123 3.35 Fall of the city - Part 1

Unlike Mana, miasma manipulation ability came at a considerable price. If one were to absorb more miasma than one can handle, that would cause insanity.

In my fight with Beelzebub, I observed that he grew more aggressive as the amount of miasma he absorbed increased. And if Zagan were to do the same, I was sure this wouldn't end up well.

[Zagan, only absorb the amount that you can handle. Flare just evolved, so the two of us might be able to keep him distracted as we are now.]

I created a sword of blue flames in my right hand and waited for him to make a move. I wasn't foolish enough to charge at him myself when my main goal here was to buy time.

"That toy of yours is nothing," he said as he charged towards me again.

This time I wasn't planning to take him head-on. I moved backward and dodged it, but he followed his initial attack with a dark miasma slash as soon as he realized that.

The follow up was so fast that I had no time to dodge it.

I tried stopping it with my Flame sword, but the miasma concentration in that attack was too high, so I wasn't able to.

Even though I didn't come in direct contact with miasma thanks to my sword, I was sent flying backward. I stopped after colliding with a house that was behind me and fell on the ground.

My body was already at its limits, so this attack was too much for me to take. At this point, I couldn't even stand because of all the pain that I was feeling.

It felt like Zagan was back, so while he kept him distracted, I tried contracting Yoru telepathically.

[Yoru, how are things going?]

[We have a lot of injured, so transporting all of them out is hard. I wish these lazy ass nobles would help, but all they are doing is complain.]

It could be because of all this pain, but I was frustrated after hearing that. It felt like if they had died instead of all these people, the world would have been a better place.

[Okay, and how are knights doing?]

[Miss Lilith helped in thinning the number of demons, so things are under control on that side.]

[That's good... Then please send Miss Lilith here once she is done. We need her help.]

[Okay, I will go and send her immediately. I think the knights can handle the rest.]

I looked at the sky, and the signs weren't that good. After everything that happened, black clouds were finally floating above the sky.

If it rains now, transporting all the injured people would be even more challenging. And as we were now, I can't think of a way by which we would be able to escape this predicament.

'If only I were stronger. If only I had worked harder.'

Regrets come at a time where you don't need them the most. I was currently on the ground, beaten up to the point where I could barely stand, and all I could think about were the things that won't help me get through.

[Hey Zero, what should I do? Every time I feel I am growing stronger, something more substantial shows up.]

[You have the thing that I lack the most. I, as strongest, lack anything challenging to do.]

[Yeah, but here we are not talking about you. Do you think there is a way to get out of all this?]

[There would be if your body wasn't human. But whoever made you, made you very weird. Some part of you has a divine presence, and that shows your potential. But some part of you is mortal, that indicates that you have limits. And the only way to fix that is to make you reincarnate again as a baby.]

[So, there is no way after all.]

[For you, that is. But it's not like you always have to do everything by yourself. The world doesn't revolve around you, and even if you give up, it won't stop… What I mean is, just do what you are doing, struggle, and don't look for an easy way out. There is no skip button in life, so face this hardship and come through.]

[Yeah, no time to take a break now.]

I pushed the ground and raised myself up. I was barely able to stand, but all I needed to do was gain his attention and buy time. However, his attention would cause me a lot of pain.

Zagan's hair had grown even longer, and his body looked a lot bigger and muscular. But despite all the miasma he had taken in, he was still getting a beating. Though a comparison of the whole city's miasma with just leftover that Zagan absorbed would be unfair in the first place.

Right when he was about to attack Zagan with a high kick, I fired a Fire arrow at him.

Zagan, at this point, looked too much beaten up to defend or dodge. So, I was hoping to be able to distract Satan until he is able to recover.

When the arrow hit him, Satan turned towards me. "Persistent, aren't you? I thought you would already be dead by now."

The look on his face was telling me that he wasn't very happy because of my intervention.

"I am not that easy to kill. That feat will be hard to accomplish even for someone like you."

"Oh, really? We will see about that."

He flew toward me at a great speed. He was so fast that I could barely keep up with my tired eyes. And before I realized, he had already grabbed my neck.

"Now, what do you think? Is it that hard for me? Because the way I see it, you are nothing more than an ant under my shoes, a mere human who knows a few tricks."

: Fall of the city - Part 2