My plan to use the spiritual knife to surprise Ken in a fistfight had gone downhill, so, I activated the invisibility at the moment Ken aimed his spear. He was stronger than me, but he was only faster while using that skill, or perhaps it was one of the spear’s effects. But it didn’t matter, as long as he doesn’t hit, he won’t be able to kill me.

“You coward!” Ken shouted. “Don’t hide and face me like a man!”

Why should I? My intention wasn’t defeating him in a fair fight. My only objective was to make the people in the north become our allies, and to do that; I had to get rid of the assholes like him. I wouldn’t risk myself or my entire plan just because of my pride. I would use any cowardly tactics to succeed. So, I picked the metal crossbow, but even though he couldn’t determine my position, he felt my movements and attacked the same place he had aimed before because I didn’t move from that spot.

Again I avoided the attack, but again I felt electricity burning my legs. At least that time, his spear didn’t hit me, thanks to my movements, he could sense where I was, but without seeing my body, he couldn’t aim accurately.

Before the screen of steam could dissipate, I got up, and I headed toward a machine gun which had been dropped on the ground. Probably belonged to one of the armed men who died, but I still could use it. That skill was powerful, but he couldn’t use it frequently, and since that skill also consumed STA, he couldn’t move soon after. When the steam dissipated, he was in the same attack stance. I aimed with the machine gun, but before I could pull the trigger, he looked at my direction and jumped.

‘What the hell…’

That was strange, I had some time, so I carefully picked the machine gun and very slowly I moved and aimed at him. But he still noticed it, while I could feel peoples’ presence and movements, even I couldn’t feel such light movements. Something was off; after all, his sensorial limit wasn’t at the same level as mine.

‘It’s probably another skill. A skill which can alert him of the danger.’

If that was really the case, then how could I attack? It was suicide to try to avoid that attack again. Besides, I was bleeding. Once the blood falls on the ground, it becomes visible, and it reveals my position.

‘There’s no other choice; I had to counter-attack when he tries to kill me.’

The only way to do that was by using the spiritual knife at the right moment. Even if I evade the attack and successfully counter-attack, I would receive a lot of damage thanks to the electric discharge, but I had no other choice. Ken finally landed, and I threw away the machine gun. He frowned and stopped moving. Even though he was stupid thug, he had his fair share of battles, so he knew that I was plotting something.

Thanks to his powerful attacks, all the snow in a fifty-meter radius around us had melted. And because of it, I could move without being seen. However, I didn’t drop my guard; I carefully walked around, waiting for an opportunity to attack. My best chance would be a counter-attack, but I wouldn’t just wait for it.

“Show yourself, Ethan!” Ken shouted, showing an impatient and angry expression. “If you do it, I will grant you a quick death.”

No thanks, bro. I was a coward and a stupid guy, but even I wasn’t that stupid. Ken was looking at all directions looking for me, so, I used that opportunity to recover some MP. Carefully, I picked a bottle of lemonade and drank it. After regaining some MP, my mind became clearer, and I had an idea. I threw the empty bottle near Ken, but it only appeared when it hit the ground. The noise surprised Ken, and he jumped ten meters backward, but before he could, I aimed the metal crossbow at him, and I pulled the trigger.

When I pulled the trigger, I appeared, and Ken also saw me and the bolt. He could attack me with his skill, I was vulnerable after that shot, but the bolt would also hit him if he tried to activate that skill. His ability was powerful, but the charge only made him advance in a straight line. With unbelievable reflexes, he used his spear to stay in the air for a second more, and the bolt passed under him.

‘Tsk.’

I had aimed at his legs because I couldn’t risk killing the survivors, thanks to it, the bolt only hit the ground. Before he could attack or even move, I disappeared again. My MP was running out, and Ken didn’t look like he intended to use his skill again. Because of his actions, he melted the snow around us, so, he couldn’t just attack without thinking again. He was stronger, but he wasn’t immortal. And he was aware of all those facts; I had to finish that fight quickly, I needed to cause as much as damage as possible with a single surprise attack.

‘Oh, I have a very surprising attack.’

I had never tried anything like that before, but my options were limited, so I decided to try. I equipped the vampire hunter’s crossbow with my left hand, and I pulled the trigger while my right hand was already preparing the next attack.

Ken saw the first bolt when I pulled the trigger for the first time, and immediately understood that attack wasn’t all that powerful, but he still easily dodged it while smiling. He probably thought that I couldn’t stay invisible for much longer and that I hadn’t many options. He was right in some aspects, but that had been a mistake. He understood that when he saw my right hand aimed at him, soon after he felt a sharp pain in his left eye.

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! You son of a bitch!” Ken shouted while trying to alleviate the pain and stop the bleeding using his left hand.

‘I did it!’

An invisible attack, I just threw my spiritual knife, but I only succeed because of the crosshair, and because of the concentration skill. Otherwise, I wouldn’t succeed in doing a thing that I had never tried before. But even though I caused a lot of damage and narrowed his field of vision, my surprise attack only caused me trouble. Enraged, Ken ran towards me like a mad dog. In a normal situation, he wouldn’t outspeed me, but I had suffered damage on my legs, and I was also tired. Even without using the skill, his attacks were causing damage, and I was barely avoiding then.

Like a tornado, Ken moved his spear in all directions trying to attack and kill me with a single blow. He slashed his spear around, aiming at my neck, head, heart, and the son of a bitch was even aiming at my groin. Using all the strength I could muster, I avoided and tried to create some distance between us, but I failed every single time. To make matters worse, the survivors around us were blocking my way, so I didn’t have a lot of space to use.

‘Get the fuck out of here, damn it! This isn’t a TV show.’

My actions until now really put me in a bad spot; I always tried to keep the monsters away from me. So, because of it, the things I could do in a close fight were close to none. I tried to attack his other eye, but at the moment Ken saw my hands moving suspiciously, he aimed his attacks at my hands. If I survive that fight, I already knew what I would do, create an offensive skill which can be controlled by my mind.

After a minute running for my life, I was exhausted and bleeding a lot. I avoided being hit in all vital spots, but by doing so, I suffered many, many small wounds. Suddenly, Ken stopped his attacks; the spiritual knife had disappeared a few seconds after my attack, so, he wasn’t feeling much pain anymore. Instead, he looked quite pleased while seeing me exhausted and bleeding.

“It seems that you can’t disappear at will,” Ken said. “You need some time to activate the effect, and you can’t disappear while you are being attacked. Well, it doesn’t matter. Your skill is useless now.”

Being analyzed was really annoying, but he was right. The dripping blood would reveal my position, so, I couldn’t use the cape anymore. To Ken, his victory was clear. And he was right in thinking that, I wasn’t able to dodge his regular attacks anymore and his skill would, without a doubt, kill me. I caused some problems to him, but nothing hard to solve, he would have to pay for it, but he would be able to heal his destroyed eye. And since he was far more powerful than any survivor in that place, he didn’t feel worried about the death of his allies. Because all of this, he was relaxed again. But just winning wasn’t enough for him; he wanted to humiliate me; he wanted to see my despair.

“Anyway,” Ken said while swinging his spear in a circle. “You cause me a lot of trouble, but I’m feeling quite generous right now. Besides, sometimes, a ruler has to be merciful. So, I will give you the chance to beg for your life. Kneel, kiss my feet and beg for your life while you are at it.”

He really had some strange tastes… or perhaps he really wanted to kill me slowly while looking at my eyes. Either way, Ken was beyond redemption. I honestly didn’t think that I had to die because of the fight two years ago, not only that, he was cruel in his actions and in his words. He wasn’t a person that we needed in order to rebuild the city. But I didn’t have the power or skills to defeat him, only had a single choice.

“I don’t want to beg for my life, instead can I drink some lemonade?”

Ken became speechless; he didn’t get angry, nor did he laugh. On the other hand, I heard some whispers coming from the survivors. They knew that I came to help them, but after hearing that, they lost all the faith in me. My words indeed were questionable, but I had something in mind when I said them.

“You really are a fucking son of a bitch,” Ken said while frowning. “Are these your last words?”

“No, but if you let me drink, I will tell you my last words. How about it? It’s a good deal, right?”

Even though I was feeling a terrible burning pain all over my body, I forced a smile to make him accept my deal. I really needed to recover my MP, even just a little bit to increase my chances of survival.

“My pathetic memories from the past will die alongside you,” Ken declared while firmly gripping his spear and after taking his stance. “With your death, I will finally be able to rise as a true ruler of this new world.

“Come on, dude. My last words are really flashy.”

I leisurely said those words, but my heart was beating like crazy, and I was sweating cold. I will die; I will die. That was the only thing in my mind while seeing electricity passing through Ken’s body and spear. But at least I would take him with me. It was the last thing I could do after attacking his base with a half-assed plan. Honestly, why in the hell I only created exactly twenty-time bombs? Why didn’t I create a plan b? I didn’t know the enemy’s weapon and skills, so the obvious thing to do was to prepare for any possible outcome. It was hard to admit it, but my parents probably left me in this area because I was too damn stupid. Anyway, I would probably die because of it, but I knew one thing.

‘At some point, I will die, maybe will be today, maybe tomorrow. But I won’t die without a fight. I want to hear from my parents why they did that, and I will do everything in my power to hear it.’

I breathed deeply, and then I used all my remaining energy to observe Ken’s movement. I didn’t saw his three previous attacks completely, but I understood a few things. First, his charge was based only on speed and power. So, he couldn’t control nor change the direction of his attack after activating his skill. I also understood that skill had a specific effective range; it doesn’t matter if he hit something or not; Ken would only stop thirty meters away from the point he had been before. Thanks to those facts, I could counter-attack. He would cross those thirty meters in less than 0.1 seconds, but I knew where he would stop and what part of my body his spear would pierce. So, I did the only thing I could do. I clenched my teeth and waited for the inevitable.

I aimed the metal crossbow toward Ken’s right eye and created the spiritual knife with my left hand. Soon after that, I saw Ken’s legs tensing to their utmost limits, and then I saw it, in the blink of an eye, he released all the tension on his body and disappeared. I couldn’t jump, I couldn’t run to escape from the attack, but I could move. Just a little but I could move. I moved three centimeters to the right, and I also began to swing the spiritual knife in front of me. And then I felt it, the pain of something slowly piercing the left side of my body all the way through to my back. But I knew that I would feel that pain and that pain would also be the signal to make me pull the metal crossbow trigger. Ken was right in front of me, so the explosive bolt easily pierced his right eye, his physical defense was strong, thanks to it the bolt didn’t reach his brains. But my counter-attack wasn't over yet, the swing of my left arm finally hit something: the center of Ken’s right ear. That was the only thing that I could do to damage him directly, but I also had my last trump card. That was I needed more MP. But in the end, I failed in using my remaining MP, the last thing that I saw had been the bolt and the spiritual knife piercing his head.