Ep 145. This ot Be Mere ce. (4)

  What followed thereafter ure, one-sided torture.

  Despite the screams tinuing to explode from around them, the scream that now filled the air most was the Reaper’s. The blue glow in his eyes were beginning to wane as they rapidly shut and opeheir mind endlessly waking and shutting down from the excessive amount of pain.

  But even as Serenis’ cws tio chip away at the professor’s body with a deathly menace, she faintly held onto hope.

  ‘Wake up.’

  Again, her cws would tear out another piece of flesh from the monster’s body.

  ‘Wake up.’

  And somewhere in the deathly mists behind her, she khat the others would’ve heard Karas’ screams by now – Light especially would’ve reized the sound of her teacher’s screams.

  Then, the only reason Light wasn’t rushing in to stop Serenis could only be because the present dangers were already overwhelming them.

  And so, Serenis plunged her magicked cws into the feathered figure beh her once more, sshing through the professor’s already-torn shoulder.

  “WAKE UP, KARAS!!”

  When the dragonlord finally broke her silehe Reaper’s heaving breaths immediately died down. His dreary eyes once again gained focus as he took note of the desperation in her voice.

  “You thought…that torture would warrant his return? Haha…”

  At the Reaper’s mog voice, Serenis’ widened eyes soon thinned in evident anger.

  But just as she was about to rip out another piece of the possessed flesh, Felicir’s armless shoulder began to twitch.

  “…You struggle in vain, dragonlord.”

  Translut s struck out from within his exposed flesh to skewer a number of the spirits floating about. High-pitched shrieks filled the air as the s began to recede, dragging them back towards their captor.

  The spirits began to cw the ground, as if they knew what would bee of them upourning to the monster’s body. But their efforts amouo little as the s mercilessly dragged them back against their will, marking ao their small freedom.

  As the shades sunk bato Karas’ body, their screams immediately ceased with a final, horrifying howl.

  Following suit, a colorless cloud began to around where Karas’ limb had once been. The cloud clearly took the form of the professor’s lost limb, quickly solidifying in form.

  And soon enough, the cloud would solidify in form to restore the monster’s missing right arm, gripping onto the ankle of the dragon t above him.

  “Try harder.”

  Serenis watched the se unfold with a disturbed, bewildered expression. The dying academic had suddenly seemed restored in vigor – and clearly in form, with his missing limb making a near-instaurn.

  The sharp jolt of pain ing from her leg only emphasized the disturbiy of the situation.

  “What…was that?”

  “Why, I dined.”

  “…On spirits?”

  “What else?”

  A mog grin soon formed over the Reaper’s face. His pained expression was long gone, repced by his usual demeanor once more.

  “Monsters sustain themselves from the mana in the air or their foods, but sometimes, those just won’t do. In rare cases, they restore vigor from other sources they’re capable of processing – for example, this one has been feeding on the dead for turies.”

  “…”

  “Not that you would’ve known. I’m sure he did a good job of deceiving those around him.”

  Serenis didn’t bother returning a response.

  Instead, small particles of white began to gleam around the feathered figure, f a steltion of tiny stars. Their light grew brighter by the sed, as did the weight of the dragon above Karas.

  Each particle of light soon exploded in magic, turning into rays of light that sunk into the monster’s flesh. The burning rays webbed through his body in a chaotiner, stringing the possessed academic like a lump of butcher’s meat.

  When each ray then exploded in magi within his body, his entire figure seemed to melt and , redug itself to a pool of bck shadow.

  Unfortunately, the Reaper’s presumed sed death was short-lived. The fragmented shadows began moving of their own will, gathering into the ground some ways away from Serenis.

  Dozens of translut s once again struck out from the bck pool, each tg onto a haunting spirit.

  Immediately, Serenis sshed the air with her hand, sending a bde of mana to soar across the air and sever the s. But trary to her hopes, the spell merely passed through the monster’s s, seemingly uo stop their onsught.

  As another few dozen souls were absorbed into the shadow on the ground, the bck pool would and bubble.

  Once again, the Monster of Mire emerged from the ground in his fully restored form.

  “My. That was close, dragonlord.”

  “…”

  “Still…it wasn’t quite close enough. It’d be quite the shame to suffer a sed death by your hands.”

  Again, Serenis returned no response.

  She instead stomped the ground, her eyes fixed on the shadowy figure of her enemy.

  Somewhere above the mass of deathly mist that covered the area, a siar began to gleam in the distant sky, heeding the dragonlord’s will.

  Without warning, a massive ray of starlight bsted through the ing spirits, crashing down to smite the possessed academic. His bck figure was instantly swallowed by the pilr of light that ied the ground whole.

  Another cag ughter echoed from within.

  The monster’s faded silhouette tio darken from within the pilr of starlight. Hundreds of s stripped the dead of their freedom to instead serve as fuel for the captor that resided within.

  ‘How much will it take to overe yic?’

  Instead of attempting another escape, the Reaper held his ground within the pilr, feasting away on the numerous souls he’d captured. His body tio melt aore itself, but he paid no mind to his deteriorating body.

  Instead, he raised his cwed hand above him. Strips of bck mana gathered from every dire to form a single sphere above his palm, holding itself firm amidst the rain of magic.

  “Shall we find out?”

  A massive explosion of shadows followed the sphere’s formation.

  Felicir held firm above the molten floors, keeping his hand firmly raised. Above him was the same pitch-bck orb, unleashing a massive pilr of bck mana to mimic the dragonlord’s spell.

  “Hmph!”

  “…”

  Eventually, Serenis’ spell began to wane – and the triumphant grin on Felicir tio spread further. His own pilr of bck mana tio gain way above him bit by bit.

  Aually, the starlight would pletely give way, shattering apart as it was repced with a surge of dark.

  When the looming threat dispersed, the Reaper slowly lowered his hands. A satisfied ughter slid out from him as he met the dragonlord’s gaze.

  “Well, look at that. It ossible after all.”

  “…”

  “Oh, don’t look at me so. I’ve seen what your sed lord is capable of – I knew what I was getting into.”

  Finally, Serenis’ indifference broke as a small, derisive snort escaped her.

  Soon, it’d turn to snickering; after another few seds, it’d turn to ht ughter.

  The Reaper’s gaze visibly narrowed as he beheld his amused oppo.

  “…You knew what you were getting into, you say.”

  Serenis lightly shook her head, still amused by the irony of the Reaper’s statement. She was on the verge of wiping tears from her eyes.

  With a light swipe of her foot on the ground, the sky would darken once more, beyond the swirling mist of spirits.

  But even from beyond, the hundreds of glowing lights above were pinly visible now. Their intense brilliance seemed to pierce through the possessed academic’s mist, signifying what would soon e to pass.

  In respohe Reaper’s narrowed eyes would soon well with bewilderment – as well as the fear that apa.

  “You assumed Vulka and I to be equals? Don’t be foolish, Felicir.”

  Even as the dragonlord’s voice cut through the air, Felicir didn’t have the mental capacity to return another snarky response.

  In fact, he didn’t even have the mental capacity to stop his shaking legs from slowing bag away, step by step.

  Unfortunately, no amount of walking would allow him to hide from the very night sky.