Chapter 16: Jack and Showdown

"Ready"

The bald Devil raised his arms up in the air, militaristic style.

"What's your name, boy?"

"Call me Ishmael"

I said that coldly, Emotion Culling isn't that great for jokes and conversation is it?

State the obvious Jack.

Also, I sounded like that...that...you know...the priest guy from that Korean 2D side scrolling anime game.

Not that I have the intention of breaking pendulums and speaking in German.

...

But– if by some magical reason my system shop screen has his things in the SSR window– it won't be thaaaaaat bad.

Fiw!

A Devil cautiously threw a spear towards me, probably by the order of that bald Devil. Naturally, with my 11 Intelligence, such things even if done by a mid class, is slower than-

"Disrupt"

The bald guy who has his arms already up and palms out, pointed it and then charged at me along with 4 other Devils, the spear from before was actually the initial speed before being boosted by wind magic and a kick from another Devil.

Results?

I had to use Speed Sword to block the spear, sacrifice my wrist temporarily to block the bald guy's literal bone breaking punch, and then back away from the 4 Devils who tried to slash and stab at me.

All this in 4 seconds, counting in my mind while dodging at fast speeds is a feat that deserves a point up.

[Intelligence increased by 1]

Uh, hey system, we can go on a date this Sunday. I'm free, especially for you my love.

Maybe each of my stats too and we can go straight to making babies?

No?

As expected. I would need to get an assistant someday, an absolutely loyal one who won't just bend down after witnessing Issei's protagonist speech powers and could reciprocate my jokes with a laugh or a counter joke.

I'm lonely.

God please help whoever the fuck is in my brains making these weird ass thoughts.

"Keep swarming him in groups of 5, his time manipulation has a limit considering how he has that holy sword yet still hasn't killed half of us"

BAD BALDY! BAD! BAD! BAD! EVEN IF YOU'RE A DEVIL, IT'S SHOUNEN 101 TO NOT REVEAL THE PROTAGONIST'S SECRET WITHOUT FIRST SAYING EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU!

Why is Issei not troubled with enemies like this bald guy?

Pang!

A horizontal block, followed by a swift counter slash, successfully making said Devil burn in pain and die from the holy sword.

Wow, this speed is amazing actually.

Anyways, I'm going to think about Speed Sword later, without wasting time, I went to the forest.

Not peacefully though as every now and then a few Devils would shoot something projectile-ish at me.

Wait, is that shit?

"Throw more shit at him! You stupid Exorcists, do something!"

A brave Devil shouted while he was just right behind me, I took that as a very bad timing for him, opening a few gates and shooting a holy sword towards him, gun speed.

Not 1 but 4 holy lightsabers.

Fwoom Fwoom Fwoom Fwoom! Pwssssh!

Sasuga Jack-sama!

Anyways, 30 seconds was long up and as of the moment, I was just saving it for a quick decimation.

Destination, forest. Reason, terrain advantage. Expected kill amount...

I looked behind me and the Devils who were in the sky trailing, albeit a little behind cuz Speed Sword and deduced that they would probably suck at greeny environment.

Then I noticed the bald guy still crossed arms at the same spot where Juliet and Romeo had their last rodeo.

He then looked at me, even from our distance, his eyes were feral and full of... expectations, no, he knows.

And he isn't doing anything to stop 22 of his kin and comrades die?

It's like he's saying.

"Kill them all, and fight me 1 on 1 if you survive"

...

Oh, he actually said that, I was lip reading him. You'd still have to be the dumbest person in Earth to believe that though, who knows how much traps he will prepare beforehand?

Taking it with a grain of salt, I disappeared into the forest.

*

"Look for him!"

Look for me and you'll lose that pretty head...edgy, heh.

"This damn trees are blocking our vision, fly lower!"

That's exactly my plan and I'm surprised

you're actually doing what I want.

"Fucking humans!"

No, how does that even connect to the situation?

Unless of course you mean having a steamy hot night with the male Exorcists with you, I don't judge but there's no point in lowering your already abysmal birth rate.

Thot Jack, don't you dare say whatever you want to say.

Y-A-O-I~

I sighed and crouched a little more behind the tree I was using as a cover.

"Mr. Tree, can you tell me when a Devil is coming near? I'd like to rest for a bit, this entire night is tiring"

I plopped down even deeper, and closed my eyes, no need to confirm if the tree heard me, like I said before, they're weird fellas but cool.

I sacrificed another for a task.

A life for a task.

A girl and boy with the purest definition of love for a task.

I wonder if I'm turning corrupted, maybe, just like the others, I'm also a potentially evil being?

Is this the reason why my life was never great? Why I was born retarded and defective?

Because somewhere in my past life I did something completely evil?

Because I can never be a hero? A good guy? A protagonist?

Because... because I'm a hypocrite who does the opposite of whatever I swear not to be?

I claim to hate backstabbers but I technically backstabbed Cleria, I even brought her last words as just a way to wash off the dirt in my shoes called conscience.

Or is it just that I was never suited to having allies, maybe I'm a lone wolf, maybe I'm just a loner through and through?

What do I exactly want?

Do I want power? No, I don't, it was never my intention, it just happens to go hand in hand with my task.

Do I want revenge? For who? Me? I don't need revenge if died because of a fidget spinner.

Do I want acknowledgement? I don't either, in fact I consider something like stupid because I'm a world hopper, nothing I do will stick to me, because I will just disappear.

"Boy of Gaia, can I say some shizz, bro?"

"Mr. Tree?"

"I think what'd ya' need izz a companion bro, you look lonely azz shizz"

Hmph, pointless.

Ooh, boy, I nailed that haughty demeanor thingy.

"I don't think it's a companion I want, I don't trust anyone easily, and I'm kind of unapproachable"

I buried my face in between my thighs and and sighed, depressingly.

"Of courzz ya' don' want it, instead, ya' need it"

...

...

...

...

...

No way. There's no way.

I can't have a companion.

I'm a world traveler.

I'm meant to be alone...

Unless...

"Boy of Gaia, there'zz a Devil to yo' left"

I lifted my head back up and stood up without even confirming it, there's simply no need.

Using my 30x Agility thanks to Speed Sword, I quietly disposed of the Devil with a quick decapitation, not even a sound.

[New Skill obtained Assassinate]

[Assassinate - A skill strictly obtained when the perfect combination of Agility, the skill Unseen Death and the skill Presence Concealment is achieved. This skill allows you to hide your entire existence, essentially entering another realm of reality, attacking with this skill active will result in an instant death for the receiving end. Downside is that getting hit while in this state, somehow, by pretty much almost anything, will result in a massive backlash that will probably kill you more often than not. This skill stops anything that can make you exist, from heart beat to even the miniscule movement of atoms in your body, an enemy with at least 80 (B+) Intelligence will see you since their level of vision and somehow basic Clairvoyance is enough to realize an anomaly in space-time, specifically an existence who exist and at the same time doesn't. You can also get this if you question your self worth and kill something, as shown by Jack Freshman.]

"This thing's mocking me..."

Then again, this is technically also the first time I assassinate something... Chrono Burst is an iffy assassination when you practically reveal yourself every time.

"This skill... isn't it kind of TOO much in the downsides? Like, really? Just anything that hits me can cause a backslash? Like, even if a drop of water or sweat or just spittle drops on me I'm immediately going to die?"

[Yes, Assassinate is a skill created by the First Hassan, yet never ever once used since after he became a servant. The subskill Presence Concealment is often the one practiced the mist due to it's effective yet no downsides way of stealth]

"I don't remember ever getting those skills, is this magically gifted to me for some reason?"

...

"Not answering, huh? Or more like, you can't answer huh?"

Welp, no can do about that.

And just like that, 22 Devils and 4 Exorcists never came out of the woods near the Church, spread out in a way that suggested the perpetrator to have used the divide and conquer strategy, and the fact that each corpse was cleanly decapitated with the heads missing from the bodies.

That however, is a story after the upcoming showdown between Jack and the mysterious bald kaiser.