“Ahahahaha~! Like I give a f*** anymore! I initially wished to create this place as a home for the people and myself. But now that what I loved turned their backs on me, why should I even care anymore? Say thanks I’m not burning this place to the ground, you f*****!” → Shen
My aura exploded out again with a purplish-dark color, the demonic features showing again.
“And I’m telling you to listen! Should I beat you up until you can hear me?” → Ryu
“Both of you! Calm down!” → Bonny
Bonny shouted agitated, not understanding what was happening as she held her head in confusion and despair.
“What the Hell is going on here?!”
“We’re here. What was that explosion?”
“Is everyone fine?”
Bururiba, Jian, Ashura, Tara, Lissa, Fiora and more other warriors who were able to fly appeared around the tower while at the same time bringing other warriors who couldn’t. Be them from Bururiba’s group, from Antara or from the Heroes’ Party, they all moved out at full speed to see what was happening and to find out if the King was injured.
“R-really now… What is going on here…?” → Bururiba
Bururiba asked in everyone’s place, looking confused and shocked at me and Ryu who were both transformed in different forms, our aura’s incredibly terrifying and domineering.
I-is this a confrontation between two avatars of mighty emperors? What’s with their ridiculous auras confronting like that? Weren’t they friends? → Jian
Jian wore a grave face while sweat fell down his back.
T-they both have the same presence as him… → Yuri
Yuri though after remembering the first time he met the emperor of Vestria. Even though it wasn’t intentional, the pressure he felt at that time was still monstrous.
Seeing so many people gathering in one place, I giggled in amusement and raised my hand toward Ryu.
“Well, until this guy here prepares for our duel, shall I have you help me with warming up? I might need a hitting sack until I get used with the devil’s powers. And I’m quite sure there must be some curious people around us who wish to see a nice fight. Eh? What do you say, interested?” → Shen
“…”
Ryu stared at me with his cold eyes then he closed his eyes for a moment. His transformation canceled then looked at me with a composed but firm gaze, his voice just as stable.
“Shen. I’m not going to fight you. I understand, if you wish to start the duel this instant, then so be it. Mister Yuri, I suppose you have nothing against this, right?” → Ryu
Ryu asked with the same firm eyes while turning to Yuri, having him nod in a hurry.
“Ah, ah~ not so fast~.” → Shen
While the others still questioned themselves of what was happening, I looked downwards with my demonic eyes and started to feel the spiritual power of the items under the tower.
“Ah~ there you are~. Isaz2IsazAn Elder Futharks rune which, in this novel represents only \"Ice\", \"coldness\", and \"stillness\". Appearance: Looks like an I and is normally written on stone, wood or even bone. , go down there and bring me that.” → Shen
I commanded the golem while pointing downwards. I sent him the image of what I needed and he understood instantly.
In just a few moments, Isaz returned back with full equipment of dark obsidian armor with the rank: Epic. Exactly the same I used to welcome the heroes.
“Shen, since when do you need armor?” → Ryu
Ryu asked me confused, making for a vein appear on my forehead.
“Oy d******! I thought I told you not to be so friendly with me, ye?! Next time I hear you pronounce my name with that amicable tone, I’ll send you flying again! Besides, you gave that sissy guy a sword, didn’t you? I have the right to use some armor at least.” → Shen
“… Sigh…”
S-sissy…?
Seeing how the devil already took over most of my consciousness, Ryu gave up in conversing with me and he simply left everything to Yuri who was now staring dumbfounded at me.
I can tell Shen is still fighting the darkness inside him. Otherwise, he would’ve gone berserk since a while now… The only person he shouldn’t see under no circumstances is Sylvia… He might really snap and go for the kill, something that I’d rather not see my friend do to his own lover. → Ryu
Ryu said while praying that Sylvia would remain inside her room until everything ended. If something still planed and I were to lose reason completely, Ryu would have to kill me, something he wanted to evade for as much as possible.
After acquiring the armor, I took off the cloak, equipped the armor in a flash then tied the cloak around my waist.
“Even though I don’t feel like wearing white now, the properties of this coat are still something else.” → Shen
“Shen. May I ask what in the world is going on? Why is your aura so evil? Since when do you have black hair and red eyes? And also… Why are you fighting with King Ryu?” → Ashura
Ashura got closer and asked with a frown.
“Hah~? Is it such a big deal to make a change once in a while? Well, if you wish for the full explanation then why don’t you ask the bastard himself?” → Shen
“Shen! I won’t permit you to talk like this about Ryu!” → Bonny
Bonny stamped her foot in anger and shout angrily at me.
“Oh my? How emotional. Well, it’s not like I’m one to talk.” → Shen
I laughed out loud then continued while a thick killing intent covered the entire area, making all and every single warrior from around to freeze in place.
“J-Just what is going on up there?!” → Gregor
Gregor shouted while feeling his knees weak. At the moment he was at the base of the tower and stared upwards, completely frozen from the pressure.
“T-this is not normal. Such thick killing intent. Just who is up there?” → Lissa
Lissa who was right beside him felt the same fear as Gregor, maybe even stronger, having her demonic instincts revolt and whisper in her head.
Run! The Devil is coming! Run!
Completely confused she stared upwards while asking herself with teary eyes.
Devil? Just what is that in the first place?! I never heard of such a thing before!
She fell on her knees from the fear and held herself while trying to control the trembling.
“Lissa! Are you okay?!” → Gregor
“G-Gregor… W-we must g-get away f-from here…” → Lissa
Just what in the world… → Gregor
Gregor looked around and observed how every demon either retreated or collapsed on the ground, holding their own heads as if hurting or covering from something. They couldn’t even shout, simply wriggle on the ground and tremble uncontrollably.
Back inside Ryu’s office, I looked at Bonny with a bestial smile and said:
“As I lost everything, should I make your dear Ryu feel the same~?” → Shen
“!!!”
Bonny trembled in fear and terror, feeling the ridiculous blood-lust directly released on her. Then, a broad back covered her entirely and faced the blood-lust with his own.
“R-Ryu… Just what is happening…?” → Bonny
Bonny started crying while trembling uncontrollably. About the devil inside me was aware only Sylvia, Yuri and Ryu, the others were in complete confusion.
“Shen. You’ve gone too far.” → Ryu
Ryu took a heavy step forward, breaking the ground and shaking the entire tower. Before he could shoot out at me, Yuri took a step between us and shouted with all his power.
“STOP!” → Yuri
He was breathing heavily while resisting both mine and Ryu’s pressures.
Awawawa~! W-what am I supposed to do now? W-why have I done this? → Yuri
From the panic, Yuri almost forgot what he wished to do, only after seeing the tearing Bonny behind Ryu had Yuri remembered his words.
R-right! → Yuri
“Lord Shen! I accept your challenge to a duel! We will have Mister Leorio and Miss Caila as referees from my part, together with your two High Golems! King Ryu! Your people are waiting for an explanation. Please leave Lord Shen to me while your highness offers the people their answers!” → Yuri
“…”
Be it me, Ryu or any other warrior from around, we all had surprised or some even shocked expressions on. Nobody expected for someone to dare get in between us so bravely.
Yuri himself was dazed by the sudden courage he showed, only to grab his own head in exasperation.
Aargh! What the hell am I doing?! Going in between two emperor-like entities and spitting out all that brazen thing! Oh no… I might really get killed now. → Yuri
He waited for someone to refute him, only to hear Ryu’s calm voice.
“Sigh~ you’re right. Everyone! I will explain everything there is to know. The referees, I want you to search for a battleground outside the kingdom. A place as secluded as possible.” → Shen
“Understood.”
The two elites and the two golems answered back and flew away in a hurry.
“Hehe~ you really have some guts, brat. I’ll give you that. Fine, let’s go after the referees, the moment they found the place we might as well start fighting.” → Shen
I grinned like a devil then flew away toward my golems.
I-I really stopped them… → Yuri
Yuri fell on one knee sweating from all his pores while breathing heavily. Bernard got closer to him and patted his back with a firm hand. His eyes were heavy while his voice deep.
“You did well. I wasn’t even able to move from the pressure… Will you be alright against Lord Shen?” → Bernard
“Huh?” → Yuri
At this question Yuri looked upward at Bernard, not understanding why he asked him that when they were supposed to be enemies.
“I know it sounds weird, but our Lord doesn’t seem to be himself… I saw him mad before, but nothing like this. He looks like he’s in a lot of pain.” → Bernard
With a solemn face, Bernard then got in front of Yuri and bowed his waist in front of him.
“Mister Yuri, we beg you to save Shen.” → Bernard
“E-eh?! Sir Bernard?!” → Yuri
Seeing this, the other mighty warriors of Antara which knew Bernard the best got beside him and bowed together with him.
W-wait. What the Hell is going on? Why are they bowing down to him? → Bururiba
Bururiba asked himself something general for the entire group that was levitating around the tower, only Ryu shook his head while feeling helpless.
He doesn’t know the full story, but yet he knows the big idea… What a fearsome man this Bernard is. → Ryu
Seeing Yuri so confused, Bernard got up and explained himself with a serious face, the others doing the same.
“I know nothing of what happened to Lord Shen, but I can tell that our Lord is in a lot of pain. All this time while Mister Yuri and his group stood here, we, the warriors of Antara, have been watching and observed you all. We wished to know what kind of people the so-called heroes are like. In the end, we concluded that the only hero we can fully accept and trust is you, Mister Yuri. We weren’t able to detect any kind of malice, doubt or slyness from you, but if we’re mistaken then this is our fault and we’re ready to support the consequences. From Shen’s and his benefactor’s teachings we also learned how to read a person while we ourselves are experienced warriors who have our own share of experiences behind our backs. I can assure you that after a week with your group, we were able to tell a true dragon from a snake, a true man from a lizard. That’s why we believe you must be able to do something about our Lord.” → Bernard
“B-but why do you think that?” → Yuri
“Just my gut.” → Bernard
Wow… You really can’t mess with true warriors. → Yuri
Yuri and everyone else remained dumbfounded then Ryu shook his head and calmly announced:
“Alright, everyone. I will explain everything in due time. Mister Yuri, please follow Shen and prepare for the duel. The rest, you will soon understand that Bernard’s decision was the right one.” → Ryu
“Y-yes!” → Yuri
Yuri then rushed outside the broken tower and flew away in the direction Shen left a while ago.
Sigh~… Now, this is truly a pain… → Ryu
Ryu felt his innards hurt after the confrontation he just had with me. Even though his transformation finished for this part, his newly built body is still too weak to fully show his powers, being unable to resist his own powers.
While Ryu was explaining the details to the others, the devil whispered again in my head with a mocking laugh.
[Kekeke~ Did you hear that? Your own people are asking the enemy to “save” you. They could as well simply tell him to kill you!]
The devil laughed after he amplified the waves of mana around, forcing me to listen to the conversation that took place from more than five kilometers away. I bit hard while feeling even more betrayed, then smiled indifferently with cold eyes.
Like I give a s***. After this duel, I’m out of this rotten place. What kingdom? What family? All just bull-crap and lies. → Shen
My red eyes turned completely Blood-red while my indifferent face chilled down.
[Master, we found a perfect spot.]
“Finally.” → Shen
I shot out toward the empty valley in-between the mountains. The huge crater I created together with Ryu was now cleaned out from any blood or rotten flesh is now just an empty and deep humongous hole.
“A perfect place.” → Shen
I smiled briefly then looked at the two elites, Leorio and Caila.
“You might be referees but your only job is to announce the victor and when the match starts, understood? If you dare to interfere then you’d better prepare to leave behind an arm or leg.” → Shen
“… We know what we must do, please don’t doubt us, Lord Shen.”
Leorio and Caila bowed their heads with composed faces. However, their foreheads were still sweating from the pressure.
“Sir Shen!” → Yuri
Yuri then appeared and landed on the opposite side from me, only 10m away. We both stood in the middle of the crater while the two elites and two golems got away from us, flying for more than two kilometers away and looking from the tip of the mountains around us.
“Take your stance!” → Leorio
Leorio boomed from atop a mountain-top and we did just that.
“Now, let’s start our duel, shall we?” → Shen
I grinned while looking at Yuri with sharp eyes and took a fighting stance. I was wearing the black Legendary armor from before and the heroic gauntlets, while my white coat was tied up around my waist.
“…Sir Shen. I will give my all to save your soul.” → Yuri
Yuri said with a resolute face. After talking with Bonny, Ryu, and Sylvia, he decided to help me with everything he got. His eyes shone with a green luster while he prepared his staff.
[FIGHT!]
Then both Kenaz3KenazAn Elder Futharks rune which, in this novel represents only \"torch\" and \"vision\". Appearance: Looks like a < and is normally written on stone, wood or even bone. and Isaz boomed together, making both of our auras to explode. My dark aura made the space shake while Yuri’s shining sky-blue aura made the air vibrate.
“Drop the bull-crap, ORA!” → Shen
I shot out toward him by using the [Shadow Step] and struck in front with a dragonic punch while three huge crystals materialized behind my elbow.
“[Sura Dragon’s Wrath]”!
Fast! → Yuri
Yuri was surprised by my speed and hastily dodged with his own Moving Skill: [Blink]. His body would enter the spirit world for a moment and have any kind of spell or skill go through him, or simply dodge it by teleporting.
My punch landed on the empty ground, forming a huge crater of around 200m and cracking what was around it.
“Dodge this then!” → Shen
I summoned six energy stones which suddenly shot out in the air. One turned into a gigantic fireball, one into an ice cannonball, one into a huge wind-blade, another one into a meteorite, one into a shadow-blade, and one into a little shiny ball of light.
“S-six great spells in one go?!” → Caila
Caila exclaimed in shock while Leorio’s expression darkened.
“Look closely, Caila. This is a fight between foreigners of another world. Between those who know different forms of truth about the “world” than us.” → Leorio
“…”
Both of them looked intently while trying to learn as much as possible from their duel.
T-that looks dangerous. → Yuri
Yuri looked upwards with a dumbfounded face then focused on his all.
“Eat them all!” → Shen
I commanded the huge spells to crash right on Yuri, not caring if he actually died from that or not.
The fastest one was the light ball which flew toward Yuri like thunder. The ball suddenly exploded and strong lightning was released all around him, striking everywhere on an area of 100 meters.
“Ugh!”
Yuri was able to dodge the deadly lightning by using [Blink] again. However, his right arm was still struck by fierce lighting, forming on it deep burns along his meridians. After he reappeared, the huge wind-blade was next. Yuri was able to simply dodge it by jumping over it, and the second blade, the one made of darkness, was neutralized by using [Purification], pointing his staff in front and illuminating the darkness which broke the blade in two from the strong light. After these two came the huge fireball, which was dealt with by creating a beam of light. The beam penetrated the fireball and made it explode mid-air. However, through the fire, a ball of ice dropped with incredible speed toward Yuri. Seeing the ball Yuri simply dodged by dashing away from it, only to have a bad premonition about it.
“Damn!” → Yuri
Yuri hastily stabbed his staff on the ground and activated a skill.
After the ice-ball made contact with the ground, the entire crater froze stiff. Yuri was able to nullify the freezing by purifying an area of 4m around himself, remaining unaffected by the secondary effect.
W-what ridiculous reaction speed… → Leorio
Even Leorio looked baffled at Yuri’s abilities.
It seems I wasn’t fully aware of his skills either. I feel more shameful now. → Leorio
While Leorio was sighing in shame, Yuri glanced upwards with sharp eyes.
“…Now this one is the last.” → Yuri
He looked upwards at the large meteorite-like boulder, falling over him with great weight behind it.
“I think I’ll just use this.” → Yuri
Yuri took out a sword from his inventory and looked at it with a complicated gaze. It was exactly the sword Ryu gave it to him, the [Thunder King’s Sword].
Yuri pointed the tip of the sword upwards and he inserted his own light energy inside it. The sword started to shine and just as he was about to release the accumulated energy-
“Like I’ll let you.” → Shen
I appeared from inside his own shadow, preparing to strike him to the ground.
“You tried to use this trick on me before, forgot?” → Yuri
Yuri was unperturbed and he pointed the sword downwards toward his own shadow.
“S***!” → Shen
I shot out from his shadow before he could’ve made it disappear and cut me in half.
“Just kidding.” → Yuri
He smiled slightly then pointed the tip of the sword toward the huge boulder. A great thunderous pillar of lightning shot out and penetrated right through the bolder.
-BOOM!-
The boulder exploded mid-air just like the fire-ball and huge boulders rained from above right toward the both of us.
“…”
Even though it was raining with boulders, none of us bothered with looking above, gazing at each other in tension. A boulder then dropped toward my head and I slammed it to pieces without looking. The same happened with Yuri, smashing it with his own wooden staff.
“Alright. No more jokes now.” → Yuri
I felt annoyed after being tricked by him so I stepped forward with calm steps.
“You won’t be able to win against me in close combat, Sir Shen.” → Yuri
“Ho~? But that’s my line.” → Shen
After a few moments, we were right in front of the other. My eyes were ice-cold with a murdering glint while his eyes were clear and calm like those of a great monk staring at the blue sky.
“Roah!”
I roared then punched out with my dragonic fist. Yuri simply redirected my punch to the side then used his staff and activated [Anti-gravitational Push]. I took a strong step on the ground and rooted myself right in front of him, resisting the ridiculous force. After his spell failed, I rose my foot for a roundhouse kick but he simply dodged by bending his back backward. He then pushed forward with his palm while I countered with my fist.
“!”
He saw the punch coming so he changed from ‘pushing’ to ‘grabbing’. He caught my punch and redirected it downwards and raised his leg for a Brazilian kick but rather toward my head, he struck downwards toward my bent back. With incredible force, he struck me but I resisted the impact and, while still having my right arm grabbed, I struck out with my left toward his face. As I was going toward his right, he raised his knee toward my chest with incredible speed while at the same time he pulled my arm downward for a full-on impact.
“Tsk! ROAH!”
I hastily blocked with my other hand, then stepped forward pushing him in front with my shoulder. I collapsed atop of him and got him in a mounting position. Just as I was prepared to punch him, his aura exploded and sent me flying from atop him 10 m away. Not letting this chance slip by, I shot myself towards him again with a frontal kick.
“?!”
To my surprise, Yuri dodged the kick and grabbed me by the face, smashing my head on the ground. After that, he activated [Binding] and locked me down.
[Are you going to lose, Omisus?]
Quiet down, stupid insect! → Shen
The devil whispered in my head with a mocking laugh and I lashed back at him. After binding me, Yuri prepared a strong fist by focusing his entire power in that one punch. More and more magic circles appeared around his arm and in front of his fist.
“Like hell I’ll let you kill me.” → Shen
I said while feeling a chill down my spine. Yuri’s fist would affect not only my physical body but my spiritual one as well. With that one spiritual punch, he could also destroy my more sensible channels, taking my immortality away.
