Chapter 22.

While Xander was busy talking, White, without any shame, took out a health potion and recovered to quarter health, but it stopped there. I hadn’t noticed it before, but it seemed her max HP had gradually dropped ever since she used that eye of hers. It seemed the more power she drew out from it, the faster her max HP dropped.

So that was the cost for that unreasonable broken buff of hers. It would likely reset to normal after some time or rest, but she would certainly be left in a dangerous and weakened state for a little while after this fight was over. When White got serious, it seems she threw everything she had at you in the shortest possible time. If that failed, then it would mark her own demise.

A slight smile formed on my face. I honestly didn’t dislike the way she fought, it really got your blood pumping. It was reckless and overly flashy, but it certainly looked fun. It was with no doubt a lot more fun than effortlessly beating everything in a single blow and there being no struggle or suspense.

It seems she still had a bit more juice left in her to clash one last time with Xander. However, now that Xander’s HP was at the 10% mark, he’d taken out his second sword. He also activated a buff that greatly increased his defense.

A dark thin layer of condensed aura enveloped his entire body. It gave off the appearance of a second layer to his armor. With his attack, attack speed, and defense raised, he lunged toward White with reckless abandon. When he was in front of her, White tried to use the flame in her eye again, but before the flame reached Xander, he disappeared.

“Shit! An after image!” White cried out in shock at Xander’s speed that had deceived even her eyes.

Yes, Xander was already behind her with his right hand cleaving down with the sword in his hand.

White raised her hand up and her dagger stopped the sword in its tracks. The ground below White’s feet sunk in a bit. She clenched her teeth just barely holding the heavy broadsword in place.

However, she wasn’t even given a chance. Xander used his second sword and slashed horizontally while White was preoccupied with the first sword.

White still had her sheath in hand from earlier. She held it out and just barely blocked Xander’s horizontal slash. She was sent flying to the side and slid along the ground raising a trail of dust in her wake. She jumped and did a backflip then dug her feet deep into the ground when she landed to stop herself from sliding further away.

Her eyes narrowed as she realized her time was ticking. She knew she had to finish things quickly before that buff of hers ran out.

“Tch, I didn’t want to use this, but there’s no choice. Mudkipz, you better protect me well after this fight is over and ensure my safety. If you fuck up, I’ll find you in the real world and murder you. You got that?”

“YES, MA’AM!” DH1M’s back straightened up and he reflexively answered.

“Let my body be a vessel to house the power of a goddess. Grant me the power to wield the immortal’s undying flames. Dagger of Goddess White Flash, Goddess’ Descent into Madness!”

White raised her dagger up in front of her with both hands then reversed it to point toward herself and plunged into her body. She coughed up a mouthful of blood that stained both her clothes and pure white face, however, she didn’t look like someone on the verge of death. Rather, she looked like an invincible warlord ready to drag their mortal foe down to the grave. An intricate white magic circle expanded out below her feet with her at the center. It encompassed a 100 km radius in a flash.

When it stopped expanding, she didn’t remove the dagger from her body. Instead, a dangerous maddened grin formed on her face as she simply stood there defenselessly without any intention of pulling out another weapon.

Scary. Women who lost their minds were seriously scary. At least, this one was.

Xander cared not for courtesy as he too sensed danger. He disappeared and appeared directly behind White. He swung his sword horizontally with all his might. White didn’t react in the slightest. Right now, her HP was at 1, any hit should have been enough to kill her. However, when Xander’s blade came into contact with her, rather than cleaving through her and taking that last HP she stood there completely unharmed.

The sword froze in place the instant it came into contact with her body, it wouldn’t budge an inch further.

White calmly raised her hand then flicked the blunt side from underneath with her fingers. Xander’s arm flew up like a lever, he just barely managed to hold onto his broadsword. That single flick of hers was just that powerful.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

This was clearly cheating, right? This is beyond broken, isn’t it? What kind of cheat ability did this crazy mad dog acquire? Where is the game balance? Did the devs just say screw it, why not, and throw this in one day?

Wait, who am I to say all this? I felt a bit embarrassed that I, of all people, was calling someone a cheater.

But why didn’t she use this back on that puppy? Well, it’s definitely got to come with a serious backlash. It’s probably like a last resort trump card that she wouldn’t want many people knowing about. With so many heroes around at the time, she probably didn’t want word of this ability to spread. If she needed DH1M’s protection after this, that meant she’d be in a very vulnerable state where just about anyone could finish her off.

White leisurely closed her eyes. Her body flickered for a moment and the next thing Xander knew, her left leg was already beside his torso.

“What the... when did you? Urgh!”

Despite his buffed defense, that seemingly casual blow of hers took out 1% of his HP causing him to groan in pain.

“I’ll kill you!”

Xander raised both of his swords and swung down in a cross shape.

White casually raised her hands like she was taking a stroll and pointed up with her index fingers. She wore a peaceful smile like she found the attack almost cute. Xander’s two blades landed on her fingers but stopped, unable to budge an inch.

Xander jumped back when he realized his attacks had been rendered ineffective.

However, White had already vanished the instant he moved to jump back. She was already behind him.

“Here’s some payback for earlier, big guy.”

She extended her palm out and slapped him on the back. The force propelled Xander forward like a rocket through the air. While still in the air, he turned his body around to face her before he kneeled and plunged his two broadswords into the ground to slow his momentum until he eventually came to a stop.

He lost 1% of his health again. Only 8% remained.

Suddenly, a rift opened up in front of me.

“Hey, where do you’re trying to go, Greater Demon Retard?” I wrapped my arms around Yin to hold her in place and prevent her from entering the rift.

“Let go of me. I’m going to meddle. There’s no way I can accept a loss like this, this is blatant cheating. What’s with that stupid skill granting her invulnerability and this much strength? Did you know about this? No wonder you wanted to bet on her.”

“I didn’t know actually. But too bad, as long as I don’t want to let you go there’s not much you can do about it.”

“Well, I guess this isn’t too bad. Oh well, if you’re going to hold me like this I won’t be able to find any way to escape. What a shame, I guess I’ll have to take this loss and offer up my body on a silver platter.”

“Wait what, why’d you cave so quickly?”

“No reason other than I’m helpless to escape and I know struggling is futile. Of course, if you remove your arms from around my waist then I’ll be able to escape.”

She leaned her body back and kept herself seated on my lap while the two of us were still wrapped in the blanket.

I tried to remove my hands from around her waist but her hands clamped down on them and kept them in place.

“Hey, you can go there. I changed my mind.”

“Why are you lying? You’re clearly still restraining me while thinking of all the unspeakable dirty things you’ll do to my body when it belongs to you after you win this bet.”

“Are you trying to drag my name through the dirt?”

“Yeah, you got a problem with that?”

“I do actually.”

“Well too bad. Just shut up and let’s watch how this bet ends.”

“Can you move your head forward a bit?”

“No.”

Instead, she leaned her head back further and allowed her silky hair rub against my chin and lips while shaking it from side to side. Every time I took in a breath, the scent from her hair filled my nostrils.

“If you keep messing around, I’ll seriously get annoyed.”

“Then get annoyed, see if I care. I’m already annoyed that I might lose the bet because of some stupidly broken ability that slut is using.”

“Despite your words, you don’t actually seem that upset at all. Could it be that you're secretly enjoying this situation?”

“Enjoying this situation? What’s there to enjoy about being in this sort of position with the world’s most uncharming man? Besides, rather than it being me who’s enjoying this, aren’t you the one who’s secretly enjoying all this? You’re getting to embrace an unclothed top beauty under a blanket all alone in your room. Doesn’t this situation sound like something a man would kill for?”

“Sorry, where’s this fabled top beauty exactly?”

“Tch.”

She maintained her silence and stopped talking to me.

When I refocused on the fight, Xander was down to 5% HP.

Presently, he was furiously slicing away at White while appearing and reappearing all around her. Each one of his blows was effortlessly deflected to the side by White’s bare hands. The sight no longer looked like a demon lord fighting a hero, it was one of a war god bullying a child.

I started to feel bad for Xander.

“Come on Xander, you can do it.” Inadvertently, I let a mutter slip out and started rooting for Xander.

Yin similarly murmured to herself, “Go for it, Xander. Kill that stuck up high and mighty bitch and I’ll definitely reward you.”

It was like watching an underdog story and Xander was suddenly the star. How the roles had been reversed, I had no idea, they just had. Both of us were now secretly cheering, hoping to see the underdog comeback kid story of the century.

Xander, go Super Saiyan, I believe in you!

“It’s about time we end this little game, don’t you think,” White calmly said.