Damon let go of his axe and it fell from his grip and clattered onto the wet ground. In the next second, the axe dissolved into sand that floated upward and coalesced, quickly turning into a large, bulky bald headed man with a large scar across his face.

"We need to watch out for the both of them, Cerberus." Damon muttered with his gaze still locked on mine.

The bald headed man, who was backing Damon nodded and almost immediately, a notification popped up for us.

[The Characters Damon Kaiser and Cerberus have activated the exclusive skill: Nemean Lion's Skin.]

Large hides of animal skin began to erupt from thin air, wrapping around the bodies of both Damon and his bond, Cerberus. The thick fur coiled and tightened until it formed heavy mantles, with the lion's upper jaws resting firmly on their heads. This framed their faces within the beast's open mouths, while the rest of the golden pelt draped down their backs like a heavy, impenetrable shroud.

[Due to the effect of the exclusive skill: Nemean Lion's Skin, all physical attacks against the characters Damon and Cerberus are reduced by 90%.]

Seeing the notification, rather than letting panic take hold, I leapt from my left foot to my right, repeating the motion to shake off the rising anxiety. It was a small, restless movement to keep my blood pumping as I prepared myself for the reality of brutal, hand-to-hand combat.

I breathe in and exhaled while also recalling all my experience from my time in mandatory service.

'New strategy, Aika. First, stay alive. Second… let's corrupt the hides.'~

Aika, who was on the other side locking gazes with Cerberus, dropped her wakizashi to the ground and balled her fists.

'Roger that…'~~

We both simultaneously activated flames of decay around both our palms. The flames clung to our hands like green gloves of burning corrosive energy.

At that moment, the ground beneath them exploded as both Damon and Cerberus lunged at the both of us, and we also leapt forward to meet their charge.

My eyes widened as Damon was a blur of pure speed. I barely managed to move on time, dodging his fist that whistled past my ear and cut a line through the air with enough force to sting my skin.

While his hand was still outstretched, I tapped the hand and my flames spread across the golden fur, but it quickly faded as the legendary hide seemed to resist the initial flames. However, the patch I touched had turned a dull, sickly gray, showing that the decay was beginning to eat through the lion's protection.

Damon didn't seem to notice the patch of gray on his hide and continued his relentless assault while I struggled to dodge while also returning blows and taps of my own.

We dissolved into a scene of chaotic hand to hand attacks, but it was a struggle for me as his speed, which was already immense, was enhanced and at a point I could not keep up.

Damon's fist finally connected squarely with my chest, and I heard cracks signaling my ribs had broken.

The impact sent me flying backward through the air like a discarded ragdoll. I hit the sand hard and rolled before finally coming to a halt, after which I quickly got up on all fours and coughed out blood onto the ground.

'Things would have been fair if not for that damn attribute of his.'

I gritted my teeth as I looked up to Damon, who was walking toward me. By now, even though things were not really looking great for me, most of Damon's golden hide was now gray and withering, showing that my constant contact had finally begun to rot away the magical protection he relied on.

"Do you see, Cedric." Damon roared while extending both hands proudly to the side. "You and I are not the same. I am leagues above you."

He finally reached where I knelt and grabbed my hair, then pulled his hand back to prepare a finishing blow.

"You finally manifested a bond. So what? Just who the fuck do you think you are, acting so cocky before me?" Damon spat, his grip tightening on my hair as he looked down at me with pure disdain. "After I'm done dealing with you tonight, that cocky attitude of yours is going to be the last thing left of you."

"Ha…"

He was still speaking when a mischievous grin spread across my bloodied face, and I began to let out a low, raspy laugh that vibrated through my broken chest.

"Huh?" Damon tilted his head, his brow furrowing in genuine confusion. "What's so funny?"

My eyes widened and my grin grew even wider. "The fact that you actually think you can beat me."

As soon as I spoke, the flames of decay erupted around me, engulfing both of us in a roar of sickly green fire.

Damon let out a startled roar and instinctively quickly let go of me and stumbled backward until he was out of the range of the swirling inferno. He kept frantically batting at the embers that clung to his body.

But then, it seemed that his lion hide could absorb all forms of magic attack as it began to drink in the flames. Within seconds, all the flames that had engulfed him had been swallowed by the fur, leaving him standing there looking untouched.

But almost immediately, the now completely gray hide finally disintegrated into dust and black smoke. The legendary protection reached its breaking point, unable to neutralize the sheer volume of decay it had just invited into its fibers.

Before Damon could even register that his invulnerability was gone, I forced myself to move. I scrambled to my feet, pushing the agonizing pain in my ribs to the back of my mind, and threw myself forward.

I caught him off guard, tackling him with enough force to send us both hitting the dirt, and I quickly pinned him down. Without giving him a second to breathe, I balled my fists and began punching the absolute living daylights out of his face.

After landing a dozen heavy, desperate blows, I then opened my palm and a glove of black flames solidified around it.

It was time to put an end to Damon.

But before I could bring down my hand, he shrieked and his voice cracked with a sudden, pathetic terror. "Wait, wait, wait!"

He scrambled to press his back into the dirt, his eyes darting frantically between my face and the flickering dark fire. "Fine, I surrender. You win. It's settled. I'll stay out of your way from now on. Okay? Come on, let's just stop this."

I stared at him for a brief moment, then tilted my head and asked, "Don't tell me you thought that this was a sparring match, Damon?"

"Huh?" Damon's eyes went wide with a flicker of genuine, terrified confusion. "Weren't you here to settle our differences? I admit your strength now. So can you get off me?"

I grinned.

And when Damon saw my hollowed, merciless eyes, I could feel the dread emanating from him in waves.

"Wait… don't tell me…" his voice trailed off into a trembling whisper as the realization hit him.

Then, I finally spoke again.

"I've judged that your life is not of relevance to any of the worlds. So… I'll take it for myself instead. I need to live."

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