Chapter 489: The Thrill of Death

The Thrill of Death

The knowledge that one mistake could end everything.

The concentration required to search through an impossible situation for a single chance at victory.

And the stubbornness needed to keep moving forward, even when victory seemed almost impossible.

That feeling had been absent from Victor’s life for far too long.

For ages.

He had grown accustomed to battles where overwhelming power could settle everything.

A single attack.

A single burst of strength.

That was usually enough.

But this...

This was different.

Every breath mattered.

Every movement mattered.

Every fraction of a second could decide whether he lived or died.

If Victor made even one mistake, Fean would crush him.

There was no safety net.

No comfortable margin for error.

No guarantee that he would walk away from this battle alive.

And Victor loved it.

His heartbeat quickened.

His blood rushed through his veins.

The world around him seemed to sharpen.

He could hear everything.

The sound of Fean’s footsteps against the stone.

The subtle movement of his shoulders.

The way his weight shifted before every attack.

Even the direction of his eyes.

Victor noticed it all.

Nothing escaped his attention.

A grin slowly spread across his face.

’This feeling...’

He had almost forgotten it.

A fist suddenly came toward his face.

Victor tilted his head.

The punch passed beside his cheek.

He immediately moved.

Another strike followed.

Victor stepped to the side.

The attack missed him by a hair.

Then came the third.

This one was aimed directly at his ribs.

Victor barely managed to pull his body back.

The fist still grazed his side.

Pain exploded through his ribs.

Victor sucked in a breath.

Then he laughed.

It was quiet at first.

Almost breathless.

Not because the pain felt good.

It didn’t.

The pain was real.

Sharp.

Enough to remind him that Fean could seriously injure him with a single clean hit.

But that was exactly why Victor was smiling.

For the first time in a very long time...

He felt alive.

Truly alive.

The sensation dragged an old memory from the depths of his mind.

His first battle against the Demon Lord.

That had been one of the earliest battles in Victor’s life where he had truly understood what it meant to stand before someone capable of killing him at any moment.

Back then, every exchange had carried the possibility of death.

Every mistake could have ended everything.

There had been no room for arrogance.

No room for carelessness.

And certainly no room for the belief that victory was guaranteed.

Victor had been forced to concentrate on every movement.

Every breath.

Every opening.

He had needed to fight with everything he had simply to survive.

That battle had left something behind inside him.

Something that years of peaceful victories could never replace.

But even that battle had been different from this one.

The Demon Lord had been terrifying.

Powerful enough to force Victor into a desperate struggle.

Yet the difference between them had never been as overwhelming as the gap between Victor and Fean now.

Fean was stronger.

Far stronger.

Victor knew it.

His body knew it.

Every instinct screaming inside him knew it.

One clean mistake could leave him broken on the ground.

And yet...

That realization didn’t make Victor want to retreat.

It did the opposite.

The fire in his eyes burned even brighter.

Fean attacked again.

Victor twisted his body.

The fist passed dangerously close to his shoulder.

He felt the pressure of the attack against his skin.

Then—

Boom!

Fean’s fist slammed into the cave wall behind him.

The stone shattered.

Cracks spread across the surface.

Chunks of rock exploded outward and crashed onto the ground.

Victor immediately pushed away from the collapsing section of the wall.

He didn’t even have time to breathe.

Fean was already there.

Again.

Another punch.

Victor ducked.

Another.

He moved backward.

Another came from the side.

Victor twisted away.

The barrage didn’t stop.

Fean kept coming.

There was no hesitation.

No pause.

No chance for Victor to regain his balance.

Every time Victor created even a little distance, Fean closed it immediately.

The cave echoed with the sound of fists striking stone.

Footsteps scraped against the ground.

Dust filled the air.

Victor’s breathing grew heavier.

His chest rose and fell rapidly.

Sweat ran down the side of his face.

His muscles were beginning to ache.

His legs were getting heavier.

Every dodge demanded more from his body than the one before it.

But he kept moving.

He kept smiling.

This was exactly what he had been searching for.

Not an easy victory.

Not another opponent who would fall beneath overwhelming strength.

He wanted this.

A battle where victory had to be earned one breath at a time.

A battle where his instincts were constantly being pushed toward their limits.

A battle where his mind couldn’t afford to wander for even a second.

A battle where his will mattered just as much as his strength.

Victor’s eyes remained fixed on Fean.

He watched him.

Studied him.

Waited.

Fean’s next attack came.

Victor moved.

His body reacted before his thoughts could catch up.

The fist passed beside him.

Victor immediately shifted his footing.

Another attack.

He avoided it.

Then another.

He barely escaped that one.

His heart hammered inside his chest.

His entire body was screaming at him to find a way out.

But Victor refused.

He wasn’t looking for an escape.

He was looking for an opening.

There had to be one.

No matter how small.

No matter how brief.

Everyone had weaknesses.

Every movement created a consequence.

Every attack required the body to shift.

Even someone as overwhelmingly powerful as Fean couldn’t move without revealing something.

Victor kept watching.

Shoulder.

Hip.

Foot.

Eyes.

Breathing.

Weight distribution.

Everything.

Then—

There.

Victor’s eyes narrowed.

For the briefest instant, Fean’s movement changed.

It was almost impossible to notice.

A tiny shift.

A fraction of a second.

The smallest opening in an otherwise overwhelming offense.

Most people would have missed it.

Victor didn’t.

His lips slowly curled upward.

The situation hadn’t changed.

Fean was still overwhelmingly stronger.

Victor was still being pushed backward.

His body was still nearing its limits.

One mistake could still end the battle.

But something had changed.

For the first time since the fight began...

Victor saw a path forward.

It was tiny.

Fragile.

Almost nonexistent.

But it was there.

One chance.

That was all he needed.

Victor tightened his fingers into a fist.

The pain in his ribs disappeared from his thoughts.

The exhaustion disappeared.

Even the blood running down his skin no longer mattered.

His entire focus narrowed onto that single opening.

His smile widened.

"Got you."

And Victor moved.

His gaze became intensely focused.

The danger of death if he made one mistake.

The concentration needed to find that one chance for victory.

The tenacity needed to keep going even though winning was close to impossible.

It had been ages since Victor had felt like this.

It reminded him of his first-ever battle against the demon lord before him.

Victor had been in a similar situation back then, trapped in a hard battle where death could come at any moment.

But the difference in power between them had never been as overwhelming as it was now.

And yet Victor couldn’t stop smiling.

His heart was pounding with excitement.

His entire body was screaming at him to be careful.

His instincts were warning him that one mistake would be fatal.

Victor welcomed all of it.

His golden eyes burned with anticipation.

’This is it! This was the kind of fight I always wanted!’