It's bearable

Kyle let out a chuckle and tried his best to calm his breathing. He had no idea what contract the man opposite him was talking about— but one thing was for sure, he had no plans of becoming someone else's servant. Not in this life, at least. Sweat glistened on his hairline, even though his body had started to turn colder with each passing second.

He ran his fingers through his hair and checked the remaining mana and divine energy in his body.

'Not much... huh, not even enough to finish one third of them.'

Kyle glanced at his hands, trying to sense the bloodline within his body. The bloodline that had turned eerily silent from the moment he entered this planet.

'It's not enough... I am not strong enough. But instead of waiting for death, it's better to give it my all. It's dangerous... but maybe if I use my essence to injure the shadow general, I will be able to leave this planet in one piece.'

Onicuss smiled as he watched the human opposite him, who had become quiet. Not just the human, but all around him, the air turned silent as the twin demons and all those who were ready to fight Kyle once again stared at the shadow general with bewildered expressions. No one had any idea as to why he wanted to take an unknown human under his wing.

Amidst the silence, time trickled by and after a minute, Onicuss's patience started to wear thin. He peered at Kyle with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"So, what's your answer, human?"

Kyle glanced at his hands one more time. He really hated it when he had no way out. It frustrated him that he felt powerless, to the point where a man who couldn't even live his life without his owner's permission could run all over him. He blinked and tilted his head to stare directly into the pair of dark eyes peering at him.

"I would have agreed... Only if the stench coming from you wasn't so repulsive."

"And besides, I despise working under others, especially not under a man who himself is a slave to someone else and doesn't even know when he will die just because his owner wants it."

Onicuss's smile faded, and his dark eyes grew even darker. The air around him quivered, causing the twin demons who could sense his mood to quickly retreat. The duo even silently ordered all the people floating nearby to move away because they knew that now the shadow general was angry.

Kyle also sensed the air around him tense, but he did not stop as he channeled his mana and covered his body in a faint layer of ice armor. He clenched his fists and grabbed his sword.

"I am not going to be your servant, not yours, not anyone else."

"You have so much power, but what's the point when in the end you have to bow to someone else? You don't even have the right to decide for your life." "I pity you-!"

Kyle's words were cut short when a powerful gust of wind neared his stomach so fast that he could not even react. He was only able to sense the attack when Onicuss' fist collided into his stomach, and he was flung backward in mid-air.

Kyle gasped with wide eyes as the air from his stomach was punched out. It was painful, so much that his vision blurred, yet he still tried to stop his body in mid-air. But before he could, another attack landed on his stomach, and his body was hurled downward with lightning-fast speed before crashing into the barren land with a resounding boom.

Onicuss rubbed his wrist and unclenched his fist. He gazed down at the cloud of dust that emerged from where the human's body crashed.

"Huh, you pity me? You?"

He sneered. In the next second, the night sky lit up as shimmering particles spread out from his palm, brightening the space around him. All the people around Onicuss quickly retreated further back in mid-air as the man glanced at the silver-haired human who once again started floating opposite him.

Kyle wiped the blood oozing out from his mouth and glanced down at his stomach where a massive injury was peeking out from his torn clothes.

He shook his head to clear his vision and attacked the shadow general, despite his whole body screaming with pain.

"Ha... You have no idea how much I want to kill you right now... But I am not able to."

Onicuss snickered and tilted his body to dodge Kyle's fist, but then the human vanished from his sight. He chuckled, and his body disappeared into a blur as Kyle's sword phased through the place where the shadow general should have been.

Kyle raised his head and watched with bated breath. In the distance, Onicuss grabbed his collar with both hands, smoothing out the few wrinkles before staring at the human with a cold smile.

"Me too. I want to kill you so badly as well, and believe me, I can. A single attack is enough. But I won't, because I want to see you beg for it... you know what?"

His body turned into a blur again as Kyle attacked him once more. In that exact moment, a deep voice sounded in Kyle's ears as someone tightly grabbed his shoulder.

"Death."

Kyle gritted his teeth upon hearing a cracking sound from his shoulder. His whole arm felt numb, and he knew the bone in his shoulder had been forcefully twisted enough to break it.

'Damn! It's painful!'

He clenched his other fist and punched the person behind him, but his body was thrown forward in mid-air when a kick landed on his back before his fist could even touch Onicuss.

Onicuss chuckled when the human managed to maintain his balance in mid-air and glared at him with eyes that screamed he wanted to kill him. He felt satisfied for some strange reason when he saw Kyle's bloodied condition. "I like the fire in your eyes. The eyes that I will dig out and feed to the monsters after you take your last breath."

Kyle gritted his teeth and moved his shoulder, trying to alleviate the pain a little. He clenched his jaw, refusing to let out even a single noise as he retrieved several healing potions from his mind space. The glass vials shattered in his hand as he threw the liquid onto his body. Amidst the stinging pain, he glanced at the man standing opposite him.

"Your eyes aren't too bad either... How about you dig them out first?"

Onicuss let out a sigh and shook his head at the human's bold remarks.

"Of course, it wouldn't be fun if you lost so easily. I want to see just how long you can hold on before you beg me to kill you."

Kyle narrowed his eyes as Onicuss disappeared from his sight. He tried to use instant teleportation to vanish as well, but before he could, someone grabbed his leg and forcefully dragged him back.

Onicuss laughed as the human let out his first scream and blood trickled down from Kyle's upper body. He knew how painful it could be when someone's body was pulled out from the void that teleported them to another place. No, not because he had experienced it, but because he has a similar skill that allows him to enter a secret space.

Nonetheless, he mused, as he had actually thought he wouldn't be able to grab Kyle in time. It seemed the human had exhausted all his divine energy and had resorted to using his mana to fight back.

"The teleportaion skill is strong but dangerous at the same time, isn't it?"

Kyle clenched his jaw and kicked the man with his other leg. Surprisingly, Onicuss let him go before he could even struggle, but he couldn't maintain his balance and crashed down once again.

His body lay amidst the floating sand and dust as another crater formed in the ground due to the impact. Kyle spat out blood, which stained his jaw and neck red, and struggled to clear his vision. He clenched the sand around him and took a deep breath before grabbing another healing potion from his mind space. However, he noticed that his injuries weren't healing as fast as before. His whole body was covered in blood, and he had no strength left.

'I can't... I can't give up. Not until I know Nine, Yue, Bia, and Jian are safe...'

Onicuss landed beside him and sat down on his heels with a smirk.

"Does it hurt? Do you want me to make it less painful?"

But his expression darkened when Kyle chuckled and stared into his eyes.

"It's bearable... you are not as strong as I thought..."

A vein bulged on the shadow general's forehead. He couldn't believe that even in such a condition, the human had the strength to talk to him like that. Onicuss stood up with a dark expression.

"Very well. Very well."

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