Chapter 870 The Ripening



"...ill me…" A whisper escaped from Kuzon Midas's lips.

He was as helpless as a rat caught in a trap. No, perhaps he was even worse off. Not only had he completely lost the will to struggle, but now…

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Just… kill me."

… Kuzon had completely lost the will to live.

"So you finally want to die, eh? About time. I was thinking of doing the same, considering how much of an eyesore you've become."

There was no response from the young Midas.

"I thought it would be a bit thrilling to have some sort of powerful figure who was out for revenge and doing their best to oppose me. I thought you could at least be useful for entertainment, but you fail at even that, huh?"

Kuzon could not utter a word in his defense.

"Worthless child. You're a worthless child." Suddenly, he began to stomp Kuzon, kicking and crushing him with his boots with every word he gave.

A dissonance existed in Jared's tone at this point. A form of anger was displayed in his eyes as he gave a frown of disapproval.

"You're not useful for anything. How dare you be this useless? You idiot! Retard! Inept bastar… ah…"

He slowly stopped pumelling him, looking at the bloody mess he had made on the floor. He watched the disfigured face of the fallen Midas, and how discheveled he looked.

"Allow me to put you out of your misery." He whispered coldly, pointing his hand toward Kuzon.

"[Just Die]"

In that moment, at that very spot, a heart stopped beating, and death was inflicted upon the target. The cold corpse clung closely to the dirt, drenched in its darkened blood.

"... What an eyesore." Jared stared at the darkened blood, watching the reflective surface of the stale liquid.

"Looks like that's one issue taken care of. What of the rest?"

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After a brief moment of investigation, using his sensory abilities and ultimate technique, Jared opened his eyes and gave a light sigh.

"Looks like most of our forces have been defeated. That's unofortunate." It seemed, even though he thought he had planned well enough for the climax, his prepaations were still lacking.

Looking at the current state of the battlefield, it was clear that the opposition had the upper hand. If something wasn't done quickly, their side would lose.

Not that Jared was really worried.

"Three of the Generals are also dead." He muttered, continously observing the battlefield.

He could see that Abellion and Gerard were dead. He could only see a rotten corpse in place of Elrich. The corpse seemed to be undergoing a rapid process of decay.

'Even after I gave him that Blood Stone, he still lost? What a useless fool.'

Well, it couldn't be helped that he perished. Considering the fact that his opponent was Neron, that much was to be expected. Besides…

'I only gave him a portion of the complete Blood Stone harvested from the Elven Massacre. Most of the power went to powering the device.' Jared looked at the generator, and at the bright purple light that pierced the sky.

The event-horizon was stabilizing. He could see that it wasn't going to be long before he achieved his desires. However, something felt missing. Even as he saw the gateway to his grand goal, his thoughts were elsewhere.

'Jane…'

She wasn't dead. Not yet.

Since they were linked—bound by their Soul Contract—he could tell. However, he was finding it very difficult to find her location. He didn't think he would have this much trouble, but apparently he did.

'Where are you, Jane?' His thoughts began to get erratic as he searched around even more, ignoring the multiple enemies that began closing in on him.

~Jared, what are you doing? Now isn't the time to get distracted?~ Merlin's ghost appeared that very moment, touching his shounder with its cold hand.

'I'm searching for Jane.' He gave a simple response.

~Right now? The time is at hand. We'll finally be able to achieve our desires and—~

"All of that is meaningless without Jane!" The moment he said this, a powerful force erupted, sending all the enemies that surrounded him flying.

Once more, he was all alone on the battlefield, eyes widening in desperation. Until..

"Ahh… I've finally found you!"

In a flash, Jared flew from his position, causing the ground around him to erupt. He ignored the catastophe he caused and darted straight toward the signature he sensed.

Navigating his way through the multitude of energies, crushing any obstacle that stood in his way—mostly Automatons and Golems—he finally arrived at the location.

"J-Jane?!"

He saw her within a massive crater, lying on the ground unconscious.

"JAAANEEEEE!!!"

Launching himself toward her, he cleared the entire area of any interference and landed gently beside her. Grabbing her softly, he drew her close to his chest and hugged her tightly.

'She's cold.' His toughts echoed. 'Mana deprivation!'

Quickly, he coursed Mana from his body into hers, gently filling her up so she wouldn't get too much or too little at once.

"Jane… wake up." He whispered into her ears. In response, she stirred, mostly likely drifting in the real of her subconsciousness at this point.

Unfortunately for him, before he could utter another word, he felt a cluster of presences closing in on him. They felt extremely familiar—but not in a good way.

"Who would have thought… Jared Leonard actually has a heart." Neron's voice echoed, and he revealed himself, along with the other Outers around.

Edward, Karlia, Ciel, Z'ark as well. All of them surrounded Jared Leonard as he clutched Jane Ursula.

"Thanks for hiding her presence until we were all done." Neron smiled at Ciel, who nodded gently.

It seemed everything was just a plan to lure him in.

"Do you really think you can stop me, even if you band together?" Cornered and growling, Jared glared at the members of the Outgroup.

For a moment, silence pervaded their ranks. However, Neron broke it by taking a step forward and providing the answer the he least expected.

"Yes. We can stop you."

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[A/N]

Glad to see he has some humanity left in him. Wonder what'll happen to him eventually…

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