Tap. Tap. Tap.

Gorgophone walked toward Basil. His gait was nonchalant and carefree. Traces of wounds and tatters on his clothes were gone as if a lie. Contrary to him, Basil was bare chested. Blood was flowing from his mouth.

Vagus was the only thing supporting his body from falling. With heated eyes, he glared at Gorgophone.

“Now, now. Don’t look at me like that. Everyone has their own secret, right?” Gorgophone winked at him.

“You can.. forcefully make me.. use my Mana. No, you…”

Cough!

Blood was spilled on the ground from that cough. [Aegeas] was formed from seven layers of spinning orbs and a top tier body Reinforcement. Sadly, the seven layers of [Aegeas] was broken in the first nine second. He had to endure the last six second with his own reinforced body.

In result, his innards were twisted and heavily injured. Even some of them were unrecognizable. If it wasn’t for his crazy vitality as a result of his Aura Mastery he would have already died.

“You.. took my Mana!” Laboured breath accompanied his speech. A chuckle was the response he got. Gorgophone merely chuckled before it turned to a full blown laughter.

“Hahaha! Do you think I drained you of your Mana? No, that wasn’t the case, Sil.” The purple-haired woman appeared once again. Basil’s eyes turned even hotter than before.

“My, my, look at those eyes. Aren’t they beautiful?” The purple-haired woman teased Basil. She extended her hand and caressed his cheek while saying, “You can’t say that I took away your Mana. You willfully gave it to me.”

Basil wanted to slap that hand away. Alas, he couldn’t do it. Simply supporting himself was labor itself. So in the end, he merely glared at her with more heated eyes than before.

“Fufufu.. that’s what I’m talking about, Sil. You gave in to your anger.”

Realization dawned upon him. The weird sensation he felt when he saw her, the rage that grew the more he suppressed it. It was all Gorgophone’s scheme. Though he still couldn’t get what it was, it was enough.

“Yes, you don’t have to understand my power. It’s useless. What you should concern is your fate.” The purple-haired woman smiled mischievously. Putting her pointer finger below his chin, she tilted his head upwards.

“What will happen to you from now on, Sil? Are you going to live or you are going to pay your sin?” A smile full of mirth adorned her beautiful face.

Basil’s face contorted, a look of disgust was evident on his face.

“What’s with the face, Sil? That’s not how you behave in front of your master, right?”

Bang!

The purple-haired woman kicked Basil out of a sudden. Though, he was in a weakened state, he remained vigilant. Therefore, he managed to block the kick with Vagus in the last second. Luckily, it was only a half-hearted kick. If Gorgophone, currently the purple-haired woman, really meant to kick him, he wouldn’t be able to block it.

However, Basil still couldn’t control the landing. He landed on his back while firmly grasping Vagus in his right hand, and his left hand clutching tightly.

Swish!

The purple-haired woman reappeared right beside him. She kneeled and took his body in her hands.

“Fufufu… doesn’t it bring back memories, Sil? It was a chaotic situation too back then. Now, our role is reversed.” A beautiful laughter full of mirth rang out from her. At least, it was beautiful through other’s perspective.

Basil really wanted to punch her face. His look was full of disgust and a boiling rage was evident from his eyes. He knew he couldn’t give in to his rage. However, given the mental burden he got from bearing the pain and the influence of Gorgophone’s strange power, he couldn’t help it.

A smile that wasn’t quite a smile was deeply etched in her face. “Oh, my. Look at how you are! You’re trying forcefully calm yourself, and failed miserably at that!” She teased as if a mother teasing her baby.

The tension got worsen. His face turned uglier in each second. When it seemed that he was about to really blow…

“Huuh…”

He merely sighed and closed his yes. The purple-haired woman lost her smile. Her face contorted right after. But in the next second, she regained her smile. It was amazing she could make so many expressions on her face in a short time.

“Fufufu… no need to act tough, Sil. I know you are in pain.”

“Even an idiot can figure that out. Why do you have to be proud with yourself?” A smirk adorned his face. No longer full in rage, his wounds slowly healed on theirself. Now, he could talk normally, albeit painfully.

She stayed silent for a while then responded, “I see… As amazing as always.” Bereft of smile, she stared at him silently. Gorgophone seemed to try his best to evoke an emotion from him.

Gorgophone was greatly confused and astounded at the same time. Just what kind of a man was Basil!? He was enraged, yet he didn’t lose his cool. His attack was precise, the power behind it was strengthened.

‘Isn’t it unfair!? Just what kind of a mother gave birth to this cheat-like existence?’ He was whining inside. He couldn’t help it. Even with his disheveled state, Basil still looked cool.

Only one word could describe his entire demeanor. Overbearing! Fortunately or unfortunately he got the skills to back it up.

“Hey.. do you remember when we were in Parteron? There was a beautiful garden full of Apple Blossoms there.”

“…”

A particular memory that Gorgophone didn’t manage to figure out from Basil’s Mana. Therefore, he kept his silence.

“It was a sunny day. The sky was bright, and the air was good. As we couldn’t help it, we laid down our body below the tree. I asked you one question back then. Do you remember what the question was?”

“…”

Another silence. Gorgophone didn’t interrupt Basil even once. He took it as Basil’s last moment. It was said that people would reminisce about their past once they were about to die. It seemed to him that Basil was having his moment.

“I asked you how did you want your life ended. You answered that you wanted a beautiful death, such as sacrificing yourself to someone you dear. But in the next second you said that dying in the middle of a flowerbed was even better.”

Basil chuckled and opened his eyes. His eyes were dimming as if a jewel about to lost its luster. He raised his clutched left hand and pointed it at the sky.

“You asked me back the same question. You were annoyed because I kept my silence. I, of course, didn’t mean to ignore you. I just needed time to think.”

Then, he directed his gaze toward the purple-haired woman’s face. “‘I don’t need a particular place to die, or a particular way to die,’ was my answer to you.” His slowly dimming eyes gained their brightness once again. With his left fist glowing, he brightly exclaimed, “I don’t have any intention to die after all.”

!!!

Swish!

With a flash of light, Basil was gone. Gorgophone who was in the form of the purple-haired woman was left gaping.

“Insolence!” With his original appearance returned, he cursed out loud. He couldn’t help it. He was tricked by a human that was thousands of years younger than him after all.

“Huuh… isn’t he amazing?” Instead of getting angry he calmed down instead. While gazing in front of him, shook his head in amusement.

There, he saw a white haired man with a strange patterned mask on his face. His right hand was extended, in his clutch, was Basil. He was held by his hair. Not a trace of shock could be seen on his face. Only a defeated look and a disappointment on his self.

“Quite an amazing human isn’t he?” Said Gorgophone to the masked man.

The man merely stayed silent. In the middle of this, five other people showed themselves. All of them had an otherworldly charm. Even the one resembled monster was more attractive than a normal human.

All of them gazed at Gorgophone with a disapproving look. One of them, the one with the devilish charm and the most attractive one said, “Your play almost resulting in your prey’s escape. This is why I said you had spent your time with human too much.”

When the others were about to give their opinion too, the masked man spoke, “Make sure to finish your game next time.” A calm voice resounded. The tone was neutral, it was neither cold nor warm. However, none of them felt annoyed at being interrupted. Even the playful Gorgophone merely nodded his head.

“So, what are you waiting for?” As if asking for the obvious, the masked man shook Basil’s body. A quiet groan was heard from him. The amazing thing was Vagus still tightly clutched in his right hand.

Whoosh!

Accompanied by the wind blow, blood spurted from Basil’s chest. Gorgophone’s hand had pierced his back through his chest. A mouthful of blood was spewed out of his mouth. Still, Vagus was clutched in his hand.

Such tenacity! A fitting word to describe him indeed. Basil remained overbearing, even in his last moment.

Bonk!

Basil raised Vagus and lightly hit Gorgophone’s head. He could see it clearly, but he let Basil did that as a form of respect.

Grogophone smiled and said, “You have my respect, Basil. The very least I can do is to honor you by letting you know my real name. My real name is Sat-”

“Just die!”

Gorgophone couldn’t finish his word due to Basil’s interruption. Right after Basil uttered those words, Vagus that was on Gorgophone’s head glowed brightly.

‘How dare he to look down on me, Basil!’

A smirk was naturally formed on his face.

“Kill him! He got the fragment! Destroy his soul!” The masked man who was merely observing up until then, shouted out of a sudden. There was urgency in his tone.

Six of them instantly reappeared beside Basil. For some reason, Gorgophone couldn’t move an inch.

“[Soul Clipper]!”

The man with the devilish charm swung his spear toward Basil while shouting his Art. The blade of his spear slashed Basil’s back, and an amethyst thick gas like substance flowed out of Basil’s body.

Soul attack! It was a sign of his soul being wounded. Just as its name implied, [Soul Clipper] was an attack to clip one’s soul. Under normal circumstances, one would definitely die and lose their chance of reincarnation.

However, for some reason, he couldn’t clip Basil’s soul perfectly. Though he managed to injure Basil’s soul, that was it.

“Impossible!”

“Hurry! We don’t have much time!”

The masked man shouted to the dumbfounded people. Even while reminding them, his hand moved toward Basil. A red sword of half of an arm length with a unique shape was in his hand.

Clank!

The air exploded and a trench appeared in the ground. Despite so, he couldn’t penetrate the translucent barrier that was mysteriously formed around Basil.

Just as soon as he swung his sword for the next attack, an explosion occurred. Basil, who was the cause of it, smiled victoriously.

Boom!

Once again, the world was dyed in white. The sound was heard in the first half second. In the last moment, Basil exploded all the power inside Vagus. If he were going to die, he would die with his enemies!

His life ended just like that. An overbearing end, for an overbearing person.

‘So, I finally reached the end. Is it how death feel?”

His body was destroyed in a millisecond, yet for him time flowed very slowly. Upon facing death, he didn’t fuss much about it. For him, death was strangely comforting. It was as if…

‘…a flowerbed. It feels like lying down on a flowerbed.’

He could rest in peace.