Chapter 232: It’s Over (2)
The green eyes of the bastard looking at me are filled with contempt. He grabs my arm and throws me across the hall.
“Ugh!”
A suppressed sound escapes from between my teeth. I press my tongue against the roof of my mouth and somehow stifle the sound, clenching my teeth. To prepare for the inevitable impact……
Thud! Crash!
“Ugh!”
I crash into the wall again. The blunt impact feels like it’s going to break every bone in my body.
In such a short time, I’ve become a wreck.
Is there…… such a huge difference between him and me?
Footsteps approach.
Yes. The difference between him and me is that he has something I don’t. If I didn’t have the Shadow Stone, I would have already been turned to ashes.
His footsteps stop in front of me. Instead of the vanished footsteps, a voice is heard.
“I’m disappointed. So, your decision will bring ruin to the world?”
“Ugh, Ugh……”
Only groans come out. My whole body is tingling, and the impact feels like it’s amplifying within me, doubling, tripling.
Perhaps my writhing is that unpleasant to him, as he grabs me by the collar and lifts me up. My body is lifted so easily.
Artshever brings his distorted face close to mine.
“Is this the answer? Is this the extent of your ability, the Prince of the Herduke Kingdom, the Grand General, and the Duke of the Gray Forest?”
I clench my teeth and turn my head. Artshever shakes me by the collar and brings his face right up to mine. I can feel his breath on my neck.
“Is this all?! Is the day I’ve been waiting for going to end so pointlessly?! Huh?!”
I can feel his emotions. At the same time, I can also feel a devastating despair. His love-hate is genuine love-hate. He is prepared to destroy this world, yet he also wishes for it not to be destroyed.
I slowly move my lips.
“That’s…… not it.”
“What? Ugh!”
With the remaining strength in my limp arms, I tightly grab his head.
I kiss him.
And I push what was in my mouth into his, deep down his throat. I can feel his Adam’s apple move as he swallows what I’ve given him.
Hehehe. Success.
Artshever quickly throws me down. He touches his lips and neck, unable to hide his bewilderment.
“Pwah! Ha! What, what did you do?!”
“Hehehehehe……”
I sit on the floor, letting out a low laugh.
When he threw me after I escaped the meltdown, the Shadow Stone was in my mouth. Damn! It was hard not to spit it out!
Artshever still seemed unaware of what he had swallowed. I look up at him and slowly rise.
It was hard to pretend to be weak and hide my true intentions. Deceiving oneself is indeed quite difficult.
I brush my hair back and say,
“What you swallowed is the Shadow Stone.”
“Shadow Stone……? Ker’ortak?”
“Yes. The Grenoian Je Ker’ortak. You might know its effects, but it’s quite good. How is it? Doesn’t your body feel heavy?”
The Shadow Stone inside him will now nullify all the magic and superpowers he tries to use. In the end, the only power he can use is his physical strength.
My enemy touches his chest with a dumbfounded expression. He won’t be able to get it out unless he forces himself to vomit or it naturally passes through his system.
“This, this can’t be……!”
“Whew, hey, Artshever.”
“Yes?”
He looks up at me with a blank expression. He now has the same face and eyes as me, but with a rather flustered expression.
Since the angle and appearance were just right, I put all my strength into punching him in the side of his face.
Wham!
“Ugh!”
Artshever rolls over from the clean right hook that landed perfectly.
It’s a complete turnaround from the way he overwhelmed me just a moment ago.
Savoring the thrilling sensation in my right fist, I declare proudly,
“Now we’re even! You damn bastard!”
Brandiego said,
If I kill Artshever with Brandione, or rather, a weapon using the Shadow Stone, I can put a more definite end to his life.
When the sword broke and the stone remained, I came up with an idea. In any case, as long as the Shadow Stone takes effect within his body, wouldn’t it be alright?
Then, I just need to put it directly into his body.
Allowing a man, and a rare opponent at that, being myself, to kiss me, and even putting my tongue in, will remain the biggest stain in my life. But what does it matter? No one saw it.
The effect was excellent, considering the biggest stain in my life I had to pay. Artshever, unable to use magic, spells, or superpowers, can now only use his body.
“Take this!”
Bam!
A hearty jab lands squarely on his solar plexus. Artshever groans in pain as his waist buckles. With a satisfied grin, I grab his head with both hands and knee him in the face.
“Ugh!”
Unfortunately, he twists his head and escapes my grasp. However, thanks to the blow to his solar plexus that landed perfectly, he stumbles, and I don’t miss the opportunity.
Whoosh! Bam!
A clean high kick, drawing a neat arc, lands perfectly.
“Gah!”
Artshever’s pleasant scream is heard.
My body feels incredibly light.
After the Shadow Stone disappeared, the magic engraved on my armor was activated.
Now, let’s continue!
“Uwaaaaah!”
I start pounding his entire body mercilessly with my clenched fists.
Thud, Thwack! Thud-thud-thud!
Shoulders, chest, stomach, face, solar plexus, I hit him everywhere. He tries to curl up and minimize the impact, but there’s no power protecting him anymore.
“Haah!”
The finishing move is, of course, a clean roundhouse kick! The heel of my right foot digs into his exposed flank without mercy.
“Ugh!”
Artshever screams as he falls, rolling a few times before gasping for breath.
“Huff! Huff! Huff……!”
“Get up! It’s not over yet!”
“I underestimated you too much…… Cough!”
“I have to use my wits to deal with someone like you. I’ve bid farewell to useless formalities since I started my new life.”
“Hehehehe……!”
He laughs lowly and staggers to his feet. It’s as if our positions have been completely reversed.
I can’t deny that I wanted to fight fair and square since it’s the last time. However, Artshever is not someone you can fight fair and square with.
His very existence is a cheat, and there’s no rule that says I can’t cheat. So, I shamelessly used my wits and cowardly beat him up while wearing magic armor.
Hmph! This is nothing compared to the hardships he’s put me through!
There’s nowhere to run, and no one to help. So, I’ll kill you to my heart’s content! So, die with all your might!
“As expected…… I can’t help but love you.”
“That’s creepy. Love-hate for yourself. Does everyone become like that when they live like you?”
“Try living like me. You won’t be able to help it. Sigh, thanks to you, I’ll have to use physical techniques I haven’t used in a long time.”
He shakes his head and straightens his waist. At the same time, he loosens his wrists and ankles, doing warm-up exercises. Surely, among the techniques he knows, there must be hand-to-hand combat as well.
He takes a fighting stance and says,
“10 years at the Small Forest Shrine, 8 years at the Hall of Martial Arts, 9 years at the Shining Plum Blossom Mountain, 11 years at the Ice Palace in the North Sea. I’ve even lived as a wandering beggar for a while. It won’t be easy.”
He brings his fingertips together, slightly bends his upper body, and places his feet at an angle. It was definitely a stance from the martial arts he learned from Levidian. As he said, its power was not to be underestimated.
However, I chuckle and critique his experience.
“It’s like a street performer’s, a messy career. It means you haven’t reached the peak in any one thing, right?”
“It’s my characteristic, and also yours. Isn’t it the same for you?”
Ugh. To poke at my complex. As he said, I don’t have the aptitude to reach the peak. However, I do have the tendency to learn many things, like an omnivore.
Thinking about it that way…… Artshever is indeed the form I could reach if I lived a long life.
The fact that he is me is revealed in every little thing. That’s why I can’t help but dislike him.
I silently take a stance. He grins and steps towards me, stomping his right foot hard. Fast.
Whoosh! Thud!
His fingertips, gathered together, pass before my face. An attack aimed at my temple. If it had landed, I would have lost consciousness instantly. At the same time, his hand strikes upward from below, and I raise my right hand to block it.
I counter his rising leg with my own, and repeatedly advance and retreat to gain a better footing.
His hands, flying towards various parts of my upper body, are sometimes sharp like a mantis, sometimes cunning like a snake, and sometimes ferocious like a tiger.
I haven’t learned that much hand-to-hand combat, but I calmly deflect his blows, lightly parry them, and meet them head-on.
Hands passing before my eyes, and legs striking with knees. I make them miss and take a step forward to block.
At a close distance where we can almost feel each other’s breath, my hands, elbows, and sometimes even my head, are directed towards him.
It’s a clumsy fight that would make Levidian yawn and Al turn his head away without a second thought. It’s only natural, since it’s a hand-to-hand fight between two guys who are already half-exhausted from beating each other up.
There’s no way it would look good.
However, he and I are dead serious. We’re fighting a battle for our existence and future. We’re engaged in a fierce battle for survival against our greatest enemy, ourselves.
Only the victor will survive.
“Ha! Hah!”
I throw a light jab with my right hand and follow it up with a powerful straight with my left. He seems to have anticipated it already, as he dodges the attack by drawing a large circle with his upper body and aims for my philtrum with his fist, his middle finger protruding. I reflexively lower my head.
Thwack!
His fist grazes my forehead as it slips. I don’t have time to clutch my stinging forehead. Before he can retract his fist, I reach out with my right hand and grab his wrist. I twist my body to the right, pulling his arm along, and deliver a left hook to it.
However, he’s not someone who would be defeated so easily. He also twists and extends his upper body and throws a kick.
Crack!
I quickly release my grip before his heel connects. I dodge his foot and simultaneously twist my entire body to the left, pivoting on my right foot.
Swish!
My left foot slides between his legs, and my elbow, swung with full force, crashes into the back of his exposed head!
Thud!
He lowers his head to escape the range of my elbow. It only results in a light impact, but I don’t stop there. Because I have the technique Levidian ingrained in my body.
I extend my left arm, wrap it halfway around his neck, and pull it down with all my might. His head is forced forward, and his slightly bent waist bends easily.
This is where the blow to his spine lands.
Crack!
“Ugh!”
“Oof!”
There’s only one sound, but two screams. Because he also bent his waist and aimed for my lower back. We both received the same impact at the same spot.
The recoil sends me three steps forward, and it was probably the same for him. When I turn around, I see him six steps away, rubbing his lower back.
“Ouch, ouch, a man’s life is in his back.”
“Ugh, don’t say that when you’re not even going to have kids. I’m the one in danger. One of the reasons for a spouse’s infidelity is an unsatisfactory marital relationship.”
“Are you satisfied now?”
“Shut up.”
Well, it’s a man’s perpetual concern, but I think it requires technique. It’s not something you can learn separately anywhere. No, that’s not the point!
Artshever rubs his chin with an intrigued look.
“Come to think of it, I think it took me about three months as well. I don’t know about anything else, but that technique is the hardest to master. It’s easier to train in martial arts.”
“I completely agree, but now’s not the time to talk about that!”
I charge at him again. To have such small talk in the middle of a fight, this is truly a bad taste.
Dozens of kicks and punches are exchanged.
Leave a Reply