This is the story of a magician and an elf girl.

"!"

『——!』 The moment of the final battle has come. The two men who injected strength into their ankles took a step towards each other. Jie Si thought that the other party would throw a weapon, but he saw him rushing towards him in a throwing posture. Jie Si took out his folding knife and threw it out.

“Whoosh!” “Snap!”

At the same time, John counterattacked with a throwing knife to offset the attack of the folding knife. At this time, Jie Si picked up the second throwing knife and threw it with only two fingers holding the blade.

"Swoosh, crackle!" John threw the gravel to crush it, and then used a thick rope without gravel to swing towards Jie Si. Needless to say, Jie Si, who immediately withdrew his hand to avoid it, didn't want to be whipped by such a thick hemp rope, so he had to bite the bullet even if he had no weapon in his hand.

"Swoosh!" John, who was waving the thick rope, turned his wrist like a master of nunchakus to prevent Jie Si from getting close to him. He could only retract his fists and feet, but he soon found a countermeasure.

"Snap!" That means to simply give up the meaningless obsession after being whipped once, and tightly grasp the thorny hemp rope with the beaten hand.

"caught you--"

"--If you want it, I'll give it to you." John let go of the thick rope and pulled out his main weapon from the scabbard without saying a word.

"Snap!" Jie Si, who was holding the taut thick rope in front of his body, saw the dagger in his hand cut the thick rope in two with extremely sharpness. Ordinary knives had already become blunt after such a fierce battle, and it was impossible to cut such a thick hemp rope with one stroke. Even a serrated knife could not do it.

Just when he realized that this was a trick set up by the other party, the sharp silver knife had already swept across Jie Si's torso.

"Gah?!"

"Tsk... is it too shallow..."

After being severely cut in the chest, Jie Si took a step back and distanced himself from John. The hot blood stained his clothes red.

Although it was not a fatal injury, it was undoubtedly a serious one. The blood loss would make his thinking slow and his movements stiff. This was not going to be good...

"One last blow, any last words?"

"Heh... What a pity that I didn't touch the elf's butt. It would have been great if I could have touched it..."

"--Go to hell." John knew very well that he could not be careless when facing an unarmed soldier, so he was wary of Jess's nimble hands and threw the weapon in his hand.

Watching the silver dagger coming towards him, Jess thought it was a throwing attack and raised his hands to block the blade. However, the speed of the dagger was not even as fast as the flying speed of a paper airplane. He was paying too much attention to the knife and realized that John, who had discarded the knife by feinting, pulled out two tiger claws and swung them at his wrists from left and right.

"Snap, snap!" Both hands, which were pierced by the tiger claws, were filled with blood. Jess gritted his teeth in pain and made a desperate effort to hold the blade tightly in his palms to prevent John from letting go. At the same time, he raised his right foot and kicked straight.

"Bang!" John, who didn't have time to retract his hands, was kicked in the chest. As the wound caused by the magic worm eroding his magic veins had not yet healed completely, he couldn't bear the severe pain and fell into a state of stiffness. Taking advantage of the few seconds of brief opportunity, Jess kicked away the dagger stuck in the floor. The dagger wrapped in centrifugal force was converted into visual information and reflected in front of the dark irises, constantly shortening the distance.

"Gu..."

"——Snap." The pain of a sharp object piercing the body came.

"What..." John, who had vomited blood, knelt on one knee, staring at the dagger in front of his chest that had killed so many lives. It stood upright in the center of his body as if it was constantly taking away his vitality. The field of vision of his eyes gradually began to become narrow and blurred - why, why did it become like this.

Is this also... cause and effect... beast... why... at this time... or is it... retribution...

"Hey... stand up..."

"..."

Is the result inevitable... Must I continue to be cursed by such things? Will this endless chain have no end? Is this the price of using magic, the final end of the magician who created the human continent, saved the people, and took away all the misfortunes?

"...You are not that fragile...Stand up! I am still alive! You haven't killed me yet!!"

"..."

I have always used this knife as a killing tool, which is obviously not its proper purpose. But now it has mercilessly pierced my heart and broken the bond between me and it is what I deserve.

No matter how you struggle, how hard you try, how you pursue that daily life that does not belong to you.

The result... is still the same, a fantasy.

All I can do is to be destined to be an executioner and accept the punishment of plundering lives... But if I die here, who will save the child?

You can betray your own trust, you can betray your own reliance, but can you betray the agreement between you and her?

Use it. Even if you are going to fall, it is enough to be alone.

"Stand up!!! Didn't you hear me!!!"

"——It's so noisy..."

"—!"

John stretched out his shaking hand to grasp the hilt of the knife and poured strength into his palm. He looked up at Jess with his sharp eyes, which lit up the road to the future with indigo light: "Mystic Eyes - Activate."

"Snap." The bright red blade was slowly pulled out from the haggard torso. Jie Si knew that he would lose too much blood if he did that. He saw that the opponent's wound had stopped bleeding rather than losing blood. Through the leather armor and clothes, he could see that the skin on his chest had healed as before. It was almost like -

"Jiesu...what do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Well... I want to be a hero like the magician! Because he's awesome, right? From history we can tell that he's a true hero, I want to be someone like the magician!"

"Huh? Really... Then you better do your best."

The scene in his memory came to his mind. He didn't know why he was thinking about it now. He saw the warrior dressed in black, standing in front of him with a dagger and incredible magic that the magicians in history were good at. If he had any last words, it would definitely be...

“Ahh… I finally found it… It’s right in front of me… As expected… You are amazing – my… hero…”

"—die."

"Swoosh--crack!" The magician took a step forward from the ground and swung the silver knife in his hand. The blade chopped horizontally towards Jess's neck, cutting through the blood vessels and muscle tissue. He even cut off the bronchi and spine with a single blow. With blood spurting out, his head flew into the air and then fell to the ground, spinning. His unconscious torso slowly fell to the ground, showing no signs of movement.

“Ha…ah…haah…haah…”

John, who could feel that the demon worm was becoming more ferocious, took out the stone tablet from his arms. Another line of words engraved on it gradually emerged from the fallen fragments, revealing its meaning - betraying oneself, abandoning ideals, carrying out one's determination, and heading towards the path of self-destruction.

"As you like...mockery...hmm..."

Unable to bear the pain, he fell to the ground groaning and gasping. The power of the magic eye had not yet fully taken effect, and his breathing was irregular. Under normal circumstances, it should have been repaired long ago.

Could it be that the magic insect cannot be classified as a product of intelligence, and the magic veins in its body will become one with the erosion... In this case, wouldn't it be...

"!"

Just when John was about to stand up, a loud bang came from the building behind him. The strong vibration reminded him of the memories of that time. The fingertips that picked up the throwing knife were still trembling faintly, and negative thoughts kept coming from his heart that was unable to be occupied by self-confidence.

Another battle is lost, and another death match is about to begin.