Chapter 21: Chapter 19: 'Boss' fight
Sion was looking at two Santiago's. One of them was the SS Class monster while other one was the real one. There was no way to tell which one was his friend. They shared the same appearance and the same memories.
" I need you to prove it! " Sion yelled.
Left Santiago waved his hand; " Ask me anything! I can prove it to you! ".
Right one looked much calmer; " It can read memories Sion, it's pointless. Slash one down and hope you get lucky. ".
Sion felt that calmer Santiago was the real one, he was always like that. But taking such risks just didn't seem as right option. But then it clicked...
He pointed his dagger at left Santiago.
[ Ability Right of the Weakest activated ]
[ Ability Justice Ground deactivated ]
Sion clearly felt his power increase massively. He had a feeling that he could jump over mountains and overrun a lightning bolt.
" Step back, you on the right, come closer! " he ordered. Two of them had no other option but to listen to him. As left Santiago went away and right one came closer, Sion's power decreased. That meant that left Santiago had more energy than one on the right.
" Right Santiago, go behind me. " he looked at him.
Santiago on the left slowly lost his worried scared face, a massive creepy smile appeared instead; " Looks like I've been cauuuughtt~ ".
Santiago stood next to Sion, he was bleeding from his nose. He still has the wounds from ice spikes that pierced him few moments ago. He was in no condition to fight. He was bleeding from several places.
" I'll... I'll do this alone. " Sion said.
" What? You fool this is no time to joke! That bastard is equal to 2nd Class-.. "
" It doesn't matter! My energy is in 2nd Class, not to mention, the fact he is more powerful than I am just makes me stronger. At this point... " he was confident.
He leaned forward a bit and held his dagger at his side; " Come at me, you SS Class boss! ".
" He's not a boss~ "
" I KNOW! "
The fake Santiago looked at them with a smile, but his face was surprised as well; " Do you guys really... really think you're in position to joke around? ".
Ice spikes jumped out of every inch of the cave, only place where spikes didn't show up was floor around Sion and Santiago.
" In an instant, I can turn both of you to a blood puddle. Are you really underestimating my pow-! "
[ SLASH ]
Sion was standing in front of him, he slashed at his chest. No scratch stayed behind.
" Oh.. impressive speed I must admit- hehe " he giggled.
~Shit! <Justice Ground> is deactivated, I forgot!
Fake Santiago slapped his face. Sion flew across the room and crashed into the wall. His entire body got pierced by hundreds of spikes.
" HAHAHAH! You two like pain that much huh? "
[ SCREAM ]
Loud scream echoed through the cave as Santiago pulled out his dark dagger. He dropped his red dagger while he got trashed around the cave by the monster. He slashed through the air few times at the monster.
Fake Santiago raised his hand and smirked, the attacks just bounced off it's aura dealing no damage. Santiago was stunned; " But how? How is it possible.. *cough*... no.. actually it might be pretty simple.. you feed on all Hunters that arrive and die here.. only God knows how many 2nd Classes you've eaten. Having more souls makes a being stronger, and you must possess.. what.. 10 thousand? "
Monster laughed; " Indeed... and you're soon to be added to the list, alongside this boy.. " he showed at Sion.
Sion was bleeding, his mouth were full of blood. But... he smiled.
" What? Something's funny? " monster that looked like Santiago approached him.
" Y-.... Yess~..... " he let out quietly.
" Tell me boy... I've read your mind.. I know things about you that not even you do! "
Sion smiled even wider, he even giggled, pain just got worse.
" W-what? You insolent fool! " he grabbed his neck and pulled him off the spikes. He raised him in the air and slammed him on the ground. Sion gasped in pain. Monster picked him up again; " Still funny?! ".
Sion opened his mouth slightly, but monster interrupted.
" Don't try it, there's no ability you can use that can harm me, I've checked all your offensive abilities! Your Reapers touch won't work as I posses more energy! Life Cycle is months away from cooling down! You lost kid, just be still-! "
Sion was indeed still, but the grin on his face wasn't disappearing. He finally let out some words, his voice was deep as his throat got crushed; " I-... Rune thought me-... something... you~... monsters... don't posses memory~.. about Devil.. hence you have no clue~... " red and black aura enveloped him.
" -..about my <Devil's Contract> "
[ Ability Devil's Contract activated ]
His wounds closed and bleeding stopped. Since monsters can't access their own memories about Devil, Sion took a gamble and guessed that they weren't even able to access other people's memories about Devil.
[ Ability Justice Ground activated ]
Monster was looking shocked. It all happened too fast for his brain to process. With a swift movement, Sion hit the monster with his knee in the chin. Monster was forced to let Sion go from his grip. Now that Justice Ground was activated, Sion was finally able to hurt him.
" Agh-! ".
Sion laughed; " Felt that one didn't you? ". Fake Santiago looked at him with somewhat angry expression; " After all these years, my aura protected me from you humans. No Hunter managed to leave a scratch on me, ever. ".
Sion smirked and opened his palms. Monster looked down at his hands, they were empty.
Sion then pointed at monsters body.
Monster looked down.
" Egh-?! " he let out through his teeth. In his stomach, Sion's Gilanndi dagger was pierced.
From monsters wound, blood was slowly leaking out.
" N-no! I am an SS Class... how?! Damaged by a mere Xioerttem!? " monster's eye was twitching from anger. It started shaking.
" Oh no-.. " Sion took a step back.
Fake Santiago's skin started falling off and ice skin started forming. Loud cracks were heard from his body as he started to growing. With a loud crack, two ice wings formed on his back. His jaw elongated, his teeth became sharper. He was clearly taking a form of a dragon, or a wyvern.
" Told you.. " Santiago coughed blood from behind Sion.
" I am Murrloth, the Master of Shapeshifters. As an SS Class, I will make sure neither of you see the light of day again! "
" Master of Shapeshifters.. that sounds as-... " he turned around and looked at Santiago.
" Yes.. I was once Master of Hunters... <Master> title signifies being strongest among a group. No wonder he is a Master... " Santiago was kneeling behind, his legs hurt too much.
Sion turned back at Murrloth; " That's fine... Greetings Murrloth, the Master of Shapeshifters.. my name is Sion, I am Master of Weakest, nice to meet you! " he raised his hands and prepared for combat.
Murrloth roared and dashed at Sion, in a mere moment it was in his face. Sion caught Murrloth's massive head with both of his hands and was now being pushed back. Sion couldn't completely stop him so he was sliding back, neither wanted to give up.
Santiago dodged as they passed next to him, his eyes glew in blue light; " <Manifestation of Reality> ". Santiago looked as if he was scanning Murrloth with his eyes.
" Sion, his weakness is his stomach, pierce him through his stomach! " he yelled at Sion that was getting further and further away. He wasn't even sure if Sion heard him.
[ Several hundred meters away from Santiago ]
Sion was still holding Murrloth's open mouth with both of his hands. If he was to let go for a second, he would get devoured.
" Y-you bastard-!!! " Sion was no longer hurt since he healed himself, but he was getting tired from holding monster's mouth open.
[ Ability Collection activated, spear added ]
Sion stuck a spear in Murrloth's mouth and spinned around himself, dodging the monster. Moment later, Murrloth bit through the spear and looked back at Sion; " Damn mortal! ".
As Sion was looking at Murrloth, he noticed his dagger is still stuck in it's stomach, it was almost complete frozen in his skin though. He needed that to have any chance.
~I still have 2 healings left to use, it should be fin-..
Pain.
That's all Sion felt.
By the time his thought was finished, Murrloth was gone. He turned around and noticed his right arm was gone. Murrloth could be heard laughing from behind him. With pain in his mind, he turned around.
Murrloth was standing few meters behind Sion. His mouth was bloody and he was smiling; " It seems that you are a foolish mortal afterall.. it must've been nothing but luck the first time! And since you're the first human to ever hurt me, I shall thank you, by slaughtering everyone you ever met! "
[ BURST, SHAKE ]
Entire cave started shaking. Sion's eyes were wide open and staring at Murrloth. He was slightly leaned forward with his hair covering most of his face, only thing visible were his green, deep eyes. His aura enveloped the entire cave in green colour. Walls started cracking.
" What.. what do you think you're doing fool? " Murrloth asked with a serious expression.
Sion raised his left arm and pointed at him.
Murrloth flinched; " you.. BASTARD! " his aura burst and canceled all of Sion's energy. " Get enveloped in my power! I will release all of my energy and get you crushed! "
It was indeed splendid, all of Sion's energy was gone. Murrloth's aura was cold and cyan, it was so dense that it could literally be felt on skin. And Sion.. grinned; " Gotcha-.. "
[ POOF! ]
All of Murrloth's energy just... vanished. Cave was normal again. Murrloth stepped back; " What just.. what did you do? ", Sion was just grinning. " I'VE ASKED WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY ENERGY! ", Murrloth spent most of his energy by releasing it to his aura, he wanted to scare Sion and crush him with aura, but now it all disappeared.
" It's called Collection.. It allows me to absorb surrounding energy and make me stronger. And, you see.. you've just given me entire meal, so thank you for that. " Sion was still pointing at him; " And now-... ".
[ BURST!! ]
Sion's aura engulfed Murrloth and entirety of cave together with him. It was much more powerful than moments ago.
" NO.. Collection doesn't absorb energy so quickly! "
" You've read memories of the old me... the one that walked in this cave wasn't threatened with death of his friends. I've slightly.. modified this power.. so I can beat you... "
[ MOMENT EARLIER, when Murrloth threatened Sion ]
Rune forcibly pulled Sion to his world.
" Not now Rune.. I shall annihilate that bastard... then we can talk "
" Calm down Sion, listen to me " Rune was trying to calm him down.
Sion looked around; " Wait... how did you even pull me here, I thought I needed to call your name ".
" That's if YOU want to talk with me, I'm unbound with such rules. Now hear me out, while you are here, time outside is standing still. I would recommend you to use this and develop a plan before rushing in the battles.. " Rune tried to help.
" Couldn't I just train here with you and get stronger? " he asked a obvious question.
" Well no, this place is my soul within your mind. It has little, or even no connection with your body outside. You can train your mind and energy control only. "
" So.. if I read a book here, and go back-.. "
" Yes, you will learn everything you read. You can use this place to train with new weapons or grasp the basics of energy. Your body won't change though, keep that in mind. "
Sion nodded; " But tell me, if I train my ability here.. "
" You will be able to use it just as well outside. That's good thinking Sion. "
Sion sat down and thought. He was sitting for 20, 30 minutes. Rune was walking around in the meantime.
" I have a plan Rune... but I need your help. " he finally said; " If I master the <Collection> ability, could I instantly take all the energy from an area? "
" It should be possible, but with your energy control right now, you would need to be here for 20 years Sion " he smiled.
" Well... what if I dont make it 'instant'.. what if I spread my energy around first and make him mix his energy with mine? It would cause our energies to mix, so I would kinda just use <Collection> on my OWN energy that's already mixed with his.. " Sion was scratching his head. He honestly hsd no idea what he talked about, or... maybe he even did.
Rune looked at him like a proud father, it was weird seeing him like that since Rune and Sion shared the same appearance.
" W-what? Is that a no... " Sion asked confusedly.
" It makes sense Sion.. If your energies mix together and you use <Collection> on your own energy, it should pull most of his energy as well. Beware, his energy is more powerful, so if you want to overpower him, you MUST stay here a while longer and grasp some concepts first. "
" That sounds... sounds okay.. how about... 3 months? I don't feel like sitting in this place forever, I'll get hungry! "
" You don't get hungry here, nor thirsty. And 3 months.. should be enough for you to learn to use your energy efficiently.. that should mean you will get less tired all the time and your energy will fall slower. ", Sion responded by saying it's cool.
[ Writing on the ground, called 'Plan'
- train my energy for 3 months,
- learn how to use Collection better,
- go out
- make the evil boss use most of his energy in form of aura,
- steal his energy, be more powerful than him and kick his ass ]
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone