King adjusted his position, shifting from horizontal to vertical. Beneath his feet, a flat construct platform materialized, a hoverboard of translucent energy that supported his weight. His A++ Rank mage classification had expanded his understanding of basic construct manipulation to levels that allowed for complex creations he’d never used before.

--

The Nephilim pursued immediately, swinging the mace in a bid to catch King mid-air.

King dismissed the chains and allowed himself to drop, falling below the weapon’s arc. He reformed the hoverboard beneath him at a lower altitude, maintaining aerial mobility.

The Nephilim missed and swung the mace again, following King with relentless aggression. The mace came at him from a different angle, vertical this time, descending from over him.

King tilted the hoverboard sharply, skating sideways through the air and evading the strike by inches.

KRA-Kle. Lightning crackled past him as he maneuvered past the mace, a cue King recognized for the next assault.

The Nephilim retracted the weapon this time, and immediately raised it high. It brought the weapon down onto the ground with devastating force, the impact creating a shockwave that rippled outward.

But the physical impact was secondary.

"El-voran Dus’k anvil, Val hal THORR!". The Nephilim’s voice boomed across the battlefield, words in a language King didn’t recognize but whose meaning registered anyway through some property of the spell itself.

The sky darkened instantly, clouds gathering with unnatural speed and blotting out what little light remained. The air pressure dropped so rapidly that King’s ears popped.

Then,

Kra-KOOMMM!!!

Lightning descended from the storm clouds above.

Dozens of bolts struck simultaneously, targeting King’s position with supernatural accuracy. He moved the hoverboard laterally, skating through the air and trying to maneuver the electrical assault.

He was almost successful. The bolts missed, passing within arm’s reach. But then, one struck him directly.

Pain exploded through King’s body as electricity coursed through him. The voltage overloaded his nervous system, causing every muscle to spasm simultaneously. The hoverboard dissolved beneath his feet as his concentration shattered.

He fell.

The ground rushed up to meet him with brutal finality. King tried to orient himself before landing but his body refused to obey commands, his limbs were still twitching from the electrical shock.

His two defensive measures had responded automatically. The Red Imp Talisman flared with crimson light, mitigating a portion of the damage and reducing the effects that should’ve followed. And simultaneously, his Tank skill Unyielding Fortress had triggered, reinforcing his body’s durability and preventing what should have been lethal damage from the lightning, and the fall.

[HP: 520/730]

King hit the ground hard anyway, his HP flickering at the edge of his vision. But the impact had cleared in mere seconds, his skill preventing any after effect and boosting his recovery.

The Nephilim was already approaching, closing distance with those thunderous footfalls.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

King forced himself upright. Evasive maneuvers had proven insufficient. The Nephilim’s power level was too high, its attacks too devastating. Every moment spent on trying to conserve his MP was another opportunity for the creature to land a killing blow.

It was time to press the attack.

King channeled mana aggressively, pouring power into an offensive construct. Three massive spears materialized in the air around him, each weapon measuring fifteen feet in length and proportioned to rival the Nephilim’s own size.

King launched them in rapid succession.

The first spear streaked forward like a missile, closing the distance in under a second. The Nephilim swung its mace horizontally, batting the weapon aside. The spear shattered on impact, construct energy dispersing harmlessly.

The second spear followed immediately. The Nephilim adjusted its grip and swung again, timing perfect, deflecting the second attack with the same skill as the first.

But the third spear, perfectly timed, launched while the Nephilim’s mace was still extended from the second deflection. The weapon streaked toward its target, forcing the creature to overcompensate, pulling the mace back faster than optimal positioning allowed and barely managing to knock the third spear off course.

The deflection left the Nephilim overextended, its guard open for a fraction of a second.

King seized the opportunity.

"Wrath of the Titan."

The ground beneath the Nephilim exploded upward, further displacing its footing. A colossal stone fist erupted from the earth, each finger as thick as a tree trunk, the entire construct measuring as large as the Nephilim itself. The fist drove upward in a devastating uppercut that caught the creature directly under its chin.

The impact lifted the Nephilim completely off the ground, its massive frame rising into the air with the force of the blow. The mace flew from its grip, spinning end over end before embedding itself in the earth thirty meters away.

BOOOMMM!

[STUN SUCCESSFUL]

The Nephilim crashed back down with thunderous force, the ground cratering beneath its weight. It tried to rise immediately, but its body hadn’t recovered.

The construct fingers clamped down immediately, wrapping around the Nephilim’s arms and torso, pinning it flat against the ground. The creature struggled idly as it tried to recover.

King didn’t hesitate. He channeled mana into his second A-Rank spell, feeling the power build and shape itself.

"Depths of the Abyss."

A sphere of pressurized water materialized around the Nephilim’s head, the liquid contained by invisible barriers that maintained its shape. The sphere was perfectly formed, sealing completely around the creature’s neck and preventing any air from reaching its lungs.

[CRITICAL HIT]

[ANAKIN HP: 700/1000]

The Nephilim struggled violently, desperation driving its movements as drowning instinct overrode tactical thinking. Its mouth opened, attempting to scream or cast a spell, but water rushed in and choked off any sound.

[ANAKIN HP: 600/1000]

[ANAKIN HP: 500/1000]

[ANAKIN HP: 400/1000]

King watched the creature’s HP bar, visible in his interface as a long red line that decreased steadily. The drowning debuff ticked away at the Nephilim’s health continously, each second costing it a portion of its total vitality.

[ANAKIN HP: 300/1000]

[ANAKIN HP: 200/1000]

The Nephilim’s struggles weakened as oxygen deprivation took its toll. Its movements became sluggish, uncoordinated, the thrashing reduced to weak spasms.

The HP bar reached zero.

The Nephilim’s body went limp, all fight draining away in an instant. The stone fist released its grip and dissolved back into the earth. The water sphere collapsed, liquid splashing across the ground and revealing the creature’s head.

DING!

[ANAKIN: TRUE NEPHILIM DEFEATED]

[+10,000 Runes]

King dismissed the notifications and allowed himself to fall backward. His legs gave out, exhaustion overwhelming the adrenaline that had sustained him through the fight. He landed on his back, staring up at the darkened sky while his lungs worked to pull in oxygen.

His mana reserves had dropped yet again. The consecutive A-Rank spells reinforced to maximum output had drained quite a lot from him, the cost of maintaining both effects simultaneously pushing his limits to their absolute maximum.

Movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention. King turned his head slightly and saw Vi approaching, the distance between them closing as she ran toward him. The construct hand that had been protecting her must have dissolved when he lost concentration during the final exchange.

Vi reached him and dropped to her knees urgently. "King! Are you..."

"I’m good," King interrupted, though his voice sounded rough even to his own ears. "Just need a minute."

Vi pulled a Greater Mana Potion from her inventory and pressed it into his hand. King accepted it gratefully, uncorking the vial and drinking the contents in one long swallow. The restoration began immediately, mana flooding back into his depleted reserves.

Then she placed her hands over him, a pink energy covered him that healed his injuries and restored his HP.

He remained on the ground for another minute, allowing his body to recover. When his mana reached fifty percent, King pushed himself upright, accepting Vi’s offered hand for stability.

He looked ahead, the black gate stood before them, unguarded now that its protector had fallen.

King approached cautiously, Vi staying close beside him. When they reached the gate, King placed one hand against its surface.

The gate was cold to the touch, unnaturally so, as if the material itself absorbed heat from everything it contacted. But it didn’t resist his presence. The gate recognized him as the victor.

The symbols flared across the black, with sudden light, their movement accelerating until they blurred together.

And then, with a sound like reality tearing, the gate began to open.