“Tch.”
Livio’s face contorted as Iberis blocked all of his attacks. Seeing Iberis’s unscathed face made his blood boil. Expecting to deal significant damage to Iberis, he bit his lower lip at the reality that differed from his expectations.
He knew Iberis was strong. He had felt the gap during the last Black World Tree subjugation.
That’s why he took the enhancer. Realizing he couldn’t win with a direct approach, he needed a countermeasure. To think this was the result after swallowing his pride as an S-class esper and resorting to drugs… He suddenly felt drained and empty.
“Haa…”
As Livio, overcome with a sense of futility, stopped his attacks, Iberis exhaled a breath colder than before. Contrary to Livio’s thoughts, he hadn’t emerged unscathed. It just wasn’t visible on the surface.
Throb.
Iberis winced slightly as pain rose from his right index and middle fingers. Though not visible due to his combat gloves, it seemed he had suffered a slight burn.
To cause injury through specially treated fabric…
Iberis took a deep breath, calmly collecting himself. It seemed better to avoid close combat while the enhancer’s effects lasted. If he was caught by Livio, there was a high chance of serious injury.
If so, he had no choice but to overwhelm with sheer firepower.
Having quickly made his decision, he gathered mana at his fingertips. Soon, both hands glowed white, and the residual heat on his fingers disappeared as if washed away.
“Now it’s my turn, right?”
Iberis raised his arms, his lips curling into a grin. Sharp ice spears began to form in the air one by one.
“Hup.”
As Iberis lowered his hands from top to bottom, over a dozen spears shot towards Livio simultaneously.
“Agh!”
Livio quickly created a fire shield to defend, but he couldn’t block perfectly. He let out a short scream as his shoulder and thigh were pierced. Gritting his teeth, he hurriedly melted the ice lodged in his body.
“Damn it…”
Livio cursed as he cauterized his own wounds to prevent the cold from penetrating his muscles and blood vessels. He couldn’t hide his bewilderment at being clearly outmatched by Iberis despite using the enhancer. He had expected to be somewhat on par, but it wasn’t the case at all.
“This can’t be. This is, damn it.”
Livio muttered incoherently to himself, trying to steady his shaken mental state. Having lived as a powerhouse for decades since awakening as an S-class esper, he wasn’t accustomed to this kind of crisis. It was humiliating to be in the position of being hunted by someone when he had always been the predator.
At this rate, he’ll really lose.
Overcome with a sense of defeat, Livio chewed his lip with an anxious expression. Cold sweat ran down his already chilled back.
Still, it wasn’t all for nothing. After exchanging blows several times, he noticed that Iberis was trying to ‘subdue’ rather than kill him. If he could use that well, a breakthrough might open up.
Above all, the effects of stalling for time were starting to show. Livio’s eyes gleamed as he saw Iberis’s lips turning blue.
“Yes, I wasn’t wrong…”
Tasting hope that his plan could succeed, Livio poured another enhancer into his mouth. He had no luxury to worry about the side effects that would follow. If he let his guard down even a little, he’d be devoured by Iberis.
“Haaah!”
As he activated his body’s mana circuits beyond their limits, his body automatically began to suck in the mana permeating the air. Livio let out a pained groan as he felt the surrounding mana being absorbed into him. Then, with a loud shout, he charged at Iberis.
Boom! Bang, crack, crash!
Every time their mana collided, wind gusted and the ground shook. The scene resembled a natural disaster: bright red flames that seemed to devour everything froze white in the blink of an eye, and countless ice spikes that could cover the entire sky appeared and then turned to rain.
Livio relentlessly continued his attacks. He couldn’t give up yet, as he still had things prepared to deal with Iberis. Just then, the contact Livio had been waiting for arrived.
“G-Guild Master, bzzt…”
The wireless earpiece wasn’t working well due to the intense mana wave aftermath, but Livio knew what the voice was trying to say. Without hesitation, he pressed the detonator button on his waist.
Boom!
“…!”
Iberis instinctively turned his head at the thunderous sound coming from the complex entrance. With an explosion occurring where Lucas and the soldiers were engaged in battle with Mars Guild executives, his body reacted reflexively.
Got him.
Livio didn’t miss this opportunity and threw something that looked like a grenade at Iberis. Then he used mana to ignite it.
Hiss, boom!
As unidentified powder from the exploding sphere in mid-air scattered in all directions, sparks simultaneously burst forth. Immediately after, acrid smoke spread thickly.
“Whew, cough! Ugh, what is this?”
Iberis sighed in relief after confirming that Lucas had created a mana shield in time to protect people. But then he inadvertently inhaled the smoke and burst into coughing. His esper senses, more sensitive than others, quickly noticed something mixed in it.
“What else? It’s my trump card.”
Livio, wearing a portable gas mask he had prepared in advance, glanced down. The residential complex, where bombs had been planted in various places the night before, was now unrecognizable, reduced to ruins. However, most of the people there were safe.
“Tch, I was hoping they’d all die.”
Livio clicked his tongue upon seeing a large golden shield enveloping the soldiers. His subordinates had agreed beforehand to signal if they succeeded in luring the enemy to the bomb locations or if they were about to be completely suppressed.
If lucky, they could deal a fatal blow to the soldiers, and if not, at least distract Iberis momentarily through the explosion to catch him off guard. The former seemed to have failed, but the latter succeeded, so it wasn’t a bad outcome.
“How do you like it? My gift?”
Livio, regaining his composure, wore a vile smile. He had worried what to do if this didn’t work, but fortunately, it did.
“Cough… What is this?”
“It’s an illegal drug that interferes with mana control and induces outbursts. It was very difficult to obtain. I was worried it might not work, but it seems my concerns were unfounded.”
A snickering sound came from inside the portable gas mask. It’s impossible for anyone to completely stop breathing, especially during intense combat like this.
This meant that Iberis would inhale the harmful gas with every breath. The more he breathed, the worse the outburst symptoms would become.
“You cowardly bastard.”
“Haha! What wouldn’t I do to win?”
Livio laughed vilely as he drew up his mana. Flames rose, opening like a beast’s maw, then lunged at Iberis as if to devour him.
“Ugh!”
Iberis hurriedly created an ice wall to block the fierce wave of flames. As the ice melted, unable to withstand the heat, hot air seeped into his tender skin.
Gritting his teeth, he concentrated mana in both hands. He needed to stay cool-headed in this situation. However, as Livio had declared, controlling mana wasn’t easy. Moreover, the more he exerted himself, the more nauseous he felt and his limbs trembled. These were typical aftereffect symptoms.
“Major Hyun, you’ve gotten weaker since last time, haven’t you?”
“What?”
“At first, I thought you were controlling your strength to avoid killing me… but now I see you’re being careful not to hurt yourself. To avoid falling into an outburst.”
For a moment, the silver-gray eyes widened as if struck at a vital point. Somehow, hearing those words reminded him of his conversation with Lucas. The warning that if a mana outburst occurred, all the treatment so far might be in vain.
Had that lingered in his mind, making him subconsciously cautious? Iberis bit his molar as if realizing he had made a mistake. Livio wasn’t an opponent he could defeat with such a complacent attitude.
“I see, so that’s why I felt something off while fighting you all this time!”
Livio raised his voice as if finally understanding after seeing Iberis’s expression.
“In this fight, I’ve prepared for death. If I can drag you down to hell with me, I don’t care about my own life.”
One way or another, his life was over anyway. Having accepted this fact, Livio decided to burn himself to the last. He wanted to choose his own place to die, at least.
“But you’re different. Looking at your eyes now, I can tell. You’re afraid of dying, aren’t you?”
Iberis couldn’t deny Livio’s words and pressed his lips together. He wanted to say it was nonsense, but strangely, he couldn’t refute it. It felt like his inner thoughts, which even he hadn’t been aware of, were being exposed.
“Oh my, how interesting. To think I’d see something like this in my lifetime. The guy who always acted like he didn’t care when he died… Haha, is it because of love? Now that you’ve come to like someone, do you have regrets about life?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
