"Fuck!"
Ronan continued to fight on after he recalled the golem, relying on the Wyvern's stats and his new sword's durability just to fend off the Consort.
It was like a game of cat and mouse. Ronan traded blows, ran away, and traded blows again only when he was confident he couldn't trade more.
The entire throne room had effectively become their battlefield, not just its center. Everywhere, Ronan used every single point of his agility to navigate the space. From behind pillars, to behind the throne, to anywhere he could go.
FWOOSH!
A shadowy wall appeared in his route of escape, giving the Consort enough time to swing his sword.
BANG!
The shadowy wall exploded.
Ronan rolled before the attack could connect. Whatever the Consort was doing, it was playing with him. It wasn't taking him seriously. Ronan could even swear he saw a hint of a smug smile on its inhuman face.
[Abyssal Breath]
Ronan opened his mouth and unleashed a powerful wave of dark energy toward the Consort, temporarily engulfing him in dark fire before the figure completely shrugged it off.
BOOM!
The flames exploded outward, licking harmlessly at the pillars and walls. Whoever that thing was, its control of darkness could even give a pre-amulet Sarael a run for her money.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
Ronan skidded to a halt behind a fallen pillar, his chest heaving. The Abyssal Breath had done nothing, worse than nothing. The Consort had absorbed it, or dispersed it, or whatever the hell it did with dark-element attacks.
He needed a different angle.
The Consort advanced, slow and deliberate, its hollow eyes fixed on Ronan with that same unreadable expression. The jagged blade dragged along the stone floor, carving a shallow trench in its wake.
It still wasn't taking him seriously. That was the only advantage Ronan had left.
"Darkness... I need complete darkness."
He panted, scanning the throne room for anything deeper than the pale shadows pooling under the moonlight. But there was nothing. The unnatural glow bled into every corner, drowning the room in silver-gray light that never quite deepened into black.
And the entrance he'd used to get here, the tear in reality, was long gone.
BOOM!
The pillar behind him exploded into rubble. Ronan threw himself into the nearest shadow and merged, his body dissolving and re-forming on the far side of the throne room. The Consort's blade carved through the space he'd occupied a heartbeat before.
His eyes swept across the room, calculating distances, angles, and the way the light fell between the ruined pillars and cracked stone. Shadows existed, but none were dark enough. Not one could trigger the boost.
And the Consort definitely didn't want to cocoon him again. It had learned from the first time.
Ronan was nearly out of choices.
But nearly didn't mean completely.
"Screw it!"
Experimentation was his best bet. And if he was going to experiment, he had better do it while the Consort was still slowly approaching, clearly enjoying its little show of dominance.
[Abyssal Breath]
Ronan breathed out, but not at the Consort.
The abyssal breath poured onto the ground beneath him, spreading across the stone.
He had noticed something about it earlier. Something that might just be useful now.
It was dark.
Completely dark.
But Ronan couldn't simply surround himself with it. The stuff would damage him just as easily as anything else.
So, if he couldn't use it directly...
He'd have to add something else to the equation.
"Oh, god—I mean, my wife! Please work!"
Ronan muttered as the abyssal breath began to spread around him, licking at his clothes. He felt its corrosive power creeping closer, but before it could do any real damage—
[Shadow Merge]
Ronan merged with his own shadow.
And then he felt it.
The connection spread. His shadow reached into the abyssal breath, and somehow, impossibly, the two became connected.
The Abyssal Breath counted as a shadow.
His eyes widened.
And unlike ordinary shadows, the abyssal breath was completely, utterly dark.
[Complete Darkness Achieved]
[Night's Caress Boost: 500%]
It worked.
The boost surged through him, flooding his body with power.
BOOM!
Ronan exploded out of the Consort's shadow, which was connected through the breath, sword already mid-swing, the force of his movement cracking the stone beneath him. The Consort barely twisted in time, jagged blade flashing up to block.
This time, Ronan didn't get pushed back.
CLANG!
The impact sent the Consort skidding a full ten meters, its armored boots carving twin trenches through the floor.
It stared at him, those hollow eyes wide with something that might have been shock.
Ronan rolled his shoulder, the 500% boost thrumming through his veins like liquid fire. He'd found his opening. Now he just had to make sure it didn't close.
"Round two, asshole."
Ronan launched himself forward before the Consort could recover, his sword blazing with Dragon's Flame and his body moving faster than he'd ever pushed it before.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
Each strike echoed through the throne room like thunder, and each one pushed the Consort further back. The jagged blade came up again and again, but Ronan's speed was overwhelming now.
He wasn't just matching the thing; he was beating it.
The Consort's hollow eyes flickered with genuine confusion.
"You're not the only one who can use darkness."
Ronan growled, ducking under a wild swing and driving his shoulder into the Consort's chest.
The armored figure stumbled backward, its boots skidding across the stone. Ronan pressed forward, sword arcing in a brutal horizontal slash. The Consort tried to block, but the impact snapped its arm back with a sound like shattering glass.
The jagged blade spun through the air and clattered against a distant pillar.
Ronan saw his opening and took it.
CRACK!
His sword bit deep into the Consort's side, splitting the obsidian armor and spilling black ichor onto the already-dark floor. The Consort's hollow eyes widened, its mouth opening in what might have been a scream.
[Boost Deactivated]
Ronan just smiled at the notification, already unleashing [Abyssal Breath] again.
"Time to reapply my buff."
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