Chapter 124: How... are you... still...

Eiros stood facing the two who remained. After weighing several factors, Eiros didn't move forward without reason — he'd already thought this through carefully, laying out a handful of plans.

Plans didn't always unfold the way reality demanded, but having one was still far better than having none. Because beyond that, all Eiros needed to do was adjust and stay alert to his next move.

The man in the bat mask and the man in the mammoth mask were the two left standing. Both stared at Eiros for a few seconds before the man in the mammoth mask finally made his move. A massive axe formed in the air, a manifestation of his power taking the shape of something huge and heavy.

Thick, hardened mud spilled and dripped wildly from the axe's surface. Then, without a word, roughly four seconds after their companion had died at Eiros's hands, the man in the mammoth mask charged straight forward.

Craaack—!

Eiros drew his sword, putting some distance between them. As the man slammed his axe into the floor, the deafening impact sent a faint tremor through the tunnel, and the ground beneath Eiros's feet rippled, spikes of hardened mud, sharp as nails, shooting upward to skewer him.

Eiros leapt clear just in time. At the same instant, the man appeared right in front of him, swinging the axe down from above.

Clang!

Eiros raised his sword, feeling a crushing weight bear down on it the moment it collided with the axe. Wincing slightly, he channeled more Soul Essence into it and pushed forward in a sweeping arc.

Kwaan—!

Sparks of red lightning and flame scattered through the air. Eiros let out a low growl as he realized the man in the bat mask had decided to slip away, clearly counting on the mammoth-masked man to hold Eiros here in his place.

With a faint click of his tongue, Eiros manifested once more. He could feel his Soul Essence draining fast. With two stigmata to power, his Soul Essence consumption had become brutally inefficient.

"....!"

The man looked startled, but he had no time to react as Eiros activated Swan Without a Shore and shot forward through the air. His fighting style shifted instantly into something nearly impossible to track.

He bounced off an angle beside the man, lunging in with his sword.

"Damn it!" the man cursed, furious, raising his axe and slamming it into the floor. A wall of hardened mud rose up, and he braced for the incoming strike. But at that moment, he turned to his side, and Eiros was already there.

His movements were unpredictable, his body twisting into angles that should have been physically impossible. As if he possessed a flexibility that went beyond anything an ordinary human body could achieve.

Slash—?!

Clang!

Spurt!

The mammoth-masked man managed to survive the strike, dodging anything fatal, but his side still took the cut, leaving a deep gash that sprayed blood.

"Ugh...!"

He bit down on his lip. His job here was only to buy time, and if he really couldn't win outright, then at the very least he needed to make sure he wouldn't lose easily either.

So that was exactly what he did. The man raised his axe toward the sky and let out a thunderous roar. All the hardened mud he'd unleashed earlier came surging back to him, wrapping around his body and forming into armor.

Not just his body, either — it became an additional layer over the axe itself, extending outward into wing-like blades that widened his attack range.

After that, the man locked eyes with Eiros, his jaw tightening, then spun his entire body along with the axe.

"Huaaagh...!"

His roar echoed through the tunnel, and Eiros clicked his tongue in response. He took a step back, retreating, while the man began spinning in place, closing in on him relentlessly.

If this kept up, Eiros would lose track of the bat-masked man entirely. Even if he won against the mammoth-masked man here, his mission would still be a failure. Because his objective was something else entirely.

He hesitated for a moment, then shot forward. His arm rose high, his massive sword crackling with wild red lightning.

Then, in a single, decisive strike, he brought it down.

"Idiot!"

The man smirked, laughing loudly, and shifted the direction of his spinning attack, sweeping it upward straight toward where Eiros was.

The next instant, Eiros found no window to dodge. His body took the full force of the blow, sending him flying into the wall.

Baam!!

The explosive impact shook the tunnel for a moment. The mammoth-masked man couldn't believe Eiros had been reckless enough to rush in like that. Because of it, he seized the opening to finish Eiros off, in a situation where he himself should have been the one losing.

"Heh... So what if you've got Dual Stigmata? That's not enough to beat me."

He surged forward, eyeing Eiros's limp, motionless body. It looked shattered in several places, fresh blood spilling from his mouth. The man didn't hesitate — he released the transformation on his axe, letting it revert back to its original form, its edge restored to its former sharpness.

Strike—!

Baam!

Spurt!

With a wide grin spreading across his face, the man tore Eiros's stomach open in a gaping wound.

Eiros coughed up even more blood, but in the end, his stomach spilled out far more than his mouth ever could. His eyes flickered weakly with pain, and then he lost consciousness, along with his own life.

The man pulled his axe free, breathing hard. Just moments ago he'd genuinely thought he was going to die, but in a real fight, there were always countless variables at play.

The key was patience, and making absolutely sure not to make a wrong move. That was what he needed to hold onto, and he couldn't afford to let his guard down, not even for a second.

Right?

He turned to walk away. But then...

"Blergh...!"

The man jolted, glancing down at his own stomach. The exact same massive sword, the exact same red lightning, tore through it, punching a hole clean through him in the exact same way.

He stared at the blade, trembling, then turned his head with stiff, jerking movements.

His gaze landed on Eiros, standing there in the form of the White Swan.

"How... are you... still..."

His words cut off, the life draining from his eyes as his body collapsed onto the cold floor. Fresh red blood spread out beneath him, pooling into a small puddle that soaked into the ground.

Eiros let out a breath.

By using the fact that he could come back to life, Eiros had chosen death deliberately, tricking the man into letting his guard down so he could kill him faster.

He was still afraid of death, and probably always would be. The only difference now was that Eiros had grown more tolerant of it, capable of choosing to embrace death himself if it meant a better outcome down the line.

He closed his eyes, then let out a slow breath. Without hesitation, he took a step into the open air. After five steps, he planted his foot behind him, then pushed off, launching himself forward.