"Huff... How much longer?!" Alder asked between breaths, swinging his greatsword in a wide arc. The ground and the legions of demons exploded as the force flew clean through the horde.
"Shut up! I don't know, keep holding them, and don't disturb me, mutt! " Anna screamed from behind- her voice raw with frustration, despair and pain.
Before he could look behind, a titan took a massive step amidst the crowd, flattening thousands with each step, taking the forefront. Its head scarcely seen amongst the forest of spikes jutting from its body, each one rivalling a man in size.
Alder took a deep breath and jumped, the ground beneath him cracking like glass. He soared for a few seconds before he ascended even above the titan. Its ugly visage turning up in recognition.
Alder gripped with both hands and swung down. "HEAVYWEIGHT! CIRCLE 5!" Five etheral magical circles surrounded the handle as suddenly multiple tons of invisible weight hooked on the blade, immediately pulling him down.
He aimed and began the descent through the titan's body blade first, from the top of its skull. Blood and flesh covered him as the blade kept cutting and dropping through its body. After a few seconds of bloody fall, he emerged from the pelvic region.
Cancelling the magic just as he exited, allowed his legs to withstand the fall. The titan wobbled for a few moments, its scream rumbling the ground. Alder's face twisted with worry, hoping it would fall the other side.
Luck was with him, the titan fell backwards, crushing millions underneath as the ground violently shook.
This brief moment halted the armies, allowing Alder to finally look backwards, the last time being yesterday afternoon.
The first thing that caught his eyes were the magic circles. Alder for one, at best, could be considered solid in magic. His limit was at 7 circles, beyond which required raw talent which he did not possess, it wasn't something you could master through sheer effort.
Anna on the other hand, could definitely be considered among the 5 greatest mages in the world, capable of conjuring up to 12 circles. But what he was seeing was something beyond even what someone like her could be capable of.
33 circles. Each circle an inch behind another, different colours, 100 symbols in each, designs vastly different, they weren't etheral, but solidly visible.
The greatest spell cast to date was 'the cessation of time', being able to isolate an area in a pocket of never ending time loop. That was 21 circles, and took an elaborate set up and multiple mages.
There was only a single spell that would require 33 circles, purely theoretical, never attempted.
'Once more', sending an individual back in time to the desired period.
To accomplish this impossible feat, Anna gave up on every pretense of regality. The small cave she was in, was covered every inch in formulas, equations and symbols made by conjured ink. This too wasn't enough, and Anna was now merely in her lingerie, as more equations and formulas were written on the canvas of her body too.
She always spoke of magic not being mere mumbo jumbo to conjure, but a precise system. And now it was more evident than ever.
Her hands were raised in the air, blood pooling across her skin as she continued draining every bit of mana from her body. Her face locked in a trance, eyes far beyond, her mouth a bloody grin.
"Anna... " He spoke in worry, her condition wasn't nearly as bad yesterday. Oh, how different she looked than herself a week back, every bit of fat and muscle burnt up to fuel her brain.
Before he could take a step, her eyes snapped back into focus, staring at him. For a moment nothing moved, then she began laughing.
Loud, boisterous, blood flying from her mouth, her throat rasp. She continued for a few seconds before she slowed down and spoke again.
"What a joke. What a dirty, miserable, bloody joke. I do all this, sacrifice my body, mana, everything, and HE reaps the reward?!"
"Anna! What happened?!" Alder couldn't move from his spot despite the terror he felt, from the corner of his eye he kept a lookout on the approaching horde.
"Shut up! Just shut up! Please shut up! We are here because of YOU, your method, your way! Kindness, friendship, and now I'm a husk of myself!" She screamed, tears rolling down, mingling with rivers of blood.
"Anna list-"
"No! YOU listen!" Anna made a quick sign and an invisible hand now gripped Alder's hair roughly.
"Wanna know why this spell is incomplete, even theoretically? Because this requires a mage to sacrifice their life to power it. If there was another here, I would instantly do so." Her face was covered in shadows.
"A-Anna, I'll search! Please! Don't!" He begged, pain moulding his visage as the hand tugged harder.
"No, no you won't. Bloody dog, you will do what I tell you to when I send you back." Her teeth threatened to break by how hard they were gnashing.
"You will find my past self, tell her the future, and this time, you WILL listen to her. You are now a damn dog, you will listen and obey. If she asks you to kill a kid, you WILL, you don't deserve to be equals with her after this shitshow." Anna's eyes began losing light, she was in her final moments, she was burning her soul up as fuel.
"Am I clear?! Damn mut-" Anna's eyes began watering. Her face twisted in fury, now transitioned into sadness, desperation and a flicker of regret.
"I- I loved you, I followed you to this hell! Now, go back, fall hopelessly in love with me again and follow me, and lets save the world this time!" She shouted, tears flowing freely.
With that the hand dissipated, Anna's body fell limp, the circles crushed into each other as they absorbed her body.
A kaleidoscope of colours ravaged Alder's eyes as everything lost form, structure and meaning, blending into each other.
Everything happened in an instant, and now he woke up, feeling soft grass beneath him.