Is this really a Game?!

Reign knew that the rider's desperation was an opportunity for them, that without the darkness that the rider had summoned, he would be vulnerable. The manifested claws of darkness were powerful and fierce, but they were being used recklessly and desperately, not to mention that they were being used by someone who was still not used to his powers.

The claws, although dangerous, were manifested in a hurry, and thus they were not as powerful as they could have been. The rider was doing his best to use them to their fullest, blocking attacks and attacking back with them, but even that proved to be highly difficult thanks to Reign and his constant interference.

His claws had already been damaged from the previous attacks they blocked, with Reign's light and darkness doing the most damage as the claws had been in contact with them the longest, and now, each time Reign and the others parried a blow, deflecting or blocking the claws, they would notice them growing a bit weaker, a bit smaller and slower.

It could be said that the rider was extremely unfortunate during this battle. First, when fighting and having an advantage over Reign, his confidence allowed him to relax and take his eyes off of Reign for an instant, which he dearly paid for.

Then, when the Alpha was in danger, it did a similar thing, leading to more injuries before his transformation. When he transformed, he had healed himself by a great deal, but the healing actually took some energy that he would have had away.

And then, lastly, when he once again held an advantage, the powerful auras of Beast and Aelrinder made him focus and leave Reing out of sight, which caused him to get into yet another dangerous situation.

All of that made the battle much easier for Reign and the others, and much more difficult for the rider. From fighting the rider, Reign could see that he was very experienced, his skill was incredible, but that was it, he was very experienced with swinging his spear, but not that experienced with actual battles.

Perhaps that was because the rider was amongst those at the pinnacle in the forest, thus it didn't have anyone that would dare attack him, thus making most battles he had easy ones, making it so that the rider actually lacked a bit of combat awareness.

That was the only logical reason the rider would actually act like such during a battle. The rider was used to overwhelming his opponent with both his skill and sheer strength, thus the battles he had gone through in the past allowed him to not be fully focused on what was going on.

Observing the battlefield without caring for what the opponent would do, he had absolute confidence in himself and his strength, in fact, that confidence had turned into arrogance as the rider was certain that even if he was to not focus on fighting Reign and the others, his strength was high enough that it wouldn't even matter.

The rider was used to dominating his opponents, as well as seeing the Alpha, his hunters, and the wolves doing the same. That was why he was shocked at the fact the Alpha was placed in such a situation when fighting against Wolf and Tank.

Because of that, the rider truly did not expect to be injured as he was, and he was even more shocked when he sensed the immense auras of Aelrinder and Beast.

The realization that this battle might very well end badly for him and his tribe was now dawning on the rider, thus he had gone all out. His confidence was now fully interwoven with desperation as he attacked more frantically and erratically, no longer conserving any strength or mana, not even caring to use mana in a more controlled manner.

The strain began showing, each attempt to strike from the rider was met with increased resistance, his strength now longer as high as before, his calm gone, his attacks turning more and more primitive, relying on strength more than skill.

'Had we not fought calmly, without resorting to our marks from the start, working as a team to go up against a more powerful enemy, utilizing our advantage and even some sneaky tricks to deal some damage, we might have never seen this side of the rider, causing him to lose his cool completely and fight like this.'

Reign was right, the way they fought was the reason why they held the advantage even though he, Wolf, and Tank were weaker than the rider. The first stab was the most important, even though Reign had felt some danger and believed that the rider was trying to trick him, he didn't hesitate and attacked, changing the trajectory of the battle.

Reign, now sensing the shift in the rider's form, doubled down on his strategy, amplifying the forces of light and darkness present on his swords while Wolf and Tank proceeded to do what they were doing before.

Tank braced himself and held his shield forward, bashing the rider who easily stopped him with the claws, three of them grabbing the shield and pulling, attempting to take it away from Tank who was not letting go, instead, he grunted and used the [ Abyss Shield ] skill, but not like he had done before.

Instead of creating a shield made of the power of the abyss in front or somewhere near him, he actually applied it on his own shield, coating it in a layer of abyss power. This was actually a bit dangerous for Tank as the power of the abyss was not something to be taken lightly.

Even though the coating was only applied to the sides and front of the shield, it was still enough to cause some damage to even Tank who was simply not used to the power, he could not control it well, and thus, it was somewhat poisonous to him.

But, it proved to be even worse for the claws that started dissipating and turning into smoke while clenching the shield. The destruction of the claws was not fast, but that was merely the side effect of the claws touching the power of the abyss, not to mention that the darkness that came from the rider was also being pushed back slightly.

Wolf arrived with his flames next, pouring as much as he could into his sword to taint them with chaos energy in order to deal with the darkness more easily. The power of chaos was similar to the power of abyss, it was an alien power that most types of energies of the universe disliked and couldn't mingle with.

If it was only Tank or Wolf, or even perhaps just the two of them, the inner darkness that the rider had expelled would have been enough to allow him to deal with them, after all, the rider was stronger than any of them, and the inner darkness was special, it came from deep within him, was a part of him, and was extremely potent and powerful.

The problem was that other than those two, the rider was also facing Reign and his two swords. The light caused the darkness to be expelled when coming into contact with it, while Regn's own darkness was making it difficult for the rider to control his own darkness that was near Reign, thus making it much more difficult for him.

Still, the rider wasn't only using the darkness, he was also fighting with his spear. Swords collided with the spear, and sparks flew as the rider and Reign pushed against one another, both men showing annoyance at the other, as well as weariness and apprehension.

Still, thanks to the three of them, the rider was losing ground, each of his strikes growing weaker. His darkness began to thin out, shrinking under Reign's relentless assault of light and dark energy.

But even then, the rider, determined not to be bested, jumped back and roared as he summoned the very last vestiges of his strength. His spear suddenly thinned and became a spear of shadows, and with one final bellow, he hurled it toward Reign. It hurtled forward like a dark comet, faster than any of the rider's previous attacks, its shadows blazing in deadly arcs.

Reign leaped back instinctively, crossing his swords in an attempt to block the oncoming spear. The impact shook the ground beneath him, his arms absorbing the shock as the spear pushed him back. A wave of darkness surged from it, crackling as it attempted to engulf him. Reign gritted his teeth and held firm, feeling the immense strain and pain from the blow.

"Now!" Wolf shouted, seizing the opportunity as he saw the rider momentarily exposed. He lunged forward, cutting through the darkness, his sword engulfed in chaos flames, aiming directly at the rider's heart.

In a last act of defiance, the rider managed to deflect Wolf's blade, but not without paying a heavy price. The chaos flames that had wrapped around Wolf's sword clawed at the rider's armor, searing through the remaining protective layers and biting deep into his flesh. His face twisted in pain, and a ragged, defeated snarl tore from his lips.

Tank moved in at the same time, a fierce look of determination in his eyes. He bashed forward, removing the darkness by sending his abyss power forward, and then, by channeling all his mana into his axe, he swung with all his might, aiming for the rider's exposed side. The blade struck true, cleaving through the remnants of his armor and embedding itself in the rider's side. The darkness surrounding him seemed to shatter in that instant, dissipating into the air like smoke.

The rider stumbled, the darkness no longer holding him up. His spear lay on the ground, its shadows flickering and fading. For the first time, his face showed a look of utter defeat.

Find adventures at empire

Without giving the rider a single chance, a sword flew forward, stabbing through his throat, white lightning exploding all around.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

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