Chapter 81: That’s enough, Erness Hiora
Eiros still held firm to his will to live. Even when the future looked bleak, even when he had no map to guide him toward the right path, he remained fiercely ambitious about his own goal.
What was the real reason he clung to his purpose so stubbornly?
What motivation lay beneath the simple desire to live as an ordinary, happy human being?
’I don’t remember. But I know that once, I had something worth fighting for.’
Something he had fought for with everything he had, before arriving in this world. Even if he might have forgotten it, that feeling, that burning feeling that made him refuse to give up, had become the one thing keeping him alive like a cockroach, all the way to this day.
Slash—!
Eiros had only just risen again, but he found his gaze up in the open sky. His pupils met the dark heavens, rain pouring down in sheets.
His vision spun, and the next second he saw his own body without a head, nothing left but the trunk and a blunt stump of a neck, followed by a spray of blood gushing out like a broken faucet.
There, Erness’s gaze met his. That stare was full of madness, full of a hatred so ancient it felt worn smooth.
Meanwhile, Eiros didn’t so much as blink, his pupils staying fixed on Erness, dark circles under his eyes showing just how exhausted he was after dying more times than he could even remember anymore.
By now, this district of Clathria showed not a single refugee running for their life. They had all passed through this district long ago, heading toward the first district, the deepest part of Clathria, to save themselves.
With only the two of them left here, Eiros closed his eyes. He woke moments later, finding himself whole again, glowing in that existential shade of blue.
He was back in spirit form, watching Erness advance, her body still without a head.
"Another attempt at something I don’t even understand, and it’s failed."
Eiros muttered, then rose to his feet once more. Unlike the first times, when he was killed the instant he got up, Eiros had developed a strange sort of habit by now, one that sent his whole body into a wild, reckless state the moment he came back.
Drawing on his Soul Essence, he blew off one of his own arms. In that instant, Erness would let go, giving Eiros a window to stand.
By this point, Eiros didn’t think much anymore. He didn’t even know if he hated Erness or not, he couldn’t make sense of his own feelings.
After blowing off his arm, the pain hit him like nothing else. Blood kept seeping out there without end, but Eiros only looked at his arm, then his ability kicked in, dulling the pain further while his strength climbed higher and higher.
His greatsword appeared in his one remaining hand, and his gaze met Erness’s.
’Maybe this time I’ll actually pull it off.’
Of course, after all this, after everything he’d done just to carve out the smallest opening, there was no way Eiros meant to just lose here.
He had died over and over just to find a way to slip free of Erness. Died over and over trying to learn her ever-shifting fighting habits. Died over and over, just to make Erness keep pouring out her Soul Essence without rest.
Eiros went quiet for a moment, then a smile crept onto his face.
***
Renessa fell silent.
She stared at Eiros, who couldn’t die no matter what she did. She had tried everything she could think of, crushing his brain, smashing his skull, severing his neck, destroying his heart, wrecking every key point of soul essence in his body.
She wasn’t even sure anymore how many times she’d killed Eiros, but honestly, she was starting to realize that his ability to keep clawing his way back from death was truly, deeply troublesome.
Renessa clicked her tongue.
The further this went, the more Renessa found herself under the pull of negative energy, her thoughts growing hazier by the moment, she’d even started lashing out in rage without fully knowing why.
Yes, she was starting to forget what had made her so furious in the first place. What remained was a heavy sort of obsession, one that made her want to kill anything in sight, just to try and remember.
Along with all that, her worsening condition was starting to show, her white scales taking on a greenish tint, as if they’d been overgrown with moss, though fine and faint, like a dye soaking through.
Those were the unmistakable signs of her transformation, a spirit race slowly turning into a vengeful spirit.
Eiros might not have noticed it, but his own mind was also being slowly worn down by the negative energy radiating off Renessa.
And all of it had become a gamble.
Who would hold out longer, and who would break first?
Would it be Renessa, failing to kill Eiros, and finally giving way to become a vengeful spirit?
Or... maybe Eiros would fall first, not from death, but from that same negative energy making his seed grow faster and faster.
Renessa knew full well that the seed was growing faster with every passing moment.
Just as the silence around them was torn apart by the pounding rain and rolling thunder, Renessa closed her eyes, bracing herself to begin the next kill, when a low voice reached her.
"...Can I actually talk to you right now?"
Of course, it was Eiros. He’d done this again and again, kept trying to talk to Renessa whenever the chance came, and in every sentence he spoke, there were always a few words that made Renessa flinch.
Renessa didn’t understand it, but Eiros did.
"This isn’t like the you I know, Erness."
Erness...
She heard that name again, and again, only to feel a sharp pounding headache, as if something inside her was trying to claw its way back up, always failing because Renessa kept shoving it down, deep within herself.
"Shut up."
For the first time in the whole fight, her voice came out, barely more than a whisper. Her face looked frayed at the edges, her pupils carrying a sorrow for something she didn’t even recognize.
Renessa drew a breath, bit down on her lip, and her body vanished from where she stood.
Moments later, she appeared a few steps in front of Eiros, who watched her in silence. Then, Renessa’s body vanished again, and this time she reappeared right in front of him.
Thud—!
Her long claws shot forward, aiming to seize Eiros’s throat and pierce straight through it, something she’d done over and over whenever Eiros managed to break free.
Eiros raised his sword, catching the blow with a face set hard in resolve. A faint smile even crept onto his face, crooked and twisted at the edges.
Clang—!!
Pouring even more essence into his sword, Eiros swung it hard, slamming into Renessa’s arm and knocking her back, offering up the resistance he’d built through death after death.
At first he had only died, over and over, but slowly he’d learned to break free, then started fighting back, and now he could finally hold his ground.
Eiros could tell with certainty by now that Renessa had to be sitting at the awakened tier, needing only a little more time to reach the Luminous tier.
She was a figure with hidden power he’d never once considered. But what could he do, when all he knew came from the first thirty Chapters of that webtoon?
Working off scraps of knowledge from spoilers. That was all he had, so everything beyond that was uncharted territory for him.
To truly stand against a monster like Renessa, Eiros himself needed to become just as much of a monster. Not because he was especially strong, but because he was a monster in his own right, one who simply couldn’t die.
His body tensed, every nerve twitching as he stretched himself out, watching Renessa reel back lightly from the blow, then Eiros closed the distance at once, sword in hand.
He was at a disadvantage with only one arm left, but that hardly mattered at all.
He would end this here and bring Renessa back to her senses.
Crackle—!
Red lightning danced wildly along his blade, leaving streaks of red and dark trailing his curving strike, Eiros cut through the air, slicing the wind as Renessa’s body vanished, reappearing right beside him at a lethal speed.
With no arm on that side, it was practically a blind spot for Eiros. Still, it didn’t matter, seeing that hand lunging to pierce his throat, Eiros spun his body around.
He turned himself so he was facing Renessa head-on. Then, he slammed his sword into the ground, sending a series of powerful shockwaves rippling out around them.
Using the sword as leverage, Eiros launched himself high into the air, though he couldn’t fully dodge Renessa’s attack.
Slice—!!
Trickle—!
Eiros felt the flesh at his waist tear open, spilling out fresh blood. His condition was edging closer to death with the blood pouring out nonstop, but that didn’t matter either.
If anything, Eiros welcomed it, since it only fed more strength into him.
His red pupils flickered with a faint crimson glint. His greatsword vanished below, then reappeared in his hand.
Crackle—!!
Eiros poured out an overwhelming amount of Soul Essence this time, not just into his sword but through his arm and every muscle in his hand. The strike came fast and lethal, more than enough to take Renessa’s head clean off if it landed. But it wouldn’t happen, because from the very start, that attack was never going to reach her.
Her body vanished the same instant the sword tore through the air in its arc, leaving behind a violent gust of wind crackling with red lightning.
Still, Eiros didn’t stop the swing. Because Renessa reappeared just across from him, and the moment she did, the sword was already there, reaching the exact spot where she stood.
Eiros’s smile widened, his pupils glinting with a perfect, mischievous edge as he watched Renessa freeze in place, raising her arm, and right then.
Clang—!!
Slam—!
BOOM!!
The serpent scales across Renessa’s body, fed with so much soul essence, managed to hold against the blow, but not enough to escape it clean. The strike left a brutal gash, nearly severing Renessa’s arm entirely, and with the impact, her body went flying and crashed straight into a small shop.
Eiros didn’t waste a single second, he had no idea what state Renessa was in, but he wasn’t about to let her get back up.
His body shot toward the wreckage of the building, and the next second, out from the billowing dust, Renessa emerged, claws sharp and ready, fresh blood streaming down her face.
Eiros didn’t look the least bit rattled.
He kept closing the distance, and with heavy breaths, he spoke loud enough for Renessa to hear:
"That’s enough, Erness Hiora."
***