Although Zich managed to land a blow, Condel didn’t receive a lot of damage. All he simply did was borrow Windur’s strength to pierce through the shadows’ defense and punctured a small hole in Condel’s leg. Yet, it wasn’t nothing, and to Condel who wasn’t used to battling, it threw him off significantly; after all, there weren’t many lunatics like Zich who’d rush towards their enemy while smiling with blood dripping all over their body
“Urgh!”
At the burning sensation, Condel clutched his leg. Zich clicked his tongue at this sight. ‘He is still an amateur.’ If Hans and Snoc responded to each and every injury they got like Condel, their hellish training with Zich would have stretched over an extra couple of days. ‘He is full of openings too.’
Windur pierced the area where the opening was the biggest. Condel managed to block the attack this time, but Zich wasn’t disappointed. ‘He is becoming more careful.’ That was probably not Condel’s intention considering that he was new to fighting, Condel was truly keeping up a brave fight. The desire which bordered on obsession to resurrect Sia Rubrent probably empowered him. However, he probably couldn’t help the defensive mechanisms that were instinctive.
‘There’s a reason why people have to train,’ Zich thought.
Punch!
Zich’s feet slammed hard into Condel’s stomach. Condel’s face distorted. He made a large pointy shape on top of his shadow and tried to pierce Zich. However, Zich took a step back and evaded the attack.
‘He is so obvious.’ Zich continued to fight by attacking Condel’s weak points. He also glanced at the battle Glen was fighting too.
‘It’s intense.’ The battle was one-sided. Sia Rubrent’s movements were simple and straightforward; they were much more amateurish than even Condel’s movements, but the power and speed of her attacks far surpassed Condel’s. Although Glen resisted with all his might, he probably wouldn’t last long.
‘That’s why I have to quickly subdue this guy…’ Zich quickly glanced at Glen’s face again. Glen’s handsome face was heavily crumpled up from the intensity of his situation. Then, Zich moved his eyes away and thought, ‘Maybe a bit later.’ The little devil inside Zich’s heart cackled. ‘It’s not all on purpose. This guy is really difficult to handle.’
Although Zich was gaining the upper hand bit by bit, Condel was an impossible being to suppress immediately. ‘Hm, that’s right. I am trying my best.’ Like that, Zich convinced himself and the battle continued fiercely for a longer period of time.
Crash!
Zich’s Windur penetrated Condel’s barrier and dropped from his body. The shadows wavered.
“Urrrgh!”
Condel was bloody. Thanks to the shadows covering his body, he wasn’t critically injured but he had received a lot of damage.
‘I’m really going to be finished at this rate!’ Condel gritted his teeth as he started feeling like he was fighting a losing battle.
Crash! A loud noise rang across the surroundings.
“Ah! Glen!” Lara cried out. Her shouting indicated the situation; in the end, Glen had failed to resist Sia’s fierce attacks. Condel’s eyes shone.
“Sia!”
Whoosh!
Sia ran towards him like the wind. Then, she stretched out her fist at Zich.
Bam!
Zich’s body was pushed far back. The hand he held Windur felt numb. He stared forward. Like a guardian angel protecting Condel, Sia stood in front of him. Zich stared slightly towards the back this time. He saw Glen collapse on top of a black substance. Even though he didn’t seem dead, it seemed like Glen had lost consciousness, seeing how he was completely immobile.
‘Did he really faint? Or is he acting to make Sia Rubrent my responsibility?’ As the fight progressed, it was possible if Glen felt anxious about losing the opportunity to defeat Condel because of Zich. ‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’
Zich stared towards the front again.
“Fufufu, ahhahahaha!” Condel burst out in hysterical laughter, “Did you all see that! This is Sia’s power. This is the power of our love!” Then, he shouted, “You damn fools who try to hinder our love! With our love, there’s no obstacle that we can’t overcome! Love is the most sacred and strongest power there is in the world!”
‘That’s not true though.’ Zich had met a couple of people who thought the same as Condel. People loved not only their lovers, but they also loved their husband or wife, parent or child, memories, their country, or emotions such as honor. These people placed the love they believed in at the forefront as they rushed into battle with Zich.
‘And I trampled over all of them.’
Strength was simply strength. Love couldn’t possibly give someone the power to overcome a difficult trial they couldn’t handle; it was all just talk. Zich wanted to relay these thoughts to Condel with sheer power, but his current strength was too lacking.
‘How unfortunate.’ Yet, Zich was hopeful that there was a different, great present that he could give Condel in this current situation.
Bam!
Sia shot a string of senseless attacks at Zich. Her attacks were simple fist and foot swings, but the power they contained was terrifying. Zich had no choice but take on a defensive stance, and he looked like he was barely managing to block her attacks. Condel was very glad to see this. He thought that after Sia finished off the swindler, Glen, she would also finish off this bastard.
Condel was still not satisfied though—he wanted to crush Zich as fast as possible. Thus, he also rushed towards Zich. With the collaboration between Condel and Sia, they formed attacks with fearsome battling powers that pushed Zich into a deeper corner. Windur couldn’t keep up with the speed of the attacks while Zich’s body couldn’t evade them. The injuries on Zich’s body began to increase one by one.
Soon, Zich stumbled, creating the best opportunity to attack. Condel clenched his fist with a smile on his face. “Dieeeeeee!”
Punch! Condel felt a chilling but exhilarating sensation as his fist sank deep into Zich’s sides. Thinking that he had landed a critical hit on Zich, Condel felt the utmost happiness. However, that was his mistake.
Grab! Zich grabbed Condel’s arm which had penetrated his side. Condel was shocked. He tried to instill strength into his body immediately, but the early confidence he had about his assured victory made his body sluggish. Furthermore, although the injury Zich had inflicted on him was small, it obstructed his movements.
Thus, while crying out, “Uh, uh…!” Condel couldn’t move the way he wanted. All he could do was cover his body with shadows in hopes of protecting himself for the worst-case scenario. However, Condel wasn’t very worried. Zich had the upper hand for only a brief moment. It was clear from their battle so far that Zich couldn’t land a critical hit in such a short amount of time. Condel felt ecstatic that he was finally able to land a critical attack on Zich’s body. But that was his mistake.
Crassssh!
“Ugh!” Condel opened his mouth wide as his stomach was pierced. The pain was so intense that he couldn’t even let out a scream; if he screamed, the pain would become more painful.
Blub!
Condel vomited blood and stared at the thing that pierced his stomach. The thing that pierced his tough shadow armor was a hand. It was an extremely lovely and elegant hand, which he could confidently say belonged to someone equally beautiful. Condel’s gaze followed the hand; he looked past the hand that now covered in blood. His eyes swept past the owner’s frail arms and pale neck and reached a familiar face… a most lovely face.
“…Condel?”
“Ugh!” Condel vomited more blood as he stared at Sia who tilted her head while looking at him.
Grab! Someone grabbed his shoulder. Condel turned his head.
Zich stared at him with a very benevolent expression and said, “In the first place, what you have to be most careful about when fighting with a partner is your partner’s attack. That’s why you need to practice and build up experience. If not, your opponent can use that lack of experience to their advantage and use your own partner to make a critical hit just like now.”
Zich put more strength into his hand. Condel’s body tilted, and his body moved away from Sia’s arm. He collapsed onto the ground like that and rolled over. There was a hole in his abdomen.
“Hmm, it seems like that thing automatically stops moving when you’re fatally injured. Thank goodness. I was worried that your shadows would continue moving even after you died.”
Zich took out a potion and poured it over his injuries. New flesh began to appear on his side. After roughly throwing his potion bottle away, Zich crouched down next to Condel. Then, he spoke to Condel who was now drenched in blood.
Zich enunciated each word so that Condel wouldn’t have a hard time understanding him. “Anyways, I saw how great you and your lover’s love was. A love that completely drenches the other partner in blood. It’s a very rare form of love in this world. I’ll admit that.”
Zich cackled as if a demon was whispering to a human. It was enough to turn Condel’s insides upside down.
“S…ia… Cough! Ki…ll thi…s bas…ta…rd…”
However, all Sia could now do was tilt her head.
‘It seems like he needs to have at least a certain amount of energy to control the shadows.’
As if to prove Zich’s thoughts, all of Condel’s forces that were attacking Lyla and the rest of his companions and Lara stopped moving.
“Too bad. It looks like your lover plans to reject your request.”
“Da…mn it…” Condel clenched his fists. Tears came out of his eyes. Condel probably realized that his plan finally failed in the end. His forces, including Sia, stopped moving, and he was dying after getting pierced in the stomach. He raised his arm. He grabbed onto the edge of Zich’s clothes with his trembling and bloody hand. He put strength into it as if he was grabbing onto Zich’s neck.
Then, he said, “It’s… cau…se of yo…u.”
“Yep. It’s because of me.” Zich eagerly nodded his head.
“I ju…st wan…ted to see Sia… on…ce more… I ju…st… wa…nted to see…the per…son I loved… Bec…ause you inter…fered…!” Condel’s hatefully glared at Zich.
Zich just snorted; his carefree attitude went beyond just ignoring Condel’s glare. “Now that I think about it, there’s something I prepared for you.”
Zich took out his magic box and took out something from it—a bunch of paper. They were all different sizes and fluttered weakly in Zich’s hand. Zich read the paper on the very top out loud. “Ned finally confessed to me.”
His voice was calm, and he read without any anger or mockery. His calmness stressed the content of the writings in his hand.
“I’m so happy. My love has finally come true. God Karuna, thank you so much. Ah, even while writing this, I can’t believe that this situation is real. I have no idea at all what to write here. My love and happiness are overflowing to the point where I feel that my heart will burst, but I have no idea how to transfer these feelings into writing. I’m just, just so happy.”
Zich flipped to another piece of paper. The sound of paper flipping rang loudly in the quiet space.
“I’m finally thinking about proposing to her tomorrow. In order to prepare for that momentous day, I should quickly head off to bed, but I’m so nervous that I can’t fall asleep. I wonder what kind of reaction she’ll show when I propose. Will she smile brightly in happiness? Or will she be moved to tears? She won’t reject me, right? If I get rejected, how am I supposed to live from now on? Anyways, the only thing left is to carry out my plans into action. Please, please let my proposal be successful…”
Zich flipped to another piece of paper. “I’m a bit nervous because it’s my first time expressing my feelings in this way. But I grabbed a pen and began writing because I think that writing is different from saying something out loud. Do you know how special you are to me? No, you probably don’t know. I don’t know how much you know I like you, but it’s probably tens, hundreds of times bigger than what you think. I’m confident of this. Therefore, I’m thankful for everything that brought you here on this earth. But most importantly, I’m thankful to you who came into my life. As we imagine our future together, I…”
Zich stopped reading. The papers he was holding were the letters and diaries of the victims killed in this incident. Zich pushed the thick pile of paper towards Condel and said, “Say it again. Say that bullshit again about how you merely wanted to meet the person you loved in front of these letters and diary entries.”