Chapter 95: One Moment!
"Hey, stop being such an annoyance, or I will break you in half."
This cursed weapon had the intent of a notorious killer imbued in it. Would a serial killer’s soul listen to me? I wasn’t sure it even understood what I said.
I didn’t need a weapon that wouldn't listen to its wielder. Once I became an Expert Exorcist, I could get my hands on plenty of cursed weapons just as strong but less volatile.
Despite my threats, the cursed weapon’s intent halted for only a second before deciding to ignore my words and crawling up my arm again.
I let it climb to my shoulder before bombarding it with my Ord filled with my own intent. Though the cursed weapon was strong, it was nothing more than a toothpick compared to Yamata No Orochi.
“If you aren’t going to kill only the people I tell you to, then get ready to be broken as soon as this is over.”
As soon as I said that, the cursed energy that was trying to crawl up my arm ran back to the sword.
Huh? It listened to me when I threatened it the second time?
“I’ve never seen someone tame a cursed weapon,” Roc rubbed his chin and frowned. He noticed I was looking at him and gave me a thumbs up. “Good work, kiddo! I like the way you do things. You had the guts to stare at it’s face and tell it to fuck off!”
What the hell was he talking about? Did he think I wasn’t scared when facing Agon’s blast? I was scared shitless!
Roc turned toward his teammate. “Pixie, can we keep him!?
The fuck?! Did I look like some kind of pet he could keep around? This guy was underestimating me a little too much.
Well, I wasn’t going to stop my enemy from making a mistake.
“No,” Pixie answered instantly. She had the look of a strict mother. For a second, I almost felt sorry for all the bullshit she had to deal with. But then I remembered who she was and went back to hating her. “You know the orders. The boss wants us to unseal the Eight Forked Serpent locked inside the boy.”
The foolish look slipped off Roc’s face, and his gaze sharpened. “You saw that, right? We can’t handle that thing with so little preparation. Even the Boss’ Nekoshu probably can’t handle the fully unsealed Yamata No Orochi. There seems to be a big difference in power between the Ultimate Class demons.”
Then he turned toward me and waved. “By the way, kid, do you wanna join Red Tails? You even get health benefits.”
Usually, I would mock guys who talked a lot during battle, but I needed the break.
Perfect Me protected my mind from suffering the effects of letting a cursed weapon possess me, but it was a different deal for the rest of my body. If I wanted the power boost, I had to leave some leeway.
Also, how the fuck was Roc still standing?
I had my cursed weapon coated with poison. The man should have enough venom in him to knock out a whale!
“Hey, answer my question, kiddo. I’m a busy man.” Roc gathered Ord into his fist and charged at me.
I could barely see him. But I jumped back, and Roc punched at where I previously stood. His attack was so strong that it caused a spider web-like crack.
He probably thought he was going easy on me. But if I got hit with that, there was no doubt in my mind my body would fold like paper.
“That’s a bit disappointing. It’s basic knowledge that being mid-air stops you from dodging!” Roc jumped after me, and he was like a missile.
He was right; dodging mid-air was impossible. But he also forgot something crucial… I wasn’t fighting alone.
One of Anika’s strings grabbed me around my waist, and she pulled me away. Now he was the one in mid-air and couldn’t dodge.
Good! I had bet on him being careless!
‘{Perfect Me: Limit Remover!}’
This was going to hurt.
***
Anika pulled on Kon using her strings. As soon as he landed, he muttered something under his breath, his skin turned red as if the blood was trying to escape his body, and his veins bulged up like worms crawling under his skin.
Fwish!... He jumped and left behind a crack on the thick branch. He was in front of Roc in an instant.
“Shit!” Pixie immediately flapped her wings and flew like a bullet toward the guys.
‘She turned her back on me! This bitch finally made a mistake!’ Anika celebrated. Though Pixie had kept her and Sei back, stopping them from intervening in the other battles. But it was the same vice-versa.
But Anika wasn’t going to let Pixie interfere, no matter what!
She sent out her string-like Ord and formed a large net with thin lines barely visible to the naked eye. Pixie’s arm turned into that of a mantis’ scythe-like arm, and Ord wrapped around her limb. She had a secondary Warrior affinity.
Pixie easily ripped through the net, showing the difference in Ord mastery. But Anika wasn't discouraged, and she aimed her finger at the flying woman, who had to stop for a second to cut the net.
"Bye, bye," Anika muttered and shot a ball of Ord the size of a basketball at her.
Pixie turned around and attempted to create some kind of shell around herself. But her transformation wasn't fast enough, her eyes widened, and the Ord blast exploded point-blank.
Everything happened so fast; Anika had forgotten to breathe. She looked at the clash between Roc and Kon.
Though the Warrior used his arm to block Kon's swift slash, the cursed weapon had some crimson crack running through its blade, showing that it barely handled the clash.
But that clash had resulted in an arm flying through the air.
Roc's mouth was agape, staring at his bleeding stump. But he didn't have the time to think for long as Kon's next slash went for his throat.
The Warrior was prepared for this and maneuvered himself mid-air. He leaned back and kicked Kon in the stomach.
Baam!... Kon smashed into the tree next to her. His body went limp, and blood came out of his nose, mouth, and right ear.
But despite that, Kon had a smile on his face, showing rows of his blood-covered teeth. "Most battles are decided due to small moments of cluelessness. Seems like getting too strong and fighting against weaklings all this time makes you weaker too."
"Kon, I don't think now is the best time to tease him," Anika whispered just loud enough for Kon to hear her.
Roc had lost his arm, but he wasn’t the one injured the most in that clash. Roc could still move, while Kon looked like he was about to pass out at any second.
"You brat! I will kill you and everyone you care about!" Roc roared, creating a strong wind.
Anika felt her heart about to burst in her chest, and she turned toward Kon.
He smiled and gave her a shaky thumbs up. "Don't worry. We have some backup."
Then he stared into the distance and shook his head. "What kind of shitty team doesn't listen to the leader's orders?"
Two guys, one girl, and a snake with a fish's face were atop a tree. They were Kon's team! Though, they had a couple of new members.
Gem of the Kuro Clan smirked. "Why would I listen to your dumb ass orders? As the de-facto second in command of the team, I can overturn the leader's shitty orders."
Kon chuckled and then winced, clutching at his ribs. Then a smile came back to his face. "You? Second in command?"
It looked like they were about to start another banter. But Roc didn't seem in a playful mood after losing an arm, and he shot toward the injured Kon.
Water burst out of the ground and created a torrent that pushed Roc away. Bets took out a nail gun and shot at the water.
"Aghhh!" Roc screamed in pain as the nails pierced into his skin.
Was this the same guy who was slapping around Agon’s monstrous blasts? How come he grew this weak? Well, he had lost an arm; coupled with the blood loss, it was a miracle the man was even moving.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound of bones creaking made a chill go down Anika's spine, and the source of such sounds was Kon.
His eyes were emotionless, and he seemed like a puppet. But he then came to his senses and cracked his knuckles. "I'm all healed up. Though I am a bit sleepy."
A healing special ability?!
"Damn it!" Roc yelled in anger and slammed his fist to the ground, causing a large dust cloud to rise.
"Master, the barbarian is running away! He has taken the other woman with him too." A gurgly voice said.
"Don't worry about it. Let them leave. We don't want to deal with cornered rats at that size," Kon stretched, checking whether his body still worked like usual. "Also, we barely won this battle because they underestimated us. If we fought again when we all healed up, Roc alone could destroy us all."
Anika wanted to refute his words. But she knew he was telling the truth. If Pixie hadn't sensed the danger Kon possessed and hadn't gotten distracted due to her worry for her teammate, then Anika knew she wouldn't have fallen for such a cheap shot.
She breathed out a sigh of relief. It was finally over.
"Don't relax yet. We probably have an Ultimate Class level threat to deal with. Or do you think Sei could deal with such a threat on his own? At best, he was trying to buy us time." Kon warned them.