Chapter 17: /// Black vs Black /// Part 2

Jean, who got kicked by the dark haired boy - Shion, wakes up with ”Goron” sound.

After checking the opponent’s face, he decided that he was not a friend because he did not recognize him, and entered the battle stance.

“The hell?”

Jean is not familiar with the path of the sword, but his swings are quick, so he can kill people more efficiently than moderate swordsmen. However, Shion is able to counter his attack with a roundhouse kick.

“Ugh, what are you? A martial artist?”

The kick is powerful enough to numb one of his arm. Jean turns his back and starts running away. After confirming that Shion is running after him, he used [Black Swimming] at the right time.

With this, he can go behind Shion and slash him.

“As I thought, was it you earlier?”

Jean is convinced that it was Shion who let the Sablans escape, because the opponent also escaped by Black Swimming. Therefore he activated the dark magic [Black Hand], which he is good at, without a break.

Jet-black tentacles appear and extends long from the ground to catch the enemy. The fight will be over once he’s captured. It is impossible to escape because of the vise.

Furthermore, now that the sun is completely down, the power of the magic is jumping up due to the attribute aptitude bonus.

Shion moves zig-zag trying to escape from the [Black Hand]. If an amateur sees it, it will appear as if he was running away. But Jean can see it through.

‘He’s trying to buy some time’

[Black Hand] has a large magical power consumption, so they are aiming to exhaust their magical power by spending time doing so. Jean takes a pouch out of his pocket, and swallows a pill from inside it.

It’s also called a ‘Double-Edged Pill’, if you swallow one it will improve your physical and magical abilities, but it will shorten your life span by 10 years.

But, considering his opponent, Jean thinks it’s worth it.

“URGHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH”

“…………………”

His pupils opens, his muscles enlarge, and his eyes sharpened ready to kill. Jean’s sudden enhance on his magical abilities made his dark magic much more vicious, powerful, and destructive. At the same time, ten black hands grew from the ground and attacked Shion all at once.

The speed is also increased, and captured Shion while he stopped for a second. Shion, whose whole body has been grasped by [Black Hand], couldn’t move, and Jean took the chance.

The blade ripped Shion’s heart.

“Ha, hahaha, what a shame. He seems to have considerable skills, but I’m far superior as expe-“

POOF - Shion’s body disperse like a mist as if it were an after-image. Before Jean can determine whether he won or not, he felt a presence on his back.

Three people.

The boy he stabbed earlier has now appeared with 2 of him from the darkness.

“No way, NO WAY, a [Shadow Clone]?????”

He can’t believe it, even though it’s right in front of him. First of all, Jean can’t use it, and even if he used it, the clones will be much weaker than the main body.

However, the one he defeated earlier is strong enough to force him to use the dangerous pill.

I any case, Jean is at a disadvantage as soon as 3 bodies appear at once. Even if he tries to deal with them with [Black Hand], it’s useless if theres many of them.

Jean grips his hands so tight they’re trembling. He’s angry. It reminds him of that day, when he thought he was a dragon, but he realized that he was a slug that crawls on the ground.

“What the hell, what the hell, what the hell, WHAT THE HEEEEEEELLL”

There were 4 remaining magic drugs, and Jean swallowed them altogether.

In front of ‘VICTORY’, health and life becomes cheap.

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH”

Because of the way it is used out of its original purpose, the pain that is unbearable first erodes Jean’s body. His eyes turned white, drools all over himself, and the muscles causes cramps every minute.

Even so, the power beyond the limit is waiting ahead.

Dominated by an overwhelming sense of self-affirmation and invincibility, Jean is able to increase the power of his magic by several levels. The number of black hands, which was about ten, tripled and each one of it is thicker than before, accelerating its strength and attacking Shion and his clones.

The black hands was able to handle complicated movements, and successfully captured Shion, twisted his neck, ripped his head, pierced his torso, and reduced all three to nothing.

However, the battle isn’t over yet. Another reinforcements (clones) appeared, and this time it’s five bodies. Jean killed them all whilst roared in anger.

However, when he crushed the fifth body, he noticed the fact that his back became pale and cold. There were no bloodlust from the clones.

The first clone who gave the first shot had a will to fight, but after that it was as if it was just to escape……No, it was focused only on buying some time.

When he opened his mouth, Jean’s body reached its limit and he vomited a lot of blood.

The clones appeared again as if to fight it.

“Agh, fuck. Are you the real one?”

“It seems that you chose the path of self-destruction, so I was able to do it.”

“Ugh, this is irritating.”

“You’re a member from >, right?”

“If so, what’re you gonna do?”

“How do you know about the movements inside the storehouse?”

“If you’re a Black Magician you should know it too, right? We have magic for observation and determine range”

“That’s obviously a lie. Magic like that can’t be used with someone with your level. There should be another person doing it for you. Anyone who can get a glimpse of it without being noticed by the other person … For example, the Hero of Divine Eyes”

Shion dares to give the name and explore his heart, but Jean just smiles and doesn’t seem to be upset.

“That stupid strength, you’re the Hero of Darkness right? I’ll know even without the mask”

“I’ve already quit. But when I was still a hero, I should have told you. There’s no next time”

“…… you remember? Ants like me?”

“I remember every single promises I’ve made. The ones that I’ve fulfilled, and the ones that I’ve broken”

Shion’s footsteps echo in the middle of the night. WOOSH - One of the black wings appeared making Jean excited even though he’s already dying. Because it’s a skill that no matter how much he wants it, he can’t learn it.

Even though his body is in such pain that his head going crazy, Jean can’t stop pulling up the edge of his mouth.

“Jean II, that’s my name. The fucking life that started while chasing after someone, the lie has been decided from the beginning. That is, to end the real thing, hahaha. There’s nothing pleasant about this”

“What an idiot…”

Shion chose to pierce his heart with his wing, not corrosion.

Is the killing counts as a punishment or a mercy to escape unimaginable suffering?

It was known only to Shion who did it.