Chapter 73 - Plan in Fruition

Rynold managed to recover whatever's left of his fading consciousness.

During the time that Oliver was busy dodging Shado's attacks, Rynold was fighting an internal battle. A battle that felt like forever. In reality, though, the battle that felt neverending was in truth just a few seconds.

His body screamed out in pain.

Rynold decided that may be standing up to fight might be a bad idea. It would be a horrible idea. No, it would probably kill him, quite literally.

Regardless, he tried to stand up but his body nearly gave up on him. As soon as he was on his two legs, his sense of balance was clearly off. He staggered and wobbled to stay up. With his senses dulled, he could barely look straight.

But, Rynold knew that the mission was much more important than whatever he was feeling right now. He then took a single step forward but toppled back down once he shifted his weight to his other leg.

He landed on his butt and looked forward. His vision was blurred, senses dulled. Rynold looked forward and tried to piece together what happened to Oliver and Shado. What has become of their unhinged chase of cat and mouse while he was stuck here on his ass doing nothing.

It was then that the very atmosphere of the room shook.

While Oliver and Shado weren't in the room, it was clear that there was a sort of vile and dark Mana coming from outside. It wasn't one that Rynold recognized at first glance but he could tell that it was familiar, to say the least.

The ambient Mana continued to shake while Rynold sat in a daze. Even though he had trouble focusing, he instinctively got chills from the sudden development.

The cold, devilish Mana circumvented the atmosphere. It was clear that there was only one person who could do this.

Oliver.

Outside in the hallway, the same Mana was found, but its concentration was much stronger.

The same Mana surrounded Oliver, enveloping him in its dark embrace.

Shado unintentionally flinched and took a step back from the sudden change in his prey. There was no explanation of how this type of Mana could come from a child, much less a human. He steeled his will, remembering that his opponent was once again not even on his level.

Even with a significant boost to Oliver's battle prowess, Shado was entirely sure that he could beat the guy. He admitted that it would be harder, but it was an inevitable victory.

Nothing can change that.

The Mana circulated and danced around Oliver as if it was going to where it truly belonged. It embraced him, it proliferated within him. It increased in intensity with each passing second until it subsided a few moments later.

It was then that Shado felt a sudden ominous aura emerging from the darkness.

Oliver stepped out, half of his face was covered in what appeared to be dark Mana.

Half of his face was covered with a violent, dark Mana. It moved with every breath that Oliver took as if it were a being of its own.

Oliver raised his head, eyes closed. He felt the dark Mana that circulated and surrounded him, calling him home. He had never felt so powerful before until now.

He slowly opened his eyes. The dark Mana that covered a part of his face turned his eye into a dark purple shade. It was as if Shado was looking at a half-man, half-devil incarnate.

Shado instinctively stepped back in fear for a split second.

Oliver smiled, wickedly. The devilish Mana took a lot more than he had expected. It was as if he was swimming against a current. A current that would swallow his very soul if he wasn't careful.

Knowing he won't last long, Oliver moved. He was much faster than before and struck Shado without hesitation. His movements were fast and hard to keep track of, but Shado didn't seem to have a problem.

The fight continued from its sudden hiatus. It changed from the initial one-sided chase to a fight of equal proportions.

Oliver kept lashing out and slashing while Shado moved to punch wherever he saw an opening. Both of them were evenly matched but Shado could tell that Oliver couldn't keep it up for long.

Fighting an internal struggle, Oliver was slowly running out of fumes but tried to push further and harder against his opponent. One wrong move could lead to a grave mistake and a bad ending for both him and Rynold. He won't make a mistake.

He couldn't make a mistake.

Oliver stabbed his [Devil's Laceration] dagger onto an opening but Shado dodged out of the way. He struck with an uppercut but Oliver, being as nimble as he is, used Shado's shoulder as leverage and jumped over him. Oliver then tried to stab his [Wolf's Fang] dagger but was blocked by Shado's armor.

The fight was a consistent back and forth of attacks. Neither one had an advantage over the other and soon found themselves in a stalemate.

Eyeing each other for openings, the two circled each other and read their opponent. There was no clear victory with a direct confrontation anymore but Oliver had other plans in mind.

He had lured Shado over to an area that was in a perfect line of sight for Jack to deal a good blow.

This was the deciding moment, the flip of the coin that would decide victory or defeat.

Bang!

A shattering sound suddenly came from the windows as soon as the gunshot was heard. Oliver's plan managed to work and Jack did something good. The sniper managed to stagger the opponent in a short moment but it was enough for Oliver.

Oliver shifted into high gear and moved without hesitation. Shado was still recovering from the shot that managed to sting him even with his armor which made Oliver's surprise attack all the more effective.

He covered the distance between them in a short second. Without even sparing a single moment, he activated all of his buff skills at once.

Wolf's Pride! Liberation: Darkness Unbridled!

Just like that, Oliver's strength bloomed once more. He had to finish this within the short opening that Jack had made for him.

With that in mind, he activated his attack skills without hesitation.

Wolf's Frenzy!

Three swift strikes with the dagger in his left hand swung in quick succession, leaving cuts deep into Shado's armor.

Chop!

A single downward motion with his right dagger crashed into Shado's armor, deepening the cut further.

Backstab!

The simple attack that the Assassin class had easily pushed Shado back even further, getting closer to breaking Shado's armor.

Shadow Strike!

Oliver's left dagger was infused with darkness and struck, dealing dark damage to the armor.

It might not have been as effective as Oliver thought but the flurry of attacks managed to do its job. The armor broke and dissipated into nothingness, exposing Shado's darkened chest.

Binding Darkness!

Dark shackles formed from the shadows on the ground and bound Shado in place. Without giving him room to breathe, Oliver decided to finish it.

Soul-searching Strike!

Shado howled in pain from the attack. He never expected a lowly human to be so capable. To be able to manifest the devil's power like that and still maintain his own consciousness? It was unprecedented!

'I'm ending this, once and for all.'

Oliver, with a serious expression, raised his dagger up high. He then said in a low voice.

"Broken... Wing Slash."

With a swift crescent motion, Oliver swung his dagger down onto Shado's neck, finishing what he sought out to do. Blood spurted out from the target's neck, effectively ending the man's life just like that.

He, no, they had won.

Combining all of their efforts, Rynold, Oliver, and Jack managed to end this whole ordeal once and for all. It was a battle that required everything they had to offer in order to win. But, as it is, the cost of achieving victory was just too high.

Oliver dropped both of his daggers as soon as the window that ensured his victory popped out. He collapsed on his knees in relief before completely passing out onto the ground.

As his consciousness started to fade, Oliver slowly fell into a deep sleep.

Jack sighed from the sight of the Shado Beasts disappearing. He let out a breath from all his anxiety of the battle and could finally relax. Despite his constant disapproval of being benched, he knew that Rynold was smart for positioning him here.

Speaking of Rynold...

'Where is he?'

Jack peeked through his scope once more and tried to locate his friend to no avail. Thinking that something could've happened to him, Jack decided to go to the building and look for the guy.

Since the Shado Beasts weren't there anymore, Jack quickly moved towards the building and started his mission of getting Oliver and Rynold to safety.