35 Chapter 35

"Unlimited Blade Works."

Illusory fire spread from the boundaries and a blinding light caused everyone to close their eyes.

When they opened it once more, they saw themselves in a grassland filled with swords stuck in the ground like grave markers. But unlike the previous clear skies, a few clouds could be seen blocking a bit of the sun's light.

The assassin couldn't find a place to hide himself, thus he finally entered everyone's vision.

He wore armor made from chitin and various animal leathers. He had a crescent blade on his back and wore goggles on his eyes. His face was covered with a cloth, so Max couldn't find out anything else about him.

That'd have been the situation if he didn't have the ability to see the histories of the blades. The guy was a Morag Tong assassin sent here to take the wish granting artifact rumored to be in the hoard.

'Seriously, what a cluster fuck.' Max thought as he commanded countless swords to rise from their 'grave'.

The assassin, Deidara and Bilbo watched dumbstruck while the swords hovered on air.

"Fire." With a command, Max launched the swords at the enemies. 'Now, I'm feeling like a somewhat proper archer… If we don't count my arrows being swords.'

Then another battle commenced.

***

"It should be close." Medb said as she walked through the dark cave with a torch in her hand. She was getting tired from all the walking but she didn't stop.

Because she knew that someone else had their eyes on her prize.

All this time, she put up with sleeping in the wild, traveling with a man who would never be hers, and listen to the annoying words of an old man with a one foot in grave.

She deserved this hoard.

And just short few hours ago, when she was happy that her torturing travel would come to an end, a thorn appeared.

A woman she hated even more than her sister. Yennefer of Vengerberg.

She was here too. And likely after the wish granting artifact. She couldn't let that happen after all that she had gone through.

So, she sped up her steps and continued her walk.

The air started getting warmer and warmer until she felt like she was sitting under the sun at noon in a scorching mid summer day.

Finally she arrived at a big space with treasure piled in the corner.

'Finally!' She thought.

Just as she was about to reach out for one of them, her movements were stopped.

"Still as greedy Medb." A voice came from her back.

"Yennefer." Medb said while gnashing her teeth. "How did you get here? Max should've at least gained me a few minutes."

"By Max you mean that new lover of yours? Ah he would've, if not for a sudden cultist being teleported right behind him." She said as she swaggered towards the hoard and started searching the pile. "Hmm where could it be…" She muttered.

"You know I won't forget this right?" Medb said with venom in her voice.

"I know. But I'm already prepared for that. Do your worst." Yennefer said without minding her threat.

***

"Gh" The assassin uttered as he dodged a black short sword by ducking under and tried stab his enemy in the legs but couldn't as Max took a step backwards and threw his swords at the assassin.

The blades were parried and instead a new set of blades was about to slash his neck off.

With unimaginable flexibility, he dodged them by bending backwards. Then he kicked his opponent to disrupt his rhythm.

Max dodged the kick by taking a step backwards and shot a couple swords which ended up being dodged.

Ever since he broke his mortal limits, he understood that everyone below that were just ants.

And everyone above were monsters in their own rights.

Previously, he could only see blurs when he watched Bilbo and Deidara's battle, but now, he could see them clear as day. Well, Deidara was clear as day, Bilbo was a little bit more hard to detect.

And out of all the people here, his opponent was the hardest. His speed and strength was higher than him. One wrong move, and it could lead to very bad results.

That's why, he didn't dare to underestimate his opponent even though they were fighting inside his Reality Marble.

He was also training himself. Getting used to his new power would've taken a while if not for this mortal combat.

It was getting easier and easier by the minute. And knowing what kind of response the enemy would have by memorizing all his history through his dagger also helped out a lot though.

Even with all his experience, the Morag Tong assassin was getting frustrated by the opponent before him.

Every time he felt like he found a vulnerability, it would be blocked by his opponent.

He should be faster than him, he knew it. But his enemy always reacted faster than him. And it was slowly getting to his nerves.

But he didn't show it. Because he also had a secret weapon and he was waiting for it to take effect.

He would succeed, just like he did with all those assassinations before. He had full belief in that.

He parried another set of black and white swords and dodged another attack.

"What's the matter?" Max asked as his opponent continued dodging his attacks. "You've been on the defensive for a while."

"Are you planning on tiring me to death?" He asked once again after seeing the assassin's eyebrows twitch. "If so, I'm sorry to inform you that I can do this all day." Max said while relentlessly attacking.

He stopped launching any more swords by this point since it wasn't necessary anymore because,

"You are already dead." Max mocked, and continued. "You just don't know yet."

"Keep talking while you can brat." The assassin couldn't handle the taunts anymore and hissed. 'Just wait until the Webspinner takes effect. We will know who was already dead by then.' He thought.

"If you're not trying to tire me to death, then are you waiting for that dagger of yours to kick in?" Max asked as he showed the projection of a dagger in his hand.

The Thread of the Webspinner, was the name of the dagger. There were 27 of them, some in the shape of daggers, some amulets, and some rings.

They were the artifacts of Morag Tong, bestowed upon them by Mephala, God of Secret Plots of Murder, better known as The Spider.

They granted the wielder with a passive, very low chance of probability manipulation.

The assassin was waiting for it to take effect and give him a single chance to finish off his opponent.

Now, probability manipulation sounded like a huge bullshit power. But it had its drawbacks too.

First of all, whether the probability was manipulated or not solely depended on the wearer's luck. Second, after it's used, the wearer would experience terrible luck for a whole month. Their luck would be so bad that even a gust of wind could create a chain reaction that could make a random dagger fly and pierce their throat.

And lastly, they would be useless on the people who has knowledge of them. Once you know your fate might have a very slight chance of being manipulated, you already get out of its influence. Thus it becomes useless.

"My- My Webspinner!" Assassin exclaimed in shock after seeing the same artifact in Max's hand.

"You are wrong. It is 'our' Webspinner." Max said.

And threw the twin swords in his hands towards the assassin.

"Twin Wings that Overcome Mountains," He chanted as he projected a second pair after the first pair was blocked and threw them to his sides. "Part Seas, and Never Fall…" He projected the final pair and pumped them with mana through projection.

The previous elegant look of the swords vanished as they became longer and looked more vicious, like they were abominations. Backsides of the swords chipped and started falling like feathers.

He called them Kanshou and Bakuya Overedge.

Every weapon could be strengthened through Reinforcement. They would become sharper and more durable. But they had a limit. Once that limit was crossed, the wielder would put himself in danger of explosion.

But just before reaching that explosion point and right after passing the limit, there existed another stage.

It would strengthen the weapon to unreachable degrees. But it would also make the weapon brittle as only one hit would result in them being broken.

And when weapons with legends behind them, Noble Phantasms, as they are called, are strengthened to that stage, they would be called Broken Phantasms.

And such was the case with Kanshou and Bakuya. They were now Broken Phantasms that could only perform one attack before they were destroyed.

Normally, the owner of a Noble Phantasm would never result to this unless it was his last resort. They would never want to part with their beloved partners. But it wasn't the case with Max as he could Project them whenever he wanted as long as he had mana.

Max lifted the swords above his head and performed a downward cross slash as the other two pairs returned and attacked the assassin from all sides. "Triple-Linked Crane Wings!" Max chanted the last line of the Aria he created for his attack.

It was a set of consecutive attacks aimed to render the opponent helpless.

If they tried to defend his front, he would be attacked from the sides and back. If back was defended, sides and front was open for the attack. The only way to defend against the technique was to have an all-directional defense.

And the Aria was to force this phenomenon upon the opponent. As long as the first line was chanted, the opponent had no other choice but to take the attack.

Of course it wasn't such an omnipotent attack that would kill the opponent surely. Because if their Magic Resistance was enough, or their Mana was higher than Max, they could resist the influence.

But sadly, such wasn't the case for the assassin. Maybe he could have the chance to resist the effect, but seeing his dagger in his enemy's hand and thinking that Morag Tong's secrets were revealed, he missed his chance.

He tried to block his front but his Webspinned was cut and his body was cut with a cross slash. Two blades pierced his back and two pierced his sides.

"Ah…" He could only utter as he fell on the ground.

*Sigh* "Max heaved a sigh as his new technique took a good chunk of his mana even though it has increased by so much. Then turned his gaze to Bilbo who was breathing heavily after he stabbed Deidara in the heart.

"Just stay dead will you?" Bilbo said between breaths. "I'm too old for this shit."

"Kh." Deidara coughed blood and smiled. "Do you think that killing me would be enough to make me die?" His body started bloating just like the cultists who sacrificed themselves. "Then, you don't have to think twice because it is enough kahahah!"

"Shit!" Max cursed as he brought his hand up. "Rho Aias!" He shouted as seven petals formed from iridescent light appeared before Bilbo and shielded him from the explosion. It was the shield bestowed upon him by The Paragon.

A single petal broke and his Reality Marble crumbled. Deploying and sustaining the UBW cost minimal amount of mana, almost negligible, but after using Triple-Linked Crane Wings and getting a petal broken totally depleted his mana.

Rho Aias was almost an impenetrable shield. It had seven petals with each one being as strong as a fortress wall. The only downside was that he had to supply it with huge amounts of mana to even sustain it.

And to top it all off, each broken layer added to its cost, meaning that if three petals broke, with his current maximum amount of mana, Max would instantly die.

The UBW vanished like it was never there and Max dropped to his knees while breathing heavily.

Swords started jutting out of his skin and pierced his body. "Gah! Shit!" He was in agony.

But thankfully he actually thought about this happening and borrowed the Azoth Sword from Derek and made Bilbo fill it with mana before the battle commenced.

He reached to his thigh and grabbed the hilt of the dagger. "Mana!" He shouted the activation chant he set before and felt the mana rush from the dagger to his circuits.

"Ghh!" It was also a painful experience but Max survived through it while gritting his teeth.

The swords stopped jutting out of his skin and started disappearing. *Sigh* Max heaved a sigh of relief and got up while forcing himself.

"I am the Bone of my Sword."

His bow appeared in his left hand and The Fake Fake Spiral Sword appeared in the other.

He knocked the sword on the bow and pulled the string while altering its structure to make it more aerodynamic.

In no time, he saw his target trying to fly away on a white clay bird. He was badly hurt but still alive nonetheless.

"I got you in my sight." Max whispered to himself and took aim. Surrounding mana churned as he Reinforced the sword to the maximum, making it a Broken Phantasm.

The white patches in his hair increased but he paid it no heed. It wasn't that important anyways.

Once he locked on his target, he let go of the string. "Caladbolg!"

The sword flew true by twisting the air around it.

Deidara sensed the approach of the projectile but he couldn't escape because the twisting force of the sword pulled everything in its vicinity towards it.

He could only watch as the sword made contact with his body.

*Boom!!*

"Indeed, explosion is an art." Max said and walked towards Bilbo.

He was resting with his back to a tree, and was gazing at the moon on the sky while clutching his stomach.

"We did it."

"Yeah, we did." Max replied as he sat next to Bilbo.

*Rumble*

Clouds started gathering and thunder heralded the approaching rain.

"What did it cost you?" Bilbo asked without taking his eyes off the moon.

"I want to say everything and complete the meme, but that'd be a lie. I was offered an accord and took it."

"I see."

"You were right Bilbo."

"About what?"

"The Paragon is a benevolent god." Max said as he looked at his palm. "His labours aren't impossible. Just improbable." Then clenched it.

"Haha told you didn't I? I had to seal an evil witch from long past for my labour." Bilbo said with nostalgia in his voice.

Then the duo descended into silence.

"You're not gonna take a look at the hoard?" Bilbo asked.

"No need. It was probably emptied anyways. I haven't seen Medb in a while." Max shrugged.

"Ah, I knew that lass was up to no good."

"To be fair, I don't think she got it either."

"Why?"

"It was probably that black haired woman. When we ambushed the cultists, one of them somehow appeared right behind me. And you told me that she could teleport. She probably did that to prevent me from stopping her. And guessing from Medb's behavior when we talked about that woman, they have quite the history."

"That's a splendid deduction."

"Elementary, my dear Bilbo."

Silence descended once more.

But it was Max who broke it this time. He gazed at the moon just like Bilbo, "You knew this was gonna happen, didn't you?"

"…yeah." Bilbo replied after a moment.

"Then…why?" Max asked with a whisper.

"…I spent all my life going on adventures just like this. After I got married, I settled down. But I always had that voice back inside my head, telling me to go on an adventure once again. To enjoy the feeling of not knowing what would happen next, feeling each moment of my life, to emerge victorious in my adversities. I suppressed it until now and with that, my joy of life disappeared. I am a bad husband, a dad and probably a grandpa. But that's who I am." He stopped and thought for a bit. "I always wished for an excuse to go out once again. And… when you guys came, I knew that I found my excuse."

"…Do you regret it?"

"A little bit… I at least should've seen my grandchildren, no?" By that point, Bilbo's voice became almost a whisper.

"Yeah… you should have." Max said while forcefully holding back his tears.

"Ah… it is time… for my next adventure." Bilbo said as his eyes slowly closed. "I.. don't know… what's gonna… happen next."

"How… exciting…" And he finally closed his eyes for the final time with a slight smile on his lips.

And with that, Max's tears burst like a waterfall.

He had never cried ever since he found himself in this unknown world. He never felt like he belonged here, that's why he desperately wanted to go home.

But after spending so much time with this dwarf old man, he felt a sense of belonging, as if his drifting soul was finally anchored.

That's why he cried in grief. He cried so much that tears stopped after falling for a while but he didn't lift his head up from his arms.

He was once again alone in this world filled with dangers just like he was at the beginning. But this time, he had a huge burden on his shoulders.

——<>——

[Time Until Public Release: 0h 0m 1s]

[The Servers Are Online!]

[The Game Forums Are Online!]

[To All Players, Welcome To Gaia Online!]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A long ass chapter! Almost 3k words goddamn! It could've been made into two chapters but I wanted to finish this arc with this chapter and finally get on to cooler stuff where we kick ass and take names.

Could you predict Bilbo's death? Or did I manage to surprise you? Please tell me I did!

Let me know your thoughts regarding the chapter please so that I can improve!

⚠️⚠️Anyways, keep my motivation going by supporting me with STONES, REVIEWS, COMMENTS and FEEDBACKS. Because if you don't show your support, where the hell will I find the motivation to keep writing? ⚠️⚠️

Thanks in advance, I love you (Boyle family style)