Chapter 278: The Enlightenment.

I looked at Varek, whose face was twisted with pure rage, as he tried to rip the needle out of his neck. But getting rid of a demonic artifact designed to suck on the souls wasn’t exactly easy, was it?

I steadied myself and quietly sent my cards drifting in different directions around the room. ℯ

I wasn’t here to fight and all I needed to do was buy time. As for the many students currently rushing up to support their leader, Varek? Well, I didn’t care much about them. After all, I had subordinates of my own among the second-years.

Rio.

The same human who had decided to follow me after bombing my dorm on the first day at the academy. Over time, he had recruited quite a few other humans into my faction and given their resentment toward demons, it hadn’t exactly been difficult.

I had instructed Rio to join the battle the moment he received my signal and by now, I was sure he had already made his move and was probably keeping Varek’s lackeys occupied.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Varek’s enraged voice echoed through the room as he watched me cautiously. For someone who looked so reckless, he was surprisingly careful.

"Didn’t your mother tell you?"

I deliberately mocked him to distract him from trying to pull the needle out and just as I expected, he immediately lost it the moment I mentioned his mother.

He lunged at me.

Without hesitation, I activated the Magician and appeared on the opposite side of the room as his fist blasted through the floor where I had been standing moments earlier.

"Ahh, the little baby got angry and missed me."

I taunted him again.

With another roar, he charged. I was already prepared to jump through space once more.

But just as he closed the distance with his fist pulled back to smash through my face and just as I reached for the Magician’s effect, everything slowed down.

I could see the gaps in his movements, the imperfections in his footwork and the tiny openings hidden within the flow of his momentum.

Almost instinctively, I shifted my body slightly to the side and stepped into one of those gaps while tilting my head slightly as his fist swept harmlessly past my face. Before he could react, I grabbed his extended arm and simply guided it forward.

His balance broke instantly as he stumbled and fell forward but I didn’t pursue him and instead, I jumped back and stared at my own hands.

What was that?

Some kind of enlightenment from dancing with that damned Gorilla?

For some reason, after enduring the wild, chaotic attacks of that Gorilla for days, Varek’s precise and disciplined strikes felt far too predictable.

"You slimy bastard!"

Varek screamed and lunged at me again.

My smile widened.

Might as well use him to improve myself.

With that thought, I dismissed all the cards scattered throughout the room and focused entirely on that strange feeling I had experienced moments ago before losing hold of it.

My mind worked overtime as I tried to recall exactly how it had felt as Varek’s punch arrived almost immediately.

Time seemed to slow once more as I saw several openings hidden within his footwork but the moment I tried to move through them, my body refused to cooperate as the punch landed squarely against the side of my face.

My head nearly snapped sideways as the metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth and I was hurled across the room and crashed into the wall.

"Argh, fuck!"

I groaned as I pushed myself out of the hole I had created in the wooden wall.

The pain barely bothered me.

What frustrated me was something else entirely.

How the hell did all those protagonists in novels pull this kind of thing off without getting punched in the face?

Why wasn’t it as easy as reading about a character achieving enlightenment and immediately mastering it?

Reality was a ducking scam.

And naturally, Varek had no intention of letting me complain in peace. He was already midair above me, his body twisting as he unleashed a roundhouse kick aimed straight at my face.

This time, the feeling was even clearer.

The moment the kick arrived, I ducked beneath it and just as I was about to redirect the strike and launch a counterattack of my own, his knee shot forward, coated in mana, and slammed directly into my face.

I was sent flying backward into the same hole as before before crashing through it and tumbling into yet another room.

Too slow!

I understood the problem immediately.

My body was too slow because I was constantly thinking about how to attack unlike the first time where I hadn’t been thinking at all.

Once more!

The thought had barely crossed my mind before Varek was already upon me again. The bastard was awfully fast for someone getting his soul sucked out.

"For someone who was barking so loudly earlier, you sure don’t have the teeth to bite."

He mocked me but I didn’t care as I emptied my mind completely. My body became perfectly still as I waited for him to attack again. Blood blurred my vision from the repeated blows. Taking consecutive attacks from Varek wasn’t much different from being hit by a speeding truck as my head spun slightly.

But the effect of the Moon Card kept my mind steady.

The attack came again.

I observed every movement carefully, the way he pushed off the ground, his left foot slightly ahead of his right, suggesting he was about to throw a kick.

Or at least, that’s what I would have thought before.

But it was a feint.

His real attack was the small dagger hidden in his hand.

He raised his knee as if preparing to strike and I played my part by moving to guard against it. Then, in an instant, he dropped the leg and drew the dagger, using the momentum of his entire body to drive the blade straight toward my heart.

The gaps appeared once again.

This time, I bet my life on them and instead of forcing my movements, I allowed them to flow naturally, like a dance and before I realized it, I was standing beside his extended arm.

I grabbed it immediately and then, using his own momentum against him, I flipped his body over and slammed him into the wooden floor.

The impact drove the air from his lungs as his grip on the dagger loosened. His eyes rolled back for a brief moment before clarity slowly returned to them.

But this time, he didn’t attack and I immediately understood why.

Naga had finally overthrown Varek’s soul and had taken control.