'I got an ability?'
And if his gut is right, which is 95% accurate once it kicks in dire straits, it was an ability that somehow allowed him to find a certain
point of weakness.
'That's totally ---'
He scrunched up his nose while having mixed feelings, mostly of disappointment.
'Totally crap.'
It was useless—in his current situation, that is.
Now that he knows that Kerioth's demonic form is not perfect and that his weak point is somewhere around his torso, would he be able to hit that somehow? Absolutely not!
He assessed his condition.
'Both my hands are crushed; there was not a bone divided into at least two; I can't move from this position or it'll be terrible at the very least.'
It was even considered a miracle that he is yet alive; he's only living off of sheer willpower and pride that refuse to be hit on the back by Kerioth twice in this life.
He contemplated that perhaps the miracle of being able to awaken an ability was because of his earnest prayers earlier, but
'When I said a flaw, this is not what I'm talking about! I even said a flaw I could exploit! What's the point if there's a silver lining if I can only look at a distance?!'
He grumbled internally, complaining to no one in particular.
'That's probably why people say to be specific in prayers. Tsk.'
Well, he can't be blamed, as it was a first for him.
It was disappointing, but he was half expecting a mental ability. It was said that abilities acquired by people are strongly influenced by their personalities or the sort of life they are living.
The ability to see one's flaws totally reflects him.
When he thought of using the ability again, the red filter gradually and smoothly covered his vision from top to bottom.
He checked on Kerioth, and the same green spots were still present.
Knuckle-size green spots appeared at the centers of his head and heart; there were also tiny, negligible spots around his limbs and joints. And the biggest, around the size of a regular adult's head, was at the center of the body.
As a demon, it was probably where the core would be.
The filter faded after around 10 seconds. He activated it again and again until a tiny speck of strain was noticeably felt in his eyes.
'So here's the limit.'
Like every ability granted to humans, there seems to be a limit on the number of uses.
He got a feeling that using it too much might cause partial or total blindness, but somehow, this type was more lenient compared to the obvious tradeoffs for those with more powerful physical abilities.
Nonetheless, he activated it again. Thinking that focusing on Kerioth would deem the instance useless, he looked at the surroundings instead.
That's when he noticed a minute detail that he had missed earlier.
'Huh?'
The time expired, but he unhesitatingly activated his ability again, brushing aside the pressure in his eyes that was getting significant.
'I see.'
His mind began to devise plans upon the surprising enlightenment.
'I'm sorry for calling you crap a while ago.'
Thinking about it thoroughly, his ability wasn't useless after all.
Now if he could only play his cards right.
The first thing was to identify his cards.
"Oh, golden lights are suddenly popping out, Argus, centered on that long-haired guy. Isn't he the Saint?"
"Urgh."
While he was absorbed in his own thoughts, Kerioth was calmly providing an unsolicited live commentary. However, even if he wanted
to, he wouldn't be able to witness since Kerioth's heel is pressing his head on the ground.
Apparently, the Saint and Hero party were finally at the penultimate
phase of their plan.
"Hmm, what a strong divine power! It seemed to be a Guardian's descent. Do you know about that?"
"…"
"They said for every thousand god-years, the Guardian can go down to their domain and grant the prayer of their incarnation."
He wasn't listening, as it didn't concern him.
While Kerioth was doing his courtside reporting, he was playing scenarios in his head. At last, after a few more minutes, he was ready to proceed with his final gambit.
He looked towards the Abyss while repeatedly mouthing a single word.
'Third.'
It didn't escape his notice that the malice in the surroundings suddenly became heavier. He heard a series of sounds around him,
seemingly from the creatures who had started to fall on their knees.
Not caring about what happened, he started to move.
"Oh, here comes the demon king! But who are those with him --- Hm? Argus?"
Kerioth stopped talking when he noticed the movement of the body he
was sitting on.
The human-turned-demon, who should have been paying attention and paying homage in the presence of his new king, was distracted by Argus' persistence. But instead of finding it annoying, Kerioth found it funny and let him be.
"Pfft ---! You look like a worm."
He, on the other hand, felt every fiber of his body scream in pain as he tried to crawl towards the edge of the Abyss. But there was no time to care for appearances, and he continued on with his snail-like movements with Kerioth's snickering as his background tune.
While doing so, he opened his mouth to realize what he had been longing to do, despite needing to push himself.
"Hah, hah. This is just me being both exceptionally talented and persistent. If one is mediocre, one should at least be hard-working, eh? Hah ---"
Kerioth shut his mouth at his trash words. He couldn't see the accursed face as he was focused on what was before him, but he could somehow feel the chill building up on his back.
He had to balance the words he was saying, or he might end up as an instant corpse instead.
"Well, one can take shortcuts; I guess finding them requires another sort of hard work? But what am I saying? Those kinds of people
eventually end up not amounting to much. "
"…"
"I am not saying it's you; of course, you're not a person after all. No offense to humanity."
"Pfft!"
He didn't expect trash talk would affect Kerioth in the slightest, but he has to lead the conversation or at least distract the demon.
"Hahahaha! So you're this type of person?"
"Not really—hup!"
'Keuk!'
His face was flattened to the ground in an instant. Kerioth must be suffering from a disorder that makes him violent when he's happy.
'Motherfuc---!'
In the process, he ended up with a broken nose; however, when he was let go, he carried on with worming his way, albeit much slower.
"Hahahaha! I'm not saying you're wrong, though, but who cares? Mediocrity or whatnot, the one who survives wins. I'll still survive longer than you."
"Ha! What stupid nonsense. I don't remember signing up for a competition."
"Let's just say I'm up to it, and it's your extreme misfortune to have known of me."
"..."
"I chose you. Argus."
'Crazy bastard.'
He couldn't see Kerioth's face, but he knew he was smiling widely with that same, disgusting smile of his. It made him sick to his stomach.
All of a sudden, Kerioth kicked him so hard that he was lifted off the ground.
He wasn't sure whether to be grateful or not, as he was sent almost to his destination in exchange for more pain. There was no getting used to it.
"Keuk --! Arghh "
Cough, cough.
He didn't bother with the blood he just vomited.
'Damn, damn, just a little more.'
"Ah, i-indeed, knowing the mediocre you was my greatest misfortune; my talented self has always regretted it."
"You know what? That's getting quite insulting coming from you when
you're the one creeping on the ground."
Being demonized certainly made Kerioth fickle and emotionally unstable.
If he was already brutal when happy, Kerioth's level of violence goes
up a notch when provoked.
"Argh, grahh!"
He couldn't help but let out a howl when he was struck with a sudden, unexplainable pain.
Kerioth stepped hard on his left shoulder, dislocating the whole thing in the process. Tears blurred his eyes, and he immediately felt faint.
'This motherf*cking son of a b*tch! Dammit, dammit!'
It was terrible, but he tried to keep himself together.
"Hah, hah. F-f*ck, you've got some serious anger management issues ---!"
If it wasn't Kerioth he was facing, he thought he would have begged for the enemy to kill him rather than endure being subjected to the almost unbearable agony. If it were an interrogation, he would have already spilled out everything he knows. He would have long gone to be on the demonic races' side if it was an invitation.
'Damn it, why is this body so uselessly tenacious?!'
Normal people would have been long dead.
At the moment, he could only curse his survivability and pride.
"Gah, you, you could only do this because you abandoned humanity. You are nothing without your demonic clothes, Kerioth."
"What ---"
"But how, Kerioth, is it that despite being a demon, you are still inferior?"
Kerioth's face instantly distorted.
"What nonsense ---"
"Hah, do you think so? Should I tell you a funny story?"
He spit out the blood that remained in his mouth and grinned.
It was time to sell himself.