Chapter 231: It’s Over (1)
Even though I say that, he’s strong.
How many battles has he gone through in his 1,611 lives? He must have overcome death and fought to survive in the meantime.
He has more experience fighting to live.
If you combine the skills he learned for that, the experience that naturally permeated him, and his insight, it’s as if I have no advantage over him.
But even if he lived such a fierce life, Artshever is now weak enough for me to face.
Tired of the love-hate relationship with this world, tired of the repeated cycle of fulfillment and emptiness, to the point where he can’t even decide his own end.
He’s tired.
That precarious boundary is the only gap I can squeeze into.
Also, the desire to survive is stronger in me, who holds the hope of the remaining life.
Artshever, poor me.
It’s just like Brandiego said.
The loneliest and most pitiful being.
That’s why he might have pretended to be a clown. To hide the crying self behind the laughing mask.
“Do you have time to pity me?!”
He swiftly parried the sword flying towards his neck and stepped forward with his right foot. A posture leaning forward overall. The optimal posture for a thrust.
“That’s because you won’t die quietly!”
That contradiction of leaving the decision to others, yet still trying one’s best, cannot be logically explained.
If I relax my vigilance even a little, he’ll kill me and decide the world’s destruction.
Dozens of times of exchanging sword strikes, falling, and clashing again. Our bodies are full of wounds inflicted by each other.
Kill me, he’s saying, if you don’t kill me, you will die.
I’m saying, I will kill you, if I don’t kill you, the world will die.
Literally, this is a fight with myself.
If I don’t overcome it, I can’t live.
That’s how it is for everyone in the world. Only those who fight and win against themselves can truly live.
One’s desires, one’s greed, one’s worries, one’s anxieties, one’s concerns, one’s sorrows, one’s, one’s……
Everyone says they fight the world, but who made that world? Who created the world they live in?
Saying that you fight the world means that you fight yourself.
Too many people see the world as too big. They see their own perspectives, prejudices, ideologies, arrogance, self-righteousness, desires, and attachments as so grand.
There’s too much to fight, so they just give up.
It’s the same with the guy facing me with a sword.
Repeated life, recurring love and hate, an end that doesn’t come.
His world is bigger and more vast than mine, but the individual was too weak to overcome it.
Nevertheless, he lived. I think it’s okay to respect that at least. The tenacity to repeat that thousands of times in a world where it’s hard to live even once.
However, after cutting off the only string that supported him and collapsing, he couldn’t get up again.
No, he restricted his own way of getting up.
He gave up on overcoming himself, but it’s not his fault, nor the world’s fault, nor anyone’s fault.
Every time our swords clash, the emptiness he must have experienced flows into me. Every time our eyes meet, I see the small happiness he must have felt.
Through that, I was able to understand him.
The more we fought, the more fiercely I clashed with Artshever and understood him.
But there’s one thing I can’t accept.
This was my last bastion.
The moment I accept his existence and actions, I will become him. Forgetting my existence and becoming one with him, I will forget all the paths I have walked as Arisein Pen Herduke.
I can’t be him.
That will made my sword move.
Fwoosh!
Ugh. It grazed my arm.
Should I call this self-harm or injury?
Let’s get rid of these trivial thoughts.
I moved my whole body and gave him a long cut on his cheek.
Clang! Kang―! Crack!
The swords clash, grind against each other, and sparks fly. My whole body is hot and stinging thanks to the wounds all over.
A fight with oneself always hurts oneself. There’s no fight in the world without getting hurt, and a fight with oneself always hurts twice as much.
Nevertheless, I have to fight.
Why?
To remain as myself.
Because I love ‘my own life’.
Clang!
They collide.
Kang! Kang!
They collide rapidly.
Kang! Kang! Kakang!
Fiercely. Fiercely enough to burn all the blood in my body.
Kagagagagang!
Keep clashing. Don’t stop. The moment I stop is the moment I die. I can’t stop. I haven’t lived until now just to stop here!
Kagagagagaga―!
Use all your strength. You’re running out of power? Scrape up every last bit from the bottom! Bet everything! My time spent getting here is wasted if I collapse! I pity the self I’ve built up until now!
I can still move.
I’m not tired!
So please.
Move!
Live!
Pakang―!
“Ah……”
Brandione broke.
How many sword strikes did we exchange at close range? Brandione, which was gradually cracking, shattered into fragments almost simultaneously with Artshever’s sword.
Artshever threw away the hilt of the broken sword. He clenched his fists. They were covered in a white light, whatever power it was. It couldn’t be the Will of Destruction, could it?
“It’s not…… It’s not over yet!”
I stepped back. And I took the Shadow Stone from the sword, which only had the guard left, and put it in my mouth. It’s the only power that allows me to fight almost equally with Artshever.
My pronunciation was a little strange because I had a rather large stone in my mouth, but I told him.
“Yeah…… It’s not over yet!”
We clenched our fists and rushed at each other.
I can still fight!
I ducked my upper body, charged in, and landed an uppercut on his chin.
Pow!
His chin lifted upwards, but his knee struck my solar plexus.
“Ugh……!”
He and I staggered back.
A streak of fresh blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, and I forced a smile as I watched it. I almost swallowed the Shadow Stone. Thanks to the rhombus-shaped stone rolling around in my mouth, I couldn’t even shout!
I silently rushed in and aimed a high kick at the top of his head. At that moment, Artshever rushed at me, grabbed my neck and belt with both hands, and slammed me to the ground.
Boom!
The impact on my back made it hard to breathe. Still, I somehow managed to keep my mouth closed.
As my momentarily flashed vision returned to normal, what I saw was the sole of a hard military boot forcefully approaching my face.
I desperately rolled my body to avoid it. Immediately after, Artshever’s foot landed where my head had been.
Boom―!
With a tremendous vibration, the floor caved in. Cracks appeared like drought-stricken land, and at the center was Artshever’s leg, buried deep enough to leave a footprint.
Yeah, that’s the attitude of someone who wants to kill me for real!
It wouldn’t be fun if you didn’t come at me like that!
I half-raised my body and tackled him.
“Ugh?!”
I felt his balance falter. I hugged his waist and mercilessly punched his abdomen.
Thud! Thump! Thump! Thump!
“Ugh! Urgh! Argh!”
Kwang!
Sparks flew from my eyes again. While I faltered for a moment after being hit in the back of the head, he pulled away from me. Then his foot flew towards my lowered face. Dangerous!
Whee!
My head almost turned into a smashed watermelon. I stepped back about three steps. I need to create distance and look for an opening again……
Create distance?
I suddenly came to my senses and raised my head. There, Artshever was casting magic as if he had been waiting.
“Melt down!”
I hurriedly tried to move from where I was standing. But it was already too late, the floor I was standing on had melted, and my feet were starting to sink!
He smiled faintly and said.
“Huff, huff. Do you think you and I are equal?”
A chillingly accurate point. He still had strength left. Besides, I’m not confident in hand-to-hand combat.
Artshever’s green eyes flashed.
“You said you would kill me, right? Then kill me! Show me how much you can do! Life and death, it’s easy to say! So prove your strength directly!”
And he prepared his magic. I struggled to pull myself out of the floor, but my legs were already sunk up to my shins, so I couldn’t get out. Moreover, it was already hardening!
“Argh! Aaargh!”
Only a shallow groan escaped my tightly clenched teeth.
It was foolish. To think of confronting him head-on for a moment. As he said, the recklessness of directly challenging an unequal opponent!
I quickly took the Shadow Stone out of my mouth. And I clenched it in my fist and struck the ground.
Pang―!
With a clear sound, the melting floor shattered. When I pulled myself out, Artshever grabbed me by the collar as if he had been waiting. Ugh! Was the magic a feint?
“Yah―!”
It must be magic or some other technique. I was thrown by him, flew several meters, and crashed hard into a pillar.
Thud!
“Kugh!”
A groan escaped my lips. The shock that started from my back engulfed my whole body.
The next moment, I plummeted face-first towards the ground.
Splat!
It felt like my stomach and chest were being ripped out.
“Hagh! Ugh!”
Artshever slowly approached. He was walking slowly, emitting a white aura from his entire body. I guessed it was probably the Will of Destruction.
I tried to get up somehow. But my legs wouldn’t listen properly. My insides were churning, causing a constant throbbing pain, and I felt dizzy enough to make my head spin.
“Ugh……! Ugh!”
“Can you really kill me?”
Nausea welled up. Along with the shock from earlier, I felt disgusted with myself for foolishly stepping forward.
Covering my mouth, I barely managed to get up. But Artshever, who had walked over step by step, simply kicked me away.
Pow! Crash!
This time, I smashed into a piece of furniture and was slammed against the wall.
Ouch!
“Show me the image of someone who decides and acts on their own! Show me a sight that wouldn’t make my death a waste! So powerless, yet you don’t even have the strength to keep your own words! Do you have the right to lecture others?!”
His sarcastic shouts mixed with the sound of my heart pounding in my ears. I think I have furniture fragments embedded somewhere in my body, but I desperately tried to get up.
Not yet……! It’s not over yet!
I won’t die from this!
The training I went through wasn’t so easy that I would die this easily!
“Grrrr―!”
I clenched my teeth, clenched my fists, and got up. I gritted my teeth. A rough breath escaped through the gaps, but I didn’t open my mouth. Because I didn’t know when he would strike my chin.
I struggled to raise my arm and tried to hit his face. But he dodged it too easily.
I threw my fist again and again. I couldn’t kick because I was afraid of losing my balance, and every time I did, he would just dodge with leisurely movements.
Not yet!
I can win! I won’t lose!
I wasn’t born to collapse here!
“Are you tired? How much have you fought? I’ve fought for thousands of times longer! If you’re going to kill me, you should have at least thought about surpassing that!”
Thud!
My fist was blocked too easily by his arm.
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