Sword God in a World of Magic

When Kiva heard these words, his body became filled with terror.

He hadn't known who Shang was earlier, but now, he knew who stood in front of him.

Kiva's insides shook, but he did his best to hide it.

"Then you should know how stupid it would be to kill me," Kiva said with a calm voice.

Shang only smirked and looked into his eyes. "Why?"

"You know who I am, and you know how much my life is worth," Kiva said. "Killing me would bring you nothing but momentary satisfaction while keeping me as a hostage gives you monetary satisfaction. One is worth more than the other."

"You should know how expensive it is to become more powerful. Don't throw millions of gold out of the window just because you feel like it," Kiva said.

Shang nodded along.

Yep, Kiva Orvis was probably worth over 50 million gold.

"You know, you would have a point in other circumstances," Shang said.

Kiva's insides tightened.

"However, you tried to kill me back then, Duke Mithril has put a bounty of 20 million golds on my head after that, and you are actively killing the warriors," Shang said.

"Why would you care about the people I've killed?" Kiva asked with narrowed eyes. "You've probably killed just as many people as me. I refuse to believe that all the people you've killed are deserving of their death."

A couple of instances of Shang killing someone innocent shot through his mind.

"You're right," Shang said. "I wouldn't care as much about the warriors under normal circumstances. Sure, I feel some kinship with them, but not enough to risk my life for them."

"However, this is not a normal circumstance."

"Let me just say that someone I don't want to anger is invested in the warriors' survival."

Shang's smirk widened.

"Also, Duke Mithril, as well as his people, are my enemy, and I don't like to keep my enemies alive just for some money."

"Additionally, you've seen my face, and I want to keep my return a secret for now."

Kiva wanted to negotiate some more, but he quickly felt himself being pulled away as Shang ran off with him. Of course, Shang pocketed the corpses and their belongings.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" Kiva shouted in Shang's grasp.

"You know, I don't like lying," Shang said with a neutral voice. "I need to send Duke Mithril a message, and the message needs to be authentic."

Kiva wasn't sure what Shang meant, but his fear increased more and more as time passed.

Shang charged into the swamp with Kiva Orvis and quickly searched for a good place.

And just a minute later, Shang found a suitable place.

Between a couple of half-dead trees, Shang saw a gigantic millipede oozing poison. A terrifying poison swamp had already formed around it, which released a sizzling noise.

The millipede looked over and saw Shang.

right eye and looked at

dove into the swamp

Commander Stage Swamp Millipede, and

right

not to drink everything at once, alright?" Shang

that moment, Kiva Orvis' world broke down, and his being was consumed

"No, please-"

SPLASH!

him into the

SSSSSSSS!

immediately began to

felt a burning sensation on his hand,

around below the surface as Shang's hand kept his

had turned silent, except for the sounds of violent splashing coming from

hands and feet broke the surface, but they looked worse and

right hand fell off as he tried his best to

seconds, Shang kept

Until he stopped moving.

used his Darkness Mana to see if there was any life energy left

There wasn't.

He was dead.

Splash!

out and looked at

his legs were

at the

had burned off, and even a huge part of

face basically didn't exist

and nose were gone, just like his

Kiva Orvis' corpse, Shang's hand had

he was surprised by what he

Nothing.

He felt nothing.

He didn't feel regret.

He didn't feel satisfaction.

He just felt nothing.

like this

like this was

to these kinds of things,' Shang thought as he looked

I should get onto delivering the message

his inner world and ran towards the north. This time, he didn't need to run slowly to lure out his

he retrieved a

the same mask he had worn when

he put

the Mages and Kiva Orvis,

and

was

it far easier

if one didn't know what one was fighting against, one

minutes later, Shang arrived at the border between the Empress Cobra

It was currently night.

the surroundings and made