The Scythe of Doom [C11]

After accepting the quest, Shu Himo immediately started walking toward the scythe. Or better, trying to walk toward it.

"What... is... this?" Feeling the difficulty to get close to the scythe due to his instinct to run from it Shu Himo was startled. Was it really that hard already just to get close?

[The first test of the scythe. It will repel anyone and only who manage to touch it can start its test, one precedent host did not get trapped by the scythe just because he did not manage to touch it.]

Despite having difficulty to get close, Shu Himo did not give up and managed to reach the scythe after 2 minutes of struggle. But the real problem was after.

'Kill', 'Kill everyone', 'Kill everything', 'Destroy everything'.

Multiple voices resounded in Shu Himo's head, threatening to take complete control of his body creating an insane amount of head pain due to the conflicted will.

Shu Himo was about to give in and get overtaken but thanks to his willpower he managed to retain himself for a moment that signed his winning over the will of the scythe; "AAHH" Frantically trying to suppress the attack from the will of the scythe, Shu Himo immediately let out a scream. Now that the pain in his head gradually subsided he gradually opened his eyes again, only to notice that he completely changed his location.

He was not in the shop anymore, he was now in a place seemingly a swamp, an extremely depressing place full of gas and small black and grey clouds that reduced the visibility.

"System, where am I?" Trying to get information about the place, Shu Himo immediately asked the system, but the only answer he got was silence. Startled, Shu Himo started to frantically look around him, did he get trapped in the scythe? Full of questions he was panicking but remembering the rule number 6th of the MC way: never have fear of anything; Shu Himo started to calm down again to analyze the place, maybe it was still a part of the test from the scythe, or maybe here was the place where he would have to fight the will of the scythe or even the will of the Dark King Dragon!

The answer did not wait to reveal itself.

"Yoo! It seems this time it's a little child who came to visit me, the great Dark King Dragon! Not bad! You overcame the first two tests, to resist the passive skills of the scythe! What is your name, little guy?"

"I'm Shu Himo." A simple answer that made seems Shu Himo was completely calm, but in fact, he wasn't. 'Isn't that an old man? An old man calling himself "great" Dark King Dragon? Isn't this, well... kinda different than I thought?'. While Shu Himo was calming down from the difference in the image that he expected of the Dark King Dragon to an old man seemingly on the verge of death he suddenly remembered something. It's an old man! Being an expert who has seen so many animes and novels he should know that any old man is absolutely someone that cannot be messed with! How could he forget such a basic rule! Just the thought of underestimating him for a moment left his back covered in cold sweat...

Not noticing the internal thought of Shu Himo, the Dark King Dragon proceeded to talk: "We now will fight one on one, I will suppress my cultivation level to yours. If you manage to hit me once I will let you use this scythe. If you die in the fight I will instead take your soul and give it to the scythe, confining it forever for having dared to challenge me being unworthy. You may use a replica of the scythe for this fight."

Once the talk ended, Shu Himo immediately noticed in his hands a version similar to the scythe in the pillar, the only difference was the absence of passive abilities. Extremely excited, he readied himself for the fight. The old man seeing the bad position from Shu Himo chuckled and instantly made his move. From where he was he instantly appeared in front of Shu Himo, about to throw a punch straight on Shu Himo's face!

Surprised by the old man speed, Shu Himo felt happy to have not underestimated him too much and considering this frontal attack predictable, he instantly bent behind on his back and slashed in front of him with the scythe. Surprised that Shu Himo managed to act against his speed, the old man instantly jumped high to dodge the scythe, so instead of the punch, he made a rotation mid-air to give a kick.

Normally someone presented by a kick would try to dodge it laterally or jump backward, but Shu Himo could be considered someone abnormal: he jumped towards the kick! Smiling to himself he then thought: 'If I win by hitting you once, then I may as well trade one for one, can I?'.

The old man noticing Shu Himo's plan could not help but chuckle, and not changing his attack he proceeded to hit Shu Himo's shoulder. Shu Himo, happy that his plan worked(and in pain), proceeded to swing the scythe behind the old man, trapping him! This made the old man surprised as he thought Shu Himo would directly attack him! Now with a scythe behind and a coming punch in front the old man had no more way to dodge! Or at least that's what Shu Himo thought.

Like if he had a solid object suspended midair, the old man pressed on it with his hand giving him a propulsion to get even higher, to where Shu Himo could not reach! Incredibly surprised, Shu Himo cursed at the cheat called double jump. He then had an idea and could not help but try:

"Dark King Dragon, if I win can you teach me that double-jump technique?"

"Interesting. If we higher the bet like this, what will you give me if I win?"

Speechless for a moment, Shu Himo initially thought that he did not have anything to bet, but he then remembered a scene from an anime where a bet compromised of knowledge: that's it!

"I will give you any information about my old world."

"So you are from another world? Interesting. Then I, the great Dark King Dragon shall accept your bet! Now let's continue with the fight!"

This time, instead of the old man the one that made the first move was Shu Himo. At this moment the only thing he could think of was the technique that he was about to get from the old man, with eyes full of greed, his style of fighting suddenly changed. He now was fighting like a beast trying to get his treasure! But this does not mean that he was fighting worse: in fact, he was acting like if he had completely mastered the scythe, using every movement he could think of, making his attacks unpredictable.

This change completely startled the old man, that somehow felt cheated.

Shu Himo instantly jumped toward the old man, and using the scythe as an opening slash, he afterward threw a kick, and even if all his attacks were dodged, now the old man felt like he had no more openings to attack: he was completely in the defensive!

This situation forced the old man to be serious, and he now started to use skills, immediately after dodging another slash attack, the old man threw an extremely fast punch toward the leg that was about to attack him next;

*crack*

The sound of a leg breaking and bending was heard, but Shu Himo gritted his teeth, trying to act like he did not even notice, he instantly threw the scythe in the air, and went forward to hug the old man. Startled by the hug situation, the old man immediately jumped backward, but at the moment he noticed that Shu Himo did not have the scythe in hands anymore was the moment he felt a pain in his shoulder, and looking it he noticed that the scythe was lacerating his muscles and almost cut his right arm.

Startled, he looked toward the seemingly young man seeing him nonchalantly looking at him while smiling.

"Hahahaha! It seems I lost the bet, interesting, finally, someone managed to beat me! HAHAHAHA! Fine! I will teach you my technique and I will also allow you to use the scythe, you won this one, Shu Himo!"

Hearing him, Shu Himo felt relieved and secretly sighed in relief, 'If the plan didn't work, it would've been way harder, if not impossible to win against this old man...'