Chapter 120 Buying The Battle Slave [1]

--(3rd person POV)--

Vile reaper looked at Nathan with fear in his eyes.

Whatever Nathan had done he could no longer use Aura. He couldn't even use his skills or stigma.

"N-no!!"

A weak coarse scream left his mouth.

The swords stabbed into his limbs were making him unable to move, or he would have tried to run away.

"Will you shut up?"

Vile immediately shut his mouth at the command of the 'being' in front of him.

A body shrouded in darkness, a smiling face, and two ruby-like eyes. Just looking up at 'him' was invoking nigh unimaginable terror in him.

'It' wasn't human.

'It' was 'Devil'.

Vile reaper felt foolish that he assumed he could kill 'him'. He couldn't believe he was thinking of torturing 'him'.

He finally understood why he lost. There was no way he could defeat 'him'.

A mortal can't defeat the 'Devil'.

Vile reaper's figure shuddered intensely as 'his' gaze bore down on him.

*

--(Nathan's POV)—

"Will you shut up?"

I raised my eyebrow at Vile reaper, who instantly quit down at my words.

He was intensely shaking which only confused me more.

'Why is he acting like this? I don't think losing Aura should affect him this much.'

'Hmmm…. Can it be?'

I crouched and spoke to him.

"How does it feel now that your skills aren't working?"

"H-how did you know?!"

He flinched and tried to back away, only to scream again when the swords tore his muscles.

'Whatever skill he was using against [Domination Decree] was an active skill, not a passive one.'

This would explain why he was so afraid of me after I used [Zero Orb].

Without a constant energy supply, all the active skills would stop working. He was afraid because [Domination Decree] was now working on him.

I stood up and decided to let him bask in the pressure of my skill before starting. In the meantime, I looked back at my battle with him.

The <Mud Spike> had been the feint that I used with my stigma, [Iridescence] to surprise Vile reaper.

Back then, I was touching the ground with one hand while holding the grimoire in the other.

After that, I only had to use [Pierce] on the daggers struck in his body. Although the daggers didn't hit any vital area, they still damaged him critically.

That gave the opening.

In that short opening, using the technique I learned from Susan, I quickly arrived in front of him and attacked.

He could have easily dodged my attack had he 'known' I was an Aura user.

But because he believed me to be a mana-user, he was startled and couldn't dodge [Zero Orb].

(This is the first battle where you used everything, isn't it?)

I nodded and sighed.

'And even then, I barely won.'

My injuries had healed quite a lot because of Elixir, so I turned to Vile reaper.

"Do you want this elixir?"

*

--(3rd person POV)—

"Do you want this elixir?"

Vile reaper gulped at the sight of Elixir. Even though he had never used an Elixir before, that was how much rare they were.

He knew that he would heal if he used Elixir, but he couldn't bring himself to ask for it.

He was afraid.

Afraid that the being in front of him was planning something.

However, he gulped again.

Even though he didn't want to, for some odd reason, he agreed to the request.

"Y-yes."

The smile of the being in front of him stretched.

"Then answer my question and I'll give it to you."

Gulp-

'He' whispered in his ears.

"Which prize are you aiming for?"

Flinch-

'He' stood back and walked around him.

"There must be a reason why you were made to join this tournament, no?"

Vile reaper couldn't understand why 'he' was asking this.

Talking about this in front of everyone was the same as exposing that Sword Maiden was trying to get the prizes for herself.

That something was going on behind the scenes.

Letting the public know this would tarnish the image of Underworld and Umbra. And for their business, trust was the most important thing.

Vile reaper was still questioning if he should answer when…

Crack-

"Arghh!!"

Nathan crushed the fingers on his right hand with his foot.

"Are you not going to answer?"

"T-that-"

Crack-

"-Agghhh!!"

Nathan mercilessly trampled on his fingers, then moved to his left hand.

"I heard about your torture methods. 'First break the fingers, then the heels, then the forearms, then thighs and like this slowly move toward heart' was it?"

Crack-

Nathan crushed the left hand too.

He then moved toward Vile reaper's legs.

-VILE REAPER CAN NOT FIGHT ANY LONGER AS SU—UGHHH!!-

The mana barrier was lifted and the commentator's voice flowed. He was about to end the match by declaring Vile reaper's defeat when Nathan turned to him.

-M-MR. PEPE P-PLEASE STOP-

The commentator struggled under Nathan's pressure. He barely let the words out of his mouth.

? "What are you trying to do?"

-V-VILE REAPER CAN NOT FIGHT ANY LONGER, SO I-IT'S YOUR WI-

"He hasn't surrendered yet. The match is still going."

Nathan spoke in a cold voice, cutting the commentator in between.

-P-PARDON? BUT A-ACCORDING TO R-RUL-UGHHH-

The commentator collapsed when Nathan increased the pressure on top of him and collapsed.

Then he turned to the highest point of the arena, where the Sword Maiden was, and spoke.

"I don't think there is a rule like that. After all, didn't my teammate 'fight' until the end?"

The butler who was standing behind Iris stepped forward and declared in an equally chilly tone.

"Your teammate refused to surrender. As such, he was allowed to 'fight' until the end."

He released his own pressure against Nathan.

Their pressure clashed, chilling the atmosphere even further.

Nathan shook slightly as he couldn't completely cancel out the butler's pressure. Fortunately, [Domination Decree] was now Lvl.2 or Nathan would have lost the exchange at the first clash.

Nathan took a deep breath and stood straight.

Even though the butler's pressure was overwhelming, it would still take him a few minutes before he could bring Nathan to his knees with his pressure alone.

"Then if Vile reaper says he wouldn't surrender, will our match continue?"

"…Yes"

The butler's eyes sharpened, as he couldn't understand what Nathan was playing at. But he knew that Vile reaper would foolishly refuse to surrender.

Nathan turned to Vile reaper and concentrated his pressure on him.

Then he spoke in an authoritative tone.

"You don't want to surrender, do you?"

"No"

Vile reaper's eyes lost focus for a few seconds and he complied with Nathan.

He regained his senses just as quickly. But he had already given his answer.

Vile reaper flinched when he realized the words that had come out of his mouth.

"See?"

Nathan smiled and turned to the butler.

Albert's eyes widened when he heard Vile reaper's answer. He didn't understand why Vile reaper gave that answer, however; the words were already spoken.

Albert looked at Iris from the corner of his eyes and stepped back.

Crack-

Nathan continued crushing Vile reaper's bones without minding the murmurs of the spectators he could now hear after the mana barrier was lifted.

Vile reaper tried to answer Nathan amidst the pain and fear. But every time Nathan crushed his bones just before he could answer, sending him into a flurry of screams.

In between, he used [Zero Orb] twice to keep Vile reaper from controlling Aura.

Finally, after he had entirely crushed Vile reaper's limbs with his foot, he spoke.

"Were you saying something?"

Vile reaper's entire figure was disheveled, covered in blood and injuries.

He didn't even have the energy to question Nathan and began answering.

"Y-yes, about the q-question you aske-"

"Ah, that! I totally forget about it while giving you the massage. So, will you answer me?"

The pain that he had experienced for the first time in his life, and the unknown fear he was feeling from Nathan made him easily spit the answers.

"Y-yes! I j-joined the tourn-"

Yawn-

"You know what? I don't think I'm interested in finding the answer anymore."

Nathan yawned and chucked down the remaining half Elixir. He then started walking away.

Vile reaper's eyes widened, but he didn't try to stop Nathan. Even without Elixir, he could still be healed.

As he looked at the back of Nathan, his lips rose a little.

'That's right. No matter how haughty he acts, he still can't kill me because I work under Sword Mai-'

Puchi-!

A blade without a handle suddenly impaled Vile reaper's head.

"Ah, my hand slipped, sorry."

The blade flew out of Vile reaper's head and connected to the sword handle in Nathan's hand.

?