96 Confrontation

After the two returned to the camp, Nero passed out due to exhaustion.

Joseph waited a few minutes for Nero to sleep before he appeared back in the Auroral Plains using Black Magic, a form of magic that manipulates space by subtracting the distance between the user and where the user wants to be, deleting the space in the process. Since space acts as a boundary for all existence, the void will counteract this, as space is always divided in the void.

The reason why it's called Black Magic is that it is most commonly associated with the void being mostly dyed in black. Hence why it is called Black Magic instead of Cursed Black Arts. Cursed Black Arts is different than Black Magic as Black Magic is mostly used as a form of transportation than combat. The only way to obtain this is through immense concentration and willpower to delete space itself, though of course, it requires the user to have the ability to manipulate space.

Now, what would the other form of "Black Magic" be called if the name is already associated with the void? Well, it's called Dark Arts but no one cares about that since it is already associated with Darkness Manipulation.

Joseph returned to the top of the mountain and turned around to face 9 ice elves, armed with swords and bows.

"Ah, sorry you guys, but you are already a little too late," Joseph said to them as he put his hands behind his back. "Maybe you guys can come next time."

"Don't mock us. He was just here a few minutes ago!" One of the ice elves shouted, pointing his sword at Joseph.

"Mock you? Oh no, I would never do that." Joseph said in a teasing tone before saying-

"I think the correct term would be belittling."

"Why you-!?"

The ice elf shot forward, swinging his sword in a violent and rash manner.

Joseph simply smirked as he glanced at the ice elf in the eyes. That was when Joseph used Black Magic, appearing behind the ice elf who simply disappeared into nothingness. The only remaining part of that elf was its arms and its sword, which fell to the snowy floor.

The ice elves back away as Joseph turned to look at the remaining pieces of the elf.

"Oh... that was not intended. Oh well, if only he was fast enough. Now then-"

Joseph turned back to the ice elves, stomping and crushing the arms into pieces as he smirked in a disdaining manner.

"Anyone else wants to play? Or you can have your lives spared and leave now."

The ice elves turned towards each other and hesitated. Though they were given a warning, they attacked anyway.

"You killed our brother, we will get revenge!" One of them said.

Joseph shook his head and sighed.

"Well, if it has to be this way, then so be it. To make it easier-" Joseph raised his arms. "I'll fight you all in close combat."

The first ice elf dashed towards Joseph and attempted to deliver a flying kick. However, Joseph quickly knocked them to the ground before he stomped on their neck, completely smashing it into pieces.

Joseph looked around and waited for the next attack.

An ice elf using stealth snuck up behind Joseph and swung their sword. However, their sword was deflected off of Joseph's Rejecting Barrier. Joseph turned around and smacked them with his knuckles, their head twisting multiple times before disconnecting from the body.

Two ice elves dashed towards Joseph. He sighed as they were struck with Banshee Bolide, shattering their ear drums.

"Aww, it's painful, isn't it? Sometimes it's best not to have such keen hearing, well, not that it could be helped."

Joseph then flicked his fingers, sending Dissipating Spheres at one of them. When the Dissipating Spheres collided, the elf burst into flames before it turned into ashes.

The elf standing next to the pile of ashes that were blown away by the violent winds yelled and rushed towards Joseph rashly. Joseph watched as the elf stumbled towards him and then he quickly teleported in front of them and rammed his hand through their chest before ripping out their spine with the skull connected.

Joseph turned around and looked at the four remaining elves, holding the skull.

"Come on, is that all you've got?" Joseph said before crushing the skull.

One of them ran to Joseph with his arms wide open. They were noticeably taller and muscular than the others elves.

They attempted to tackle Joseph, but Joseph attacked them first before they were able to get him.

The ice elf watched as Joseph's arm was shoved into its chest and out from the back. In Joseph's hand was the ice elf's heart and Joseph pushed the ice elf off his arm. As the ice elf fell on its knees, Joseph shoved the heart into the ice elf's mouth before pushing them to the ground and crushing their head.

As he smeared the ice elf's blood all over the snow, several arrows imbued in ice magic were fired at Joseph. Luckily, it was reflected off of his Rejecting Barrier. Joseph caught the arrow before positioning the tip towards the elf that shot it, then the arrows flew towards the elf after he boosted them with Rejection.

The last two elves stared at each other as Joseph slowly focused his attention on them.

"I'll give you a chance to run. Pride is great and all, but it is no match against the obvious superiority that I possess. So what will it be?"

"J-just who are you?" One of them asked.

Joseph smiled as he answered them.

"I'm the Warlock Hero, Joseph."

The two elves widened their eyes and they looked around at their deceased brethren. They had come here to kill Nero, but instead, they met the one person that they were told to be wary of by the ruler of Cocytus himself.

One of them shook their head as they slowly backed away. The other stood in fear. Joseph stared at both of them before he slowly locked his thumb around his pinky.

"I'll give you 10 seconds to answer me. If you don't… well, it's obvious what is going to happen next."

The two looked at each other once again before ultimately choosing their decision.

They fought back.

The two elves threw shards of ice at Joseph who simply waved it away. The two dashed towards him with their swords equipped and diverged to attack from both his left and his right.

However, that was useless against someone who can deflect matter from every direction.

Joseph grabbed onto one of the elves and dragged them across the ground before tossing them into the bottomless chasm, leaving only one more elf left.

The elf shook in fear as Joseph approached them. They closed their eyes to embrace their fate, but instead, they received a pat on their shoulder.

"It would be quite boring if I murdered everyone, so I'll keep you alive. You'll also be a good messenger. Stand up and return to where you once came from. Tell your king that Nero is not the only person he should be worrying about. Now then, go ahead."

The elf looked at Joseph hesitantly who had an almost warm smile across his face. The elf back away before turning around and fleeing the vicinity.

Joseph took a deep breath before looking at the corpses, and blood-covered snow splattered everywhere.

"Man, this is gonna be hard to clean up. I might as well dump them into the chasm."

When Joseph turned to face the chasm, the same elf he had threw off had survived and swung his sword at Joseph.

Joseph had turned his Rejecting Barrier off earlier and quickly shielded himself with his Blue Devil Arm. The sword didn't dig deep, but it managed to pierce the skin.

"Huh, you managed to stay alive?" Joseph asked, impressed by the elf's display of courage.

The elf yelled as he attempted to drive his sword towards Joseph's chest but he was swiftly interrupted after Joseph chopped his sword-wielding arm off.

"Aaah!" The elf screamed in agony, but not until Joseph drove his hand through the elf's abdomen.

"You should've stayed dead. Otherwise, you wouldn't be feeling so much pain right now."

"F-fuck you…"

Those were the ice elf's last words before Joseph shoved the ice elf off his arm and into the chasm.

"Prideful to the very end…"

Joseph sighed and shook his head.

"Impudent fool," Joseph commented before turning away from the chasm.

After depositing the bodies down into the chasm, Joseph looked up at the sky illuminated with many bright colors.

"Well, this is the south, so auroras are pretty common. I could've shown Nero but he's already asleep."

Joseph then locked his thumb around his pinky.

"Hmm, maybe I'll teach this to him for the next lesson," Joseph said, vanishing right after.

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