Priest's POV
I told Nara we should part ways. She didn't argue. Somewhere deep inside, we both knew — if we got caught in the same fight, they would use our bond against us. I could smell it, like scorched iron and smoke rising from broken temples — the Uppers were here.
I stopped running when I heard the faintest movement, the kind you only catch when you've spent your life listening for death. My breath stilled, and I pressed myself behind one of the stone pillars that lined the museum's ancient back wall.
A voice drifted through the mist. Sharp. Mocking.
"What, you think I can't feel you? I've heard tales of your power and bravery, Caesum. Yet here you are… hiding like a rat."
My heart didn't skip a beat. It hammered. That voice.
It took me only a second to recognize it. Even without seeing him, my soul remembered.
"Dreko," I said flatly.
I stepped out slowly. My dagger spun once in my hand before I gripped it tight. The air around us grew heavier with every breath. The moonlight fell directly between us like a blade.
He emerged from the shadows — tall, lean, soaked in red-black armor that looked forged in the heart of hell. Crimson tattoos crawled up his exposed arms, and dark horns curved back from his skull like a twisted crown.
"Why are you here?" I asked, knowing it was a pointless question.
He laughed, deep and cruel. "Why does anyone come here anymore? To collect what's theirs. Give me the keys. I don't have time to waste."
"You'll have to take them from my corpse."
"So dramatic," he sneered, stalking slowly in a circle around me. "You still talk like a high priest. Always sacrificing, always protecting. You weren't so noble when we last fought."
My grip tightened.
He was right.
A thousand years ago, I faced Dreko beside Teresina. We barely survived. I still bore the scar beneath my ribs where his obsidian blade had pierced me. I had struck back then, driven by vengeance, not duty. And I lost.
Today, I would not fight as a broken man. I would fight as a shield.
"I don't need to win," I said coldly. "I just need to delay you."
He smirked. "Then allow me to oblige."
He moved like lightning — no, like hatred shaped into muscle and steel. Our blades met in a flash, sparks flying into the air as steel screamed against steel.
I ducked low, swept at his legs. He leapt. A black spear of energy formed mid-air in his hand. I rolled left just as it slammed into the earth, cracking the stone beneath.
"You've gotten slower," he taunted.
"I've gotten wiser."
I hurled one of my daggers into the air — it split into a dozen light spears. He deflected five. Two grazed his arm. The rest exploded around him in a flash of holy light.
He hissed and vanished into the smoke.
I felt it—heat at my back.
I twisted just in time to parry a downward slash. My arm trembled under the force.
"Your faith can't save you from me," he growled.
"I'm not praying," I gritted. "I'm fighting."
I slammed my boot into his chest and shoved him back, then charged forward, blade glowing bright with runes. I aimed for the weak point in his armor — just below the ribs. He caught my wrist. His nails dug into my flesh.
"I killed dragons, Caesum. What makes you think you're special?"
"You never faced one like me."
I pulled a hidden blade from my sleeve and sliced across his arm. He snarled, recoiling, black blood spraying. I spun away, breathing heavy, but standing.
"Still a rat with tricks. uhh."
He raised a hand. The wind howled.
A circle of dark runes ignited beneath our feet.
I recognized it — the Seal of Crumbling.
With a snap of his fingers, the ground burst. Chunks of earth and marble rose around us like levitating debris. I leapt from one to another as he hurled spears of shadow.
One scraped my leg. Another clipped my side.
I channeled energy through my dagger, etched runes glowing bright blue.
"By oath, by flame, by light—" I whispered, then slammed the dagger into the rising stone.
A dome of holy magic erupted around us, halting his assault.
He hovered just beyond it, laughing.
"You still think that will stop me?"
"I think it's already done," I smirked, panting.
He blinked.
From behind him, the museum bell tolled softly. The first light of dawn began to pierce the clouds.
He growled. "Tch. You were stalling."
"I told you," I said calmly, "I only needed to delay you."
Dreko lowered his weapon. For a moment, he looked at me not as prey… but as a soldier. A survivor.
"You haven't changed," he said. "Still willing to die for others."
"I live for them."
He stepped back. His wings unfurled — vast, shadowy, reeking of decay.
"I'll find your lord eventually. And when I do, this little resistance of yours… it won't save him. Or that girl."
He vanished in a blink, black feathers raining down in his wake.
I collapsed to one knee, blood dripping from my side.
The sun rose.
I smiled weakly.
"One battle at a time… Dreko."