Kapitel 15: Awakening?

Ezra rushed forward, his acceleration sending a resounding boom through the forest. Moving faster than before, he unleashed a flurry of slashes, each strike leaving afterimages as he darted around the paladin, rapidly cutting through his defenses and covering the man in wounds. He had only five minutes in this form, and he intended to make every second count.

But worry began to creep in. Korr should have been back by now. If the paladin had allies, it might mean Korr was tangled up with them, keeping him from returning.

Dodging the paladin's heavy retaliatory swing, Ezra brought his blade flashing toward the man's neck. The paladin managed to shift at the last second, narrowly avoiding decapitation, and countered with a horizontal slash. Ezra leaped over the strike, landing on the paladin's own blade and using it as a platform to deliver a swift kick to his jaw, launching him backward.

As the paladin stumbled, Ezra landed lightly, closing the distance in an instant, and resumed his relentless assault. His blade moved like a blur, raining down strikes with ruthless precision, determined to bring the battle to a swift end.

The paladin began to swirl chaotic energy around himself, forming a shockwave that sent Ezra skidding backward. "You are skilled, I'll give you that," the man said, his voice resonating with a newfound intensity. "But without divine favor, I'd surely fall today."

As Ezra watched, the paladin's body swelled, tripling in size and taking on an even more menacing form. Ezra clenched his jaw, feeling his frustration rise. "This is exactly why I hate paladins," he muttered under his breath. "They always have more tricks—it can never just be a straightforward fight."

Gripping his sword, Ezra readied himself once more, steeling himself for the brutal battle ahead.

Ezra steadied his stance, channeling shadow Aether through his body as he faced the towering paladin. The two launched at each other, blades colliding in a fury of sparks and energy. Each clash sent tremors through the ground, the sound echoing through the forest like thunder. Ezra's form flickered with shadowy afterimages as he darted around his opponent, aiming precise slashes at the gaps in the paladin's armor, while the paladin countered with brutal, sweeping strikes of his massive sword, each one heavy with chaotic energy.

They moved as if in a deadly dance, neither able to fully overpower the other. Ezra's speed and agility gave him an edge in evading the paladin's wide swings, while the paladin's raw strength and size made it difficult for Ezra to land a decisive blow. Shadows clashed with chaos, the energies of their respective affinities colliding in a dazzling display.

Ezra lunged forward with a low, sweeping slash, and the paladin met him with a downward swing, their blades locking as they glared into each other's eyes. Ezra gritted his teeth, feeling the force of the paladin's strength pressing down on him. But he pushed back with his own power, unwilling to give an inch.

With a growl, the paladin twisted his sword, breaking the lock and spinning into a counterattack. Ezra ducked and sidestepped, bringing his blade up in a rising slash, only for the paladin to deflect it and launch a quick jab with his armored gauntlet. Ezra leaned back just in time, the punch grazing his cheek as he pivoted out of reach, his instincts sharpened by the intensity of the battle.

They separated for a moment, both breathing heavily, neither willing to back down. This wasn't a contest of technique alone—it was a battle of wills, and neither man showed any sign of yielding.

As the battle raged on, Ezra felt the familiar weight of his Hybrid form start to wane. The Aether was draining faster than he had anticipated, the rush of power fading as his energy reserves were pushed to their limits. His muscles, once fueled by the amplified strength of his Aether, were beginning to feel the strain. This wasn't good. The paladin, relentless and invigorated by his divine power, now had the clear advantage.

The massive sword of the paladin swung down with brutal force, and Ezra barely managed to sidestep in time, feeling the air whoosh past him as the blade cleaved into the earth where he had just been standing. But the paladin didn't stop there. He pressed forward, his strikes becoming wilder, more ferocious, fueled by the chaotic energy that surged through him. Each swing came faster than the last, forcing Ezra to retreat step by step, his movements growing more desperate.

Without the speed and power of his Hybrid form, Ezra was on the backfoot, dodging and parrying with everything he had, but unable to find an opening. The paladin's sword seemed to fill the entire space around him, each slash too wide and too powerful to retaliate against. Ezra's breath came heavier, his body growing sluggish as the last vestiges of his Aether drained away. There was no way he could keep this up for much longer.

Every dodge, every parry, brought him closer to exhaustion. The paladin's wild swings came like the crashing of waves, and Ezra was struggling to stay afloat. With no hope of landing a decisive blow, he knew that if he didn't find a way to regain the upper hand soon, the fight would be lost.

Ezra was exhausted, his body on the verge of giving out. Every movement felt like it took all his strength, and he could barely stay on his feet as he watched the paladin raise his massive sword into the air. The man's voice was heavy with triumph, his chaotic aura almost palpable.

"It was a good fight, Elthar," the paladin sneered. "Unfortunately, you got involved with something far beyond you. Make the Six take your soul to fuel my power."

Ezra's heart sank as the paladin brought the sword down with overwhelming force. Time seemed to slow, and Ezra knew this was it. He was done for. His vision blurred, his muscles burned with exhaustion, and he couldn't even muster the strength to lift his sword in defense. He was ready to accept his fate when, suddenly, something strange happened.

A strain hit his eyes, sharp and unfamiliar, and then—time crawled to a halt. Everything around him slowed, and Ezra's senses sharpened. He stared at the reflection of his own face in the paladin's blade, his pupils now replaced by two twelve-pointed stars. His breath hitched as he realized what had changed—he wasn't just seeing differently. Time itself was moving at an agonizingly slow pace.

Ezra didn't have time to process the strange vision or the significance of the stars. Instinctively, he surged backward with every ounce of strength he could muster, his body moving in a blur compared to the slow motion around him. As he leapt away, he watched with startling clarity as the paladin's sword came crashing down, embedding deep into the earth where Ezra had been standing just a heartbeat ago.

Ezra landed in a crouch, his chest heaving with effort. His heart pounded as the world returned to its normal pace, but now, he had a moment of clarity. He could feel the strange power within him—this had to be the reason he'd survived. But there was no time to dwell on it. The fight was far from over.

Time snapped back to its original pace, and Ezra's body surged with an unfamiliar energy. The exhaustion that had plagued him moments ago seemed to fade, replaced by a raw, invigorating strength. He felt lighter, faster, more alive than ever.

He didn't hesitate. In an instant, he rushed forward, closing the gap between him and the paladin, his blade cutting through the air with ease. As he moved, it became clear what was happening—he wasn't actually slowing down time. No, what he was experiencing was something far simpler and far more dangerous. He was moving incredibly fast, and his perception had slowed everything around him.

His mind was processing the world in slow motion, but his body was moving at a speed beyond anything he'd ever felt. He darted around the paladin's strikes, his movements fluid and graceful as he weaved through the air, his blade flashing with deadly intent. Every swing, every dodge, felt effortless now.

The paladin swung his massive sword, but Ezra was already gone, zipping past him, slashing at his side with incredible precision. He could see every muscle in the man's body as he swung, could predict his next move before the paladin even thought to make it. And he moved in a blur, landing quick strikes in the man's defenses, each one deeper than the last.

The chaos energy that had once overwhelmed him was now nothing more than a hindrance, easily avoided as he danced around it, using the paladin's own momentum against him. Ezra's confidence grew with every passing second, and for the first time in this fight, he felt like the hunter instead of the prey.

With fluidity and grace, Ezra moved faster than the paladin could even perceive. In a blur of motion, his sword sliced through the air and struck true, severing the man's head clean off. Blood sprayed in every direction, splattering across Ezra's face and armor, but he barely noticed. The moment he had been fighting for—victory—was in his grasp.

But as the adrenaline rush began to fade, a sudden, sharp pain shot through his entire body, bringing him to one knee. His muscles screamed in protest, his joints aching from the strain of moving at speeds his body had never been prepared for. His vision blurred as his strength waned, the weight of his own exhaustion crashing over him. His eyes burned as they reverted back to their normal state, the strange energy that had heightened his perception vanishing.

In the midst of the pain, one thought flickered through his mind, weak but insistent: Why the hell did some random woman have a chaos paladin chasing her around?

Before he could even process the thought, darkness closed in around him. His body, overwhelmed by the shock, finally gave in, and with a groan of discomfort, Ezra collapsed into unconsciousness, his final thoughts focused on one thing—Please let Korr make it back alive.

And with that, he succumbed to the darkness.