“That idiot,” Jin grumbled with a weak smile, even though he was a little proud that Ayse had been able to survive the unexpected Abomination Kiva.
The System had also informed him that Weslie, as well as Gold, had been teleported for some emergency treatment. As much as Jin was thrilled about how things had turned out, his opponent was not pleased about the sudden turn of circumstances, and his strikes were reflecting this, becoming heavier as if he was finally getting more serious.
The latest stab was the worst of them all so far. Jin was barely able to hold his sword as the opponent’s weapon brushed through his steel. To the Astral Panda cultivator, he felt like he was holding against a rushing train. Jin’s adrenaline was already wearing off from the initial bout and with King Baal no longer holding his punches, there was no reason to hold back too much as well.
Meanwhile, Moloch who had been in his master’s hoodie continued to hold on tight and protected Jin at crucial times when it was obvious that Jin would be unable to dodge or defend the attack properly. Alas, Moloch’s intervention only led to King Baal getting more irritated, and his next few attacks were always harder to predict.
But with the eventual defeat of his royal advisor, King Baal started to remove all the restraints, and his tongue-whip sword began to show its true colours. Thankfully with the help of his Inverse Eyes, Jin was still able to see through some of the attacks but there had not been any chance for a counter-attack.
Despite knowing Moloch could cover him, solely focusing on defence was getting somewhat tiresome and demoralising. Suddenly the whip turned in an unexpected way that even Jin’s Inverse Eyes were unable to catch and Moloch failed to protect him as well, causing him to fall backwards after getting stabbed at the right shoulder.
“Shit!” Jin shouted, and King Baal smirked as his attack finally connected after so long.
“Fairly commendable defence. But it looks like this is the end for your champion. Final chance to give up, Moloch. I’d rather not piece your shredded remains back together.” King Baal said as he sheathed his sword. He could see the poison from his sword was already working on Jin’s body as the shoulder turned slightly gangrene.
“Sadly for you, my Liege, but I have anticipated this,” Moloch replied as he took a new card out and a triangle energy barrier appeared right in front of him and Jin. King Baal snickered at the feeble attempts of his past advisor as Moloch quickly climbed over to Jin’s right shoulder and placed a blank card over it.
Slowly but surely, the card was reversing the effect of the poison as Jin assisted by slowing his heart rate with his Maqi. It took less than ten seconds for Moloch to remove the poison, yet his former King was not impressed.
“Such futile attempts when both the barrier and poison removal are only delaying the inevitable. You should know full well about this Moloch. Why are you still resisting?”
“Has Kiva’s nonsense really caused you to lose all reason and logic?” Moloch asked as he went back to Jin’s hoodie.
“I’ve always retained my reason and logic. While I had some hopes that you might be able to create something with the amount of attention diverted away from you, all you did was waste your life away. You dressed up your Minotaurs and have proven to be a lucrative spot for those pesky adventurers to dungeoneer… And now?” Baal snorted with disgust before he continued talking.
“Of all your options, you’ve joined up with the humans, giving away our land to them and betraying the king that you’ve sworn to serve.” King Baal argued, and Moloch did not retaliate. He allowed his king to speak freely while simultaneously using the time to enable Jin to recuperate too.
“You are right. From your point of view, I’ve turned into the worst of the worst traitors. I’ve forsaken the crown as well as everything your Demon Metropolis stands for. Mainly because you’re no longer the king that I was willing to sacrifice my all for.” Moloch spoke as he climbed out of Jin’s hoodie and jumped out in front of his previous King. (So that he could buy even more time for Jin.)
“After centuries of my service for you, you’ve ignored my advice and allowed a new lord with no status to present you a tribute that had ultimately changed your life for the worst. Now, you are prisoned to that very same stupid piece of metal which cursed you with endless days of torment. Furthermore, if your will to live falters just a little, your entire day would be in a sorrier state than the pits of the astral hell.”
“I’ve tried to stop you from using it, but I was too late. To this day, I blame myself for not seeing through it earlier. You’ve become completely addicted to the powers despite the major repercussions you suffered.” Lord Moloch did not wish to play tit for tat. But right now, he could only buy that few seconds of time for Jin to recover while defending the unjust accusation from his former king.
“During my exile, many metropolis Dungeon Core owners had wished to cut ties with you and yet I had secretly amended most of them when it was supposedly the job of your incumbent advisor. But as the years passed and news trickled in about you becoming more aggressive in your approaches as well as grabbing other metropolis rights to raids, there was only this much an exiled advisor could do.”
“And sure, I might have been alluded by the powers this particular human possesses, yet I’ve never forgotten my duty for my former King. KICKING YOUR ARSE, so that you can wake up from this nightmare! Master Jin is actually my best shot in doing this.” Moloch explained as he took a deck of cards out and threw it to his newly beloved master.
“You’ve always been a great storyteller and good with speeches. Still, nothing can change the fundamental truth that you’ve betrayed me. And after all these years you should know your fate!” King Baal was insistent of his previous advisor’s mistake and dismissed all the reasoning Moloch had given.
“Then all the more I am glad that I’ve betrayed you since you don’t care to see reason. Master! It took me some painstaking time to create this ever since the System asked me. However, this deck of cards should- nay will potentially change the way you fight in the future. The only reason I did not give you sooner was that I’m afraid that you may fall down from grace like the way King Baal has.”
“If that’s the case, why did you give it to me?!” Jin asked as he felt the emotional weight of the cards despite it being just a normal looking deck of cards.
“Because time after time, I could see that you placed your faith in your minions, and treated your subjects as friends. There were instances where you could have gone astray, but you still heeded our advice and worked closely with us. Had you been any different, I too would have plotted an uprising against the System like what Kraft did.”
“That sounds harsh.” Jin slowly stood up as he stabbed his blade on the ground. He took out a belt with a complicated looking device out and wore it.
“Just a forewarning in case, you might end up like him… especially when Kiva is going to be in your service from now onwards.” Moloch stated with a mix of seriousness and amusement as he could see the confusion in King Baal’s eyes.
“Heh. You do not have to worry about that. I trust Kraft to be a capable watchdog…or should I say watchfox.” Jin grinned as he realised that the belt had a slot for the deck of cards for him to attach on. “Ahhh…I always wanted to try this. Qiu Yue will be so jealous that I’ll be able do this for real.”
“As usual, you will be our experimental subject. If it is really as useful as we hope, System and I can always build more of this.” Moloch now stepped back to the side as his Master had finally recuperated enough to fight on a possibly equal stage with his old King.
“Can you please not ruin this moment for me?” Jin asked as he pulled out his phone while pressing a button on the device, causing it to light up.
“For he who desires but act not, breeds pestilence.” Moloch reminded Jin. He crossed his arms and placed a barrier up at the corner to watch how the remaining match would unfold.
“Enough talk then…” Jin took a deep breath and shouted as he hovered his phone near the device in front of his belt.
“HENSHIN!”
