Only One Can Live

Kaito stood before Kouki, who sat upon his usurped throne.

Upon Kaito’s grand entrance, his eyes glowed blue in the state of Infinity. He glared at Kouki with great intensity.

Kouki, in his valiant shining armor, was fairly tall with dark brown hair whose length went just above his shoulders. Large rectangular glasses and a long, narrower sword. He faintly resembled a ‘standard’ Japanese otaku.

Kouki sat nonchalantly with his head still resting in his hand. He blinked, but upon opening his eyes, they glowed white. He wasn’t intimidated or shocked, fully intending to use Infinity whether Kaito unlocked it or not.

Kouki got up from the throne.

“Kaito, the so-called ‘Prophecy Boy’,” Kouki stated as he glared at Kaito.

Naturally, Henry had informed Kouki of the prophecy he heard at Elvasia. However, it didn’t seem to bother Kouki.

Kouki continued his monologue as he stepped down the stairs preceding the throne. “Phophocies are quite fickle, did you know? One slight movement in the stars can cause it to flip on its head. I can speak from experience!”

Kaito glared at Kouki as he walked to the side, continuing his monologue.

“The Hero Knight and his allies will fall if they all face the Demon Lord,” Kouki quoted. “So you know what I did? I just faced the Demon Lord alone! I left my allies to defeat the Dragon Generals, but I guess they couldn’t even do that…”

Kouki turned slightly to complain, “I would’ve left them all long ago, but they proved useful in boosting my reputation. A group of heroes is more inspirational than one. Just aid a few upcoming reincarnated fools, and they’ll follow you like faithful dogs. The ninja was a bit timid, but getting her cursed improved her quite nicely.”

Kaito looked at Kouki in disgust. It seemed like Kouki had had his fill of proving how terrible a person he was, but he still had more to gloat about.

“Then that dumb king,” Kouki added. “Oh, I’m talking about the previous one, obviously, as I’m only perfect! He tried to stand as my equal in popularity, but I showed him! I got rid of him, and get this! He didn’t even put up a fight!”

Kouki laughed maniacally for a second, but stopped and glared at Kaito eerily. He then dashed to Kaito at remarkable speed for an attack. Kaito reacted and blocked with both his daggers, causing the two to face each other in a deadlock.

Kouki towered over Kaito and made a huge, cocky smile.

“Now, because of them, I have one more piece of trash to get rid of,” Kouki stated. “Surely you’ll entertain me more than Daiki did, right?”

Kaito pushed Kouki off him, and the two gained distance.

“You’re demented,” Kaito concluded.

Kouki responded, “And you’re dead.”

Kouki raised his sword and called upon a skill that rained down pillars of light towards Kaito. Using his Acceleration skill, Kaito dodged and ran away from the following light pillars.

Gaining enough momentum, Kaito turned to approach Kouki for an attack. He went for a swing, but Kouki started to glow. Light expanded from his body and sent Kaito flying back towards a pillar. Kaito managed to regain balance as he utilized his Arbor Dagger to swing around a pillar and land upon another one, using roots to cling onto the second.

Kaito stared at Kouki from the pillar as Kouki side-eyed him back.

“A Holy Knight…” Kaito thought. “A bulky swordsman who can use magic, and of course, he chose light magic; cliche nerd.”

As Kaito watched, Kouki flashed him with another light-based skill, blinding him. Kaito regained vision quickly, only to realize Kouki was above him, swinging his sword down at him.

Kaito used Feint to get behind his advance, but Kouki disappeared into a light and got behind his attempted strike from behind.

This time, Kaito used a root from his Arbor Dagger to defend, but Kouki slashed through it cleanly as it grew towards him. Fully slashing away the root that blocked Kouki’s vision, he planned to stab Kaito, but he had escaped.

Kouki landed from his aerial advance and faced Kaito, who had drawn his bow for an attack. Kouki, in turn, activated another skill, Light Javelin, that created a bunch of javelins of light to combat Kaito’s Splitshot’d arrows.

Both sides’ projectiles darted towards each other, creating a smokescreen between the two. Kaito took advantage of the smokescreen to activate Phase.

“So Level Boost makes you this strong, huh?” Kouki analyzed from somewhere in the smokescreen. “But tell me… what happens when the buff wears off?”

Kaito flinched. Kouki’s statement made him want to act quickly. He ran towards the direction of the voice to be greeted by a bright light that dispersed the smoke and stopped Kaito in his tracks.

Kouki stood in front of Kaito, being the cause of the light. Kouki then dashed directly at Kaito, despite being invisible. Although Kaito was surprised, he parried Kouki’s attack, leaving Kouki open.

With Kouki wide open, Kaito reversed the grip of his Arbor Dagger and thrusted it at Kouki.

Kouki didn’t flinch. He caught Kaito’s arm with his free hand, halting his thrust. Kouki then leaned in creepily and spoke in riddles.

“If light creates shadows, then what do shadows create?” Kouki asked.

Kaito didn’t play his game. He extended a root from his Arbor Dagger that jabbed Kouki in his face, causing his glasses to crack.

Kouki weirdly stayed in his recoiled pose, so Kaito went in for another attack.

FWOOM…

Kaito felt a sharp pain in his chest as he coughed up blood. He looked down and saw a dark, shadowy spike piercing his chest.

Kaito quickly maneuvered off the spike and gained distance from Kouki. He felt his body to examine the damage, but there was no physical damage.

“Dark magic is quite interesting, isn’t it?” Kouki mumbled, still in his recoiled pose. He finally stood up straight and continued, “It doesn’t do physical damage, and instead damages your soul directly.”

Kaito briefly thought about how the Demon Cult members dropped dead at the altar. They used dark magic to sacrifice themselves.

“Do you think you can dodge your own shadow?” Kouki said cockily as he flashed Kaito once again.

Kaito blocked his eyes with his arm and looked down at the shadow cast by Kouki’s light magic.

It was a facade.

Kouki came from the front and got a strong swing at Kaito.

“IMPACT!!” Kouki shouted, manically activating said skill.

Kaito flew into the throne room’s wall so hard that it almost crumbled upon his impact.

Kaito fell to the ground, but wasn’t out. He slowly lifted himself, letting out a few coughs in his effort. Suddenly, another shadowy spike pierced Kaito’s stomach through his shadow, making him halt on his knees from the pain.

Kouki walked up to Kaito and stomped him back into the ground. At the worst timing possible, Lessia’s glow from Level Boost disappeared, which in turn also caused Kaito’s Infinity to deactivate.

“Ah, so you’re out of juice?” Kouki mocked Kaito as he stepped on him. He bent down to Kaito’s level to rub salt in the wound.

“Do you think I’m stupid? You’re not fighting to kill me, are you? Let me remind you, unless you forgot… Only one of us is getting out of here alive.”