The peak of the high ridge was a jagged crown of black stone, exposed to the full, violent fury of the elements. Up here, the wind howled like a dying beast, and the air was so thick with the toxic purple sorcery of Zhalver that it tasted like ash on the tongue.
Prince Azeal drag himself over the final rocky ledge, using the Star Fire Sword as a crutch to pull his heavy, battered body upward. His royal armor was in ruins, its chest plate split down the middle from the heavy blow of the Brute General, and a deep gash along his ribs leaked steady, dark crimson blood into the mud. He was trembling from sheer physical exhaustion, his breath rattling in his throat.
But his eyes—completely bloodshot and burning with a terrifying, unquenchable blue fire—were fixed forward.
Standing at the absolute center of the clearing, beneath a jagged obsidian altar, was Draeven Zareth. The usurper did not look like a triumphant conqueror. He was bleeding from his side where King Aetheron had driven his golden blade before dying, and his breathing was heavy. Yet, as he saw the young prince stumble onto the summit, a slow, sadistic grin stretched across his scarred face.
"So, the cockroach finally crawls to the top of the mountain," Draeven mocked, his voice dripping with venomous amusement. He leaned heavily on his massive, jagged staff, its toxic purple energy pulsing in rhythm with his heartbeat. "Look at you, Azeal. You are bleeding, your armor is shattered, and your kings are nothing but smoke in the sky. You have no army. You have no father. You are a prince of nothing."
Azeal didn't answer with words. A low, beast-like growl vibrated in his chest. The grief of watching his father and Lord Kaelor dissolve, combined with the agonizing knowledge that Solthera was burning below, fused into a single, lethal directive: Kill Draeven.
With a raw, throat-tearing scream, Azeal lunged forward.
The Star Fire Sword erupted into a towering blaze of celestial blue fire, cutting through the freezing sleet. Azeal brought the blade down in a brutal, two-handed overhead strike with every single ounce of strength left in his body.
CRACK!
Draeven raised his jagged staff just in time, intercepting the burning blade. The collision of celestial blue starlight and corrupted purple sorcery created a violent kinetic shockwave that shattered the solid stone beneath their boots, sending deep cracks rippling through the summit. Sparks of raw magical energy flew into the air, hissing as they hit the ice.
"Your anger makes you predictable, boy!" Draeven snarled, twisting his wrist.
Using the momentum of the clash, Draeven spun his staff and slammed the heavy iron base directly into Azeal's wounded ribs. Azeal gasped, a spray of blood leaving his lips as he stumbled backward. Before he could recover his footing, Draeven swept his hand forward, unleashing three jagged bolts of dark purple lightning from his fingertips.
Azeal rolled desperately to the side, the lightning striking the stone where he had stood a millisecond prior, vaporizing the rock into black dust. Azeal bounced back to his feet, ignoring the blinding pain in his side, and drove his sword forward in a piercing thrust.
The tip of the Star Fire Sword grazed Draeven's throat, melting the collar of his dark armor and leaving a searing, glowing blue burn mark across his neck.
Draeven roared in genuine pain, his sadistic grin vanishing instantly. For the first time, a flicker of real anger crossed the dark lord's face. "You dare touch me, child?!"
Draeven slammed his staff into the ground three times. The ancient, forbidden death-magic—the very same black smoke that had withered King Aetheron—began to pour from the obsidian altar, twisting around Draeven's arms like writhing vipers. The temperature on the summit dropped instantly, freezing the mud into solid ice.
Azeal lowered his stance, his hands shaking as he held his sword high. He knew what that black smoke did. He had seen its lethal work. But looking at the murderer of his family, Azeal gripped his hilt tighter, his heart hammering against his ribs as the ultimate duel for the fate of Solthera truly began.