In New Darkovia, little separated a death knight from a sorcerer. A death knight could ethereally sharpen their blade to a lethal edge, significantly increasing the probability of landing a critical strike. Beyond simple sharpening, even a novice death knight could infuse their weapon with a mastered chaos element through a specialized procedure known as Aura.
Unlike a Chaos Lich, who converts raw energy into a chaos element and expends the raw energy within mid-combat to keep the chaos element sustained, the knight's Aura physically manifests as a permanent enchantment on the steel. While rare, gifted sorcerers could mimic this feat, though few possessed the mana reserves to sustain such a drain. For a sorcerer, enchanting a weapon in real-time meant burning through their energy so rapidly so as to keep their weapon enchanted in real time causing them to devote more focus on their weapon other than the opponent they were battling, a grave mistake that could cause impending doom by losing focus on the battlefield. Most sorcerers considered replicating this practice in a battle challenging, unethical and tactically foolish.
Sebastian and other Death knights, however, bypassed these limitations through their superior energy tiers. While their massive reserves provided a foundation, it was their unique Aura ability that changed the game. Sebastian's blue-black aura, a byproduct of his spatial affinity, acted as a self-sustaining conduit. By filtering and absorbing ambient energy from the atmosphere, the Aura fueled the weapon's enchantment indefinitely. This allowed a death knight to maintain a devastatingly empowered blade throughout a prolonged skirmish without ever tapping into their own internal stores.
That was one of the reasons Sebastian held on despite the devastating onslaught Diego unleashed. While Sebastian managed to evade several strikes, he was fundamentally unable to trade blows without sustaining damage; the throne room had devolved into a glorified battlefield where errant energy cratered every available surface.
The two transcendent beings moved at blistering speeds, striking and counter-striking with relentless fury, their bodies incurring horrific wounds that they knit back together through sheer willpower and the energy within their bodies before they could become fatal. It was a high-stakes dance of attrition, each warrior waiting for the other to commit a single, microscopic error—a lapse in concentration that would result in a wound beyond their immediate capacity to heal, effectively shifting the momentum of the entire conflict.
However, Sebastian held a hidden card that could forcibly dictate the flow of the engagement. He possessed a unique sensory ability: while similar to spatial awareness, it functioned as a localized form of foresight, allowing him to perceive an opponent's intent seconds before they acted. This precognitive edge was invaluable, yet it carried a heavy cost—an agonizingly long cooldown period.
Sebastian had gambled the ability during his opening gambit, using it to bypass Diego's guard and land a heavy strike to the head. That initial use had left him strategically "crippled," forced to rely on his standard spatial talents while his trump card recharged. Now that the foresight had finally manifested again, Sebastian faced a pivotal choice: should he trigger the ability immediately to seize the advantage, or wait for the perfect opening to deliver a strike that wouldn't just wound Diego, but end him entirely?
Planning a strike intended to outrightly kill Diego seemed like the logical path for Sebastian. However, the "right move" had already failed him once; he had previously orchestrated an assault, certain that plunging his sword into Diego's head would end the conflict. Yet, Diego had somehow survived that fatal blow. As Sebastian watched Diego—once mangled but now standing fully restored—he felt the bitter sting of a futile effort. He was no longer entirely committed to the idea of a direct execution, primarily because he was uncertain how to slay such a creature. While a shot to the brain terminates most life, such mortal rules did not apply to an Apprentice Soul Vampire like Diego; the math of death simply didn't add up. The realization gnawed at Sebastian's confidence, forcing him to acknowledge that conventional lethality was a luxury he could no longer afford against an opponent who defied the natural order.
The alternative was to remain passive and wait for a perfect opening to deploy his spatial foresight. This approach offered several distinct advantages. First, it prevented Diego from gaining too much intelligence regarding Sebastian's spatial abilities; while Diego likely suspected that space manipulation was the secret to Sebastian's reactionary speed, he remained ignorant of the full scope of those powers. If Sebastian used his foresight recklessly, Diego would quickly deduce the duration, limits, and mechanics of the technique—a disadvantage Sebastian could ill afford. Second, by biding his time, Sebastian maintained a hidden ace, allowing him to wait until he devised a definitive finishing move. This calculated patience ensured that when he finally struck, the blow would be backed by the full weight of an unforeseen tactical evolution.
However, this waiting game carried a grim consequence: the toll on Sebastian's weathered, tired body. As he struggled to parry relentless attacks, he had to wonder how much longer he could endure before a lapse in concentration occurred. The ultimate risk was that while he searched for a weakness in Diego, Diego was simultaneously hunting for a flaw in him, and it was only a matter of time before Sebastian made a single, costly mistake.
After weighing the pros and cons of his spatial foresight, Sebastian decided that charging in head-first was his best option. Although failing to eliminate Diego once and for all would carry grave consequences, they paled in comparison to the disaster of holding back. Relying on his battered body to orchestrate a conventional attack was a death sentence; he needed to exploit the narrow window to strike a weakened Diego before his own strength gave out.
The chances of Diego faltering first were slim, leading Sebastian to wonder: "How couldsomeone who survived a headshot lookingunscathed becomeweakened easily ?" The grim reality was that Diego was nearly immortal, a relentless force of nature. Yet, by pushing his spatial foresight to its absolute limit, Sebastian hoped to unlock a precise, reality-bending strike—one final, devastating maneuver that would bypass Diego's unnatural resilience and leave him, quite literally, very dead.