58 Chapter 57: Monster (2/2)

”You…what did you do?!”

He swung his shadow sword at me, but I could clearly see the trajectory and stopped the movement even before it completed, my ice sword occupying the space his shadow sword was supposed to take.

”?!”

Ba Yun sought to retreat, but I cut off his path of retreat, my ice swords occupying the trajectory where he was supposed to move to.

”UGH!”

More blood splattered onto the ground and Ba Yun staggered backward as he shrieked in pain. He slashed desperately at me, and this time he used so much raw power that I was forced to retreat rather than disrupt his move.

”You! What did you just do?!”

”I'm not stupid to tell my enemy what I'm doing to fight him.”

Suppressing the desire to roll my eyes, I struck again. Ba Yun staggered back as I opened up a new wound on him. Growling, he slashed at me, but I avoided blocking his blow head-on. Jumping on top of his shadow sword, I spun around and delivered a Shadow Kick to his gut, causing him to double over in pain.

But as strong as he was, Ba Yun recovered quickly and struck again, almost cutting me in half at my midriff. Fortunately, I was able to use my footwork to evade and appear above him. With his sword stuck on the ground, I spun in the air and delivered a roundhouse kick that would have made any Lunar Rabbit proud.

”ARGH!”

The blow snapped Ba Yun's head back and he stumbled backward, his ears ringing from the impact. I landed and stabbed his chest with my swords, only for the ice blades to shatter against his sturdy Spirit Armor.

”Hah!”

Despite the pain, Ba Yun could still crow in triumph when he saw that my Ghost Shadow Sword had not much effect on him. Seizing what he saw as an opportunity, he countered with a large sweep of his shadow blade.

But I was no longer there.

”?!”

Dancing about, I kicked him from the side, causing him to drop to one knee as a sickening crack echoed throughout the room.

”My knee! You bastard…!”

He slashed at me again, but I was already waltzing away. Spinning around, I delivered a second roundhouse kick that caused his head to snap back with a spray of saliva and blood.

”Gah!”

Again, he tried to cut me down, but I was already darting away with my footwork and deftly retreating to a safe distance.

”Stop running around like a pesky bug, damn it! Stop escaping and dodging my attacks!”

”Are you an idiot?” I sighed as I ducked under another sweep that was meant to take my head off. ”Who the hell is stupid enough to listen to a command like that? Do you really expect me to stand still and let you hit me?”

”I am strong! Stronger than you! That's my right as the stronger one! Weak trash like you should just submit and let us feed on you!”

”Then do it. If you're as strong as you claim, then you should have no problem catching me, right?” I punctuated my scorn with another kick to his other leg, causing him to kneel. ”You aren't strong just because you say you are. You have to prove it with actions, rather than words.”

That was right. As with ideals of justice, honor and virtue, just using words to claim that one was strong was useless if he didn't have the strength to back his claims up. In the end, it would remain an empty claim, just hot air.

Ideals, bragging, whatever…no matter what I want to do, I need to back it up with actions.

”Kuh!”

Ba Yun swung around in hopes of catching me off guard, but I was already disappearing from his view and striking from his peripheral vision. His frustration grew and he let out an enraged roar. Ignoring him, I continued to chip away at his armor.

No…am I really chipping away at his Spirit Armor? It seems that he'll just temporarily repair the damage by infusing it with his qi.

If this turned into a battle of attrition, it would be to my disadvantage. After all, Ba Yun clearly had more qi than I did. Furthermore, this served to hit home the difference between someone who wielded a Spirit Weapon and someone who didn't. One day, I had to find and procure myself a Spirit Weapon of my own.

For now, however, I should focus on defeating my opponent first. Otherwise that future would never come to pass.

I've no choice. I've to smash through his Spirit Armor in one go. Overwhelm his defenses so that I can deal a fatal blow.

”STOP RUNNING AROUND!”

Even as I calmly analyzed and came up with tactics and countermeasures, Ba Yun was giving in to his frustration, growing increasingly infuriated with his failure to capture me or land a clean hit. I dodged under another of his frantic slashes, and then used Jin to charge ahead and knee him in the face. Ba Yun grunted as his spirit helm caved in, but he didn't fall.

As I suspected, the spirit helm was restored in a few moments, with Ba Yun repairing it with his innate qi.

Yup…then I'll have to do this then.

Taking a deep breath, I gathered more of the surrounding qi to me while dodging another vicious attack. Just as Ba Yun performed a massive attack that practically cleaved the entire room in half – his shadowy blade destroying the ground and leaving an enormous fissure, I disappeared.

”Not this shit again!” Ba Yun howled.

”Don't worry,” I replied as I reappeared above him and planted a foot on his helm. ”I'm going to change things up a little.”

Seismic Step.

Colliding the surrounding qi with my pure, volatile qi, I obliterated Ba Yun's Spirit Armor in one go. Blood shot outward in an ascending shower, almost like a volcano erupting. Ba Yun's mouth gaped and his eyes rolled in his sockets as he fell to his knees, his body half-destroyed by my powerful attack. This time, I had made sure to use a lot more of the surrounding qi, and thus the effects of my Seismic Step was amplified several times more than the previous one.

As ominous and revolting as the surrounding deathly yin qi was, it was totally worth it taking the time to gather and accumulate more of the surrounding qi and using it. Besides, I had suffered through worse revulsion than this…

The Parasitic Wasps and their larvae using my body as a host came to mind.

The only trace left of Ba Yun's Spirit Armor was currently the cracked, ornamental plate that I saw him retrieve from his pocket earlier. Right now, it was nothing more than a useless, broken breastplate, the writhing shadows disappearing into it as it shattered under the force of my attack.

And with his Spirit Armor destroyed, Ba Yun was left vulnerable and exposed to the full power of my attacks.

”Gah…! AAAAH!”

Coughing out in blood, Ba Yun lay sprawled on the ground. He attempted to materialize another shadow sword and slash it at me, but I also forged my own ice sword out of the air and stabbed his arm, impaling it to the ground.

”AAAAAH! GAAAAH!”

Ba Yun howled in agony as he thrashed about, writhing desperately. However, he was unable to free his arm from the ice sword that was riveting that limb to the floor. Wailing pathetically, he sought to clutch his pinned arm with his other hand.

”Oh no, you don't.”

With a single flick of my hand, I stabbed his left arm into the ground. Ba Yun hollered something incoherently and his thrashing grew more violent.

”What was that?”

I cocked my head to the side as I listened to Ba Yun's wailing. He was weeping and staring up at me with tears in his eyes.

”M…m…monster…”

”Me? A monster?”

Something inside me snapped when I heard that. Forging a third ice sword, I stabbed his right leg, impaling the thick meat of his thigh to the ground.

”AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

”You haven't looked in the mirror, have you? Calling others a monster…are you aware of what you've done?”

I stabbed his left leg with a fourth sword, eliciting another shriek of pain.

”You're the true monster here. And I'm not talking about your hideous appearance.” Shaking my head, I stepped on the fingers of his right hand and crushed them, breaking the bones with a single step. Ba Yun howled.

”NO!!! Please…!”

”Hmph.” I snorted as he wailed and begged pathetically. ”Did you ever stop when I asked you to?”

”I…I…I…”

”…didn't.” I finished his sentence for him. ”You massacred villagers because your sect tells you to. You drained their qi to grow stronger. You killed for fun. You tortured people because it amused you. Your very actions are monstrous. You call other people a monster, but you're the true monster here.”

I glared at the pathetic, whimpering form of Ba Yun, feeling disgusted.

”But I'll admit it…I'm probably a monster too. I've no choice. I've to become a monster to fight a monster. I realized what I had to become in order to fight monsters like you.” Leaning closer, I whispered into his ear. ”You're the one who forced me to become a monster.”

That was right. Originally, I wasn't a monster. The one who turned me into a monster was the sick and sadistic Ba Yun. He was the real monster.

And now that monster was about to be devoured by a monster he himself had created.

”Hii...!”

Ba Yun squealed as he struggled against his frozen restraints, but it was useless. The ice swords weren't just pinning his limbs to the ground. They were freezing his limbs. A layer of ice was gradually expanding over his arms and legs, metamorphosing his flesh into icy crystals.

”And I have to thank you.”

This time I was smiling broadly. Ba Yun turned up to look at me with confused, teary eyes, not sure what I was saying.

”Just like you learned from the orthodox martial artist, I also learned from your mistakes.”

”…eh?”

The bastard didn't realize what mistakes he had made. That was fine.

”I won't make the same mistake as you did…the mistake of not killing me immediately. The mistake of deciding to let me live so that you can torture me to your heart's content. The mistake of not sucking my qi right from the beginning.”

The same mistake all villains made, letting the protagonist live so that they could ”torture” him. As I suspected, it would be a decision that would return to haunt them. After all, the protagonist was an entity who always escaped and prevailed over his enemies.

Ba Yun was no different. Except that the torture he inflicted on me was horrendous and unforgivable.

That was fine. I was about to deliver my wrathful vengeance and pay him back for every ounce of pain he dealt to me.

Straddling Ba Yun, I reached out and thrust my hand into his back, tearing his spine open and reaching all the way into his dantian.

”AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

”…you're right. We have the same elemental affinity. And even though your shadow techniques are laughably inferior to Heaven and Earth Formula, there are still some similarities. This will make the process of absorbing and assimilating your qi a lot faster.”

Saying so, I began to absorb Ba Yun's qi directly from his dantian.

”Please…please don't…please…spare me…”

Ba Yun whimpered and begged desperately, tears rolling from his eyes. I impassively regarded his pleading expression for a moment, and then grinned as I continued to suck his qi essence dry.

”I warned you, didn't I? I told you I will make you will regret this.”