Kano felt his heart slow. The world around him thickened, as if his blood had frozen in his veins.
Two green fiery orbs emerged from the darkness.
At first, they seemed like mere flickers of light in the void, but Kano felt them watching him.
Only then did the figure begin to take shape.
His face.
It wasn't just a skull. It was the mask of death.
Shattered bones, enshrouded in black gloom. Hollow eye sockets, filled with infernal green fire. Veins of necrotic magic crawled out of cracks in its face, pulsing with a cold glow.
His body began to shift.
One moment—tall, like a king beyond time, cloaked in shadow, tattered and worn. The next—just a pile of torn, ghostly silhouettes, silently screaming as they twisted into a new form.
His voice echoed…
—"Who... is this...?"
Not a sound. Not words. These were the vibrations of mana that delivered the words directly into their heads.
Kano clenched his sword, feeling his fingers beginning to numb.
His body…
It was growing heavier.
Something was crawling inside him.
His movements were becoming slower.
And at that moment…
The helmet appeared on his head by itself.
It didn't need words, nor even thought.
It didn't need incantations.
Kano only wished, and dark silver with red began to sprout from his skin.
His head trembled as the metal scales unfolded around his face.
The helmet wasn't just a weapon.
It was part of him.
Magical lines flared red, wrapping around his head. The world around him briefly lost sound.
Kano fused with the armor.
Lich stopped.
Its fiery eyes stared directly at Kano… but didn't see him.
The green fiery orbs slid past, searching for something…
And stopped.
At the statue.
At Revena.
—"…One… more…" —
Its hand slowly rose.
Its gaze…
It ignored Kano.
The Lich couldn't see him. The helmet also concealed his existence.
But Revena…
It felt her.
Felt that she… was different.
Its fingers stretched forward, nearing her frozen face.
But its attention suddenly shifted.
The fiery green eyes sharply moved to Elgot.
—"…Empty…"
And in the next instant, the Lich raised both hands, and the mine trembled.
Massive stone shards tore from the walls and floor, hanging in the air as if gravity had lost its meaning.
Kano only managed to take one step back before everything exploded!
The stones whistled as they flew straight toward them.
—"Scatter!" — Kano shouted, leaping to the side.
A shard whistled just above his head, smashing into the wall so hard that the loud impact made his ears ring.
Elgot didn't retreat.
The mage swiftly extended his hand forward, and his body was engulfed by a blinding electric sphere.
BOOM!
The lightning discharge exploded in the air, shattering the flying debris into pieces.
But then something unexpected happened.
Several shards, part of the statues, shattered into nothingness.
The dwarven figures, which had once stood frozen, cracked from the electric surges that ran through them.
Kano spun around in horror.
The stone faces, holding expressions of fear and despair, began to crumble, falling apart into dust.
They were alive.
And now they were dead.
— "Stop!!!" — Kano's voice cut through the air, filled with fury.
Elgot, panting heavily, turned to him.
— "If we die, who will save them?!" — the mage growled in response.
The Lich didn't wait.
His body abruptly dissolved into black mist, and the next moment, he lunged forward.
The speed was something that should have had no place in such a magnificent creature.
In one second, he was far away.
In the next, he was right before Elgot.
His skeletal fingers unfurled, and he delivered a fatal blow straight into the mage's chest.
Elgot barely managed to leap back, but part of his cloak burned in the necrotic flame.
Kano couldn't wait.
He surged forward, throwing his sword for an attack.
The blade cut through the air…
…but passed right through the Lich's ghostly body.
— "What the?!" — Kano tried to stop the movement, but couldn't feel the strike.
The sword went through him as if the Lich wasn't there at all.
— "Ridiculous... what kind of invisible creature—" The Lich slowly turned his head toward Kano but noticed nothing.
His eyes flared brighter. — "I'll deal with you later."
And again...
The Lich turned his gaze to Revena.
— "…Another…"
Kano's eyes widened.
He didn't see him!
Maybe the helmet made him invisible to this creature!
But the Lich saw Revena…
His skeletal fingers reached toward her.
Kano had to act.
Kano understood something was happening.
If the Lich sensed something in her… what would happen if he touched her?
Could he awaken her?!
Or… consume her?
Kano couldn't wait.
He took a step forward, preparing to strike, but at that very moment…
The Lich jerked his head upward.
His eyes flashed brightly, and the darkness of the mine began to swirl around him like a storm.
— "You… are hiding…"
His voice sounded different now. Less whispering, more irritation.
The Lich felt something nearby.
He couldn't see Kano, but he sensed something else approaching.
And then...
The air shattered with a powerful explosion.
Elgot, his entire figure engulfed in lightning, struck the Lich with full force!
The necrotic mist exploded around them, scattering in all directions!
— "KANO, I'VE OPENED A WINDOW FOR YOU!" — the mage shouted.
It was the moment.
One chance, but the Lich didn't give them a chance to approach.
Kano barely managed to react when the fragments of stone hung in the air, literally being ripped from the ground by the power of unholy magic.
The Lich raised his hand, and these fragments shot toward Kano and Elgot at incredible speed.
— "Get down!"
Kano swiftly leaped to the side, flipping over his shoulder. Several boulders flew mere centimeters past his head, smashing the dwarven statues.
Elgot created an electric shield, blocking some of the stones, but the magic sent a powerful charge to the floor—the mine groaned.
But that was just the beginning.
The Lich spread his arms to the sides, and from the surrounding darkness, dozens of giant eyes grew.
Eyes that saw everything.
They slowly turned in different directions, scanning the space, like an all-seeing consciousness.
Revena spoke in Kano's mind:
— "Hide your gaze! If you look them directly in the eyes, you'll turn to stone forever!"
Kano wasn't afraid.
In his mind, the helmet protected him. He was invisible to the Lich.
But Elgot…
— "Elgot, hide your gaze!" — Kano's voice cut through the chaos of battle.
The mage reflexively turned away, quickly lowering his head, and accidentally saw two massive curves before him.
Revena's breasts.
His body made the only possible movement.
He lunged forward, pressing his face directly into those enormous, seductive forms.
His hands instinctively clenched, holding the succubus so tightly, as if she were the only protection from the world.
Revena spoke slowly, with a hint of mockery in her voice:
— "A mage of such level... hiding in me?"
Kano almost fell from laughter.
— "Elgot, looks like you've found yourself a new form of defense!"
The mage didn't raise his head, didn't move.
He simply pressed himself harder into the stone bust of the succubus.
— "It's... a defensive action! An instinctive reaction!" — he mumbled, almost out of breath.
Revena continued with even more irony:
— "My breasts have always enchanted warriors, but you're the first to literally disappear into them."
— "I can't see a thing, and that's the main thing!" — Elgot grumbled, not changing position.
— "Well then, shall we stay like this?" — she responded with a mocking tone. — "I'm used to men wanting to be closer, but this much enthusiasm... I've never seen before."
— "I'm about to explode from embarrassment," — Elgot hissed through his teeth.
— "Then you better not raise your head," — she threw in another provocation.
Kano couldn't take it anymore and burst into laughter.
But the moment ended quickly.
The Lich stopped.
His eyes focused on Elgot.
He sensed something.
— "Damn, he senses the mana!"
— "Ready, mage? Now you've got all the attention on you!" — Revena clearly relished the situation.
The Lich abruptly opened his mouth... and began another attack.
The mine shook. The Lich's necrotic energy filled the space, twisting into eerie symbols of death that hovered in the air.
Kano and Elgot stood tense, watching the dark figure, which seemed larger than death itself.
The Lich grinned ominously, revealing his faded, cracked teeth. His voice wasn't just sound—it pierced into the mind, mixing with the whispers of thousands of lost souls.
— "How pitiful you are... Every encounter with you, the living, is always the same. You believe in struggle, in victory... And each time, your belief turns to stone."
His fingers traced the statues standing around.
— "This is art. Do you understand? I am the creator."
His eyes flared even brighter.
— "Eternal figures. Unyielding, perfect. Locked in moments of fear, pain, and despair. I keep them as they were in their final moments of life."
The Lich raised his hand, and the petrified face of a warrior before him began to crack, as if something was changing it.
— "Look at them. Their eyes are pleading. Their lips are open in a senseless cry. But they will never speak again."
He turned to Kano, his voice taking on a solemn, fanatical tone.
— "And this is only the beginning. My master awakens. He will return to claim what is rightfully his."
His hands rose to the air, and the shadows around him twisted into a grotesque vortex.
— "He will flood the world with a wave of darkness. And I... I will collect specimens for him."
The Lich scanned the petrified figures once more.
— "This is just a pitiful part of my collection. From today, it will be replenished with new, beautiful works."
He turned back to Kano.
— "I'll start with you."
In his eyes, there was no doubt — only absolute faith in his inevitable victory.
And in that moment, Kano saw a future before him that he had no intention of allowing.
His world, his friends, his people, his city — they would all become exhibits in this collection.
His heart exploded with hatred.
His body ignited with flames.
His power went beyond control.
Flames erupted from him, like a wild dragon, tearing the darkness to shreds.
The Lich stopped.
For the first time, doubt flickered in his arrogant gaze.
— "What... are you...?"
But Kano didn't hear.
The fire burned around him, tearing through the Lich's necrotic aura.
— "You..." — the Lich's voice grew tense as he took a step back.
— "Kano, stop!" — Elgot shouted. — "You'll burn yourself!"
Kano didn't hear.
His anger no longer obeyed him.
The Lich dissolved into the darkness and charged forward.
His bony fingers struck the air again — Kano dodged, leaving a trail of flame behind him.
Another strike.
Another.
Massive stone shards tore from the ground and flew at Kano, but they burned up before they could touch him.
Elgot charged into the attack, tearing away his last doubts.
His hands shone with a blue glow, lightning striking the Lich, but passing through him like a ghost.
The Lich recoiled, his silhouette trembling.
The necrotic veins on his arms pulsed, but he no longer had time to react.
His fingers caught fire.
The flames slowly spread across his bones.
— "What... what is this?!"
He tried to extinguish it, but it was too late.
The fire that had erupted from Kano was not just magic.
It was something else.
Something ancient.
Something even the Lich couldn't understand.
The Lich swung his hand and struck at Elgot.
The mage didn't have time to dodge.
He was thrown to the side, crashing into a boulder with a heavy thud, losing consciousness.
Kano was left alone.
The Lich opened his mouth again in a silent scream, his eyes shifting — no longer arrogant, no longer cold-blooded.
There was panic in them now.
And then Kano heard a voice.
Soft, yet commanding.
— "Master your power."
The voice wasn't a plea, nor advice.
It was an order.
— "Embrace it, and channel it into your sword."
Kano shuddered.
The flames around him raged, but now they no longer felt like enemies.
He began to inhale them.
He began to feel them.
The fire consumed his sword, making it part of something greater.
The Lich lunged forward, his body dissolving further into darkness, his fingers reaching for Kano.
But now everything was different.
Kano felt how the sword became an extension of his fury, his resolve.
His anger didn't blind him.
It guided him.
Kano surged forward.
The blade blazed, cutting through the air, but…
The Lich's bony fingers caught the sword.
Kano flinched, feeling how the necrotic force squeezed the metal, preventing it from moving forward.
Flames erupted from the sword, licking at the Lich's hands, but he did not back down.
Kano felt his strength draining away.
His arms grew heavier.
His vision dimmed.
The sword moved slowly, but it had not yet reached its target.
His fingers trembled.
— "No..." — he hissed, feeling his power slip away.
His lungs burned, but he couldn't breathe.
His body weakened, his knees buckling.
The crystal was still far.
The Lich grinned.
— "You're too late."
Kano screamed.
He thrust the sword forward, putting all his remaining strength into the final strike.
The Lich felt it.
And at that very moment, he struck as well.
Both reached their target simultaneously.
The Lich vanished.
But Kano was still alive.
His heart still beat.
But how much longer would he last?