As my battle with Zagor heated up, the hall of the castle had been almost entirely destroyed, and parts of it were crumbling down around us, with each of our attacks creating a wave of energy that shook the building.
The hall wasn’t completely connected to the rest of the castle, as it was separated by different gardens that led to the other rooms.
At one point, I covered my bo in flames and noticed that my fire magic felt different, resembling that of Acalan’s.
’Is this... phoenix fire?’ I pondered as I looked at my own power.
Letting out a torrent of flames that shot straight at Zagor, the entire hall was covered in a blaze, but the devil increased the energy around him so potently and so quickly that it all dispersed and shattered the ceiling of the hall.
The room started crumbling down as the few columns standing couldn’t support the weight of the building anymore, so I avoided the falling debris while also attacking Zagor simultaneously.
Suddenly, I took a wrong step trying to avoid one of the falling pieces from the ceiling and found myself right next to Zagor, who hit me on the ribs with his morning star and sent me flying out of the hall into one of the castle’s gardens.
I could feel like the strike had broken one or two of my ribs, and blood was coming out of the holes from the spikes that hit the side of my torso.
However, the adrenaline allowed me to quickly stand up and protect myself from his following attack.
Right as I landed in the garden, the devil wasn’t giving me room to breathe and appeared before me with an overhead attack that I blocked with my bo, pushing him back as I covered myself in phoenix fire.
Zagor had a smile on his face as I clenched my teeth.
"Did think you would survive that!" he exclaimed pridefully.
As the devil boasted about his power, I used that moment to start casting a spell that would take me a bit of time to set up.
"I can nullify your magic, and your body isn’t strong enough to hurt me. So, what will you do, demi-god!?" he said, letting out an unsettling laugh.
’Let’s see how much magic he can truly nullify...’ I thought as my spell was ready.
The devil hadn’t noticed, but I had been casting day magic hundreds of feet in the air.
It was the same spell that Melina and I used against the Kraken, except that time, I did it with her help.
Without the devil noticing, I had the magnifying glass suspended hundreds of feet in the air and was accumulating the light from the sun.
"Now!" I yelled, making the magnifying glass shoot down a ray of blinding light that covered the entire devil.
Zagor screamed in pain for a moment as the light burned his skin, letting out trails of steam as he burned down. However, my relief was short-lived as he suddenly jumped extremely high in the air while still inside the laser beam.
"What the-?" I pondered out loud as I watched the figure of Zagor propel into the sky and destroy the magnifying glass with his morning star.
Right after shattering the glass high up in the air, the devil crashed down to my location, and I was barely able to dodge it by jumping back, but the wake of his landing still sent me flying a few meters away.
With a burnt face full of rage and derangement, Zagor appeared before me instantly after I regained my footing, hitting me with his morning star on the side of my head.
I was sent flying to the side, hitting my torso against a rocky fountain, and landed face down on the ground.
I felt the blood dripping down my head and drenching my face while my vision was blurry from the strike.
In front of me, I saw my voice crystal and the handkerchief that Melina had sent me stained with my blood and dirt, which must have dropped from my pockets after receiving the hit.
For whatever reason, the last message that Melina sent me replayed itself.
"Please be careful, okay? I’ll be waiting for you... Please come back safely..." said Melina’s voice from the crystal.
Still lying face down on the ground, I extended my hand, trying to pick up the crystal. However, all I saw was Zagor’s foot stomping on it and turning it into dust.
Then, he stomped again on the handkerchief and scraped his foot back as if he were getting a piece of trash out of his way.
Zagor’s body looked badly burnt from my previous attack, and he wasn’t smiling anymore, keeping a disgruntled and injured face as he stared down at me and raised his morning star to finish me off.
However, I wasn’t even thinking about the devil, as my mind could only picture Melina and her words.
"I promised I would return safely... I promised Acalan I would bring him back to a new Kalusia... I promised Gina that I would get her country back... I-..." I muttered to myself, but I stopped when I felt a sudden sensation coursing through my body.
It felt exactly like Melina’s MP, as I could recognize it from miles away, but it was a stream of magic that was traveling to my body and being absorbed.
It gave me a surge of energy that was enough to push myself to the side with wind magic and avoid Zagor’s finishing overhead attack that was aimed at my head.
I stood up, and the devil turned to me with evident anger in his eyes as he launched himself at me while roaring loudly.
Still, I could feel another surge of energy entering my body. This time, however, it wasn’t only Melina’s energy.
’Could it be?’ I thought as I checked my chest and noticed the Kraken Whisper Pearl that I received for my birthday was glowing brightly.
The energy of Melina, Reinar, Vespera, Yoru, and Gina was entering my body, their desires and aspirations, their trust in me, everything.
I felt powerful, and even as Zagor was rushing at me at high speeds, I didn’t flinch.
’I can do it now...’