The hammer hung in the air for a moment that felt like forever, and in that frozen moment, Elias made his decision. He would die here if he had to, proving to everyone that he was right, that power was all that mattered, and that Greg Greyson was just as much of a monster as he was.

"Do you want to see power?" Elias yelled, and his voice broke with every feeling he had been hiding. "Do you want to see what a real fucking reincarnator can do when they stop holding back?!"

"FINE!"

Greg had never seen him use this much dark energy before. It exploded from his body, and it came out like a tidal wave, making the air itself feel wrong.

The paint on the walls started to crack and bleed, like tears. The dark being that gave Elias power responded to his absolute hatred by making his sword glow with evil light.

"You stole everything from me!" Elias yelled, and tears streamed down his face, mixing with the blood from his wounds. "My honor! My name! My chance to be the hero I was meant to be!"

"The gods sent me here to be special, and you messed it up!"

"You and your stupid fucking philosophy, your stupid fucking tools, and your stupid dick face that everyone loves!"

"Did you kiss that mother with your mother...? How many fucks do you want to say?" Greg asked.

The dark energy gathered around him like armor, with layers of corrupted power that made the air shimmer with heat. His sword got longer, sharper, and more twisted until it looked less like a weapon and more like a sign of pure hate.

"I fucking hate you," Elias said, and his voice was almost calm now, like the eye of a storm. "I fucking hate you more than I've ever hated anything."

"More than the gods who left me. More than the shadowy figure that made fun of me. And more than I am for not being strong enough."

"So I'm going to fucking kill you."

"I'm going to use all of my hatred in this attack and make you disappear."

"And then I'm going to kill Marina slowly, making sure she knows it's your fault that you weren't strong enough to save her."

Greg stood there and watched, his war hammer still up but not moving. His face was like stone, and it didn't show anything about how he felt inside. He just waited, letting Elias put more and more power into his attack so that Elias would think he had a chance.

"EAT SHIT AND DIE!" Elias swung his broken sword, and the dark energy shot out in a wave that should have destroyed everything in its path.

The attack was huge and destructive, full of all the anger and hatred that Elias had built up over weeks of revenge and years of feeling like he wasn't good enough. The wave of darkness rushed toward Greg, and for a moment, it seemed like nothing could stop it.

Greg's war hammer then pulsed once, and the darkness just stopped. It was not blocked nor turned away. It just stopped, as if it had run into an invisible wall that it couldn't see.

The corrupt energy hung in the air, shaking and trying to move forward. Then it started to fade away like smoke in the wind.

Elias looked at it with his mouth open in shock. "What? No, that's not fucking possible...!"

"That attack took everything I had! It should have fucking killed you!"

Greg finally put down his hammer, and when he spoke, his voice sounded worn out. "Your attack was everything you were, Elias."

"And what you are is nothing. An empty shell built on nothing but anger and pain."

He held up the warhammer, and for the first time, Elias saw the runes carved into its head. They were simple, beautiful, and had a deadly purpose.

Greg said, "This weapon has one special feature."

"Power with bad intent becomes zero."

"Strength that comes from hate is useless."

"Violence that comes from cruelty just doesn't happen anymore."

"I made it just for you. Because I knew that everything you had and everything you were was built on the wrong base."

Elias looked at his sword and the dark energy that was still swirling around it. He was horrified when it started to fade. The fact that the power came from the wrong place was taking away the specialness and purpose it had given him.

He whispered, "No."

"No... no! No!!! It's not fucking fair!!! AAAGGHHHHH!!!"

"I put in the work for this power! I worked hard and suffered to get it! You can't just fucking take it!"

Greg said, "I'm not taking it away."

"I'm just showing you that it was never real. Nothing is power without a goal, and strength without virtue is weakness in disguise."

Elias's armor, which had been damaged, broke and fell off like dust. The dark energy around his twisted sword faded away completely, and the sword shrank back to its normal size.

He stood there, just a man with a regular sword, facing a blacksmith with a weapon that took away everything that made him who he was. And he lost it.

"You fucking...!!!" Elias yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice going crazy. "...bastard! If I can't fucking kill you with magic or power, I'll just kill what you came here to save!!!"

He turned to Marina, who was still kneeling next to Ryn's body, too worn out and sad to move. He raised his sword, which was now powered only by his own strength and his strong will to win.

Greg didn't think. His body moved on instinct and the need to protect, which had kept him going for forty years in his previous life and months in this one. He threw the war hammer with all the strength he had.

The weapon flew through the air like a meteor, catching the light and leaving a trail of energy behind it. It hit Elias's sword just as he was bringing it down toward Marina's neck, and the crash was like the end of the world.

Both weapons broke when they hit each other. One was made with good intentions but turned to violence, and the other was corrupted by evil forces and a twisted purpose.

The blast of energy sent everyone flying back. Marina fell away from Ryn's body, finally getting away from her dead friend. He hit a pillar so hard that it broke.

Greg was knocked to his knees, and for the first time since going down to level ten, his hands were empty. After the dust settled, both reincarnators slowly stood up and faced each other across the ruined room.

No weapons. No tools. No magic. There were only the two men and the ideas that had guided their lives.

Elias said, "You threw away your weapon," and he spat blood. "For her."

"You threw away the one thing that could have made this go away quickly."

"You're a fucking idiot."

"Maybe," Greg said in a low voice that carried across the room. "But she's still alive. And that's what counts."

Elias laughed, and it sounded broken and crazy. "She's still alive for now. But I can still kill her."

"I can still emerge victorious. I'm willing to do whatever it takes..."

"...but you're not!!!"

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