Point of view of Aaron:
How can this little worm keep up with me? I understand my body better than anyone. I know I’m at my weakest point since becoming a Diamond rank after fighting the first three. I know I’m not someone specialized in combat, but… that’s not an excuse for what’s happening.
My eyes feel red with hatred right now. My head feels like it’s about to explode from the fury of not being able to annihilate this insignificant insect in front of me. No matter what I do, he survives.
If I manage to trap him in my Jurisdiction to crush him until he bursts, somehow he finds a way to use that disgusting Imra to free himself. I don’t know how much he must have suffered to obtain such a strong will. His cube must have endured enormous damage and recovered many times.
If I manage to hurt him, he has that disgusting healing ability. It’s a mystery how he possesses something so powerful at his rank. I’ve only seen similar healing capabilities in the greatest Ruby-rank talents. His cube must be under constant stress while simultaneously healing itself.
At least I’ve managed to surpass his healing speed, at the cost of my mana reserves, but even that doesn’t help me right now. I still have plenty of mana to burn, enough to fight for at least another hour, but my brain can’t handle the stress of constructing more attacks. I’m already at my limit and I still can’t kill him.
He moves in such a perfect and elusive way at all times. It’s like a fish swimming in a pond that can look in every direction with multiple eyes. It’s a damn nuisance.
I don’t have much time. Somehow they’re breaking through the security nets I set much faster than expected. I only have a little over three minutes to assassinate him and his friends before they break the defenses. At that exact moment, my life will already be over.
“If I’m already dead anyway…” I whisper slowly.
I don’t care if I break myself a little more beforehand. I don’t care if I damage my cube or my brain in the process. If I at least manage to kill that bug, I’ll die satisfied.
My nose begins bleeding slowly, and my vision becomes slightly blurry from the strain. The self-inflicted damage has its reward. The number of constructs increases, leaving him with nowhere to escape.
What a wonderful sight to see those eyes filled with surprise and fear. It’s been a long time since I enjoyed such a terrified expression. I spit out a mouthful of blood. My cube has suffered so much stress from the amount of mana that some of my organs have been slightly damaged.
The little bastard somehow managed to survive, and I can see how his body is already recovering at an alarming speed. Honestly, I’m quite surprised by his quick reaction. If he had taken even a hundredth of a second longer, he would have died.
His stomach was almost torn in half and he lost a hand, but at that moment he reacted by swinging his left arm with a ridiculous amount of mana, Imra, Laws, and his Banner to sweep away my constructs and escape.
His arm disintegrated almost instantly, disappearing in a bath of blood due to the force of gravity. He sacrificed a limb for his life. Quite clever.
It takes me several seconds to construct enough attacks to feel satisfied with my next strike. My cube and brain both resist, and I’m forcing my entire body to continue. Blood is pouring from both nostrils now, not just dripping but flowing continuously.
This bastard Maki has also had time to heal his deepest wounds. The piece of his stomach has already closed and the most dangerous injuries have stopped bleeding. Even his arm is on the path to recovery.
I concentrate my Jurisdiction on him. It costs me another mouthful of blood, but I manage to catch him off guard. I don’t even have time to celebrate—he escapes again with that Imra explosion from his core, and he also spits an absurd amount of blood while doing it.
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He begins moving again. I can’t allow him to finish healing.
Against the will of my entire body, I continue constructing different spikes and lances of pure mana, all in an attempt to reach him. He keeps dodging my constructs without even looking at me. Most of the others are repelled by his multiple defensive layers.
Gravity, electricity, and ice. All in perfect combination to slow everything in the field around him, destroy whatever approaches with electrical currents, and surround his body with ice mana as a final barrier.
My hatred hasn’t diminished even a little. I wish I could grab him with my own hands, peel off his skin, rip out his eyes, and torture him until I grew bored. But deep inside, that child giving everything he has to protect others has earned a measure of respect.
I keep trying to trap him, to pierce him in every possible way. His body keeps accumulating wounds.
My vision fails for a moment from the strain. It wasn’t even two seconds. When I react again, Maki is already in front of me, swinging his swords.
The mana around me gathers to protect the places where I’m about to be cut. His swords change direction the moment I fortify the first areas. This bastard doesn’t fall for feints and is extremely clever at reading his opponent.
I push my body harder to accumulate mana around every centimeter of myself and fortify the most vulnerable areas. His swords tear through my first constructed layers like paper. They don’t contain only mana now—my own Imra covers them, and several Laws reinforce them.
I can’t let him dictate the flow of this battle. I have to switch to the offensive as quickly as possible.
A jet of blood bursts from my mouth. My blood splashes over the boy’s face and body. He doesn’t react in the slightest. His eyes haven’t even blinked.
Most of my constructs are repelled or dodged. Only one pierces deeply into the pit of his stomach. He spits blood from the pain as well, but he doesn’t care. He keeps moving like a machine designed to kill me.
That gaze… it reminds me so much of hers… the one that never gave up.
I need to destroy them all to avenge what they took from me—the thing I loved most in this world.
I force the mana around me to push him back as far as possible. My cube begins fracturing faster, cracks spreading through the columns and walls. The pain is unbearable. I bite my lips to stay focused.
I feel a sword pierce into the pit of my stomach. Death mana tries to destroy everything around it. I focus on countering it while attacking him at the same time. The sword descends slightly below my stomach. Only then do I counterattack, and three lances stab into his arm. One even pierces through into his thigh.
The force of my blow forces him to stop, but his other hand is already moving. I see it too late and react slower than expected. I only manage to move my body slightly.
The sword was heading straight for my neck, intending to pierce it and kill me. Instead, it embeds just below my Adam’s apple and passes through.
I should be grateful for being a Diamond rank. Under other circumstances I would already be dead or in my final breaths.
I don’t repeat the same mistake as before. The previously prepared constructs shoot forward. Some slip through his defenses and pierce him in several places—his other arm, his legs, his stomach, and even dangerously close to his heart and cube.
I’m exhausted. My eyes feel heavy. I need time to recover.
I can’t destroy the death mana inside my body. It’s affecting me. I’ll need time to recover and remove every trace of it, and his swords are still embedded in my body.
A faint smile forms on my lips. He isn’t in any condition to continue either. He remains standing purely through willpower.
But he disappears from my sight just as multiple mana lances were about to pierce his head.
I didn’t pay attention to the spatial mana. I let my guard down and allowed him to escape. I’ve given him one more chance.
But that will be the last.
His body floats in the air through sheer will. He refuses to surrender. He knows that if he falls, his friends will die.
“Die.” I try to speak, but the blood in my mouth prevents the words from coming out clearly. With the last constructs available, I will finish him.
His bleeding body, filled with my mana, cannot dodge this. He also says something. I see him spit blood, and his mouth clearly moves as if trying to speak.
Were you begging in your final moments? That would have been entertaining to watch. All the constructs are only centimeters away from him when they suddenly shatter into tiny crystals.
My mana turns into something like dust. What happened? Why did my constructs break apart? Did he do something? Many questions flood my mind.
Before I can construct anything else, my body suddenly feels heavy, as if a massive beast has placed its paw on a helpless animal.
A deep fear spreads through my body, and in that exact moment I realize what has happened. I hadn’t noticed because my focus was entirely on Maki. My brain had ignored everything outside.
The defenses have fallen. And my death sentence has arrived.
A person appears in front of me, someone usually known for his big smile. Right now he looks furious, emanating an overwhelming killing intent. My body trembles. All I want to do is curl up and disappear.
His Jurisdiction shatters all my defenses. The last thing my eyes see is the face of Julio Timal. In that moment, my consciousness disappears.