The Achievement Junkie

With mana conservation as his top priority, Jack prepared for a battle of attrition. He understood that Duorda wouldn't be so confident under normal circumstances, even after showing off three unknown trump cards.

This most likely meant one of two things. Either Crypt Lord Duorda was a truly a mad, battle-crazed being or he still had aces hidden up his sleeve. And Jack assumed both to be correct, just in case. He'd rather be overprepared than to get caught off guard and killed. That would be the worst scenario given Duorda's unique Permadeath spell from earlier.

The crypt lord chuckled and charged again. His giant sickle was over a meter long, arching to slice Jack's torso in two. Duorda acted as if the flames erupting from Jack were nonexistent.

Suddenly, the checkerboarded flames faded out. Jack's true body was left behind, only it didn't look like anything he had shown before. Now, his minokawa wings were gone and a pair of faint purple, draconic wings sprouted from his back. The katana in Jack's hands was gripped tightly by strikingly sharp claws and purple scales took form over Jack's skin. Finally, Jack's teeth sharpened and a crown of horns emerged on his brow.

The hero's draconic eyes followed Duroda's quick movements and hesitations but his body wasn't reacting. Jacks' torso remained still while Jack swung his katana in a counterattack.

However, just when Jack was prepared to exchange blows, he was startled to see Duorda take a step back. "What's wrong? I thought you liked trading attacks with your draining skill?"

"I don't know how you can have so many forms…" Duorda mentioned, tapping his foot in thought. "Those flames matched those of a Hell-flame Fox and your earlier form mimicked a minokawa. You even combined those two to blend their absolute speed and power, a fine tactic. But your most fearsome form is definitely this one, utilizing the form of a Spectral Dragon. How are you doing this?"

"I'll tell you if we can stop this fight and talk," answered Jack.

Shaking his head, Duorda sighed, "Oh well… But to think you had another hidden trick, more and more you're proving to be Daruun's chosen one."

"Then--"

"All the more reason to face you head on!"

Resuming his charge, Duorda lunged forward. The dense miasma thickened as the black sickle raced toward Jack.

This time, Jack blocked the attack. Though he couldn't remove the draining effect entirely, his Spectral Dragon form had heightened magic defense to aid Jack's resistance to the effect. At least he could keep from losing too much while also increase the potency of his spatial attacks.

While blocking with his katana, Jack dove his other claw into Duorda's chest. The dense spatial energy coating the thin claws rivaled the black miasma as Duorda's ribs were cut to pieces, like mincemeat.

But Duorda didn't do anything to heal at the moment. Instead, Duorda hurled another bolt of black lightning into Jack at close-range.

Jack didn't evade but he smiled all of a sudden. Once again, black and white flames exploded from his body as his claws turned into a bone blender. Finally, Jack caused the crypt lord to groan in worry as Jack eviscerated half the skeleton's ribs and a portion of his shoulder.

Canceling the black lightning, Duorda jumped back and assessed the damage he had taken.

"Still want to keep fighting?" Jack asked, dropping his flame body again to meet the crypt lord eye-to-eye-socket.

"Though I'm able to heal, you understand that most skeletal beings have low health points in comparison to most beasts. You want to try and eliminate all my health in one go, don't you?" Duorda reasoned.

Smiling, Jack shrugged. "Can you blame me? If you want to fight so badly, then I don't have any reason to drag it out and let you drain me for no reason."

"True, I would attempt a similar strategy if I were you," Duorda agreed. "Too bad it won't be so easy for you…"

The black energy dancing around Duorda's free hand dispersed completely. He didn't heal himself like before, exchanging some HP for his physical body's reconstruction. To Jack's surprise, white holy energy began to emit from Duorda's left hand.

"What?! You can't be--"

"I told you. You've proven to be worth going all out. In this fight, I won't hold back anything. Survive and I'll answer any question you wish!" Duorda shouted as more holy energy coated his left arm, spreading to his broken shoulder and chest. All the cleanly cut bones began to rapidly regenerate, visibly returning to their usual condition.

"You're cheating?!" Jack complained.

Duorda laughed, "It's not cheating. Nothing is cheating during a fight to the death! Come at me with everything, or you might die full of regret!"

Again, Duorda darted for Jack. Both of his arms swung backward, preparing his black sickle to strike. The white energy in Duorda's left hand grew abundantly until another matching sickle appeared, made of pearl white bone and doused in holy energy. The blend of the opposing colored energies around Duorda was similar to Jack's intimidating flame body.

Instead of tanking the charge, Jack vanished from where he stood. The hero appeared forty meters away, standing amidst a variety of weapons. Jack let loose a sigh as he calmed his nerves and picked up a second, simple-looking katana from the ground. Though it was only a mythic-tier weapon, Jack wanted to keep his blades balanced and would be happy with the added weapon's effects.

When Jack picked up the new katana, Jack felt his speed increase. And that katana was able to use all energy types. Even if the added boost wasn't as powerful as the black and red katana, at least Jack could still use his already boosted spatial attacks with it.

"Oh, so you dual wield as well? Or are you just getting desperate?" Duorda laughed, lunging back to Jack. "Are you ready now?"

As Duorda reached Jack, the sickles swung toward the katanas and Jack's katanas swung in challenge of the sickles. But Jack and his katanas suddenly vanished before they made contact.