"Hero, huh? then, won't you join the demon lords?" He was brave enough to invite a hero to join the Demon Lord Council.
This demon lord, Guy Crimson, is probably the most dangerous of all demon lords. I didn't meet any demon lords other than Guy, Ramiris, and Milim, but I can say they are strong because they are just extraordinary.
In a way, exactly like us—me and Shizue—we are saints, but still, we could match with true demon lords and true heroes. We are strong because we are also just extraordinary.
"Well, no thanks, but may I ask why you invited me, a hero, to join the demon lords?" I asked him with a questioning look on my face. We were still on guard; after all, we did steal from his territory.
"Well, you're strong, and I don't want you on the other guy's team." He said this as he smirked, confusing me. Which other guy was he talking about, and if being strong enough was the sole condition of joining the Demon Lord Council, wouldn't countless people have joined anyway?
"Forget about it, so how about a duel then? If you can impress me, I might just forget about the stealing you did in my territory." Oh, he knows about that, huh? and this sudden duel, is he trying to test our strength?
"I really didn't feel like getting into a fight today, but well, I guess fate had other plans," I said as I nodded to him. If all he wants is just a friendly spar, then there is no problem at all.
The most mind-boggling thing is that I can't analyze him at all; his aura was hidden; if he went to a human civilization, they would think he was a normal human.
"Let's start then!" He said and snapped his fingers, we were teleported into a new training ground of sorts, but my analysis proved to be wrong as I looked around, stretching across the ground was a spatial distortion from creating a new dimension.
A new dimension was built up from scratch and was divided into two parts, isolating me with him, and the spectators Velzard and Shizu who would only watch.
'Don't worry about me; I will be fine,' Shizue said as she contacted me with "Soul Bond." Now that I'm worry-free, I can go all out for the first time in a while without worry.
"Let's start then!" With a smile, he started with a long-ranged attack, "Napalm Burst!" The explosion magic left his right palm, turned into the shape of an eastern dragon, and continued forward, burning everything in the way.
My armor and earrings manifested themselves on me, the holy attribute radiating off of my body and soul as I moved, leaping forward with powerful momentum, cracking the surface on which I was standing.
Guy's magic was hot and powerful, but my Armor would reduce its damage by 90% and his attacks still left scratches on me. He must've believed that this would burn me to ash.
I disappeared and appeared in front of Guy with my manifested spiritron sword; my other sword was broken after my faux fight with Milim Nava. Swinging my sword in an overhead slash, combined with my physical strength, should be enough to destroy a continent.
A clash of metal sounds was heard as a sword manifested in his hands. He blocked my attack, and the force of holy and demonic energies met, creating a massive shockwave that destroyed almost everything around us. He had an excited smile on his face right now as I was staring at his red eyes.
"Who would've thought that my "Napalm Burst" wouldn't have that much of an effect on you?" He exclaimed, and with some effort, he pushed my sword back with abnormal strength, sending me flying as I stabilized my position in mid-air.
He chased me all around the dimension as we continued clashing our swords with powerful techniques that created shockwaves everywhere we went. We were firing off attacks after attacks that were doing almost nothing to each other but destroying the surroundings.
His attacks were giving me minor scratches and bruises that healed seconds later; on the other hand, he had no such scratches at all.
"You surely are the most powerful foe that I ever fought, even in a friendly battle! Demon Lord Guy! I will end this right now!" I don't think this can defeat him, but this will give him what he wants. He wanted to test my strength as a precaution, so I will give it to him. My strength is ever-evolving, so he will get outdated information if I do this now.
"Very well, I shall take your attack head-on!" This guy is the same as Milim; she also took my attack head-on, stopping mid-air and changing the spiritron sword into a spear, charging 80% of my energy inside the spear and positioning it towards him.
This was the most powerful attack I got, one that could wipe a country off the map, leaving little survivors, and the most wonderful aspect of this attack is that it will chase my target down once I fire it, even across different dimensions.
"Brahmastra! kundala!" I prepared to throw the spear with all the power I could muster, the strain causing the bones in my right hand to break, but I couldn't feel pain. Thanks to "pain nullification," I released my spear, and it went flying towards Guy at the speed of light.
He took it head-on, like he declared, as the dimension in which we were standing began to crack and the energy inside my spear blew up, along with the dimension.
The first time on the always dark and gloomy frozen continent, a flaming sun rose today, and everyone on the nearest continents could see it clearly.
With the dimension destroyed, I was ejected backwards with an extreme force and would've crashed into the ice dragon statue that covered Guy Crimson's castle. That was if Shizue didn't catch me, as I was expelled from the destroyed dimension.
"Oi oi! Who would've thought you would destroy my dimension with that party trick?" I heard an excited voice to my side; I couldn't sense him or Velzard. Was it because my energy was low? or are they that much stronger than me? I don't know, but this fight did enlighten me about something: even if you are the biggest shark around, there will always be a whale.
"I lost." These words left a bitter feeling in my mouth. I stood up with the help of Shizu as my armor disappeared back into my soul.
"Don't be so down now; not many people can do what you did. Even though I was playing around, I did retain a few scratches from your last attack." This was even more hurtful than my defeat by his hands, and I loathe this feeling, of losing, of being defeated. I know I can't win every time, but even then, I will never give up.
I cannot give up because I believe that I have not achieved anything significant, that's right. I'm Karna! a Hero!
<<Confirmed!>>
*Crack!*
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So, how was this new version of Chapter 16? If you liked this, put some reviews in there. We don't have enough ratings currently, so let's hopefully change that!
I changed almost everything that happened in the last version, so what do you think? Did I portray the feeling of helplessness correctly? And what do you think will happen in the next chapter?
Do you think he will get the ultimate skill in the next chapter? If so, what do you think it will be? I actually didn't think about anything for the next chapter, so if you guys did guess anything and if I liked something, I would most likely include it.
Don't forget to drop some stones; there is no need to be shy about it.
Next time: heroic spirits!
see you in the next chapter of Tensura: Karna.
Good luck, and God bless you.
~ Author