Chapter 200 :

Episode 39 : Victor (2)

Rustling…

"Dude.. What took you so long to get here?" Asher scowled as she looked down off the branch to find Zeon arriving.

Zeon, who seemed to be tired mentally, shook his head. "That guy. He's a handful."

"..?" Quick-witted, Asher remembered. "Ah."

Clicking her tongue, she scoffed. "You mean Long Long? I get that he's such a pain in the ass, but enough to exhaust you?"

"He's too unpredictable and cunning. He comes and goes as he pleases. The same goes for sneak attacking."

"Man, kinda wish I didn't ask for a truce."

"You'll do it either way. His skills are interesting, aren't they? Isn't that why you kept him close?"

"Yep."

"You seemed to be in a good mood."

"Well, duh. I get to have a rematch with you."

As Zeon formed a grin from learning Asher's weird way of happiness, he crossed his arms while staring at Asher's mask, and got curious.

"By the way, when will I ever see your face?"

"Not even in your dream. My face isn't something anyone gets to see."

"Ha, okay okay."

Having to take a leap off the branch as Asher brings out her scythe from her inventory, she gives it a spin after landing right in front of Zeon.

Not fazed by Asher's descent, Zeon shrugged while gripping his chain that was around his waist.

With a stand, Asher and Zeon stood in a battle position in a place where they were certain that there wasn't anyone around.

"Who's doing the countdown?" Asher asked.

Zeon thought for a second before removing one of his gloves. "Why don't I toss this up? Once it hits the ground, we'll start."

"Cool, cool. This time, I'll make sure it won't end without a result like last time. It'll be my victory. Muhaha."

"Don't make that kind of fake laugh, Reaper. It creeps me out."

"Dude, your smile is literally creepier than my pretentious laugh."

"What about your smile? Judging by how you behave, I'm sure your smile is way too unsettling to see. Maybe that's why you hid your face."

"I hid it because I'm so beautiful."

"..." Zeon expressed his unbelief.

"Pfft! Chill, dude. Don't just give me that kind of look out of nowhere." Asher let out a genuine chuckle.

"It's hard to believe a beautiful lady would hide her face."

"Now that's where you're wrong. Currently, we're in a different world, and you wouldn't know what would happen to you."

"Uh huh. That's true since I didn't expect to meet you."

"A-n-y-w-a-y-s, just take a look at Felix, a moron who publicly shows off his face and charm. That's the dumbest thing he could ever do."

‘Once Reaper starts talking, I don't think I can ever stop her.’ Meanwhile, Zeon listened closely without bothering to interrupt or speak to Asher.

"I mean it's disgusting to see him try to use his goddamn charm on me, and by the way, ew. Just damn ew."

‘She sure hates Felix.’ Zeon thought.

"I get that it's fucking great and all to show off, but hella no in the kind of dilemma we're in."

"Like what the fuck does having a crowd of girls by your side gonna do? Increase the rate of getting raped? Those girls aren't even normal girls because they have skills to boot."

"A nuke would be considered safer than one of those gals!"

Zeon nodded. ‘She does have a point there..?’

"What about the guys? There gotta be someone who hates seeing Blondie flexing his looks. That moron is literally asking for bad luck, but oh wait, he's damn lucky."

"Dammit. Just thinking about it makes me sick." Asher grumbled, stomping the ground in frustration.

"Why can't Blondie be more like HwanGi? Even the number 1 player isn't acting bold and arrogant with his handsome look."

"What about JoonChul?" Zeon asked.

"That guy.. That darn guy.. I have no words to say. Poor him for having such a face. Must be hard having to live like that."

"I didn't feel any pity from your tone."

"Oh ho. You want pity so bad?"

"No, not really."

"You have had it rough, Zeon. It must have been painful having to live in a society where colors decide things."

Whoooshh~

Dumbfounded by the tone in which Asher conveyed, Zeon stood with a fazed expression as no words could leave his mouth.

Was it a shock from Asher's unexpected heartfelt voice? Did Asher's words spark Zeon into remembering his hardships in the past? Or was he just plain speechless?

Considering Zeon was quiet, Asher glanced at him for a few seconds before changing the subject. "Why the hell are we talking when we should be fighting?"

Snapped out of it, Zeon took a second to reload when he responded. "Weren't you enjoying the conversation though?"

"Bruh, how do I look entertained talking about crap? Wasn't my disgust revealing or are you just blind?"

"Now, don't be so mean to me."

"Didn't you say you dislike it when I was nice?"

"Yes, it creeps me out."

"Literally everything I do is creepy to you."

"Naturally."

"Not like it bothers me. It was what I was aiming for from the start. Mysterious, murderous and ravenous type of character."

"Add malapert."

"Bro, your vocabulary is good."

"And you understood that?"

"I'm not dumb enough not to know, dude."

While letting out a chuckle, Zeon eventually realized and told Asher. "Aren't we getting a bit sidetracked?"

Afterwards, Asher scowled as she slammed her scythe to the ground, grumbling when she kept on repeatedly hitting the ground with her scythe.

"Ah, you're right. Goddamnit, we talk too much. Let's just get our darn rematch over with before Long Long comes and ruins everything."

"Agreed."

Fwoosh!

Slowly but surely, Zeon throws his glove off to the sky as both Asher and him await for the moment where the start of their rematch begins.

The second the glove hits the dirt, portals come into existence which leave no spot untouched.

With this, Zeon tightened his grip on his chain when suddenly, Asher popped out of one of those portals, slashing her scythe straight at Zeon's front.

In no time, Zeon swayed his chains at Asher's scythe, intentionally wrapping it around her weapon as she began to retreat to the portal.

All Zeon's might in his chain and grasp, he yanked his weapon as hard as he possibly could, preventing Asher to enter her portal.

But what Zeon didn't know was that Asher had purposely planned for this.

Once Asher spawned in portals around Zeon to give him no rooms for escape, she commented. "Wow, you moved as I thought you would."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Nope, not at all. You're a smart idiot, so you ain't fooling me."

At that moment, portals that should have been an act to prevent Zeon from leaving, were used for Zeon's next attack.

Swishhhh!!!

In a matter of seconds, Zeon unveiled a hellish flame around him, firing it into all those portals in hope of one of them leading to Asher from the other side.

With caution, he avoided putting his hands in there just in case Asher shut down her portals and cut off Zeon's hands in the process.

As clever as Zeon was, he attacked through the portals before he blocked the portals' entrance with solid air using his skill.

‘I can't have you using my flame against me.’ Zeon thought, staring at Asher.

"Aw, man.." Asher frowned.

Asher, who planned to do what Zeon had thought, let out a sigh until she summoned forth a mask drowned in darkness, putting it over her first mask as the darkness engulfed it completely.

[Player ‘669' has activated the Skill, ‘Death Mask’ Lv. 1.]

Once worn, the atmosphere changed immediately as Zeon could also notice it, leading him to retreat from where he stood.

[Player ‘666’ has activated the Skill, ‘Chain Lightning’ Lv. 2.]

[Player ‘666’ has activated the Hidden Skill, ‘Hellfire’ Lv. 4.]

Lightning and crimson flame piling on Zeon's chain, he was intentionally attacking himself until the final second he used his other skill.

[Player ‘666’ has activated the Hidden Skill, ‘Backfire’ Lv. 4.]

His self-harm reflected into destruction to his surroundings which caused the portals and solid air to collapse from the sheer deleterious force of Zeon's empowered attacks.

Clatter!

Broken free, Zeon jumps out of the way to spot Asher appearing right behind him, and he ducks down to evade Asher's scythe.

[Player ‘669’ has activated the Skill, ‘Death Zone’ Lv. 2.]

[Player ‘669’ has activated the Skill, ‘Lingering of the Mad Souls’ Lv. 3.]

Fwoosh!

Not a second to waste, Asher enclosed a large-scale of the area with the zone of death while souls approached Zeon from all sides.

Either by passing through his body or physically injuring him, Zeon exhaled a soft groan when Asher snickered with her scythe ready to gash.

CLINK!!!

With a swift parry, Asher and Zeon clashed against each other where flame and death enwreathed in-between their weapons.

Lightning against decay, it collapsed on impact, going at it without a break as Zeon and Asher seemed to be enjoying themselves in the middle of the chaos.

Clattering!!!

Just like that, they've been at it for as long as they could go. Fighting, parrying and unveiling skills upon skills to damage one another.

In no time, both Asher and Zeon were wounded, but not to the point of severeness.

Unlike Asher, Zeon is soon to be in the most disadvantageous area if he doesn't do anything about the death zone where arms can come up at any time.

At the moment, Zeon, bewildered by Asher's hand reaching out to him, has also noticed an arm raising off the ground to grasp his leg.

[Player ‘666’ has activated the Skill, ‘Chain Reaction’ Lv. 2.]

Quickly as he goes, Zeon's chain was swayed and connected to all kinds of attacks, hitting and basting Asher's scythe as well as the death arms.

Usually, he wouldn't bother using ‘Chain Reaction’ even in a tough situation since it leaves him somewhat defenseless.

"It's fine." Zeon mumbled.

Letting his chain fight and do its thing, Zeon was now unarmed with nothing to wield, but it wasn't a problem to him.

Asher smirked. "It's not."

Hand to hand combat, Zeon kicked and punched Asher as she dodged with a slash toward him.

Portals to receive his punches, Asher sent them right back at Zeon, yet was blocked by Zeon's chain.

"Tsk." Asher grunted before going in and out of her portals.

Upon emerging in front of Zeon, Asher surprised him with a fist to the cheek when he was expecting a scythe instead of a punch.

To his surprise, Zeon also caught a glimpse of a scythe being shot out of a portal before clashing into his chain.

"I wish I had earphones and music, then I get to listen to 'Pain' and enjoy this fight much more." Asher uttered as she unleashed a swarm of punches straight at Zeon's defenses, covering her fists with her skill, ‘Wither’ and ‘Decay’.

Zeon's arms that were used to shield him, were undergoing a horrible experience of his clothes and skin rotting away and paining him each time Asher landed a punch.

Before long, Zeon tried to stall Asher by talking. "You love music, huh? So who's the artist of that song?"

"Hm, don't know. I just listen and enjoy. One thing I know is that it's not copyrighted."

"Oh?"

"White circle as a thumbnail from what I remember."

"Ah."

"Also.." Asher let out a sneer. "Did you think I wouldn't notice? Who do you think I am? A moron like those guys?"

"It was worth a try, wasn't it?"

Tossing a portal disk to allow her scythe to escape from Zeon's chains, she got to wield her weapon again after it got dropped from above.

CLING!

Chain within his hands and scythe gripped firmly, Zeon let loose of his hellish flame while Asher unshackled all of her skills to coat it within her scythe's blade.

..CLATTER!!

With a bang from one another, Zeon and Asher were face to face as they didn't utter a word, observing and watching sparks fly past their face and mask.

"Hey, hey. I got a surprise for you." Asher let out a laugh after dropping Zeon into the portal she made beneath him.

"Good grief.." Zeon spoke as if he wasn't at all afraid of what to come on the other side of the portal.

Sooner or later, Zeon sort of regretted his lack of caution when he witnessed a cave filled to the brim with nothing but death arms.

..It was like a scene from a horror movie.

Without a doubt, Zeon had to deal with the dark arms coming from left and right while he was affected by Asher's status effect skill.

Unable to move as much, Zeon laid bare on the floor of death where arms come and go as they please.

In a flash, Zeon lights up the area for a moment when his chain charged with lightning severs a dozen of the death arms that were directed his way.

[Player ‘666’ has activated the Hidden Skill, ‘Solidify’ Lv. 2.]

With a quick glance at his surroundings from the lightning's light, Zeon swiftly closed himself inside a box to protect him from Asher's death arms.

BASH!

By doing this, Zeon watched as arms slammed and crashed into the invisible walls, and at the same time, he took notes of the place he was in.

"Is this really a cave?" Zeon murmured to himself until he took notice of a portal forming from right above him.

‘Is she coming from up top or is she baiting me?’ Suspicious, Zeon narrowed his eyes, clutching his hands into flaming fists.

RUMBLE!!

"You have got to be kidding me, Reaper.."