The ongoing and intense conflict between the two sides continued with mutual responses and counterattacks.
The spirit of darkness was upon Aaron, and though he struggled to breathe and was slowly approaching the brink of collapse, his stubbornness persisted.
"Aaron! Please die!"
At that moment, blood shot from Aaron's mouth as he was attacked from below, splashing onto Teyat's face.
"Damn bastard!"
Teyat's eyes were filled with the blood that had splashed from Aaron, temporarily blocking his vision. He could not see his surroundings, and his body was now completely on the verge of exhaustion!
The same pitiful situation applied to Aaron. The pressure on his throat, caused by the blow from Teyat, had eased slightly, allowing him to breathe a little. But Teyat's bloodied hands were still squeezing his throat, desperately trying to strangle him.
And then, without expecting another attack, it came!
Aaron quickly freed his right hand from Teyat's grip on his throat and, with the last of his strength, struck Teyat's chin!
However, this blow to the chin had little effect on the person who was determined to kill him. Therefore, Aaron resorted to another tactic.
Without hesitation, he launched another attack. After the unbalanced blow to his chin, he quickly directed his right thumb toward Teyat's blood-covered eyes.
Seeing Aaron's thumb coming toward his eyes, Teyat swiftly caught it with his mouth and applied intense pressure, trying to break it with all his strength!
Of course, he was trying to minimize the damage to himself by ripping off his thumb.
Like a true monster!
Teyat's eyes were shining with a murderous desire. But at the same time, his body was exhausted. His only wish now was to escape this cursed place as quickly as possible. Therefore, he aimed to kill Aaron as quickly as he could.
With his mouth, he grabbed Aaron's thumb like a dog and tried to tear it off with all his strength!
Both of them were considering every possibility in their current situation.
Due to Aaron's attempt to rip off Teyat's thumb, his voice came out hoarsely, echoing with pain and despair with every passing moment!
The sounds of their struggle began to faintly echo through the forest.
'Hold on, hold on, you can do it, you can do it... Damn bastard, die already!'
While Teyat was struggling with his internal conflict, Aaron was still trying to say something. His voice had become nearly inaudible as he repeated how important his words were. But Teyat didn't want to hear the repeated words. He hoped to end this quickly.
With his face, clothes, and hair stained with blood, Aaron squeezed one of his hands into Teyat's grip on his throat, while with the other, he had lost his thumb to the little monster.
In a short time, his thumb had almost been completely torn off. From those eyes, from the gaze filled with rage, from the murderous desire, he could feel something. Even in this painful state, he could feel it. The emotion he felt wasn't hatred or bitterness; it was a killing desire born out of necessity.
However, Aaron didn't want to die just yet because he had an important request from his friend who was trying to kill him – a very important request.
This request was to kill the person who had taken everything from him: his freedom, his happiness, his life, his family, and more.
Yes, Aaron knew that what Teyat had said and done were lies because he knew the truth himself.
But that was not a problem for Aaron. The hope of using Teyat, the one who had taken everything from him, to kill that person, gave him hope!
Because someone who had escaped the 'Lord of the Roses' would know at least a little about the power of that person's soul. Teyat's soul was far stronger than that of the 'Lord of the Roses', and Aaron, in his current state, considering that Teyat was trying to kill him, realized that Teyat could defeat that person.
After all, those who joined the 'Devil's Renegades' and were condemned to eternal slavery could not harm one another.
But since Teyat could harm him, he had come to understand, even if he didn't fully comprehend how, that he was now a free soul.
•
Enduring physical and psychological pain, the heir of darkness now carried an unknown and unwanted inheritance of godhood. His purpose was to redeem his regrets from his past life, fix the mistakes he could not correct, and experience all the things he had never tasted before.
He had no interest in embarking on the kinds of adventures found in stories. No matter how cold-blooded, merciless, stubborn, and deep he was, even he had butterflies in his wings.
The butterflies that wanted to fly in peace, to be free, and wander on their own, disregarding all the concepts that shaped the universe. In short, innocent white butterflies that only wanted to be happy.
But there were also black butterflies. Just like all beings.
The black butterflies were those who, in order to let the white butterflies fly freely, did all sorts of dirty work, made sacrifices, and entered into dirty deeds. These black butterflies, though seen as evil, were innocents who helped Teyat with his mission by making psychological or physical sacrifices.
That's why the spirit of darkness allowed the black butterflies to fly around it!
Finally, Teyat gripped Aaron's thumb with all his strength and, using all his rage and power, tore it off and tossed it aside!
Aaron, with his thumb torn off, screamed in agony, but his scream remained hoarse and weak due to the pain. The hand that should have fallen to the ground was still suspended in the air, pointed at Teyat.
His hand hadn't fallen because he wasn't just aiming to gouge out Teyat's eye with his thumb. His true goal was different. The true goal was to make Teyat tear off his thumb with his mouth and use it as a weapon.
Would it have been more logical to grab a sharp object and kill Teyat?
No. Because pulling something like that out of his blood could disrupt his circulation and lead to his death. The blood loss could cause him to die prematurely.
Thus, the reason for tearing off his thumb was to manipulate the blood leaking from the wound, creating and using it in different forms.
This was his power!
So, just as death was about to take him, Aaron quickly launched another attack.
And suddenly, from the spot where his thumb had been torn off, a small object began to take shape from the blood, forming a crescent shape the length of a normal human hand.
With both hands, he threw the blood-formed object at Teyat, who was still trying to break free from his grip on his throat.
The blood-formed object sped toward Teyat's right arm, hitting it and piercing halfway through!
Teyat, unaware of the deep blow he had received, opened his eyes in horror and let out a loud scream!
He no longer cared about the rule of silence; the pain was so intense it was impossible to ignore, because the blood-formed object had nearly severed his arm from his shoulder.
Aaron, despite his throat being slit, quickly freed himself from Teyat's grip on his throat, breathing deeply and rapidly, coughing.
He swiftly moved his left hand toward the deep wound on his right arm and, with a swift motion, hurled himself backward over Aaron.
He looked at the wound in horror.
Yes, Teyat's idea of learning only through experience… it had frustrated him.
At a disadvantage due to Aaron's unpredictable attacks, Teyat felt something rise from within him, born of fear.
As soon as he fell to the ground, he continued to crawl toward a tree, groaning in agony.
"Aaah! I-it hurts, it hurts!!"
As he crawled, his face contorted in pain, and he was breathing rapidly.
"I-I need to get up!"
He stammered in pain as he crawled along.
'No... Stupid Teyat! You should have known your enemy first! I need to run, I need to run! Shadow? I need to find a shadow!'
He cursed himself with relentless despair as he crawled on the ground, desperately scanning his surroundings for a shadow or a dark spot.
But he couldn't find what he was looking for.
'No! I can't die now; at least let me taste a little of my new life…'
He turned his head desperately toward the tree on the ground. The reason he was crawling toward the tree was that, with only one arm and in his current exhausted state, he couldn't get up on his own. He needed to use the tree for support and rise to take the necessary action.
The concept called life, the concept that causes endless wars between people or for which a person can sacrifice everything, was an insignificant and empty concept to him in his life before he committed suicide.
He thought that in the end there would still be death and that it would be absurd for people to attribute meaning to this concept called life and that the result of searching for meaning would be nothing.
Yes, this was the thought of a 16-year-old boy whose only entertainment was reading genre-aware novels.
But in his current situation, he is like a pathetic fish struggling to survive.
How ridiculous!
It was as if the idea of trivializing the concept of life had been turned on its head.
Or he was filled with a desire to live, which every human being, consciously or unconsciously, would do his best to live in such situations.
But Teyat wanted to experience this life. He wanted to love this life, this living.
And because he was the chosen one, he had the absurd notion of saving the planet on which he lived.
How ridiculous!
[Hi, I am Emirhan, I will not be away for a long time after this episode because I will fulfill the necessary things for my novel. See you for now.]