My whole body was burning. My eyes could see clearer than ever. My arms shivered, not in fear, but in anticipation. My adrenaline level was high, that much I knew.

Was it from the skill that I just learned? Or was it the thought of finally being able to fight back after all this time? I couldn’t put it into words myself, but all I knew was that my momentum was on the rise, enough for me to continue into a streak.

The problem, of course, was that it was never a turn-based action. The dragonfly, even with its time lag, wouldn’t let me attack it that easily. And as if to answer my thoughts, as soon as the dust settled, I was bombarded with another round of gust—this time in a large area, indicating its longer range once more.

However, I could tell that the attempt earlier had an effect. The wind this time was a lot weaker than before, only enough for us to struggle on our feet for a bit and not blow us away like the destructive force it portrayed before. There was a chance for us to counter.

Since the beast just did its attack, the wings hadn’t gone back to their original positions yet, which made striking from the side ideal. Though it wasn't a good spot for me, considering that I was directly facing the threat, but…

“Blue! Yellow! It’s open!”

“Got it!”

On the left, Yamabuki shot a poison needle—corporeal as it might be, seeing that I could cut its attack, maybe there was a chance for her to do so as well. Meanwhile, Aozaki rushed with a palm strike towards the wings’ root, aiming to shut off its path to flight once and for all.

Both attacks made their way to their mark. While Yamabuki’s needle sunk into the creature’s energy body, it floated inside as if stopped completely. However, the fact that the part where the needle struck had its color changed from a bright green to a nauseous purple was enough to know that the poison did work, the damage just wasn’t physical. Meanwhile, Aozaki’s strike cut off the wings right at its weak spot, causing the dragonfly to screech in pain once more and finally swung its tail forward, knocking the man in blue a good distance.

However, we didn’t have time to celebrate. If the corporeal body was so easily destroyed, then why did it change phases in the first place?

The correct answer was that it wasn’t. It only took a second, but another pair of wings burst forth from its body, good as new. Meanwhile, the part that was poison was mercilessly torn off with its mouth, and regenerated as fast as it was gone. A shocking recovery speed that put even our best pills to shame.

“Well, shit,” swore Yamabuki—the stress level within her must have gotten to uncontrollable degrees, seeing her saying such language. “What now?”

“Stay calm, you two,” Aozaki said in response. “It might have regenerated, but it’s not invulnerable.”

I nodded. Aozaki was right—this thing wasn’t impervious to damage. The fact that it had to rip off the poisoned energy was the biggest proof, and if one paid close enough attention, they’d find out that its size had slightly shrunk compared to its original form. Of course, it was still giant, but the fact that there was a change was enough.

And that much had given me enough confidence to continue with our tactic.

“Focus on the wings! It just regrew them, so if we press on, it can’t do its wind blast!”

Perhaps the tactic was oversimplified, but it had to do the job for now. In the end, all we had seen from the dragonfly were three attacks. The supersonic breath, a short-radius, long-range blast. The mid-range tornado. And finally, the long-range storm.

“Yellow, target its mouth!” I ordered while rushing towards its left wing.

“Got it!”

“I’ll take the right side!” Shouted Aozaki in unison.

“Delay our strikes!” I added. “If we can make its wings desync in their regeneration, it’ll lose balance! You go first, Blue!”

“Vast Ocean, Fist!”

Aozaki clutched his hand into a fist, and threw a punch carrying the weight of a surging torrent at his foe—so strong, it was as if a waterfall was present in front of me. But there was no time for me to gawk in awe, as I prepared my own attack.

“Remember it! Every sensation that I’ve experienced!”

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Gripping my red blade once more, I focused as hard as I could. The red flame from before began to spawn anew, and along with it, the blade on my hand burned bright as the sun.

This time, there was no doubt about it. The technique was completely in my control. However, I had to time this perfectly.

As Aozaki’s punch broke the dragonfly’s left wing, there should be a two-second delay when it was still hanging in the air to try and regenerate its lost part. I had to strike right at that moment to deal the most damage possible.

“One…” I started to mumble.

“Two! Armor, don’t fail me now!”

[Activating unique skill, Red Flash. Number of usage left: 1.]

Once again, electric shocks coursed through my body. But I could feel it—this was the final strike.

“This is the end!”

My blade cut through the wing without any resistance. The dragonfly screamed in pain, before its giant lump of energy fell down on the ground, though there was no physical impact due to it being pure soul power.

“Finish him, Yakushi!”

My red blade had already swung to cut its wing, so to bring the blade down would take a longer time. I couldn’t risk it, but I didn’t just have a single blade for use.

The white blade in my hand moved. While the red slashed in a vertical line, the white slashed in a horizontal line, right in the middle of the dragonfly’s face.

[You’ve learned the skill, Cross Strike. Step 2 in completing the Endless Zero/Bounded Infinity skill tree done.]

Not enough. I knew that the dragonfly wouldn’t go down with just this much.

My arms moved again. The red blade came down from the air. The white blade moved from the left to the right.

Again. Again. I changed the angle. I changed the delays in my attacks. I tried to make my blades cross paths as much as possible.

Faster. Denser. Stronger. All of my speed, my body, my soul were poured into the blades.

The two weapons in my hand shone brighter than ever before.

[You’ve learned the skill, Cross Flurry. Step 3 in completing the Endless Zero/Bounded Infinity skill tree done.]

As I put the last of my strength into my slash, the mass of energy that formed the giant monster had been torn to shreds. The only thing it left behind were tiny orbs of green energy floating about in the air, akin to fireflies on a summer night.

But I knew my luck. It would never be that easy.

[The boss monster, Left Leg of the Dragon God, is moving to its final phase.] As if mocking me, the system rang in my head.

“Motherf…”

The figure standing before me was no dragonfly, nor was it a giant. The third phase was a form that I had already met before. A form that I had grown fond of, even.

The mass of energy now took the form of a grown man. Though its primary color had masked all of the other features, just looking at the pair of clear wings behind the image’s back was enough for me to realize what form it took.

“So… that’s its trump card?” Asked Aozaki. “Is it trying to sway our minds or something?”

“I don’t think so. Ever since it woke up, this… thing’s personality and sentience were both gone. It’s probably only mimicking the last person it connected with.”

“Well, at least we know it’s a lot weaker than the other forms, right?”

“It should be, at least,” I nodded. “Considering it doesn’t have a lot of energy left.”

Every single one of my attacks was soul-based. I had been wearing the thing down, that much I knew. The creature didn’t choose the giant dragonfly form to show off or intimidate either—it just had too much energy to be reasonably kept in a smaller size. Now that it showed itself in front of me in human form, that meant it didn’t have nearly as much power as before.

I raised my hand forward. The creature did the same. Even the blade that I held was mimicked perfectly, in the form of another flow of energy.

“I see. So that’s your gimmick.”

Complete mirror of action. In other words, if I struck it, I would be struck at the same time, in the same position. The normal way to deal with this type was to use a coordinated attack, or a surprise hit from another position outside of its field of vision. And so, my hand signaled towards Yamabuki, and my head turned to Aozaki for a nod.

My teammate quickly caught on to my intentions. Another round of needles came from the girl, while the blue man jumped from the side for another flaming fist.

However, we were all too naive in our assumption.

From the creature’s stomach area, an identical round of needles was fired, hitting Yamabuki at the same time as the needles touched its ethereal body. Meanwhile, Aozaki’s punch only resulted in him being punched in the face at the same time his fist landed onto the dragonfly. But when Aozaki was flung away, the creature stayed on its feet, for it was still copying my stance.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I sighed. That put surprise attacks as a non-option. But if it didn’t work…

I raised my hand, letting my reflection show itself on my blades.

I took a step closer. The creature did the same.

I raised my blade hand. It did the same.

I could only think of one solution.

There was still a final skill that I could learn. However, I didn’t have any clue on how to do it, even until now. It was something inhuman, something that I could never replicate even if I dedicated my life to it. And even if I could, there was no way to do it like her.

“... Yakushi-kun?”

“Yakushi, what are you doing?”

I raised the blade to the sky, still holding it in reverse.

With a swift, firm thrust, I stabbed it at my own neck.

Everything around me felt fuzzy. I couldn’t hear anything anymore, and my vision was blurry at best. I could see two shadows in front of me, but I couldn’t know what they were talking about anymore, as the light finally left my eyes, and my consciousness sunk into the abyss…