Holding back on me

Ba-dump

Max's heart continued to beat even as it was forcefully pulled out from his body.

He had a calm expression on his face as he slowly moved his hands to grip the arm that had penetrated his chest and burst out from his back, taking his heart along with it.

"Ugh." He coughed up blood while groaning in pain. With each passing moment, his heart slowed down its beating, heralding the end of its journey.

"This is my victory." Even though the hooded man said that he was still wary as he held onto Max's beating heart.

He had already experienced Max escaping death once. He definitely could not allow it to happen a second time thus he put his guard up.

He eyed the handsome fellow before him and seeing his skin slowly turn pale, he held out hope that this was the end of the road for such a pesky target.

At the same time, Dark Thunder got back to his feet as he shook off the pain he felt from getting smacked across the face.

Upon seeing Max's condition, he could not help but sneer in his heart as he felt that his pains were worth it. "Another one bites the dust." It was undoubtedly pleased with the result.

Max tightened his grip on the man's hand as he coughed up blood again before asking. "How can you be so sure that you have won?"

The hooded man looked him over one more time before revealing a sinister smirk. "Because I can sense your life force slowly leaving your body. You can die with no regrets knowing that it was done by me, Jason."

Max gritted his teeth. "…I see. Since that is the case, I have a request."

Jason replied. "What is it?"

"Why are you doing this?" Max's voice was slowly turning hoarse as his death rapidly approached.

Jason saw no problems as he responded. "I am merely an assassin sent to do his job. In your next life, know that there are people that you absolutely cannot offend. Endeavor to make better life decisions."

Jason did not know of the relationship between Kara and Max, so naturally, he attributed the reason for the assassination to be because Max had somehow offended the femme fatale, leading to his untimely demise.

Of course, the reason for the hit order was none of his concern as he only cared about the payment after he had completed the mission.

Hearing Jason's words, the corner of Max's lips twitched as he recalled a certain scene from a long time ago.

In a certain alleyway, where he ended up dying a dog's death.

He still remembered the words they said to him and now hearing those words from Jason allowed Max to reaffirm one of his goals of gaining power.

To never be in such a situation again!

At that moment, both Dark Thunder and Jason felt a change in Max's aura as the latter's dying embers seemed to spring back to life without warning.

Dark Thunder immediately warned. "No!... Kill him before he does something to free himself!"

Just as he finished talking, something unexpected happened.

A wooden staff rushed out from the building Max and Jason were on and struck Dark Thunder without warning.

The attack was so sudden and carried a considerable amount of power behind it, that it caused Dark Thunder to yelp once again as its body slammed into the roof it was standing on, causing it to cave in.

"What?!" Jason was shocked by the sudden attack on Dark Thunder.

Unfortunately, he had no time to worry about the Shadow Wolf as his senses began to scream for him to escape and he listened to this as he attempted to back away from Max with his heart in tow.

Alas, his attempts were met with a disdainful gaze from Max as he tightened his hold on Jason even further, causing the latter to grimace as the pressure exerted on his arm by Max was not a small matter.

With a sinister smile, Max remarked. "You are holding onto my heart and still dare to think about leaving?... Dream on!"

Seeing as Max was trying to fight even in the situation he was in, Jason roared in annoyance. "Just die!"

Shadow clones!

Several clones rose from the darkness and attacked Max simultaneously, allowing Jason to pull out his heart.

As he pushed back, happy that he managed to handle the problem before it got out of hand, his danger sense screamed once again causing him to stiffen.

Before he could react, two hands suddenly burst out from underneath the roof and grabbed a hold of his legs, the force behind the grip strong enough to shatter his ankles if he dared to move.

"Ah!" He screamed out in pain at the sudden attack.

Before he could understand what was going on, he heard a familiar voice from behind him.

"I hope you remember today very well after you die, Jason. Remember that this was the day you dared to go against the strongest Sage with the greatest potential… Maximilian Rion!"

Jason whipped his head back just enough to see two Maxs standing side by side.

One stood facing him with an arrogant look while the other stood facing the first Max as his hands moved over the outstretched hand of the arrogant-looking clone.

The second Max began to move his hands rapidly in an erratic manner as a small rotating green orb began to form on Max's hand.

A few seconds later and the orb had grown to the size of a basketball.

The energy within the orb swirled about in a berserk manner but it remained stable in Max's hand.

Jason's intuition immediately informed him that he had to dodge whatever that orb was, no matter what it took.

As an assassin, trusting his intuition was a must thus he quickly tried to escape but would Max allow such a thing?

Of course not!

Boom

The echo of the sound barrier shattering reverberated across the domain as Max traversed the distance between them.

Jason's eyes went wide as he saw the glowing green rotating orb in close range, the orb illuminating the shock he had on his face.

It was at that moment, that Jason had a sudden realization. "Ah…He was holding back."