"A warrior fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."
.
(POV: Ryomen Sukuna)
"Well shit." My hand gripped the broken knife's hilt tightly, my eyes fixed on the glowing eye sockets of the Skeleton King.
He was holding a huge longsword, which was bent in the middle, probably due to the force of my hit. It was clear that it was useless now.
Chaos ensued in the room, but to us, everything was silent, as if there was nothing in this world except us two.
Our gazes clashed, the air between us crackling with the intensity as we both refused to stand down.
The King slowly pushed himself off the throne, his eyes glowing an even brighter red, it was almost as if he was… excited.
My legs trembled, and I realized… I had exerted myself a lot. This body was already weak, and running for so long, along with doing such a strong attack had taken quite a toll on me.
I took a deep breath, steadying myself.
Even if my legs fall of, I can simply heal them… it's no big deal. What's important right now is to defeat this dude.
I raised my leg, walking forward slowly. The King did the same, his bones rattling as we slowly got closer, our gazes unwavering.
With a swift movement, I threw the broken knife towards the King, and as if having the same thoughts, he threw the bent longsword towards me.
Our weapons met in the air with a loud clash, bright sparks falling in all directions as they both shattered into pieces, falling like puzzle pieces onto the floor.
In the time it took for this to happen, we had already reached each other, our hands curled up into fists as we threw a punch towards each other's body.
I had jumped in the air, after all, he was almost twice as big as me, hitting his legs would not be too beneficial if he could heal.
Our punches cut through the air with precision, a sharp whoosh sound emanating from the air around our fists.
Our punches connected deafening thuds. I hit his ribs with a force even I thought to be too much, while his bony hand punched me right in the abdomen, pushing the air out of my lungs.
We both stumbled back, regaining our footing quickly.
I hadn't sustained too much damage, reinforcing myself using cursed energy, the damage was mostly internal, which was quickly healed using reverse cursed technique, a groan escaping my lips at the burning sensation.
The Skeleton King, however, had suffered much more damage, its left part of the rib cage almost completely shattered, shards of bones sprinkling onto the floor like graffiti.
Its right hand, which had punched me, was also damaged. His finger bones were cracked, as if they could fall out anytime.
However, he didn't react, his excited gaze not wavering in the slightest as a soft, almost comforting white glow covered his shattered and cracked bones, healing them effortlessly.
My lips curled up as I witnessed the spectacle. With loud cracking sounds, his bones grew, and rearranged themselves back into a perfectly fine rib cage.
Without wasting any more time, I swiped my hand, sending a Dismantle hurling towards him, shooting towards him myself.
The Dismantle hit his shoulder, slicing clean through, his arm falling to the ground with a loud click.
His eyes met mine, glinting in a contemplative light. His cut arm instantly grew back, its bony legs bending as it moved away.
My fingers flicked continuously, sending a torrent of slashes flying towards him.
"How long can you keep up?" I muttered, my smile unwavering as I wanted to test the limits of his healing capabilities.
However, my eyes widened at the spectacle. It dodged my slashes.
I swiped my hand upwards, and it swerved to the left, effortlessly dodging my Dismantle.
He had figured it out… the condition to use Dismantle was the movement of my hands.
I swiped at its feet, making it jump into the air. However, my hand suddenly stopped, its eyes glinting with surprise at the feint.
I swiped my other arm upwards, sending a vertical slash that he couldn't dodge, since he was in mid-air.
The slash hit him cleanly, cutting his body into half. The part on the left fell to the ground, while the right stood straight. His body started to regenerate, the fallen half disappearing with a gentle light.
Without wasting a second, he stepped back, his arms rising with a white glow on them, but this time, the glow didn't feel soft, but violent, almost as if it was going to devour him too.
My eyes widened slightly as I realized… he was casting a spell.
I pushed myself away, the floor under me cracking as I shot away to the right.
From under me, huge spikes came out of the ground with loud grinding sounds. I breathed a sigh of relief, but this wasn't over.
Spikes appeared wherever I went, forcing me to continuously move.
My widened eyes widened even more, the realization hitting me… he was trying to tire me out.
The Skeleton King had noticed my physical weakness, and was trying to take advantage of it… he had intelligence comparable to humans.
I could feel my movements get sluggish, my breathing getting ragged as my mind ran faster than I did, trying to find options.
"Shit," I muttered, my running not stopping.
Something confused me… the mana required to make so many spikes consecutively, and such big ones at that required much more mana than a B-Rank monster could use safely… and the King seemed to be completely normal.
A spike appeared in front of me, forcing me to abruptly turn, my shoulder hitting said spike as I did. I groaned at the impact, which slightly cracked the stone spike.
Wait… I'm weak physically, but with this amount of cursed energy…
My footsteps immediately stopped. The Skeleton King's nonexistent eyes seemed to widen.
I felt a spike rising from the floor, slowly digging into my back as I let out a groan of pain, my nerves sending signals of overwhelming anguish to my brain.
The spike impaled me, entering from my back and leaving from my abdomen, blood rushing out of the wound.
I coughed loudly, blood shooting out of my mouth, landing on the floor, painting the stone a deep red.
With this much cursed energy… I can almost infinitely use reverse cursed technique.
A grin formed on my face, despite the pain. The adrenaline rushing through my veins overshadowed the unbearable torment of being impaled.
The Skeleton King thought of this as an opportunity, his hands moving in front of him, glowing in an orange glow as it cast another spell, its bones rattling with the force.
My eyes widened again… this amount of mana… a B-Rank should not possess this one. But this Skeleton was undeniably B-Rank. So, where was he getting mana from.
Sparks formed around his hands as the overwhelming amount of mana confined in his grip threatened to escape in an uncontrollable storm.
Suddenly, he opened his hands, the air around him crackling with energy as he finished the spell.
Then, there was silence, an eerie, dangerous silence like the calm before a storm, my heart skipped a beat as I saw what seemed like space itself being torn apart.
A torrent of fire rushed out from his hands towards me. As if burning the air itself, it gushed out in a graceful display of irresistible power.
The flames lit the whole room a bright orange, as if a new sun had formed in the room.
I could feel the heat of the flames as they got closer, blinding my eyes as I felt incoming death.
Cursed energy flowed into the spike impaling me, making it vibrate before it shattered into pieces, some of the shards piercing into my body.
I crossed my hands in front of my face as the storm of fire hit me, burning my skin as I let out a loud groan. I was thrown back, floating in the air.
My clothes were stuck to my body, my skin charred black as my face was barely recognizable. I flew towards the other side of the room.
Slowly, my burned lips curled up, forming a smile which was both triumphant and mocking at the same time.
I raised my right hand, which was a deep black from being charred, ashes falling out of it.
I curled my hand up into a fist, slowly uncurling my middle finger, showing it clearly to the Skeleton.
I had figured out how to defeat him.
My damaged body started to heal as I performed reverse cursed technique meticulously, the sensation of healing comforting my injuries.
I landed on the floor with a thud, cracking it slightly as a cloud of dust arose around me, the monsters around me stumbling onto the ground.
My burned face was healing at an incredible pace, making Johan, who was the closet to me when I landed, widen his eyes.
"Sukuna!" Johan shouted, running towards me, as if wanting to help. Unfortunately, this wasn't the time.
The Skeleton King was charging another spell while also running towards us, his bones clattering as his footsteps cracked the floor under him.
I placed my hand on the ground, cursed energy converging onto my palm as Johan's footsteps slowed down.
My gaze swept over the other team members, their faces both astonished and sad.
But then, I saw something which made my eyes widen to a degree I didn't think was possible.
Nina was lying on the floor, a sword impaled through her chest, a pool of her own blood under her. Her eyes had lost all color, her skin uncannily pale.
Her cheeks had faint tear marks… she was crying in her last moments, as if she was trying to run before she died, as if she wanted… to live.
Alexia still had tears in her eyes as she fought. The atmosphere within the team was solemn, their eyes filled with determination to not let Nina's death go in vain.
Suddenly, I felt something… something on my cheek.
Was it a… tear?
My eyebrows rose involuntarily, confusion clearly visible on my face.
Why was I tearing up? Why was I sad about the death of someone so unimportant as Nina?
Nina was not the part of the main cast, she was just… normal. If not now, she would die soon enough, she wasn't going to achieve anything great, and hence, I had no reason to care for her.
But then… why? Why does her death sadden me so?
My eyes met the figure of the King quickly approaching, my eyes widening as I came back to my senses, my face now eerily apathetic.
I took a deep breath, the cursed energy concentrated on my palm threatening to burst out.
"Cleave: Spiderweb."
My voice echoed in the room, which went eerily silent at my chant, the King's steps slowing down as it felt great danger to itself.
My eyes glanced at my teammates. I nodded slightly, wishing them good luck.
The floor cracked in a web-like pattern, the shrieks and cries of monsters echoing in the room as the floor broke into pieces, revealing a deep hole under it.
Everything and everyone fell into the hole, almost floating as the fall seemed to never end.
My gaze met the King's, and he seemed… surprised. I had figured out its secret.
He was a necromancer, and had summoned a huge number of undead with were hiding under the throne room.
Every time one of these undead died, the mana used to summon them came back to him, creating an almost-infinite source of mana.
This was probably accomplished using a soul-connection, but the problem is… the soul is not something a B-Rank monster should know about.
The floor became visible, and on it were thousands… no, tens of thousands of small, E-Rank skeletons thrashing around in a pile, their jaws clattering as the debris fell on them, killing many.
I landed on the skeletons, killing a few dozen as I reinforced my legs to break the fall.
Anny used wind magic to slow Nina's fall, making sure that her body was safe… they all wanted to at least bury her peacefully.
My teammates immediately started to kill the skeletons one-by-one, understanding their role in the fight.
I turned around, my whole body trembling with exertion as I stared into the Skeleton King's eyes, my gaze unwavering.
There was a small smirk on my face, but a tear still fell down my cheek. I couldn't take Nina's death out of my mind… I couldn't understand why I failed to do so.
The Skeleton's eyes glowed red. It seemed like anger, or frustration, it even looked like he was impressed.
I slowly walked towards him, my legs shaking because of the toll the battle had taken on me.
My eyes glinted with irritation… I will have to do something about this worthless physique and the limits set on it.
The Skeleton King's bones trembled… was it in excitement? Or was it anger?
His hands shot upwards, the right glowing orange, while the left glowed blue… as if he was planning to use a huge spell.
The amount of mana converging towards him made my eyes widen… my lips curling up into a borderline maniacal smile.
"What now, budget Ainz?" I asked mockingly, my heart skipping a beat at the anticipation of the spell he was casting.
I reinforced my whole body using cursed energy, ready to defend against the incoming attack.
I knew… this was going to be the most difficult one yet.