Chapter 140: Rite of Passage [11]

I felt extreme agony and pain running all over my body.

Blood poured from my ears, mouth, and even my eyes. Tears of blood ran down my cheeks as the vibrations shook my body like a sledgehammer.

"Let me go."

I punched Siegfried in the face hard enough to leave a red bruise on his skin.

He didn’t even budge.

But in reaction to my attack, his grip only tightened.

I gritted my teeth and started beating the bastard as hard as I could.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

I hit his shoulders.

Slammed my fist into his back.

Punched his face. Hit his head.

Even drove my fist into his stomach.

Nothing.

He didn’t let go.

Not even when blood started leaking from his mouth.

This bastard wouldn’t let me go.

If I was even considering biting his hands off me because anything else was not wroking.

I started thinking as fast as I could, desperately searching for a way out.

My organs were protected because I had reinforced my body with mana, but it wouldn’t last forever. Eventually, Siegfried’s vibrations would break through my defenses and turn my insides into soup.

I was especially irritated because Shadow Step wasn’t working.

I hadn’t known that it could be prevented if another person was physically holding onto me.

I had assumed it wouldn’t matter.

But I was so wrong.

And now I was paying for it—with my body getting damaged by Siegfried’s vibrations.

All of this could have been avoided if the damn Gift had worked, but there was nothing I could do about that now.

The ground beneath us cracked as I increased the force of my attacks.

My sword had already been destroyed by the vibrations. If it hadn’t, I would’ve stabbed this lazy bastard in the back long ago.

Even when I tried forming new constructs, they were immediately destroyed.

My bones creaked inside my flesh as the vibrations continued tearing through my body.

This was exactly why fighting Siegfried at close range was so dangerous.

He could release his vibration attacks whenever he wanted.

And you’d never expect the lazy bastard to suddenly hug you just so you couldn’t escape.

Think. Think, Yves. How the hell do I get out of this?

My brain was working overtime.

Then something came to me.

I didn’t know if it would work.

But at this point, anything was better than nothing.

I gritted my teeth and looked down at Siegfried.

Then I slowly opened my mouth, tasting the iron coating my tongue.

"Siegfried, you said you wanted to sleep, right?"

Siegfried didn’t answer immediately.

A few seconds passed before he finally spoke.

"What are you trying to say?"

His grip around my body never loosened.

"Do you like sleeping or not?" I asked again.

Siegfried remained silent for a moment.

"Yes, I do."

Perfect.

"Then have you ever thought about a world where you’re forced to work every single day without rest?"

I paused.

"No holidays. No weekends. Just working every single day."

Siegfried’s expression remained blank.

"Have you ever imagined how terrible that would be?"

I continued before he could answer.

"You, who loves sleeping so much... Don’t you think it would be terrifying if you suddenly couldn’t sleep anymore?"

I paused again.

"Well, I think that’s horrible. Everyone should be allowed to sleep and not get overworked."

I looked directly into his eyes.

"But imagine how cruel and depressing it would be to never take a nap again."

I shook my head.

"Especially for someone like you who loves doing nothing."

Siegfried’s expression finally changed.

His brow furrowed.

His complexion slowly became pale.

It was working.

"That..."

His voice trembled.

"That would be terrible."

The moment I heard the fear in his voice, I stopped talking.

I had no more time to waste.

I pressed my right hand against his shoulder.

Then I activated—

[Emotion Manipulator].

It had been a while since I’d used this Gift.

I honestly hadn’t expected this to be the situation where I’d need it.

The moment the Gift activated, I felt it.

The negative emotion I’d planted inside Siegfried’s heart.

Fear.

Exactly what I wanted.

I chose that emotion.

My mana was consumed.

More fear entered Siegfried’s body, strengthening the fear that was already there.

The first thing I noticed was his body trembling.

His complexion became even paler.

Sweat began forming across his forehead.

"No..."

His voice shook.

"No, no. Such a world cannot exist."

He still refused to let me go.

So I increased the intensity of the fear.

More mana was consumed.

The fear inside him grew stronger.

And stronger.

Until finally—

Siegfried’s arms loosened.

His grip disappeared completely.

He stumbled backward and fell onto his knees.

His eyes were wide open.

They were filled with pure fear.

At the same time, the vibrations surrounding his body stopped.

The energy that had been tearing through my organs vanished.

I could breathe again.

My entire body hurt.

But I remained standing.

Blood covered the edges of my mouth and dripped down my chest.

I didn’t move.

I could feel that some of my bones were fractured, and the pain was fucking unimaginable.

But I didn’t scream.

I simply endured it.

I looked down at Siegfried.

He was kneeling on the ground with both hands pressed against his head.

"No..."

He kept murmuring the same word.

"No... no..."

I stared at him.

I honestly hadn’t expected that to work.

The first thing I had to do for [Emotion Manipulator] to work was plant a seed of the specific emotion I wanted inside the target.

Once that seed took root, I could activate the Gift and increase the intensity of that emotion until it became powerful enough to affect them.

That’s why I’d started talking about a world where Siegfried couldn’t sleep anymore.

I had planted fear inside him by making him imagine the one thing he hated most.

A life without sleep.

It had been a gamble.

I had been talking complete bullshit.

That shouldn’t have worked against a normal person.

But Siegfried wasn’t normal.

I had expected his mind to be more resistant, especially since we were the same rank.

Instead, I’d broken through surprisingly easily.

So mental strength didn’t depend entirely on rank.

It depended on the individual.

Some people simply had stronger minds than others.

But whatever.

A win was a win.

Darkness gathered in my right hand.

A black katana formed.

I raised it despite the pain shooting through my body.

My bones creaked.

Sending another wave of agony through me.

"You almost got me there, Siegfried."

I raised the blade.

Then brought it down toward his neck.

But it never reached him.

Just before the blade could sever his head, shadows wrapped around Siegfried’s body.

He disappeared.

My blade slammed into the ground instead.

BOOM!

I released the weapon.

The katana crumbled back into darkness.

I leaned backward and looked up at the sky.

"Phew."

I sighed.

Even that hurt like hell.

My body immediately began absorbing mana and healing my wounds.

I had now defeated two of my siblings.

Two more remained.

I knew they were still here.

After all, I doubted anyone would’ve been disqualified unless they were defeated badly enough to require rescue.

And my older brothers had already taken care of two of the contestants.

Just thinking about the twins made my blood boil.

I was definitely going to teach those two a lesson.

It wouldn’t be easy.

They were always together.

But I would still win.

That was a fact.

Their fate was already sealed in stone.

But before that...

I needed a nap.

I spread my darkness across the ground, creating a twenty-meter detection range around me.

Just in case someone tried sneaking up on me.

Then I fell backward.

My body slammed into the ground.

Thud.

I immediately regretted it.

Fahhhhh...

It hurts.

It fucking hurts!

I screamed internally as pain exploded through my body.

My wounds hadn’t completely healed yet, and apparently slamming my already broken body into the ground wasn’t the smartest decision.

But outside, my expression remained completely calm.

My eyes closed.

I had an image to maintain, you know?

Within moments, I fell asleep right there in the middle of the destroyed forest.

...

Meanwhile, inside the hall.

Everyone was silent.

No one seemed to know what they had just witnessed.

Finally, someone spoke.

"What did he just do?" Andromeda asked in disbelief as they watched Siegfried who seemed to have the upper hand in the fight and was going to win, suddenly let go of Yves and dropped to his knees with what seem to be fear in his eyes.

She was not the only one confused—everyone else was confused.

They all had frowns in their face at the Siegfried’s unexpected actions.

"Why the hell would Siegfried suddenly let go of Yves when he could eliminate him?" An elder said in irritation.

Everything seemed to be going well for him until Yves suddenly put his hand on top of his head and started speaking some words.