BOOM.
The dark sphere erupted in a violent detonation, a swirling vortex of shadow, ash, and red flame expanding out from Hamad's position like a storm front.
The shockwave hit the hillside where Karina stood, knocking her backward. She tumbled, hit the ground hard, and groaned. Dust and heat scorched her face.
"Shit!" she groaned, coughing. Her eyes burned from the smoke, but she forced them open, desperately trying to see through the chaos.
The ground cracked and split where the dark energy had swept across. Trees were turned to splinters. Rock shattered. Postknights nearby had fallen back just in time, but the heart of the battlefield — the epicenter — was engulfed in a churning cloud of destruction.
From behind a broken boulder, Colins rose to his feet, shielding his face. His voice came out grim and breathless. "That was no ordinary spell. He unleashed everything."
"Dark Convergence..." Bronn muttered, wide-eyed. "I've only read about it in forbidden scrolls."
No answer came.
Then — something moved within the smoke.
A glow.
Not dark.
Red. A symbol of anger. A symbol of passion.
---
Inside the smoke, the air was suffocating. Each breath burned. Debris hung like blades in the storm, slicing skin and armor alike. Hamad stood near the crater's edge, breathing hard, one hand gripping his shoulder.
His spell had taken a toll. His clothes were torn, one eye bloodied, and the gauntlet on his right arm cracked down the center.
But his lips twisted into a victorious grin. "No one walks out of that alive."
His smile faded.
Because the light was still coming.
A figure stepped forward from within the cloud.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Solis.
His tunic was torn to ribbons. Blood dripped from one side of his face. One arm hung low from a blow that would've broken most men.
But his eyes — they were wild with resolve.
And his sword... his sword was glowing crimson red, the aura around it more intense than ever. It howled through the wreckage like wind in a canyon. The blade seemed alive, humming with fury.
Hamad took a step back.
"No," he muttered. "You should be —"
Solis raised the blade.
"I'm not done with you yet," he said.
Then he moved.
Faster than before.
Hamad barely had time to raise a barrier — Earth Shield! — but Solis smashed through it with a downward cleave, shattering it into fragments. The force of the blow sent Hamad staggering back, coughing dust.
He raised his hand to summon flame — "Fire Serpent!" — and a twisting inferno lashed out from his arm, roaring toward Solis.
Solis dropped to one knee, slid under the flame's sweep, then lunged forward, sword extended — thrust. The tip of his blade grazed Hamad's side, cutting deep.
"AGHH!" Hamad roared in pain, stumbling again.
But this time, he didn't summon magic.
This time, he snarled — and charged.
A fist wreathed in earth and flame struck Solis across the jaw, sending him tumbling across the field.
Karina gasped, watching from the hilltop, her hands clenched to her chest. "No way. Hamad is not using long range attacks anymore! What is he plotting now? He should know a mage never excells in close combat against a knight."
Solis rolled, landed hard, and coughed blood onto the scorched dirt.
Hamad marched forward. "You're a tenacious little shrimp, Solis." he growled. "But this ends now."
He raised both hands.
A massive sigil of overlapping elemental rings formed above him — fire, water, stone, and shadow — rotating faster and faster.
Colins's eyes went wide. "That's not just a spell — he's combining them. That's quadra-elemental fusion. That kind of cast— it'll level everything!"
Karina stepped forward instinctively. "We have to stop it—" she orders her followers, few who are left yet.
"Bronn make the portal NOW! We need to get out of here." Colins shouts at Bronn.
"But... what ab... about him." Vaidya struggles to say.
"Take it easy... young Postknight. You must not move too much." Layla instinctively speaks out.
"Sorry, Vaidya but I can't risk anyone else's life for one life...." Colins was midway his reply when Bronn says. "I can't."
"What do you mean by that?" Colins asks, now fear can be seen in his eyes.
"I need time. And we don't have it." Bronn answers. "We just have to accept it."
---
Meanwhile
Solis struggled to rise.
His vision swam. His ribs screamed with each breath. His sword trembled in his hand, like it wanted to act on its own.
Then... a memory.
His father's voice.
"You are stronger than you believe. And when you stand for something, nothing can shake you."
He exhaled. His father used to tell him this when he just entered teenage. Back then, his father used to give him training to get strong because there was no chance for him to get into Postknight Academia in the first place with that weak body.
That was some time indeed. He exhails again and stands.
"I don't care what power you throw at me," he said softly.
Then louder — to Hamad.
"I won't let you destroy anyone else."
The sigil flared.
"Elemental Annihilation Pulse!" Hamad screamed.
The spell descended — a massive spiral of fire, water jets, razor rocks, and waves of corruption, all barreling down toward Solis like a collapsing star.
Solis raised his sword.
The aura surged.
The sword changed.
Not in shape — in energy.
The crimson light turned into a translucent being, a DRAGON, laced with tendrils of black.
Karina watched in awe.
"What... is that?"
Colins narrowed his eyes. "No... that's something else. That sword—"
The spell hit.
And the ground erupted.
A column of fire and shadow rose into the sky. Stalagmites bowed under the force. The battlefield shook. The air turned silent, then screamed.
The explosion rocked the earth for miles.
And then — stillness.
Silence.
Dust and flame churned in the air.
And in the very center...
A figure knelt.
The light faded.
Solis remained... alive.
His blade embedded in the ground before him. A glowing orange fissure beneath his feet.
His body trembled.
But he was alive.
And Hamad...
Lay motionless on the ground ten paces away.
Eyes wide.
Breathing shallow.
---
Karina broke into a run. "Master!"
But Colins on the other side remained calm.
Layla asks him, "Shouldn't we go to him and treat him?"
"No. Not yet." Colins says.
She stopped.
And then saw it.
Solis's head rose slowly.
And his eyes...
Weren't normal.
They glowed — orange with rings of black.
Like the sword's energy had seeped into him.
He stood — not shakily, but too steadily.
The sword raised itself again, as though held by something beyond flesh.
Layla whispered, "That's not Solis anymore... is it?"
Colins stared. "That's the sword's rage."
And then Solis — or whatever he'd become — turned toward Hamad again.
Without a word.
And raised his sword once more.