Chapter 157 The Enlightened One

"Kill…!" Seeing that he couldn't push the blade down any further, Riekan decided to retract the silver blade, prompting the human to release his grip from the blade as he looked the former with a light grin.

"Finally got your attention, huh?" The human laughed soon after, taunting Riekan as he led him away from Valyr, allowing the latter to move away from the corner and distance himself as much as possible from what was about to come.

Seeing that Valyr had sufficiently distanced himself from the two, watching the two from afar from the entrance of the room, the human went ahead and looked at Riekan before him, whose murderous intent was now focused solely on the human.

Though Valyr had infuriated him to a great extent with what he had done to him in his previous forms, this fury paled in comparison to the abhorrence he felt towards the human that stood before him.

After all, this human was the reason why he had been locked in this dungeon in the first place!

"KILL!" With a furious bellow, Riekan raised his silver blade once more, which soon emitted a bright silver light as he spared no strength in bringing the blade down on the human. In response, the human looked at the blade for a bit before the expression on his face turned solemn.

Whoosh!

"Halt." At the very instant the human had uttered this word, the shackles that suppressed his aura had completely broken loose. In an instant, a billowing aura swiftly radiated out of the human's body, its might many times stronger than the one Riekan emanated.

Even though Valyr was already far as he could be from the two, he still could not help but feel a hint of immense dread from the aura the man radiated.

Much less for Riekan, who took the brunt of the aura the man exuded.

"Graaah!" Noticing that his blade had gotten stuck in midair for some reason, Riekan instantly knew that the reason behind it was all thanks to the human that stood in front of him. Feeling great humiliation from this sight, he channeled all of this humiliation into rage, exerting more force on the blade's hilt to try and send the blade down to meet his greatest enemy.

Unfortunately, no matter how much force he exerted on his blade, it wouldn't budge, which only left Riekan no choice but to look at the human with unabated fury.

Seeing that Riekan's gaze was directed at him, the human could not help but lightly smirk as he opened his mouth. "You know, you wouldn't have been locked up in this place if you hadn't made that choice. Your blade has not just swallowed the lives of innocent humans, but innocent goblins as well."

"You could have continued to learn under my tutelage, my friend. Unfortunately, you desired to attain a level of power far greater than what I could give you. Because of your greed, you succumbed to the temptations of the underworld," the human continued, the smirk on his face gradually disappearing. "You fell into the darkness, my friend. This is merely your just deserts."

Feeling that the aura surrounding him had become filled with terrifying bloodlust and murderous intent, the rage Riekan felt towards the man before him swiftly disappeared. Instead, fear quickly took its place, his gaze the only thing he could use amidst his fear to tell the human in front of him that he knew he was in the wrong.

Sadly, the human before him had seen Riekan do the same thing before, the expression on his face becoming cruel as he ignored Riekan's pleading expression. "Don't think I'd fall for your stupid lies again, my friend. I've bided my time for this day, just so I could remove you myself from this world for good. After all, as the one who gave you your sentience, it should only be right that I'm the one to remove it."

At this point, the aura surrounding Riekan had become suffocating, the silver blade that was stuck in midair cracking from the pressure the human exerted on him. "Time and time again, your true form remained elusive, hiding beneath many facades, many lies you've deluded yourself into believing. However, thanks to the human that fought against you, that all ends here."

"To you who took my name, I bid you my final farewell." Saying these words, the pressure the human exerted on Riekan increased to a terrifying degree, causing Riekan to scream out in pain. With the threat of death looming near, Riekan gazed at Valyr for a brief moment before focusing his attention towards the human in front of him, eventually screaming out what seemed to be his final words.

"Damn you… Riekan!!!"

"Perish."

BANG!

As if to accompany the word the human had uttered, both Riekan's body, as well as the silver blade he wielded, disintegrated into tiny bits and pieces, exploding into clouds of dust that gradually disappeared due to the billowing of the human's aura.

While this happened, the human looked at the sight before him with a solemn expression, watching as the particles that made up the friend he had accompanied in the past, only to lose in the end, disappear into nothingness.

Recalling all of the joyous memories he had with the being in the past, the human eventually let out a long sigh, suppressing the aura he had released as everything in the room returned to the way it was before, with the only exception being Riekan's disappearance.

"So, with all of that done, how about I answer all of the questions you've been meaning to ask me?" After that, the human looked at Valyr before slowly heading his way to where the latter stood. Unsurprisingly, after witnessing what had just transpired firsthand, Valyr could not help but have pessimistic thoughts, wondering if he would die under the human's hands as he took a couple steps back.

Naturally, the human noticed the expression Valyr had on his face, eliciting an awkward smile to appear on his face as he decided to stop walking midway, sitting cross-legged at the center of the room instead.

"Almost forgot to consider what a lower-ranked class holder would think after what I did earlier. Of course, I don't blame you for thinking that way. Anyways, I have no intentions of harming you. After all, you're the reason why I was able to finally kill that guy. Feel free to ask any question you might have for me. We have all the time in the world."

Taking a few deep breaths to calm his nerves down, it was only then did Valyr notice that the man's voice sounded oddly similar to a voice he had heard sometime earlier. After mulling over it for a bit in silence, his mind put two and two together sometime later, eventually opening his mouth to ask the man a question.

"Are you… the disembodied voice I've been talking to earlier?" Valyr asked, to which the human nodded in response.

"The one and only." The human smiled in response. "I still find it quite unfortunate that the person to clear this dungeon was you and not the destined one."

"Then again, that person must have their reasons." After that, he shrugged his shoulders before wryly smiling at Valyr. "Anything else?"

"Who are you?" With the mystery of the being behind the disembodied voice now solved, Valyr went ahead and asked the most obvious question one could ever ask in this situation. Though, once he heard the human's response, only immense confusion appeared on his face.

"I go by multiple titles, but most beings know of me as the Enlightened One," the human replied with a light smile. "As for my name though…"

"You can just call me Riekan."