Boom!

Adam charged again like a wild animal. The cavern itself shook from the pressure of his movements while Cassien lowered his stance completely.

Step. Step.

Closer.

Closer.

Closer.

’A little more.’

Adam roared while swinging both claws downward toward Cassien’s skull. And at the very last second...

Slide!

Cassien slipped directly underneath Adam’s attack while one dagger hooked against Adam’s arm to redirect the momentum entirely. Adam’s balance broke. And for one brief second... the core became exposed again.

"Got you."

Cassien drove the first dagger directly into the glowing purple core.

Crack!

Adam’s eyes widened instantly. But Cassien didn’t stop there. He immediately pulled out the pistol with his free hand before pressing the barrel directly against the dagger’s handle.

Boom!

And then he stabbed it with the other dagger again... and again! The mana bullet traveled through the blade itself before detonating directly inside the core.

For a moment... everything became silent.

And then...

BOOOOOOM!!!

Purple mana erupted throughout the cavern violently, swallowing both sides of the tunnel in distorted light. Adam screamed. Not angrily. Not monstrously. But painfully. Like a human being finally realizing what he had become.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

The Demon Core shattered apart inside his chest while unstable mana exploded out from every opening in his body. Adam stumbled backwards, his claws slowly trembling while the purple veins faded away. And finally... his body collapsed onto the cavern floor.

Silence.

Cassien stood there breathing heavily while smoke rose from the pistol in his hand.

"...Damn."

His arms hurt like hell. His chest burned, and his mana reserves had dropped tremendously lower than expected. But even then... he still walked toward Adam’s corpse cautiously. Because something still felt wrong.

Then suddenly, a twitching noise erupted.

Cassien stopped.

The shattered remains of the Demon Core were moving. Small pieces of glowing purple crystal twitched against the floor like living parasites desperately attempting to reconnect.

"...You’ve got to be kidding me."

...

Aiysha stepped up before Victoria, raising her sword with such precision, like an artist perfecting their masterpiece. Then she calmly asked, "Is it clear that he’s against us?"

Victoria nodded. "Hmm... I would say so."

"Can I ask you to distract him?"

"Of course."

Victoria closed her eyes while lifting her staff upward to control the essence she possessed, Umbra. Umbra contained both shadows and illusions within its category, making it perfectly suited for distractions.

Victoria prepared her illusion magic, though it required an absurd amount of mana considering how terrifyingly powerful Jameson had become.

"Got it... Go ahead."

Aiysha closed her eyes deeply before leaning forward into a stance only an assassin could truly pull off. Then she whispered softly...

"Unseath de, thy shall fall before my."

Zoom!

In one quick movement, as if she had become liquid silver itself, Aiysha’s sword flashed directly past Jameson’s Demon Core. And somehow... she already stood behind him.

Victoria slowly lowered the barrier. "It should be over now. We should go back to finding the two."

Aiysha continued glaring at the fragments scattered across the ground.

"It’s not over..." she whispered darkly, "These are only fragments of what we’re about to face."

...

The system voice suddenly echoed back into Cassien’s ears.

------------------------

[Transmigrate #3 Has Died]

[Earth Name: Ishido Kuroka]

[Novel Name: Jameson Sparrow]

[Role: Third Rate Villain]

[Fate #3: Fated To Team-Up With The Third-Rate Villain]

------------------------

Cassien didn’t have time to fully look at it, but upon hearing the announcement, his smile returned slightly.

The fragments suddenly launched themselves forward.

Zoom!

Cassien immediately jumped backwards as the crystal shards pierced directly through the ground where he previously stood. The fragments twitched violently before crawling back toward Adam’s corpse like insects attempting to rebuild a nest.

"...So even shattered cores can regenerate?" Cassien muttered while tightening his grip around both daggers.

That was annoying. Extremely annoying.

The pieces slowly started reconnecting beside Adam’s chest while distorted purple mana leaked outward, and flesh began twitching once more.

"Nope."

Boom!

Cassien immediately fired another mana bullet directly into the pile of fragments. The explosion blew pieces across the cavern again, but somehow... they still moved.

’How persistent is this thing?’

One fragment suddenly attached itself to Adam’s exposed ribs. Flesh immediately began reforming around it. Another piece connected itself to his spine. Then another.

Cassien clicked his tongue.

"So the core’s trying to rebuild him from scratch..."

He looked down at his pistol. Cassien needed to be smarter now while his mana reserves were steadily decreasing. He still needed enough mana stored within his daggers to continue fighting if something worse appeared.

"Tch."

Cassien holstered the weapon before stepping forward again.

"If explosions won’t destroy it... Then maybe mana disruption will."

He infused mana into both daggers once more, though this time the flow became far thinner than before. His reserves were running low. Very low.

The glowing fragments kept reconnecting faster now. Adam’s fingers twitched slightly.

"...You are seriously ruining my mood."

Cassien stabbed one fragment directly into the ground before immediately carving symbols around it with the second dagger.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Mana Threading.

One of the few skills he actually understood properly. Not because the novel explained it well... but because it worked similarly to programming logic.

Create pathways.

Interrupt pathways.

Break pathways.

The glowing fragment suddenly destabilized.

Crack! 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Oh..." Cassien’s eyes widened slightly, "So that’s how it works."

The core wasn’t regenerating through flesh. It was regenerating through mana circuits. The Demon Core itself acted like an artificial heart, but unlike a normal heart, it forcefully connected itself to mana pathways inside the body.

Meaning if the pathways collapsed... the regeneration stops.

Cassien immediately moved.

Step!

He stabbed another fragment. Then another. Then another. Each time, carving through the glowing mana circuits, attempting to reconnect themselves.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The fragments slowly began dimming while Adam’s twitching body weakened more and more. Until finally... the last remaining shard stopped glowing entirely.

Silence returned once more.

Cassien waited.

One second.

Five seconds.

Ten.

Nothing regenerated this time.

"...Now you’re dead."

He looked up brightly, and what eased his mind were the rewards as the Game-System returned.

------------------------

[Congratulations!]

------------------------

...