My World to Free-use

226: Something… Dark?

I just got home after two days of constant to-and-fro driving. I'm sleeping like a log so if there are mistakes here, ignore them. Or don't, but I won't be awake until tomorrow to fix them.~~

The forest became an active participant in Carlson and Elizabeth’s duel.

Carlson manipulated it masterfully, causing the trees to bend and lash out with branch arms while roots surged from below like tentacles.

One such root erupted directly beneath Elizabeth, forcing her to somersault away as it spread upward, narrowly missing her.

In retaliation, she wove threads of piercing frost that sliced through the animated foliage like blades, flash-freezing roots and branches before shattering them into icy shards.

The air filled with the scent of the earth, the sharp tang of sap from wounded trees now mingled with the crisp bite of frost, and the faint ozone-like scent of raw mana.

Patches of forest floor turned into slippery ice, forcing both mages to adjust their footing mid-battle.

Carlson’s attacks grew more intricate. More precise.

All said and done, he was more experienced in battle than Elizabeth. That didn’t mean Elizabeth was on the losing end, though.

Sure, Carlson was experienced, but if one was looking at them purely in terms of strength, Elizabeth was stronger.

Carlson summoned a swarm of earthen constructs, wolf-like beasts formed from compacted soil and vines, that charged across the clearing with feral snarls.

Their claws tore furrows in the mossy ground as they converged on Elizabeth. She met them head-on, her form glowing with icy blue light as she unleashed a barrage of ice lances that pierced through the constructs, flash-freezing them solid before shattering them into harmless dust with a follow-up gust of freezing wind.

One wolf managed to close the distance, leaping at her with jaws agape. Elizabeth spun gracefully, a wall of jagged ice erupting from the ground to impale the construct mid-leap, its earthen form shattering on impact.

The battle intensified as both mages escalated. Carlson invoked a storm of falling stones, boulders ripped from the earth and hurled with telekinetic force. They crashed down in a devastating barrage, forcing Elizabeth to weave between them while erecting layered ice barriers that shattered on impact, filling the air with glittering shards.

Elizabeth responded by drawing on deeper reserves of her ice mana, her eyes flashing as she summoned a massive glacier that spoke from the ground beneath Carlson’s feet. The enormous ice pillar erupted upward, forcing him to leap aside as it impaled the space he had occupied, its surface cracking with residual frost energy.

From the spike, Elizabeth unleashed a wave of freezing mist that spread across the clearing, freezing Carlson’s earthen defenses and turning the ground into a treacherous sheet of ice.

Sweat beaded on Carlson’s brow as he reinforced his position with a dome of interlocking roots and stone, the structure groaning under Elizabeth’s sustained assault.

Carlson countered by flooding the ground with mana, causing an entire clearing to shift and buckle like a living thing. Spikes of wood erupted in a deadly forest of spears, forcing the queen to take to the air momentarily on wings of icy wind.

From above, she rained down a storm of ice shards and freezing beams that carved through Carlson’s defenses, the cold searing away vines and stones alike in bursts of steam and shattering ice.

Three caught in the crossfire groaned and toppled, their massive trunks crashing to the ground in sprays of dirt, splintered wood, and scattered frost.

The forest bore the scars of their power: patches of frozen ground where Elizabeth’s ice had claimed dominion, upturned earth from Carlson’s manipulations, and trees half buried in ice or shattered by falling debris.

The air crackled with mana, thick enough to taste. Earthy and grounding from Carlson, crisp and biting with frost from Elizabeth.

Their movements were a dance of precision and power, each mage anticipating the other’s next strike while weaving spells of increasing complexity.

Carlson layered barriers within barriers, using the forest’s natural cover to mask his movements and launch surprise attacks from unexpected angles.

Elizabeth matched him with fluid grace, her ice barriers shimmering like frozen auroras as she turned the environment against him, summoning blizzards that whipped debris into blinding storms or focused freezing beams that encased branches in lethal ice.

Sweat now streaked both mages’ faces. Carlson’s robe was torn in several places from near misses, while Elizabeth’s gown bore frost patterns and smudges from the chaotic environment.

Yet, neither yielded.

The battle raged on, a symphony of crashing spells, shattering ice and stone, and the relentless groans of the forest itself, a testament to their mastery and the high stakes that drove them.

The duel showed no signs of slowing, each exchange more ferocious than the last as they circled and struck within the battered clearing.

Elizabeth’s ice mana gave her a growing edge in the confined forest space, her spells spreading frost that hindered Carlson’s earth manipulations while her own mobility remained unhindered on the slick surfaces she created.

Carlson fought with the tenacity of experience, his earth constructs and root assaults forcing her to stay on the defensive even as her ice storms grew in intensity.

In the final moments, Elizabeth seized the momentum. Channeling a massive surge of mana, she unleashed a devastating blizzard that engulfed the entire clearing, a howling vortex of razor-sharp ice shards and freezing winds that tore through Carlson’s final defenses.

The storm froze his earthen dome solid before shattering it in an explosive cascade of ice and stone.

Carlson was hurled backward, his staff clattering from his grasp as he crashed against the base of a tree, the impact cracking the bark and sending a shower of leaves and frost cascading down.

Elizabeth advanced through the dying blizzard, her form haloed in icy light, one hand raised as a massive glacier spike began to form above Carlson, poised to descend and end the battle.

At the final moment, as the victory seemed certain for Elizabeth, Carlson’s eyes flashed with sudden, unnatural darkness.

A hidden seal on his chest, previously concealed by his robe, activated with a pulse of corrupted mana.

Shadows writhed from the seal like living tendrils, coiling around his body and infusing the air with a cold, malevolent aura that clashed violently with Elizabeth’s ice.

The darkness surged outward in a burst of forbidden power, shattering the forming glacier spike and forcing Elizabeth to leap back as black energy erupted from the ground around Carlson, twisting the forest roots into grotesque, shadow-infused forms that lashed out in a desperate counterattack.

Elizabeth stood her ground amid the chaos, her ice barriers flaring to life once more as she prepared for whatever dark force Carlson had unleashed.

The battle had reached its climax, but the introduction of this hidden power had shifted the very fabric of conflict, leaving the outcome hanging in a tense, uncertain balance amid the ravaged forest.

But the dark power did not remain a desperate counter. It surged through Carlson like a flood, transforming him in an instant. His eyes glowed with an unnatural black light, veins of shadow spreading across his skin like cracks in porcelain.

The corrupted mana wrapped around him like a cloak, amplifying his presence until it dwarfed the entire clearing.

Elizabeth’s blizzard faltered as the darkness spread, freezing her ice midair and shattering it into harmless powder.

She launched another desperate volley of ice lances, but they dissolved before reaching him, melting into harmless mist against the encroaching shadows.

Carlson rose slowly, his staff reforming in his hand as if pulled from the void itself. Her regarded Elizabeth with cold disdain, his voice now layered with an otherworldly resonance that made the forest itself seem to recoil.

“You still do not understand, do you?” He said, stepping forward with effortless grace. Shadows coiled around his feet, corrupting the ground into blackened earth. “You are nothing more than a speck in my presence.”

Elizabeth’s face tightened with effort as she summoned another glacier spike, larger than before, hurling it with all her remaining strength. It surged towards Carlson like a frozen spear, but he simply raised one hand in return.

The darkness lashed out like a whip, shattering the ice into a thousand glittering fragments before it could touch him.

Elizabeth tried again, freezing the ground beneath his feet, summoning a blizzard to blind him, but each spell was countered with casual ease.

The shadows absorbed her ice, corrupting it into black frost that crumbled into dust, or simply overpowered it with raw, overwhelming force.

Elizabeth staggered, breathing heavily, frost forming on her lips from strain.

“What have you done, Carlson? That power…”

“Yes…” Carlson replied, “This power. It is mine now. The power of the dark dragon that Elara killed.”

“You know what it is, yet you still…” Elizabeth was flabbergasted. Why would Carlson knowingly take that power, the power that almost brought an end to the entire continent, not just their kingdom?

“I have no need to answer.” Carlson waved his hand, and a black shockwave emitted from him, slamming into Elizabeth and hurling her across the clearing despite her numerous mana and ice barriers.

“Kugh!”

Bloodied and out of mana, she could only lie there as Carlson stepped past her, making his way to Elara, who had now turned half to stone.

Elara looked at him as Carlson looked at her, neither saying anything before Carlson raised his hand and said, “This is goodbye, wife.”

“Master!” Elizabeth gathered whatever power she had left and cast a spell, but…

“Kugh!!”

Carlson fell on his knees before her spell could even reach him.

“Wh-what have you done to me…?” Carlson raised his head and looked at Elara, who simply looked down at him, her eyes as sharp as ever, even when she was half stone.

And…

Boom!!!

In the distance, a devastating shockwave spread throughout the forest.