I was able to take in Lycitor as a whole. At face value, he appeared to just be another Lizolis, but his skin was darker and cracked with shadowy mist leaking from his body.

Lycitor's eyes were sunken and the pupils were almost impossible to spot. He was wearing some sort of large helmet, the sheath of his two-sided blade was strapped to his waist.

"I was wondering when you would arrive, Avian. After all, I've been holding your friend's souls for quite a while. I haven't even gotten to try out my new power yet." Lycitor chuckled. "You're in my home now, Soulwielder. You and your new friends will be killed for daring to walk on my soil!" Lycitor melted back into the mist and vanished.

Oritz nervously spun his swords around. "We better move before he sends more of those armor suits at us." We shimmied forward careful not to go too quick so we wouldn't be blindsided by Lycitor.

After slowly walking down the mist-cloaked hallway we reached a massive door. Oritz pushed it open and we found ourselves in a room with no roof. The sunlight shone down onto us from above.

The room was circular, with stairs leading up to a giant throne made out of ruby and brimstone. Sitting upon the throne was Lycitor.

"Welcome to my personal council room. Of course, as the Shadow King, there isn't much of a council but my point still stands." Lycitor polished one of his knives.

"Stand down Lycitor, you can't run from me anymore!" I shouted, readying my staff.

Lycitor stood up from his throne, twirling his knives. "Ok, I surrender." He dropped the blades onto the floor.

I wasn't buying what he was saying for a second. "Melora get ready to restrain him with some water power."

"I must say Avian, not accepting my surrender is quite brave of you. Although it's also quite stupid." Lycitor smirked as the temperature around him increased dramatically. My head began to throb and my vision began to blur.

Suddenly everything cleared and I was able to focus. An orb of water was surrounding all three of our heads and thanks to the devices from Wurterence we could still breath fine.

Lycitor had picked up his blades, which then ignited with fire. "Let's finish what we started Soulwielder!" Lycitor charged at me.

I blocked his blades with my staff, twirling it and looking for mistakes he made. I landed some strikes though Lycitor was wearing me down.

"Earthen Stairway!" I shouted, and a giant narrow stone staircase erupted from the ground. I ran up it, with Lycitor tailing me from behind.

Here goes nothing. I thought and at the end I jumped off, hanging on by the edge with my hand and using the falling momentum to swing around and kick Lycitor from behind.

Then Melora conjured up two sabers made of water and began jabbing at Lycitor in midair. He sliced them away but left himself open to Oritz, who leaped up and shoved both of his swords into Lycitor's back.

The Lizolis was flung into his throne, crashing into it and releasing even more mist. Lycitor's blades shimmered behind Oritz.

"Oritz, look behind you!" I shouted down at him. Luckily his lightning-fast reflexes allowed him to block the knives and begin dueling with our Lizolis enemy.

"Melora, I'm coming down, I'll need some help!" I said to her and I jumped off the staircase, a step made of water appeared beneath my foot and I quickly rhythmically ran down the temporary water pathway.

"Hammer! Earth Element!" Stone formed around my staff until it was shaped like a large hammer, I jumped and swung it downward. Oritz and Lycitor both jumped back as the hammer cracked the ground beneath us.

The stone receded into my staff and Lycitor swung his knives downward. Oritz used his open hands and punched the lizard in the face.

"Let's finish this. Here we go!" Oritz charged at Lycitor, who scrambled up and clashed his blades against my Yeti friend's swords.

I held my staff close to my body, taking in deep breaths. I wasn't going to rush into this final chance to defeat my enemy. To save my friends.

I sat down cross-legged and spoke what I remembered from the unit we did on Soulcasting last year, touching my hands to the cold stone I spoke a prayer.

"Great Quaker, divine healer for the Maker. Hear my call and let my mortal enemy fall. Bless me with the grand tool, to finish off the unholy fool. I pray to you, almighty savior, to make my foe face the saber."

For a moment I wasn't sure if it had worked, but surely enough from the ground, a saber made of diamond materialized in my hand. The same weapon used by the Earthen God who provided healing to the Maker's armies.

I stood up and ran forward with the sword in my hand, a geyser shot up beneath me and I soared over Oritz, who kicked Lycitor backward, and I plunged the blade forward. It pierced Lycitor's stomach and I landed on the ground, letting the hilt go.

Instead of dying Lycitor oozed an absurd amount of dark mist. He vanished and the sword clattered to the ground.

"You have made a mockery of me and for that, I will make you pay Soulwielder!" His voice echoed throughout the chamber. The mist completely shrouded the light that was pouring in a moment ago.

I kept my voice low and steady. "Come out Lycitor. You can't possibly live much longer with that injury."

Lycitor laughed maniacally. "I only need to live long enough to take your life. The life energy will heal my wounds." His voice was impossible to pinpoint and the mist was only thickening.

"Avian, I have a really bad feeling about this," Melora whispered. Wait she wasn't whispering. Why did she sound so far away?

I ran to where I thought I heard Melora's voice and shouted her name. I didn't hear a response.

"Avian? Where did you go? This is giving me the creeps." Oritz's voice sounded from the opposite direction. What was this mist doing?

Lycitor materialized next to me. "Like it? The corruption inside of me is so potent that it distorts your senses. Sight, hearing, and speaking are all completely deprived of their normal abilities. You don't stand a chance on your own, you need your friends by your side." Lycitor flashed his knives. "Yet you will watch them die, just like your old friends!"

Out of fear and desperation, I swung my staff in a wide arc and knocked him away. How far he was sent back I wasn't sure. This mist made it impossible to tell.

Then his blades lit up from far away, it seemed like all the mist in between us was getting sucked back into his body. Lycitor shot forward, blades ready and overflowing with shadow energy.

I had a feeling he was going to try and attack Melora or Oritz. I couldn't see or locate him using my senses but I had to try something. I focused on the two flaming blades and I began to make out Melora's figure.

I put every last ounce of energy I could into running and got between Lycitor and her, I held the staff in front of me and prepared for the worst.

The same white soul energy from when I was first attacked by Lycitor a week ago fired from my staff and stopped him in his tracks. The mist began to clear and I realized I had somehow run all the way outside onto a bridge.

A voice breached my thoughts. "You have finally awoken your Elemental power! All will be explained in due time, for now, focus on taking Lycitor down. Focus your life energy into your hands or your staff. Then shape it to your will, even this Corrupt will bend to the will of a Soulwielder's life energy!" The voice was distinctly female and sounded pretty excited to be talking to me.

Instead of deciding I was crazy I found it believable. This white energy had saved me once before. Not only that but I felt something new inside of me as if I had finally figured out how to move a new muscle and had a whole new list of ways to use it.

I concentrated and white energy pooled in my left hand. I fired off small volleys of the energy at Lycitor, who was just starting to stand up. The attacks knocked the Lizolis back over and he had a panicked look in his eyes when he got up again.

"This is for my friends!" I sent a strand of white energy out and tightened it with my hand like a rope, I swung the long thread into Lycitor's blades, shattering the glowing green emblems and dowsing his sword.

"No! You will not take all of my hard work from me! You filthy Elemental!" He ran at me with an absurd level of speed and leaped high into the air, ready to stab me with his blades.

I felt the ring that I had found on my dresser from when I first came home after discovering my Soulwielding, the ring was now glowing green.

I felt an immediate understanding on how to use the tool and held it in front of my face. A giant green shield expanded, intercepting Lyctior's blades and supercharging them with some sort of energy that made the knives implode.

That new power wasn't a door I was mentally prepared to open so I decided to just focus on my Elemental power. I pooled more energy into my hands. I put my staff on my back and ran forward, punching Lycitor in the jaw and then firing energy into his stomach.

I continued to attack him until I could barely conjure any more energy. I would have to make this next attack count.

Lycitor slowly got up, shaking and covered in injuries. "You-you got what you wanted! You've had your revenge! This is all over!"

I clenched my fists. "It's not over until you've been stopped so you never terrorize another soul! And I intend on guaranteeing that." I punched him somewhere in his upper right body. I poured every last bit of Elemental energy I had left inside of him.

His body began to radiate a brilliant white glow and he screamed in agony, as I flooded his shadow-filled body with the element's one weakness.

Finally, the entire right side of his upper body from the tip of his right hand to the center of his chest exploded and he fell back into the dark ravine. Lycitor was finally defeated.

I had completed my goal, and that solace helped me swallow the fact that I had just killed someone. At least to the point where I didn't pass out from it.

Killing someone, whether they had killed others, just made you feel disgusting and sick. Yet it also filled me with a strange sense of purpose.

Luckily my friends arrived before I became too lost in my own thoughts, running across the bridge.

Melora tackled me in a hug. "Thank the Ocean Archer you're ok! We saw you finish Lycitor off, that was incredible. What was that white power you had?"

I told them what had happened and they told me that during my fight the mist had started to clear so they could navigate the palace accurately again.

"We finally did it. After all this time we managed to stop him." The three of us stood there together for a moment. I realized it likely wouldn't stay like that for long. "Thank you both so much for helping me. You're true friends and you always will be."

"Avian, it should be me thanking you. You helped me find purpose outside of my father's legacy and taught me what friendship means." Oritz said with his grin.

Melora's purple eyes sparkled. "And before I met you I couldn't stand living with my mom and just longed to experience something. You've helped us both so much, Avian. I'd gladly go on another quest with you any time."

I brushed some tears from my eyes. Sure my old best friends were truly gone, that fact still hadn't really set in on me. But I had made more friends, not to replace the old ones but to just be my friends. "We should probably get out of here, the Corporation is already having a cow about me. No need to prolong what'll happen."

The three of us began the long trek out of the palace we had spent so little time in. I could finally go home.

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One chapter left until it's all over! The epilogue that wraps up loose ends.

Thanks for reading and have a great day! Bye!