not yield," he murmured, a steadfast mantra against the encroaching tide of despair.
With renewed fervor, he shouted, "Shell: Dual Eclipse!" Two layers of primordial magic coiled violently around him—brilliant light spiraling outward while shadowy darkness clawed at his very essence, ensnaring him in a tumultuous battle between hope and despair. "I shall break free, I must!" Each heartbeat served to remind him of his waning resolve.
A sinister whisper sliced through the din, sending cold shivers racing down Fitran's spine. "You cannot save yourself, Fitran," the voice echoed, draped in menace and chill. Ghouls surged forward, relentless in their advance, their hollow voices shrieking accusations of murder, betrayal, and cowardice. Each utterance stripped him bare, exposing his deepest fears, and he felt the suffocating weight of their judgment bear down upon him.
As claws raked mercilessly at his defenses, pain ripped through him, unraveling both flesh and spirit. He gasped, desperation tightening his throat as he raised Excalibur high overhead. "Holy Slash!" he shouted, the weapon igniting with blinding radiance as it cut through the ghouls that surrounded him. Yet they surged anew, their cruel, crimson eyes mirroring his past sins like a grotesque mirror, each image a haunting echo of his failures.
Elbert's laughter pierced the air, casual yet laced with malice, as he approached with measured steps. "Can you feel the burden of your sins, Fitran?" he taunted, his voice dripping with sadistic delight. "This is the unyielding retribution of a sleepless realm, and you are its unwilling star."
Shutting his eyes for a fleeting moment, Fitran wrestled with the encroaching shadows that loomed to engulf him. "There is no salvation for those who grasp the path to escape," he growled defiantly, memories of the past swirling chaotically in his mind. Summoning a surge of energy, he murmured, "Flash Step." Time seemed to suspend as he reappeared behind Elbert, breathless, magical scars stark against his skin—a testament to his relentless struggle. "You shall answer for your deeds," he vowed, fury igniting like an inferno within him.
"You cannot evade the shadows," the ghouls jeered, their claws delving ever deeper into the soft earth surrounding Fitran. The battlefield morphed, becoming a twisted psychological labyrinth where shadows beckoned from every nook, resurrecting memories into palpable horrors. Yet amidst the clamor, Fitran's voice rang out, steady and resolute, "This is who I am, shadows intertwined. This world does not command my destiny!"
With a powerful thrust, he drove Excalibur into the ground, the impact reverberating through the very air. "Hero's Oath!" he proclaimed, and as he did, golden symbols erupted forth like the first rays of dawn piercing the night, slicing through the suffocating darkness. Spirits, once shackled by Elbert's unyielding wrath, cried out, their anguish transforming into a liberating tempest.
"Halt!" Elbert's voice trembled, anxiety threading through his tone as the fabric of reality itself seemed to shatter around them.
Fitran's gaze burned like an unquenchable flame, fueled by unwavering resolve. "No mercy shall be granted to you," he growled, his voice a deep rumble. "This world has become an arena—I am its hunter."
"Mystic Clarity," he declared, drawing upon the profound depths of his willpower. Each movement was executed with precision, guided by iron determination, as he continued, "Luxbreaker: The Strike of Light that Banishes the Night!" A brilliant circle of light materialized before him, Excalibur elongating and pulsating with fierce radiance. Then, with a single decisive swing, Elbert's form was reduced to nothingness, disintegrating before his eyes.
Yet Elbert's voice lingered, echoing defiantly, formless yet palpable in the chilled air. "There are no victors, Fitran," it whispered, a haunting reminder of bitter truths long buried.
"If that is the fate that awaits, I shall gladly inscribe my name anew in the ledger of darkness," Fitran replied, a smirk dancing upon his lips like a wisp of smoke.
"Black Genesis," he intoned, commanding the shadows that swirled around him, consuming the very essence of reality. They obliterated all that stood before them, casting the world into an infinite void. Beneath the crushing weight of despair, Elbert suffocated, ensnared and utterly powerless against the onslaught.
Fitran lifted Excalibur high, feeling its potent energy surge through his veins as he cleaved downward, shattering the very fabric of existence. "Abyssal Rend!" The darkness surged forth, a relentless tide that devoured every soul, every fleeting memory—each lost moment laden with bittersweet pain.
Amidst the vast emptiness, Fitran trembled beneath the weight of his victory, the world's darkness forged entirely by his own hands. "Is this truly what triumph feels like?" he murmured to himself, the words heavy in the still air. "Nothing but shadows remain in my wake… How profoundly ironic." His voice, though low, carried a commanding resonance, echoing through the void as if a specter of authority walked among the shadows. "I wield command over all—even you," he declared, his tone slicing through the silence. "When all else crumbles, I shall remain, solitary and unyielding."
He raised his gaze to the boundless void, his eyes dry yet aflame with an unyielding resolve. "I stand as the final beacon within this abyss, and I shall not be extinguished," he proclaimed, his voice laced with fervor, as though the emptiness were a sentinel awaiting his challenge. "For those who have fallen, for those who remain adrift... I shall carry their weight." The shadows wound around him, swirling like a tempest, as if deliberating upon his every utterance—a stark reminder that power exacted an unforgiving toll.