My body screamed.
It begged for relief. Help.
But there was no help. I had exhausted myself to the point where I could hardly stand.
Slowly lifting my head and staring at the figure standing before me, my heart sank. I tried to move, but all I felt was indescribable pain.
“…..To be honest, I didn’t expect you to be this strong.”
Jackal’s words rang in my mind, slowly and deliberately.
He seemed in no hurry.
“H-ha.”
I felt my chest tremble at the thought.
‘Why would he be in a hurry if I’m in this state?’
As things stood, he probably didn’t think of me as a threat. I didn’t blame him. Had I been in his position, I would’ve probably thought the same.
But this was fine for me.
The more time he dragged, the better things were for me.
‘…I just need to recover enough to move again.’
So long as I managed to touch him…
“You’re thinking of trying to recover as much as possible so that reinforcements come or better yet… You can move again and get rid of me?”
As if reading my thoughts, Jackal chuckled as he took a knee to get a better look at me.
“There won’t be any reinforcements coming.”
His voice was laced with confidence as he spoke.
“The barrier surrounding this place isn’t something that just anyone can detect. They’ll need to be strong enough to detect it, and even then, they’ll need to be quite close to detect it.”
My heart sank as Jackal looked around.
“… Unfortunately for you, the Church of Oracleus is currently hosting an apology banquet to all the top experts within each Empire and Church. They’re all too far to notice a thing, so you can quickly give up on the thought of waiting for help to come.”
Jackal stood up, reaching for his waist and slowly unsheathing a clean silver sword. He stared at his own reflection on it before pointing it in my direction.
“It’s just the two of us at this moment. Me, and… you.”
He cracked a smile.
“Since you’ve taken care of everyone that I’ve sent, nobody will interfere. You don’t like me, right? Now’s your chance. I’ll give you the possibility of fighting me.”
“…..”
Staring at Jackal, I felt my teeth slowly clench.
He was clearly taking pleasure in the situation. And yet, I was helpless to do anything about it.
No, it wasn’t over.
“Kh…”
Gritting my teeth, I forced myself up, every joint and muscle in my body screaming in pain as I staggered a couple of steps back, barely holding onto the wall behind me.
Jackal swung his sword a couple of times before casually leaning on it.
“Hmm, not bad. The fact that you can stand is impressive.”
“…..”
I continued to remain silent, trying my best to catch my breath. At the same time, my eyes fell on the small creature in the distance.
It was none other than Pebble.
‘Not yet… Not yet…’
I only had one chance to turn the situation around. I planned on taking full advantage of Jackal’s arrogance to take him down.
‘This is my best and only shot at coming out this alive.’
At this very moment, more than ever before, I felt… the possibility of losing everything.
It was clearer than ever before, and my entire body felt heavy at the thought.
“Did you have enough time to rest yet?”
Casually looking at me, Jackal’s smile remained. There was something off about his demenour. He seemed a little too.. confident. Too calm.
Why…?
Why was he like this?
I tried to wrap my mind around the situation, but it was simply impossible. My mind was too exhausted to think properly, throbbing at every second.
“Haa… Haa…”
The only thing I could hear was the faint sound of my own rough breathing as I struggled to keep myself standing.
“Do you want to know a fun fact about Oracleus?”
Jackal pulled himself away from the sword and raised it, tracing his finger across the body of the sword.
“…Outside of being capable of seeing the future, Oracleus was quite famous for his sword. He was an excellent swordsman.”
I blinked my eyes, then slowly raised my head to stare at Jackal.
Sword…?
“You seem surprised.”
Jackal shook his head upon seeing my face.
“I’m not surprised a fake like you doesn’t know, but it’s true, Oracleus was famous for using his sword. With his ability to see the future, nobody could beat him in a sword fight. He could see through every action someone was going to make before they could even make it. How can anyone beat someone like that?”
Pointing the tip of his sword my way, Jackal’s expression twisted in a cruel smile.
“Guess what? I, too, am capable of performing such a feat.”
Tightly gripping the hilt of his sword, Jackal’s face suddenly turned serious as he took a step forward.
In that moment, my entire body tensed.
‘He’s coming…’
I could feel it with every fiber in my body that he was now planning on ending things.
I clenched my teeth and sharply looked in Pebble’s direction. That was when Pebble acted, placing its foot against the floor and suddenly increasing the gravity of the surroundings.
“What….!?”
Jackal’s movements suddenly slowed, and his expression changed dramatically.
But by the time he realized, it was already too late as a green orb appeared in my mind and I forced myself forward, arriving before Jackal, my hand pressing against his face.
‘I got you!’
The moment I grabbed onto his face, I didn’t waste a single second and poured all my emotions into his skill.
I didn’t hold back at all and just poured everything all at once.
‘Fear, Anger, Surprise…’
My mind twisted and churned as I poured everything in, but I ignored the pain, pushing myself to the point of passing out.
I had no choice but to.
It was either me or him. I—
“Like I said…”
A voice suddenly whispered next to my ear as I poured every little emotion I had in me.
Stunned, my entire body tensed as Pebble’s voice reached my ears from a distance.
“Human!”
Unfortunately, it was too late.
There was nothing I could do about it.
“I’m the inheritor of Oracleus. Your every action… I can see through it. From the little cat to your emotive magic. I saw all of it beforehand.”
“Ah.”
In that moment, it finally dawned on me.
The reason for why he was so confident in himself.
He… had already seen everything in advance.
Spurt!
The blade punched through my back just moments before its edge appeared before me. Every part of me froze as my mind blanked at the sight that presented itself before me.
“H-ha.”
A strained sound escaped my lips as Jackal pulled the sword away, the sole of his foot kicking my back and sending me crashing against the ground.
Thump!
“Huak… Huak…”
Stumbling forward, I gasped for air, Pebble’s shadow appearing before me.
A constant ringing sound echoed in my ear as the right side of my vision turned completely dark, and I just barely managed to keep myself standing.
In that fleeting moment, I understood what was happening.
‘…I’m dying.’
Indeed, I was.
A strange darkness seemed to want to embrace me from all sides.
And yet, I was strangely calm. Was it because I had experienced it before? I wasn’t scared, nor did I feel anything about it.
I just…
“Kha.. kahf… hahsiumm…”
Jackal’s voice reached my ears. I could hardly make anything out. The only thing I could still see was the faint gleam of his sword.
In that moment, I recalled the words he had previously said, and a thought occurred to me.
‘No wonder I felt… vaguely familiar with Leon’s sword back in the Academy.’
It wasn’t a coincidence.
Nothing had ever been a coincidence…
‘…Ah, if only I knew earlier.’
I would’ve practiced more with it.
I would’ve tried beating Leon with the sword. How would he react if he couldn’t even beat me at his own specialty?
The thought made me want to laugh, but I couldn’t laugh at all.
My fingers twitched, and I blinked my eyes slowly.
Jackal’s figure was standing before me.
“hihima… haihinmn.”
He was still spewing gibberish.
I couldn’t understand a single thing he was saying.
‘No, I don’t like this.’
With the little strength that I had in my body, I squeezed my hand. I felt my hand grip onto something.
Golden lines appeared in my vision shortly after.
They covered my vision, shifting and twisting in all directions.
It was…
‘Beautiful.’
It felt like I could just stay and watch the golden paths for as long as my life allowed me to.
But no.
There was something else that caught my attention.
It stood beyond the golden paths. It was darker. Deeper… more infinite.
I wanted to grasp it.
And yet, the moment I tried, I couldn’t. It was too far from me.
I… needed to cut it.
So that’s what I did.
Swoosh!
I slashed the air.
Jackal moved back, effortlessly avoiding my slash.
“Oh…? You still have some fight in you?”
He spoke again, his tone sounding mocking. ‘Oh, I can hear him again…?’ I was surprised I could hear him again, but I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not.
Slash!
With the little force I had left in me, I slashed the air again, tracing the golden path in front of me.
My vision grew darker with each slash of mine.
I didn’t care.
I wanted to slash the golden paths and Jackal.
Not yet.
A bit more!
I continued to slash the golden paths in front of me. My movements were sloppy, and I couldn’t move forward, but I tried.
Swoosh!
First slash.
Second slash.
Third slash.
I could feel my swings becoming more refined with each attempt.
Jackal, who had previously been avoiding the attacks without much care, started to look more and more serious, until his expression was extremely grave.
The darkness that clung to my vision intensified.
I was close.
Gradually, the golden paths started to change, and my movements became faster and faster.
Jackal was now getting pushed back.
I grew closer and closer with each swing of my sword. The sword paths changed directions as the movements became harder to follow.
I still followed them.
But at the same time, my life slipped with each swing.
I knew in that moment that it was already too late for me.
I was dead.
A dead man standing.
But even in death, I wanted to see beyond the golden lines.
I… wanted to see what lay beyond it.
‘Let me see it!’
Swoosh!
Sensing an attack, I dodged, slicing up with the sword.
Clank!
Sparks flew in the air, and Jackal appeared in my vision again, his upper body exposed.
I saw it then.
The golden lines combine towards one singular point.
That was when my world froze.
Ah—
I found it.
The ending point.
I stabbed forward, the world around me shattering.
But that was also the moment I felt it.
Thump!
My death.