Chapter 54: Arena Fifty-Two: The Gods Of Death II
The bullet shot out of my gun and headed towards Raymond.
The next moment, a spark flew from in front of his chest. Raymond glared at me from behind his mask while holding his sword horizontally.
He had deflected a bullet just by using his sword.
Realizing once again that he was a monster, I took a step back.
"I would have let you two go... but you have infiltrated the Imperial Castle and have killed a lot of Imperial Guards, Alfred. You need to stand on trial... if you do, I'll make sure Arnold is kept safe."
My father turned towards me, but I shook my head. I wasn't going to trust Raymond, who was involved with the Imperial Family.
"Then let me take care of him, Arnold."
Seeing me shake my head, dad stepped forward with his own dagger as he grinned. He threw away the rifle before taking a stance.
"Alfred. I'm once again asking you to stand down. For both your sake and your son's sake."
Raymond looked away from me and warned my father for the second time... But dad dashed forward without replying.
He disappeared and reappeared just in front of Raymond... No, he had moved so fast that he looked as if he had vanished.
Yet another spark appeared between the two men. Raymond had blocked the dagger completely.
"Final warning. If you don't comply, you'll get hurt... Or at worst, die."
"Sorry, I have more things I want to enjoy."
Dad replied with a smirk as he unleashed a flurry of slashes on Raymond. Despite the slashes being fast and precise, Raymond deflected them all.
"Tsk... I can't attack him like this."
I was trying to find a weak point to attack... Yet, I couldn't see any gaps to attack him from.
While his back looked like his weak point, I knew from his manoeuvres earlier that it wasn't. If I tried to attack him from behind, he would cut me apart.
"You are quite a skilled young man!"
Dad complimented as he dodged another sword slash from Raymond.
"You have the luxury to comment?"
Raymond seemed annoyed as he twisted his body to the right to escape dad's dagger. He immediately followed up with a slash of his own.
"You can retort, so it makes us even, doesn't it?!"
Dad laughed as he suddenly pulled out a small gun from his backpack amidst the fighting. Without holding back, he quickly fired three shots at Raymond.
Raymond, as I had expected, blocked them all. But dad took this chance to slash at Raymond's face, which was unprotected due to his stance.
The mask cracked as soon as the blade hit it. Raymond leapt backwards to lessen the damage. By doing that, he had saved his face... But the mask fell off.
Almost immediately, the aura of death spread throughout the palace.
"Now you've done it."
Raymond hissed as his well-defined face twisted into a scowl.
"... You were holding back, eh?"
Dad seemed to be taken off-guard. He was sweating profusely as he pulled out another knife from his waist.
Unlike the black dagger, it was a normal knife.
"I had underestimated you."
Raymond muttered before holding his sword in one hand. He extended his free hands towards dad... And just whispered a single word.
"Die."
Immediately, the whole palace trembled. Dad quickly ducked and rolled away as the door behind him, along with the wall around it, was blown into smithereens.
I couldn't even see the slashes.
No... It was as if there wasn't any physical slash, to begin with.
"You can't run from death."
Raymond muttered as he turned his hands towards dad's new position. Almost instantly, the wall behind dad was torn apart. Once again, dad dodged by a hair's breadth.
"The heck!"
Dad cursed as he ran around the large hall while escaping the onslaught of the invisible attacks.
I gritted my teeth as I stood there, petrified. I couldn't move... But unlike before, my mind was running clearly.
It was my body that had instinctively stopped responding due to the fear of death.
"You're stubborn."
Raymond hissed as his eyes glowed. His slashes became more intense as he became hell-bent on killing my father.
It was as if this Raymond was a completely different person.
Dad didn't reply to his words as he twisted his body in various angles to dodge the slashes. Even with his amazing dexterity, he couldn't dodge them all.
Shallow wounds appeared on his hands and legs as he rolled away from yet another spot. His face became twisted in pain as he stood up to fight another barrage of attacks from Raymond.
A slash cut the straps of his backpack and it fell down near me as he again started running.
The backpack opened as it hit the ground... And a bracelet, along with a knife, came out from within it.
"T-this is..."
I saw a chance. I could definitely put Raymond down if I could grab that bracelet... But my body wouldn't move.
Gritting my teeth, I tried to move forcibly. Instead of walking forward, my knees gave up and I fell on the ground in pain.
"I wouldn't try to move if I was you, Arnold. Just lay there while I finish up."
Raymond muttered even without looking at me.
I became frustrated and annoyed, yet I couldn't do anything. Maybe it would be better to just lay there... Or so I thought.
Raymond was like an incarnation of death... Even my father, who had effortlessly put down so many Imperial Guards, was hard-pressed just trying to survive.
I tried to use [Alter Ego], but the words hardly came out.
Even so, I pushed myself... only to be met with a disappointing message.
[{Alter Ego} currently unavailable]
The skill had turned out to be unusable... well, I had expected that. I hadn't used the skill in the real world up until now... and there was always a chance that it wouldn't work here. Even so, I had hoped.
Now that it didn't work, there was no way in hell I could win against him... At least, not like this.
The feeling of powerlessness felt unbearable as I watched my father get more injured with each passing second.
But just as I was about to give up, a notification emerged in front of me.
[The God of Death and Afterlife, Anubis, has taken a liking to Raymond Winchester's soul.]
[Anubis demands Raymond Winchester's soul in exchange for bestowing you with a powerful skill.]
[Do you accept?]
The system asked me. I hesitated for a moment... But then I saw my father getting more wounds from Raymond's constant attacks.
With bitterness, I nodded.
[Anubis's demand has been accepted.]
[User has been granted temporary immunity from the fear of death.]
[User has 120 seconds remaining to claim the soul of Raymond Winchester.]
Just as the information came into my view, I felt strength returning to me. I crawled forward while making as little noise as possible and grabbed the bracelet with the knife.
It was the same one that Roxy had gifted me.
Raymond noticed my movement despite my efforts, but just as he was about to turn around and face me, dad dashed forward and released a counterattack.
The incarnation of death was forced to turn away. I didn't let this chance slip away. Putting on the bracelet, I ran towards him.
I pointed the knife at him as I moved closer and closer to him. Raymond aimed his sword without looking at me and unleashed another aura of death so powerful that even dad was forced back.
However, the aura hardly affected me. Without decreasing my speed, I thrust the knife forward aiming at his heart.
Raymond immediately understood that he couldn't stop me with his aura, so he unleashed a wave of death towards my father and turned around to face me.
He jabbed at me with his sword the very moment my dagger was about to pierce his chest.
A shockwave rattled the ground. A crater formed underneath me, but I stood firm.
A few moments passed in silence... Before Raymond coughed out some blood.
My knife had pierced his chest.
"H-how..."
He asked while grabbing his wounded chest. The broken sword fell down with a rattling sound... Its blade was cut in half.
Wordlessly, I held up my hand to show him a broken bracelet. Roxy's power of denial had done its job. It had denied the sword and deflected the stab.
"H-heh..."
Raymond chuckled as he kneeled on the ground, still clenching his chest. As expected from the Incarnation of death... He wouldn't go down even with a fatal wound.
"I'll make it painless."
I said before approaching him with the knife.
"... Use my sword, will you?"
Raymond said in a hoarse tone as he coughed out more blood.
"... Sure."
I picked up the broken sword and held it horizontally.
Then without wasting a moment, I swung it.
A second later, Raymond's decapitated head fell on the ground with a thud.
I stared at his face, which oddly had a satisfied expression on it. Even though I had just killed someone, I felt nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Then...
[Anubis has accepted the soul of Raymond Winchester.]
[You have fulfilled all conditions. You have been granted the active skill {Death's Judgement}.]
[Anubis has granted you the Blessing Of The Berserker.]
I nodded at the notifications... I still had to check the skill page, but I knew these skills would be helpful in the coming days.
I started walking towards my dad, who had stood up and was looking at me with disbelief. But just as I was about to take another step...
"Noooooo!"
A shrill cry forced me to look over my shoulder.
I saw the girl I had shot earlier looking at the whole scene with shock, fear and sadness.
Felicia was on the ground, staring at Raymond's headless body. She was crying.
Her beautiful face was a mess of tears and snot... It seemed that she genuinely cared for Raymond. What a surprise.
"Arnold, we should go."
My dad stepped forward with a pained expression and put a hand on my shoulder. I nodded, before throwing away the sword. Then I followed behind dad and left the palace.
Surprisingly, none of the Imperial Guards behind Felicia tried to stop us.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone