648: Even In My Death

Even In My Death

The moment they struck one another, both of them recoiled, ripping their swords out from each other's bodies. The man took staggered back, both hands dropped to his side as blood flowed from the gash on his shoulder. He looked up at the Butcher, staring at him with a smile.  0

"Hah, hah, I told you, even if it kills me", he said. 

The Butcher looked down at his stomach, seeing two holes there. Blackish blood came out of his wounds, bubbling and gurgling before the flowing slowed to a trickle and then stopped. 

The man watched as the wound he inflicted was healed in mere seconds and the Butcher of An Le sneered at him, spinning his sword around. Just like that, he was uninjured. 

"Pft, ah hahaha! don't make me laugh, nothing you do will kill me!"

He looked at the evil cultivator and the smile slowly turned to a frown. His breath turned heavy as his gaze was full of defiance. Suddenly, he shouted out, dropping his two swords to the ground and opening up his robes. 

Within them were tens if not hundreds of knives, all of them were small with strange handles meant to be wielded with just two fingers. 

In that same instant, his hands became blurs as countless knives flew out. The Butcher's face suddenly darkened as he avoided them, running around his opponent. Each of those knives flew out suddenly transforming into swords that shredded everything in their path. 

But seeing as it wasn't working, he grabbed four daggers, two in each hand, and charged forward. Sweat dripped down his face as he powered through the pain, attacking the Butcher and giving him no chance to strike back. 

Despite such efforts, they were in vain. 

The bloodied sword slithered forward, stabbing him right in the stomach. 

"Agh!"

He screamed out in pain, trying to retaliate only to be thrown against the tree. Try as he might, the man could barely lift an arm now. Still, he held his head up high, looking at the Butcher with a smile as blood slowly trickled out of his mouth. 

"Even in my death, I'll haunt you..."

A weak chuckle came out as he kept his gaze straight at the Butcher who walked forward, raising his bloodied sword up high. 

"Kekekeke, what difference will you make when hundreds of others have done the same? The only purpose you have is to help me reach a higher level of strength. Anything you've done till now is pointless."

With that last remark, the Butcher swung while looking down at the man and he welcomed his death with a smile. 

But at the last second, there was a shattering sound as the sword suddenly cracked and broke. 

"What?!"

The Butcher's eyes widened in shock as his sword swung and missed with the broken edge just barely cutting into his enemy's neck. The man may not have seen it clearly but the Butcher did. e suddenly looked up, his eyes darted from one direction to the other. 

His gaze sharpened as well, dropping his broken weapon before taking out a different weapon. This time it was a scimitar, a curved, single-edged sword that was in much better condition than the other sword. 

No doubt, this was his real weapon. 

"Come out here! Don't think I wouldn't have noticed it!"

Pointing the scimitar outwards, the Butcher waved it around, poised to retaliate. He didn't seem to care anymore for the half-dead man. 

The man's breath was heavy at first but slowly began to soften and calm. His vision faded in and out, seeing only flashes of his surroundings. He could only watch as the man he swore to find was focused on something else. 

In the next moment, he saw a shadow suddenly appear. 

"What's... what's going on?" 

He could only catch glimpses as he tried his best to stay conscious, forcing his eyes to stay open for as long as he could. Still, he could hear the wind as swords flew about followed by silence. Not even a peep of anyone could be heard. 

As his eyes opened once more, the Butcher was frozen in place and the man just looked at him in utter confusion. 

He wasn't expecting this at all. 

And the shock suddenly came as the frozen figure suddenly moved, falling to the ground as multiple wounds appeared. It took several seconds for the blood to come out and pool. It was as if his body didn't even realize what had happened. 

"Did... did someone come to my aid?" he wondered.

Barely able to even lift his eyelids open, the man couldn't hold on for much longer, losing consciousness once again. In the final seconds, he managed to see who had come to his aid. It wasn't a good look, didn't even last more than a second or two. Even then, he got a look. 

"Is that... is that the Fairy of the... Moon?"

It was only then that he finally lost consciousness. With the amount of blood he had lost, it was a miracle that he stayed awake for so long. Strangely enough, he felt satisfied, knowing that even if he died, at least the Butcher died as well. 

He felt refreshed, the anger and sadness began to abate themselves as a cool sensation settled in.

But then things felt a little too cool to which an itching followed. 

"Urgh, ugh..."

Groaning, his eyes fluttered open as he reached for the wound on his shoulder, trying to scratch the itch. And then he stopped, feeling bandages carefully wrapped around the gash, It was tight and slightly moist from the medicine. 

There was a faint sweet and earthy smell wafting into the air. 

As his eyes opened and stayed open, he no longer saw the Butcher's body, and the shining sun from before was gone. It was replaced by the night sky, complete with a moon and thousands if not millions of glowing stars. 

Despite the pretty view, he was surprised. Looking down at himself, he saw the bandages wrapped around his body. The scent of medicine was mild and pleasant. The bandages themselves were done well, not too tight or loose but enough to treat an ailment. 

"Who did this?" 

Despite asking himself, he already knew the answer to it but... that answer seemed too good to be true. 

"Was it her? The Fairy of the Moon? The one that ended that terrible war? But that- that's not possible. She was supposed to have died in that final fight? Could she have been alive?" he wondered. 

"Maybe it was something else? Maybe she became a guardian angel? We aren't far from her home country but... could something like that really exist? Was I just imagining things all this time? Maybe the injuries are making me delirious. But that can't be it! Who would've been able to patch me up like this?" 

The more he thought about it, the more confused he was. 

"Maybe, maybe her spirit came."

Each other seemed more and more outrageous. After all, who could've survived a blast from killing the True Idol?

But he took a deep breath and calmed himself. Taking another look around, the man noticed a few pieces of the broken sword. Forcing himself to stand up, he felt a sharp pain all throughout his body as he walked forward and grabbed the fragments. 

There was a smile on his face as he pocketed them. 

"At least... at least I have this", he muttered. 

Even though he didn't get the killing blow himself, knowing that the butcher was dead was enough for him. Taking another look at his surroundings, he suddenly cupped his fists and bowed as if to say thanks. 

And then he slowly hobbled away to which a pair of eyes were watching from a distance away. 

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