Winding Destiny

Richard stopped the backward momentum with great difficulty, coughing out a few more mouthfuls of blood before breathing in sharply and staring at Moonlight. There was actually a nick on its edge!

His expression darkened and he turned to look at the man in the distance. Moonlight was supposedly indestructible, but that had its limit. It was difficult to muster the strength to damage it within the bounds of the laws of order, but his opponent this time had a similarly indestructible weapon with power that approached the limits of the world’s laws. An inconceivable thought crawled into his mind; had this man already reached the limit of pure strength?

This was a shocking revelation. Richard himself wasn’t at the true limit of sheer power, only infinitely approaching it. His other attributes were similar, and he had believed his opponent would at best be the same. This meant the world’s laws would apply as normal, but clearly that wasn’t the case.

The man looked at his own giant blade as well, staring at the defect on its edge which was even bigger than on Moonlight’s. It seemed like the quality of the rusty blade wasn’t the same as the elven masterpiece, but the difference was minor at best. If these two weapons weren’t in the hands of people so powerful, this situation wouldn’t have occurred.

“You really are delicate, kid!” the man laughed.

“Is that so? A slight difference in strength is now delicate?” Richard retorted by instinct.

“A slight difference is still a difference! Being close to the peak and upon it are entirely separate things!”

“That simply means our paths are different. You’re at the pinnacle of strength, but what about all the other factors. I’m near-perfect everywhere, while you’re perfect in one thing and mediocre at the rest.”

“Why would you think that?” the man chuckled.

“Because otherwise you wouldn’t be able to exist. There isn’t any perfection in this world.”

“Haha! Less nonsense, we’ll know once we fight!”

Hearing this laughter, a smile appeared on Richard’s face as well, “Exactly!”

His figure disappeared, forming behind that man and sending ten thousand slashes his way. Every attack left a crack in space, surrounding the two entirely, but both completely ignored that as they knew that only the other side’s blade was the real threat.

The giant sword seemed to spring to life, dancing around in mid-air as it cut space into a million fragments. It made repeated contact with Moonlight, and despite most occasions being glancing blows the two blades started chipping further.

The pair suddenly separated without warning, facing each other from a hundred metres away. An invisible ring of energy rippled out from them, destroying the entire mountain peak and shaving hundreds of metres off the earth. Everything outside of Faust in the vicinity was destroyed, and even the floating city bobbed up and down as some of the lower islands turned to ash. Richard’s followers paled, some having blood ooze out from their noses or mouths. A number of the night elves just died immediately; even with saintly power, they couldn’t resist the aftermath of a battle between two pinnacle beings.

The large sword was now so jagged that it seemed like a sawtooth blade, but Moonlight wasn’t much better. One more all-out attack and both supposedly indestructible weapons would become objects of the path. However, the man didn’t care and simply swung his giant sword, lava erupting around his body and extending into the void, “Come on, kid! One last strike!”

“Alright,” Richard gripped Moonlight with both hands for the first time, a giant tetrahedron appearing around his body with countless faces upon it. He breathed in deeply and drew the sword towards his chest, a pale blue moon appearing above his head. He suddenly merged with the sword, turning into a beam of destruction as he zipped towards his opponent.

This was the peak of Annihilation, an attack that would destroy both the opponent and himself. This was the first secret sword that he had learnt, and the one he was attuned to the most. Coupled with the power of his truenames and the blue moon, this was also his most powerful strike.

His opponent seemed to be stunned for a moment, resulting in an imperceptible delay in picking up his sword. However, at a battle of this level even the smallest of mistakes was magnified, and Richard’s sword passed by and pierced right into the man’s chest. Both combatants crashed into the ground from the force, creating another huge wound in the earth.

Richard’s hands still gripped Moonlight as before, but his body was constantly shivering. He had expected mutual destruction, planning to rely on his stronger body and recovery to win, but his opponent had made an elementary mistake that no one at such a level should.

“Exactly the same... as that day...” the man below him suddenly laughed, though it was quickly replaced by coughing. Richard shuddered and his eyes went wide; they had been speaking in abyssal all this while, but he had suddenly switched to Norlandic!

And the voice... All colour drained from his face, and he didn’t even realise that he’d thrown Moonlight’s hilt aside to lift up the man’s mask. Behind was a dignified face full of vitality and charm, one that he had buried in the depths of his heart.

It was Gaton.

Richard’s hand started to shudder, but he didn’t dare to pull his sword out. Only he knew the power of destruction contained within that strike, and the fact that anything struck by it would be wiped out completely. That one attack possessed the capacity to wipe out an entire divine kingdom, destroying even Moonlight in its entirety. No one could withstand its might.

“Why... does it have to be you?” he muttered, eyes warming up as he entered a daze.

“I... died in the Rosie Plane. When I woke up, I became... one with the will of the abyss... an avatar... whose duty was to guard... this plane... You could never... pass through here... if you didn’t defeat me... But still... my son turned out to be amazing!” Gaton suddenly seemed to fill up with energy, heavily patting Richard on the shoulder, “You actually managed to bring Faust all the way here. You’re so much more capable than your old man! Hahaha...”

Richard watched vacantly as the fiery man moved his lips, but he almost couldn’t hear any words. His vision blurred with tears as he formed a ball of vitality in his hand capable of resurrection, but he didn’t dare release it because he knew that it would kill his father immediately. It was already too late.

The sword down below had vanished, Moonlight fading into ash, but Gaton himself seemed intact. Even the wound in his chest was gone, and he patted Richard once more, “It’s fine, kid. I died a long time ago; if I didn’t come to this damned place, I wouldn’t have seen you all grown up. Don’t be a wimp, we Archerons shed blood, not tears! Yes, if you have the heart, just repay all my debts. That’s something I was always worried about...”

Richard nodded, still not daring to use the orb of vitality in his hand.

Gaton’s gaze passed Richard, losing focus as his voice started to fade, “Just want... to see that pretty girl... again...”

A light breeze picked up Gaton and whisked him away, scattering him into the winds. Richard watched with blurred vision as his father’s face faded away, stuck in his stance with one hand raised as though he had solidified into a statue.

It felt like years had passed when a big hand patted him on the shoulder, “Master is gone, kid.”

“Father...” Richard swayed, finally getting to his feet. There was only a broken suit of armour where Gaton had once laid, and he picked it up and sighed, “Mordred... Why?”