The surrounding air grew heavier, and it became harder to breathe. Such a feeling lasted only a second before Perfect Me circulated Ord and got rid of the heaviness in my body.

But others didn’t have Perfect Me and were still frozen.

“Cough!” Anika started coughing and fell to her knees; she took rapid breaths but didn’t seem able to get enough oxygen.

She withdrew all the strings she had planted around, returning all that Ord into her body. With enough energy to resist the pressure, Anika slowly regained her footing.

The mission had failed, and Agon entered the second stage.

His power was entering the realm of Ultimate Class demons. None of us could do anything about that, and our best hope was that some Special Rank Exorcist was nearby with some strong sealing ability… but there were no such exorcists during this era.

I usually cataloged Agon’s rage mode as a bullshit shounen power-up, but after I learned about the seal used on him, it turned out such phenomena had a logical explanation.

The seal had a mechanism that would unseal Yamata No Orochi if Agon was in despair or danger. It was the last gift a loving parent had left for his son. If he couldn’t be here to protect Agon, then this ‘defect’ in the seal should be able to defend him.

That weakness in the seal was more than enough for someone like Yamata No Orochi to take advantage of.

But weaknesses in the seal like that were technically a limitation which made every other part of the seal stronger. That was how most special abilities worked, and it was the reason no perfect special ability existed.

I had a rough estimation of Agon’s father’s special ability. If I was right, then it was a simple approach to a special ability. He could do a little of everything; no wonder he earned the epithet The Magician.

If I passed the Expert Exorcist Exams, I would get an epithet too. Also, I would be above most laws.

Despite the danger, my mind wandered to strange places. Even in Perfect Me state, I knew I could do nothing about this situation.

Agon used his new black horn as a point of concentration for his energy. At the tip of his horn, he created a large sphere of dark purple energy the size of a truck. Then he compressed that energy the size of a compact car.

Everyone on this island probably felt this energy. Even Warriors who were known for having the weakest energy sensing ability would notice this.

We were all fucked. Everyone on this island was a dead man walking. In less than a day, this island will become nothing more than rubble. It might even disappear off the map if Yamata No Orochi got unsealed entirely.

I was strangely calm. Maybe knowing I would likely die on this journey had made me come to terms with death a while ago.

Agon turned toward Roc and me and aimed his energy ball.

Ah fuck, I changed my mind! I wasn’t ready for this shit! There was still so much of the world I hadn’t yet seen!

What about that mysterious part of the outside world? I wanted to see it! I should have tried some delicious foods and relaxed a bit more.

My life was constantly filled with too much action! By manga terms, I needed a beach chapter or a slice-of-life arc!

“Do you think I can smash that to smithereens?” Roc asked with a broad smile on his face.

This guy was as crazy as they come. “No. We and this side of the island will be blasted to dust.”

“Ahahaha. You’re probably right. I never thought there was something out there who was stronger than me in raw power,” Roc didn’t seem discouraged at the thought of his death either.

“Uhuh,” I nodded. “You should’ve visited Shuten Doji’s territory. It would have opened a whole new worldview.”

Roc would have probably died before seeing Shuten Doji’s face.

Well, that was a terrible analogy. Shuten Doji wore a mask, so technically he wouldn’t have been able to see his face even if they had met.

Since I was already dead, I should make one last vow, at least try and strengthen Carpy enough to save himself and the others. Hopefully, Carpy won’t be too emotional after my death and do something dumb, like attacking Agon.

Oh, I had talked to Roc. But, nowhere near enough time had passed for Perfect Me to run out.

Maybe it turned off because it failed its orders. Wait, what would happen if Perfect me could not complete its orders? I never really thought about it!

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Would I lose Perfect Me? Probably not, since I had such harsh conditions in place already.

Even though I was close to death, I didn’t want to lose Perfect Me. It was more of a sentimental thing.

As Agon was about to shoot out his beam, Sei jumped in front of him and created a big mirror. The devastating blast sunk into the mirror harmlessly.

Then another mirror manifested an inch away from Agon’s right cheek, and it was a point-blank blast of all the energy he had stored from the previous attack.

Boom!... The devastating attack sent Agon spiraling away, creating a colossal canal carving at the ground, from here to the ocean. Sea water rushed in to fill the channel, creating a new river.

“Go on and deal with the others,” Sei gave me a thumbs up. “Enemies like this are my forte. I have trained enough to handle Agon at this stage.”

That was a lie.

Sei had trained to handle Agon in his first stage, and I knew about his mirror ability. If I knew about it, so did Perfect Me, which meant I couldn’t handle the situation even with that. Those were the calculations Perfect Me had ended up with.

“No, while you might be able to resist and absorb his attacks. You’re not resistant to the shockwave,” I reasoned with Sei. “It would be better if you grabbed Anika and flew off on your mirror.”

Sacrificing myself to buy time for others left a bitter taste in my mouth. But Sei was the only one able to escape, and Anika wouldn’t be able to hold Agon back for even one second. So it was better for one of us to die, rather than all three.

“You know about me, don’t you?” Sei asked calmly.

Hiding things like these didn’t matter anymore. “If you’re talking about your true identity, then yeah. You’re Abe of the Seimei Clan. Some might call you Abe No Seimei.”

“Then you should know that I won’t die until I get revenge on the one who massacred the Seimei Clan,” Sei declared.

I sensed that Agon was rushing here quickly, and we had little time. “You should also know that your mirrors aren’t perfect. They can’t fully block sound attacks or shockwaves.”

“As expected, you knew my weakness even after seeing my ability only once in battle,” Sei smirked.

Nope, I read it in the manga. That was how Sei was defeated twice; it was due to sound attacks, which was a weakness he would have until later on in the story when he would develop the Mirror World and be able to manifest it in reality.

With my help, Sei was stronger than he was supposed to be. But he lacked the Ord even to summon the Mirror Castle, much less the Mirror World.

If he could manifest one of those two, we would have had a chance against a second-stage Agon.

"I can tell by the look on your face that you're underestimating me," Sei shook his head, and a confident smile blossomed on his face. "Well, let me show you that you're not the only one who has grown during this time. After all, I have been trying to catch up to you for quite a while!"

What the hell was he talking about? Catching up to me? When was I ever stronger than him?

Perfect Me could close the distance in power by a level or two. But 70% of a Master's power was their tamed demons. I wasn’t outside of that norm either.

If it was on special abilities, Sei's was stronger than mine and had more potential. For example, if he hadn't intervened right now, I wouldn't have been able to stop Agon's blast.

Creators always had 100% of their power come from their special abilities. So not only me, but on average Creators always had stronger special abilities than Masters.

"Are you two done dilly dallying?" Roc intervened. "Your friend with anger problems is already here."

Agon charged and crashed through the trees like an unstoppable berserker. He opened his mouth, and hundreds of miniature beams came out.

Each of those had a power stronger than an aerial missile and was about as fast as one.

Sei created a mirror, which all the blasts sunk into harmlessly.

Noticing that blasts were useless against Sei, the raging Agon charged like a rabid beast.

But as soon as Agon got close, Sei erected another mirror, and his rabid teammate sank right in.

"Well, I better go and keep him company before he comes out. The world inside the mirror was made for a specific person, and I'm not sure how well it can hold against a poisonous demon," Sei reasoned and waved at me. He had a look on his face that said he trusted me with the other things here.

He jumped into the mirror and disappeared.

What a troublesome guy. He shouldn't weigh his life on someone else's competence.

I didn't have time to think about them any longer as I felt something crawling up my arm.

The veins in my arm were turning red and bulging up like worms under my skin.

With Yamata No Orochi's presence gone, the Cursed Sword took this as a chance to try and take over.

If this were any other time, I would have activated Perfect Me. That was how I had trained to handle a sword like this without any drawbacks.

After all, fighting the sword's possession using willpower alone was a protagonist thing. A battle like that would include almost losing, remembering your friends, and breaking through! For the average person, that was beyond dangerous.

Technically, the spirit in the sword was a lingering spirit. Because unless someone drew the sword, it wouldn't harm anyone. But it was much more dangerous than the average cursed weapon!

The lingering spirit inside the sword was as powerful as a high-class demon if released.

I was tempted to use Perfect Me again. But I stopped mid-way.

Whenever there was a difficult problem, I would always use my special ability and never attempt to solve it on my own. Perfect Me had become a crutch, almost as if it was just another me.

When using Perfect Me, I always thought of it as if I was awakening another side of me—a perfect version of myself who would make no mistakes.

In reality, Perfect Me was nothing more than a special ability.

A ghostly hand came out of the sword and grabbed onto my arm.

I clenched the sword’s handle tighter. "Hey, stop being such an annoyance, or I will break you in half."