Zareth stepped out of the burning forest.

Each footstep crushed ash and embers beneath his boots. The roar of fire faded behind him, replaced by an unnatural silence. No wind howled here. No flames crackled. The darkness ahead felt thick, heavy but alive.

His sword hung loosely in his hand, the blade still humming with leftover wind mana.

"So you crawled into the shadows," Zareth said coldly. "Fitting."

He advanced without haste, eyes locked on the broken figure ahead.

Amon lay motionless against the rock. Blood stained the ground beneath him. His chest rose slowly, unevenly. His weapons were still out of reach. Any normal warrior would have been dead ten times over.

Zareth raised his sword.

"I gave you enough respect, boy… wait, I guess I didn't give any," he said. "This ends now."

He stepped closer. The shadows beneath Amon twitched. Zareth's eyes narrowed. But again, he was late. He was too relaxed.

The shadow beneath Amon's body exploded upward. It spread violently.

Black tendrils burst from the ground, wrapping around Zareth's legs and waist like chains. The earth cracked as the shadows pulled with brutal force.

It was as if the shadow was getting support from the surrounding darkness. Becoming more solid, stronger, and wider.

Zareth reacted instantly. Wind erupted around him, shredding several tendrils apart, but not all of them.

Amon moved.

He stepped up and kicked off the ground.

He shouldn't have been able to. His body was broken. His mana was unstable. And yet, in this pure darkness, away from the burning forest, he felt powerful.

The sky above was always covered with clouds. No moon or stars were present to give light. In this dark forest, there was only darkness.

And Amon felt as if this darkness anchored him.

Amon vanished into the darkness, away from Zareth's sight.

Zareth turned his head, scanning his surroundings, wondering where Amon had gone.

Then Zareth felt it. Killing intent.

Something was coming toward him with the intent to kill him. It was as if instinct itself was screaming a warning.

He twisted just as a shadow-darkness-coated fist slammed into his ribs.

BOOM!

The impact sent him skidding backward, his boots carving deep lines into the soil. He looked up just in time to see Amon standing.

Slowly.

Unsteadily. But standing. Blood ran down Amon's face. One eye was swollen nearly shut. His breathing was ragged, each inhale scraping his lungs raw. And yet, the smile on his face was wider than before.

"…You walked too close," Amon said hoarsely.

Yet the grin on his face did not fade at all.

Zareth grinned. "Good."

He lunged. The darkness swallowed them both. Amon commanded his hatchet back into his left hand.

Steel screamed as blades collided. Sparks flashed briefly, then vanished into the blackness. Zareth's sword moved like a storm, each strike carried by compressed wind meant to sever limbs and crush bone.

The figures of both Amon and Zareth were barely visible in the darkness.

Yet their attacks met each other perfectly.

Amon met him head-on. Not with skill. Pure instinct.

He caught the flat of Zareth's blade on his sword, shadows reinforcing the metal at the last instant. The impact shattered the ground beneath them.

Zareth followed with a kick enhanced by wind.

Amon took it to the side, bones cracking audibly, but he used the momentum to spin, his hatchet carving toward Zareth's neck.

Zareth ducked, wind lifting him just enough to avoid the blade. He drove his knee upward.

Amon slammed his forehead forward again.

"Hahahah!" Amon laughed as blood dripped from his own nose.

Crack!

Zareth snarled as shadow burst from Amon's skull on impact, distorting his balance for half a second.

That was enough. Amon's hatchet buried itself into Zareth's shoulder. Blood sprayed into the darkness.

Zareth roared and unleashed a point-blank wind burst. Amon was thrown back, slamming into a tree hard enough to split the trunk.

He slid down, coughing blood. Zareth did not let up. He appeared above Amon in a blur, sword descending.

Amon raised his arm. His hatchet was covered with shadow and darkness element generated from mana.

The blade struck.

BOOM!

The shadow shattered instantly, but it slowed the strike just enough. The sword tore through Amon's shoulder instead of his head, carving deep and spraying blood across the tree.

Amon screamed. But his hand shot up and grabbed Zareth's wrist.

Their eyes met in the darkness. Zareth froze.

Amon's pupils were pitch black. "This… is fun," Amon whispered.

The shadows beneath them surged violently, wrapping around both of their legs, anchoring them together.

Zareth laughed sharply.

"You really are insane. Hahah!"

"I know! Hahaha!"

Wind and shadow detonated simultaneously.

The ground around them collapsed as the two clashed again. Fist against blade, shadow against storm. Neither retreated. Neither yielded.

In that lightless forest, away from fire and witnesses, two monsters tore at each other, one forged by hell, the other being born into it.

Amon was getting tired slowly, yet for some reason his strength felt like it was increasing in this darkness.

Both were laughing while fighting each other.

"Hahaha!"

"Hahaha!"

A demon who was enjoying this battle, seeing a man still standing with such a battered body, fighting without fear. For the first time felt respect for this young man.

But Amon… was he someone who enjoyed fighting like Zareth?

No.

Was he battle-crazy?

No.

Amon, at this rate, was laughing at the thought of killing Zareth. That single thought made him excited.

He was just a madman.

But neither figure noticed that away from the burning fire, surrounding them in the darkness, were multiple shadowy figures.

Staring at them fighting. They stood there as if waiting for something.

But Zareth and Amon? They didn't care. They continued to clash.

Zareth's blade came down. Amon avoided it with a sidestep. His face shot forward toward Zareth's shoulder and he bit down hard.

Amon tore apart Zareth's flesh with his teeth.

"Ahhhh!" Zareth yelled in pain. His grip on the sword loosened slightly.

Amon took that chance and released his hatchet from his hand.

Covered with shadow, it moved unnaturally on its own and slashed at Zareth's wrist.

Zareth couldn't avoid it. That was enough. His sword fell to the ground.

"Shit!" Zareth cursed.

Just as he was about to use wind magic.

Multiple screams tore through the silent darkness.

"AHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHH!"

They came from the shadowy figures. At those screams, Zareth lost control of his mind for a second.

He went blank.

But it didn't affect Amon.

His sword thrust forward and tore through Zareth's stomach.

"Gah—!"

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