Gehrman lunged, slashing with such force that the air howled, and his scythe became a ribbon of light dancing around his pivoting form. I retreated, the tempest of steel wailing and hissing mere centimeters from my flesh, rending my garments, singing against my blade and battering it aside. He attacked with frenzied ferocity, his haste nigh incomprehensible, his steps calculated and calm in spite of the war around him. My blade clashed with his, spraying sparks through the air, singeing the dying grass, halting his momentum yet doing nothing to discourage him. Our blades parted and met, sweeping in broad arcs that painted the air silver with bursts of light as they met. I stood defiant in his path, a lone man standing defiant in hurricane's tempestuous path.

"Aspect of-" Or'do spread his arms wide, tendrils of shadow collecting upon his frame, leaking into the air as vines of oil creep over calm water. "Darkness!" The shadows coalesced and peeled themselves away, forming a dark copy of my comrade, yet merely fading as it took a single step. Gehrman smiled coldly, his own flesh writhing with cords of braided shadow; he had dispelled Or'do's clone before first breath it took!

Conflagrance! Flame roiled along my body, collecting on the edge of my moonlight blade, leaping into the winds whirling around us as I advanced, smashing my blade against his, praying that I could bludgeon an opening for my comrade to exploit. Or'do however, did not wait, merely lunged in, swinging in a downward arc that hammered his clawed fist against the scythe's shining surface, yet it did not so much as shudder the dark tainted blade, did not stagger its wielder, did not even mar the perfect blade.

The darkness swallows me, engulfing my limp frame as Or'do kneels weeping at my side. I roared in fury, surging in, battering his radiant blade with what seemed a curved pillar of pure light, pealing like the hateful cry of thunder as I smashed against his impeccable defense, its edge grinding against mine, spraying shards of light with each screeching cry. Our blades wept tears of light, our blows ringing out with deafening fury, yet we were matched it seemed, balanced if only precariously. I could neither force him back, nor would retreat myself. A tempest such as this, is one destined to rage itself into oblivion.

***

Or'do watched in helpless rage as Aleorn struggled against his overwhelming foe. Fury swelled within him, and alongside it came a flare of shadow, a patch of darkness that seeped from his heart to his blood where it seethed like liquid flame. 

Aleorn crumpling limply, his body lifeless in Or'do's grasp. Tears, burning like barbed marbles as they trace his jaw, sorrow long forgotten, surging over him once more, burying him in an icy tide.

Black flame leaped from his fist as Or'do drew back, noting neither gap nor flaw in his foe's technique. So be it. When faced with flawless walls, it was his wont to create the hole he sought.

***

Or'do lunged, his fists bleeding gashes of darkness that widened and narrowed in time with his rapid blows. Again, again, again, again he struck, hammering Gehrman's hammer, driving him back, brightening the ancient Lord's eyes with that flaming frost of terror. I wasted no time, surging in low, striking at his ankles with the speed of a pouncing viper, my blade biting into his flesh, its edge whispering as it ripped through muscle and tendon.

Gehrman fell to his knees, ramming his scythe into the ground and folding his hands atop its pommel. He tried to rise, yet his leg failed him, and I hadn't time nor mercy to grant him another chance. I surged in, my fist cracking against his jaw, rocking his head back, yet even as I came whirling in with blade raised and eyes glowing like the Bonfires I once served, a bolt of black lightning crunched through his body, exploding on the ground at his back and throwing him prone with the slack spasm of a marionette suddenly abandoned. 

Rising from a crouch, Or'do nodded to me. "It is over." His breath was hoarse, strained with exhaustion, yet lightened with the glory of victory. He thrust a fist heavenward, dark flame blazing heavenward. "We've won!" 

I mirrored his gesture, casting a lance of light to match his pillar of darkness. At last, the Old Hunter was no more. Perhaps now the nightmares would abate. Perhaps now I would at last be free.