The continent's northernmost region was a frozen tundra, a perpetual wasteland of snow.
And there, amidst the howling winds, a massive battle raged.
"…Quite formidable. You are truly worthy of being my adversary, Sword Saint."
A figure hovered in the air, black robes billowing as they bled dark energy into the sky. With an army of the undead at his command, he was the very image of a demon king descending upon the land.
He was the Abyssal Lich, a calamity reborn.
Behind a shattered, grotesque mask, there was only a skull. Eerie blue flames burned within its eye sockets, filling all who met their gaze with a deep and abiding dread.
"You are truly the continent's nightmare, Abyssal Lich! But as long as the light is with us, we will never surrender! We will not falter!" the knight facing him shouted, his gleaming sword of light held high in defiance.
His armor was battered and his body wounded from the endless combat, but his eyes still blazed with unshakable conviction.
"Yeah, he's not as tough as I thought he'd be."
"If we combine our strength, we can definitely win this!"
Beside him stood his comrades. Each one was a reversal hero, having overcome countless hardships to stand on this battlefield today.
Clang!
As steel met bone, the knights and the undead army clashed in another ferocious surge of violence.
While his comrades held back the tide of undead, the Sword Saint and the Abyssal Lich resumed their relentless duel.
The radiant sword cut through the inky darkness, tracing beautiful arcs of light. In turn, the cursed abyss bared its fangs, hungry to devour that light whole.
The ceaseless exchange of blows, a seamless weave of attack and parry without a single inch given, felt less like a desperate struggle for survival and more like a work of theater.
The precise back-and-forth felt like a meticulously choreographed drama.
'It really does feel like a drama,' I thought. 'But how in the world did it come to this…'
Yes.
The Abyssal Lich, terror reborn upon the continent, a walking calamity.
The Sword Saint, a holy champion of the Covenant of Dawn, a sword of conviction.
And me, watching this whole spectacle from a warm room, tearing into a piece of chicken as if it were a movie.
Because they were all 'me.'