Rogue Villain-Chapter 334: Stalemate

’This is good, right?’

Ackster looked at the Makkel and the burning world that was reflected in his twisted expression. Makkel’s expression wasn’t that of a sane person. However, his flames had changed. They weren’t any hotter or brighter. It was a subtle change, one that Ackster couldn’t quite tell what it was.

But the change in Makkel’s fire was a qualitative overhaul.

Mbelg’s black fires were some kind of corrupted luck-burning flames brought about by the clash of Makkel’s fire and Mbelg’s miasma and existence.

Based on the raw ingredients of Mbelg’s fire, it should be stronger than Makkel’s fire since the demon’s miasma was more powerful than Makkel and his mana. However, Makkel had more experience with his fire and was better at manipulating it. So, until Mbelg could catch up in that department with the uncanny talents and skills of a demon, Makkel had managed to maintain a stalemate.

It was just that a stalemate was the opposite of what Makkel and the others fought for.

However, the stalemate vanished.

After his enlightenment, Makkel’s fire started burning the black flames. He didn’t retake control or anything like that.

Mbelg’s fire was, just like Makkel’s, a state of the esoteric thing known as luck being on fire. It wasn’t a stretch to say that it was luck in a different expression than Makkel’s cloud.

Makkel could burn it.

Makkel burned it.

The orange fire swept through the black flames around Mbelg’s body without leaving as much as a trail of ash or smoke. It completely replaced the black fire and embraced Mbelg in a hot, fiery kiss.

Mbelg screamed. It wasn’t any more painful than Ackster’s sword lodged in his chest. But Mbelg could feel something—a part of his existence—fade into nothingness as the flames encroached upon his very being. He was losing part of himself.

It wasn’t like a body part. That, Mbelg could just regenerate. But he couldn’t restore the very fabric of his existence.

The fiery small fry was erasing a corner of his soul!

Mbelg’s cry was a cry of rage—of desperation. There was no telling what would happen if he lost whatever it was that he was losing.

"Ha! HAHA! BURN! BURN, WRETCHED CREATURE!"

Mbelg writhed on the ground, trying to put out the fire in a panic. But even he could hear the dragon’s roar. Unfortunately, he wasn’t in a position to do anything about it. None of his magic, none of his tricks, and nothing he did could put out the fire.

Mbelg despaired. He was doomed.

After watching the spectacle for a moment, the others snapped out of it as Mastrax started throwing rocks at Mbelg.

The demon was pretty much screwed. But Makkel’s flames weren’t necessarily fatal.

As Mara and the others understood it, Makkel’s fire burned luck. Someone was either lucky enough to have too little luck, which made the flames die out before they did. Or they had enough luck to burn to death before their luck ran out.

Whatever the case, Makkel’s flames weren’t lethal. And considering Mbelg had the misfortune of encountering Ackster, he probably didn’t have enough luck to burn to death.

Of course, Makkel’s flames had undergone a transformation following his enlightenment, so they might be enough to kill Mbelg.

However, none of them were the type to take chances, especially when dealing with demons.

Mara, Karandiel, Kargas, Wilma, and Mastrax started attacking Mbelg in whatever way they could without catching on fire themselves. Makkel didn’t seem stable enough to control his newly strengthened fire and keep it from spreading to them, after all. It didn’t hurt to be cautious.

They were right. Makkel’s fire didn’t kill Mbelg. But it left the demon weak, hopeless, without the will to fight, and extremely unlucky.

Technically, the demon wasn’t lucky or unlucky right now. It was in a state of complete neutrality. But in a world unsuitable for his existence and surrounded by people, all with their own luck, Mbelg was in an unfortunate situation.

Makkel saw how his and everyone else’s luck and misfortune spread. They influence the world around them. It was only natural. Between two lucky people participating in the same lottery, only one of them could win. That would be the one with the most luck.

Subsequently, the one with less luck would experience a relatively unlucky fate of having lost money. Even an unlucky person would come out on top against an even more unlucky person. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Whether one was lucky or unlucky didn’t matter. What mattered was whether one was luckier or unluckier than one’s surroundings.

In this case, for Mbelg, who didn’t have a shred of luck, fortune, fate, or misfortune left to support him, he was at a complete loss. Everything that could go wrong for him went wrong.

When he tried to stand up, he slipped on a pool of a mix of Ackster’s flesh, blood, and poison. He fell and slammed his forehead into a sharp rock that pierced his skull, thanks to it being one of the few anti-demon stones still relatively intact and uncorrupted.

It didn’t kill Mbelg, and he tried to roll away from it. But then, a stone fell from the ceiling, which had suffered due to the impacts, collisions, and heat of the fire. The rock crashed right into Mbelg’s face, squashing his head flat.

But not even that killed Mbelg. His head regenerated before long.

Mbelg stood up again while glaring at Makkel. This wasn’t even in the realm of curses. This was way worse.

Mbelg’s foot caught on the rock that had just crushed his head, and he fell backward, cracking his head and piercing his spine on another pointy rock.

When he tried to prop himself up with a hand, Mbelg’s hand slipped on another pool of blood and other things. Through some freaky angle, his wrist snapped and he sank back onto the pointy rock.

Mbelg knew he shouldn’t, considering he was surrounded by enemies, but he took a moment to take a deep breath and calm down. Whatever was happening, he could handle it. His balance was good enough that he wouldn’t trip. He was strong enough to catch himself from falling or falling rocks.

Mbelg stood up. He caught himself from slipping twice, and he sidestepped another part of the collapsing ceiling. He looked at Makkel and raised his arm.

Mbelg conjured a purple spear in front of him. No, he tried to. He failed. The purple mist dropped to the floor and dissipated.

A moment later, the ceiling completely crashed in and collapsed on Mbelg, burying him under a few tons of stone.