Chapter 160 - The Devil’s Lord – 2 (1/2)

The Devil’s Lord – 2

With every step I took, every breath, I could feel myself changing. Mana of a different quality than before filled my body and altered me.

[You…touching what belongs to me!]

“Since when did it belong to you?” I stepped into the air. Just a little while ago, I thought the whole world was full of my enemies, but I was wrong. It was full of food. Or, rather, the world was a delicious meal made for me. The light that filled the world was sucked into my wide-open mouth as I slashed with my dagger. Lucifer’s magic power circulated through my newly refined body, embracing the power of Reaper and spewing out of the dagger.

[Huh!]

As the energy of death from Annihilation flooded around Lucifer, greedily devouring his light, and he stretched out his arm to block it. A stream of red blood sprang up in the air, the evidence I had finally succeeded in hurting him.

[You filthy worm…you dare hurt me?]

He seemed to realize that his ordinary light could no longer damage me. He collected all of it in his hand, forming a longsword of brilliant white light. It held enough power to wipe out an entire city with a single swing, but I wasn’t afraid of it. Now, I was completely on par with him.

[Ha!]

The two of us collided. I tried to dazzle him by creating several alter egos with Ubiquitous, but I quickly discarded that plan as his sword cut them out of the air.

[What an odd trick!]

I could feel a sense of incongruity in his words and actions. How was he actually doing right now? What was wrong about this sight? He was trying to keep a distance between us. I laughed coldly at that realization as our weapons collided violently.

[Reaper became Lv9.]

Stepping back, my body was still intact. A line of blood ran through Lucifer’s body, however. He noticed it a second later, then his face distorted with pain and anger.

[Khaakkk!]

“You’ve forgotten.”

[You…!]

Previously, when I awoke in the Black Palace, I had questioned one thing. I never used a sword in all my days as a human, never even held a knife as a weapon. Nevertheless, I had adapted quickly to using a sword. I assumed the skill was automatically attached to the body I inhabited. Perhaps that was part of it, but it wasn’t the only reason. It was because I, who had the name Baal in the past, was the number one executor in the underground.

Despite losing all those memories and becoming a goblin, I was able to handle a sword with the will engraved into my soul. As my body developed and my memories returned bit by bit, that swordsmanship had developed dramatically. It had evolved into a higher skill by mixing with other abilities. Of course, there was no one in the underground before who didn’t know I was a master of swords. Lucifer knew about it, so he was keeping me at a distance. But now he decided he couldn’t manage a ranged approach, so he narrowed the distance between us.

[This…!]

“I can’t run away.” I managed to get closer, having nowhere to run if I missed. I read his movements and his mana, spreading my own to invade his realm. I moved out of the way of his sword once more, stabbing my own blade into his body that was protected only by a light piece of cloth. Blood spurted out once more.

[Why?!]

“Is your pride preventing you from admitting to your imperfections?”

[I am complete!]

A waterfall of light emanated from him as his shout hit me. The power was weak enough to make me smile, however. It was nothing compared to the power I felt earlier. Lucifer, who had lost his position of superiority, was being shaken psychologically now.

“You’ve forgotten I’m better at close combat than you. Otherwise, you would’ve continued to fire attacks out of my reach.”

[Know your place!]

Lucifer’s sword started to swing down my head like a crack of lightning. It was undeniably fast and strong, but a bit lacking in my view, now that I had regained the name of Baal.

[Kahk!]

The sword of light collided with Annihilation with a creaking sound. It flew out of his hand, soaring into the sky. Light flashed out to protect his body, but I stretched out with my dagger and stabbed him in the chest. Lucifer’s white mana clashed head-on with my gray mana. The battle between pride and gluttony began.

“Hey, Lucifer.” I whispered, staring into his eyes at a distance so close we could kiss.

“You were the same as me, right? Don’t you remember the most important thing? Just a little while ago, you didn’t know what you were before the Great Fusion.”

[Nonsense!]

“Somehow, I figured it out when you gave up on her so easily. It fit with your pride, but it was so pathetic. If the other person doesn’t know your worth, you throw them away. This pride you have now is pathetic and weak.”