After a series of brutal clashes, Marden finally caught Blackwood in a trap after he delivered a faint attack.
Then, with a wild grin on his face, the Elder of the Cult thrust his cracked black blade straight through the Headmaster's chest.
"I win." Marden's grin turned wider as he felt the blade pierce the flesh and muscles and come out of Blackwood's back.
But then, something changed.
Marden's grin froze, and he instantly turned pale. Blackwood's body dissolved into a murder of ravens, and the next moment, they tore past Marden in a violent frenzy.
The swarm of ravens came to a halt over a dozen meters away, coalescing into the figure of Headmaster Blackwood again.
Meanwhile, Marden was on his knees, bleeding profusely. There were a thousand cuts all over his body, and if not for his magical healing, he would have bled out and died where he knelt.
