---
Now unarmed, Darius lunged with hands. Kai slid behind, hooked neck with spear crook. He could finish, yet Darius's hidden left hand yanked a vial and smashed it on the ground. A flash bomb of liquid glare. Kai's optics seared white. Darius tore free, stabbed Kai's side with a concealed stinger blade.
HP 200.
World tunneled. Darius staggered too, exhausted. Kai swayed. "This is a dying breath."
He inhaled, tasted iron and basilisk sap. He ate one three star core. Got +200 aura. Activated simultaneously Essence Overlord with the last of his strength. Spear tip drank, edge smoking. He charged blind memory of Darius's aura.
Darius lifted his broken sabre with a broken wrist for the final block.
Kai thrust. Metal screech… Light flared… And the aura shattered in mid-impact.
