The situation was getting worse as every minute was passing by. Viktor's hand became full of wounds and all the elite clones made by Adonis were defeated by the dragon guardian in a slash of his sharp claws.
They were cornered by the enemy.
Viktor panted as he cast three more 10th-class magic spells in one go but the dragon was barely wounded. His attacks were a simple blow of wind for him but it was enough to keep him away from their position.
"You bastards, how long are you going to keep throwing random shits towards me? Why are you keeping a distance, ha? Food like you should know your place."
Adonis was about to answer his question but suddenly his eyes turned to Viktor. His eyes became frozen to see his master's situation and the blood coming out of his nose and mouth. His bloodshot eyes were the burning proof that he reached his limits, but still, he was holding on.
"Mas…ter.."
"Adonis..", Viktor ran out of breath and looked at him while holding his left arm. His wounds were screaming in agony. Still, he again took a deep breath and said, "Don't stop. It's almost over. Don't worry."
Even though Adonis couldn't hear what his master said in that noisy situation, he was able to read his lips. He wanted to help his master and use his fragment but he wouldn't dare to disobey his orders right in front of him.
"Tsk!! You bastard!!!!"Adonis screamed and flew towards the dragon guardian with his heavy sword. On the other hand, Viktor cast a buff spell to make Adonis' body sturdy so that he won't get hurt.
Why isn't that punk not coming yet? He should be here in a few seconds!!
Suddenly, the dragon guardian used a different spell and he grabbed Adonis with his hand. "Finally! I caught some food!!"
Viktor's heart nearly gets a heart attack after seeing Adonis screaming because of pain. He heard his bones cracking from afar, so he had to perform a taboo.
There are some limitations on what a human can achieve. It was a wall for humans that they should never cross or they would have to sacrifice something very important in their life.
It was the limitation of magic.
Since humans are not immortal, they can't gather much mana to cast higher-class magic. Only some rare mages can use up to 9th-class magic. They are called grandmasters in the world. But 10th-class magic spells will cost their life to cast. So they don't cast it unless they are willing to sacrifice their life for a special reason.
But there is an existence of 11th-class magic that normal humans don't know. It doesn't cost any mana but something else.
Anti-mana.
It's the same thing as 'Antimatter' in a scientific way. Although scientists don't know if it's even true, their years of scientific research say that it actually exists. But still, it's a fiction to them.
But in reality, both Anti-mana and antimatter exist and they truly work the same way.
In magiology terms, anti-mana is a matter but works the opposite way. Mana is an energy source and anti-mana is a space that needs the energy to fill its central gap. So, If anti-mana is placed on someone's body that has mana, it will work as a blackhole and suck everything from its surrounding.
But there's a catch.
A blackhole doesn't shut down without causing any problems. When it's full, it explodes and creates a huge shockwave which is powerful enough to destroy a whole world into bits. So, Viktor had to make sure he didn't make any anti-mana bigger than a grain of sand. Or the whole world will vanish in a second.
There are only two ways to stop an anti-mana spell. The first one is to throw the anti-mana into outer space. And the second is to kill its caster. If the caster is dead, the spell will automatically vanish. So, there's a chance the guardian of fire might kill Viktor before he can take his last fragment off the world. His life was in grave danger.
Am I really going to do this? My hands are shaking! But Adonis is dying!
Viktor raised his both hands and all the mana which was surrounding him began to move away. He then took a deep breath and said one line to begin the process.
'La tryxcastare hunbo'
It was a heaven guardian level spell and the sky immediately became dark because of the small dark orb that was forming above. Viktor could feel it was already hungry for mana but he kept holding on to make one small dot of ball.
At that moment, the fire guardian came and became astonished to see a normal human casting a dangerous spell that could kill all of them if something goes wrong. But then, he noticed the dragon guardian who was about to eat another stronger human.
He tried to stop both of them but at that moment, Viktor already fired his small orb in the dragons' direction.
I need to save Adonis before it lands on him!!
Viktor used his last portion of mana and used lighting speed to secure Adonis.
Fortunately, Viktor was able to take him while the dragon guardian's attention was elsewhere and the small dot or anti-mana landed on him.
The anti-mana sucked the whole body of the dragon in a blink of an eye but the dot of the anti-mana was a little bigger than he should make.
"Adonis! Are you okay!!"
Viktor looked at his broken hands and used some mana to heal those but Adonis stopped him. "Master, don't worry. It will heal without any mana but you should use healing magic on your…"
A sharp glowing spear came out of Viktor's chest as he was trying to heal Adonis. It pierced through his heart but still, he couldn't feel any pain until he noticed it.
His heart stopped but the remaining bits of mana inside his body were keeping him conscious.
"Master…"
Viktor was sitting on the hot ground because of the explosion but his legs couldn't feel anything. His ears were becoming silent but his eyes were still wide open.
Ah.. shit…
Viktor looked at Adonis's bright orange eyes and thought
'Man, all I wanted was to live a peaceful life with a trusted companion who will do all my work. I wanted to sleep all day in front of my laptop and write a good story. Then, I wanted to drink all night before sleep and wake up beside a beautiful wife.'
Viktor looked at his record and saw it was quickly turning red as he was bleeding out blood from his chest. At that time, the blackhole vanished and the guardian of fire said, "I can make an assumption that it was you who lifted the seal off Astraeus' fragment. Sure it's a waste to kill a brat like you who used 11th-class magic when you're a mere human. But you sure know that you just committed a taboo. Tell me, it was you who lifted the seal, right?"
Adonis' blood was boiling in anger but he felt his master's cold hand on his, desperately telling him not to do anything stupid. So he had to hold his master in his arms and try to heal his wounds.
Viktor nodded yes after the guardian finished his sentence.
"I knew it. Anyway, the criminal has received his punishment. Now, I just have to leave and report back to that mophead. My work is done here."
The fire guardian vanished after taking his spear and Viktor finally took a deep breath in that situation. His heart was not beating but his mana was still flowing like blood so he needed to breathe to stay alive. Adonis put his master's head on his lap and said, "Master! Don't worry I can save you. Just hold on. Remember the book you gave me that had everything about the heart transplant? I can perform the surgery very easily! Just hold on a little bit!!"
Viktor felt some cold teardrops on his face that probably came out of Adonis' eyes but his face was numb. His eyes were blurry so he thought it was raining.
In his dry mouth, he took a short breath and said, "Adonis, can you make my bed warm? I'm feeling a little cold today."
Viktor's words made Adonis burst into tears so he said, "Master, don't worry. I will make your bed the most comfortable one in the whole world. Just hold on a little bit."
Viktor looked above and saw the sky was turning black. His surroundings became silent and he could no longer see or hear Adonis' words. So he thought,
This might be the end. What an unlucky soul I am…
I didn't even get to live a peaceful life and now I'm dying a dog's death.
He couldn't feel his body any longer and he was lost in the darkness and then, he saw a small dot of light floating.
Should I follow that light?
Viktor looked back and saw there was nothing behind or anywhere. The light was the only thing that he was seeing in the dark, so he decided to follow it because of his instinct.
I don't know, but I feel like my previous self prepared something that I have to follow. I'm pretty sure I'm dead again but I feel like if I don't follow the light, something bad will happen.
The movement when Adonis was about to close his wounds, he saw his master wasn't breathing at all. His eyes were locked in the same spot and his body became pale as white. Even though Viktor was pale as snow, without his blood, he looked paler. That was the movement when he realised that his master was dead.
Adonis touched his cold face and said, "I'm a failure, master. I failed."
He took off his overcoat to cover his body but suddenly, he felt a heavy rock in his pocket that he didn't remember putting in. With his trembling hands, he put his hands inside his pocket and felt a cold stone filled with mana.
The moment he took it out, he saw something written in a language that his master used all the time to write his books. It was a language that his master used to talk in his previous life so he learned a bit to understand it as well.
'25th March, 2032.'
He saw the time on it frozen but he knew it was ticking very slowly. He knew what kind of stone it was.
So he covered his master with his coat and started to dig the ground with his bare hands to show respect. In the middle of a mile-long empty field which was created by the missile-like exposition, he created his master's grave and planted a yellow rose plant on top of it.
"Master, I'm sorry that I couldn't save you. It was supposed to be me but you took my place and sacrificed yourself."
His teardrops fell on the grave of his master but this time, they turned into pearls.
With his wounded heart, and said, "This time, I will find you and I swear that I will protect you no matter what."
...
End of volume 2.
... Hey dear readers! As you can see, I killed the main character :). Well, don't worry. I'll update everyday as usual and I won't spoil anyone now. I know my story sucks but I literally cried when I killed the main character when he just wanted to sleep on his warm bed. Anyway, I'll start to write the 101 chapter now. See you tomorrow...