Lunar Eclipse (8)
Lunar Eclipse (8)
Meanwhile.
Viktor was in the middle of a battle.
"Guhak...!"
"My, is this all you've got?"
No, was it even right to call this a battle?
It looked closer to a one-sided beating.
Jersian.
A combatant ranked in the upper echelons even within the New Kingdom.
A Pureblood Vampire simultaneously evaluated as an A+ rank powerhouse.
The experience and skill to casually crush another Pureblood like Carmilla.
"My, for a lowly livestock to...!"
"I told you it wouldn't reach me, didn't I?"
A master whose strength could be described as 'one against a hundred' without any disagreement.
Of course, right now he was being toyed with by a single human boy...
"You're holding out better than expected."
"Huff, huff...!"
Ragged breaths.
Jersian's pupils lost their focus and shook.
He couldn't even grasp what was happening to him, the situation defying comprehension.
"Tricks... what cheap tricks are you playing?!"
They don't reach.
Every single one of his attacks failed to connect.
His Blood Manipulation Art veered off course, his punches passed right through.
The boy in front of him offered no particular counterattacks, just standing nonchalantly in place.
"Tricks? We're having a fair and square match here."
"Dare you, make a fool of this Jersian...?!"
It was strange.
To be unable to land a hit on something clearly existing right before his eyes.
The boy popped up here and there as if he were a mirage.
Reflexively unleashing Blood Manipulation Art, the arrows only pierced innocent walls.
"Dammit...!"
Just what.
Just what in the world is this.
What in the world am I even fighting?
'Is it really like he's become a ghost...?!'
Wide-open eyes.
Staggering, Jersian deployed his barrier.
As if unable to just watch, Viktor stomped on his face.
Crunch-!
"Guhuk...!"
"I'm starting to doubt if you even have any learning ability. Haven't you failed the same way several times now?"
The masked clown stood treading on empty air.
Beside him, a dark red aura seethed like a heat haze.
A pitch-black scythe was in his hand, and above his head, a tattered crown floated.
Ding-!
[Skill Name: Nightmarization]
The status window rising before his eyes.
The clown looked down at the man beyond the blue screen.
Jersian's appearance was simply a mess.
"... ... ."
"Ugh..."
Where did his neat suit attire go? The man was clad only in tattered rags.
His right arm, torn off in the first exchange, writhed, barely able to regenerate.
His distinctive, dashing mustache was ruined, having rolled on the dirt ground.
Besides that, numerous small wounds remained all over his body.
Towards the man staggering to his feet, the clown left an emotionless remark.
"How pitiful."
"Kk-ugh, haa..."
"To be just this much."
"You, mere human...!"
"Aren't you ashamed? You're being miserably pushed back by such a human, aren't you? You still haven't even grazed my clothes once."
"I'll kill... I'll kill you...!"
"I said. How."
Swoosh-!
In the blink of an eye, the clown stood right before Jersian's nose.
The scythe swung in that instant was hooked around one of the man's legs.
Without giving Jersian a chance to react, Viktor slashed down with the Stake Fragment he held in his hand.
Screech-!
"Gwaaaaaah!!"
An ugly scream.
After the heavy cutting sound, the severed surface sizzled and melted.
Jersian had no choice but to writhe in that pain.
"Guhak, huk, gwaak!"
"Oh my, how noisy."
Thwack-!
The man sprawled out pathetically.
A pitch-black object plunges onto his face.
"Start. Baseball bat."
Thwack, Thump! Crunch-!
Without showing any mercy, he mercilessly caved in the face.
Every time a scream was uttered, the force contained in the bat grew stronger.
The corner of the mask's mouth was unusually set in a serious expression.
"So, you were just, this much, yet you acted, so arrogantly, towards Her Highness the Princess, as if you were the strongest, huh?"
Crack, Thud! Splat-!
He turns the pale face into a bloody mess completely.
With each word spat out, the bat falls as if matching the rhythm.
"Gurgle..."
In the end, Jersian could only twitch on the floor.
A man violated helplessly, without even knowing why.
The clown looks down at him indifferently.
His lower body was sliced, his left arm also severed, leaving only his right arm as the remaining limb.
"Such insolence."
"... ... ."
"To dare lay a hand on my master and cause a ruckus."
Thump thump-.
Feeble bat strikes touch his face.
"A human, the likes of you... Gahak..."
"Still saying things like that? You're truly stubborn."
Jersian was strong.
It was just that his opponent was not good.
The unique bug-mixed movements, layered on top with Nightmarization, and supported underneath by an Agility stat Ranked Up seven stages.
These three created a tremendous synergy.
In Jersian's eyes, he could barely follow the movements.
Reacting to block or attack was impossible.
'Although there is a 5-minute time limit...'
At least for those 5 minutes, Viktor did not lose.
Because no law in the world could touch him then.
Especially in a one-on-one situation, the ability was even more prominent.
"Human, human, human... Looking down on them like that, yet you can't even beat a boy much younger than yourself."
Thwack, Thump-!
The baseball bat shuttling back and forth continuously.
"I'd like to hear it again."
"... ... ."
"What about humans? What about Her Highness the Princess?"
"... Guk."
Screech-.
Jersian's last remaining arm being severed.
He lay there, a mangled mass.
All of that happened in less than 5 minutes.
"Hoo... Now I feel a bit better."
Viktor takes a deep breath.
As the foot floating in the air steps on the ground, the seething heat haze around him subsides.
The promised 5 minutes had passed and [Nightmarization] was deactivated.
Fizzle, crackle-.
The dark red glowing crown fades out.
Immediately after, the clown's leg wobbles, if only for a moment.
"Motion sickness..."
The boy groans, holding his forehead.
It was only now that he could look for an opening to attack, but Jersian had already lost the ability to resist.
"My, wor...d..."
Lips twitching even in a pulp-like state.
Jersian struggles to pronounce something.
"I... have lost..."
He mutters, filled with agony.
Was he now trying to beg for his life, even at this point?
"You realize that just now?"
"I admit it... human... strong. I... have... lost..."
"Begging like that won't make me spare you, so give it up."
"Keuk... Kuk kuk..."
No.
Something was off.
Far from shedding tears, the man wore a broad smile on his lips.
Soon, as if unable to hold back, he bursts into a deranged laugh.
"Kuhahaha! You foolish... things... You humans... that's why you're no good."
"What's this. Lost your mind? Have you finally gone mad?"
"Yes, I was defeated. Defeated, of course..."
Torn lips.
Jersian mutters with a slurred, leaking pronunciation.
A flicker of madness shone in his faintly opened eyes.
"But... the war... we have won."
"The war?"
"The ritual is already underway! By now, all preparations should be complete...!"
The man grinds his teeth with a blood-boiling voice.
Bubbling froth seeps between his lips.
"The weapon that will scorch the continent... will rise from this land now...!"
The expression of someone convinced of victory.
As if believing that soon, the Colossal Weapon fused with ghouls would awaken and slaughter thousands.
"When?"
"... What?"
Towards that Jersian, the clown asks indifferently.
"I said, when is it coming out? That weapon of war."
"Haha... No need to be impatient. You'll be annihilated anyway!"
"So when."
"Right now!"
"... ... ."
"Now!"
"... ... ."
"Now!"
"... ... ."
"Now...?"
Even after waiting quite a while, nothing particular happened.
Viktor looks down at Jersian as if finding him pitiful.
Then, as if flustered, the man turns his head.
"Wh, why... By now... the Offering Ritual should... be over..."
His gaze, laboriously turning, looks somewhere.
The place where the kidnapped villagers were imprisoned.
The location of the Cathedral building.
Originally, from there, the Colossal Weapon fused with human flesh should have burst forth.
"... Huh?"
A dumbfounded breath.
To that reaction, the boy smiled as if satisfied.
"Huhu."
It seemed Alice had performed her role well.
It seemed she had safely evacuated the kidnapped people outside.
The inside of the Cathedral was currently empty.
With no sacrificial offerings, naturally, the ritual was not performed.
"How about it?"
"... ... ."
The boy lightly mocks.
Jersian looks up at the clown, his spirit gone.
The corner of that white mask's mouth was curled up in a beaming smile.
"You didn't really... think I wouldn't see through one of your plans, did you?"
As if he had just witnessed the funniest comedy in the world.