People say that darkness is empty' cold and barren but the thing with how Jason's veil of shadows is more than that. A dome of pure shadow magic that sucks arcanum magic out of any soul unfortunate enough to step into it. For any normal human it had a limited effect on them as normal people had little to no arcanum, but for an imperial knight such as Arthur it was a different story all together.
Stuck in the dead center of the dome, Arthur didn't react in time to move out the attack and the moment dome had encased him completely, he dropped on to the ground as he felt as if a great weight had been placed on his chest. He could barely move or breathe as he stayed on the ground writhing in pain. This was all as a result of the arcanum draining from him. Since he was an Imperial Knight, he's body was too attuned to the ancient magic and the mere process of taking it out of him unwillingly felt like his very blood was boiling inside him.
Jason stood in front of him as he watched his former student wince in pain. He didn't want to do this, he would never wish to hurt Arthur. Deep down he wanted to deactivate the spell, try to explain everything to him, maybe he can believe but would he.....? It wasn't worth it.
He let out a weighted sigh as he turned to leave, by the time the spell was over he would be far from Arthur, far from his past...Start again. Just as he was at the edge of the dome about to leave, Arthur yelled in pain.
"COME BACK HERE YOU....COWARD!" Using the sheer willpower he had he found strength to stand up though with a hunched back and rounded shoulders. Through this all he still had a firm grip on his saber. He looked at Jason through his lashes as he struggled to find the words to say.
"I came here to kill you.....No doubt about that.....Somewhere deep down I wanted answers, maybe have you even lie that what happened wasn't true.....An illusion, mind control, a crazed demon...ANYTHING!!!!!!....At least tell me you didn't do it." Arthur said in labored breathes as beads of sweats were visible on his visage.
Jason stopped and dropped his head as he tightened his grip around the battle axe he still had in hand.
"I did it. Okay. I killed them." Jason said as he faced back at Arthur. Arthur even in pain still was able to show a shocked face. "NO....You're lying. Just so that i can lose hope on you, right?...right?" Arthur said once time this time looking at Jason as he lifted his head.
But Jason didn't respond and simply looked at Arthur. All hope Arthur still had in Jason at that moment died.....he couldn't believe it was true.
"One Question....why?.....No....Why my sister....She was there, you knew she was.....I told you to watch her. Instead you brought back her dead body. To make it worse everyone said it was you. You didn't even fight it. You just ran away. I look for you alll those years only for you to FUCKING tell me you did it!!!!!" Arthur replied in tears and repressed rage.
Jason simply stood there listening to it all, as the repressed memories of that day all came back to him. The damp barely lit up cave, the group of knight apprentices he had that day. It was supposed to be a simple on field training but then...it wasn't. Blood, Blood.....so much blood. Everything in between was foggy but he was sure of what he woke up to. Him on the cave floor, the bodies of his students all around him, all dead with unexplainable wounds. In his arms he held another student, a young beautiful Caroline, Arthur's younger sister. What were supposed to be bright, sparkling red eyes were now blank and now lifeless. Multiple wounds around her body but the worst of it all was the giant chest cavity that once Jason came around fully saw that his hand still coated in his shadow ability held onto a slab of meat...her heart. It didn't take a fool to put two and two together. Jason realized what he did and he would be wrong to say it hadn't affected him. That's why he left everything behind....he ran away. Yes, he killed them but why was his question, a question he wanted but didn't get.
"Everyone was right. You are no.....Hero," Arthur said as he reached into his pocket and retrieved a small purple ball. Jason's attention was drawn to the small ball and at that instant a familiar feeling started brewing inside him. He was losing touch with himself and his dome was showing the internal conflict he was going through.
Arthur swallowed the ball and almost instantly an even greater pain enveloped his body. He struggled for a minute before suddenly his flames started turning from blue to to a dark Purple. His aura started getting more erratic and uncontrollable as pulses of heat eradiated from him. At this point both individuals were struggling to remain sane but Jason's battle was worse for ware as his vision started getting darker and darker.
"I'll KILL YOU!" They both said in rage.