As I jumped out of the way, a massive beam—wide and tall—erupted from the silver circle Ros had summoned, tearing through the stone ground with a deafening roar.
"Here's the greatest spell of Salyra!" Ros shouted, thrusting his staff forward, as if guiding the spell itself.
I had no idea what type of spell this was, but all I knew is that it was powerful.
The beam flashed like a blade of silver lightning and slammed into the Hollow before it could react, blasting off the entire left side of its body.
"Mmrgh.." it groaned, stumbling back.
"Come on! This is our chance!" Lara shouted from behind. We came here only to confirm Alde's death, not to fight a Hollow.
But I couldn't walk away. Not with the killer of Alde standing right in front of me, wounded.
I turned away from Lara and Ros without a word and faced the Hollow. My grip tightened.
"Are you being serious?!" Lara shouted out of anger.
A black and purple aura wrapped around my sword as I raised it and slashed down.
The Hollow clicked—almost like it had a tongue—and caught the blade between three fingers. My eyes widened.
"Bothersome… You are bothersome," it growled.
Its body surged, pulsing with dark energy as it regenerated in a single instant.
I tried to pull my blade free—but couldn't. I made the split-second choice to let go.
It was the best decision, I was in a vulnerable position.
The Hollow threw my sword in the far distance and started walking towards me.
It was radiating a jet black color from its white side and a pure white from the black side.
I've already died once. This is nothing!
I balled my fists and pointed at him.
Ros clearly used up a lot of mana with that last spell, but I noticed he was kneeling, holding his staff tightly barely making him able to not collapse.
Lara stood closely behind Ros, as she was unable to help that much.
The Hollow dashed at me, I turned around quickly before it reached me.
Mana surged through my fists as I dashed to meet its charge.
Our fists collided, I felt pain, but I was able to continue.
Again, it threw its left arm and aimed for my head, but I noticed it already.
I stopped his attack by throwing my own fist back at it.
Then, its attacks exploded in speed. It unleashed punch after punch, relentless like a storm. Each clash shook the ground beneath us, like distant thunder.
I was astonished I could keep up, but I was barely doing so. It was a matter of who could last longer.
As our fists kept clashing, I finally saw it.
There was an opening.
I ducked low, let go of my defense and aimed for a direct punch.
Mana cladded my fists as I thrust it towards the beast's face.
My fist slammed into the Hollow's face. It felt like I was hitting a concrete wall, but I had to break it. I had to destroy that wall.
The Hollow was thrown backwards, as I groaned due to the pain in my fist.
I need to think of something.. And quick…
Ros' ability flashed back in my head, as it gave me an idea on what to do next.
The Hollow was trying to stand back on its feet as I was still thinking of something.
My eyes widened in realization as I could have done this a while ago, but I never did. I wasn't even scratching the surface of my ability!
Combining Form One, and the beam that Ros made, I should be able to make it hit even more!
I grinned at the thought of it. I didn't know how Ros had summoned that silver circle, but I had an idea.
The Hollow rose back to its feet, I had no time to think about it any further.
Instantly, I pointed at it with my index finger. Then, I moved my finger in a circular motion, as if I was drawing in the air.
Nothing worked the first time, but after I quickly attempted it more, on a different try it felt like something clicked, a spark of silver came out from the tip of my finger.
I tried again, using that sensation to bring me to summoning a full circle.
Then—finally—I made it.
It was the size of my hand, but I knew it could do something at least.
The same circle that Ros has summoned, I had just made it using my finger.
I curled up a smile as I realized all I had to do was use the mana around me, not to make other spells, but to use the mana itself.
After I'd drawn out a silver circle, I drew another circle inside of it. I had to copy Ros.
I didn't know how to write the letters so it was obviously incomplete, but I hadn't lost hope.
Instantly, before the Hollow could use something of its own, I curled up my fists and aimed it at the circle. I had no means of activating it by myself, so I had to do it forcefully.
I punched the circle I'd just made, it felt like I'd just hit steel but at the same time it felt as if I just swung in the air.
A similar beam erupted from the circle I'd just drawn with a loud roar, however the only thing that seemed different was the color of the beam.
While not as big as the one Ros did, a dark purple colored beam came out and headed straight at the Hollow.
Go! I thought.
The Hollow put one arm over the other, to block the attack instead of dodging.
The beam hit the Hollow, blowing a hole in its defense. Its white arm was blown off while its jet black one was still intact.
It was still too weak, but it still did damage.
I instantly jumped at the Hollow as I had the chance, and punched it with my fist.
The Hollow stumbled backwards, then muttered in a voice barely being heard,
"Exalted…"
My eyes widened at what he suddenly had just said. I didn't know what it was, but something told me there was meaning behind it.
I needed to get my sword as soon as possible, because I had no chance if we stayed fist to fist.
It was obvious the Hollow wasn't even going at its full power. I had never seen them use a flashy ability.
The Hollow spoke again as a dark green mark appeared on his forehead, "Falle—"
Before it had the chance to continue, its head was tilted backwards in an instant as if it was being forced to do that.
The dark green mark shone even more, before it finally blew the Hollow's head off.
I stood there out of shock of what I'd just witnessed, Lara and Ros probably noticed too.
The Hollow's body collapsed. The mark that had appeared on its head was now hovering in the air, in the exact location where the Hollow's head was blown off its body.
I started to breathe heavily, because of what was happening in front of me and due to me overusing my mana.
It didn't need a smart person to know that the mark hovering in the air silently was more than just dangerous.
The mark flew to me, in a pace that might have been faster than even the speed of sound.
It went inside my head, then disappeared.
I felt a little tingle, but nothing special in particular. Slowly I felt I was getting dizzy, but I was able to hold up.
Rubbing my forehead slightly, on where the mark disappeared, I muttered, "What was that.."
I looked behind me, seeing Lara and Ros.
Ros was knocked out, and Lara was trying to heal him.
With no time to think about the mark, I ran up to them quickly.
"What's wrong? How did he collapse?" I asked hurriedly.
Lara's eyes twitched, then spoke with an annoyed yet guilty expression, "He used up too much mana. I tried warning him, but he just didn't listen!"
Thinking about it now, the spell Ros had used was powerful enough to blast the Hollow's body completely.
The Hollow only got away from that by stepping away at the nick of time.
"I'll collect the bodies. Look after him." I ordered, more than requested. My relationship with Ros had grown exceptionally ever since we came to this horrible place, seeing him in that state made me visibly upset.
Lara nodded slightly, without a word.
To collect the hanging corpses I had to use some sort of artifact we were given by the Guild.
Looking at Alde's corpse made my body tremble in grief, but I had to accept it.
I didn't avenge him, but I will know who the person responsible for the mark was.
I frowned as I took the artifact out of my pocket, it seemed like it was scratched and somewhat damaged but not to the point where it's unusable.
It was like a casket, but it was small enough to fit my palm.
Considering how much mana you use, it could fit up to fifty people. But… I was already out of mana.
I looked back at Lara—my last solution— and stretched my hand with the casket in it and a nervous grin on my face.
Lara glanced back at me. "Ugh! You're so annoying!" she said before aggressively taking the artifact from my hand.