_Chapter Begins_
The ghostly blade of the twisted dagger cut through the air with inhuman speed.
William barely managed to sidestep away from the downward swing.
"What the hell!"
He dodged another attack that was aimed at his belly.
A drop of sweat fell from his forehead.
"How is she so fast?!"
William's body had been transformed by the sin of Envy—the orb, as he once called it.
He was able to move at speeds that broke the sound barrier.
So how... how was Jane almost catching him with her attacks?
She was just a normal young adult, for god's sake.
William took a microsecond to glance up at the red cloud above them.
"It has to be the cloud's doing, right?"
There was no other explanation—it had to be some type of effect caused by the red cloud.
Just what the hell was this damned cloud anyway?
"I don't have time for this..."
The bitter memories of the past were already entering his mind, and the emotions of that past came with it.
The red cloud was starting to corrupt his mind once again.
William leaned back and barely managed to dodge the slash from his sister's dagger.
Due to leaning back so far, he almost lost his balance.
If he was up against a trained swordsman, he would have been dead at this moment right here.
But thankfully, Jane was just as untrained in combat as he was.
Not only did she not take advantage of him almost losing his balance, but she also almost lost her own balance due to overextending.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, William couldn't suppress his chuckle.
How silly did they look from another person's perspective right now?
Two untrained idiots almost losing their balance with each swing and dodge.
Right before his sister lunged at him again, William did something very strange.
He picked up a small mystical shard that was lying on the ground and simply flung it into the sky.
Due to his strength, the glass shard quickly disappeared into the red cloud above them and probably ventured even further up than the cloud.
Jane's curved dagger came swinging once again, now at his temple.
He lowered his head just in time for the blade to not make contact with his soul once more.
"Just... a little longer."
His soul was cut open and bleeding out his life force, and at the same time, his mind was being corrupted by a random red cloud.
It was safe to say that William was at his breaking point—he could not hope to last five more minutes.
Jane continued her relentless attack; her swings were full of intent.
He dodged and dodged, over and over again.
One mistake and it would be over for him. There was simply no way that he could survive a second cut to his soul.
But then... it finally happened.
The chance he was looking for finally came.
Due to not having any combat experience, Jane almost lost her balance with each swing of her dagger.
But due to her newfound strength, she managed to barely hold on to her balance with each swing that she overextended.
But this time, she wasn't so lucky.
Jane overextended once more, and this time her strength was not enough to regain her balance.
He did not waste any time.
William lunged at her at full speed, his hand balling into a fist.
But then the unexpected happened.
As Jane was falling, she did one of the most desperate moves that a combatant could make.
She threw her weapon.
Her dagger flashed through the air with blinding speed.
William had already lunged at full speed, so there was no moving back now.
The blade and he were on a direct collision course.
As the tip of the blade came mere centimeters away from his face, William simply... disappeared.
The dagger sliced nothing but air before eventually hitting the ground.
Jane's red eyes widened, and she looked up at the sky.
Falling from the sky was a small piece of mystical glass shard, and it just happened to be the same one that William had thrown.
Jane only had a few microseconds to put her arms up into a guard.
William appeared from the small glass shard and aimed his foot toward where Jane was.
His leg connected with Jane's arms, instantly breaking them.
The ground below Jane shook violently from the impact.
There was an ugly grimace on his face.
"Sorry, Jane, but there was no other way."
His sister had long fallen unconscious, as the kick had not only broken her arms but also shaken her brain with the force equivalent to an earthquake.
"Gods, let's just get this over with."
Now was the big test that William had wanted to try for a while now.
Could he bring other people into the reflections, or was he limited to only himself?
"Please work..."
He picked his sister up and tried to dive into the reflection of the mystical shards.
But just as he had feared, nothing happened.
William grabbed his mouth and gagged.
His skin had become as pale as the moon.
"Thi... this is not good."
It seemed that his soul energy had finally run out.
So there was only one option left now.
He looked up at the sky one more time before exploding into a run.
It would not take him long to escape the grasp of the red cloud, but...
William's eyes glowed—half red and the other pitch black.
"Damn you... Hans!"
The corruption of the red cloud was doing its job with incredible speed.
All the memories of his father, mother, and brother all resurfaced.
"You! It was you who was always the best at everything!"
William gripped his head as he was running.
But then something strange happened.
He felt something tug at his soul.
Something deep inside his soul was moving and jabbing at his very being.
Strangely enough, it did not hurt all that much.
"What... what is that damned orb doing now..."
But there was no time to focus on the purple orb because William finally saw it.
"There it is... it's the end."
Far off in the distance, he could see the end of the red cloud that loomed above.
It felt so nice to see the dark sky once more.
William dashed toward the image of the dark sky with as much speed as his body would allow.
He felt his muscles tear and his bones shake, but he simply paid them no attention.
Freedom was so close.
_Chapter Ends_