Chapter 289: Chapter 289 : The Villain vs The Devil (10) Final

Alex dropped to his knees with a guttural, inhuman cry, the sound echoing through his collapsing Domain.

His vision twisted—pain like molten iron coursed through his veins, fire and ice stabbing every nerve.

Inside his mind, the system’s voice sounded almost weary.

[ Host, I warned you before—the time is up. ]

Alex’s head spun violently as dozens of images and memories crashed through his mind. Lily’s voice, Alden’s teasing, Alicia’s laughter—each memory a blade, each feeling a hammer striking his soul.

His world flickered as the domain shattered around him.

System messages rattled before Alex’s failing vision:

[ The skill: Origin Collapse is forcibly deactivating. ]

Suddenly, power left his body. Strength, energy, will—all drained like water from a broken vessel. His knees buckled, his face hit the floor with a dull thud.

Further system alerts bombarded his consciousness:

[ Host’s soul is under massive strain. ]

[ The value of existence has been reduced drastically. ]

Alex gritted his teeth, hardly able to focus. The world blurred until only shadow and white noise remained.

Through the haze, he barely saw Kyle, already healed by his system, limping away with terror in his eyes—a coward’s retreat.

Rage reawakened inside Alex’s broken body. He forced his synapses to fire, his blood to flow.

’Don’t even think about escaping!’ he screamed.

Inside his head: ’System, use whatever cosmic essence is left—create death energy immediately, boost my agility stat!’

[ Host, you need rest… further fighting may kill you… ]

“Do what I just said, useless!” Alex roared inwardly.

A moment of silence, then—

[ Using cosmic essence to create death energy. ]

[ Host’s agility has reached Reached Ex-rank (temporarily). ]

Kyle was running, stumbling desperately across the ruins, mind splintering.

Then suddely he heard that voice, colder than the void.

“Don’t you dare.”

Kyle whipped around—

A black aura blade pierced his left eye.

He shrieked, collapsing in a writhing heap, claws at his ruined face. Even as his system sent waves of healing, the wound refused to mend. Death energy squirmed beneath his flesh, the energy defying resurrection.

’What is this power…? My eye isn’t regenerating…’

Alex’s body was screaming, his left leg broken, his chest rattling. Still, he stood tall, blood dripping from his mouth. Russed into a combat stance, his right arm trembling as he faced Kyle once more.

“You som of a bitch! You die today!” Alex snarled, eyes burning. “If you think you can run away now, you’re mistaken.”

Inside Kyle’s mind, Sabrina’s voice arrived—strained, panicked.

{ Kyle—Arya and Melina are dead. You need to escape, RIGHT NOW. I can’t help you. }

Something inside Kyle snapped. Arya and Melina were all he had left— something he cold say family, after everything else was taken.

He began to laugh: a terrible, blood-choked sound.

“They’re dead! DEAD! It can’t be!” he screamed. Black blood poured from his left eye as his body began to absorb vitality from every plant, animal, and living thing within his reach. Kyle’s aura grew darker, more grotesque, feeding on the world itself to prolong his strength.

A faint chime echoed inside Alex’s mind before a translucent blue message appeared in front of him.

[ Using Cosmic Essence to temporarily elevate all stats to match the opponent. ]

The scale tipped.

Both Alex and Kyle now radiated equal power, their bodies emanating darkness and death.

Both froze for a breath, their auras roaring to life.

Black energy surged around them, thick, corrosive, cracking the floor beneath their feet.

The atmosphere trembled.

And then—

They moved.

As they shot forward, black energy poured from their bodies like smoke. Shockwaves erupted with every step.

Their fists collided first—

BOOM!

A thunderous shockwave ripped through the ground.

’His strength… it’s the same as mine now.’

Kyle grinned, bloodlust rising.

“Good. Now we fight for real!”

Alex didn’t reply. He dove in.

They clashed again—hand to hand—blows moving faster than the eye could follow.

Alex ducked under a roundhouse, driving his fist into Kyle’s ribs.

Kyle coughed blood but retaliated instantly, smashing his knee into Alex’s chin.

Both staggered, lips split, knuckles bleeding.

’He’s… reading my movements…’

Kyle spun, landing a crushing hook to Alex’s jaw.

Alex countered with a rising knee, slamming into Kyle’s stomach.

Both flew backward, skidding through broken stone.

They charged again.

Kyle unleashed a rapid 5-strike combo—

A jab, cross, elbow strike, spin kick, and a final hammer fist.

Alex blocked three… took two.

Ribs cracked.

Alex answered with his own sequence—

a low sweep, and a palm strike straight to Kyle’s chest.

Kyle’s lungs emptied. But he didn’t fall.

They collided again in a brutal frenzy—each hit breaking bone, tearing flesh.

Both coughed blood.

Both trembled.

Both refused to kneel.

But slowly… Kyle gained the advantage.

Alex’s guard slipped.

A devastating uppercut snapped his head back.

Then another blow crushed his forearm.

Crack.

His hand broke.

He dropped to one knee—but only for a second.

’No… I’m not done… not yet…’

Alex rose again, fighting with one arm, teeth clenched so hard his jaw bled.

Kyle was no better—limping, one eye swollen shut—yet still burning with will and for revenge.

They smashed together again, neither willing to lose.

Finally, both staggered backward, chests heaving, blood dripping from their faces.

They took one slow step away from each other… preparing for the final strike.

Alex’s system voice rang:

[ Host, only 3% Cosmic Essence left ]

Alex whispered, “This will be the last… create death energy.”

[ Using cosmic essence to create death energy ]

The system hesitated.

[ Host… you know if you miss this strike, it will be the end for both of us. ]

Alex wiped the blood on his lips.

“Are you scared?”

[ Living with you… I’m used to it now. ]

Alex chuckled.

“Good. Keep it that way… or I don’t need you.”

Darkness swirled around him—

pure death energy forming at his fingertips—

as both he and Kyle prepared to unleash their final move.

Each battered, broken—but ready to destroy the other, even if it meant annihilating themselves in the process.

Kyle’s mouth twisted in pain, blood running from his ruined eye and charred body. Despair turned to madness as he screamed skyward,

“DEMERON! Give me the power of Oblivion!”

For a split second, nothing happened. But then, dark energy—darker than even death—rose and twined around his battered frame.

His aura thickened, a hungry shadow seeping into reality itself, erasing the light.

Kyle glared at Alex through his one remaining eye, void swirling.

“With this I will erase your existence…” he hissed.

Both moved at the exact same instant.

Their bodies blurred in a flash of black and Balck. With a sound like the shattering of worlds, they pierced each other—each driving their fists through their opponent’s chest at the same time.

Time froze. All sound disappeared.

Then Kyle coughed and collapsed, blood spraying from his mouth as he hit the ground. Around him, the illusion of supremacy—the aura of Oblivion—faded into mist.

But there was no triumph in his ruined vision. The world spun, and his fading eye caught the truth—Alex was behind him, standing upright, bathed in blood and death energy as re refused to fall.

The one Kyle hit was a clone.

“Just a small fry after all,” Alex said, tone empty.

A strange peace slid across Kyle’s features. Through the haze, memories of his own cruelty flickered—every enemy he’d killed, every moment he stood over their bodies, mocking them as worthless.

And then from the depths of pain, Selena’s last words rang in his mind.

’He will come.’

He remembered the sneer he’d worn when he asked ’Who?’

And Selena’s dying answer: ’The devil himself.’

Kyle’s lips cracked into a broken smile, blood trailing from the corner.

“She was right…” he murmured hoarsely. “You are the devil himself.”

Alex’s shoulders slumped as the last of his will gave out. He too dropped to a knee, barely conscious.

Kyle let out a mad, bubbling laugh. “But I won’t die alone…”

His aura exploded outward in one last suicidal surge—a vortex of colorless annihilation. Power ripped through his body, preparing to devour everything within a city’s span.

But two figures surged forward—gold and white, shields of light and auras overflowing with magic.

Evelyn and Alicia appeared just in time, raising a barrier that enveloped Alex. Power surged, blocking the worst of the blast.

But the shock wave shattered their defense. The backlash struck like a hammer—dragging both women backward, flesh searing, their bodies flying through the ruined city, only stopping miles away as they all hit the ground hard skidding throught it.

Alicia and Evelyn landed hard among burning ruins, gasping.

Alicia forced herself up, coughing blood. “Alex… are you… all right?”

For a fraught moment, no one answered.

Alex’s chest rose, then fell. Slowly—agonizingly—he stood, dragging his broken leg behind him.

Blood oozed from every wound, his hair lank with blood his body in pain.

He didn’t look back at them. He simply started walking—one foot after the other—toward a distant side of the battlefield.

“Alex! Where are you going?” Alicia cried, panic in her voice as she stumbled after him.

But Evelyn caught her wrist, shaking her head. “Let him go” she said, voice quiet and broken.

Alex staggered through the burning wreckage until he reached a place of almost eerie silence. There, beneath a shattred tree a woman sobbed hopelessly—her hands clutching a cold, familiar body.

Alyssa Vega wailed, her tears streaming down her face, rocking Selena’s corpse as if willing her to return.

Alex stood over them, blood dripping onto the earth.

He knelt carefully as Alyssa’s cries faded into quiet shudders. In a raw, trembling voice, he spoke:

“I killed that son of a bitch. I don’t know if you can hear me, Selena…”

Tears streaked his face for the first time since childhood coming out for someone else rathar than his own family.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

“There was never anyone truly there for me… not when I needed them, not once. You were the only one who came to rescue me when I… when I was about to die all alone.”

His words caught; his breath came in gasps and sobs.

“And I couldn’t even save the one person who actually helped me. I’m..i’m so… so sorry.”

He choked up, throat raw and hoarse, his universe collapsing as he admitted the truth:

“All this strength… for the first time, it means nothing. Nothing at all. I don’t even know what to do anymore.”

Alex’s knees finally gave way. He fell and broke down, sobbing beside Selena’s body.

For the first time in his life—after the disaaperance of his parents, after Lily was cured—Alex Dragonheart cried tears for someone else.

His breath grew more ragged, his heart stuttering under the pain.

Then the darkness crept in. Breathing harder, Alex slumped to the earth, the void within pulling him under once again.

When suddenly a blue screen materialized in his haze as he lost consciousness.

[ The God of Death has offered you to be His avatar ]

—-

A/N:

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