- Nothing Left to Learn

As he was healing himself, Zex noticed the change in the temperament of his opponent.

His aura was still sharp but was now filled with intense killing intent. This overwhelming killing intent also manifested in his [Blade Aura]. There were hints of red mixed in that screamed bloodlust.

"WHO ARE YOU???" Edge roared, demanding an answer from the demon in front of him. His eyes were bloodshot and his veins were popping out of his now reddened face.

"You don't need to know." Zex shook his head and did not bother explaining his identity. No matter what he said, his opponent would not recognize him anyway. Why would he? They had never met before today.

As those words left his mouth, he unleashed his [Blade Aura] once more but this time, he infused black flames in them after seeing the changes to that of his opponent's and was just experimenting.

However, in his case, it was as if the black flames were devouring the [Blade Aura] he was releasing, growing more intense in return, surprising him for a second. He observed the phenomenon for a while and could not help himself from smiling at his discovery.

"Whoever you are, you will not live to see daylight!" Edge was seething with rage but it did not weaken his control over the [Blade Aura]. Instead, he fueled it with that exact rage. Discovering that his opponent was a demon had deeper meaning to him. Especially when he saw such a demon using the techniques he spent his entire life mastering for the sake of exterminating them.

This time, Edge was the first to launch an attack, seeking to end the battle once and for all.

However, like a moth drawn to a flame, Zex's dagger moved to intercept Edge's attack perfectly. It did not matter what transformation he made to the trajectory of his attack, his attack was parried with so much force that his arm got blown away, disrupting his form.

Edge's blow was parried and for the first time in the battle, he was open. Seeing the upcoming attack from his opponent, he reinforced and condensed the [Blade Aura] covering the front of his body.

The next instant, Zex slashed with his other dagger downward and left a deep bloody gash on Edge's chest seemingly ignoring the thick [Blade Aura].

With this, Edge retreated by jumping back twice leaving some thick blood trails.

'What happened?' Even with his sharp senses, he couldn't tell what exactly led to him being injured.

Even if he ignored the fact that the blade he made which was impossible to parry, got parried, the defensive [Blade Aura] he condensed was reinforced to the point that even an arrow from an arbalest could not pierce. To his surprise, this was nothing to the attack that almost claimed his life.

Moreover, when he looked at the blade and the armor shrouding him, there wasn't anything that changed.

Quickly, Edge backed away and ran while spreading ointment on his wound before wrapping it with a special cloth enchanted to hasten the clotting process. Such a gaping wound would not claim his life so easily. He could not wrap his head around what happened as despite him being enraged, his mind was clear and on guard. That parry came out of nowhere, and the following attack surprisingly cut through his defense like a hot knife through butter.

He blended in the shadows and heightened his senses, but when he did so, it was as if countless eyes were looking at him like he was naked and that it did not matter where he hid, he would be found.

Throughout his life, the darkness was his ally. However, it felt so unfamiliar to him right now. The darkness was treating him like a hostile visitor, seeking to snuff him out of existence.

The worst part was that the darkness seemed to have sent an assailant it just recently met to do the job he was usually the one doing.

He felt betrayed.

He felt wronged.

The hunting ground he tamed for so many years has become the stage for his execution instead.

Not only that, the techniques that accompanied him day and night for almost all his life have been stolen by that same assailant.

A nightmare, in and of itself.

For the first time in decades, he felt the suffocation… the despair.

Time and time again, insidious techniques, ninjutsu, hidden tools, and hidden weapons were being used against him.

Misdirection, ventriloquism, illusions, fireballs, shock blasts, mud traps, knives, shuriken, kunai, wires, smoke bombs, paper bombs, chains, spike traps, poison gas, paralyzing needles, a slash from the dark, a kick from below, a punch to the side, a chop on the neck…

Before even starting his hunt, Zex was going Rambo on Edge, preparing all kinds of traps in the forest, increasing the mental and sensory load on Edge when he was lead into them. [1]

Until one fatal mistake and he finally fell and rolled to the ground.

Edge was panting, gasping for air while blood and sweat soaked his tattered clothes.

"I have learned a lot from this battle.

Unfortunately, fighting you in your current state won't help me anymore." Zex said as he was approaching Edge from the shadows.

Within this unending series of attacks starting from the heavy injury he first inflicted on his opponent, he was stacking his black flames, and coupled with him observing Edge's movements, he was increasing the levels of his skills and refining their applications to match up with Edge's own. Aside from this, he also began to learn new skills that Edge never taught his students.

As pitiful as it may be, Zex was using Edge as a training dummy.

Edge, on the other hand, was struggling with all his strength to stand back up and run, when he suddenly felt a heavy atmosphere crashing down on him. He stumbled as he was no longer able to feel his legs.

'A domain????' Edge broke down in cold sweat. Although this domain was extremely weak, as far as he knew, only Demon Lords could have domains. He was also sure that this person could not have been a Demon Lord or at least not the one described by the messenger from Castle Nalva.

He was confused as to why the demon chasing him was weak when they exchanged blows earlier but could now cause him to shiver in extreme fear. Each step the demon took, he started having the idea that he was simply being played like a toy, and with how the chase felt like earlier, he began to believe it.

When he turned around, his fear suddenly erupted when he saw the demon looked a lot different than before. Right now, the demon had the form of a huge monster with wings and giant horns.

Seeing that dawn was about to arrive, Zex used [True Name Liberation] and [Lord's Domain - Evil] to make sure he would not let his prey escape while giving him enough speed to leave the area. Of course, with the level difference, his domain did not affect Edge. He did not only learn combat and insidious skills but also aura skills that Edge learned like [Pursuer's Intimidation] and [Deadly Presence]. Using these skills in conjunction with the recent events he made Edge experience and the terrorizing methods he incorporated from the horror and thriller movies he watched in his previous life, it was too much for a human to endure, no matter how experienced the said human was.

The last thing Edge saw was being lifted by the monster and was brought close up to its otherworldly face. An overwhelming pressure suffocated him, finally causing him to faint.

…

At the same time in an Inn, Drago who was just putting his armor back on after a night's sleep felt a strong burst of energy far away which then disappeared a few moments later.

"Edge… What did you encounter?" He muttered under his breath as if he had just lost a good soldier and friend. However, his mission was far more important. It could determine the lives of all those in Grimley. As the commander of this hunting party, he could only avenge his comrade once their target was slain.

[1] Rambo is an American franchise centered on a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran pushed by events to go on a killing spree against corrupt police officers, enemy troops, and drug cartels, by using all kinds of weapons, setting up deadly traps, and utilizing terrain.