Despite the fact that the dark flames were supposed to be burning his hands, the enemy didn't stop strangling Jake. Those were the dark flames that burned down to a crisp almost everything they came in contact with until now, so that was more shocking than anything… Jake was pretty sure that willpower or mentality was useless against the dark flames, but the enemy proved him otherwise.
"Answer me, you have obtained the trait of the others, and you are barely using one of them. What kind of joke is that?"
"Fuck you," Jake muttered. "Go to hell, asshole."
The enemy furrowed his eyebrows, but then countless fire and ice spears flew from the ground to hit him. It seemed that the remaining humans hadn't given up on damaging him like that… still, they didn't get even close to hitting him… some hit Jake, though.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"You see now. This is what means to keep your humanity and reason. It puts you on the same level as those guys… they can't even be slightly careful when attacking me when you are this close."
"The hell are you saying…" Jake asked. "Don't talk like you understand what I am struggling with."
In the next moment, Jake swung his sword at the enemy and unleashed all of the dark flames and mana he had on this sword. A massive explosion happened in the sky, and he was sent back to the ground after creating another larger crater. This time, Jake didn't get up as fast as he could because he felt that attack… moreover, the armor made of dark flames had disappeared as well. When Jake emerged from that hole, he had several burn marks on him, and several parts of his body were purple due to broken bones.
"I can't heal you if the flames are on the way for some reason, you will have to show an opening for me to use," Lana suddenly approached and then said before opening her eyes widely. "What is going on here? I can't heal those burn marks… no, I can, but it is taking way too long."
"We don't have time for that. He is still almost completely unscathed," Jake said. "I am not strong to face him directly yet, so I can't block his attacks and protect you. You need to get out of his line of sight."
"You realized that much, and you still refuse to use the other traits. If you combine all of them, you should get stronger faster, and you can instantly get three times faster. So, what is holding you back? You shouldn't be considering useless notions like pride and reason after all this long." The enemy showed up with some small burn marks on his body, and while that was a good sign, Jake could see the dark wounds healing much faster than Lana could even heal his
It was really annoying, but it seemed that the enemy knew a lot more about Jake than expected… since he didn't share the details of the dreams and the powers he obtained with anyone, that was hard to believe. Unless the enemy saw that happening before…
"For how long have you been watching me?" Jake asked.
"I haven't been watching you. I haven't been watching anyone. If you weren't so stupidly trying to cling to insane concepts like pride and humanity, you would have reached another level of power and understood yours and mine."
"Yep… there is no use talking with a retard like you," Jake began to bleed through his nose when he summoned the dark flames on his sword and hardened them as much as possible. "I don't need any of your answers. I can live without them."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmJake jumped toward the enemy, but before he could go much further, his body suddenly got heavier, and he fell back on the ground… it was gravity magic. Everyone around fell on their knees, unable to endure that much power. Jake had a feeling that the enemy would be a mage at the core, so that didn't surprise him.
"Can you? You can't reach your true potential… how would you be able to defeat me, who has reached their true potential? Kill everyone here, and you might have a chance of accomplishing something."
"... Why are you saying that?" Lana asked. "Wouldn't that make things difficult for you?"
"I have swallowed two universes already. A little challenge would be nothing to me. The reason why I didn't kill you all yet is the fact that I want to see how far he can go."
"Shallowed… you say…" Lana hesitated in saying that when she noticed the others approaching. "Does that mean that when you destroyed our Earth, you obtained its power?"
That was something Jake didn't expect to hear… unless Earth was actually and single living organism, that wasn't supposed to be possible… even with his power. Still, Jake found similarities between his power and the enemy, and he could consider that his power could assimilate the powers of entire planets once it reached a certain level. That would be insane, but… it didn't feel impossible.
"I suppose you all dying by my hands two times without knowing anything wouldn't be fair… this might be a good chance for you to realize who you are and what you need to do as well. All of you…"
Jake's blood was boiling. The last thing he needed to hear was his target's backstory. Still, the whole human army was in disarray, and they needed some time to heal and think of what they should do. It was hard to imagine those who stayed until now would run away, but courage can't solve everything…
"Everything started five hundred years ago. I was born the heir of the leaders of a certain world. Our bloodline was special. Our family was always born with some high level of what you call esper power. However, I wasn't, and after giving birth to me… my mother died."