"[Blessing of the Fire: Berserker]" he shouted as he watched me with a furious glare with his power exploding progressively. The fire mana around the area began swirling towards him and concentrating over and around his body.
Before I could react, I saw flares rising all around him, as if the wind itself was on fire around him while his eyes were deep orangish red, along with his hair that had turned charcoal black with red endings down the neck.
His body developed strange marks all over it, running from the neck down his back to his arms and legs, making him look even more ferocious than before while the axes he was holding in both hands first began melting before they too started burning fiercely.
Meanwhile, my dark energy was rising at a rapid rate too. It won't be long before I would start losing control over my dark powers…
'What should I do? Cancel this surge of Dark Magic and switch to another power with another card exposed or just continue like this and defeat him before I lose control?' I pondered over it while looking at his power surging to its peak from the previous SS level to now SSS level.
Though… I wonder if I could handle this even with the best of my abilities…
'Just keep going.'
I then heard a voice… it was a familiar voice… I had heard it so many times that I can never forget it… and I was glad I got to hear her voice once again…
'Hygeia,' I thought before looking at that minotaur and then…
-BOOM!!!!
I dash right at him while creating another illusion right behind me before hiding my original self. He looked at me with fury and began charging as well before reaching almost closer to me and then slashing me with his dual axes from both sides.
I jumped high and my illusion slid down, though, rather than going for my illusion, his eyes darted in my direction and then made an air slash, creating a fire wave advancing towards me. I used Dark magic to create a barrier which cut… huh?... Ah!... I am losing control… I saw that I overused the power and attacked the fire wave instead with a powerful blast. The dark energy consumed the power before reaching the minotaur. Though he dodged by jumping sideways before jumping towards me.
-Clank
I used my scythe to block his attack, but fell down on the ground from the impact of that attack. Though, I immediately stood back up and saw him coming at me once again, at which I narrowed my eyes and then prepared a counterattack.
-Clank
Our attacks hit again and this time, we both cancelled each other's attacks… immediately gaining back the momentum and once again…
-Clank
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It was a rapid battle that required both high skill and power. As the fight continued, I couldn't help but look at that minotaur still going at it as if he had infinite power supply. I think… I misjudged him and his power.
'I thought going berserk might make him susceptible to mistakes… however… however… he is improving his skills…. at a rapid rate too… is it instinctively? Scary!' I thought as I kept countering his attacks while trying to find an opening in his attacks.
I don't know how long we have been going on for… but this was getting exhausting for me. Right now, I couldn't help but…gulp… but look at him, still going at it without even breaking a sweat.
'Is this an SSS class? Am I still weak, despite having so many enhancements?' I thought with slight irritation.
Not gonna lie, I can still defeat him… but that would require me to go all out and that is something I don't want to show to the others now. Also the fact that I had to use this much power this early makes me really wonder what I would do if someone much stronger than him comes in front.
'I need to recalculate my steps here…' I thought as I kept going on and on, not long after I finally noticed a decline in his power with every other move he was making… I saw him going through a sudden change… his expression was becoming normal once again, while his body seemed to be getting weaker with time too…
'Does his ability give him power over a limited time and have side effects after the time limit is over?' I thought as I saw him losing the battle. I saw him gradually gaining back his expressions and emotions. He looked at me… with a smile? What? I almost lost my control before I immediately gained back my momentum.
"Human… You are really strong. Sorry for misjudging you, can I at least know the name of the person who is going to kill me?" he spoke, making me open my eyes wide and staring at him as I wondered what exactly… What exactly was he thinking right now?
"Zero… Reaper… that is what… they call me," I subconsciously muttered, making him look at me with a bittersweet smile before he chuckled and spoke,
"Fitting name for someone who is both at the same time-"
And I cut his head without even realising… I was… no, I had already lost control of my powers. My powers had consumed me and now I was butchering the already dead minotaur…
'What… What was his name?' I thought for a moment before wondering… if he was really an enemy… maybe he was… maybe he was not. In the end, he stood against me… we fought… and I won.
'But why do I feel so… odd about this victory?' I thought as I saw my Dark Magic expanding increasingly before Hygeia activated the green tattoo and the Dark Magic began dispersing from my body…
It took a whole minute before the Dark Magic had completely dissipated, leaving a destroyed landscape in front of me. I still had my emotions in control and I was still fine… looks like Hygeia saved me here a lot. I then looked around and found that the area was completely destroyed with nothing really existing within 1000 metres of me. It was a disaster…
I then looked at myself with my lower clothes almost burnt while my upper clothing was completely gone. It took me a few moments to regain my proper emotions as I got back to my previous nonchalant expression.
In the end, I even questioned…. What did I even fight for?
I turned around to see the others gaping at me with a blank expression before I began walking towards them. Looking at me walking towards them, each of them, including Dion and Ariel, took a step back from me with an extremely terrified expression on their faces. They were looking at me as if I were more dangerous than all the monsters around them… which was true in a way, to be honest.
I just walked closer to them and looked at Vatra, who still hadn't killed her minotaur sister… heck, she didn't even start the fight.
'Don't tell me all of them have been watching my fight from start to end, without doing anything at all?' I thought, with a complicated expression forming on my face.
Analysing the expression of the people and the minotaurs in front of me… I think that is exactly what happened.
"Hmmmm… something interests me actually…" I looked at those minotaurs and they all dropped to their knees as if they had lost their will to live. They looked at me as if I were a freak or something…
I moved toward them slowly, making everyone look at me before gulping silently. I could be wrong, but my party members were probably feeling pity for these minotaurs right now. I looked at the minotaurs and they looked at me.
"Is there anyone among you who can talk?" I asked as I looked down at them and they looked at each other before one of them turned and looked in the direction of the settlement. I thought about it a little before speaking,
"Take me to him… I think I can let you guys live if I can get what I want."
They looked at me with a complicated expression. However, I glared at them a little, which made them hurriedly move towards the settlement, and I began following them too slowly.
Though before I began following them, I turned to everyone else present there. Ariel, Dion, Illiana, Illiara, Vatra, Yetris and the minotaur sister Flare, one by one, I looked at everyone present there.
"You guys are coming too, right?" I spoke with a slightly dominating tone, and they nodded hurriedly before moving behind me.
'While this development is unexpected, I wonder if I could find a method to harness monster powers… that would be really interesting honestly,' I thought as I smiled a little as I walked towards the settlement, where I saw an old-looking minotaur waiting with the other minotaurs.
'Well, let's see if I can strike a deal with him,' I thought as I walked towards him.
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