<h4>Chapter 371 Pain [1]</h4>


    "Eclipse," Zero said.


    A ck mist rose from the de of the Requiem sword and quickly covered the entire room, along with Akumi and Zero himself.


    In an instant darkness took over everything and the speed at which it spread across the room was even faster than Akumi''s.


    The light Akumi''s de was emitting no longer shone as bright as before, it was as if the darkness was eating on the light of Excalibur.


    "What the hell is this?" Akumi said, irritated as he looked around.


    "Oh nothing much, I just turned the lights off," Zero said in a sarcastic manner.


    "Tch!" Akumi clicked his tongue in fury. "Die!" he screamed as he dashed forward at an insane speed.


    Reaching Zero he swung his sword, targeting Zero''s neck. The de touched Zero''s skin and then went through his neck. A smile of satisfaction appeared on Akumi''s face although that was only for a moment.


    Zero''s body which he had just cut into two turned into smoke and disintegrated, leaving him therepletely alone as he tried to figure out what the hell just happened.


    "What are you doing over there?" a voice called out to him. Looking in the direction where the voice came from he saw Zero standing in the opposite direction to where he was right now.


    "Don''t tell me you can''t see clearly," Zero said, mocking him. All it did was anger Akumi beyond limits.


    "Just you wait!" he screamed and then dashed toward him. This time he sliced open Zero''s stomach however just like before the body he''d shed turned into smoke and disappeared into nothing.


    "Again you''re swinging your sword in the air like an idiot. I''m over here, you know," he looked around and saw that Zero was standing in yet another direction.


    "AAAGGGHHHH! I''LL FUCKING KILL YOU! JUST YOU WAIT YOU FUCKER!"


    Screaming, he dashed toward Zero and cut him down with his sword but the process repeated itself and all he cut was nothingness.


    Zero called out to him from a different direction and he went toward him again and ended up with nothing but frustration and anger.


    This went on for a while. With his speed, Akumi continued to strike Zero down right after he appeared in a new ce but he still wasn''t able to kill him. He was moving at his max speed, as fast as he could, yet he was not able to aplish his goal.


    After a few minutes or so Akumi finally stopped to take a breath. He was breathing heavily and was covered in sweat. Since he was using the second form of his magiken it was about time it started to take a toll on his body.


    "Tired?" Zero asked, appearing before him again. Akumi didn''t say anything to that and only stared at Zero like a wild animal. Then after a few seconds, he spoke.


    "Stop kidding me!" he said. "This can''t be happening for real! How the fuck can I lose to a mere side character? Why the hell are you this strong anyway? In the novel you were just a useless nobody who died to make the plot progress, then why is it so hard to kill you now?!


    "You are nothing but a character inside a novel, yet you act so arrogant! In this world, I am the only one who''s real, I am the only one who is not a cardboard cutout of a character, I am the only one who is really alive. Even then I can''t beat you, how the fuck is this possible!?"


    Rather than replying to Zero, it looked more like he was talking to himself.


    "I see, so that''s how you think huh," Zero said. "ording to you this is a fake world and everyone except you is fake as well."


    "Yeah, that is right! Listen if you want, although it might throw you into an existential crisis! This world is nothing but a novel, and you are nothing but a side character in this novel and so is everyone else!" Akumi screamed.


    Zero looked as if he was lost in thought then after a second he took a step forward and looked at Akumi.


    "So if your statement is correct and this world is fake then…" he snapped his fingers. "...you shouldn''t feel the pain as well, right? I mean, how can you feel pain in a fake world?"


    A second or twoter Akumi''s right arm dropped to the ground, and blood began to stter out from his shoulder. At first, Akumi wasn''t able toprehend what just happened, but soon when the pain finally kicked in…


    "AAGGGGHHHHHH!!" he began to scream his throat out while he tried to stop the blood with his left hand. However, he wasn''t able to do it and fell to the ground.


    "If this is a fake world, then I wonder why are you feeling pain then?" Zero said as he walked close to him. "But well, I am but a human, and humans make mistakes. I may be wrong about you feeling pain, so let''s just check it once again."


    He snapped his fingers again and this time Akumi''s left leg was split apart into three parts. He screamed even harder, so loud that he stopped sounding like a human.


    The blood from his leg sttered all over the ground, and in the state of confusion, he tried to stop it by covering it with the palm of his left hand but just as he went on to do it he realized that he was already using his left hand to stop the blood from his right shoulder.


    In this state of confusion and agony, he could do nothing but scream, scream, and scream harder and he continued to get devoured by intense and piercing pain.


    "Hmmm, maybe testing it one more time would be better. I mean, I don''t want to use you just because of my error in judgment," Zero said and snapped his fingers again.