Hero of Darkness

Chapter 1140: Law of Balance

Instead of attacking the opponent as all the citizens of the empire watched... Kahn stabbed his own stomach and committed seppuku.

Stab!

Blood started dripping from the hilt of his katana, and the other end of the blade passed through his back.

But why did Kahn suddenly go mad and do this to himself rather than facing his opponent in a frontal clash?

Because he knew that none of them would work in this particular fight.

Jeremiah Themis, the leader of the Demi-Human faction, was a powerful being who remained undefeated even after the imperial family was massacred.

The fact that the other two faction leaders didn’t dare to fight him over a century also attested to that truth.

But after learning the powers of the Law of Balance by pretending to be weak and helpless in front of the Elven saint... Kahn figured out its biggest drawback instantly.

Because the Law of Balance was similar to the Law of Equivalent Exchange in a way.

Though he received the biggest debuffs to his powers... the underlying fact that neither Jeremiah or Kahn could harm each other until the latter died after a few days... meant one thing.

That the curse itself was a blessing in disguise.

If both parties were prohibited from harming each other... what about harming yourself?

”Ahh!”

And just as he expected...

Jeremiah Themis also received the exact same wound where Kahn stabbed himself, his white clothes now colored red from the torso as the blood spilled out of his stomach, and the young elf now started bleeding profusely.

”Ha ha ha! Haha ha!” laughed Kahn hysterically.

”Look at you, dumb bastard. Looks like I made a mistake by coming here.

Who knew that I would be fighting against the weakest of the 3 top saints of the empire?” he mocked the opponent despite being a literal sword stabbed in his body.

”What do you mean? How am I weak?” asked the young Jeremiah, using healing potions and artifacts on himself.

Soon, the massive wound started closing itself as the elf healed his injuries within a minute.

Pull!

Kahn pulled Muramasa out of his body, and his instant regeneration ability closed the wound in the blink of an eye.

”Your power... is just a gimmick.” spoke old man Kahn with a disappointed tone.

”Sure... it can work and easily overpower anyone with a physical body who can die with a fatal wound.

No amount of regenerative ability can help save someone’s life if the core within their heart or even their head explodes.

However... what if someone can’t die from those issues?” asked Kahn in a hoarse tone as he gave a sinister smile.

Silence!

A harrowing silence ensued as Jeremiah’s expression turned ashen as if he had seen a ghost.

”There are species in the world that don’t have a solid physical form. Look at our empire itself... There are those who can turn into a literal fog, and some don’t even have a heart or a brain.

You got so far only because none of those people were able to become a saint or had to fight with you.” explained Kahn.

Him pointing out the biggest flaw of Jeremiah’s domain that came with his Law of Balance that it heavily depended upon enemy’s species and unique constitution.

And as a matter of fact... it was the truth.

Every powerful enemy he fought till now had a physical form, and even with their powers... at most they could escape from him but not actually harm his body.

And obviously... they wouldn’t think about stabbing themselves to their deaths either, and hence the flaw in Jeremiah Themis’ Domain of Impartiality became his biggest advantage.

Yet here came a man who was unafraid to do what scared everyone else... Death.

Kahn wasn’t afraid of death at this point after his training under Romulus Lykaios.

What importance would one more death have to a man who has literally died more than a million times?

Slash!

Next, Kahn slashed his left forearm with the swing of his weapon.

”Arrghhh!” wailed Jeremiah in intense pain as his own left arm was cut off.

He quickly used his world energy to stop the arm from falling and used his own means to heal the injury.

However...

Stab!

Kahn summoned Gungnir and had the spear stab himself in the back, making a massive hole in his chest.

Blergh!!

Jeremiah retched a massive chunk of blood and innards as a similar hole appeared on his body.

Had he not been a saint... he would have died instantly.

Cut!

Slash!

Stab!

Crack!

One after another... Kahn used various means to inflict fatal wounds on himself.

Each injury was so severe that he could die at any moment. But because of his own abilities, such as instant regeneration and space law... It took no time to recover from them.

However, the same was not the case for the elven saint, who didn’t have these innate abilities and could only rely on spells, artifacts, and high-grade potions.

For the next hour... this very scenario repeated as Kahn kept getting creative with the ways of torturing himself.

One of the citizens of the empire, watching this horrifying scene, slowly spoke...

”Our Emperor... Is batshit crazy!”

******************

Kahn kept torturing Jeremiah, who for some reason, was unable to deactivate his own domain.

”Looks like there’s another flaw with the Law of Balance, huh?

It seems to me that you can’t even stop your domain from completing our exchange,” said Kahn as he figured out another drawback of the opponent’s power.

”Will it stop until I lose my life force completely and die?” said Kahn with a sardonic tone.

”Or will it no longer function unless just one of us dies?” questioned Kahn with a sadistic smile.

”Gee... I wonder what would happen if I do this?” said Kahn with a wicked smile as he raised Muramasa’s blade over his neck.

He slowly cut his adam’s apple over the throat.

A visible gash was made, and Kahn’s neck started bleeding.

”Urgh!”

However, the groan was heard from the other end because Jeremiah’s neck was gushing with blood.

He was using his spells, artifacts, and potions to heal himself and protect his own life.

Yawn!

Kahn, who saw this from afar on the opposite plate, yawned as if he was bored out of his mind.

”This isn’t even funny anymore. Let’s end this.

Your head for mine.” declared Kahn as he revealed a devilish smirk.

Jeremiah, who was already barely holding onto dear life, was petrified.

Kahn then held the grip of the katana and placed the blade over the right side of his neck.

”Let’s die together, you elf bastard.” said Kahn with a grin so wide that one would mistake him for a demon.

”Stop! Stop, you crazy psychotic bastard!” shouted Jeremiah, his expression mortified.

His body slouched as if he accepted his defeat.

The entirety of the Rakos Empire saw how one the 3 strongest beings in the whole empire now knelt in front of Kahn, defeated and ashamed.

This was the first and biggest loss Jeremiah had experienced after becoming a 5th-stage saint.

He had remained undefeated for almost 200 years, but now lost to a young man who was only 30 years old.

”You... you win.” declared the elven saint.

Jeremiah could go on for days with the amount of potions, spells, and artifacts he had till Kahn died of his domain’s power acquired from the Law of Balance.

”My dissapointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.” said Kahn while rolling his eyes.

”You know the best part of this victory for me?” asked Kahn with a shameless smirk.

”I didn’t even have to use my domain.” he openly declared.

As soon as those words echoed... the whole empire watching this battle also realized that Kahn indeed didn’t use his domain either.

Most of them didn’t even know what a domain was before this fight between Kahn and Jeremiah.

But if the latter could use it... Then there was definitely a chance that so could Kahn.

Jeremiah’s expression turned from one of shame to disgust very quickly.

Because not only did he lose against someone who was born just yesterday compared to his own age... but that kid didn’t even unleash his full power.

[Were those words true... is my power nothing but just a gimmick?] wondered the elven saint.

For the first time in the 500 years of his life... he questioned his own existence because of the shameful defeat against Kahn.

”Do you know why I didn’t use my domain?” iterated Kahn with a confident smirk.

”Because if I did... You really would have died when I stabbed myself the first time.” he declared in a domineering voice.

”But don’t think that your misery ends here. For me, sparing your life...” said Kahn as he made an outrageous but also stern demand.

A devious smile appeared on his face as he finished his words...

”There should be a fair exchange.”