Ivan''s body rose up from the ground, wobbling from left to right as it tried to remain standing.


    "What is this Orion? Corrupted?"


    Kamala was in shock. She saw Ivan die right in front of her.


    "How can this be?"


    She looked at Orion as if this situation was unexpected, and indeed, it was, even for Orion.


    "I expected this. Since I saw the soldiers attacking your city, I had that thought stuck in my head."


    "That they were corrupted? We already knew from the beginning, isn''t it?"


    "Yes, you are right. But there''s something else. Tell me, what were they before being corrupted?"


    "Humans?"


    "..."


    Kamala remained silent when she heard her own answer.


    Her emotions calmed down, as she looked at Orion and understood the situation.


    "Do you want to say that the soldiers were already dead when they attacked us?"


    "I suppose they were. Compared to the ones that Amelia and Karteira fought earlier that still had their will intact, the ''feral'' soldiers that invaded were definitely different."


    "That''s true."


    Kamala nodded. It made sense that the defect products of corruption would be sacrificed by Ivan. They were pawns for him, to be discarded however he wanted.


    "But it seems that even him couldn''t escape the aftermath of the corruption."


    Orion stared at the moving corpse with focus.


    "It''s changing shape."


    Cracking sounds of bones were heard, as time passed.


    "Why are we watching, wouldn''t it be wiser to attack immediately?"


    Kamala was right, it would be wiser to simply ignore the change and finish before it was done with it''s transformation.


    "That''s not going to be possible. You haven''t notice? There''s a layer of lightning around him. And I only realized now, but he still has his spear next to him."


    "It should have vanished when you killed him."


    This was a mistake she shouldn''t have made. She was so lost in her own memories that she had forgotten to look around after ending his life.


    Orion was too preoccupied by his injury to notice it either.


    "It''s ending anyway, it''s already too late."


    The last cracking sound echoed among the empty rubble. Four spots on his body opened, expulsing a lot of blood from them.


    Those four places revealed each a black core, darker than the ones Orion saw before.


    If the Corrupted Lords core were dark with purplish nuances, these ones were pure darkness.


    "This... might be worst than what we expected."


    He stared at the empty shell of Ivan. His red crimson eyes were fixated on Orion.


    ''Two on the back of his hands, one on his chest, and one somewhere in his back.''


    They would have to move behind him to see the last core.


    ''Why do I have this uneasy feeling under his gaze? I didn''t feel that before his death.''


    He ignored it, as it reminded him of the time he ran past the corrupted soldiers when they arrived near Hocride.


    "I''ll tell you before we get into the fight. His weaknesses are the black cores that appeared on his body."


    "But we''ll have to be fast, because they regenerate over time. We have to crush them in a relatively short time frame."


    Kamala blinked a few times.


    ''What is this bad joke? We have to do what now?''


    "Don''t compare the former Ivan and this thing. You might-!"


    Orion jumped toward Kamala and caught her before sliding away from their previous spot.


    The place they were standing at was gone. A fuming trail was all that was there.


    The corrupted Ivan attacked with a beam of lightning from his palm.


    "You might die. Do you understand now?"


    She nodded, switching to her fighting stance.


    "His shield is gone. Let''s see what happens before aggressively attacking."


    Orion and Kamala decided to split up and look for a way to efficiently dispatch him, again.


    They both looked at him, while his gaze stayed on Orion the whole time. Only his head moved. After a short period of time, the shield around Ivan reappeared.


    ''Thirty seconds. Let''s see what you do right now.''


    He stopped walking, and looked straight to see any movement.


    And if not for the Calm Analysis ability, he would have certainly died at that point.


    Ivan lifted his arm at an inhuman speed, and released another beam of lightning toward him, completely ignoring Kamala.


    Orion managed to dodge it by stepping away, and continued to analyze his enemy.


    ''Seems like he has to recharge after each lightning beam. We have thirty seconds before his shield reactivate.''


    ''Rinse and Repeat tactic. We hit, we move away, we dodge, and that until he goes down. That would be great if it were this easy.''


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    He laughed in his mind, knowing that nothing was easy against a corrupted.


    Orion looked at Kamala on the other side. After confirming she was looking at him, he lifted three fingers of his right and and made a ''0'' sign with his left hand next to it.


    ''3...0? 30? Thirty seconds?''


    She understood the message.


    ''We have thirty seconds before his shield comes back? There''s only one way to fight then.''


    The same tactic came to her mind. They were both on the same page most of the time.


    ''I''ll act accordingly. The deal was that she killed Ivan, and she did. The corrupted part is for me!''


    Orion was determined to fight this one, alone if he needed to.


    And it seemed that the corrupted Ivan was only focusing on him.


    But he knew that Kamala wouldn''t go back now.


    ''Alright, let''s go!''


    His body reacted to the magic once again, his hair turning gold and silver.


    "Alcyone."


    His most powerful crossbow in hand, Orion prepared himself.


    The battle began when Orion dodged the next beam. He immediately threw a few arrows toward Ivan.


    The arrows almost touched his weak points, but he easily dodged the arrows. His moving speed was incredible.


    ''I knew it wouldn''t be easy.''


    Kamala watched as Orion shot arrows after arrows, each one being avoided by Ivan. She had to move away to avoid being hit, though Orion made sure that none would hit her.


    He shot at various angle, he jumped, slid, attacked lower and higher body parts, there was no mistakes in his enemy''s movements.


    ''What do you think of this then?''


    Orion switched his crossbow with Taygeta, and shot multiple crippling arrows of various effects. Bleed, Mute, Blindness... but none worked, as Ivan crushed them with his free hand.


    ''Well, shit.''


    He smiled wildly, his hunting instincts completely awakened.


    They continued to fight for ten minutes, without anyone of them managing to injure the other.


    ''This is once again going nowhere.''


    The corrupted Ivan finally broke eye contact with Orion, as he looked at the spear stuck on the ground next to him.


    He grabbed it, and took a stance that indicated that he was done with ranged attacks.


    ''You want to get closer?''


    Orion stopped using his crossbow and formed the daggers in his hands.


    Ivan crouched with both his legs, and leaped at high speed toward Orion.


    Orion tried to stop the sudden attack by crossing the dagger, in vain. He gritted his teeth as he felt his arms fail him.


    The corrupted was stronger than him. His raw strength overpowered Orion.


    *BOOM*


    He flew away from the impact, rolling among the rubble.


    For a moment, he thought he was dead, but his body was in better shape than expected.


    There was only a slight pain in his arms.


    ''Good thing I deflected most of the force behind the impact.''


    But he couldn''t think anymore, Ivan was already rushing to him.


    ''Let me breathe, damn it!''


    Orion braced himself, but this time, he managed to only be pushed back a few meters away.


    ''He is way stronger than me, I won''t be able to attack if I only play defensively.''


    But as he thought that, a shadow appeared behind Ivan.


    *Crack*


    It was Kamala, who strike the dark core on his back.


    The face of the corrupted Ivan crumbled in pain, as he touched his back.


    ''I almost forgot about her.''


    They both looked at each other in trust. She had his back.


    ''I''ll defend and she attacks. Let''s go for that.''


    But when Kamala was about to attack, the shield reappeared.


    He would use this to heal himself, as if nothing happened.


    ''No, you won''t have that pleasure!''


    Orion brought Taygeta out, and pointed down, looking at Karteira.


    He made an half-circle motion, expecting her to understand.


    She immediately got to created a rocky platform in front of Orion.


    He jumped on it, and with the push of the wind element, he jumped over Ivan, firing ''Mute'' arrows rapidly to break the shield.


    Orion landed on the other side and shot the last arrow. Kamala took that moment to pass between the opening and kick the back of Ivan, where the core was.


    His body flew a few meters away, rolling on the floor.


    Ivan stood up and ran toward Orion once again, ignoring the healing of his core. The corrupted felt that defending was not a good option right now.


    The fight continued with Orion enduring the powerful blows of the corrupted.


    Kamala used the fact that she wasn''t the focus of attack to watch for opportunities to break the cores.


    After Orion blocked a downward strike, Kamala slithered under Orion''s arms and punched upward toward the chest of Ivan.


    The second cores exploded, with Ivan being sent backward from the impact.


    ''We can make it!''


    She was rejoicing inside, thinking that it would end faster than expected.


    But what happened next made her regret that thought.


    As Ivan slid away, he grabbed the spear tighter. More and more magic were infused into it.


    The spear grew in size, and changed color, from purple to bright white.


    "Hum... this is bad isn''t it?"


    Orion looked at Kamala as if she was dumb.


    "Of course it is."


    ''Orion! Catch!''


    Amelia''s voice echoed in his head, and he looked toward the camp all the way on his right.


    Something was coming toward him extremely fast.


    "Kamala, make me a platform sending me straight up!"


    Not understanding, she still made it.


    He jumped on it and found himself a few meters in the air, extending his arm to catch the thrown item.


    The moment he caught it, he saw what it was.


    "This is! Nice one Amelia!"


    ~


    Moments before.


    Ego told what was happening to Amelia, who herself explained it to Karteira.


    "We should have gone with him! I knew it."


    Karteira was losing her patience. She wanted to join Orion and fight.


    "No, you know this is not our fight. And this whole ordeal was not part of the plan."


    Amelia tried her best to calm her friend.


    "Damn it Amelia. What are we supposed to do? Wait until Orion gets exhausted? It will be too late at that point, and you know it."


    Amelia sighed. She understood her feelings. If she wasn''t holding herself, she would already be by his side.


    ''The Apostle once again changed his tactic. It seems that a bigger attack is coming.''


    Ego told everything to Amelia once again.


    ''More than those beams we keep seeing?''


    ''Definitely. Even Orion said that this was trouble.''


    "..."


    Karteira noticed the worried face Amelia was making.


    "What happened this time?"


    "A big attack is coming."


    "Then we don''t have much time! Let''s go!"


    Karteira was about to run away.


    "Wait!"


    She stopped in her tracks.


    "Even if you go, it will be too late."


    "Then what can we do?"


    Amelia used Calm Analysis, breaking into a cold sweat as she worked harder to find a way to help Orion.


    "I may have a solution, but I need your help."


    "Then speak fast. What do I do?"


    "Get ready to hit this with all your strength toward Orion."


    Amelia brought her lighting element out. The sphere of lightning formed in her hands.


    "Alright!"


    Karteira''s hands were instantly covered by her plates. The gauntlets were ready to use.


    "One. Two. Three!"


    Amelia threw the sphere in the air, toward Karteira.


    "HEIIII!"


    She punched with all her strength, lifting herself from the ground from the momentum she had. She fell her butt on the sand, before looking at the orb flying at high speed toward Orion.


    ''Orion! Catch!''


    Ego linked Amelia to Orion, sending her thoughts to him.


    ~


    Orion, still in the air, looked at the familiar lightning sphere in his hands.


    "Let''s see who''s better! My friend''s lightning, or yours!"


    "Electra!"


    Orion let his excitement take over. The sudden help was welcome.


    The lightning crossbow, Electra, instantly took shape from the sphere.


    He pulled the lightning string and let the crossbow use as much magic as possible.


    ''Show him your power, take whatever you need, and blast him away.''


    Ivan was about to throw his charged spear at Orion who was about to fall to the ground after reaching the peak of the jump.


    *Click*


    Orion shot the strongest lightning arrow permitted to him, leaving him almost dry of magic.


    Ivan threw the spear at the same moment.


    The two attacks joined together in the middle, creating a powerful blast that was felt all the way to the camp were Amelia and Karteira were.


    The ball of plasma created by the two lightning attack colliding with each other fried everything under it.


    Orion was pushed back from the blast, as was Kamala.


    Ivan wasn''t, forcing himself to stand in place. This would lead to his defeat.


    When Orion fell to the ground, he looked at the struggle of forces.


    ''Amelia''s element is stronger than yours. Remember that.''


    The ball of plasma began to fall toward Ivan''s corrupted shell of an Apostle, and before long his body was engulfed by it.


    "..."


    Orion and Kamala looked in silence until the sizzling noise stopped, and the plasma vanished.


    Ivan''s body was still there, his knees on the ground, his red eyes looking intently at Orion.


    "He''s not dead yet."


    "Fast! Let''s destroy his cores."


    Kamala ran first toward Ivan. She was going for the right hand core.


    "Right."


    Orion followed, exhausted and out of magic. He still had to finish the fight.


    Kamala threw an uppercut to make him stand, and followed by a punch to his right hand, exploding the core.


    Trying to stabilize his broken body, Ivan stumbled around, before Orion appeared next to him.


    With one last exchange of glare, Orion crushed his arm, kicked him in the back and stomped on the core on his left hand.


    The Corrupted Apostle, Ivan Borias''s empty shell, fell on his back, looked one last time at Orion with a glare of pure animosity.


    His crimson red eyes lost their light, his body slowly disintegrated to the wind. His cores all destroyed, this was his end.


    "This time for sure. He''s gone."


    Orion turned to Kamala, before sitting on the ground.