Kruckow, in response to Siegfried's leap, quickly prepared himself for the incoming attack. Even though he was slightly bewildered as to how Siegfried has managed to obtain the silver sword, he prepared his own weapon. Transforming the cane into a blade via alchemy, only leaving the handle to indicate that it used to be a walking cane moments ago.
With the newly acquired weapon, Kruckow barely managed to block Siegfried's attack with an attack of his own, slicing diagonally opposite towards Siegfried's blade, the weapons together creating an "x".
With his initial attack parried, Siegfried jumped back, landing by the wall opposite of Kruckow. Having been able to block the strike, Kruckow smiled, he thought that he stood a good chance at winning against Siegfried. Focusing, Kruckow started weaving magical energy into his cane-sword, transforming the grey steel into a dark color, black mist emanating from the blade as well.
Now, fully prepared for a sword fight, Kruckow and Siegfried began their exchange. They launched attacks, both managing to block the other's, neither gaining any significant advantage. Kruckow tried striking from many different sides: above, at the waist, the neck, and more. None of the strike had any success, every single one being blocked by Siegfried's excellent swordsmanship.
Siegfried knew to be careful of Kruckow's dark blade. Loaded with powerful magical energy from the Philosophers' stone. A stone which stored the magical energy of the sacrificed victims, and by consuming that energy, the holder of the stone was granted a flawed immortality. By using that same energy for other purposes like battle, Kruckow had become quite powerful thanks to the red stone. An attack from his blade was strong enough to penetrate most magic defenses, making avoiding it a vital need to be met. And the blade's color indicated what type of magic Kruckow was proficient in, "Dark magic".
The exchange continued and Kruckow continued to weave magical energy into the sword. Finally, the black mist that the blade had generated disappeared, and now Kruckow had finished weaving energy into it. With all his power Kruckow swung his blade down hard towards Siegfried, preparing to block it once again. However, suddenly, Siegfried sensed the danger the cane-sword posed and instead of blocking the strike, he dodged to the side, landing in front of the desk and Kruckow striking down towards the table and the left couch.
Even though Kruckow had missed, a line was formed, going from the table, through the couch and making its way up the wall behind it. A clean cut. Kruckow had cut through the objects without any resistance, creating a straight line connected them.
Had that attack landed, even if blocked by Siegfried, he would surely receive a terrible wound. Kruckow turned towards Siegfried and prepared for a new attack. Siegfried also readied himself, ready to dodge in any direction to avoid Kruckow's attacks. He couldn't block it, but the attack seemed to only be effective for anything in front of where Kruckow's blade drew its arc.
Siegfried was ready for the incoming attack, dodging it once more. This time the attack left a cut in the office desk and the curtains behind it. Slightly irritated, Kruckow concentrated and prepared for another attack once more. Siegfried once again prepared to dodge, however, this time it wasn't the same attack, this time a dark shadow flowed out from Kruckow's own shadow like liquid, covering the entire room in black shadow.
Siegfried was surprised by what had happened, and before he realized it, Kruckow was gone. He had disappeared into the shadows. This could be bad. While Siegfried had never seen this magic before, he could easily guess what it did. Probably allowing Kruckow, the caster to move inside the shadows, which were in this case, the entire office, walls entirely black and the window and door hidden by the darkness. The room covered in the will of Kendrick Kruckow.
"Shwup"
Suddenly, Siegfried heard a swift sound and quickly dodged, leaping towards the table. Where he had stood a moment ago, now had a black blade pointing out of the liquid like floor.
Standing on the table, Siegfried collected magical energy as well. He had begun the moment he saw the shadow spreading across the room like a towering wave and he continued to gather more power. He still needed more. Kruckow's will was strong and in order to nullify this spell, Siegfried's had to be stronger.
Once again, a sword thrust from the floor towards Siegfried. He jumped away and almost immediately, a new sword appeared. But this time it came from the roof in the direction Siegfried was dodging towards. Still midair, Siegfried managed to adjust his body so that the sword only grazed his cheek, marking his handsome face with a red line.
This continued three more times, Kruckow attempting to mortally wound Siegfried with many feints and quick movements in the shadow, only to graze him throughout his body. An arm, a shoulder and a leg. The wounds amounting to nothing more than slightly ruin Siegfried's clothes.
Now, finally, Siegfried had gathered the necessary magical energy in order to rival Kruckow's spell. He spread his will throughout the room with a blinding white light. The beams piercing the shadows and returning the office to its original self.
"Aargh!"
Blinded by the bright light, Kruckow felt a powerful burning sensation over his entire body, exposed to the powerful beams, he let out a small cry of pain. However, the burning quickly faded and so did the bright light. Siegfried had used "Light magic" to counter Kruckow's Dark magic, returning the room to its neutral form, neither dark nor light.
Before Kruckow managed to regain his sight, Siegfried acted quickly, thrusting his silver sword and piercing Kruckow's heart. "Aargh!" A new cry of pain from Kruckow, but he bit down hard and countered, blade still piercing his heart. The cane-sword, whose power was now greatly reduced was swung diagonally upwards, aiming for Siegfried's throat, or at least aiming towards where Kruckow thought it was.
Slightly taken aback by the quick counter, Siegfried let go of his sword and jumped back, receiving a new cut on his chin. Regaining his sight, Kruckow pulled out the silver blade from his body, breathing hard while enduring the sharp pain in his chest.
The normally mortal wound he had received began healing after the sword had been removed, another aspect of the Philosophers' stone. Granting healing powers as long as the stone had the energy to spare. Although he was healing, it took a great toll on his body, which was already tired from the heavy fighting. Constantly super-powering his sword and the large scale Dark magic covering the room had drained a third of the stone's power. The healing powers draining it even further.
Normally the energy consumption would be quite low. But that's only if the Philosophers' stone is used for longevity. Keeping the body's cells from aging was not that hard, but using such powerful magic that Kruckow had not mastered, drained even more energy from the stone than if he had already mastered them.
Still catching his breath, Kruckow gazed at Siegfried, irritated and furious. His eyes were filled with hatred. And as he gazed at Siegfried, he noticed he held a new weapon in his right hand. He held what seemed to be a wand, roughly the same size as between one's elbow and wrist. The wand was a mix between white and silver, and the wand itself was in the shape of a spiral, stretched out into the shape of a wand. Like the horn of a unicorn. Actually it probably was a unicorn horn.
And this horn was pointed straight at Kruckow, Siegfried having taken a sideways stance and extending his right hand towards Kruckow. Before he had time to react, a bolt of shining white lightning shot out from the wand and hit Kruckow in his clavicle, where the Philosophers' stone rested in its silver casing. The lighting sent a burning sensation all over Kruckow's body, effectively cooking him alive.
After a few excruciating seconds of pure hell, Kruckow let go of his cane-sword, no longer able to hold it and having lost all his strength he fell to the floor with a "thump". His silver necklace which held the stone melted away from the extreme temperature, freeing the stone and rolled away from Kruckow's brunt body.
Even with such a powerful artifact, Kruckow could not stand up to the might of Siegfried. He had thought a minute ago that he could stand a decent chance, but that delusion had now been thoroughly purged. Never to come into existence again.
His vision was fading, darkening. He was dying. And in his final moments he saw the white gloved hand of Siegfried lifting of the Philosophers' stone that he had created, hoping for immortality. It was a foolish dream which had only hastened his end.
After picking up the Philosophers' stone, Siegfried checked his surroundings. The office had been completely trashed. As if a wave had swept through the room. Now that he had completed his errand, Siegfried began using magic to heal his cuts and headed towards the door. Taking out the golden key, he locked and unlocked the door, which created a new doorway into his mansion, returning just in time for dinner.
…
Now that Siegfried's footsteps had ceased their echoing, signaling his disappearance, the office fell into complete silence. All that was left was cut up furniture and the steaming hot body of Kendrick Kruckow lying on the carpet. From beneath his body, a black liquid oozed out from his shadow, forming a black puddle around him. And from this puddle, multiple arms emerged, black as well. The arms reached upwards before grabbing hold of Kruckow's body tightly, pulling it down into the puddle and out of this world. Then the room was filled with an even quieter silence now that it was completely empty.