"What a disgrace."
Shadow Scale let out a sudden sigh. "Since when did Cliff Corner need an ambush to kill someone?"
"Isn't that just how the world works? Today you sneak up on me, tomorrow I sneak up on you... You've spent your whole life sneaking up on people. Isn't it only natural for someone to sneak up on you in return?"
Behind him stood the figure who had just recreated the Mountain Duke's power through a record of phenomena.
The man whose throat had been pierced by the dart Shadow Scale casually threw had raised his hand from the pool of blood just as the counterfeit attacked, thrusting out this desperate, mutually destructive blow!!
After putting everything into that thrust, he was utterly exhausted and barely clinging to life. He no longer even had the strength to tear the mask from his face.
The bloody hole through his throat was still spurting blood...
To deceive Shadow Scale's eyes, ordinary breath-concealing techniques were useless. If he wanted to gamble, he could only wager his life!
Through a Secret Rite of the Aether lineage, he read his former self and temporarily rolled himself back to the very beginning—stripping away every blessing he possessed, temporarily abandoning the rank of Transcendence, returning himself to what he had been before becoming a Chosen One.
The only thing he retained was the peerless strike forged through a lifetime of blood, sweat, and painstaking labor!
He repaid, in the same manner, the humiliation of watching the other man kill his employer before his very eyes.
This was tooth for tooth!
"You're right..."
Shadow Scale nodded faintly and forced a smile. "I'll be going on ahead."
He closed his eyes and fell backwards, never making another sound.
His remaining body swiftly mutated, becoming something like a shriveled