Dekan's Mystery of Pain

As if emerging from the shadows, two figures slowly appeared at the corner of the hallway, their outlines growing clearer by the second.

One was unmistakably the terrifyingly huge Faceless One, surrounded by four masks.

His companion was a short, frail man.

"Heh heh heh..."

A sinister laugh echoed through the hallway.

They had finally run into Dekan and Cornelia.

Dekan and Cornelia had no intention of running any farther. They were ready to fight to the bitter end.

"Keep the girl alive. Kill the boy."

"Fine."

After that brief exchange, the Faceless One didn't attack right away.

Instead, the frail man raised his hand.

Several cards appeared in his palm. He swept his other hand across them one by one, activating them all.

Black mist and shadows filled the hallway, and the floor grew slick and swampy, as if it had turned into a pool of poison.

As waves of eerie wind swept over them, Dekan and Cornelia felt their bodies grow terribly sore. Even breathing became noticeably harder.

Their vision soon darkened, followed by stabbing pain that spread from their organs to their skin.

These cards were clearly all poison- or curse-type cards.

They weren't very powerful offensively, but they had long range and could precisely target their victims.

Besides weakening all their attributes, Dekan and Cornelia were also afflicted with ongoing damage.

But the caster's expression soon turned strange, too.

He felt an indescribable pain throughout his body. For a moment, he could barely stay on his feet.

He couldn't figure out how it worked.

It was almost as if he'd been cursed at the same time.

"I've seen it all now. Someone actually dares to curse me? What the hell!"

Dekan was so angry he almost laughed, and he summoned the Ruined Poet without hesitation.

At once, the sixfold pain feedback increased to sixtyfold.

The caster felt as if countless sharp swords were piercing his body. His already bulging eyes widened like brass bells.

He opened his mouth wide, his throat scraping uncontrollably as a hoarse sound escaped him.

Then he fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, his life or death uncertain.

Once she confirmed the caster was down, Cornelia immediately took out a third-tier Mass Purification and dispelled the curses on herself and Dekan.

Since second-tier Dekan couldn't use third-tier Spell Cards, he'd made sure to buy a third-tier Purification Spell Card before setting out and given it to Cornelia, just in case.

Protection against poison, curses, and mind control—basic precautions when going out.

The Faceless One narrowed his eyes and stared fixedly at the summon behind Dekan, paying no attention at all to his fallen companion.

"Boy, hand over your Epic Card willingly, and I'll let you live."

The Faceless One spoke coldly, his eyes filled with barely concealed obsession.

He wanted Dekan's card more than anything.

Unfortunately, Epic Cards couldn't be stolen by killing their owners.

Once an Epic- or Legendary-tier card was bound to a soul, it wouldn't automatically become unbound even if its user died. Only the user could release the bond.

If the user was killed, the Epic Card would shatter and disappear along with them.

That was why Epic Cards were so rare in this age.

Not all Epic Cards were passed down successfully.

Many had been lost in the Shadow World, or vanished when their owners died.

"Heh heh heh."

Dekan seemed amused by the Faceless One's offer.

You couldn't even fool a three-year-old with a lie like that.

Still, Dekan wanted to tease the Faceless One, so he asked, "If I give you this Epic Card, will you let us go?"

"Ho ho, of course—"

"I'll skip straight to 'I refuse!'"

Dekan cut him off with a shout.

At the same time, Cornelia charged at the Faceless One.

All it would take was one swing of her hammer to knock him unconscious with twentyfold pain!

"Then you can both die."

The Faceless One's voice was thick with wariness.

Already cautious by nature, he grew even more guarded.

Although Dekan and Cornelia were both lower-tier than him, that Epic Card with its unknown effects posed too great a threat.

The Faceless One secured himself behind the Evil Spirit Mask, retreated slightly, and summoned three fifth-tier summons in one go, ordering them to attack Dekan and Cornelia.

Although fifth-tier summons were nowhere near as powerful as fifth-tier fighters,

a large number of summons could still give anyone at the same tier a headache!

Sending a horde of fifth-tier summons to attack a fourth-tier opponent would mean an overwhelming advantage!

He summoned three Multi-Faced Aberrations—strange, twisted beasts covered in human faces contorted with pain.

These fifth-tier summons were immune to hard crowd control, and had high health and attack power.

They couldn't be controlled and were hard to kill, leaving weaker opponents no chance at all.

"Your gimmick is obvious. As long as I don't attack that boy, I won't get stunned, and you can't do anything to my summons."

The Faceless One muttered, his eyes full of mockery.

But then—

Thud!

Cornelia brought her hammer down on one Multi-Faced Aberration, stunning it.

Then she began fighting the other two.

The Multi-Faced Aberration on the ground let out a pained wail.

Before it could get back up, Cornelia took the chance to land another blow, leaving it almost completely unconscious.

After a brief exchange, the other two Multi-Faced Aberrations seemed afraid to get too close to Cornelia.

Whenever their attacks hit her, they became unbearably pained and their movements stiffened.

Faceless One: "???"

What kind of stun effect was this?

It could even control a Multi-Faced Aberration?!

No, it wasn't a stun!

The Faceless One stared at the Ruined Poet behind Dekan, analyzing frantically. He quickly figured out what was happening.

That Epic Card behind Dekan, whose power defied common sense, didn't simply boost control effects. It amplified pain!

The equipment Dekan and Cornelia wore must also have effects that reflected or amplified pain!

What the hell was this new heretical playstyle?!

Even the Faceless One, a member of the Resurrection Church, could barely stop himself from cursing aloud.

But—

He soon calmed down.

The solution to this unconventional setup was simple.

The core of their formation—the commander—was far too obvious.

Besides, pain feedback couldn't travel through a summon back to its master!

As long as the Faceless One didn't use his own body to attack Dekan, he'd be invincible!

So if he sent his summons after Dekan and the Ruined Poet, he'd only need to lose two or three summons to take them both out!

Then Cornelia, without the Ruined Poet's boost, would be nothing to fear.

"Let's see how long you can hold out."

The Faceless One took out two more Summon Cards, originally meant for close-range defense, and ordered their creatures to go around Cornelia and attack Dekan.

Although all the summons were wary of Cornelia's hammer, she tried to block them all. But holding off four was simply too much.

Dekan frowned and hurried backward with the Ruined Poet, heading for the other end of the corridor.

Both he and the Ruined Poet were too fragile to withstand even a single hit from an enemy.

As Cornelia tried to cover Dekan by holding back the summons, she struggled to withstand their concentrated attacks.

"Hold, fight!" (I can't hold them off! We have to fight him!)

Thinking their line was about to collapse, she shouted to Dekan.

She planned to go all in: stop blocking the approaching summons, attack the Faceless One directly, and knock him out.

"No!"

Dekan immediately stopped her.

The Faceless One might still have some defensive cards he hadn't used.

Charging in recklessly was too risky.

Dekan could go down in the back line before Cornelia ever managed to reach the Faceless One.

If they wanted to win, they had to take him down in one sure strike.

That meant Dekan had to create an opening for Cornelia!

And he was already working on it.

He just needed a little more time to charge up a move he'd never shown anyone before.

"Wait, face, pain, reflect!" (Wait for me to create an opening. Also, the masks around him reflect damage, so watch how hard you hit him!)

Dekan relayed his plan to Cornelia.

Cornelia: "Got it!"

Earlier in the hallway, the Evil Spirit Mask had blocked all the damage from Dekan's Hydrogen Explosion.

As the caster, Dekan had noticed that a tiny amount of damage had been reflected back at him.

From that, he'd deduced that the mask had a damage-reflection effect.

The reason Dekan hadn't taken a lot of reflected damage came down to the unique damage mechanics of Hydrogen Explosion.

Its damage was split into two stages. The first was a first-tier Fireball, whose purpose wasn't to hit the enemy directly, but simply to provide a spark.

The second was the explosion caused by igniting the hydrogen.

The damage from the initial ignition could be considered damage dealt by the card's caster.

But the follow-up explosion had no damage source.

That was why Hydrogen Explosion could also be used to test whether an opponent had damage-reflecting equipment!

Dekan didn't want Cornelia to accidentally reflect enough damage to herself with her next swing to leave herself severely injured.

All he needed was to make the Faceless One hurt enough to pass out.

Watching Dekan and Cornelia struggle, the Faceless One couldn't help laughing.

"Ha ha ha ha! I thought you two were supposed to be strong!"

"If I don't attack you, you're just a useless weakling who can't reflect damage or pain!"

"Hand over that Epic Card now, and maybe I'll let you die with a little less pain!"

The more he understood the Ruined Poet's effects, the more he coveted this core card of the new damage-reflection style.

But when Dekan remained unmoved, the Faceless One's anger had nowhere to go, so he continued to taunt him.

"Even if your gimmick is an unconventional damage-reflection style focused on control, you can't do anything against me!"

"You're still too naive to use damage reflection and curses against me!"

The Faceless One spread his arms wide. Beneath the bandages, the muscles of his face seemed to twitch strangely, and he kept letting out mad laughter.

"Heh heh heh."

Dekan's gaze was icy, his eyes darker than black and deep as the bottom of the sea.

He looked at the Faceless One as if he were an idiot.

"Your stupidity is truly laughable."

"If I don't kill you, I don't deserve to be the founding master of the Pain-Reflection Style."

Dekan muttered under his breath.

It seemed he'd finally prepared whatever he was working on. He shouted to Cornelia, "Wait, hit!" (Once I've controlled him, go hit him!)

"Okay!"

Cornelia's voice sounded excited.

She had no idea what Dekan was about to pull, but based on her experience, once things got this far, the other side could usually just surrender.

Dekan's ultimate move was finally ready.

It was time to reveal the true Mystery of Pain.

He lowered his head and clutched his chest, as if repeating something to himself. His voice gradually grew louder.

"Cornelia got hurt protecting me from the enemy's attacks. It's all my fault. My heart aches. I feel so guilty..."

Like a man possessed, Dekan frantically hypnotized himself.

"Why fight? Why plunder? Why target us? Just because we're kind? I'm furious!"

Dekan felt more and more depressed, his negative emotions nearing their peak.

"We can't win. There's no hope. Why am I so weak? I hate how helpless I am!"

Dekan bent forward, clutching the front of his shirt as if his heart hurt so much he couldn't breathe.

"Guilt! Rage! Despair!"

"Pain! It hurts so much!"

"Faceless One, this is all your fault!!!"

"All my pain was caused by you!!!"

When Dekan raised his head and shouted that last sentence at the Faceless One,

the Faceless One suddenly felt his heart give a violent thump, as if a thousand-pound boulder had smashed into it and crushed it in an instant.

Then came an indescribable cramping pain, as though it were about to tear his heart apart.

He clutched his chest in agony.

For a moment, the Faceless One actually felt sorry for being born human.

Then he collapsed to his knees and uncontrollably spat out a mouthful of foul blood, staining his veil a rusty brownish red.

The summons could still function, but without their master's real-time commands, their movements grew much more sluggish.

Meanwhile, Cornelia seized the opportunity to break through the summons surrounding her.

"You... How can you reflect damage?! I didn't even hurt you!!"

The Faceless One stared at Dekan in disbelief, his voice trembling.

"You made me sad!"

Dekan shouted, as if he were perfectly justified.

Sadness was a kind of injury, and heartache was still pain.

Even if Dekan's heartache was the result of self-hypnosis, magnifying his negative emotions without limit.

The ultimate secret art of the Pain-Reflection Style—60x Heartache Attack!

The only drawback of this move was that it required self-hypnosis, which made the casting time too long.

"Pfft!"

Hearing Dekan's words, the Faceless One couldn't help spitting out another mouthful of blood.

This time, he'd been angered into coughing it up.

He'd never met anyone so shameless!

Fucking hell! That's not how the Pain-Reflection Style works!!!

But just then, Cornelia's heavy hammer was already right in front of him.

The hammer loomed larger and larger before the Faceless One. Before he even had time to feel afraid, his consciousness went dark.

With a crash, the Faceless One was smashed against the wall and knocked unconscious.

The summons all vanished along with him.

She'd followed Dekan's instructions and held back, using only a quarter of her strength to hit the Faceless One on the head.

All she needed was to knock him out with that blow.

So the reflected damage she took wasn't too serious.

"Phew, now we're really done."

Cornelia clutched her aching head. Unable to stay on her feet, she sat down on the ground.

In the distance, Dekan also breathed a sigh of relief. He gave a helpless smile, as if he were exhausted.

In the wrecked corridor of the Demon Academy, the two gazed at each other from afar and met eyes.

They smiled in understanding.

In the end, you needed a partner who was in sync with you.

#Author's Note:

This chapter was a massive 4,000 words. To keep the plot flowing, I wrote it all in one go.

So I basically gave you an extra update today, all on my own!

Waaah, I didn't finish writing until three in the morning, and I still have to get up and write a paper during the day.

I'm such a miserable human being. I really want a vacation!

If you're enjoying this book, add it to your bookshelf so you can find it again next time.