Agon, Sei, and everyone else disappeared from my mind.

I was the main character of my story.

It might be a shitty story about a character who was not that brave, strong, or intelligent. However, I wasn’t dumb or lucky enough to be considered a Shounen main character either.

If my story were a book, no one would read it.

I took off my glasses and rubbed at the cracked lens. “Even being the smart character who manipulates everything behind the scenes failed.”

The glasses broke under my grip, and I ran my hand through my hair. Using Ord, I controlled my hair to stay slicked backward without gel. That way, no strand of hair would get into my eyes.

“You’re one crazy bastard,” the Demonic Exorcist smiled as a red armor made of blood congealed around his body. “But crazy isn’t that bad in this insane world!”

He charged at me. I could barely even see him. But for some psychotic reason, I decided not to use Perfect Me and crouched down.

I didn’t have the time to think most decisions through.

The Demonic Exorcist grabbed my arm and gripped it hard enough that my bones painfully creaked. "Gotcha!"

"I wouldn't grab onto me if I were you," I warned. Using words to distract the Demonic Exorcist would be one of my best weapons in this battle; he loved showmanship. He likely wouldn’t go for an instant-kill move unless he were in a real pinch. "My demon doesn't like that."

Water burst out of the ground and shot toward the Demonic Exorcist. But the latter took that as a challenge. "That's quite some power you have there!"

But just as the water was about to hit him, I sent a mental message to Carpy, and the attack flew right past the Demonic Exorcist.

"Huh?" He turned around and saw that the attack was going for Emer.

Though the Demonic Exorcist was the most significant threat here, I had to take down his puppets before they became troublesome.

A pool of lava swirled around Emer, forming a protective ball-like barrier.

Once the water hit the lava, it created an explosion of steam. After it cleared up, it revealed a sphere of dark obsidian.

"Poor guy, water-controlling abilities are his weakness," the Demonic Exorcist shook his head and looked as if he was pitying the guy who he had under control.

I didn't bother playing along with his insanity.

{Perfect Me!}

Immediately I went for a kick on his family jewels, but the Demonic Exorcist used his leg to block it. "You fight dirty. I like that!"

While the Demonic Exorcist smiled at his own jokes, Carpy had crawled from underground and emerged behind him.

Carpy spewed out a pressurized blade of water that hit the Demonic Exorcist's blood armor and started tearing it apart.

The Demonic Exorcist tugged at my arm, and a sharp pain hit my shoulder blade. He was trying to rip off my arm!

I jumped and wrapped my legs around his arm, putting him in an arm bar. Veins popped around my body, and my skin turned red.

{Perfect Me: Limit Remover}

Crack!... A nasty sound of bone breaking rang out, and the blood armor around the Demonic Exorcist’s arm turned back to blood and seeped into me.

He was trying to take control of my body; I knew his ability. As soon as his blood entered my pores, Perfect Me controlled my cells and immediately created an antibody that killed the invader.

"Tch, as expected. My special ability is a poor match against yours," the Demonic Exorcist sighed. But he didn't have time to talk anymore as Carpy's pressurized water blast had reached him.

The Demonic Exorcist turned his armor back to blood and formed a shield to handle the powerful blast. But Carpy's blast suddenly compressed and moved like a snake around the shield and shot for the Demonic Exorcist's neck.

The Demonic Exorcist's eyes widened. For the first time since the battle started, he looked genuinely startled.

I had him now!

He hadn't known and assumed I knew as little about his special ability as he knew about mine. But he had been wrong; I knew his fighting style like the back of my hand!

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"Carpy! Kill him!" I ordered, which strengthened the intensity of the attack several-fold.

"Yes! Master!" Carpy answered in a deep growling voice.

As the blast was an inch away from decapitating the Demonic Exorcist, the water attack dissipated, and the release of Ord blew me away.

Baam!… I slammed onto the colosseum wall.

Pain erupted in my back, but I immediately stood up.

An insurmountable explosion of Ord burst out of the Demonic Exorcist. It was such a ridiculous amount of Ord that it caused physical pressure, and my knees buckled.

“I knew you were lying when you said you didn’t grow much. And here I thought we had a relationship built on trust,” the Demonic Exorcist’s hair turned silver, and a swishing white tail lazily moved behind him. “If I didn’t have this power, that water blast would have obliterated my neck.”

I only had about a minute and a half time in Perfect Me. But I knew that the Demonic Exorcist wouldn’t be able to hold Tamae No Mae’s power for long, either.

It was going to end up as a battle of attrition. At least he shouldn’t have had the time to master that state.

Though, how the hell did he get Tamae No Mae’s power? He wasn’t the kind of guy who would make contracts with Ultimate Demons.

I used to think someone like him would never join Red Tails. So I should take any assumptions with a grain of salt. But if I were a betting man, I would put my money on him stealing this power.

"My body feels full of energy," the Demonic Exorcist licked his lips.

Though not at the level of Yamato No Orochi in raw power or regeneration, the nine-tailed fox was still his equal.

I had to kill the Demonic Exorcist before he figured out Tamae No Mae's special abilities!

Clasping my hands, four talismans around the colosseum activated and created a barrier.

The Demonic Exorcist curiously looked at me. "It isn't a bad barrier, but we both know that won't hold me in."

"I did not make it to hold you in," I said and started activating Perfect Me again. "Carpy, lend me your power."

"Of course! Master!" He floated closer to me in his water bubble, and I extended my hand to touch his face.

Temporary fusion between demon and Master was the peak of a Master's ability. For such a strong power, it had two requirements.

One was Ord manipulation, which showed that a Master was well-versed in his affinity. The better the energy control and more experience they have, the longer one could hold on to their demon-hybrid form.

The second requirement was a strong bond. Demon and master needed a deep enough relationship, one where they trusted each other with their lives and existence.

Carpy had already saved my life and was my only chance at surviving in the future. So I trusted him wholeheartedly.

On the other hand, I wasn't sure what Carpy thought about me. I assumed he trusted me, but it wasn’t like I could read his mind.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about this. Now was the chance if Carpy wanted to destroy our contract and take all the benefits while killing me.

But as soon as our fusion process started, such worries melted away.

For a split second, my consciousness slipped away. When I returned to my senses, my body felt weird.

I had webbed hands, scales around my arms, a new serpentine tail, and looked like a weird human-fish hybrid.

The physical changes were significant, but the internal changes were even more prominent. Carpy's ability to control water, I could sense the water he had prepared underground, and I could feel the water of life, the lifespan of others.

This was how Carpy could sense others? This had to be an inborn ability. Amongst fish, he was a genius. Either that or grief and hate pushed him over the edge to push his water control to extremes. There was also a chance that a fish having so much Ord forced some kind of mutation.

"Heh, that's some ridiculous amount of Ord you have there," the Demonic Exorcist commented while he waited for me to power up.

Usually, I worked with less than 10% of my Ord, and it wasn’t like I needed more. Now I had access to all my Ord and the Ord that pooled for months inside Carpy.

I took a deep breath and tried to move the water with just a thought. Manipulating water was as easy as moving my arm. The underground rivers burst through; this was something I had Carpy prepare for fighting the Demonic Exorcist.

We were close to the sea, so water was readily accessible.

Boom!... Water filled the stadium, and the barrier contained it.

Despite all his power, the Demonic Exorcist couldn't breathe underwater.

As for me, I touched the gills just below my neck. It felt weird, and they were sensitive to the water pressure changes around me. "You're done."

Huh? I could speak underwater? How did that work?

Whatever, I will think about it later.

I pointed my hand at the Demonic Exorcist and tightened it into a fist.

The water density changed around him, and his limbs twisted under a strong whirlpool. He flexed his Ord, and the pressure bounced off his skin and did nothing.

I pushed the water behind me and swam so fast that I was in front of the Demonic Exorcist within an instant. His eyes widened, and my lack of experience moving like this gave him enough time to pull his hands up.

As my fist connected with his arm, I felt it… the water inside his body. So I threw the momentum of the punch and tried to shake the water inside him.

"Blugh!" The Demonic Exorcist coughed blood, and with his mouth open, the water went inside his body.

I controlled the water to enter his lungs forcefully, and before he could gain his senses, I went on the attack.

"Burst!" The water inside him shattered in all directions. Such an attack wouldn't do much to him if it were from the outside, but his internal organs were still human. No matter how much he strengthened them with Ord, they were still made with blood, flesh, and water.

Baam!... His chest ripped open, with bits of flesh floating around.

The Demonic Exorcist's organs lay there in plain view.

I wasn't going to let this chance go!