Chapter 290 - Special Skill

The Elite Guard were watching Kretos and Jiro's battle from a distance. It was a fast-paced battle that was difficult to see. At first, they were happy to see that Jiro held an almost overwhelming advantage. Yet as the fight went on they saw that it was moving in favor of Kretos. 

As the two continued with their exchange with no one gaining the upper hand, Jiro stopped attacking. 

"I'm growing tired of this. I'll kill you now!" 

"You keep on saying that, but I don't see you being able to do it." Kretos provoked Jiro wanting to see more of the demon lord's power. Jiro was hating this horned demon more and more. 

"I'm going to f*cking kill you now!" Jiro's body started to blur and his mana fluctuation started spiking and falling. Kretos didn't know what Jiro was doing, but he was excited to find out. A few seconds later Kretos felt that Jiro was emitting multiple mana fluctuations. 

To Kretos's surprise Jiro's body started splitting one became two and two became four and four became six. Though he was surprised, Kretos didn't fail to notice that the moment Jiro's body separated into six, his mana was also distributed to the six of them. All six of them had lower mana supplies than the original.

...

The six Jiro's charged at Kretos and the same as before Kretos predicted his movements. Kretos threw one of his daggers behind him, killing the Jiro clone who appeared there. Kretos then jumped upward evading the Jiro clone who was about to tackle him from the side.

Kretos stabbed the Jiro that appeared in front of him, but that was a mistake. The moment Kretos stabbed the clone in front of him, the Jiro clone didn't die immediately and was able to hold onto his hand. 

Due to this mistake, Kretos was unable to move for a second, which was enough time for the remaining four Jiro's to do something. Another Jiro held onto him from behind. The two clones with Kretos at hand flew upward.

As they rose higher into the sky, Kretos noticed that the air was getting thinner and it was getting harder for him to breathe. If this continued he would die from suffocation. Kretos with all his might headbutted the Jiro clone in front of him. The Jiro clone who was stabbed and headbutted could no longer retain consciousness and finally, let go of Kretos. 

Once the Jiro clone in front was out of the picture, Kretos had his arms free. Kretos quickly stabbed the Jiro clone holding him from behind. As the clone was dying its grip on Kretos loosened enabling Kretos to escape. 

...

Without the two Jiro clones flying him, Kretos was now falling from the sky. Kretos didn't have any skill or ability which allowed him to fly. He knew how to fight flying opponent's but that was all he knew about flying. 

Kretos could now see the mountain top were Jiro was looking at him. The Overlord of the sky didn't even move an inch, truly believing that Kretos would die from the fall. 

Kretos finally thought of something as he quickly used a wind spell and created a gust of wind to softly push him upward. He then controlled the gust of wind to help him land safely on the ground. His control was a bit rough since Kretos wasn't that proficient with other elements except darkness. 

...

The two Jiro clones frowned while watching what Kretos was doing and started bombarding him with their feathers. Kretos seeing the incoming feathers about to strike him lost concentration on his spell and started falling rapidly to the ground. 

Kretos finally fell to the ground creating a huge crater. As he staggered while trying to stand Kretos started coughing up blood. When the two Jiro clones saw Kretos they were surprised to see that even though he looked weakened, Kretos's body was still tightly intact. 

"Is that it, it isn't right?! Show me more, demon lord!" 

"Don't you dare order me around!" The two Jiro clones started attacking Kretos in a coordinated stream of attacks. Since he was still weak in the knees Kretos was unable to dodge the attacks. Kretos used his mana barrier to survive fatal injuries but as expected from a demon lord he was able to pierce through Kretos's mana barrier after a few strikes. 

Kretos had no choice but to tighten his defenses as he allowed Jiro to one-sidedly attack him for the time being. Kretos was so excited since every time he fought a demon lord he would always feel this kind of tension. 

Jiro saw that Kretos was already a bloodied mess but was still standing. Not only that Kretos was still showing that vicious smile of his, which made Jiro feel even more irritated. 

"Why the f*ck are you smiling! Are you mocking me! You who only knows how to crawl on the ground, dare to mock me the ruler of the skies!" The two Jiro clones once again moved in total synchronization to attack Kretos. Yet this time as they got close they could hear Kretos's voice whispering in their ears. 

"I finally got you." Kretos grabbed hold of both of the clones. He then without mercy started pummeling them to the ground. Kretos finished off one of the clones by breaking its neck, while the other he broke the clone's back. 

Once all of the clones were defeated, the bodies of each clone started turning into a mist of mana, and from that mist formed Jiro's original body. The original Jiro didn't look like he was injured but his mana was at an all-time low. Jiro then started coughing up blood as he glared at Kretos. 

The two locked eyes and didn't say a word. The world was silent for the two of them, it was as if nothing else existed. They could practically hear each other's heartbeat. In what seems like an eternity, Jiro made the first move. 

With his fastest speed, he attacked Kretos head-on. Yet as he reached his target he could feel the cold blade slicing through his neck. He then heard the voice of his enemy speaking in his ears. 

"Thank you for the battle."