Dreyar casually walked outside the chief’s building, whereas Mika was wobbling on his spot with his head hanging.

[59 seconds left.]

Mika, who had only one arm now, held onto the Holy Spear.

Spreading his wings, he flew into the sky.

"..."

But Dreyar remained on the ground and just waited.

"Enlarge."

Mika threw the spear, which was increasing both its length and width, at Dreyar.

Sticking his sword beside him into the ground, Dreyar stopped the spear with his hands. But because of its size and weight, even Dreyar had to put in more effort and force than usual.

[7 teleportations left.]

"Fuuu..." Mika exhaled deeply as he retracted his fist in front of Dreyar whose whole body was unguarded.

Light and lightning engulfed Mika’s fist.

And with great force, Mika punched him in the stomach. However, Dreyar did not budge from his spot so Mika buried his fist deeper into the stomach.

"Keh...!" Dreyar groaned silently.

Only after struggling more, Mika was able to finally send him away with his fist.

Dreyar crashed through the door.

"Shrink."

Out of breath, Mika caught the spear in his hand.

"Hm...?"

Mika noticed that Dreyar’s sword was not stuck in the place where it should actually be.

"!"

Unfortunately, Mika put the pieces together too late.

Dreyar’s sword came flying through the door and stabbed Mika in the stomach.

"That was a good punch." Dreyar remarked apathetically.

As Mika was flying backward due to the sword that was thrown at him, Dreyar caught up to Mika and pulled out his sword.

"But let’s end this now."

Dreyar proceeded to cut off Mika’s right forearm.

[6 teleportations left.]

Mika avoided getting slashed across the chest next.

"..."

Or rather, he avoided a deep cut as he noticed a shallow cut across his upper body. However, he did not feel the pain coming from that cut as he had a hole in his stomach and his right forearm was missing now, too.

Blood gushed out of Mika constantly.

Mika slowly lost more focus and his eyelids became heavier.

He did not even notice Dreyar behind him who grabbed his neck from behind.

"I won’t let go anymore."

[34 seconds left.]

Suddenly, the whole place was blinded by light.

[Body modification complete.]

[Mindset modification complete.]

[Ability modification complete.]

[Knowledge and experience transfer complete.]

[Entering pinnacle mode now.]

[Starting countdown for the pinnacle mode.]

[10.]

The next thing Dreyar knew after the light faded away was that Mika’s body shape changed a little.

"..."

Instead of the body of a teenager, he held the trained neck of a grown man.

"?"

Baffled, he let down his guard and let his hand get slapped away.

[9.]

Following that, a fist was thrown at his face and this time, it hurt.

Dreyar was pressed against the destroyed floor, causing a small crater beneath him.

"Urgh..."

As he got up, Dreyar took a peek at the person who punched him.

[8.]

"Impossible..."

There he was again, Mika in his future form with no traces of missing limbs or wounds.

"..."

Coldly, the future Mika looked down on Dreyar.

[7.]

Both of them grabbed their swords and instinctively, engaged in an exchange of sword strikes.

[6.]

It was a high-paced exchange. However, Mika used only one hand while Dreyar held onto his sword with both hands.

[5.]

Dreyar knew that he could not allow himself to lose focus for one moment.

[4.]

He kept defending himself all the time. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

[3.]

But soon, his defense was broken through as his sword was flung away.

[2.]

"You’ve got me." Dreyar huffed impressed.

[1.]

After retracting his arm, Mika, who was engulfed in light again, penetrated Dreyar’s armor.

[0.]

Mika, who returned to his present self, fell to his knees due to exhaustion.

Excalibur was stuck a little below Dreyar’s right chest.

It may have successfully penetrated the armor but the sword was not fully piercing through the actual body because Mika’s transformation became undone. And with no hands, Mika could not even grab or hold Excalibur anymore.

[22 seconds left.]

"..."

Mika did not say anything.

"You did well. I didn’t believe that you were able to break my armor." Dreyar stated indifferently.

"But that was everything, correct?"

Dreyar received information concerning Mika beforehand. Not just only from the demons in the human realm but also personally by his liege, the Demon King.

Mika had the ability to use Excalibur, a sword that could negate any abilities. The Holy Spear, a spear that could change its size. Time Manipulation, the ability to slow down time for himself, making it appear like he was moving faster than usual. Teleportation, the ability to teleport himself anywhere in a certain radius.

And last but not least, he could turn into a future version of himself for a few seconds.

Dreyar knew all that.

Therefore, he knew that Mika played all his cards against him. There was not anything left that could either shock or harm Dreyar.

"Do you know why I was chosen to come to the human realm?"

Mika did not say anything nor did he move.

"I am currently holding the official sixth rank among the S-rank demons. However, my demonic gift is useless compared to my other peers."

Dreyar raised his hand and in turn, weak tentacle-shaped dark matter emerged from his shadow.

"I can barely manipulate dark matter. Based on my ability alone, I should be an E or D-rank demon."

The dark matter vanished.

"But I was tenacious. I searched for other options and soon stumbled upon my real talent. My talent as a blacksmith. I poured my everything into my craft and became the greatest blacksmith in our realm."

He touched his chest armor.

"Everything I wear or wield was made by me. They are made out of the highest-quality materials there exists, making the owner practically invincible."

"It’s only thanks to this perfect armor and basic training that I could climb up the ranks I receive the sixth rank."

In his realm, there were attempts to steal his armor but Dreyar rarely took it off for a long time. He did not even have to worry about ambushes as even groups of high-ranking demons could not beat him.

"Heh..." Mika huffed weakly.

[0 seconds left.]

Mika’s halo vanished.

"In the end, you are nothing without your armor, huh...?" he mocked Dreyar.

Despite him uttering those words, Mika also felt attacked as the same could be applied to him. After all, the system and its benefits were Mika’s armor in a sense.

"..."

Dreyar did not react to Mika’s words. Instead, he walked past Mika.

"With your wounds, it will be only a matter of time until you die."

"Are you sure about leaving me now...?"

"I don’t see the need to keep beating a walking corpse."

"You will regret it, you know?"

Mika smiled weakly.

"They made sure to kill every person in the vicinity of the village. No one should come to help you. You will die all alone here."

Dreyar’s voice turned quieter as he walked further away.

"..."

Mika had to listen to how Dreyar spread his wings and flew away.

"Tch...!"

Frustrated, Mika gritted his teeth.

But soon, he finally lost all his strength and fell on his face.

His own blood leaked out from everywhere and quickly created a sea of blood.

"..."

Blankly, Mika looked to the side.

In that state, Mika did not do anything. Neither did he try to move nor did he try to say anything.

The system, too, remained unresponsive.

And soon, it turned dark.

The moon shone through the multiple holes and slits of the roof.

"..."

Mika was still alive but his body gradually turned colder.

Aside from breathing, he still did not do anything.

Even when he sensed the presence of a person, he did not react.

The floor was creaking as said person came closer.

"I thought that you wanted to kill everyone in your path? How could you already lose against your first obstacle then?"

The familiar and gentle voice belonged to a middle-aged man. Normally, Mika heard that voice with an indifferent tone but today, it sounded like the person behind the voice was smiling.

"..."

But Mika had no strength to actually face the person.

"Were you just acting tough when you declared all that nonsense?"

The smiling man’s hair was long and golden. His eyes were blue and the cross-shaped pupils white.

With a halo above his head, the barefooted man stopped in front of Mika, who still could not take a look at the man.

"No response, huh...?"

He smiled sadly at Mika.

The man only wore a white cloth that was wrapped around him.

"This is the second time we were in the same space and yet, we have never looked each other in the eyes."

"..."

Then, Mika lightly moved his lips.

"So you really came..."

"Yes."

The man standing there was none other than...

"You can’t imagine how much I want to punch your face right now..." Mika murmured very weakly.

...the system.