The villainess shall be mine

Swoosh!

Adam got closer to Rudeus, intending to finish the fight with one decisive attack.

Rudeus seemed like he was not entirely focused on the battle and Adam took advantage of that by making him think that he had no other trump cards on hand and that he was desperate.

However, Rudeus knew that Adam was not a normal person and he was wary of him. After all, he just absorbed a fragment of the tree of life but didn't manifest any kind of power yet, even though such a thing might change the tide of the battle to Adam's advantage.

Adam's aim was to make sure that Rudeus blocked his attack and didn't avoid it.

When Adam got close to Rudeus, he used his foot to attack him with a low kick.

Even Rudeus didn't expect such an attack and he just blocked it with his knee.

Thud!

Seeing that Rudeus blocked his kick, Adam twisted his body, using his other foot as a pivotal point, then with his momentum, he threw a high kick but Rudeus blocked it too.

Thud!

Adam was not a master when it comes to martial arts so his moves were predictable. However, he tried to take advantage of his situation by making his attack patterns predictable, but just once, he needed to make sure that even if Rudeus blocked his attack, Rudeus would still die.

Adam was waiting for Rudeus to get used to his attack patterns and for him to predict that he would use his trump card after a while, in other words, he wanted Rudeus to think that he was waiting for a chance to take him by surprise.

But instead of changing it, Adam continued using the same pattern, making Rudeus wonder when he was going to use a trump card, but in reality, his trump card would lay in his normal attack.

Nevertheless, it was a big gamble on Adam's part, after all, he wasn't even sure that he would be able to use the antimatter again when he needed to use it, in other words, he wasn't sure if he could manage to coordinate his attacks and wouldn't miss the opportunity to kill Rudeus with one hit.

Adam continued to attack Rudeus with predictable attack patterns until suddenly he leaped towards him but stopped midway.

Swoosh!

Rudeus was puzzled by Adam's action and wondered if he was about to use his trump card.

Rudeus was taller and bigger than Adam, so Adam had to kick the ground and jumped forward every time he tried to attack Rudeus, so when he suddenly stopped in mid-air, Rudeus instinctively strengthened his defense, thinking that Adam was about to attack him with some kind of powerful charge.

However, after that weird pause, nothing happened and Adam continued with his predictable attack patterns.

'What was that?' Rudeus wondered. He didn't know why Adam was so weak despite him having two fragments of the Tree of life.

Moreover, Rudeus himself was confused by his actions, as if his body was trying to kill Adam, but his mind was trying to think about what was happening.

However, that moment when he let his guard down, was when Adam used his trump card concealed in his attack patterns.

Despite how their fight looked, it was a fight between two powerful beings.

Adam's body was now more or less upgraded, and his strength and durability increased, but it was just that Rudeus was too strong and experienced.

But on the other hand, Adam's power could temporarily weaken Rudeus's abilities, so he couldn't use the full potential of his gift to move instantly or steal time from Adam.

It was not like he couldn't do it completely, but for some reason, even though both of their power were authorities, it took too much time to overwhelm Adam's power. Probably, because his power was on a higher level of existence.

If it weren't for these conditions, the fight would have already ended a long ago.

*****

:::[Adam's POV]:::

'Now!'

After that feint, I continued to use the same attack patterns again, and it seemed like the guy was surprised.

He probably thought about many theories, but it seemed like he didn't catch up to my intention. After all, it was so simple, but I just needed one trump card, yes, just one unstoppable strike.

He was about to block my attack as he did with all of my previous attacks, without doubting anything.

'It seems like it worked.' I thought.

I took advantage of my weakness to conceal my final trump card.

I gathered all of the primordial particles inside my body and in my surroundings around my fist. My power of nullification wasn't active anymore, but I just needed a split second.

Swoosh!

"You were close…"

"Wha-?"

The power that could destroy anything appeared on my fist and I hit the guy with it while he was blocking my attack with his arm, but suddenly, he disappeared and appeared behind me.

It seemed like I missed something…

"Tch!" I clicked my tongue, feeling that this last attack drained almost all of my strength but didn't manage to kill him.

I activated my power of nullification again as I turned and looked at him. 'This is bad. What should I do from here? I need another plan.'

For some reason, I was calm, even though I was in a very desperate situation. I felt like I would be able to deal with the situation.

I didn't know when I became such an optimist, but it felt really weird… I felt like my body was moving instinctively and I wanted to fight more. 'What is this?'

It felt like I was forgetting something…

*****

:::[Third person POV]:::

Thick red blood dropped on the ground, coming from Rudeus's arm after his hand was severed by the antimatter.

He had almost died if he didn't use his gift in time and managed to avoid Adam's fist.

Despite his injury, he didn't have a pained look on his face, and instead, he looked at Adam.

"You seem to be different. How did you obtain that power?" Rudeus asked.

After all, Adam was young and inexperienced, so the fact that he had a power that could rival Rudeus's, or even more powerful, was extremely weird.

"You don't need to know," Adam replied, looking at Rudeus with eyes full of killing intent.

Adam didn't care about Rudeus's words at all and focused on finding a way to beat him instead.

His attempt to kill Rudeus with one hit failed because he didn't know the nature of Rudeus's gift.

On the other hand, Rudeus was more and more confused by what was happening. He thought that he had seen through that person's plan, but after seeing Adam, he began to question everything that he did until that point.

*****

"Lalalalala. Mm! Mmm!"

While Adam and Rudeus fought, an existence was looking at them, then walked toward Zax and Liu, without anyone noticing as if he was nothing but the air.

"Who are you?" Zax asked, looking at this person when they suddenly appeared in front of her. For some reason, she wasn't even surprised, and the chaotic emotions suddenly settled down.

"Your death may bring another variable to the equation, but I don't think it would be necessary." The person said.

Zax looked at their face but her brain couldn't come up with a proper image that could match the thing that she saw. She felt like the face continued to change, sometimes a woman, sometimes a man, but when she looked at it, she didn't feel that it was strange, and her brain was convinced that it was normal for it to look like that.

"As for her, I think she is an important piece." The thing said, looking at Liu.

Zax didn't understand what was happening, but before she knew it, she was already inside a dream where she was living a happy life with her mother, in a beautiful house next to a lake.

She didn't even remember when she closed her eyes, or when she fell asleep, but the dream was almost indistinguishable from reality.

"Enjoy it." The existence said, standing next to her inside the dream.

Then she ran, forgetting about everything, she didn't care if it was a dream or an illusion, but she ran to her mother's arms.

"Mooom!" She shouted in tears, as her mother held her tightly in her arms.

The being looked at them and then disappeared.

"Lalalala."

It was a thing, a person, a being, a presence that was hidden, mysterious, incomprehensible, and even though humans were already in front of it, looking at it, living with it, they could never understand its true nature.

A God? a monster? No one knew what was the real nature of this thing, nor did they know about its existence.

[Hey! Don't look at me like that. All you do is just observe, so at least try to not be biased.]

…

[As long as you don't interfere with me, I won't interfere with your little hobby.]

…

"Lalalala. Lala... Mmmm... Mmmm..."