Tendrils with barbed ends shot out in every direction from Andrea. The tendrils surrounded Josh as they approached. There was no escape from the attack. So, all he could do was defend. James lifted his hand to summon forth a translucent sphere made of white light. The sphere created a barrier between James and the tendrils. The tendrils now were smacking against the barrier. Beats reverberated like a drum as the tendrils smacked down one after another.

  James channeled Essence into his free hand as the tendrils smacked on his barrier. He knew it was only a matter of time before the barrier was destroyed, and he needed to be prepared for that moment. The corrupted Essence felt strange as he tried to control it. His natural light Essence felt easy and natural to control. The corrupted Essence felt like it needed to be dominated and forced. The Essence twisted around James’s arm like a tornado. As he desperately tried to take control of the Essence, it started to form an orb in his hand. The orb periodically twisted into other shapes, sometimes transforming into a cube or triangle. In response, James forced his will on the corrupted Essence to force it back into a sphere.

  Cracks started to form throughout James’s barrier. James moved into a ready position as he waited for the barrier to break. It did not take many more swings of the tendrils to break through the barrier. The barrier broke like glass as the tendrils smashed through it. While the pieces of the barrier fell to the ground, James moved to use his attack. He moved his hand forward and forced the orb to expand until it created an explosion of red and purple light.

  The explosion tore apart several tendrils and seemed to have a blinding effect on Andrea as she reeled backward. James’s techniques were generally focused on blinding effects but with the help of the corrupted Essence, he could apply stronger damaging effects to his techniques. He quickly moved in with his sword and cut through several of the tendrils. His slashes moved in perfect rhythm as they flowed one after another. Andrea’s tendrils had been reduced by over half from the combination of James’s explosion and sword techniques.

  As tendrils fell to the ground, James could see Andrea’s face once more. Her expression was in a sort of twisted fury and accentuated her monstrous appearance. With an angry yell, she sent her remaining tendrils at James. This time, she moved them in a serpentine fashion. They twisted around and tried to confuse James before they came in for the strike.

  James did his best to dodge the oncoming strikes. He was not good at enhancing himself, but was able to use the corrupted Essence to make up for his weakness. Each tendril came at him with incredible speed and strength. As James weaved through and dodged them, they pierced through the ground with ease. He instantly could tell that a hit from one of the tendrils would cause him serious harm.

  James struggled to close the gap between him and Andrea. The tendrils had way more range than he did, and the constant dodging made it difficult for him to get closer. He also had very little time to channel a technique to counter Andrea. He figured his best bet was to throw a blinding attack at her and close the gap. He just needed a moment to channel his Essence.

  “Where is all that confidence?” Andrea cackled as her tendrils whipped around the area. The ground cracked as Andrea’s tendrils hit it with great force. “You are just buzzing around like a fly now!”

  James ignored Andrea’s taunts. He knew that if he let his guard down for a moment, he would get caught by her attacks. He needed to focus on creating an opening. He felt shocked that even with the increased power of the sword, he struggled with Andrea. He thought that his level as a Copper and the power of the sword would give him the advantage. Instead, Andrea had accumulated so much corrupted Essence that she easily had the power of an upper Copper.

  As tendrils chased James relentlessly, he felt like he needed to change his tactics. He would have to do something drastic to cause a change in the fight. Otherwise, the battle would drag on endlessly. He skidded to a stop and started to channel Essence into the palm of his hand.

  “Giving up, are you?” Andrea laughed. “That’s fine by me.”

  Barbed tendrils directed themselves at James and shot through him. Tendrils ripped through his body, leaving holes in him. Andrea ripped the tendrils back out as a satisfied grin came across her face. As James’s body started to fall to the ground, red and purple Essence surrounded his body. He stumbled for a moment but somehow kept standing.

  “You should be dead!” Andrea’s grin instantly switched to a frustrated scowl.

  “I just thought I would try what you do,” James smirked as he threw the finished orb at Andrea.

  A burst of light surrounded the area. Maya could have sworn it was brighter than James’s previous blinding attacks. As the light pierced the area, Maya saw red and purple light pierce through it all. The light took the shape of a raging inferno as it charged towards Andrea.

  As the light faded, Maya saw James running his sword through Andrea’s chest. His Essence still exploded out of him. Like he was a star burning everything out before he died. Andrea let out an unearthly wail as James pushed the blade further and further into her. She was completely caught off guard and could not muster the strength to defend against the attack. The mere moments felt like an eternity as James pushed with all his might. Then, with his last remaining strength, he pulled the blade upward. Andrea’s upper body split in two while the rest of her body went limp. The blade dropped from James’s hand as he lost strength in his knees and fell to the ground.

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  For a moment, there was quiet. Maya and James did not move. Instead, they watched Andrea’s lifeless body to see if somehow she survived the attack. As the quiet blanketed the area, James nodded in satisfaction as her body disintegrated into red and purple dust. He was able to do it. He killed Andrea. Once Maya realized this, she ran to James’s side and started to channel Essence into her hand.

  “Stop,” James ordered. “Use that to heal yourself.”

  “But you’re going to die,” Maya said as she looked over James’s body. His wounds never had healed. Instead, he had used Essence to push himself just a little further to fight. With the Essence used up, he would definitely die.

  “I know,” James said with a smile. Maya could not understand why he was still smiling. “I never planned to make it out of this fight alive. That’s why I took the black sword. I knew it would corrupt my Essence, and there was no turning back. I figured it would give us the chance we needed, though.”

  “Why would you even do that? I’m sure we could have figured out a way to win without that sword,” Maya said with visible frustration.

  “I wanted a guarantee. I needed to make sure humanity had a solid foundation in the new world we will be entering,” James said with calmness before he started to cough. After his coughing fit, he laughed to himself. “I’m about done for. My men are ordered to follow your husband. Also, could you tell Brian that I’m sorry? He was the only one I didn’t tell about my plan. I knew that he would not let me go through with it.”

  “Tell that to him yourself,” Maya insisted as she reached her hand over James and poured her Essence into him.

  “You can’t stop death,” James smiled as he gripped Maya’s wrist. “Heal yourself and look after humanity for me.”

  James held Maya’s wrist shockingly tight with the last of his strength. She tried to break away from his grip. She was not going to let him just die. She may not have liked him much, but he was still a human being. If she could help it, she wouldn’t let someone die in front of her. As she finally broke free, James’s hand fell to the ground. He used the last bit of his strength to prevent her from wasting her Essence to heal him.

  “Men are such idiots,” Maya said with frustration as she looked down at James’s lifeless body.

  Maya watched as James’s body started to disintegrate. Tiny motes of white light lifted from his body until there was nothing left. She could not be sure what that meant for his afterlife or even if there was an afterlife. Despite that, she felt a slight happiness that his body turned into his own Essence and not the corrupted Essence.

  Maya sat down and allowed Essence to flow through her body. She could not do much more to help fight. So, she figured that she should do her best to heal herself. As she healed, she felt a presence come up behind her. She turned around quickly to see the source of the presence. She could not really fight anymore, but she was not going to be killed without a fight.

  Maya turned to see that the man who approached her was an ally. It was one of James’s men. She was not sure she could call him a man, though. He could not be more than eighteen years old. His face was boyish with no facial hair, and his brown hair was in a short cut. He did not have the previous strong posture that James’s subordinates all had. Instead, his shoulders slumped, and his eyes welled up with tears.

  “I knew he was going to do it,” the young man said as he choked out words. “But that doesn’t make this any easier.”

  “I’m sorry. I tried to heal him, but he refused,” Maya said with a frown.

  “He told us that he would refuse healing,” the young man said as he knelt down to the clothes that remained of James. He started to rummage through James’s clothes. “He said that your husband could lead us through the trials to come. His role was to help us get there.”

  “He seemed pretty sure of that,” Maya nodded. “I don’t fully understand it, though. Why is he so sure about Austin?”

  “Austin genuinely cares. If anyone will make sure that we will be okay, it would be him,” the young man responded as he pulled an amulet from within James’s clothes.

  “What about Natasha? She seems to care,” Maya said.

  “She seems that way, sure. But ultimately, she is a politician. She gathered as many people as she could for her own survival. She used kindness as her weapon. Austin does not gather people like that. He spent days working on enchantments just so everyone could have one,” the young man explained. “He is a genuine leader, and all of us agree. If it comes down to it, we will fight for his leadership over Natasha. I hope it doesn’t, though.”

  “I can get what you mean,” Maya nodded. “He never has been the type to be extroverted, but he always has cared about the well-being of others. Also, I’m sorry I didn’t ask, what is your name?”

  “That’s okay. Things are kinda crazy. My name is Grayson,” the young man said as he placed the amulet in his pack. He then moved to Maya and placed his hands over her. Green strands of light flowed from his hands into Maya. “Speaking of crazy things, I’m also here to help you. Didn’t mean to delay. I have a nature affinity. So, I am a pretty good healer.”

  “Oh, thanks, you didn’t need to do that,” Maya said, caught off guard.

  “Oh, I definitely did,” Grayson chuckled slightly. “Your husband is a monster. I don’t want to get on his bad side.”

  “A monster?” Maya’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “I never really thought of him like that.”

  “Of course you didn’t. He’s your husband,” Grayson said. “But I’ll tell you this. While James needed that sword to close the gap in strength between him and that woman, Austin won’t need that at all. I don’t think he even realizes it, but that guy is nothing compared to him.”