The Author's POV-Novel

"Cut my throat, slash my body, cut my limbs… I can't die."

Dark Servant was a skill that consisted in creating a body made out of pure mana. Being a skill, so long as there was mana supplying the skill, the Dark Servant was technically invincible. 

Unless the user ran out of mana, or the mana was directly cut off, there was simply no way to kill Ren. 

…but that was the thing. 

Ren's body was being sustained by his other self, a fact that weighed heavily on him.

Each time he died, he took the mana from the other him who was fighting against Jezebeth. He was invincible, but at the same time, his actions held a considerable weight on the outcome of the real fight that was taking place.

As Ren stood there, his body slowly regenerating, his thoughts raced.

He knew that he couldn't allow himself to die again like before. While he couldn't see how the situation between his other self and Jezebeth was unfolding, he knew that his death could have made the situation a lot more difficult for his other self.

"Hmm." 

Ren's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the Prince's voice.

"So you can't be killed, huh?"

The Prince's words gently traveled through the air, reaching Ren's ears. When Ren looked down, he was met with a smile.

"You can't die, but can you kill me?"

The Prince asked. The smile on his face deepened as he looked around him. He no longer looked as lost as he did before. 

"I can tell that you're here to get me, but will you really be able to kill me? I've already got a grasp of your strength. Just like I can't kill you...you can't kill me. I'm sure you can tell that too."

The Prince looked up, his gaze meeting with Rens once more.

"So that gives rise to the question. What are you doing here? Are you perhaps trying to stall for time? Perhaps keep me in check while others are―"

"Stall for time?"

Ren's cold words echoed within the air, cutting the Prince's words. Raising his head and letting the raindrop fall on his face, his mouth parted open.

"Keep you in check?"

He muttered again; the water beneath him split apart, and water particles flew in the air.

The space around him started to distort massively as his figure suddenly vanished from the spot, reappearing right before the Patriarch of the Envy Clan.

Appearing right in front of him with his sword pointed at Prince Murdock's brows, Ren's face distorted to an unbearable degree, and his voice raised. 

"Why?!"

Rumble―! Rumble―! 

The world around him started to lose color, and his body flickered with a white light as demonic energy and mana sprouted out of his body.

The entire world seemed to come to a sudden standstill as the raindrops around him stopped, and his figure started to change. Right then, the projection of a huge sword appeared from within the space itself, coming out in a rapid manner until its full body was revealed.

Woom! Woom! 

The world fluctuated at the power held within the sword, and Prince Murdock's expression crumbled.

"T, this power..."

Standing right beneath the sword, Ren coldly gazed at Prince Murdock.

His entire body was hazy, and the mana inside his body was depleting at a faster rate than it was replenishing, but even so, for the first time ever, Ren had managed to use the sixth movement as a whole.

The result was a power that was far beyond what he had ever expected.

Clenching his hand tightly, his figure became even hazier, but he didn't care as black threads floated out from his body and merged against the sword in the sky. The pressure that came out of it further intensified, and the pillar shook.

Rumble―! Rumble―!

The rumbling didn't last for long as Ren's hand soon relaxed, and the world turned completely quiet.

.

.

.

Opening his mouth, Ren muttered. 

"Fall."

*** 

"Hmm, what's wrong? "

Ren and Jezebeth faced each other, the tension thick between them. Jezebeth's figure suddenly appeared before Ren.

The calm smile on Jezebeth's face belied the power that emanated from him.

With a quick motion, Jezebeth touched his forehead, and Ren was hurled through the air, crashing through an invisible film that shattered like glass and revealing a verdant green world behind. 

Boom―! 

The verdant green world that appeared was peaceful and serene, but it was short-lived as Ren crashed into the ground, shattering trees and creating a large crater.

Jezebeth looked down at Ren with a cocked head, studying him carefully.

"At first, I was taken aback by his appearance in the pillars, but now that I look at you…" he said, his arms extending out as he chuckled. "…I think you've shot yourself in the foot. Not only is your mana rapidly depleting, but it looks like you're injured as well."

Ren slowly stood up, feeling the effects of the battle taking its toll on him. His entire body was sluggish, and the mana inside of his body was depleting at an alarming rate. 

He understood that he didn't have much time left. 

But he didn't show any sign of emotion, even as Jezebeth extended his arms and taunted him.

"And here I am, completely unharmed and yet to use my full strength. From the looks of things, I was worried for nothing."

Jezebeth may have sounded confident, but in reality, he was cautious.

How could he not be? 

He knew Ren better than anyone else and had died at his hands countless times.

He was the only one in the universe who could actually make him fear something, and whatever was happening at the moment was just a smokescreen.

'I wonder what you're planning.' 

Jezebeth knew that Ren had something planned, but he didn't know what it was. That uncertainty was what made him fear Ren.

Crack! Crack! Crack! 

Ren didn't waste any time as he pointed his sword at Jezebeth, shattering the space around him and revealing hundreds of swords that stabbed at him. But Jezebeth was too quick, shattering the swords with a wave of his hand before freezing the space around Ren.

With a single step, Jezebeth appeared before Ren, but this time, his finger passed right through Ren's figure, which turned out to be an afterimage of himself. 

"You sure run fast."

Jezebeth commented with a smile before knocking on the air to his right with the back of his fist.

Bang―! 

The space shattered, and Ren was sent hurtling toward the ground once again, crashing into the verdant world below. Jezebeth approached Ren once more, his calm gaze looking down at him.

"Stop playing around. I know very well this isn't the full extent of your power. Is this some sort of ploy? Perhaps…"

Jezebeth didn't finish his sentence as he thought of something, his expression turning frosty.

"Ah... right, you couldn't be stalling for time, could you?" 

He struck his palm toward Ren, unleashing a force that shattered the space around it and revealed a different world entirely. The impact of the strike was beyond what the world could take, and the sound of the explosion echoed in the air.

BOOM―! 

Ren was hit in the abdomen and sent flying once more.

This time, the sound of shattering glass filled the air, and invisible shards floated in the space around them. Within the shards were reflections of the verdant green world they were previously in, but behind them lay a whole new world, one that was drastically different from the previous one.

The land was covered in red, and magma covered a major part of it, distorting the air with its heat.

BOOM―! 

Ren crashed next to one of the volcanoes in the world, and Jezebeth stopped to observe him carefully. Despite the beatings he had taken, Ren's figure remained largely unharmed.

He had noticed during the last two attacks that just when his attacks were about to land, he'd move his body slightly back in order to reduce the impact of his attacks. 

'What are you planning?' 

Jezebeth thought, his gaze unable to read through Rens.

The quieter he was, and the more advantage he had, the more unsettled Jezebeth became. 

"You…" 

Clenching his teeth, Jezebeth glared at Ren, and he extended his hand forward. A terrifying energy surrounded his entire body at that moment, and he no longer held back. 

Bending his body back, he appeared in front of Ren and punched with everything he had. 

"…are seriously annoying." 

WOOOM―! 

His fist flew forward, and right as it was about to hit Ren cleanly in the face, with a swift dodge to the side, he pressed his palm against his forearm, redirecting Jezebeth's fist toward the ground.

BOOM―! 

The impact was deafening, causing the ground to shake and sending shockwaves through the air.

Everything tore apart the moment that his fist hit the ground, and just as Jezebeth was about to attack once more, a knee appeared within his vision. It grew with each passing second and soon hit him cleanly in the nose. 

BANG―! 

"Uhk." 

Jezebeth stumbled back several steps. 

When he finally stopped, he lowered his head to stare at Ren, who was looking at him from the distance. 

"Hm?" 

He wiped his nose with his arm, feeling a wet substance on the back of his hand. A dark liquid stained his skin. 

It took no time for him to realize what the substance was, and he felt his lips curl at the sight. 

"Good... good..." 

He pressed his foot forward, appearing right before Ren. 

"...It looks like you're finally taking things seriously."