Regret

"Shit."

That was the only thought that came to him. Roman was already at a disadvantage and now it was even worse.

'I can only drink more of this HP potion while fighting. That's the only way to stay alive.'

Thankfully, his left hand was the hand injured. Roman usually holds his sword with his right hand. It would be a few minutes before he could use his left hand again. He brings his sword up into a fighting stance and face Gerald.

-

Gerald POV

This boy? No this man is something else. Usually that poison is all it takes to stop someone. He's still standing tall and strong.

"You're interesting."

I couldn't help but praise him. He must have felt the poison at this point and yet, he stands proudly without fear.

"Ahaha. If you think that's all it takes to take me down then you're wrong."

The man named Romeo. He reminds me of him. The man with the blue mask. I felt my anger and anxiety flare up.

'Even though I wasn't able to kill the man with the mask, I will take out the anger on you instead.'

I step back into the shadows so that he couldn't see me anymore. I then activate one of my two Legacies. The Lover's Bijou Legacy.

"Lover's Bijou: Brilliant Clone"

After I activated it, a hand made of diamonds poked out of my chest. As time passed, the arm came out, then a second arm, then a pair of legs. It didn't stop until a near perfect clone of me had stepped out of my body. The diamond clone began to change and after a few seconds his body looked exactly like a humans.

"Don't kill him. Just cripple him. I want to hit him with the killing blow."

The clone nods and then runs out of the shadow. I could hear the clone yelling at him.

"You won't leave this place alive Romeo!"

Seconds later, I could hear them clashing with one another. I hid in the shadows and watch them fight. The clone only has about 50% of my full power but that should be more than enough to deal with someone an entire rank lower than me.

In this world, ranks are a near perfect way to evaluate power. No matter how much of a genius you are, your rank will determine how far you can truly go. Even if the fight seems close, a level 9 (Unranked) will eventually lose to a level 10 (Beginner). That is the Law of the world.

Of course, I said ranks are a NEAR perfect way to evaluate power. If multiple Unranked individuals attacked one Beginner Rank then it is almost guaranteed the Beginner Rank will fall. It's because numbers and a well thought out team attack will always beat out individual strength.

In my situation though, I should be fine. There's no one else here besides the two of us. Romeo is clearly an Unranked too. My victory is already guaranteed.

*CRUNCH!!* *CRACK!!*

I suddenly here a loud crunching and cracking noise. I looked back at the fight to see a shocking revelation.

Roman had destroyed the clone somehow!

"Huh? Shiny gems? Diamonds? A clone?", Romeo whispered this but I could clearly hear him.

Huh? How did he do that? He shouldn't be capable of damaging the clone? I watched the entire fight and didn't see anything strange. The only way he could have is if one of his spells or skills are Beginner Rank.

Now that I am looking at him, he seems to be injured. It looks like my clone did plenty of work. I just need to finish him.

"Lover's Bijou: Gem Fury."

I place my hands on the ground and activate my Legacy. I feel the mana leave my body and seconds later, the ground starts shaking and out comes some gems.

They shoot out super fast. They all hone in on Romeo. Even when he moved, the gems followed his movement.

He dodged the first few gems but then afterwards he struggles. A gem lodges itself into his leg. He falls down and lets out a pitiful scream. More screams follow as the gems continue to attack him.

It didn't stop until I called it off. By then though, he was littered with gems. He was bruised and cut, with a few actually getting stuck in him. He was facing away from me so I couldn't see if he was still conscious.

It didn't matter though. I step out of the shadows and activate all the defenses that the Lover's Bijou Legacy offered. A gem-like armor begins to cover me. A sword made of the same gems appear in my hand.

As I close in, I kept my eyes on him. He didn't move at all. If I didn't see the slight movements of his breathing then I would of thought he died. This left me feeling confident. Once I got close, I couldn't help but speak out to him.

"That was good Romeo. I don't know how you destroyed my clone but I have to give you props. The fact that you're still alive is a blessing."

Of course he doesn't answer. I continue anyways.

"I don't understand why you sought me out. But I would like to thank you. I lost all my friends not to long ago after we were betrayed by our savior… you were just as arrogant as him. DID YOU REALLY THAT YOU COULD KILL ME?!?? HAHAHA!!"

-

Roman POV

I stood as still as I could, waiting for my chance to launch a counter attack. This damn bandit is giving me an entire script!

I don't care about your back story! I don't care about your savior! I just need to level up my smithing!

Finally, he stops after his… villain laugh? I drank the rest of the HP potions and prepare to attack.

"Since I couldn't kill the masked man, I will settle for you since you're no different!"

I could sense that he was charging at me. I prepared my lighting and turned around as quick as I could. A look of shock could be seen across his face. Did he really think that I was out?

I used the lighting the same way as I did against the clone. I tried pushing it so that the max amount of power coming from it could damage his crystal like armour.

The lighting shot out of my hand and made contact with his armour. The bandit ended up stopping his attack out of shock. It seemed like he was anticipating for something like this.

Well, he was right to be worried.

His gem armour broke and his body ended up getting hit too.

"Arrrrrghhhhhh!!"

He let out a groan as he fell down. I get up and slowly walk over to him. I speak to him as I do.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what your story is but I need you to die today. I have a mission from my master that I must complete."

As I walk closer, I take out my sword and prepare to end him quickly. However, as I got closer, I felt my body begin to ache.

"What the…?"

I see his eyes. Both were wide open as he stared at the cave ceiling. He had a crazed smile on his face. He begins to utter what seemed like nonsense to me.

"You think you're so much better than me because you're strong right??! Just because you saved me from that slave operation, you think that you're better than me huh??!? Is that why you trampled on our prides when we found you again?!? Is that why you slaughtered all my friends and forced me to work for that man?!?"

He just kept going.

"I get it. That's why you wear that blue mask. You're just a shameful fraud that found a Codex. I'm sure that's why you're so strong! Ahahaha! But that doesn't matter! I found these two Legacies not long ago. I will use them to kill you today!!!"

Shit! Two Legacies?!? I tried backing away but it was to late.

"Ophis Anguis: Poison Storm!"

-

A/N: I won't go into details about the codex and legacies until Roman receives his own.