Chapter 366: Devil's Contract
Cannot dodge, cannot block, cannot make physical contact...
[Sage] stood in place, patted the dust off his clothes, and smoothed his whitening temples.
"You are probably the most powerful Second Ladder Reincarnator I've ever seen, Mercenary Tao..."
He seemed to be recalling something, or perhaps feeling somewhat bored because victory was in his grasp.
Mercenary Tao's speed, which was completely undetectable by the naked eye and could almost shuttle back and forth within his mental force field to tear apart his Taijutsu defense, finally froze at this moment.
When Sage said he knew a little about Taijutsu earlier, it wasn't some cold joke; it was his usual modesty.
In fact, his Taijutsu was quite good. He could use mental power to completely cover a range of nearly five kilometers around his body. Within this distance, nothing could escape his perception.
Moreover, Sage's Strength and Agility attributes also exceeded thirty points. It could be said that he wouldn't fall behind when fighting ordinary Second Ladder Taijutsu-side Reincarnators.
It was just that Mercenary Tao's speed and strength in his current state were too exaggerated, so much so that Sage was knocked flying like a sandbag.
Kaito Shirogane stood in place, seemingly having lost the ability to resist.
Sage just extended his fist, walking towards him step by step.
Dodging the attack meant death.
Blocking the attack meant death.
Physical contact meant death.
Hum!
Golden Qi condensed at Kaito's fingertip in an instant. With [Omen of the Evil God] actively turned on, Kaito's fingers were wrapped in a crimson phantom.
Golden Qi gathered violently, unexpectedly appearing crimson as well.
The terrifying power made Sage pause instantly.
The surrounding air began to twist. Even hundreds of meters away, Sage could still feel a burning pain in his chest.
That was the location locked by this attack.
Sage sighed and shook his head:
"Almost forgot you also mastered this ability. Indeed, it doesn't count as completely sealing off your attacks."
In the next moment, Sage continued walking towards Kaito, clearly not taking this attack seriously.
In the distance, [Short Hair] and [Locker] suddenly felt inexplicable terror in their hearts. They weren't stupid. In the battle just now, they had realized that this [Sage] was indeed one of those famous Title Level Reincarnators in the Space.
It seemed Mercenary Tao had the advantage, but in reality, Mercenary Tao had been forced into a desperate situation.
Just by speaking, he could set rules for the opponent's inevitable death. Such a thing was simply inconceivable to Reincarnators like them who were in the First Ladder or just entered the Second Ladder.
But at this moment, Mercenary Tao's attack descended again. Who would be the next substitute for death?!
"Members of [Chaos Sage] should all be dead. Can he still transfer damage?!"
[Lilith]'s voice was very soft. Her throat was pierced, but she hadn't died yet. [Fubuki], who kept her hands extended to maintain Lilith's blood circulation and breathing with superpowers, frowned.
"Don't speak anymore. We just need to wait here... wait for that person to rush back..."
Fubuki still looked somewhat pale, but her condition was also decent.
She controlled Lilith to float up, and the group retreated further away. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the city had been completely distorted—half turned into eerie curved shapes, the other half almost completely crushed.
Fubuki didn't expect there really existed an Esper in the world who could match her sister. There was no room for others to intervene in the fight between two monsters.
But no matter what, she didn't believe her sister would lose. In this world, the only person who could beat [Tornado of Terror] was perhaps...
Fubuki's heart skipped a few beats. Crimson light suddenly lit up from behind the group.
Pfft!
A smell of burnt flesh permeated the atmosphere instantly.
Crimson light condensed to the extreme pierced through Sage's chest in an instant, continuing into the ground.
Crack crack...
The earth began to crack. That strike, which penetrated an unknown depth into the strata, quickly caused the ground blocks to collapse and split.
Even earth fire began to ignite.
Sage's body swayed twice, then fell.
Lilith was controlled by Fubuki's psychokinesis to escape in the air. Looking worriedly at Mercenary Tao's battlefield, she suddenly saw a familiar figure appear at the end of Mercenary Tao's finger strike.
Locker had a look of disbelief on his face, a thumb-sized hole appearing in his chest.
"No, no no no..."
Lilith looked behind in despair, only to see Short Hair frozen in place too. Locker, who should have been fleeing with them, had disappeared at some point.
"What exactly... is this ability..."
Short Hair revealed a look of despair.
Locker couldn't be a member of Chaos Sage. Could he also be used to transfer damage and substitute death?!
Then isn't this ability invincible?!
As long as he was on a battlefield with more than just himself, killing him would only cause others to die...
Sage leisurely straightened his black priest robe. Looking at Kaito, he raised a finger again.
"Mercenary Tao, in the upcoming battle, if you use a repeated ability again, you will explode and die."
Sage gave another restriction.
But Kaito suddenly sneered.
Bang!
The sound of the ground shattering rang out. Sage frowned, having already been pierced through the chest by a punch.
Squelch!
That fist directly penetrated Sage's body, lifting him off the ground.
Sage frowned, his expression looking at Kaito becoming strange.
"Mercenary Tao... you guy, really have no reason?!"
Kaito shook his hand casually.
Squelch!
The corpse fell apart.
Kaito didn't care who died at all, stepping towards Sage again.
Thump, thump, thump.
The momentum was completely opposite to just now; instead, Sage stood in place.
"You wasted a chance, Sage..."
Mercenary Tao's words made Sage's composed expression change for the first time. At the same time, intense killing intent was hard to suppress.
This guy... actually figured out a trace of the truth about my ability?!
Kaito instantly sensed the change in Sage's emotions. That moment of hesitation allowed him to find a loophole. His eyes focused, marking the opponent with [Gaze of Pride] while actively launching an impact simultaneously.
Bang!
Sage retreated two steps, knocked back by an invisible attack. Then a second time, a third time...
Repeated attacks made Sage retreat constantly.
Kaito continued speaking.
"I guess your ability is roughly that every time I attack you, or we engage in a mutual attack behavior, you can set a restriction on me."
"But that restriction isn't as invincible as imagined. Otherwise, you could have directly set that I would die after your next strike."
Kaito continued forward, the crimson luster in his eyes resembling the gaze of a true Evil God, gaining insight into everything.
He raised a finger, the movement almost exactly the same as Sage's earlier.
"So the restrictions you set the first and second time were both set to make me continue engaging in mutual attack behavior with you subsequently."
"But the third time, you set that touching your body would cause death. Compared to the previous effects, this restriction effect is powerfully unlike an ability, and also violates the pattern of previous restrictions hoping for mutual attacks..."
Sage looked at this beast-like creature actually peeling apart and analyzing his ability one by one. The corners of his mouth curled up in a mocking smile.
"So, you trust your judgment that much?"
"If you guessed wrong, you would have died the moment you attacked me just now."
"And believe me, even with immortality, you can't be immune many times..."
Kaito arrived in front of him again, grabbing Sage's head and squeezing hard.
Squelch!
"I won't be wrong, and I won't lose."
Kaito threw away the corpse in his hand. Looking at the appearance, it seemed to be that [Xelo]'s companion from before, a fat man good at shooting?
He shook his head indifferently, discarding the corpse.
Through the probing just now, he also learned bad news.
The number of Sage's substitute bodies probably far exceeded his imagination.
So much so that the opponent had no intention of dodging his attacks at all.
This ability made a flash of inspiration appear in Kaito's mind, recalling a certain work.
And Kaito always trusted his intuition.
Therefore, looking at Sage who appeared again and raised his finger to set a new rule, he said:
"You... are actually a [Devil], right."
"A [Devil] from Chainsaw Man."
Sage lowered his finger, his eyes terrifyingly cold. This guess had no basis at all, nor any special deduction process.
But Mercenary Tao just pointed out the true face of his ability so bluntly.
At this moment, Sage suddenly recalled Xelo's dying words.
[There's something wrong with Mercenary Tao]
"Then guess, how many people have made a contract with me to die for me?!"
Sage's voice appeared abruptly in Kaito's mind. In the next moment, Kaito's vision began to change. The surroundings quickly turned into the appearance of a vast sea. Kaito looked down, finding himself standing on an 'island' only one square meter in size.
He looked up. A huge dragon head hung down from the sky. Sage's voice came precisely from there.
Kaito looked at his body. [Omen of the Evil God] and the Talent Manifestation state had both disappeared. This clearly wasn't the real world.
The corners of his mouth curled up as he looked at the giant dragon.
"Who cares about that kind of thing..."
"Just... kill a few more times, ha..."
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