"Oh, what’s this?"

Leon tapped his chin with his beautiful white katana and noticed that his two assassins seemed quite shaken.

"Where did all that confidence go? You didn’t consider the possibility that I might fight back in your little calculations?"

Leon laughed.

"...Shit."

Rook clicked his tongue.

’We’ve gone this far. We can’t stop now. This was the worst possible outcome, as we would’ve preferred not fighting him.’

Raizen thought with a dark look.

It was too late to back down now, so Rook took a tighter grip on his sword, and Raizen grabbed the spear like his life depended on it.

"My sword is meant for killing... I won’t go easy on you."

Leon took his sword stance.

Rook and Raizen exchanged a gaze.

Sure, in a one-versus-one duel, they wouldn’t stand a chance against Leon, but there were two of them!

And there was still a possibility that Leon hadn’t fully recovered from the poison’s effects and was just acting tough.

Crack—at that moment, a deer nearby cracked a twig under its hoof.

With the sound of "crack" destroying the silence, Rook and Raizen sprang forward like two grasshoppers.

Sword and spear in hand.

Leon grazed the ground with the tip of his katana, a cocky smile on his face, and then he lifted it with a swift flourish.

CLASH~!

The white katana’s blade perfectly blocked both the spear and sword. It was perfect defense. He didn’t even need a secondary weapon.

"Argh!"

Raizen and Rook gritted their teeth.

They were using all of their strength to push their weapons against the white katana to push Leon back.

But Leon was effortlessly holding them still, with the same cocky smile on his face, as if he weren’t even trying!

"Take a step back."

Leon swung the sword and sent the two of them flying backwards, but Rook quickly caught himself with his vulture wings, and Raizen planted his feet back on the ground.

Swoosh~!

Rook immediately flew back at Leon, and this time around, his sword started glowing with a bright light.

"Great Roc’s Annihilation!"

Rook screamed and brought his sword down with great power, like he was planning to split the world in two.

"Archangel’s Parry."

Leon nonchalantly tapped the side of Rook’s blade and swiftly redirected it enough to miss his body.

Rook’s sword smashed into the ground, and the ground quaked around them like an earthquake was about to erupt.

"Fox God’s Killing Blade!"

Raizen thrust the spear forward, and Leon met the attack head on, their weapons clashing with a deafening clang.

Their weapons separated for a moment, but then they again met each other in a frontal combat, their weapons striking against each other with incredible force and speed.

CLASH~! CLASH~! CLANG~! CLANG~!

The sparks flew in all directions, illuminating the battlefield with a fiery glow.

’Yes, keep him busy.’

Rook thought, and then he grabbed his sword with both hands and lifted it high above his head like he was trying to borrow strength from God.

"Erektos... Narak... Kuruta..."

He chanted.

Hearing the chanting, Leon slowly rolled his eyes while nonchalantly clashing weapons with Raizen.

"Are you serious? He is trying to ask for more power from the Roc? They never answer back to anyone, so why would they now?"

Leon asked.

’We’re in a desperate situation, so we’ve got no choice. Maybe the legendary legacies notice our bind and don’t want their legacy carriers to die.’

Raizen thought with a serious look.

’What if the Roc really answers...’

Leon thought.

He didn’t want to wait and find out!

In that moment, he delivered a swift strike, completely breaking Raizen’s posture, causing him to stumble backwards.

Leon delivered a strong kick against his frontal ribs, sending Raizen flying backwards until he was way out of sight.

Then.

He used his beautiful white-feathered angel wings to fly back, going straight for Rook!

"Archangel’s Slash!"

Rook’s eyes opened, and he quickly adjusted the sword’s position and blocked the white katana that came out of nowhere.

Boom~! The ground behind Rook exploded as the impact of the attack sent shockwaves throughout the area.

’I didn’t finish reciting the chant in time.’

Rook thought with a dark look.

"Since the starting days of Dead Redemption, you’ve always wanted to be the leader. I’ve seen it in your eyes. The endless greed and jealousy.

"I knew that one day you would come for my head. I just didn’t expect you to convince Raizen to do it as well.

"I never expected the two of you to work together."

Leon said with a scoff.

He then increased the pace of his sword strikes and relentlessly attacked Rook while he was forced to defend and defend.

"Ugh! Ugh!"

Rook gritted his teeth, and it took all of his concentration and strength to defend against these strikes.

Each strike sent tremors down his arms, and it even felt like his shoulders might fall off at this rate.

...

A distance away from the fight.

Lying on the ground, Raizen looked towards the starry sky while the sound of clashing swords filled his ears.

’I am desperate...’

He thought.

And at that moment, he pointed his spear towards the sky.

"Erektioumus... Extremus... Anarakta... Kurtura... Fox God... Fox God... Fox God... Fox God..."

This wasn’t his first time trying to talk to the Fox God, and he had never received an answer—not even a tiny acknowledgement of his existence.

He didn’t expect it to be any different this time around.

"Haah... Pointless..."

Raizen lowered his spear and sat up.

When he was sitting, he managed to catch a glimpse of the ongoing fight through the gap between trees.

Rook was defending like his life depended on it—because it did—and Leon was just nonchalantly attacking.

’I could run away... Nah, Leon would just chase me till the end of the world. Even Safe Zones aren’t safe enough to keep me alive.’

He scratched the back of his head.

There was no other choice than to finish the fight—whether it ended in victory or defeat.

But at that moment, as he was about to stand up, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Raizen’s body shuddered, and as he looked over his shoulder, he saw a face of a fox staring at him with bright, intelligent eyes.

"Wha—"

In that moment, bright orange light attacked his eyes, and his screams were drowned by the sound of constant whispering.

[Fox God has entered your body!]

[You are no longer in control of your body]

[Countdown Till the End of Possession: 3 minutes]

[Fox God Possession: The legendary legacy figure can take over the player’s physical body just one time for a total of three minutes. Once those three minutes are over, it won’t be possible anymore]

...

"Ha!"

Leon hammered his sword against Rook’s sword and forced him down to his knees—his sword was struggling to stay alive.

’My sword is an extremely valuable artifact, but even it is about to break against this monster’s white katana!’

Rook thought with terror.

’And where the hell is Raizen even? Did that bastard run off to somewhere? I can’t hold him back by myself forever!’

Crack~! At that moment, they heard another twig getting cracked, and they shot a gaze towards the sound.

From there, an orange-eyed young man with beautiful orange hair and fox ears stepped out of the dark.

It was Raizen. They knew that. But there was something odd about him.

"...Raizen?"

Rook frowned.

He felt different.

"You came to die too? Goo—"

Leon turned to look at him, but before he could finish his words, something flashed by his eyes—something very fast.

"Eh?"

Thud~!

A sound of bloody thud echoed in his ears as he turned to look to the left. His arm was lying on the ground.

Blood gushed out like a fountain.

"Ah... My arm!"

Leon screamed, and while there wasn’t pain, the sight was horrifying, and he almost wretched in disgust.

"What..."

Rook said in surprise, but then he quickly realized that this was their chance, and he quickly shot back to his feet.

He quickly swung his sword at Leon, but it was quickly blocked by the white katana as Leon lifted it as defense.

’Damn, he even reacted to that. I thought losing a limb would impact him more, but he got over it in just a few seconds.’

Rook clicked his tongue.

Leon jumped backwards to distance himself from the two and then watched as the orange-haired Raizen walked over.

He wasn’t saying a word.

But there was an aura of strength around him that was much more significant than anything he had shown before.

’What the hell is going on? Why is he suddenly so strong?’

Leon thought with a frown.

"You may be Archangel, but I am God."

Raizen said coldly, then he pointed the spear straight at Leon’s face, and the blade’s tip shone slightly.

’God?’

Leon frowned.

In that moment, he sensed something, and he quickly tilted his head to the left, but something grazed his cheek.

A thin line of blood trickled down his cheek.

The spear didn’t even move, yet Raizen’s attack still reached him.

’His attacks... are ridiculously fast!’

Leon’s eyes shook.