2nd Rank Has Returned - Chapter 305



305 – What I sincerely hope for-8

“Cough…!”

The pain of experiencing the vortex of magical energy, typhoon, and earthquake that accompanied her fall with her bare body wracks Aria’s body.

As she received the attack from close range, the impact on her mouth was most severe at this location.

If the divinity of the holy sword used as a propellant had not been deeply dissolved in the ground, she would have died without even feeling any pain.

Have I ever felt this much gratitude for feeling her pain? Feeling her sense that she was still alive, Aria once again held the holy sword and the black stone.

[…Spirit…! Catch!]

I could faintly hear the wise man’s words. The reason for the faintness was not due to the tinnitus echoing in my ears.

The sage cut down and depleted his own existence with her last blow. To the extent that it was impossible to even convey her words, let alone her spirit body.

The attack attempted just now was a fatal blow. Like a gamble where everything was raised and the stakes were raised, the price of losing this game was now being paid in full.

[Don’t stop!!]

The wise man who had fallen to the level of a ghost desperately made his thoughts known. Although her message was not clearly communicated, Arya clearly understood what she had to do.

“Are you still alive? “I thought there was no way she could die in vain like that…”

The Demon King smiled amidst the ruins. Just now, the wounds inflicted by Aria’s spear attack with her whole body have been healed.

As this was a spear strike intended to put an end to this fight, even the Demon King could not survive without any injuries.

But that was all. Thanks to the transformation into a dragon race along with demonic energy, the arm that blocked it was only broken.

Now that the broken arm was repaired, the Demon King had no reason to hesitate.

Quaaang!!!

Aria, who read her intention, clashed.

The reason why the wise man desperately woke himself up was definitely due to the devil.

The people here are not dead yet. Although it is slower than Aria, she is recovering with the strength that Angela has left.

So now, only the hero who could fight had to face the Demon King.

“It’s no longer boring.”

The Demon King held Aria’s holy sword in her hand. The struggle up to now had been meaningless, and he lightly held the blade with just his fingers.

A level where neither the Demon King nor Leo have succeeded so far.

With just this series of movements, I was able to understand why the Demon King had always been obsessed with Leo as a vessel.

Tuung.

A light fist collided with the abdomen at an invisible speed. He never even thought about avoiding it.

I barely realized it until I reached it. If she had reacted only when she felt pain, Arya wouldn’t even be standing here.

If she hadn’t instinctively condensed her mana and transformed the black stone to suppress her shock, she would have ended up with her body split in two.

“Are you holding on? “Even if it’s fake, he’s a hero.”

Unlike before, the Demon King maintained a relaxed attitude. In fact, this may have been the true intention of that being.

He intentionally acted as if he was in danger, breaking both Leo’s strength and will at the same time.

By inflating hopes, the explosion of despair was made even bigger.

“…No sign of Leo…?”

Aria was no exception.

Leo’s energy, which was felt only slightly, completely disappeared from this world.

The being in front of me has already deteriorated to the point that it cannot be said to be Leo. Every part of Leo, from his soul to his body, disappeared.

“Okay. “I resisted really persistently, but…”

The Demon King looked at his hands with satisfaction. Did he wait hundreds or thousands of years to obtain this kind of vessel, a complete entity that would not escape control from his head to his fingertips?

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“Thanks to you guys, I was able to completely absorb it.”

Leonardo no longer existed in this body. In the first round, Leonardo, like his mother, was incorporated as himself.

“Now, give me my weapon. In that case, at least let the family die without pain.”

The Demon King looked at the ‘black stone’ that Aria was holding and made a gesture with her hand. The demon sword I had just used was not yet perfect even though the demon king’s power had been added to it.

The most suitable tool for this body right now was a black stone with the Philosopher’s Stone melted into it.

“…Ha…!”

At that threat, Ariasviel let out a short, deep laugh deep in his lungs.

Even though I couldn’t feel the same sense of victory as before in the current situation, for some reason I burst out laughing.

Even if the bones of the entire body are broken and twisted, even if the crushed organs are regenerating while spewing out pain.

I laughed so hard that it took my body so much to get up from my seat.

“…Have you lost your mind?”

It was a feeling that the Demon King could never understand.

There is no such thing as a favorable environment for that fake.

Body, mind, mana, and even my friends were gone. I was sinking to the bottom now compared to the situation when I was in Donggwijin during the first round.

But what are those eyes?

I’ve seen those eyes before.

It wasn’t something I’d only seen from Aria.

Unpleasant memories flooded into my head.

“Your weapon?”

Even that unpleasantness was clearly reflected in Aria’s eyes.

The devil threatened to hand over this black stone to him. If the Demon King had completely absorbed Leonardo, his intention to hand him over would have already become a reality.

‘The black stone cannot be called mine.’

Even if the ownership was transferred, this black stone was essentially Leo’s. As it was a weapon that grew by eating Leo’s mana, Aria could only understand it by sweeping away the black stone.

“No.”

That’s why we can’t lose hope yet.

It cannot be broken down into insignificance like this now.

I want to kill the devil, I want to save Leo, I want to save the world.

In this fight, there were countless reasons why we should win and not lose.

But there was one thought that came to mind the most right now.

‘…I can’t lose.’

It wasn’t a natural thought that I couldn’t lose to the devil.

More than that, the instinct that I should not lose to Leo filled my head.

Now I caught a glimpse of Leo’s face in front of me. Although he was made of dragon feet, he was not completely ‘adjusted’, so externally he could be recognized as the Leonardo of the past.

‘…Leo always wanted to fight with the strong me.’

It was like that from the first time we met.

Whether it was the first or second round, Leonardo wanted to spar with him.

What meaning did that act have?

Was it ignorance or obsession?

I couldn’t explain the sentence.

Just.

“Leonardo!”

I felt Leonardo’s emotions right now.

I forced my body to stand up. We cannot expect other colleagues to join us. Maybe some died.

The only one who could fight properly now was Ariasviel Reinhardt.

“…It’s the same.”

The Demon King’s expression becomes distorted. A heinous life that cannot be attributed to Leonardo.

The same spirit as the hive unleashed equal resentment on one girl.

“I will kill you in the most horrible way for four years.”

Kwajik, Kwadeuk, the Demon King grabbed the hair of the demon beasts around him with both hands and burst them.

The demonic beasts that miraculously survived the fall gave their lives to the king without any hesitation. It wasn’t a sacrifice. In the first place, they were tools themselves.

Sereung, the Demon King held a demonic sword in both hands.

The outline and principle itself did not make sense compared to what Leo used, but it didn’t matter.

Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga-gak!!

Anyway, the Demon King had an abundance of demonic energy. Even though his quality was lower than that of Leo, he had already surpassed and upgraded himself several times in terms of quantity.

Cow…!!

Ariasviel parried the attacks of the demon sword and rushed at the demon king.

‘…As expected…! I’ve become stronger…!’

The mana that was lacking was replenished with the power of the spirit, and the body was regenerated by replacing the mana with divinity with a holy sword.

Perhaps it was because it was a crisis situation, even at this moment, the speed that was thought to be the limit was surpassed, and regeneration became faster and sword skills became sharper.

“…It’s boring.”

But more than that, the magical blow thrown by the Demon King was murderous. Each and every sum crossed the crossroads between life and death for Aria.

It feels like my brain is burning out under the constant load, and my body is repeatedly injured and regenerated, reaching a point where the amount of flesh that has fallen off is more than my body.

“Cough…!”

Aria, who was pushed away in shock, briefly vomited blood.

The demon lord I was currently dealing with was not at the level of simply unleashing his power to the maximum through his vessel.

That alone was too much, but now the Demon King has gone even further than that by using a new body.

“It’s really good. “It fits so perfectly…!”

All of Leonardo’s skills were placed in the hands of the devil. All of the experience and abilities that the Demon King had accumulated so far were obtained simply by using Leo’s skin.

“Who knew? “I never thought the moment would come when I would have the best body in my hands thanks to you!!”

With Gwangso, the Demon King connected dozens of magic formulas in the sword attack. Although she did not bother to chant her chant, Aria Spiel instinctively dropped her body.

Ariasviel could tell what that magic was just by looking at the form of the sword strike.

Aria, the magic of martial arts, the Demon King even took away her unique magic.

■■■■■■■…!!

Still, it was too late.

It cannot end with the expression that it is late.

I didn’t expect it. The magic that was revealed was combined with black magic, with demonic energy added to it. An explosion occurred without a trace of light.

The explosion did not radiate outward, but rather caused a negative explosion, as if a hole had been created in the world itself.

“Can I be harmed?”

From those words, Ariasviel clearly sensed what was late.

I could feel the pulse of life in the place where the black magic was manifested. My colleagues were still alive and not dead.

Saving them was an extremely reckless decision. If I think about it calmly, the priority now was to focus on evasion and keep my stamina intact.

Even if he died and broke Leo’s last spirit, there was a thing called priority.

“That’s your weakness and Leo’s weakness.”

But by the time she realized it, Aria had jumped into the dark magic circle.

Because he was a hero, it may have been an unavoidable action as a human being before that.

The black stone held in the opposite hand was covered with armor.

Stronger than Leonardo’s armor.

From his head to the scabbard that Leo gave him, he was stained black.

The armor in the shape of Black Arya was ‘combined’.

In order to maximize movement of a body that had reached its limits, there was no other option than this method. The black stone, like an iron maiden, drove the iron core into the body and forced the broken body to stand.

Tukwaaang!!

All the black magic in the path was cut into pieces. The road unfolded faster than I realized.

Rather, he was using the current path as a starting point to reach the unreachable being called the Demon King.

It wasn’t black magic, but it was enough to cut down the demon energy itself and reach a state of perfection.

The swordsmanship was so rapid that even the Demon King hesitated for a moment at the miracle.

“Leonardo… Ruben might have been different.”

If the Demon King had really focused on killing only the humans here, it might have been a meaningful action.

“…!”

The moment Aria was about to point her sword at the Demon King again, she had an intuition of where its gaze was directed.

It wasn’t just aimed at herself. It wasn’t even directed at the people inside this magic tower.

“Goodbye. With this world.”

This world was reflected in the eyes of the devil.

What that being wanted was a complete end and extinction.

Now that he has completely merged with Leo, the Demon King has been able to use his own power without filtering from the beginning.

“You are the weakest warrior.”

He just wanted to trample on the insignificant fake who killed him.

With those words, the world was immersed in darkness.

It’s over.

***

I felt death again.

An overwhelming defeat that does not require any consideration for winning or losing.

As if asking me to accept this sin.

I was dragged down into a cold abyss that no one could feel.

[You are weak.]

If those words were really the last, the story would have ended.

“…This voice…”

Aria knows the owner of this voice better than anyone else.

It was a voice she had heard in the fierce battle earlier, but the spirit contained in that voice went beyond Aria’s ears and shook her heart.

“…Leo?”

Leonardo was in front of me.

Looking down at Aria with an expressionless face, Leo repeated the same words.

[Are you weak?]

What someone said kept repeating as if it were stuck in my mind.