'Holy shit! I'd lose.'

Kysa's strikes came like a storm. Her speed was incredible, whipping up dust clouds in their wake, and yet Halo could feel the restrained power behind each blow.

Her steps alone made the ground tremble, leaving imprints of her feet etched into the earth itself.

Halo had no room to breathe.

She was too fast for him, overwhelmingly.

Yet he held his ground, avoiding as many attacks as possible and blocking the ones he could handle. But his body still struggled to keep up.

His battle with Spineless had taken its toll on him, both psychologically and physically. Though Seraph had healed him before this fight, the sheer malice radiating from Kysa brought back that pent-up exhaustion.

While his soul fought to escape his body, Kysa, however, was loving this.

She wore a menacing smirk the entire time, her tone smug, often giving Halo time to recover before attacking again. She was toying with him.

But Halo had a plan.

This battle was lost, but he'd win the war.

As a knight in her previous life, Kysa was bound by principles. Those would be her downfall. He just needed to stay alive long enough to execute his plan.

Even that seemed incredibly unlikely to achieve.

Right after avoiding Kysa's attack, before he could even brace himself for the next, Kysa moved with an intensity he'd never seen before.

Nothing happened, and yet Halo was certain he'd seen something.

She'd maneuvered her body impossibly, as though her entire frame had repositioned in barely a second. At least, that's what the afterimages suggested. She was impossibly fast.

Worse, when her leg connected with Halo's gut, it sent him flying into the buildings nearby, the force dragging him nearly half a mile away.

Halo felt it. His ribs weren't the same, and the pain was unbearable, yet he couldn't even react to it. He'd expected worse.

Kysa was the strongest Knight, after all.

"Come on… still nothing? Pathetic. Fade actually believed you could take me?"

Kysa said, walking casually toward Halo. Saint followed behind, leaping nonchalantly from one piece of rubble to the next.

'Keep talking, lady, I need some rest.'

Kysa stood before him proudly, her hands propped against her waist.

"I haven't used any of my external strength. This level was beneath me in my past life. And you crumble from it? Shameful."

Halo nodded in agreement.

He needed to care about her words, he just wanted to give enough motivation to keep on talking.

But it didn't work.

Kysa walked toward him and locked him by the collar, and lifted him with an arm.

'Please, continue bragging.'

He nearly cried, staring at those burning eyes alone.

But Kysa began treating him like a rag doll.

She landed strike after strike, walking steadily toward him while complaining about how Fade of Bridle had insulted her. With each blow, her attacks grew more powerful, as if she were unconsciously unleashing her full strength.

Halo felt like a broken vegetable—bones shattered, ribs fractured, limbs dislocated. Even if the trauma didn't kill him, the blood he'd lost should have done the job…

But the little fool was already crying crimson.

He was so keen on keeping his three-minute temper in check. Not that he wanted to, but that was his only way to absorb the pain and suffering without blacking out.

If nothing else, Dark Saint was around to intervene before Kysa killed him. But the warning looks Halo kept giving her were enough to make her stay out of it.

When it was all said and done, he was a pro…

Right after receiving a devastating blow to the chest, nearly shattering every bone, Halo began forcing himself to his feet.

Standing alone felt like carrying a mountain. His body struggled to move, as though he were a puppet with cut strings. Even so, he managed to stand on his trembling feet.

"It's my turn now…"

He muttered, though that effort alone nearly made him drop to the ground.

Kysa sneered.

"You know… if you'd bowed or begged a little, I could've let you leave with three limbs. Too late now."

"Nuh-uh."

Kysa smirked as she closed in.

"Go on. Run. It only makes your death worse. And once I'm done with you, I'll hunt down the girl, and hers will be ten times crueler."

Halo shook his head.

"Nuh-uh."

He muttered softly and managed to take a step.

Kysa stopped only inches away from him. Halo's eyes were drenched in blood, yet he saw her perfectly. He immediately let himself fall against Kysa, who, for some reason, allowed him to rest on her chest.

Perhaps she knew Halo was too weak to even breathe.

But then he started counting. Starting from five…

Four.

"Huh? What's wrong with you?"

Three.

The moment the word left his mouth, his grip tightened. The next instant, Magnus pierced Kysa's gut. The surprise startled her, and in that split second, Halo channeled every ounce of remaining strength and forcefully dragged the sword left.

Kysa clutched her gut and staggered backward, her intestines spilling from the wound.

"What have you done…? Is this your idea of honor, coward?"

Halo wore a menacing smile and collapsed to his knees. His teeth were stained red, visible for the world to see.

"I am an assassin. I have no honor!"

Kysa dropped to her knees, clutching her wound as she began laughing out loud. The reaction was bizarre for someone in her condition. Her intestines were spilling out, the strike was clearly fatal, and any normal human wouldn't have survived more than five seconds.

Halo's body started behaving oddly. One moment, he was losing consciousness, the next, he was fully alert. Perhaps his soul wanted to savor having the strongest knight ever in such a dire situation.

But in the next few seconds, he wished he'd blacked out. His three-minute limit was over. And even if it hadn't been, he had no energy or tricks left.

Kysa got to her feet, still clutching her gut tightly.

"That's it? You thought that would kill me?"

She laughed.

'Holy SHIT.'

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