Once the woman vanished into the twisting labyrinth of canyons, Vlad fixed his full attention on the Voroe Sage. Lightning flickered in angry bursts around Harbider’s metal-infused body, the air heavy with the acrid scent of ozone and scorched rock.
A jagged wound marred his midsection, courtesy of Vlad’s earlier laser blast, yet the Voroe still wore a feral grin. Metallic, razor-like teeth gleamed in the dim light, hinting at the cruelty that lay behind them.
"You must be feeling confident, human," Harbider sneered, arcs of electricity dancing along his colossal claws. "I admit that your laser beam was powerful—but if you think it was enough to take me down, you’re sorely mistaken."
Vlad met the Voroe’s taunt with silence. Instead of replying, he lifted his black sword, intensifying the wrathful energy flowing from him. Lines of red lightning-infused flames crackled along the blade’s edge, manifesting the destructive resonance between Vlad’s power and the runic enchantments embedded in his weapon. In response, Harbider’s metallic plating glowed brighter as if provoked by the challenge.
For a stretched moment, Depravita and Vorometallicae measured each other’s strength amid the looming canyon walls. Sunlight trickled down from far above, illuminating the rugged depths of the Howling Chasm like a grim stage. Every shadow in the ragged rock seemed to hold its breath as though the entire valley awaited the outcome of this duel.
Then, in a flash of movement that belied his massive frame, Harbider launched himself forward. Dust and stone fragments exploded behind him, evidence of the power coiled in his legs. In an instant, he had closed the gap, one claw blazing with electric energy as he aimed for Vlad’s torso.
Vlad’s dark eyes flared with lethal intent. He stepped forward—and vanished, leaving behind only a flickering distortion of space. Harbider’s attack crashed down onto the empty ground, generating a thunderous boom. Sharp bits of rock spiraled upward from the impact, rattling off the canyon’s walls.
Off to the side, Vlad reappeared in a burst of speed, his blade raised. Channeling Wrath-fueled momentum, he brought the sword arcing downward in a diagonal slash. Crimson lightning-infused flames trailed in its path, then slammed into Harbider’s flank, sending molten bits of metal spraying across the canyon floor. A furious snarl tore from the Voroe’s throat, echoing off the cavernous walls.
"Bastard!" Harbider roared, voice laced with pain and rage. Though Vlad’s strike had carved a deep cut in his plated torso, it was insufficient to slow him down. The hulking Voroe retaliated with a swift, sideways swipe of his monstrous claw, fully intent on splitting Vlad in half.
Vlad’s eyes narrowed. Reacting instantly, he raised his black sword to block, bracing it before his chest. The Voroe’s strike crashed against the blade in a shower of sparks, sending violent tremors through Vlad’s arms and hurling him backward through the air. Yet Vlad twisted his body mid-flight, using his formidable reflexes to kill the momentum and land more or less gracefully a short distance away.
No sooner had the Depravita’s feet touched the ground than he shot forward again, launching himself back into the fray.
"ARRGHHHH!" Harbider’s roar reverberated through the canyon. Electric arcs pulsed around his claws, shimmering with colossal force. He lunged at Vlad as well, and their weapons collided in a burst of lightning and fire, the impact so forceful it splintered the canyon floor. Fractures crawled across the stone, and debris scattered in all directions.
Despite the uproar, neither the Depravita not the Vorometallicae lost focus on the other. Their eyes locked in a brutal contest of wills.
Vlad sidestepped abruptly, pivoting on one foot as he brought his sword around in a sweeping uppercut aimed at Harbider’s face. The Voroe Sage jerked his head at the last possible second, but the blade still managed to graze his cheek. Sparks flew, and a shallow cut appeared, weeping molten metal that quickly hardened in the frigid canyon air.
Harbider barely seemed to register the wound. With a savage bellow, he lashed out in a flurry of claws. Vlad anticipated at least one of those strikes and angled his sword to redirect the blow, but what he did not expect was Harbider’s cunning feint. The Voroe’s arm was merely a distraction, setting Vlad up for the real attack—a devastating knee that slammed squarely into Vlad’s chest.
A spike of white-hot pain tore through Vlad’s ribs, and the force of the blow drove every breath from his lungs, leaving him momentarily gasping. Although wounded, he managed to think through the haze of pain. This place is full of Sages who survived countless battles. They’re hardly amateurs, and expecting to come out of the battle without wounds was naive.
Refusing to yield, Vlad jammed the tip of his sword into the cracked ground, using it to steady himself as he fought to regain his stance. He managed to do so just in time, noticing Harbider barreling toward him yet again. Summoning every ounce of strength, Vlad swung the blade in a horizontal slash.
Harbider snarled, eyes narrowing as he realized Vlad had recovered more quickly than anticipated, but he managed to pull back just in time. The sword strike generated a wall of intermingled flames and lightning that concealed Vlad from the Voroe’s view.
However, any relief Harbider might have felt at dodging the slash was short-lived. Out of the wall of crackling energy emerged a precise laser beam, bright and concentrated. It slammed straight into Harbider’s face, shattering one of his eyes in a spray of metallic gore.
"AARRGGHH!" Screaming in agony, the Voroe staggered, clutching at his ruined eye socket. Sizzling flesh and metal oozed down his cheek in glowing rivulets. Before he could fully process the loss of half his vision, the barrier of lightning and fire dissolved, revealing Vlad standing on the other side with his black sword raised high. A vortex of dark flame and crackling electricity swirled around the blade, intensifying every heartbeat.
"Depravita Strike!" Vlad roared, unleashing the concentrated fury. Two waves of Depravita Aura coalesced around the sword’s energy, amplifying the destructive power to its peak.