Parasites, Magic And Revenge

Even though Raven had always been confident in himself since birth, from this moment on, he knew the man in front of him was right. Because even though he wasn’t injured, the man’s armor and weapon were at least advanced level, while Raven had only a steel knife in his hand. Raven may not have valued his life all these years, but the battle he was about to fight wasn’t for his life; it was for his honor. Raven took his stance as the masked man launched the first attack. Raven dodged to the left and swung his knife horizontally. The masked man stepped back and, gripping his sword with both hands, charged again. He kept slashing in many directions at incredible speed, but even though Raven stepped back each time, it was nearly impossible for him to dodge with a knife much smaller than the sword. While Raven's superior reflexes and combat skills allowed him to dodge every attack, the size of the masked man’s katana and Raven’s limited range meant he had no opportunity to counterattack. No matter what he did, with the range he had, he couldn’t find an opening and kept dodging the storm of attacks.

The masked man seemed to be getting quite angry and began using his full speed. Both moved swiftly, with Raven dodging the attacks by circling around the room, while the man tried to corner him, jabbing at him with every step. After minutes of this back-and-forth, the masked man had clearly reached the limit of his speed and had been attacking steadily at the same pace for the last few minutes. Although Raven could easily match his speed, his condition was worsening due to his injury, and he was becoming increasingly exhausted. The sound of metal clashing echoed through the room so rapidly that if anyone were nearby, their ears would surely be ringing.

Finally, when Raven was completely drained, instead of deflecting the masked man’s katana with his knife, he held it in place. He planned to push the katana away again after catching his breath. The masked man, though furious after missing for minutes even at top speed, laughed when Raven did this and then started to speak: “If I didn’t know your age, I’d think your experience was the reason for how well you fight, Raven Blake, but I forgot you're just a child prodigy. If you were to live, maybe you could make it into the top ten in the Nightmares.”

Raven, not understanding where he went wrong, decided to deflect the man’s sword since he had bought himself enough time. A scream of "AAAAAAH" erupted from the masked man as he applied all his strength to Raven’s knife, splitting the blade in two. Even though Raven didn’t expect this, he was prepared for the worst, so after pulling back his arm, he threw the hilt of the knife with all his strength at the man and managed to get out of the corner. The masked man, unaffected, turned around slowly and spoke in his gruff voice: “Raven Blake, you’re such an amateur that you thought a weapon not even part of the basic class could withstand an advanced-level katana. Also, since you couldn’t even get within my range with a knife, killing you barehanded won’t be any different from slaughtering a kitten. I don’t want to feel guilty while doing it, so do your best, okay?”

After laughing for a moment, Raven turned his back and broke off a leg from the table, taking it in his hand. After assuming his stance, he spoke again, smiling: “Actually, you’ve already lost.” The masked man didn’t understand what he meant, but he didn’t care much; he was holding something that wasn’t even a weapon, and with it, he couldn’t even kill an ordinary person. Raven spoke again: “I’ve never seen myself as a genius, but if you humans see me that way, believing that this is all I’m capable of is more childish than anything I’ve ever done.”

The masked man responded in his gruff voice: “At least after I kill you, I won’t feel any remorse.” When the masked man finished speaking, Raven dropped his guard and waited for the first attack. The masked man, surprised by Raven dropping his guard, attacked without hesitation. He slashed his sword diagonally, but Raven dodged with an extremely small movement. He continued his attacks from the right, left, above, and below, but the result didn’t change. Raven dodged each strike with pinpoint precision without moving much. The masked man thought either Raven was lucky enough to dodge thanks to his remaining energy, or he was using an advanced technique to conserve energy while effortlessly evading.

While waiting for the next attack, Raven began to speak: “Wow, I’m using this technique against a human for the first time.” From Raven's previous words and his current confidence, the masked man easily understood that this wasn’t the fear of someone lucky enough to escape at the last moment; this was the confidence of someone displaying their technique with skill and effort. As the man sped up his sword strikes, Raven quickened his dodges as well. He effortlessly evaded each attack, mocking him in the process: “Come on, Nightmare guy, you have to be faster. You can’t be slower than a kitten.” The masked man, enraged, began to scream, and although he increased his speed, he had lost control. It had been so long since he had affected Raven in any way that his brain had convinced him it was pointless to keep trying. Unwilling to accept this, he had lost himself.

As he swung to the left, Raven dodged to the right and struck the man’s chin with the leg of the table he was holding. Although it didn’t seem to have much of an effect, Raven hadn’t expected to achieve much with just one hit anyway. Now, after each dodge, he began striking the man’s chin with the stick. He ducked and hit, sidestepped and hit. The man, so enraged, wasn’t feeling anything, but Raven’s stick was completely bent from the armor.

The masked man swung down horizontally, and after Raven ducked, he tossed the stick into the air and caught the bent end. As he stood up, he swung the stick from below toward the man’s chin with all his momentum. The sound was so loud that it would make anyone’s hair stand on end, just imagining a human hitting another human with such force. The entire building almost shook, and a reverberating noise echoed through the streets. The masked man flew backward and fell to the ground. His mask had cracked, revealing part of his chin, where the flesh had been torn, and his teeth had ripped through his mouth. He was now in no condition to speak, even if he wanted to.