The specter and the thorg glared at me. Their magics began to form. I raised my sword in one hand and started creating a spike of ice in the other. We all knew whoever finished first would be at an advantage. They would be able to attack, would be the first one to a follow-up attack. I didn’t like this game. I had been the last to start, but being manaborn didn’t mean I was capable of miracles.

  So, I decided to change the game. I took a quick stock of my resources. The veins on the back of my hands were less blue than they had originally been. That meant I was running out of cold and ice. The black veins, they stood out. But death, although powerful, wasn’t going to work on the specters.

  I looked inwards. My soul was consuming essence as fast as it could with my Reaper’s Seal. But it wasn’t sending any to my pool. That was the problem with a soul seal. First, my soul would use all the essence it could gather to use in strengthening the wall and floor of my pool. And only then it would start filling up the emptiness inside my soul shield.

  All that meant was I needed to give my soul a boost of essence it needed. And I had the perfect place I could get a lot of essence in the shortest amount of time. I smiled and winked at the thorg. I didn’t bother with the specter. It wouldn’t appreciate the gesture. The thorg’s eyes hardened and it glared at me. It leaned ahead to shoot its needles of force.

  I spun around and took off at the other end of the hall. I saw the red flash of force reflect off the walls and floor. I dropped to my knees and ducked my head. Needles shot over my head. I jumped back up and continued running.

  The thorg roared and slurred, “Cowahth.”

  He shouldn't have bothered. The man was a bear. And he had half of its face ripped off. Or had he forgot that? I didn’t have time to ponder anymore. A blue crackling sound made me jump to the side. The specter had shot its soul fire. I just hoped I hadn’t dodged to the wrong side. The ball flew past and I took a breath of relief.

  And then I saw them. The one-eared thorg and the wounded specter. The thorg was trying to crawl away from the specter on one leg and one arm. The specter wasn’t doing well either. It was leaking wisps of white essence everywhere. But that didn’t mean that the one-eared thorg was safe. Even as I watched, the specter floated down towards the bear. The thorg stopped, the bones on its spine glowed. And with it shot out a volley of force needles. The specter raised its hand and blocked most of them. Three still made it past the specter’s defenses. One lodged in its chest, one in its collar, and the last clipped its skull. The specter spun around with the force of the attack. That was perfect.

  The thorg behind me roared. It thought I was going to attack its friend. What a fool. I didn’t even want to touch their souls. In fact, the specters had it right. The doomed needed to be burned to cinders. Their souls had been tainted by the doom bringers and nothing could save them. They had given up their lives and souls for power, and had to be purged from these lands.

  I ducked my head and sped up. Just in time to avoid another volley of force needles. The one-eared bear saw me coming and raised itself to a sitting position. It brought up its one working arm to defend itself. I bent my knees and jumped. Over the bear's head. The bear swiped at me. It felt its nails graze me and rip apart my tunic. A sharp tearing sound followed by brief burning pain almost staggered me. I ignored it and landed in a roll. The one-eared thorg turned around to look at me. Idiot!

  Behind me, the specter launched another ball of soul fire. I watched it grow as it came closer. I shot to my feet and ran past the bear. The one-eared bear looked at me in confusion. And then shrieked as fire hit his back and engulfed him.

  I didn’t wait to celebrate. The specter in front of me was turning back. And I didn’t have a lot of essence to battle it. My essence hadn’t grown back from five percent. That meant I had only enough essence for one strike.

  Essence flew out of my soul. Into my body. And gathered in my left hand. It was not the white wisps that the specters were leaking everywhere. My essence was dark. A dull black that ate away light. It didn’t flow apart into wisps. It shot out of my palm in a thick streak creating a dagger without a guard. As soon as the essence left me my legs weakened. I pushed through and took one last step. And drove my essence dagger into the specter's throat.

  The specter's fire-filled eyes looked at me blankly for a second. We looked at each other and then it leaned forward and fell onto me. I tried to hold it up but my fingers went cold and my knees lost all strength. I fell.

  Somewhere in the distance the thorg roared and fire crackled but I didn’t have the strength to focus on it. Under the wisps of the specter I just breathed. Essence flew into me. My soul greedily sucked it in. My breaths breathed it in. I don’t know how long I lay there but with the feeling of pins and needles, my body began to respond.

  “Your Highness. Your Highness. Get up!” Grek’s hushed whispers made me turn to look out past the white wisps surrounding me.

  It took me a moment to spot Grek through the white wisps surrounding me. Even when I did, Grek silhoutte was blury and oddly transparent. Grek touched something on his wrist and came into focus. Another artifact?

  “Grek?” I asked slowly.

  What was the punisher doing coming down here? He wasn’t safe with all the soul fire and the demonic taint being flung around everywhere.

  “Your Highness. They are almost done. You need to get up. If you don’t, the winner is going to kill you.” Grek pointed to the side.

  I coughed and looked at the place the punisher was pointing. Grek was right. My blurry eyes focused on the specter and the thorg. They were standing face to face and wailing at each other with force and fire. The first one to stagger would lose the fight. I could not just lie around here. I did not have any time to waste. But I needed essence to fight.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I looked inwards. My essence was back up to five percent. Barely enough to keep me on my feet. I reached down for my essence dagger. It was dissipating into black wisps. It needed me to focus on it to keep its shape. Without me, it was crumbling but it wasn’t gone yet.

  I reached for the dark dagger hilt jutting out from the specter’s throat. I pulled it out. And slammed it back into the specter's chest. With a grunt of effort, I carved the specter open. Instead of blood and bone, the specter's body ripped apart into essence. My soul reacted and began attracting it inwards. Even my body breathed it hungrily.

  I grabbed the specter by its rags and buried my head into the hollow chest. I heard Grek gag. I ignored him. This needed to be done. Gulping down essence as fast as I could, I kept an ear out for the battle. It hadn’t finished but the combatants were slowing down.

  I finally pulled myself out of the hole I had dug for myself. I couldn't stay here any longer. I looked up at my enemies. They both looked worse for wear. Somewhere in the battle, the specter had lost one of its arms and the thorg’s chest was ripped open and bleeding.

  “Blight, that is one tough doomed.” I nodded and acknowledged my enemy's toughness.

  Grek nodded. “That is an Ascari Breaker. They are like us punishers but are stronger.”

  “Not stronger. Just doomed.”

  I took one last look inwards. The essence I had sucked in all this time had nearly finished forming the walls of my pool. I looked to the side. At the prone form of the now dead and charred form of the thorg. I drove my dagger into it for good measure. Nothing happened and I exhaled in relief.

  Grek looked at me with raised eyebrows.

  “Sometimes the doomed have parasites in them that latch on to other souls.”

  Grek scrambled backwards and stopped a few steps away.

  I shook my head. “He is dead and the taint in his body has been burned away.”

  Grek sighed in relief.

  “Grek, get back. I am going to make sure that bear falls,” I announced.

  “Are you sure? You are bleeding.” Grek pointed at the wound on my midsection. Two thin razor slashes had ripped my skin apart. From the slashes, a steady trickle of blood dripped down my bloody tunic.

  “I am well.”

  Grek gave me a worried look. “You didn’t look so good when you fell.”

  I repeated my words with a hint of heat. “I am well, Mouth. It looks worse than it looks. Now stand back, and keep an eye on that specter. I need it.”

  “To eat it?” Grek grimaced and looked at the specter that had chased us into the ballroom.

  “Call it whatever you want,” I muttered and stood back onto my feet.

  Grek put a palm on his chest and saluted. “As you command, so shall it be. Your Highness.”

  I stretched my back and with an explosive breath charged towards the enemy.

  The thorg was the first one to notice me running in. He turned his head and looked at me with a surprised look in its eyes. From the functioning side of its face, it asked, “How are you not dead?”

  The specter saw its foe get distracted and saw its chance. It didn’t attack with its fire. That would have made its attack slower. It slashed out with its bony fingers. The specter's fingers found the wounded section of the bear’s body and carved four new grooves into it.

  The thorg cried out and punched the specter. The bony creature reeled back a few steps and spat a glob of fire at the thorg. The bone-faced dodged. They both stopped and looked at me. I didn’t stop and stare. I didn’t even slow. With one final burst of speed I sped up and slashed out with my sword. At the thorg’s neck.

  He raised his glowing red paws contemptuously to bat my blade aside. At the last moment, I fed my blade death mana. Demonic force met death and we both stood still for a brief second. Then both the force magic and my blade shattered. Leaving me with only a hilt and half a sword. The metal pieces flew everywhere. One even nicked my ear.

  The thorg got the worse of the exchange. Metal bits flew towards the thorg and mangled his arm. The bear roared. But I didn’t have time to observe the extent of the damage. I spun. Just in time to parry the specter's slashing arm. Then I had to dodge a swipe from the bone-faced bear. And duck below a blue fireball.

  Both of the enemies had identified me as the greatest threat. They were trying to get rid of me first. I needed to change tactics again. I pushed death mana into my broken blade and threw it at the thorg. The bear’s eyes widened and it dropped to all fours to duck. I ducked with the bear. Dodging a gout of sputtering soul fire and raised my finger. The bear's eyes widened. And I shot a death bolt almost point blank at the bear.

  Somehow, the bear craned its neck and avoided the bolt. It growled and closed the gap between us. Suddenly, I was on my back. Holding back the bear’s clamping jaw. It moved its head. Aiming away from my throat to my face. Spit and blood dripped down my cheek. I brought my knees up to keep the thorg's teeth at bay. The bear’s fetid breath filled my nose. It looked down at me in anger and disgust with glowing bones. I knew that I couldn’t avoid its neck attack.

  So, I did the only thing I could. I released a wave of ice from my body. The bear made a surprised sound. It looked down at me in anger and the bones on its face began to glow brighter. He was ready to release its force needles. But I was quicker.

  I followed my first wave with a wave of death mana. This time the bear’s arms lost strength and it began to fall on me. I let it. Because I had seen what it hadn’t.

  The specter had taken the opening we had provided it and was gathering a gout of fire in its throat. It opened its mouth and vomited out a fountain of soul fire. I ducked my head under the bear’s chest and grabbed it by its fur. I used the thorg as a shield, covering myself with the bear’s broad body. The fire began to slacken. Before it could, I acted.

  I reinforced my body with mana and with all the strength I could muster. I pushed the bear up on my arms and knees and threw it. Right into the specter's floating body. The bear impacted the specter and fell atop it with a whimper.

  I took a long breath and coughed out a breath of acrid smoke of burning flesh and fur. I slowly lifted myself up to a knee and looked down at my hands. My head spun. My mana veins were almost pale. So much so that I could barely recognize the back of my hands. But I still recognized the dagger in my left palm. My essence called for me to be used.

  With a loud grunt of effort I staggered to my feet. I took a step. I was exhausted. But I had to go on. I had to finish off the specters. I took another step and keeled over.

  Grek appeared next to me and caught my head before it could hit the floor. He screamed in effort as he laid me down gently.

  “Take a breath, Your Highness. Eat some crystals and then you can finish them off.”

  I shook my head. “I need the essence.”

  “Your Highness. Look at them.” Grek pointed and I followed his finger. “The thorg breaker is dead. The specter is trapped underneath its body. And the other one isn’t going anywhere.”

  I opened my mouth to argue and Grek stuffed a crystal in my mouth to stop my words.

  “I will help you.” Grek smiled and continued, “But right now you can’t even move.”

  I moved the crystal to the side of my mouth and with clenched teeth said, “Grek, specters heal. They are like me. They live on essence.”

  Grek shook his head. “No, Your Highness. You are manaborn. You live on mana and you are almost dead.”

  I glared up at Grek and in an urgent tone tried to convince the punisher, “You don’t get it. If they gather the tainted essence, they will become more powerful than we can handle.”

  Grek pushed my tunic up and pointed down at my midsection. “And what about you? Have you looked at your wound? It is contaminated with demon taint too.”

  I looked down and saw red taint slowly crawling up my skin. He was right. In all the fighting I had forgotten about the wound that the one-eared thorg had landed on me. If I didn’t heed the punisher’s warning, I was going to die. And if I did, I was giving the specters a chance to recover.