Chapter 187 - 187 Beyond that horizon

187 Beyond that horizon

Ace’s sword slashed through some of Fade’s wires as he infused his swords with his inner energy this was an ability only people at rank eight and above could do. Fade quickly switched from mid-range combat to close-range combat surprising Ace.

The transition from mid-range to sudden close-range was so fluid that Ace was late to react when he saw Fade’s fist about to hit his abdomen. It was the same technique Fade used to flatten a man’s face, but unlike the outcome of that time, the person he hit this time was able to negate the damage by flowing with the attack, moving at the exact same time he was hit.

Ace who jumped backward actually flew quite a distance before he was able to stop. Even though he negated a lot of the damage it still hurt and he could feel a few of his ribs were in a bad state, still, it won’t hinder his fighting. As he was assessing his injuries Ace saw Fade rushing towards him ready to make him eat another punch, but this time he was ready.

Ace skillfully used the back of his sword to redirect Fade’s punch he then used this moment to counterattack with his other sword. Fade quickly used the [acceleration] spell which enhances the speed of his body and his mind for three seconds. This was one of his favorite spells back in the old world, but due to his current mana supply he couldn’t use it as much, but now that he had a bit more mana he could afford to use it once or twice in battle.

The very second [acceleration] was used the entire world began to slow down in front of Fade and his heartbeat was getting faster. Fade got out of the way of the incoming blade and positioned himself at Ace’s side and was about kick Ace’s body.

When [acceleration] wore off Ace was stunned by what he saw, Fade suddenly changed positions it was like he teleported, and now he was about to kick him. Seeing as he could not defend himself Ace once again used the trick of following the flow of force to negate some of the damage.

Ace was able to negate a large portion of the damage but even so, he still coughed out a bit of blood. This time Fade did not continue to attack and instead spoke.

“You’re really talented and strong. I tried to finish this battle three times and all those times you were able to survive my killing blow.”

“Heh, I haven’t been able to touch a single hair on your body but you already got a few hits in and you call me talented?... Hey Fade, why did you stop attacking? It’s not like I want to complain or anything, but if you continued to attack and didn’t give me time to rest I might have already slept the final sleep.”

.....

“It’s because I find you quite interesting, which is why I am interested to talk a bit more with you. Unlike the other people that I have killed you don’t exude any malice, in fact, for someone in your profession, you seem a bit purer than the others. I wonder why that is? You said before that unlike me you aren’t free, does that mean you’re simply forced to do these things even though you don’t want to?”

When Ace heard what Fade said he looked at the other party dumbfounded and then he started laughing.

“Hahahaha! You called me purer than most, but I’m surprised to see that the legendary assassin who seems to have killed an incredible amount of people seems to have some naivete. Let me tell you something Fade, in the entire world, I’m sure that there are only a few weirdos who would love killing and destruction. If you had a choice normal people would never want to do such a troublesome thing. Do you think the criminals you killed would choose to be criminals and be forever hunted by the law because they want to? No, if they have any choice they would’ve done something different but they don’t do they. The idea of having a choice is but an illusion. Like right now I have no choice but to be a dog on a leash because of my own mistakes.”

Fade shook his head before responding to Ace.

“You’re wrong Ace, I do understand what you mean, but having a choice is not an illusion it is real. You say that you’re a dog on a leash, but you have the choice to break free from the leash but you didn’t because that’s the easier route for you. You have convinced yourself that you’re doing all of these things because you had no choice, but the truth is you’re just escaping from whatever it is you’re trying so hard to flee from.”

Ace gritted his teeth as he knew that they implanted a tiny bomb in some random part of his body set to explode just in case he betrays them or if his heart stops beating.

“What do you know? How can a bird that’s able to freely soar in the sky, know anything about a dog on a leash that could only ever dream to fly!”

Ace no longer bothered talking to Fade and started attacking even more aggressively. The flow of Ace’s attacks made it seem hard to counter as there were no openings to exploit, that’s what it would seem like to others, but to Fade all he saw were openings.

The calm Ace who had such beautiful swordsmanship before was being engulfed by his own agitation. The ferocity of his attacks to Fade seems like he was trying to push out the anger and loneliness he feels inside. As Fade was about to use one of the openings he saw to counter, Ace suddenly let go of one of his swords and took out a gun that was hidden in his back.

The gun Ace took out was a small handgun with an enhancer attached. Fade was truly surprised this time as he thought Ace was in a state of rage, but it turns out that was just a cover to lower Fade’s guard.

Fade wanted to use [acceleration] again but his mana was insufficient at the moment. With his current mana, the only thing Fade could use was his trusty [Enhancement] spell, so with that, he used it on his upper body again and tried to redirect the arm holding the gun.

Fade was not able to reach in time to redirect the arm, instead, he was able to hold onto the barrel of the gun, but Ace was still able to fire one shot before Fade disarmed him and break his right hand. The bullet went through Fade’s lower left abdomen now there was a small hole in it. The shot was a rather clean shot and fortunately for Fade the damage was negligible.

Fade had stopped the bleeding from the hole as he backed away, on the other hand, Ace could no longer use his right hand.

“As expected of you even with that surprise attack you were still able to counter... Hey Fade, I just want to tell you like those guys that exploded I too have a bomb within my body, that’s the leash that binds me to them.”

“I already guessed that you would have one the moment I saw those exploding bodies, but that’s not the leash that’s keeping you with them... The true leash that’s keeping you with them should be fear, right?”

“Heh, it’s like you can really see through everything, but what does it matter?”

Ace once again charged at Fade swinging his sword with the hand that was still working. In each attack, Ace made, Fade could hear his soul crying wanting freedom, and the only way to give him that was through death. In a brief moment, their eyes met and Fade already knew that Ace wanted to be killed.

‘I guess this is your own choice... Very well...’

Now that Ace’s movements have become sluggish Fade easily hit him with a palm strike filled with his own inner energy. This palm strike did not cause a lot of external damage but it did do a lot of internal damage. Ace fell to his knees and leaned on the nearby wall with a smile on his face.

“Heh, so this is it... Fade before it’s over... I just wanted to tell you that you were right. I was scared of breaking free as that would mean death and failure to live up to his dream... I didn’t want to meet my brother without going on that adventure. I was scared of disappointing him, but after talking to you I realized, that if I continued like this... Would truly be disappointing him. Thank you Fade for freeing me and giving me a warrior’s death...”

As Ace’s eyes were slowly closing he saw the sun rising from behind Fade. He didn’t know if he was hallucinating before death but Ace saw his twin brother standing in front of him his hand extended towards him. Ace lifted his left arm and tried to reach his brother’s hand.

“Beyond that horizon...” Those were the last words Ace said as his hands fell to the ground and his eyes closed.