“It’s useless! No matter how many times you try! Your attacks will never work on me!”
The man in the suit turned around, grinned at Sapphire, and his entire body was once again wrapped in black liquid.
Under that exaggerated defense, all of Sapphire’s carefully prepared magic cannons failed.
It seemed exactly as the man in the suit had said—Sapphire’s attacks would never work on him.
“…You underestimate humans too much, Shadow Beast.”
“What?”
The man in the suit frowned, crushed the light cannon in his right hand, and looked at Sapphire with a strange expression.
He couldn’t understand at all why such a weak creature would dare to contradict his words.
‘Doesn’t she know she’s about to die by my hand? And she still dares to be so arrogant?’
“You just said that the strong should naturally possess everything, and the weak must obey the strong.”
Sapphire said calmly, “I’ve been annoyed by that kind of talk from the very beginning.”
“Ha, so you think those weaklings have the ability to resist me?!”
“…In terms of raw strength, they are inferior to you. In physical fitness, they are inferior to you. They cannot resist your will.”
Sapphire paused, then suddenly changed her tone. “But, they have the ability to kill you! To inflict severe injuries on you!”
“Impossible! In the face of such a huge gap in power! I am an existence you can never surpass!”
“Wrong! Your strength is not that overwhelming! You can still be injured, you can still be killed! You only have one life!”
“A bunch of weaklings deluding themselves into thinking they can defeat beings like us who are born noble?” The man in the suit sneered. “Mere slaves trying to rebel against a king?”
“Of course! When the weak’s weapons strip away your defenses and drive that fatal arrow into your heart! You are no different from a dying man!” Sapphire retorted. “And now, that time has come!”
“Bullshit!”
The man in the suit retorted harshly, immediately lunging forward to rush at Sapphire, intending to kill her with a single punch using all his strength.
But for some reason, he suddenly felt a slight warmth coming from behind him.
He thought it was just another futile struggle from Sapphire, but as soon as he took a step forward, he was astonished to find a similar warmth in his abdomen.
The man in the suit looked down in shock, seeing that his body, which should have been covered in black liquid, was now empty, leaving only the solid muscles on the surface.
“…What is this?”
“This is the power of the weaklings you look down upon.” Sapphire answered. “That young human you let escape, he discovered your weakness and learned where your immense magic power comes from.”
“How is that possible?” The man in the suit raised his hand blankly. “How could you weaklings see the flaws in someone as strong as me? I was supposed to be unbeatable by you.”
“Is that so? Since your magic power supply comes from those citizens you’ve influenced, we only need to control the citizens and purify them, and then you’ll no longer have that endless magic power.” Sapphire replied. “You are not invincible.”
“I… I can’t accept… such an ending…” The man in the suit muttered to himself. “I should have died at the hands of someone stronger, not been surrounded and killed by you weaklings… This is not the ending I wanted…”
“What do your thoughts have to do with us? Go to hell, you damned Shadow Beast.”
Sapphire raised her hand to wipe the blood from her mouth, let out a breath, lifted her magic staff, and began gathering magic power again, preparing to finish the fight with a magic cannon.
Seeing this, the man in the suit blinked, then suddenly burst out laughing and said.
“Well done… well done…”
“No wonder Lord of the Night and Lord 003 think highly of No. 024. So everything he said was possible after all.”
“Humans, truly interesting!”
“Hey! Sapphire! As a reward for defeating me, let me tell you an interesting fact!”
The man in the suit formed a claw with his right hand, suddenly reached into his own chest, and pulled out a pitch-black heart covered in black liquid.
Then, holding his own heart, he began panting heavily.
Even though his life was already counting down, the man in the suit still had a smile on his face, completely unconcerned about his impending death.
On the contrary, he looked especially excited, as if thrilled by what he was about to say.
“That human kid of yours was able to develop the Magic Detection Device because he obtained the ability of us Shadow Beasts.”
“Among us Shadow Beasts, we can sense Shadow Beasts weaker than ourselves and confirm their approximate status.”
“Although powerful Shadow Beasts can try to block the sensing of other Shadow Beasts, if the difference in strength is too great, this blocking is completely ineffective.”
“Hahaha… hahahaha!”
After speaking, the man in the suit laughed maniacally and crushed his own heart.
Foul black liquid splattered across the ground, instantly making the scene smell unpleasant.
His body swayed, then fell straight forward, never moving again.
Thus, this Shadow Beast, who had caused Sapphire trouble and committed countless murders in the shadows, was completely dead.
“…Madman.”
Sapphire recalled what the man in the suit had just said, and after a few seconds of silence, she slowly made her comment.
She landed on the ground, looked at the dazzling Purification Shard that had formed on the corpse and the black liquid continuously seeping out, rubbed her temples, and sighed with some exhaustion.
“Dice.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming! I’ve been waiting for so long!”
With Sapphire’s gentle call, the lively Magic Fairy instantly jumped out of the magic staff.
As soon as it appeared, it was attracted by the huge Purification Shard, its eyes wide, staring dumbly at this charming Purification Shard.
“D-dear Contractor! Are you giving this Purification Shard to me, meow?! Thank you so much, meow!”
“…What are you thinking? I called you out to have you cancel my Transformation.”
Sapphire shook her head and smacked Dice’s head irritably, telling it to stop daydreaming.
Dice yelped in pain, covered its head, and reluctantly canceled Sapphire’s Transformation.
A flash of light passed, and Jiang Yuening held the water-drop-shaped blue gem in her hand. After pondering for a few seconds, she spoke.
“Dice, how much of what that guy just said do you think is true and how much is false?”
“Hmm? I don’t know.”
“And now?” Jiang Yuening took out a small Purification Shard and shook it.
“Now I know, meow! One hundred percent true! No lies at all, meow!” Dice immediately got excited upon seeing it.
“Really?” Sapphire raised an eyebrow.
“Really, meow! I wouldn’t lie to you, meow!”
“…Fine, take it.”
After getting the information, Jiang Yuening tossed the Purification Shard to Dice, letting it go enjoy its meal on the side.
As for herself, she approached the corpse of the man in the suit to collect the spoils, recalling the words he had spoken before his death in her mind.
‘So the essence of Sensing Ability is the mutual sensing between Shadow Beasts…’