Ascension of the Dark Seraph-Chapter 284: Not a Hypocrite

From all the things Lucivar did upon embracing the Evil Gods' power, he learned a lot of things.

One that he learned recently was that rage could be especially blinding.

It's a power in its own right that came at a cost.

And right now, at this moment, Renis has fallen victim to that cost.

He was stunned when he saw the Lethal Zone mark beneath him, too fixated on his rage towards Lucivar that he forgot about this. Even though he had seen it earlier and made a mental note to use it on Lucivar if things went awry, the anger blinded him.

Now, he was the one who was standing above the Lethal Zone.

"Khhk?!"

Renis gritted his teeth and tried to leap away before the Lethal Zone could trap him.

But Lucivar wasn't going to let him do that.

Bang!

A concentrated beam tore a hole in Renis' leg, causing him to lose strength and stumble.

He glanced at the gaping hole and realized that it was sizzling with white energy, causing immense pain.

Lucivar smirked when he saw this.

Naturally, he used the Night Piercer spell that he took from the woman, but this time, he used his light attribute. Since curses don't work on Renis, he opted for his second attribute, and as expected, the light attribute worked wonders. free𝑤ebnovel.com

Swish!

Before Renis could react, the Lethal Zone summoned a sky-high tube that entrapped him inside.

It was too late for him to escape now with the zone activated.

Grinning excitedly, Lucivar tapped on his crest.

Almost instantly, a warm healing green energy enveloped his entire body and mended his wounds.

It took only about ten seconds before his entire body was stitched back to normal.

Renis watched in shock, a bead of cold sweat running down the side of his face, "You planned this…"

"Of course," Lucivar said, brushing the dirt from his clothes as he rose to his feet. "I was trying to make you angry—but I'm surprised that it didn't quite land, so now I have to get creative," He leaned in with a smirk, voice dropping to a whisper. "I'm really not a bad guy. I'm no fan of kicking corpses… but I knew that would get to you."

Upon hearing this, Renis frowned in confusion.

He wasn't talking about that.

He was talking about how Lucivar pretended to be hurt and coaxed him to stand on the Lethal Zone.

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting?" Renis argued as he climbed to his feet again.

It took more effort to stand with his leg wounded, but he managed to get himself to stand straight.

Noticing the confusion, Lucivar burst out laughing.

Considering that Renis was also a killer like him, someone who has killed people many times already, he put on high expectations. But it seemed not every killer was on the same level as him, there are some, like Renis, who are slow.

"From the moment you ambushed me, everything has gone according to my plan," Lucivar said with a nonchalant shrug. "Leo chasing me into this dead forest, you chasing me, your friends—following you. And finally, you being trapped, it was calculated by me to achieve one goal…"

Almost instantly, Renis began to click everything together.

He saw how his friends died earlier, and one thing stuck out: there was no sign of a struggle.

And seeing Lucivar was able to shapeshift, their deaths made sense.

Lucivar must've pretended to be one of them and stabbed those he could fool from the back.

However, what truly shocked Renis was realizing that Lucivar's scheme ran far deeper than he initially thought. His lethal hands had been guiding them like a master puppeteer pulling strings, 'Before he ran, his eyes flicked sideways for just a moment. Then he hit me, sent me flying. I thought it was impulsive, but no. He did it to make sure Leo would be the one to chase him first.'

Renis became more disturbed as he could now see the bigger picture.

'Then, he took Leo's form to intercept and fool the others behind my back, and he killed them—using a monster, which was allowed as long as it doesn't seem too deliberate.'

Unconsciously, the shock Renis was feeling shifted into something else as he leaned away from Lucivar.

It turned to a more intense emotion, fear.

'He did all of that as preparation to confront me… Not to beat me, but to make me angry, so that I'd do this to him. I'd try to kill him in a fit of rage, forgetting the fact where I was. Which means…'

As soon as Renis reached that thought, his expression turned pale.

Noticing the realization dawning upon Renis, Lucivar's grin grew wider.

"Did you really think I was aiming to kill you?" He asked, leaning close with a crazed pair of eyes. "In my last meeting with the Blessed Hand Clan before the tournament, the leader made one request. And that is to humiliate the Shadow Clan champions. I'm sure the Shadow Clan asked for the same thing or even worse from you, and that's why you're aiming at me."

Lucivar leaned away, composing himself back to normal.

"Unfortunately for you, you didn't achieve your goal, but I did," He said and pointed behind Renis.

Gulping harshly, Renis glanced over his shoulder slowly, stiffly, and was stunned when he saw a drone behind him near the tree top. What he tried to do earlier, trying to kill Lucivar when he was 'wounded', the drone captured it all.

Renis swallowed hard and turned his head slowly, stiffly.

His breath caught in his throat when he spotted a drone hovering near the treetop behind him.

The sight hit like a blow.

What he tried to do earlier, trying to kill Lucivar when he was 'wounded', the drone captured it all.

"Renis of the Shadow Clan…"

Suddenly, a robotic voice echoed, coming from the drone.

"Disqualified. You will be brought in for questioning. Do not resist."

Upon hearing this, Lucivar smirked and turned around, "Have fun being mocked at the checkpoint."

And with that, Lucivar managed to handle one of his problems effectively and efficiently.

Since Renis was trapped inside the Lethal Zone, he would be teleported back to the last checkpoint and imprisoned there. He would have nowhere to hide, exposed—and mocked by the crowd in the stadium for trying to kill someone blatantly.

For his friends, the other champions of the Shadow Clan, all of them died at the hands of monsters.

Oval and Heart's roar sealed the fact that they died by monsters residing in the cave.

At this point, the Shadow Clan was utterly humiliated.

'I gave the black rose to them, and I managed to expose them. I'm sure the crowd is going crazy right now,' Lucivar thought inside, shaking his head as he grabbed a massive emerald and bronze sphere, his reward for this feat. 'Now, onto the next one.'

Just as he was about to leave, a desperate call piqued his interest.

"Lucivar! Lucivar Please! I made a mistake! Say that this is a misunderstanding!" Renis exclaimed once his mind understood that there was no getting out of this. "If you leave me here—I'll be ruined! My reputation, my future, my… my life! I'll be done!"

Lucivar pivoted around and approached once again.

He reached out his hand to touch the energy wall, fixing his crazy eyes on Renis.

One could see genuine confusion behind those eyes.

"Did you still not get it?" He asked softly—his face was laced with concern, but his eyes held no sign of mercy, only the quiet satisfaction of watching Renis fall apart. "You're ruined from the moment you decided to stand in my way. You agreed to your own ruin. You just haven't realized it yet until now."

Renis was speechless.

He didn't know that he was going against a lunatic, the Devil's reincarnation himself.

Had he known that Lucivar was this ruthless, he wouldn't have accepted the Shadow Clan's terms.

'How could he be this ruthless…?' Renis thought inside as his head dropped. 'He's… scary.'

"If you want to help me and earn my forgiveness," Lucivar suddenly said, giving back hope to Renis, who instantly raised his gaze when he heard this. "Do me a favor… kill yourself. You're a murderer, and the world would be a better place without you in it."

Just then, a surge of energy enveloped Renis' body.

Slowly, his body turned into energy particles as he got teleported back to the checkpoint.

"Hypocrite…" Renis mumbled one last word before he disappeared.

Lucivar heard this and shook his head, understanding why Renis couldn't understand the real truth, "I am not a bad person. I killed people for the better good—because that's the game Karma is playing. At my current level, I can only comply with the rules, or die, so it was never an option."

"You, on the other hand, are an attack dog. No reason at all, a murderer,' He added.

Sneering at Renis' shallow understanding, he walked away, heading back to the others.

Upon arriving at where the others were, Lucivar couldn't find them.

He wasn't surprised and continued on alone, certain that the others had already moved ahead.

Lucivar didn't take this as a bad thing, rather, he took this as a good thing.

Caldaros and Mirel hadn't waited or checked on him despite being chased by several champions from the Shadow Clam, not out of indifference, but because they knew he was capable. Lucivar was too good to fall to something as minor as an ambush.

Naturally, that doesn't apply to Orivelle and the woman in her group.

"Are you sure we shouldn't go and find him?" Orivelle asked. "I made a deal with him."

"Don't worry, he'll be fine," Mirel answered assuringly.

He wanted to check, but something stopped him.

"It's nothing for him. Just wait a bit, he'll come back," Caldaros added.

Aided by Orivelle's power, which blocked the volcanic activity under them, they were able to reach the second checkpoint fairly fast. Many kingdoms were still left behind, mainly because of having one of them or their flag placed into the Lethal Zone.

Other than the participants from the Shadow Clan, there were no other participants aiming for them.

"What about yours? Where's Arthur?" Mirel asked again.

Along the way or perhaps during the ambush, Arthur suddenly disappeared.

It was only now that Orivelle and the woman realized it.

Just then, however, a voice called out to them, "Hey! Sorry, I got separated earlier!"

Arthur was finally able to reunite with them, approaching while scratching the back of his head.

Almost instantly, Orivelle lectured him about sticking together, which he was forced to listen.

On the other hand, Mirel's eyes were fixed on Arthur.

Surprisingly, Arthur also glanced towards him, and their eyes met for a couple of seconds.

Tension could be felt rising between them.