The mana inside the cave was being sucked inward with ferocious intensity, like an enormous, invisible vortex. The very air trembled, pressure steadily rising.
Noa, filled with astonishment, turned toward X.
"What could this be?"
A trace of fear mixed into X's voice:
"I don't know… but one thing is certain: we must not stay here. Whatever it is, it can kill us without effort."
Noa walked calmly to the wall, stretched one leg out, folded the other beneath him, and sat on the ground. A faint smile appeared.
"It would kill us? That would be interesting."
X lost his temper and shouted:
"What are you doing, you idiot?! Get up right now!"
Noa slowly began unwrapping the bandages on his right arm. In a perfectly calm tone he said to X:
"I'm not leaving. More precisely… I cannot leave."
X's anger flared even higher; he roared:
"Why can't you?! Are you scared?!"
Noa completely removed the cloth, took off the splints, and rotated his wrist once or twice. A cracking sound came from the bones.
"Don't get agitated, X. Look—my arm has healed quite a bit."
X tried to seize full control of the body, pushing himself outward:
"If you do nothing, I'll move the body myself!"
Noa resisted and lowered his voice sharply:
"Don't be a fool. Can't you feel our current condition? There's no strength left in this body. Even if I stand, I'll collapse. Running away in this state is impossible."
X's eyes widened for a moment.
"Then what do you plan to do? Just sit here and wait for death?!"
Noa raised his right knee, rested his elbow on it, and bowed his head. His voice grew colder.
"Yes. Fate has never been kind to us. Yet somehow we've survived until now. If we are to die—we will at least await death with pride. Not like trash."
X gnashed his teeth.
"You've lost your mind, Noa. I always knew you wouldn't fight for your life, but I thought at least for revenge, for your goal, you would fight tooth and nail!"
Noa placed his hands on his knees and lifted his head.
"I still will. But do you know the difference between us, X?"
X fell silent for a moment.
"The difference? Well, what is it?"
Noa answered in a quiet, ice-cold tone:
"I have no fear. You can feel the emotions I feel, but you are not me. You are my ego, not my soul."
X exploded with rage:
"You bastard… what are you trying to say?"
Noa spread his hands to the sides and said nothing.
X calmed down a little.
"So what's your plan? Speak."
Noa smiled—cold and confident.
"We cannot run. We cannot fight. That means we win with words. Or we die."
X sighed, unable to hide his excitement.
"Beautiful. If your plan fails, both of us will die here. A simple gamble. But… I like it. If you weren't like this, I would have already taken the body for myself."
Noa slowly nodded toward the direction that was swallowing the mana.
"You can see my darkness. That's why you didn't act first."
X chuckled softly:
"Yes. You possess more darkness and more rage than I do. Your endurance is greater too. But… playing such a delicate game on the edge—even for me this is new."
Noa narrowed his eyes.
"It's beginning. Whatever is rising from the depths of this mana—I can already feel its fury from here. About twenty metres away from us."
X smiled, cold and indifferent.
"I don't care. It's good that I'm not distracting you right now. I'll watch for a while."
The mana in the centre of the cave was sucked in faster and faster, finally forming a dense mana sphere. The cave walls shook.
Suddenly, tiny cracks appeared on the surface of the sphere.
Noa took a deep breath.
"It begins…"
The mana sphere burst open without warning.
A blinding crimson light, the colour of blood, flooded the cave. Black dust and a sharp wind rose, as though the cave itself had come alive.
From inside the sphere emerged a strange creature. Noa was startled but tried to remain calm. It resembled a human skeleton, yet two small horns protruded from the top of its forehead, and its eyes burned red. It looked around, then began walking straight toward Noa as if it had seen him.
Noa kept his inner peace and thought: Interesting… what is happening? This creature's hostility is extremely strong; the desire to kill is unmistakable.
The creature reached Noa and stopped.
"Who are you?" it asked.
Noa was surprised.
"Who are you?" he returned the question.
The skeleton angrily pointed its index finger at Noa.
"You are the thief who burdened my mana and stole my core! And now you ask who I am?"
It pointed its thumb at itself with a proud tone:
"Listen well: I am the Great Serpent, and every drop of mana in this cave belongs to me!"
Noa looked at it with a smirk.
"Great Serpent? Do you yourself believe that? Your appearance resembles something else entirely."
The skeleton clenched its bones and snarled:
"You bastard, are you in a hurry to die?"
It prepared to attack Noa.
Noa lightly flicked the skeleton's skull with his finger.
"What, you think you can kill me? You're only 12–13 centimetres tall, little one. You're smaller than a toddler," he said, still smirking.
The skeleton replied furiously:
"Do not underestimate me. Even if I'm weak right now, who knows what the future holds."
It stepped closer.
"Why did you burden my mana, and why do I feel my mana-sensing ability coming from you?"
Noa thought to himself: It's true—even though he's tiny, at the early fifth stage he could kill me right now, but…
Then, turning to the skeleton with a cold and resolute voice:
"Choose. Do you want to die here, or will you serve me?
First, introduce yourself properly."
The skeleton asked in shock:
"Are you stronger than me???"
After thinking for a moment and rubbing its hands:
"I am the Great Serpent. Judging by the state of this cave, about five or six years ago I sealed a fragment of my soul into my bone marrow and my mana into a crystal, and I died."
Noa rested his hand on his hip.
"So you created this cave. Considering you call yourself a serpent, the narrow passage makes sense."
The skeleton asked hesitantly:
"Who are you, and what kind of being are you?"
Noa answered calmly:
"You must be worthy to know who I am."
The skeleton snapped angrily:
"That is arrogance, you know?"
Noa smiled:
"Everything is permitted to the strong, little one. If you were stronger than me, it would suit you too."
Noa directed pure killing intent toward the skeleton. Crimson energy poured from his body like a wave.
The skeleton staggered back one or two steps.
"This is pure intent. I have never seen anything this powerful. Who are you really…"
Noa stood on the tips of his toes and crouched slightly.
"I told you—you must be worthy. Besides, what awakened you?"
The skeleton answered suspiciously:
"I think… your blood."
It pointed with its bony fingers at the spot where Noa's blood had dripped. A few drops of blood lay on the ground; beneath them was its bone containing the sealed soul fragment.
Noa bowed his head.
"So the seal broke because my blood carried mana, and that mana was mine, correct?"
The skeleton scratched its head.
"I don't know, but you are definitely the cause."
Noa grasped the skeleton's skull between two fingers and asked in an icy tone:
"Good. Have you decided? Will you die, or will you serve?"
The skeleton looked at Noa and thought: This young man's killing intent is terrifying. I cannot gauge his level. This is not ordinary… He even has the black mana-breaking technique that hasn't existed around here for ages. Is he worthy of my service?
Noa shook the skeleton's head lightly with his finger.
"I'm waiting," he said.
The skeleton answered in a reluctant tone:
"Fine, fine. I will serve—but you will return my mana and my mana-sensing ability. They belong to me, and I have always taken back what is mine. No matter what."
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