“I am just desiring to get what belongs to me.” Mars scoffed and landed back on the ground. “Luck is a pathetic thing. Only because I wasn’t born in a land where magic energy was plentiful.”
“An excuse, and excuses.” Loki said with mocking laughter. “My village elders said that magic gods are those who decide who gets the talent and who does not.
“You simply weren’t favored, and it isn’t hard to see why. They could see what kind of person you would’ve become with greater talent; that’s why they are hindering you!”
“Hah, those arrogant gods think they can still rule over us.” Mars laughed angrily. “They were once already defeated by humans. I’ll be the next Sword of the Pale God and take the fight to the heavens.
“Only humans should rule this world!”
“I am curious; how much was your fate?” Loki’s lips curled into an angry-filled smile. “Y’know, our village also had information about your eye—Eye of Shimon.
“I recognized it as soon as I saw you venturing into the village. Did you know Eye of Shimon can only take owners with a fate less than a normal person’s?”
“What?” Mars frowned.
“You were both talentless and fateless.” Loki laughed. “If you hadn’t found this eye, you most likely would have been a homeless bum by now, begging for scraps in some random alleyway!
“This is why the Eye of Shimon is the enemy of fate and friend of the fateless.”
“You are lying.” Mars scoffed. “Even without this eye, I would’ve been able to become anything I liked. I didn’t become strong because of this eye. I became strong by myself!”
“Shimon was also the weakest and most talentless person in the heavens.” Loki said coldly. “However, his father, the Great God of Destiny, pitied him and gave him a tiny amount of his power, allowing his eyes to evolve into Fate-Stealers!”
“Stop the fucking lies!” Mars angrily stomped forth and sent a wave of golden flames towards Loki.
Loki’s lips moved into a mischievous grin. He then made hundreds of copies himself and disappeared among them.
The golden flames destroyed most of the doppelg?ngers, but the rest who survived ran around Mars. It was impossible to know which was the real body.
“You are lying!” Mars screamed as he looked around at the doppelg?ngers who ran circles around him. “How could you possibly know about all of this?”
“Our village had been around for a long time.” Loki said, but when he did, each doppelg?nger also did.
When Mars saw each doppelg?nger speak, he felt an incredible amount of pressure. He knew just how difficult it was to control each doppelg?nger, let alone also make them speak. He wouldn’t be able to make even one doppelg?nger copy his voice and speak.
“Since the time when Ancient Grounded Gods walked the land, my village has been there, recording everything.” The dozens of doppelg?ngers spoke.
“How come I didn’t find any of those recorded books?!” Mars asked angrily. “You are lying!”
“Because we burned them all!” The doppelg?ngers shouted. “We would rather burn the history of billions of years than give it to someone like you!”
“You’re going to pay for this!” Mars yelled, his eyes blazing with fury. He chopped his hand across the air and decapitated the doppelg?nger’s heads.
At that moment, Loki’s real body appeared behind Mars, and he stabbed his hand through Mars’ waist.
“Ugh!” Mars looked down at his waist and laughed through pain. “Fool!”
The golden flames surrounded Loki’s arm, and they started scorching his flesh and bones.
“My village had another saying…” Loki whispered and wrapped his other arm around Mars’ neck. “Death is not the end. We will embrace it and meet each other in the Land Beyond Darkness.
“My elders are waiting for me, but before that…”
A large magic circle appeared below Mars’ feet. It had an eight-pointed star with a glowing aura surrounding it.
“What is this?” Mars looked down at the magic circle with narrowed eyes. “These symbols… I don’t recognize them even though I have memorized the whole magic book!”
“A magic I have created during my days in Black Heart.” Loki smiled mischieviously. “I knew you would know every spell of my village. Therefore, I had to create my own to make it so that you could not counter it.”
“Fuck off my back!” Mars reverse headbutted Loki, but he didn’t loosen his grip around his neck.
Even while Mars covered his body with golden flames and Loki started to get incinerated, he still didn’t let go.
“Loki Magic…” Loki whispered and smiled painfully.
While the golden flames surrounded his vision, he looked to the side and saw the rest of the Black Heart members looking with shocked expressions, shouting something.
‘This might not be enough to kill this golden bastard, but it should help…’ Loki closed his eyes and saw the face of Henri flash by for a second.
‘I hope the gates of the Land Beyond Darkness are open for you, brother.’
“Loki Magic, the Mischievous Death.”
The magic circle glowed brilliantly, and then, from the center of the circle, a large crimson explosion erupted, engulfing both Loki and Mars within.
The explosion reached all the way to the sky, looking like a mushroom cloud. It was as if a nuclear bomb had been dropped.
The blast wave shook the ground and sent debris flying in all directions.
A little further away, Adam and Tyrannus were blown away by the explosion. They were already injured and exhausted from their battle; now the explosion had affected them greatly.
‘A suicidal attack…’ Adam thought as he crashed into the ground.
He didn’t stand up yet and instead looked at the mushroom cloud.
‘He sacrificed himself just to kill Mars. You receive my respect, whoever you are. I will also share your fate. No matter what, I’ll kill Tyrannus.’
“The hell?” Tyrannus stood up and looked towards the mushroom cloud with a scoff. “Mars is so pathetic. Did he die from those insects?”
“It’s understandable why Mars is suffering against them.” Adam said and stood up with his legs shaking. “His opponents are ready to sacrifice everything to kill Mars. That shows just how much they hate him.”
“Oh, and?” Tyrannus laughed.
“I also have a similar amount of hate.” Adam smirked. “I cannot meet Milly and mother in the afterlife if I hadn’t killed you before.”
“You are no match for me.” Tyrannus said while panting heavily. “I am one of the Pirate Kings. I am the Sea King, revered and feared by everyone. Also, your time is running out.”
Adam perked up his ears and looked over his shoulders towards the ocean.
From the horizon, hundreds of blue-sailed ships appeared. The armada of the Sea King ships had arrived!
“Hahahaha!” Tyrannus laughed madly.
However, then Adam suddenly smirked and said, “They’re too late, Tyrannus.”
“Huh?” Tyrannus frowned.
Adam shot forward and jumped at Tyrannus in a suicidal way. He raised his katana, completely ignoring all the defense just for this one attack!
Tyrannus quickly swung his battleaxe and slashed through Tyrannus’ body. Adam’s body was cut in half; his legs dropped to the ground while his upper body continued to fly towards Tyrannus.
Adam coughed up blood and saw everything turn dark. However, then his vision expanded, and he could see everything happening on the island.
During this moment, he saw more than he had ever seen in his life before. Even when he still had his vision, he couldn’t see this much.
“Hah… very beautiful…” Adam whispered and swung his katana.
It was the last swing of his life.
Often, no one would take a man whose body was separated seriously.
Tyrannus’ eyes shook as he already expected the fight to end.
“How do you mo—”
The katana slashed through his throat, beheading him.
Adam’s upper body crashed into the ground, and the light left his eyes. He had officially died.
Then, Tyrannus’ beheaded head landed beside Adam’s body, the shock still visible in his dead eyes.
The Sea King, who had ruled this part of the Pirate Battleground with an iron fist for decades, died in the hands of his First Commander.
The Sea King’s death marked the end of an era.