A strong stench woke Matty up, stuffed up his nose. It was putrid and vomiting-inducing and he pushed himself up to his knees with one arm. His left arm up to his elbow was gone. Incinerated. His vision became blurry and he was tempted to fall to the abyss again.

Until he heard her.

“Ack!”

Matty would never forget the taste of human flesh burning. Never. But more than that, for the remainder of his life, he would never forget waking up to see death choking the love of his life atop a pile of corpses.

‘No... no, no, no,’ Matty muttered, the words stopping his heartbeat. In a twist, his heartbeat quickened, and a surge of adrenaline propelled him to his feet. He tried to move, to intervene, but an unseen force held him in place, as if the very fabric of the world resisted his efforts.

[ Warning! Mana has dropped to zero! ]

His MP was entirely depleted and he suffered the consequences. He dropped to his knees, a piercing agony coursing through his veins. Every little move was a pinch to his heart. A loud order for him to sit down and stop.

All the while Jack continued choking Jules.

Jules gasped for air, her form convulsing as gloved hands tightened around her neck. Jack offered no mercy as the grip on her throat constricted, stifling her attempts to breathe. If he wanted to, he could have ended her. Instead, the nasty killer spoke to her.

“The Mythical Beast Class. I heard about it but I’ve never seen it. Tell me, how did you come to acquire it?”

“Ack! Nnngggh! I-I don’t need to tell you—!”

Squeeze and saliva continued to trickle from the ends of her mouth. Her cries of pain ripped his heart apart. Matty grit his teeth, ignored the emergency messages, and charged at Jack.

Only at the very last moment, when he accidentally stepped on a corpse too hard that Jack actually noticed him. Illogically, before his fist was able to make contact with his mask, there was a smack! Jack back-handed him away.

"Matty!" she choked out, her voice strained and desperate.

“I thought I injured him enough to keep him down…hm?”

Matty got up again and bulldozed right at him. This time, he was able to make out the aura of darkness around Jack as he countered. Smack! Matty was sent tumbling away for the second time.

Though certainly not the last.

Again and again and again, Matty got up and attacked him.

Upon his seventh attempt, where he threw a rock and then lunged, Jack intercepted Matty's advance with alarming ease. He punched him in the gut and watched as he dropped to his knees.

“You do realize why I’m not killing you, right? I have you deemed you worthy. Sit down and be content with that.”

“No…way…” Matty stared up at him, eyes red. “Let…go…of her.”

Jack looked at Jules, whom he was holding with a softer grip. “I’m not hurting her, see?”

“I said…let go!”

A resounding slap echoed through the virtual space as Jack's boot connected with Matty's cheek, sending him sprawling to the side. The force of the impact reverberated through his skull.

Yet, Matty, undeterred by the blow, pushed himself back up. Determination burned in his eyes, his focus solely on the threat before him. Ignoring the stinging sensation on his cheek, he charged at Jack once again.

“I liked those eyes. Kudos to you.” Jack actually dodged his punch rather than intercept it. In his mind, his heart leapt. He was making progress and since one hand was occupied with Jules he stood something of a chance. “But why are you obsessed with this cripple?”

Matty refused to let his rage take over his thought process. He swung his one fist all the while thinking. 'Think, think, think!' How could he defeat a foe infinitely superior? Jack leaped to the left like a professional dancer while still carrying Jules.

That was when Matty saw it. A black blur amidst the rubble of a house. There was no time to think. He had to commit to it. He stopped to breathe, gathered up all the energy in his fist, ignoring the system’s warning of no mana.

It was now or never.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Haaa—!”

He swung his fist at Jack, only to be met with a faster, stronger fist. The bones in his remaining hand shattered and he bit down on the sensation of pain. ‘Don’t think—fight!’

Matty entered the range of death. He came right up in Jack’s face and slammed his head against his mask. ‘Feels like a brick wall!’ Blood trickled from his forehead down to his nose as he recoiled back, huffing and puffing.

“Let…go of…her!”

Jack stared at him, head tilted. Jules was limp in his hold, her eyes closing. She was breathing but barely. Jack wanted her alive for reasons—but he wouldn’t mind her dead either. In other words, she was only alive because he was intrigued.

“You’re…really not bad. Where are you from?”

“Haa…” His breathing felt murky. “Philadelphia…”

“Philly? I was thinking Seattle.” Jack paused and looked down. “A black cat?”

He didn’t notice. He didn’t notice! The cat’s paw had touched his ankle. A beat passed and Jules’ neck slipped from his gloved fingers like butter. Free from the suffocating hold, Jules gasped for breath. The tide had shifted, and Matty seized the opportunity with an unyielding determination.

“Huh—”

Bam! Matty slammed his fist into his mask. A tiny crack formed and Jack was actually forced to step back. “Huh? How did you…” Matty didn’t let him finish and landed another blow, then another. He slammed a fist into his stomach, which didn’t seem to do much to Jack. However, his attacks were connecting and Jules was being given the time to recover. That was what mattered.

His own life was inconsequential. It didn’t matter if his bones had shattered as long as Jules lived—as long as he helped her to victory. Jack was reeling back from the momentum, surprised more than anything. Matty already figured he wasn’t doing damage and he was fine with that. There was no false hope in his heart telling him he was winning this.

“Okay, enough of that.” Jack’s declaration echoed as he steadied himself. Matty ran towards him anyway, bracing himself for his white fist.

“Huh—”

Matty stumbled and conveniently ducked under his attack. Jack followed up with a kick that was so clumsy that it instead kicked up rocks. Running head-first, Matty knocked the masked killer into the ground. With his one viable hand, he straddled him and punched his mask. Each strike carried the weight of frustration and anger.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

His fist pounded against the unyielding mask, the surface absorbing the force of each blow. He wasn’t sure what it was made of and he didn’t care. ‘Break, break, break! Just break already!’

Crack!

He did it! The tiny crack had spread!

The two dotted eyes vibrated and an eerie aura enveloped its shape. In a sudden burst of energy, Jack's mask seemed to come alive and in the instant he pulled back an explosive energy swallowed him. Matty was sent hurtling through the corpse-filled battlefield. Time seemed to slow each time his shoulder slammed into the ground, his consciousness suspended in a moment of weightlessness.

The air whistled past Matty as he tumbled, the noise reverberating in his ears. Eventually, he collided with the remains of a house wall, the impact sending shockwaves through his spine. The world was spinning despite his sudden stoppage.

As he stood against the wall, the front of his body burned, his consciousness lay awake. A flicker of light was in the distance.

It was Jules.

She confronted Jack with the same stout confidence he knew her for. If his lips could move, he would have smiled.

“So, what’s next?” Jack asked. “I will admit, your bodyguard had me surprised. I’ve never slipped up like that. I assume it was your doing.”

“I don’t understand it,” Jules began. “I still don’t understand it. The Mythical Beast Class is completely different from every other class, even the Animal Tamer Class. You don’t get skills to help you tame. What happens is that you can summon beasts right then and there and have the chance to tame them.” Trembling, she dropped to one knee and pressed a hand on the ground. An orange magic circle formulated underneath her fingers. “This one…I've tried but I just haven't been able to tame it. With untamed beasts, they don’t listen to anything or anyone. They just do what their animal instincts tell them to do. In this case, it will be beating the thing responsible for all this death.”

From the magic circle, an orange light rose into the air, manifesting into a long scarlet bird that unfolded its wings wide as it reached the peak of its ascent. Its plumage was ablaze with hues of orange and gold. A creature of fire and near divine might, its size a mere shadow of its potential.

Jack stared up at the majestic bird of legend. His mask might have hidden his surprise but his voice didn’t. “A phoenix?”

“Good luck, Jack the Ripper. Out of all the beasts in the world, this one hates death the most.”

The Phoenix lingered in the air as its gaze shifted from the many, many corpses. It let out a cry that was akin to a sorrowful scream. As the phoenix's cry echoed, its luminous plumage began to transform. The fiery hues intensified, the once vibrant red now deepening into a passionate scarlet.

“You crazy bitch, a phoenix? Here? Do you know how much you'll destroy? These bodies won’t see the light of day. Some of these fools are pretending to be dead too. Are you really prepared to do that, woman?”

“It will be worth it as long as YOU die.”

Jack stilled himself. The Phoenix dived right at him and he was forced to leap back far. Boom! The Phoenix’s crash landing was like a C-4 and several explosions ensued as it chased after Jack. Each peck of its projecting flaming beak was an explosion. Boom! Boom! Boom! The Phoenix swooped back up into the air while Jack stood on top of Dublin City’s outer walls, the upper half of his mask covered in soot.

He stared up at the retreating Phoenix and then turned his attention back down to Jules. “Allow me to give my sincerest apologies, Jules. You are no bitch. I recognize you as one that is worthy.”

The Phoenix went higher, higher, and higher, until it seemed to cover the sun itself. Its transformation was a spectacle to behold. Its very being grew hotter, the flames dancing with a fervor that matched the rising temperature. The air shimmered with the heat, creating a distortion.

Jack stared at Jules, aware of the Phoenix’s impending attack yet choosing to talk to her. She who was responsible for pushing him this far. He extended a hand and summoned the golden rapier. “Jules, you are a woman fit to have me and this blade as your opponent. That is the greatest honour I can give you in my current state.”

With wings spread wide, the scarlet Phoenix dived down and quickly broke the sound barrier. Jack leaped into the air and met the mystical beast in kind. The penultimate clash between darkness and light—the final sight that Matty witnessed before his eyes closed.