His mind spiraled backward. Memories flashed like dying embers.Laughter. Training. Uncertainty. Failure.
He stood not in the ruined city, but in the shadow of himself.
A vision, not of dreams, but of identity.Before him, he saw his own back. The back of a boy still searching.Still uncertain.
"…Is this it?" the voice said.The voice was his own. Older, deeper, colder."You, who doubted becoming a Kshatriya. You, who still haven't found a reason to live."
Aaron clenched his jaw in the vision.
"What could I do? That Ender… it's too strong. I couldn't even save Henry."
The voice replied, sharp and unforgiving:"…So, you'd let the others die, too?"
A beat.
Aaron's eyes snapped open.
"No," he whispered.Then louder."NO! I won't let that happen again!"
He roared, heart pounding, and drew his sword.
CLANG!
Just in time.
The Ender's spear came crashing down but met steel.
Aaron's blade caught the violet point, sparks and lightning exploding from the clash.His arms shook. His knees buckled. The pressure was overwhelming like holding back the weight of a mountain.
But Aaron gritted his teeth, screamed from his gut, and pushed back.
"RRRAAAAHH!"
With every ounce of strength left in his body. He forced the spear away. The Ender was pushed back a single step.A small victory.But a defiant one.
Aaron stood between death and his comrades.Alive. Awake. And no longer running.
With a calm, level voice, Aaron spoke.
"Yumi. Get them out of here. I'll buy time."
"But--!"
"That's an order. From your leader."
Yumi froze. Her eyes wavered, caught between duty and desperation. But then, reluctantly, she turned and ran, past Aaron, toward the wounded and the unconscious.
As she passed him, she muttered under her breath, low and fierce:"You better come back alive."
Aaron didn't respond with a promise.He only gave a firm nod.
Because promising to live…felt like a lie right now.
The Ender's body jerked unnaturally disappearing in a flash of speed.
Toward Yumi.
But Aaron moved. He read the flicker, the intent, and slashed diagonally with a roar. Steel hissed through the air. The Ender dodged with inhuman grace, but its path was broken. It halted its pursuit.
Then… it turned to Aaron.
Slowly, almost ceremoniously, it raised its spear. A defensive stance. A challenge.
Not a monster seeking slaughter, but a warrior demanding battle.
Aaron inhaled deeply, steadying his breath. The weight of the sword in his hands was real, grounding him. This was no longer about fear. He planted his feet. He glared straight into the Ender's emotionless, pale mask.
"Alright then, mysterious Ender..."
He raised his blade.
"...It's showtime."
Aaron's eyes flicked upward. The wings were gone. Not torn. Not broken. It's Retracted. It was holding back. Toying with him.
"You're still not taking me seriously…"
His fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword, blood rushing in his ears like a war drum.He inhaled once, deep and steady, trying to anchor himself in the moment. His heartbeat slowed just enough to focus.
Then he ran. Dust kicked up behind him as his boots pounded across cracked stone. The Ender stood tall, white armor gleaming like polished bone beneath the waning sunlight. Silent. Still. Waiting.
Aaron leapt, clearing the ground with practiced ease, and swung his sword downward in an arc aimed for its face.
Steel met spear. The clash rang out like a bell tolling the hour of death.
Sparks scattered. Momentum died. The Ender moved, its reaction unnervingly calm. It slid its weapon upward and...
Crack!
The spear smashed into Aaron's side, just below the ribs. His tunic split open, cloth fluttering as the blade grazed his skin, hot and sharp.
He stumbled back, pain jolting through him. But he didn't scream. He didn't fall. He caught himself, sliding one foot back, steadying his stance. The Ender was already there, pressing forward like a phantom. No breath. No hesitation.
Another strike. Aaron barely raised his sword in time. The impact jarred every joint in his arms. His feet scraped backward, boots skidding against stone. His back hit a broken pillar.
"If I stop now… I die. We all die."
With a roar torn straight from his lungs, Aaron pushed the spear aside, forcing an opening, and struck back. He lunged forward with his whole body, sword flashing silver in the dusk. One deep slash across the gut.
Then another. Then again.
He hacked into the creature's midsection with a fury born not of skill, but desperation, of the guilt of Henry's death, of Yumi's final glance, of Corgius lying broken, of the burden of command he never asked for.
Each blow drove the Ender back a step.
Once.
Twice.
Three steps.
The creature's white armor now bore the mark of the attack, deep gashes, black ichor oozing like tar. Still no cry of pain. Still no expression. But it retreated.
Aaron stood hunched, gasping for air, sword lowered slightly, blood from his own shallow wound trickling down his side.
For the first time…
He made it bleed.
The Ender's wings unfurled once more, sleek, wide, and pitch black like the sky before a storm. A low hum began to rise from its spear, crackling with violet lightning.
Aaron's eyes narrowed.
The Ender launched skyward, vanishing in a blur of wind and thunder. For a moment, silence. Then the spear came hurtling down from above wreathed in lightning and death.
Aaron dove to the left, his instincts guiding him just in time. But in the next heartbeat,
Flash
The Ender was there, right at the point of impact. It appeared as if it had teleported, reclaiming its weapon mid-air and driving it straight toward Aaron's heart.
He twisted his body, barely avoiding the strike. But the edge of the weapon ripped through the flesh along his upper chest. Blood splattered. Pain flared.
Aaron gritted his teeth and clutched his wound. It wasn't fatal. Not yet. The Ender rose again.
This time, Aaron was ready. As the monster repeated the maneuver, hurling the spear with another bolt of thunder, he sidestepped fluidly, avoiding it entirely.
"Good."
But the Ender had lost patience. With a shriek of rage, it lifted its spear once more to the sky. Thunder answered, an arc of lightning split the heavens and surged into the weapon.
Then the Ender hurled it again. This time, the air screamed.
Aaron raised his sword, bracing himself for the blow.
The collision was brutal. The force of the impact sent a shockwave across the ruined field. Aaron was pushed backward, boots dragging across cracked stone as he struggled to hold the spear at bay. Sparks burst at the point of contact. His muscles screamed. His sword trembled.
And then...
A whisper. Soft. Feminine. Right beside his ear.
"Now, my lord. Absorb his essence."
His eyes widened.
Then he screamed.
Power surged through him, raw, electric, divine.The lightning crawling across the spear leapt from steel to skin, snaking into his veins. His entire body lit up, glowing with violet energy. His hair lifted. His vision blurred.
With a roar, he shoved the spear aside and threw it back.
The Ender, caught off guard, couldn't react fast enough.
Thunk!
The spear drove into its left arm, deep. Black blood sprayed into the air as it recoiled, stunned.
It reached for the spear, but Aaron wasn't finished.
Something unfurled from his back. Two vast, obsidian wings, rippling with arcane energy, mirror images of the Ender's own. The wind howled as he took to the sky.
In a blink, he closed the distance. Before the Ender could raise its guard, Aaron's sword pierced its chest. The impact sent both of them crashing downward, light and shadow spiraling toward the ruined earth.
Boom!
Dust exploded outward.
Aaron stood up slowly, pulling his blade free, panting, blood dripping from his wound.
Across from him, the Ender rose, shakily, spear gripped tightly in one hand.
But then…
Aaron stepped forward, eyes calm. He reached behind his back and drew the sheath to his sword.
Click.
He slid the blade back in with reverence, holding the sheathed weapon upright before his face. His eyes closed.
"It's over."
He opened them.
Lightning pulsed once more through his body. Shadows wrapped around his feet.
Then, he vanished.
Illusory copies of Aaron, each wreathed in violet lightning, flickered into existence, encircling the Ender like phantoms.
In one instant, Aaron reappeared behind the creature, his sword mid-sheath.
Click.
The final sound echoed.
Suddenly, dozens of violet gashes carved themselves into the Ender's body all at once, flashing in succession like slashes through reality itself.
A moment of silence.Then the creature's form split into pieces, falling apart, shattered by the strike.
Aaron staggered, his breath ragged. His vision swam, flickering between light and shadow.
Then, his knees gave out. He collapsed onto his back, the rough stone beneath him a distant feeling. Above, the sky stretched endlessly gray clouds parting just enough to reveal a sliver of fading blue.
He laughed. Not out of triumph. Not out of madness. But from sheer disbelief. What was that power? What had he become?
The sound echoed into the sky, raw, unfiltered, almost childlike in its surrender. His eyelids grew heavy. So very heavy. And just before the darkness claimed him, he heard it.Footsteps. Fast. Urgent.
A voice, distant but familiar, cried out. "Aaron!"
Then. Silence.