Chapter 134: Newly Found Rival

"Hey, Zeraph! I think you're misunderstanding something. Just because I have these powers means I'm evil!" I tried to reason at him while he's swinging his sword at me.

"Shut... Up!" Zeraph smashed his sword on the ground and I easily dodged it.

I jumped back and it seems that his attacks stopped. "What?"

"I can't allow you to live. You will inflict terror upon this world I swore to protect."

"Just because I have this power...?"

"Its because of our fate that led us to this conclusion. And there's no questioning fate itself."

"I see. Then I'll have to just change it."

"Change...? How?"

"By breaking through it!" I suddenly rushed at Zeraph and swung both of my weapons. He quickly reacted and raised his shield which blocked my attack.

"Changing fate? Just try it! Good will never lose to evil!" He then changed the angle of his shield so both of my weapons slid right off to the ground. He then bashed his shield against me which sent me flying. "CHASE!" Zeraph began to ran in incredible speeds.

I know I was blown away hundreds of meters but Zeraph grabbed my shoulder mid air and slammed me to the ground.

I put my hand on the ground, "Soul Drag!" The ground slowly crumble and the miniature black hole I created began to destroy the ground. Zeraph lost balance and grip on me. So I used this chance to take his hand away and kick him right in the stomach.

Even though that was a powerful kick, he withstood it while standing but a trickle of blood came running down on his mouth.

He was confused. And then got angry. He threw his shield at me which caught me off guard since I never thought he'd threw it just like that.

I blocked it by crossing both of my hands to my head but a slight cut on my armor was formed and it pierced through my skin.

I took off the shield on my arms and threw it to the ground and the cut on my armor began to regenerate.

But that shield was just a distraction since I didn't notice it but I could feel his intense killing intent behind me.

"ABSORBANT BODY!" I casted. My armor released a large shockwave that blew him away. While he was blown away, I charged my weapon with mana.

He recovered mid air and tried to dive right at me.

I wanted to interrupt him so I used, "TWIN BLADE FORM: LASHES OF ETERNITY!"

But Zeraph knew this and began to act. "Forbidden Sword Style:" Zeraph's blade suddenly disappeared but his grip on the non-existent sword is still firm. "REALITY SLASH!"

A large ray of light came out of his non-existent sword and...

"WHAT!?" I couldn't but be shocked. Both of our moves disappeared into nothingness. Nothing was destroyed or damage. Both of our skills simply vanished into thin air.

Even Zeraph was shocked. But we set aside our confusion and emotions and resumed the fight.

I lunged at him with one of my naginata but he parried it with his shield.

I was extremely confused so I looked back but his shield that I threw to the ground isn't there anymore.

I was caught off guard by that parry so in exchange he thrusted his sword right to my chest. But I dispelled my other Bloodlust and used my other arm to deflect this thrust of his.

Not a full deflection but I managed to minimize the damage by redirecting it to my shoulder.

His sword pierced through my armor easily. Good thing my bones disappeared when I "reborn" if not I'm afraid I can't move my shoulder anymore.

But this goddamn Zeraph twisted his freaking sword nearly tearing my whole shoulder off. Good thing I grabbed the blade. I kicked him off so both him and his sword got away from me.

I took a look at my shoulder and it's barely hanging there. It seems that I can move my hands still because of... Something... I guess?

But I need to take care of it since I feel like it can fall off anytime.

Good thing the armor regenerated itself so my shoulder is being forced to retain it's usual form.

I rushed at Zeraph and threw my right weapon in the air. Zeraph as I expected, followed the sword with his eyes. Not knowing I used it as a distraction to cast with my right hand. "BINDING LIGHT!" And then Zeraph didn't even notice he was being restricted in his movements.

"Return!" And my weapon that I threw in the sky came right back at my hand.

Zeraph tried to stop this by grabbing it mid air but he just now noticed he got restricted by my spell.

I don't want to kill him so I just thrusted my sword on his shoulder as a sign of revenge for earlier.

Blood came out of his shoulder which I was surprised by. It seems that he hasn't been reborn yet or he's been reborn but we don't have the same effects.

I saw him grit his teeth and he then kicked me afterwards.

It seems that he can still feel pain seeing how the shoulder I hit seems to be shaking. He's trying to move it.

But despite that, he ignored this and let out a huge battlecry. It was so loud I covered my ears.

I backed away for a second until he was done and went right in again. I started off with a huge overhead swing in which he easily dodged.

He jumped over me and swung his sword mid air in which my back got a large wound because of it.

"Soul Drag!" I began pulling him near me. But it seems that he's waiting for a chance to slice my arm once he gets near it. But since his intentions are so obvious, "JUDGEMENT!" I cancelled out Soul Drag and a heavy pressure was applied to him to the point where he can't stand up.

"HERO'S CHARGE!" He suddenly got out of that pinch and began charging at me.

"Binding Light!" But the chains that cane out of the ground were suddenly destroyed.

"Soul Drag!" I tried this just to slow him down. But no. He just kept on going and going at me.

It seems that he's immune to movement restriction spells. "ARGH! I was holding back because I didn't want to kill you since you're strong and will be a good ally. But you dragged this out of me!"

But it seems that Zeraph doesn't listen. He just rushed at me and grabbed me by my neck and raised me off the ground. "This... This is the end!"

"C-..." I tried to cast a skill but his grip tightened on my neck. "CLEANSE!" I casted not on me, but him. Cleanse literally removes every debuff on myself. But when casted on an enemy, it'll remove all the buffs they have. So I removed his Hero's Charge spell.

"What are you trying to do!?" Zeraph dropped his weapon and began to strangle my neck using both of his hands.

I will pass out if this continues so I quickly tried to think on what spell I should use. "Found it!" I began to cast the spell, "SEAL OF THE FROST DRAGON!"

A giant ice appeared out of nowhere and froze the entirety of Zeraph. His hand quickly loosened up so I could escape his grasp.

The ice was small, just enough to seal the whole body. But the ground in a one kilometer radius changed into a slippery cold ground.

"He would've been a great ally." I took a final look at him and went ahead and returned to my party. But then, I heard a crack.

I looked back and it seems that he's trying to break free of the seal. And he did.

I took out both of my weapons to get ready for a second round but it seems that he's extremely exhausted. I lowered my guard and asked him, "Are we done?"

He regained his composure and stood up straight. "Done? We're not done unless you're dead you evil bein-." His body then faltered on the ground. It seems that he let out everything he had.

"I'm calling this fight off."

"Wha... Why!?" He raised his arm and tried to reach for me.

"We were both exhausted from the fight with the monsters from Tartarus. So this fight is a tie." I'm not kidding. Using Lashes of Eternity twice took a toll on my arm. Breaking the speed of light just by swinging my sword made damages on my arm.

"..." Zeraph is silent. "I see. Then fine." He stood up. "Farewell Demon King. Let's continue this battle later."

"Wait. You could've just killed me with your sword when you were strangling me. Why did you drop your weapon?"

"That was..." Zeraph was deep in thought for a moment. "I was merely... Curious. I don't know if you're completely evil yet so I was curious on what you're going to do. I will observe your actions and if you're truly evil, this blade will be coming for your neck. And remember, I still haven't shown you my full power." Zeraph then left and flew to the sky.

I merely smiled at his words, "So am I."