Monster for monster

Cough cough

The dust emerging around them, when inhaled by the two, left them with a bittersweet feeling in their hearts. Their hands, grabbing onto the purple-edged swords, trembled after just one blow.

"What's wrong?"

The voice that emerged from the clouds of dust, along with the shadowy figure, became clear to the two. His unwavering, pitch-black eyes made the observer's body shudder from uneasiness.

The silver blade in his hand, which was clean just a while ago, had turned red. The corners of his lips extended outward, forming a grin.

"Was that all just a talk?"

The cold shivers they felt on their whole body paralysed them in their spot. Adrienne's cold tone was just a plus that was devouring them with every passing moment.

A few minutes ago, the two men in front of him claimed that they would be beheading him. What was the result of the fight that took place after that?

Wait. Was that even something that could be considered a fight? No. It was simply a one-sided slaughter.

The two of them had surely pounced on the target they assumed to be weak in front of numbers. Acting solely based on their assumptions was those two's greatest mistake.

Within a second, they were flying away from Adrienne. Ace definitely felt that their swords had come into contact with each other's.

That was, accurately, the problem with their situation. Jack couldn't feel any sensation in his whole right hand because of the strong shock that ran through it.

When they jumped at him again, strong winds generated by the fast swings of his blade cut apart their flesh easily. The dust emerged, and they were thrown away from him.

'I couldn't see his movements at all...'

Ace gritted his teeth when he came to his senses. This person in front of him was someone they should've avoided fighting with.

Adrienne's movements were totally on another level. Jack glanced at Ace while releasing his mana to heal the wounds.

Both of their eyes met at that moment. They couldn't have felt any worse when that happened. Ace slowly whispered the same thought both had in their minds.

"He is a monster."

Jack grinned lightly at himself, hearing those words. That term 'monster' wasn't meant literally, but with respect to Adrienne's strength.

Even when they fought together to catch the countless monsters they imprisoned in another dimension, they never had this much of a hard time.

Monster? Adrienne was simply strong beyond that flimsy word of theirs. That term was actually undermining how strong he actually was.

Then, was it even possible to defeat Adrienne? No one present there could defeat him at the moment. A bitter smile rose on Jack's lips.

"Then... how do we defeat a monster?"

That was the question Ace awaited to hear with anticipation. A smile appeared on his lips when he brushed off the blood flowing down his wounded cheek.

Thud

He dropped the sword from his hand to the ground. The black-purple mist it was made up of dissipated into thin air. His hand made its way into the gap in his clothing's small opening. The pocket with something in it.

"Of course..."

The bundle of keys he pulled out of his pocket left Jack with a blank face. Those were things they were originally supposed to use to carry out their ploys.

He gulped down his own saliva, nervously understanding what Ace intended to do. But for it to be done successfully, there were some conditions.

The first was that they had to pour out the last remaining bits of their mana to release what they hid behind the doors of another dimension.

The second was that they would give it their all to run away from there.

"Only a monster can kill another monster."

The monsters they both had captured in over a span of a year were being held tied up in another dimension. Releasing them all together was what Ace aimed to do.

There was no telling what Adrienne would do if they sent the monsters out one by one. He had already killed Basilisk. His appearance alone was enough to tell them that he was behind the death of the beast.

"You must be kiddin-"

"No. I'm serious. We won't survive if we don't do this."

Jack's words were cut off in the middle because of Ace's interruption. But what he said was totally correct.

Actually, this situation wouldn't have even arisen had those two not engaged in combat with Adrienne. Now that the deed had been done, there was nothing else they could do.

Sigh

Jack had no better plan than what Ace was suggesting. He stayed silent for a while, trying to calculate possible outcomes from that point on.

Tsk

"Fine. You are permitted to do it."

Saying that, Jack exuded the green light from his left hand towards the keys. The black blade on his right turned into thin, black dust.

The other swords popping out of the ground similarly turned into visible dust. It glowed purple while gathering near Ace's hand, along with the green light.

The crystals embedded in the keys glowed in various colours as the two strings of light seeped into them. The wounds on the two's bodies stopped bleeding as the scene unfolded.

The magic that entagled in front of them was what created a healing effect for the two closest to it. Adrienne, on the other hand, didn't move and just watched over them. He had no clue what they were trying to pull.

'It won't matter. I was itching for a proper battle either way.'

Ace and Jack had no clue what they had brought upon themselves by standing against Adrienne. Sooner or later, they might deeply regret their actions.

-----------------

-Few hours ago-

The blue light flickered as the small crystal illuminated itself within the darkness. The girl who sat beside it could hear the voices of four people conversing.

The tiny red heart symbols engraved on her pink irises blink twice. Her hair colour wasn't visible because of the darkness, but the blue tint made them glisten lightly.

"Heart, can you check it already?"

The boy, contacting her using the crystal, asked her. A small, diamond-like shape of red just beside his left eye looked as if it were a tattoo.

As usual, they both were talking while sitting in some dark place. The crystal they were using was created by a certain mage and had the risk of their conversations being overheard by someone.

Regularly, these two would be talking with each other, but this time it was different. A third person and a fourth one spoke after what Diamond said.

"That's right! We have more business to tend."

"Make it quick! Make it quick!"

The first voice was that of a girl, and the second one wasn't able to be identified. That voice might've sounded feminine, but Diamond knew that it was a guy, for a fact.

Whom did those voices belong to? They were allies of Heart and Diamond. Not to mention, they would help Ace and Jack from time to time.

Sigh

Heart felt drained just by observing the three of them yapping. She was aware that her role was important at the moment, but it wasn't fine that they were acting like that.

"S-spade and Club... H-how do you expect me to f-focus on it-?"

Her stuttering voice sounded a bit cute to the two of them, and that's why they giggled lightly to themselves.

What was Heart trying to focus on, though? The four of them held the meeting to discuss what was going on with Ace and Jack's plan. That's how the three requested that she look for Adrienne Agustus.

His going undetected was something that felt odd. Of course, they would've never been able to find out who it was that created another dimension.

At least, that was the case until what was about to happen. Heart's eyes glowed pink as she breathed heavily. What she was witnessing made her flinch.

The illusionary map that unfolded in front of her eyes had a red dot marked on it. That wasn't the problem, but the location at which the red dot glowed was.

"... en... rest."

"What? Speak properly."

"H-he is in t-the Elven F-forest..."

Diamond smiled nervously at himself, realising that his fears had come true. Spade and Club also fell silent upon understanding it.

Adrienne, who had been missing for the past few hours, suddenly appeared in the Elven Forest. Wasn't that the same place where Ace and Jack were?

"What should we do now?"

Diamond asked them while a white glow encompassed the small symbol near his left eye. He couldn't care less about interfering with what Ace and Jack were going through.

Spade and Club galnced at each other. Just like how Heart had the power to detect where the person she wanted to find was, the three of them had such odd abilities too.

They were thinking of the answer to Diamond's question. There weren't many options in front of them, though. It was either sit and watch or go ahead and help.

"Let me observe the situation first."

Her black eyes with a grey spade symbol on her pupils glowed as she opened them widely. The ability that she restrained herself from using was being put to use after a long time.

Letting her see what was unfolding in a certain place, where members of the Terminus Consortium were, was what her ability was about.

The scene that she was able to view made her jaw drop. The very next moment, nervousness filled her serene gaze. She spoke while wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"Club. You need to get involved."

Spade had just said that Club glanced one last time into Heart's eyes to see the location where he was supposed to head.

Chnk

He left the meeting with that sound. He was planning to use his ability to teleport to the location where Jack and Ace were and then transfer them to somewhere safe.

"What about us? What should we do?"

Listening to Spade's question, Diamond and Heart didn't say a word for a while. They were just sharing glances with each other.

"W-we shouldn't w-worry too much. I-it will w-work out f-fine."

Heart closed her eyes tightly as she spoke with a nervous tone. She wasn't a person who naturally stuttered while speaking.

Every time she felt nervous, she would have a hard time speaking. She wasn't good with people, either.

"I suppose she is correct. We will end it here."

Chnk

The meeting they were holding had come to an end. They were all aware that there was no need to worry any further since Club himself was heading there.

-At the eleven forest-

Bangggg

The huge sound of something colliding echoed throughout the atmosphere, along with winds and vibrations. The trees that stood tall trembled due to the wind pressure pushing them outward.

"They aren't even trying to hide anymore."

The man said this to the person who had been running beside him. They had both been searching for the people wrecking that havoc within the forest.

His crimson-red hair fluttered violently because of the winds. There wasn't much he could've done to eliminate the unpleasant feeling.

Besides him was the man who had black hair with blue ends. They were both heading in the direction from which the loud noise came. Everything was normal for them, until...

Roaaaaar

The sound of some wild beast crying out loud made the two of them flinch. They glanced at each other and nodded simultaneously before speeding up their sprint.

"We need to hurry."