Black String of Fate

Chapter 17: Levels of Death: Bonus Level

"If you're really watching me all this time, you already know what will be my answer." Xavier said with a confident smile as he stretched his limbs in preparation for the final battle about to come. He would never turn down such an opportunity, no matter how difficult the opponent may be. There was no risk of truly dying, so there was no reason to decline such a sweet deal.

*******

< Haha! That's just like you! I wish you the best of luck, Xavier. You will need all the luck and willpower you can muster... >

[Bonus Stage: Admin Authorization Success.]

[Beginning final stage of Level of Death.]

*******

*C-CRACK*

From the place Xavier was standing, cracks started to form around him. It looked like the ground was breaking apart, but the cracks seemed too shallow. Soon, the cracks rapidly expanded and covered the whole colosseum.

'Woah...'

The cracks didn't stop at the ground and spread to the sky. The whole world was covered with black lines, it looked like it was going to shatter at any moment.

'Such power... It's scarily beautiful...'

The whole world was quite literally being destroyed. The stage, the stands, the sands, the gates, everything was ending as if it was an illusion. But Xavier knew, all that stuff was completely real, and the power was strong enough to make reality look like an illusion.

*shatter*

At once, the whole shattered, revealing a pitch-black void. It was impossible for Xavier to tell if he had gone bling, or was there truly nothing. It was more eerie than he expected.

*********

Choose your weapon.

*********

"Hmm? A choice? That's new. I'll take the sword I had in the first round, it was perfect for the current me."

A white flame emerged in front of Xavier out of nowhere, slowly transforming into the sword he had gotten familiar with in the first round. It was the perfect size and weight for his child-like self, though it would fall a bit short when compared to the weapons he used to wield in his prime.

Xavier grabbed that weapon and swung it a couple of times. He was satisfied with how it felt on his hand, which was high praise from someone who was probably the greatest swordsman to ever exist.

**********

Summoning opponent.

**********

'Finally, the moment of truth has arrived. Who would it be? An early rank 4 monster, or perhaps, peak rank 4? It could even be a rank 5... Those can still give me trouble.'

Xavier saw a similar white flame spawn a few meters away from him. It started to take shape, and as it transformed, Xavier couldn't believe his eyes. Rather, he did not want to believe what he was seeing.

"Wait, that's me?"

The opponent summoned was a white silhouette of Xavier himself. It was his exact copy, from its sword to every strand of hair.

"So I have to defeat myself? This is gonna be hard, but not impossible... But unless..."

Xavier had a horrifying revelation. The mysterious guy definitely said it would be stronger than all the previous monsters, so it's for certain that it would be at least rank 4.

'A monster with my skills and strength of rank 4?! Oh boy, I'm quite fucked...'

Xavier laughed in disbelief as he stared at the silhouette who was standing with the exact same stance Xavier usually adopted. He could only get into position in return, and rush first to attack.

'Advent of Insanity.

Forbidden Bloodlust.

Desolation's Requiem.'

Holding absolutely nothing back, he rushed with full force towards the opponent, who was calmly in a defensive position. The way the opponent seemed relaxed, Xavier knew the reason very well, but he couldn't simply accept it.

The silver blade, containing the Archon's everything, slashed with all his heart towards the silhouette's neck.

*BOOM*

A loud, destructive wave weaved out, deafening Xavier with the clash. He had given everything in this strike, but much to his expected despair...

The strike was cleanly parried.

*slash*

A simple, smooth slash was executed in return, and Xavier, with no way to defend, simply got his beheaded. He felt the world turn upside down, and his vision getting blurry.

'Sigh, so I really died again...'

Xavier slowly closed his eyes in the familiar cold embrace, but soon, he was woken up again.

*********

[Death]: 1

*********

He was back in the position where he started, the silhouette staring at him in a similar

*phew* "So, I'm outmatched in raw power, even with Desolation's Requiem. This is an opponent against whom no strategy would work. I know because he is based on me. The only way to defeat him is to out-skill his swordsmanship by a large margin. The power gap already gives a big disadvantage, but thankfully, it's not impossible to breach."

Xavier got his hopes up and once again activated all of his demonic techniques. This was the first time he had used Desolation's Requiem so often to such an extent. This was a once-in-a-moment ultimate move, but it was being used like Advent of Insanity.

He rushed forward, but this time, keeping his wits about. One would think that Forbidden Bloodlust would mess with that, but the cold energy from Desolation's Requiem kept his rationality about. The opponent being a near-unbeatable monster also helped with that.

He once again made the first strike but held back quite a bit. This gave him enough control to defend from the counterattack, which was coming any millisecond.

'There!'

Xavier blocked and parried a slash he saw coming towards his neck once more, now giving him the initiative.

'Now!'

Xavier saw a small opening from his parry which he grasped thoroughly. He stabbed his sword through a gap in the silhouette's defenses, giving him a clean strike to his dominant arm.

Or so he thought.

*Clash*

"...Huh?"

*Pierce*

Xavier's sword dropped as he looked towards his chest in disbelief. A fountain of blood was gushing out his heart and mouth, painting him red. He smiled once again in disbelief as he closed his eyes once more.

'This... fucker... baited me.'

********

[Death]: 2

********

*open*

He was back. Sword, silhouette, him. This was the second death here, and Xavier did not have much to say.

"Haaah. This already long day is going to be longer..."