Abyss.
The name slams through me like revelation.
The pressure of his domain against my chest no longer feels like an unstoppable force. It feels like a breakable structure. Something Icanfight against. And with that, renewed hope blossoms in my heart.
His attack surges toward me. This odd confidence growing inside of me urges me to goagainstit instead of away from it.
My hand shoots upward and strikes the single weakest seam in the woven shadow. A heartbeat later, his entire construction collapses and Eragon’s power breaks apart instantly.
I blink, shocked that it actually worked. Despite acting on instinct, the thinking part of my brain is still in disbelief; still unable to fully understand what’s happening.
Eragon is equally surprised. His eyes widen in shock, his entire composure showing cracks for the first time.
He’s probably thinking the same thing as me: he was one second away from ending this battle.
I attack before he can recover—before shock leaves his face and discipline takes its place again. This new and strange instinct guides me through it all, telling me when and where to strike.
He jerks back. His shadows are back in formation, in the shape of black spears and all aimed at me.
My sight has changed—or at least I think it has. Instead of weapons shaped out of darkness, I see threads, structures and converging currents of energy.Thisis the architecture of his power, what lies beneath the seamless execution. My body moves before conscious thought catches up. I twist through the first barrage and strike the weak seam of the nearest spear with a shadow blade of my own.
His entire construct collapses into useless wisps of dark as if its foundation has been ripped from under it.
And when the next shadow spear strikes, I pivot and hit it in the same spot, effectively dismantling.
One after another, his shadows lunge toward me, aiming for a weak spot to finally deliver a deadly blow. But one after another, this newly enhanced sight of mine notices the flaws in each shadow. With one strike in the perfect spot, they cease to exist.
The crowd behind the barrier erupts in stunned cries. Some are now cursing Eragon for seemingly making them lose tokens—people are placing bets now? Some are cheering for me, the underdog, to emerge victorious.
My sudden solution to his attacks makes Eragon to finally snap. His previous calm is nowhere to be seen as he grinds his teeth and growls at me. “What did you do?”
If I knew, perhaps I’d answer him—if only to offer a taunt like he did to me before. But I’m just as confused as he is. Every pulse of his domain is visible to me now, every activation, every construct, every place where his powers still requires balance and structure to form. And in turn, every flaw.
His power has not weakened—far from it. It is still monstrous, his spiritual energy alone ten times that of mine.
By all intents and purposes, I should have already been vaporized.
But perhaps the fates are smiling upon me today. And because I’m carrying Moe in my heart, I’mnevergoing to give up again—not while I still breathe.
Eragon attacks in earnest, channeling so much spiritual energy, the atmosphere in the cathedral becomes suffocating.
Shadows pour from every corner of the arena, ripping themselves free from pillars and walls until the entire battlefield becomes a whirlpool of darkness. Blades, spears, tendrils, beasts—constructs of every shape surge toward me in a violent storm meant to erase my existence.
Instead of running away, I run straight into it.
Every movement is agony. Blood streams from my wounds. My vision pulses at the edges. But I trust that instinct and let it guide me, cutting not at the largest threats but at the weakest seams holding them together. Where conscious thought only slowed me down before, this newly emerged instinct not only saves me, but shows me how to be victorious.
One after another, the constructs collapse around me in violent bursts of disintegrating shadow.
He might possess seemingly unlimited spiritual energy, but for every contrast he forms, I destroy two. Even out of energy as I am, I don’t need to expend too much to lock onto weaknesses and strike at them. Where he’s using burst of energy after energy, I use only crumbs of mine—well, that’s what’s left anyway.
This back and forth continues for minutes on end. At first, I can see he’s hoping to exhaust me into not being able to move anymore. But when that doesn’t happen, it finally dawns on him that something has changed—potentially, the very outcome of this battle has changed.
Panic flickers across the audience beyond the barrier. I hear them shouting now, their disbelief crashing together in a wave of chaos.
“He’s destroying them?—”
“How?”
