Father stared down at the snapped halves of the Long Night laying at Noah’s feet. His dead eyes finally burned with emotion as disbelief and fear warred for supremacy within them. The old man’s hand was still partially extended, as if trying to reach through time itself to pluck the artifact from Noah’s grip before he could destroy it.

But the past was set, and the Long Night was nothing but two sticks on the ground. No amount of terror or anger would ever change that fact.

The fear in Father’s features transformed into unbridled fury in an instant. A howl of wordless anger tore from his mouth. His hand snapped up.

A ripple passed through the air above his head. Revin materialized beside him, his scythe stopped just inches before it could drive through the top of Father’s head. With a scream, Father tore the weapon right out from his grasp and flung it away.

Father thrust his other hand back, sending a wave of white magic rolling out. Garina’s sword screeched as it slammed against the magic. She was shoved backward, but she remained on her feet. Her sword continued on its path. It cut through Father’s power, sending it coiling past her in two streams.

“I’m going tear your soul into ribbons,” Garina snarled. “Your borrowed time has run out, Father.”

The screaming of the Night’s Shadow grew closer still. It rang in Noah’s ears like a dozen church bells incessantly all going off at once. The sound didn’t help the agonized pounding in his skull.

Every movement sent spikes of pain shooting through him like there were needles in his bloodstream. His thoughts were enveloped by a thick fog. It beckoned him with strings of exhaustion that sought to pull him into peaceful oblivion.

The only thing keeping him here was Father. This fight wasn’t over. As long as he drew breath, Noah’s students were still in danger — though Noah did have to admit that the fury on Father’s face was doing wonders for keeping him lucid.

I finally got you, you bastard.

“You think I am so easily defeated?” Father screamed, spittle flying from his mouth as he drove a foot down into the ground.

The air around him bent.

Noah’s ears burst. He found himself launched backward like nothing more than a leaf in the wind. The world spun all around him. His head rung, a struck drum, and he hit the ground with a pained grunt, rolling twice before sliding to a stop.

He forced his fluttering eyes open. His vision danced in and out as his eyes desperately tried to focus. The fight between the three Rank 7s was too fast for him to even follow in this state. All he could make out was the ringing crash and boom of magic against magic.

Waves of power exploded out to beat against the shore of his faltering domain, drowned out by the increasing scream of the Night’s Shadow as it grew ever closer.

A cough forced its way out of Noah’s lungs. It came up wet, splattering against his bare chest in flecks of dark red. Darkness prickled against his vision—

He died.

Somewhere deep within Noah’s mind, a loud crack rang out.

Then his eyes snapped back open. He drew in a ragged gasp, bolting upright in a new body. He didn’t even remember his soul getting pulled free from his corpse. Even now, staying conscious was a fight.

Noah staggered to his feet beside Lee, who stood stiffly alongside everyone else. They all watched the fight intently, their bodies tense with fear and adrenaline.

Father is strong. Even without the Long Night, he’s been preparing for this moment for ages. I’m the only one that can keep interfering without making Garina or Revin pay attention to collateral damage.

Noah’s jaw clenched. His fingers trembled at his sides, then tightened into balls. Then he started forward. His mind focused only on the next step and his pace went from a stumbling stagger to a charge as he accelerated toward the storm of magic.

A wave of pressure slammed into him, but Father’s domain wasn’t anywhere near as oppressive when Garina and Revin were both suppressing him. It couldn’t do anything but slow him.

Bursts of black and white magic screamed all around his head. The world trembled beneath his feet and shadows danced in every direction. His skin tingled from the intensity of the Rune Force and magic unfurling all around him. Ironically enough, the only thing that let him continue on was the fact that Garina, Revin, and Father’s domains were functionally canceling each other out.

Noah couldn’t even see any of them within the mess of magic, but he didn’t need to. He just had to head toward where the pressure was the strongest. Exposed rock cut against the pads of his feet as he ran, but he barely even noticed.

All that mattered was pushing forward while they still had time.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

And then Noah saw him. Within the twisting storm of magic, Father’s furious visage bloomed, surrounded by a screaming white storm. The area around the bitter old man warped from Spatial Magic, crackled with hungry energy.

I need to get him off guard one more time. That’ll buy Garina and Revin the chance they need.

Noah didn’t have any more thoughts to think. His violin snapped into being as he continued his stumbling run forward. He placed the bow against the strings, trembling fingers fighting to keep their purchase.

And then he played. It was only a single note, but it was the only note he could still play. Even calling it a song might have been a stretch. Noah was stripped so bare that there was nothing left to peel back.

The note he played was swallowed by the roaring crash of power all around him. It was one that didn’t even reach his own ears, a sound that would never be heard by so much as a single soul.

But in all things was pattern. Simplicity was no exception.

He sank into his Awakened state.

Power sparked around Noah as he dove forward. The faintest flicker of the pattern that he’d created twisted into being. Father’s magic slammed into it — and it was swallowed.

Father spun—

Noah’s fist slammed into his stomach.

The old man’s eyes widened. He doubled over as Rune Force drove into his body, sending spittle and blood flying from his lips in a pained wheeze. Disbelief flashed through his features —

A black blade slammed into his shoulder. It carved down along his body in a flash, and the cold sneer of black lips appeared within the storm of magic. Garina stepped out behind Father as his right arm, along with a fair portion of his shoulder, fell to the ground with a thump.

Father’s body jerked.

He looked down. The point of a curved black scythe sprouted from the center of his chest. Blood bloomed across his clothes in an unfurling crimson flower. Beside him, Revin shimmered and melted into view.

“You cannot kill me,” Father snarled. “I am—”

“An old man that wasted the last few hundred years of his miserable existence hiding from me like a rat so he could steal a magic stick,” Garina said. “And you’ve got no stick to show for it, Father. You’re nothing but a rogue Rank 7.”

Furious eyes snapped to Noah. Garina’s sword blurred up for the man’s neck in a streak of black.

Noah gave Father a crooked grin.

Then Father blurred into motion.

He tore right through Revin’s scythe, letting it rip out the side of his chest in a spray of blood as he shot forward. Noah braced, but Father didn’t come for him. The man shot right past his side — and toward his students, heading straight for Lee.

“No!” Noah yelled, spinning toward them, already knowing he was far too slow to do anything but watch as Father closed the distance between them in instants.

Frost prickled against Noah’s skin.

There was a deafening crash. An instant before Father arrived at his target, a huge chunk of ice exploded up before him. It slammed into his stomach and sent him skidding back several feet. Coils of frost rose up from the ground as Fuyin stepped out, her teeth gritted in determination.

Father snarled. He leapt to the side, dodging away from Garina as she streaked through the air where he’d been. Thorned vines exploded up from beneath the ground to wind around his feet. He tore himself free of their grasp, but a beam of brilliant moonlight crashed down on his shoulders with a deep, bone-shaking thrum.

He staggered. A furious snarl tore out from Father’s lips. His eyes, full of molten hatred, bore into everyone in a stare. Blood from his wound exploded out around him. It shattered Yoru’s bindings and he rose back to his full height with a scream of fury.

Garina and Revin slammed into view directly behind Father, their weapons blurring toward his back in two black streaks.

For an instant, Father’s eyes locked with Noah’s. Then his remaining hand clenched down. A ring on his finger shattered.

Father exploded into a stream of shimmering white particles.

The weapons streaked through his body, passing by the motes of light harmlessly. They rose up in a stream, then shot through the barrier rising up around Arbalest Empire. Hundreds of tiny ripples washed across the sky as Father passed through the barrier.

And then he was gone, and all that remained behind was the scream of the Night’s Shadow.

“No!” Noah snarled. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Slippery bastard,” Revin spun to give chase. “He waited until we thought we were putting all our attention in a killing blow. We—”

Garina’s hand slammed down on his shoulder. “No.”

Revin blinked. “What? He’s not far! We can still—”

Garina pointed to the sky. Revin and Noah both followed her finger.

Coils of screaming stone twisted through the air in the distance like the waves of some alien ocean. They swam out, steadily covering the skies above the Arbalest Empire.

“We’re out of time,” Garina said grimly. “We can pass through the barrier, but everyone below Rank 6 can’t. I will not sacrifice everyone here just to kill Father. This is what the Empire was created for. They are my duty now.”

“Goddamn it,” Revin growled. “I hate losing.”

“Losing?” Garina asked, her eyes as cold as ice. “This is not losing. Father’s time will come. He escaped me once before. I made sure that’ll never happen again. I have his scent, now. His life is measured in days. But this takes priority. The Long Night is broken, for better or for worse. The Night’s Shadow is free.”

“Free?” Noah asked, his words sounding distant to his own ears in the face of the approaching screaming. He fell to one knee as the world swayed around him. “What do you mean?”

“The Long Night wasn’t just a weapon. It was the key to the prison cell. I honestly don’t know how you broke it so easily. The staff was an artifact heavily imbued with Order… so I suppose all the damn chaos magic that it was surrounded by while it was stored away must have worn it away. You were just the finishing push. Yes, that must have been it. I cannot think of any other reasonable possibility,” Garina said grimly, but there was doubt in her voice. She shook her head. “But it no longer matters. Now there’s nothing left holding the door closed. The Night’s Shadow won’t stop at the barrier surrounding Arbalest Empire. Escaping isn’t enough anymore.”

Moxie ran up to Noah. She threw his jacket around his shoulders as she sent a concerned look to Garina. “What do you mean?”

“I mean none of you can run fast enough.” Garina turned her gaze up to the sky, her face as grim as death. “If any of you are to survive… the Night’s Shadow must be destroyed.”

“How?” Lee asked. “How can we kill something like that?”

Garina shook her head. Then she swallowed.

“I don’t know.”