Catato Patch 

“Hahahaha, you were actually able to destroy my weapon in one blow, as expected of that legendary blade…” He tossed aside the broken chunk of metal and nonchalantly entered a barehanded stance. With a provocative wiggle of his fingers, he instead taunted me, all the while wearing a crazed look on his face: “Even without my weapon, you’re still no match for me. Come, I’ll make you understand the difference between me and you.”

 

I’m the one who should be teaching you the power of Shadowfang! To think you dared to take me on barehanded and even wanted me to attack first...how much of a reckless idiot can you be?!

 

Shadowfang, just from the name alone, you could tell that this blade was probably of the darkness element. When I used the straight blade as a staff, it enhanced my fire magic so did that mean that my darkness magic will be enhanced when I wield Shadowfang?

 

Well, I’ll know soon enough.

 

Focusing my will onto my shadow, I instantly activated the Shadow Guardian once more. Having experienced its attack once before, Dawson naturally noticed the shadowy tendrils snaking across the ground towards him but instead of dodging it, he arrogantly allowed it to wrap around im.

 

In a split second, the shadowy snake zipped around his body and coiled several times around him, binding him tightly. Under normal circumstances, its binding prowess was able to contain a two-star devil. As for a three-star warrior, that was clearly not possible. However what if Shadowfang’s effect was added onto it?

 

As reality soon proved, my assumption was right. While the shadow didn’t undergo any visible changes, Shadowfang had indeed boosted its power. Dawson had already tried a couple of times to break free but failed to do so.

 

Logically speaking, if Shadowfang hadn’t boosted the spell, he would’ve broken free already so clearly it had an effect on the Shadow Guardian.

 

“So this is your shadow? Interesting...HRRGH YIELD BEFORE ME!” With a thunderous yell, he stimulated the Fighter’s Aura in his body and broke through the shadowy tendrils in an instant. Without wasting a second, he broke into a furious charge and hammered his fist down on me with a running leap at the end.

 

I immediately faced the edge of Shadowfang towards the incoming blow; in a headon clash, Shadowfang should be able to cleave his fist apart.

 

Yet how could a fight with Dawson end so easily? Right at the very last second, he withdrew his fist and with a twist of his body, flashed to the side and gave me a quick but heavy jab on my shoulder.

 

With his speed, that jab was one that I couldn’t dodge at all and like a lone boat in a roiling sea, the punch sent me tumbling head over heels for quite a distance before I finally stopped

 

As a result of his heavy punch and the subsequent crash, I was severely winded for a while. My mouth opened to let forth a cry but nothing issued forth from my throat. Next to my neck, I could feel a throbbing pain in my shoulder which could barely lift up my arm now.

 

So this is the power of a three-star...even with an epic-grade weapon protecting me, I’m still no match for him.

 

“The blade is a good blade, too bad you aren’t worthy of it.”

 

Thanks to that punch, I was knocked a substantial distance away from Shadowfang. Being unable to stand up for the moment, all I could do was watch from my prone position as he strode towards Shadowfang. A wave of anxiety hit me as I desperately willed my body to move but no matter how much I tried, it wouldn’t listen to me. That punch was simply too powerful; I couldn’t even crawl over let alone stand up.

 

It’s over...he’s bending down to pick it up…

 

“This blade…”

 

Just as he was about to start trash talking again, he suddenly paused. A second ago, just as he bent down to pick up the fallen blade, just as his quivering finger was about to make contact with the blade, it suddenly moved?

 

Hmm, it really moved. It’s the Grimoire of the Dead! I don’t know when you flew out of my pocket but good job! You’re normally such a rascal but who would’ve thought that you were actually so dependable when it really counted! That’s right, keep tugging on that chain, pull it away and don’t let that bandit touch my Shadowfang!

 

Seeing a strange book suddenly deny him of his greatest desire, I bet his heart must’ve felt like bursting apart right this instant. As he stared at the fluttering book, his eyes were practically fuming out of their sockets.

 

“Don’t you dare make fun of me! I’m a warrior who is about to advance into four-stars!” His arms flailed wildly about as he furiously jumped into the air and tried to catch the grimoire. It was as if I was watching an agitated hound trying to bite at its offender.

 

Unfortunately for the bandit, the grimoire was able to easily evade his arms. As the anger overtook him, he began cursing nonsensically, “ARGH! I dare you to come down and face me. IF you have the balls to do so!”

 

Of course it doesn’t have any balls…

 

So he’s about to become a four-star...that explains his overpowering strength. But just look at you now...jumping about like a madman while ranting at a book...by the way, why does it seem like you’ve become dimmer?

 

With Shadowfang as a bait, it began leading the bandit around by his nose as it flew around in circles. Thankfully, a defeated foe like me wasn’t worth his attention so I ended up gaining time to recover my strength.

 

It was times like this that I’m thankful for being a devil. Their constitutions were truly hardy; just moments ago, I was writhing in pain and now I was already on the verge of recovering.

 

So...what should I do now? The grimoire is currently keeping him busy but it can’t stray too far from my side. Furthermore, Dawson seems a little off right now.

 

If that plan to capture the villagers and use them as hostages was his idea, then even if this man didn’t have an impressive foresight and intelligence, he was at least an ingenious schemer. So why was a man like him losing his cool over a blade? Was the appearance of this blade that much of a shock to him? Or was there some other reason for his sudden stupidity?

 

Damn...I didn’t expect this fellow to be so strong. Looks like the best plan right now is to stall for time and wait for George and the others to arrive. But exactly how many wolves were attacking them right now? What was their current status? Were they overwhelmed by the sheer number of wolves?

 

There were simply too many questions and uncertain factors yelling at me to rely on myself instead of praying that someone else would come to my rescue. Then that raises the question of what could I even do? Rather, what other trump cards did I have that could defeat Dawson?

 

My strongest trump card, Shadowfang, was already defeated so easily so what’s left for me right now? The grimoire’s ability to move had its limits after all, seeing as it relied on souls to fuel it. While it had a degree of mobility, it would start to slow down as time passed.

 

Wait, if Dawson were to successfully attain that blade...would I die? Or would I be captured? Shi*, what if someone were to do that and that to me...wait, I’m a man, why am I worrying about

such stuff...ahhh, now’s not the time for this!!!

 

“Yo, all this one did was take a slight nap and this one awakes to find you just as dishevelled as before.”

 

“Who’s there?” The sudden appearance of that frivolous voice startled the unprepared me back to reality. I wildly whipped my head around trying to find anything suspicious nearby.

 

“Haha, little brother is just as interesting as ever. Every time this one sees you, you’re always in a prone position. Must be pretty hard...expending so much effort just to cheer this one up. Just looking at you makes this one want to laugh.”

 

Found it. That mature female voice was communicating directly to my mind. Which means, even if I wanted to shut her out, I couldn’t do so.

 

“Who’s that? Who is that in my head?”

 

“Oh, little brother sure reacted fast. You actually found this one so fast although technically, this one isn’t in your head but is in your heart. Also, is it really that important who this one is?”

 

HUH?! Some stranger just popped into my head without my knowledge, of course it’s important!

 

“Oh, this one isn’t a stranger you know. This is the second time this one has come into contact with you.”

 

Second time? And I definitely didn’t say a word yet this voice was able to discern my thoughts... she mentioned “nap” and second contact...so, this fellow had been in my body all this while?

 

“Hey, this one has a name, enough with the she this, fellow that, how rude.”

 

Ahhh, you’re driving me crazy right now. You actually still have the mood to nitpick on such piddling things. Fine, fine, you have a name right? So what is it? And how did you end up in my head?

 

“Hmmm? Now isn’t exactly the time for idle chatter. Little brother seems to be in big trouble right now so how about this sister give you a helping hand?”

 

Hey hey hey, what’s with the sudden topic change and what do you mean help? How are you going to help me?

 

“This is how.”

 

As she said that, my body suddenly began heating up...this is...the beginning of an evolution?!

 

How long has it been since I evolved? I don’t even remember anymore, either way it’s a really long time. (Author: About one to two hundred thousand characters ago. That’s not too long.)

 

The most primitive devil was born as a zero-star small imp after which they evolved into a large imp and grew bigger. Once they evolved into a head imp, their foreheads would sprout a devil horn. When they evolved into three-star, they would grow a corresponding devil tail. The me right now belonged to the tail-growing stage.

 

My body grew taller while my ears started narrowing into a point similar to an elf’s ear. While all that was happening, I felt a tingly feeling in my tailbone as if it was growing...rather, it was actually growing!

 

As I noticed that growing sensation, a thin tail rapidly sprouted from my stub of a tailbone. It was a traditional tail alright, long and slender like the other demon childs but unlike theirs which was shaped like a triangle at the end, mine had an inverted heart at the end. The very traditional kind. The type you used to represent love.

 

Just as I thought the evolution was over, my body underwent another change. Right after my tail grew out, a scale-like tattoo began appearing all over my body, from the fingertips of my left hand all the way up to the shoulder, neck and even my face, stopping just below my left eye. What’s even stranger was that even though I wasn’t looking at a mirror right now, I could clearly feel and even “see” the changes happening to my entire body.

 

Even though my face was now filled with a bunch of strange tattoos, they weren’t ugly in the least bit but rather had a sort of unknown charm to them. It was as if one would become intoxicated by it after staring at it for while.

 

This...exactly what’s going on? Just as that question fleeted across my mind, the female voice in my head chimed in with an answer.

 

“Oh my, the original sin of Envy chose such a moment to surface. This one has really sinned haha, to think that this one has been suppressing your original sin’s blessing all this while.”

 

Your mouth might be apologizing but you don’t seem the least be remorseful about it at all. In fact, why does it seem like you are pretty happy about this. I say, do you even intend to apologize at all?

 

“This one has already apologized, what else does little brother want? Sex? Well, this one doesn’t mind but this one doesn’t have a body right now. Plus, this one already has a person she loves so sex is out of the question.”

 

What the heck...what’s going on here! This brother is still a virgin and he doesn’t plan on giving it up for anyone other than Nicole!