As rain poured on the roof, the raindrops were cut into thousands of pieces around Doth. Yaku and Geo stood there, thinking about what they'd do to get close, and what they'd do if Doth decided to get close to them.
"Something is weird," Yaku said to Geo.
"Yes, it makes no sense. It started raining out of nowhere, the sky was clear," Geo responded.
Yaku made sure Emilia was on his back in a piggyback position, and Geo held Narbo up. Letting Narbo and Emilia sit like sitting ducks wasn't an option, if Doth got near any of them, they'd be minced meat.
The field around Doth was like an impenetrable fortress. All they could do was move on the back foot and dodge; it was impossible to get close. Yaku and Geo's mana was getting depleted, and it didn't look like Doth was anywhere near done.
"This is ridiculous. How is he able to create thousands of air-thin swords without instantly running out of mana? If this is the caliber of power I was going to face heading north, then I would've already been dead if I didn't stop at this city," Yaku thought to himself as he dodged backward, sweat dripping from every pore. He tried protecting Emilia, who was holding him tightly, terrified of what was to come.
All Doth had to do was keep moving toward them, as if he was a ball of death. Geo was struggling to hold his own while trying to move Narbo with him.
"T… the field around him, it doesn't cover his feet. If only I could throw him off guard with my fire pillars," said Narbo, completely drained and exhausted.
The rain started becoming more violent. It poured so fast and hard that the field of vision became only two feet in front of them. It made it harder for Doth to track them down, since the rain was dampening his mana senses. The rain was also so intense that it was overloading his protective field, as his mana swords were being activated thousands of times a second.
"What is this? I've never seen such rain as long as I've lived here… This is very weird. Is this a spell of theirs? No, none of them is capable of such a high-level spell. It looks like it's covering the entire city. Even Sunder isn't capable of something like this," Doth thought to himself in a worried tone as his mana was getting lower and lower.
Yaku and Geo were worried as well, especially since they couldn't see anything around them because of the rain and the strange weather altogether. A cold wind blew, sending shivers down their spines. Raindrops fell so hard and heavily that it was almost unnatural.
A hand touched Geo's shoulder, startling him. He immediately turned around with his sword, trying to attack the person who touched him. A second later, a loud explosion was heard. Doth stayed stationary, trying to assess the situation, but Yaku immediately went toward the noise.
A big hole was in the ground, leading to the level under the roof. Yaku immediately notified the startled Geo, and they both jumped down, trying to save Emilia, Narbo, and themselves.
They started running. Doth broke through the roof behind them; the walls around him turned into perfectly cut cubes, and those cubes turned into smaller cubes until the walls were nothing but dust.
They kept trying to run away — to find a way out. Jumping out of the palace wasn't an option due to Emilia and Narbo not being able to withstand the damage.
They kept finding stairs and going down as Doth followed them, until Yaku looked out of a window and saw they were only four stories away from the ground. He immediately jumped out as the rain poured down.
Doth followed them out. They stood there catching their breaths. Doth looked at them with a smile, knowing they'd lost. And then the weather cleared within a second. Complete silence filled the air as the moonlight reflected off the bricks on the ground.
Everyone felt it, something incredible, as if gravity multiplied by ten. Mana so dense and so powerful that it made Doth uncast his spell.
"WHY ARE YOU HERE? WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Doth screamed as he became pale, the veins on his neck popping out. Doth knew who it was, but the others had no clue. They stood mortified.
The sound of steps echoed behind them, but Yaku and the group didn't dare look around.
A voice was heard. "I never thought you'd come this far, Yaku and Emilia," the man said, speaking to them.
Yaku replied in a shaky voice, "D… do I know you?"
"Oh, seems like my mana is too overwhelming for you guys. Let me tone it down," the man said as the mana pressure lifted from the air.
Yaku turned around, but he didn't know the person who seemed to know him and Emilia, a man in his late 30s with a subtle beard stubble. He had black spiky hair that went to the back of his neck. He was wearing some kind of official uniform that Yaku didn't recognize. It had the mark of crests on the cuffs, and the same for the blue coat he wore on top of the uniform.
"Oh, silly me, of course you wouldn't recognize me. Well, to be honest with you, I really didn't think you'd try to overthrow Doth. Making him attack the outer layer was brilliant! But you definitely had signs of something extraordinary, what you did at that witch hut. It was true bravery. I salute you," the man said, confusing Yaku even more.
"The witch hut? How do you know that? Who are you?"
"Well, will this help you understand more?" the man said as his voice and appearance became identical to Bone. He morphed right in front of Yaku's eyes.
Shocked and confused, Yaku couldn't understand. He thought the man was making fun of Bone, but he had no energy nor power to pick a fight with him.
"I'm sure you have questions, but for now, I must deal with Doth," said the mysterious man as he reverted to his true self.
"I don't understand! I sent a letter saying everything is alright! Why would an imperial knight of the Grand Archives show up here?! ANSWER ME!" Doth screamed with a worried look on his face.
"Well, to be honest with you, Doth, I've been in this city for a few years now under orders of the king. I was instructed to oversee you personally. I've seen firsthand how deplorable you are, but I never really had a reason to kill you. Well… until you decided to try and commit genocide on your people. Deaths in the outer layer are proof of my words. And so, in the name of the king, I the Blade of Nature, 'Imber' sentence you to death," Imber said as he increased his mana again.
"You imbecile! You think you can take me out so easily? I will make sure you're dead HERE AND NOW!" Doth screamed, using all of his mana. Even the houses around him and everyone inside them turned to dust.
A protective barrier surrounded Yaku and the others, saving them. Doth raised his hands as his screams filled the air. His mana swords multiplied by the second, until his screams stopped.
Imber was behind him, unharmed.
Doth's head fell to the ground. His body stood there with his hands raised, not even his blood vessels understanding what had happened.
Doth's head rolled on the ground, holding the same screaming expression. His body fell, his neck spurting blood.
He was dead