Viers didn't expect to hear the name Tanael from Max’s mouth. The water that held Max became steam as the youth set himself on fire.

Damn it… Now he really can’t be allowed to live.

“...What do you mean?”

“Don't lie! I saw the battle between Anne and Tanael. It’s the same transformation, even the music is the same!”

Viers decided to pretend no longer.

“How?”

“I’ll tell that to your corpse!!”

Burning with rage and Victa, Max engaged Viers, putting his sorrow and passion in his sword. Both were in their powered-up state so the intensity of the battle was a step higher than before.

Viers had seen with his own eyes that Max had retired before he began fighting with Anne, so how could he know about Viers’ technique?

Viers failed to account for Aletro. Max paid a portion of his shards to witness Tanael and Anne’s final battle. Aletro treated Max’s request fairly since Max gave the appropriate amount of shards.

The hate he had for Viers who had a hand in the Luxore calamity and Tanael who killed Anne became one. Like two hurricanes that fused and become a super hurricane.

But no matter how much hate Max had, it alone was not enough to bridge the gap between him and Viers. The villain only grew stronger since the battle with Anne. While Max had gotten stronger too, Viers’ growth was greater.

Max’s sword was short an inch from Viers’ body. His dodges were a bit late. Viers seemed to predict his movements before he made them. Whenever an Arte landed, it didn't do as much damage as it should.

Max suffered many more wounds while Viers’ condition was slowly getting better from his healing factor.

Along with his Pathseeker Level, Viers’ healing factor improved. It was still far from his ideal, though. He suspected only after reaching Level 5 that his regeneration would be on par with a certain mutant with adamantium claws.

Power, speed, defense, technique, recovery, stamina, Viers surpassed Max in every way.

Viers’ composed gait, transformation, and the music's ominous Latin chanting made him appear insurmountable.

“I won’t lose… I can't lose!!”

Viers was subjected to a strike bearing the weight of a mountain. Without his Unreality Field, both of his arms would have been broken. To prevent himself from falling into the chasm of blue fire, Viers planted his sword into the ground.

It would have worked and looked cool if he could but the vault's floor was too hard and he was about to fall. Unreality Fields could do many things but flying was not one of them. By shooting water blasts with his hands at his back, Viers managed to push himself back on stable footing.

Max was upon him not a moment too soon and fought in a beast-like manner. Viers received a deep slash wound to the stomach and various other things.

Mu!? He overwhelms my Ein Sof Sefirot?

Viers was on the ground; Max’s hands were choking his neck. Viers used all of his strength to lift those fiery hands. High temperature smoke was coming from Max’s mouth as he breathed.

“You burned your life force!” Euryale Sight uncovered the truth.

“As long as you die, I don't care what happens to me!”

Second stage: Cosmos Burn Unbridled!

Using life force to empower Arte in a serious fight was nothing new, the challenge was how much energy they gained from the life force burned. Because of his abundant life force and usage, Viers was more familiar than most when it came to this forbidden art. That was why Max’s state awed him, the ratio of life force to Arte power was far above his own!

For example, if Viers used a day's worth of life force, he would gain a hundred points of power.

In front of him, Viers saw Max gain three to four hundred points at the same cost!

“I’m thankful for gifting me that Arte!”

Max’s refusal wouldn't matter if he used soul search. It would be very valuable research material for his own life-burning technique: the Hyper Artes. More importantly, with Max above him and in such close proximity, a certain Arte would be very effective.

Arte - Howling Wraiths!

Since his opponent already knew he was Tanael, Viers didn't hesitate to use Tanael’s Arte. The Arte was so much stronger than the time he last used it.

When Viers saw Max flash a smile, he knew he'd screwed up.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment! Soul-Burning White Flame!”

Max’s body which was burning with a white flame lit up even further.

Not only did Viers’ Howling Wraiths fail to push back Max, the soul-based Ein Sof Sefirot was consumed by Max’s new technique. Viers’ body and soul were suffering heavy burns.

If he did nothing, Max would turn him into charcoal. Squeezing the last drop of strength in this situation, Viers gave a knee strike to Max’s family jewels.

A despicable low blow in a sacred fight but Viers’ didn't care for fouls when he almost died.

Naturally, Max was very hurt and temporarily weakened. The two tussled a bit until Viers managed to get away. Patches of white fire lingered on Viers. It continued burning his soul. Hard to extinguish but he couldn't leave them be.

Viers had had enough of immolation, first Anne, and now Max. As a water Pathseeker, he should be at an advantage against fire Pathseekers!

“Fuck!” Viers cursed. The damage he suffered went past mild, to severe. It was a failure on his part. He should have known; if Max was hell-bent on killing Tanael, naturally he would learn to counter soul abilities.

“Kill you… I’ll kill you! Definitely! Without fail!”

As Viers pushed his healing factor to the limit, Max was glaring at him despite lying on the ground with unrestrained killing intent. Gone were the visages of the handsome red-headed youth. Throughout the course of the battle, Max became more and more consumed by hatred, stoking his embers.

Even his own body was charred because he used firepower above his limit.

…He’s like Dabi… And like Endeavor, I’m the cause of his resentment. I made him into that, a personification of hatred.

Viers felt a brief moment of pity. Had Viers not existed, Max would have grown up to become a typical good shonen hero.

I must take responsibility.

Viers stood up first, making a hand seal or mudra, and said something to Max in a tone that could be said to be of kindness.

“It'll be over soon, Max. I’ll grant you peace.”

A large amount of water gushed forth from his Thousand Treasures Casket. This batch was of even higher quality than the last one. Viers was encased in a sphere of water and ten meters around him water spread, not a centimeter more.

“You think a little bit of water can help you!?”

Max tried to cut at Viers who was surrounded by the sphere, but was unable to. The water could change its properties. It spun and reflected his attacks. Max tried to punch it but it was ineffective when the texture became gelatinous. Then he tried to heat it up by encasing it with a layer of flame but Viers maintained his look of composure inside the water sphere, the temperature inside didn't change nor did it show signs of evaporation.

Meanwhile, Viers’ wounds healed at an even faster rate than before. Max’s confusion lasted only for a second before he found the cause. When he tried to attack the water globe, his blood flowed out, some dropped onto the wet ground around his feet.

Then the blood flowed toward Viers, absorbed.

“First, Phantom Lifeblood. My enemies’ blood will heal me.”

Max also felt his stamina being sapped away. It was the wet floor he stood on. Anyone stepping on the ground of Viers’ influence would come under the influence of Viers’ Arte.

“Second, Aquathlon Tendency. My enemies will be too tired to fight me.”

The serene voice of Viers only fanned Max’s hate, forcing him to attack even more intensely.

How dare he act as if he was untouchable!

But Viers’ turtle shell was unaffected.

“Fourth, Water Is Unbreakable. My enemies will not be able to hurt me.”

Max acted like a man possessed. He was trying everything, from Artes to the items at his disposal. The distance between him and Viers was only one meter, but that one meter couldn't be surmounted.

“The complete combo consists of seven Artes. You experienced the sixth earlier, Stone Ocean, but that, along with the third, fifth, and seventh… are not necessary. The fight is… already over.”

“It's not!! It’s… not… wha-!?”

Max fell to his knees, his vision was blurry.

“First and foremost, you’re critically low on Victa. Not that you had much to begin with… Even if you have a big move to break my Water Is Unbreakable, you are no longer able to use it.”

“No…It, can't be…”

“All those demon cleaning chores with the Church are the true reason for your defeat. All that Victa, gone down the drain… How wasteful.”

The pitying gaze Viers had was like acid to Max.

“Second, as your life force dwindles, your body becomes weaker. The blood loss and stamina loss from Aquathlon Tendency, even maintaining the Unreality Field is no longer possible for a body too far gone.”

“Even if my head is all that remains, I’ll bite your throat!”

Viers disregarded the words of the man too tired to stand.

“Third, the projectiles I hit you at the start are special, you see. Also, all this talking is for the sake of making the demonic corruption seep in.”

“Urrraaaagghhh!”

The bullets Viers shot at Max were made from the souls of demons. Right now, Max was experiencing intense pain as the corruption started kicking in.

Max’s senses were a mess. The pain made him almost pass out.

He was unwilling, he didn't want to escape, but for the sake of killing Viers, he had to live.

Even if it meant living in shame.

It was the only purpose his life had left.

A rune swiftly formed on Max’s back, floating. It dissipated in the blink of an eye, along with Max’s figure.

Viers had seen the rune before. It was what the undead at Foulfae Swamp used to escape Mita and the others.

Max was teleporting away. His Victa was almost gone but he had enough for invoking the rune. As he swore he would have his revenge on Viers, he was yanked out of the space tunnel.

“Welcome back,” Viers, who was no longer in a sphere of water, said patiently to the confused-looking Max. He was still in the vault of the Ebony Fire.

Max came to the Foulfae Swamp after Viers and company. In the past, he said he didn't meet any undead when Viers asked. In truth, Max had killed the weakened undead. This teleporting rune was one of his victory spoils.

Viers had never believed Max, so after knowing his target potentially had teleportation methods, the villain procured a teleportation jammer magic item before the face-off.

“HAAAAAAA!!”

With his hope of escaping dashed, Max harnessed all of his remaining Victa for a final strike. A dagger with a wavy blade, a kris that gave off an absolutely lethal aura, was pushed toward Viers’ chest.

Max would not use something trivial for his last strike, Viers knew this.

As Max put his all into his attack, he didn't leave any Victa for defense. Viers capitalized on that opening by using a Force Choke on Max. The dagger failed to reach anywhere near Viers’ body before Viers disarmed the dangerous-looking dagger.

The soul-based telekinesis pushed Max beyond the edge of the vault, smoldering blue flames were below Max’s feet.

It was the end, both fighters knew it. Max was unable to do anything save for giving a glare of last defiance.

If Viers was a fool, he would have simply let Max fall.

Max was out of Victa and Viers had him by the neck. It was all so easy, so… tempting. Just release his Force Choke and Max would be subject to the laws of gravity and be consumed by the blue flames.

After seeing so many heroes survive being thrown down a cliff, Viers now thought any villain that did that were idiots, no matter how badass the villain may be.

Therefore, Viers dealt the last strike with his own hands, by draining Max’s blood to the last drop.

Blood poured out from every pore Max had, even those who were not faint-hearted would have the urge to vomit.

After the water Pathseeker was sure there was no blood left remaining in Max’s body and checked, rechecked, then checked again for the third time for good measure, Viers was certain Max had died.

Viers laid Max’s body on the ground. He died with his eyes open, cursing the sight of the man reflected in his retina.

“It’s over, Max…”

Viers gently closed Max’s eyelids and offered words that came from the heart.

“Requiescat in pace.”

Chapter 268 - Requiescat in Pace