《Rebirth of Chaos by Lazyanona》 Prologue: End of death Prologue: End of death: Part 1: After years of struggling I finally met my end. My life was cursed by constant battles, but I saw it as a blessing. I was a psychopathic battle maniac after all. I fought viciously for twelve years but now I meet my end. At first I was all alone, a monster possessed by its past. Then I finally met comrades. Then I met her. A light for my darkness. Carrying the burden of my past I fought for the future because of her. She brought me salvation. For her sake I became a true monster. Yet my fight still didn''t end. My war continued... Thousands was a mere understatement. Hundreds of thousands fell by my hands. As the years passed I met the second one, another woman who gave me happiness. She was another light that saved my life. Standing by both of their sides our fight slowly approached its end. We attacked the enemy''s last fortress, fighting our way to the last boss. It was a final battle beyond anything anyone has ever seen before. Our battle ripped apart time, space, physics and even the very fabric of the universe. After fighting for several days I finally got the advantage. I finally won. Or at least that was what was supposed to happen. Like Icarus who aimed for the sky, I spiraled into the ground. It happened while I was ripping apart his soul. For in an instant, a millisecond I let my guard down. That was all it took. My body was hit by powerful beams that gouged out my flesh. These were not weapons meant to be used against foot soldiers, they were anti fortress rounds. My entire left flank was gouged out. I feel to my knee screaming in pain. I quickly deflected the second attack with my sword. My free arm was pierced by a sword before I could get up. He was supposed to be dead. My enemy''s soulless body cut off my left hand. I failed in killing him. My bestial roar blows the soulless body back. I couldn''t dodge the third shot. It took my right arm. All I did was roar in anger, like a wild beast. Grabbing the sword with my mouth I slashed at my enemy. I could only inflict a minor wound before collapsing again. I lost all my strength. I could barely keep my eyes open long enough to see the enemy being evacuated. I somehow managed to activate the communicator. Coughing up blood I gave one final message. ¡°I''m sorry¡­ I won''t be able to keep my promise¡­please survive.¡± Soon after I lost the strength to talk. There was no way I was going down alone. So I triggered it. A calamity, a force of nature. An event that would finds it place in history. From my corpse black mist began to spread. It formed a small sphere above me and exploded. The mist ate anything it touched be organic or inorganic. It increased at an explosive rate and slowly grew more and faster. In just a few minutes it had reached the speed of an Olympic runner. It brought nothingness everywhere. Everything was reduced to nothingness. It was impossible to defend against or escape from. This incident was named the chaos calamity. It was reported that over five hundred thousand people died that day. A tragedy that swallowed an entire star. That was my last strike against the world. Part 2: Strangely enough I opened my eyes. I was in a strange world that had virtually nothing in it. It was just a mass whiteness that stretched endlessly into the horizon. Or so I thought. Was it me or my assumptions have gotten really bad lately. I can''t believe I missed some bring that big. A mountain sized black dragon glared at me with hostility. For some reason I couldn''t help but glare at it back. It let out its dragon roar which nearly brought me to my knees. I countered with my savage beast like roar. Something inside me broke. I couldn''t think about this logically anymore. Drawing my sword I laughed manically. I wanted to fight it! My desire to fight overrides all other thoughts. I charged at it like a maniac. The dragon roars at me in anger again but I''m already u affected by it. Its anger seemed to rise even more. Something like ¡°how dare a mere mortal defy me!¡± It fired it breath at me. Evasion and blocking we''re both impossible. So I''ll use brute force! I swung my sword as hard as I could, cutting the breath attack in half. This made the dragon even angrier. All around it countless magic circles formed. It fired a barrage of shadow magic at me. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: absolution field.¡± In the face of this my sword vanished. Anything that got in a five meter radius of me was cut apart. Omni-direction defensive assault skill: absolution field. Simply put anything within five meters of me is indiscriminately ripped apart. When I finally get close to it, it started to fly away. Something this large could fly and use an infinite amount if magic?! That not fair!! I want to do that to! I wanted scream my desires out loud. I tried leaping on to its back before it could fly away. It was half a step faster than me but I managed to cut its leg on the way down. No choice then. ¡°[Takemikazuchi] form 1.¡± Six golden sword like wings appeared on my back. Named after the Japanese god of thunder and war. It had three forms. I walked up the area it was flying in. These wings were not for flying. They allowed me to walk on air, among other things. Round two took place in the endless vacant skies. Our epic battle raged on. I had no clues how many days have passed so far. I was locked in deadly combat with dragon for days. Day after day we would rip each other apart. No time was spent resting. Hacking and slashing without end I finally managed to mortally wound it. Cutting through the ultra hard scales was the toughest part, but once they were gone I got the advantage. As the battle continued I cut off one of its wings, making it crash to ground. Seizing the opportunity I hit it with all my strongest attacks. Technique after technique I finally brought it down. Nearly using all of my sword skills, our battle finally ended with cutting it head off, after piercing the heart several times. Its resilience was truly astounding but I managed to bring it down. I was extremely exhausted, almost losing consciousness several times. My wounds were at fatal levels, but if I slept now I would certainly die. Because when looked up again there was a mountain sized red dragon glaring at me. The black dragon''s corpse disappeared at some time ago. Fading into dust it was swept away by an uncanny wind. My inner flame was lit again, but this time more savage. I wanted to fight more, I wanted to battle more, and I wanted to kill more. My roar was identical to the black dragons. Black scales spread all over my body. Two large black wings grew from my back. My arms and legs dragonified. Strangely I was not surprised by the changes. To me it felt mysteriously natural. Seeing my change the red dragon fired it breath at me. It entered battle mode in an instant. To its surprise and even my own, I fired a breath attack of my own. The clashing breaths made an explosion that was on the level of WMD. We were on equal grounds in our breath attacks. My wounds were healing but it was not at a level where I could fight normally. So I upped the ante. ¡°[Takemikazuchi] form 2.¡± The six swords like wings shrank and attached themselves to my legs. Losing the ability to walk on air I quadrupled my speed. The red dragon launched it scales at me in response. They fell like rain drops. The scales transformed into all kinds of chimeras and phantom beasts. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: secret technique: True dragon rampage!¡± True dragon rampage was a skill that pushed the body beyond its limits. Senses, brain processing speed, limiters, physical ability, everything. If I had to estimate I would say I was ten times stronger than before. The only downside would that I would be incapacitated for a month and I could no longer distinguish friend from foe. ¡°Lightning step.¡± A movement technique that moves as fast as lightning. Using a step technique with speed fourteen times higher than normal instantly closed the distance between me and the red dragon. I lashed out like a rampaging mad god. Slashing like crazy I scattered the body part of phantom beast into the air as damaged the dragon. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: burst x100!¡± Burst was a technique that slowly built up power if the stance was maintained. When unleashed a large number of stabs instantly hit the foe. A charge move that could launch infinite attacks from any position with any variety. As our battle continued I was severely burned several times, even lit on fire sometimes. I endured the attacks, waiting for a slight opening. When it fired its second dragon''s breath I got my chance. Seizing my last opportunity I jumped high up in the air. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: burst x1, 000,000!¡± Burst had another interesting use. Instead striking multiple times you can multiply the power and speed of each strike. Right now each of my attacks was equivalent to a hundred normal ones. I swiftly moved [Takemikazuchi] to my arms. Increasing speed and penetration power of each blow. Thanks to my boost in speed, each blow gouged out the dragon''s flesh, it scales could no longer defend against my sword. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Cutting of its wings I made it crash to the ground like the previous dragon. Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Burst x 100, 000,000! The point of impact exploded, splitting the dragon in half from the large hole. The pressure from this single strike ripped apart the other parts of the dragon. Without even giving out one final roar it died. All of the phantom beasts faded I to dust along with the death of their creator. ¡°Finally!¡± I yelled happily. And the second dragon faded into dust scattered once again by the wind. Part 3: My consciousness was constantly slipping. The backlash of true dragon rampage was taking effect, but the effects were weakened because of the changes in my body. Intense pain wracked my body. All my senses were disoriented. My skin was turning really pale. Yet I could still hold on. Slowly I began to recover. Looking up into the sky I saw them. Four winged humanoid figures descended to the ground. I recognized them at a glance. Archangels and archdevils. I didn''t know if I was dead or alive anymore. I just wanted to fight. To fight again and taste victory. Even if it was a mere dream I would fight. Again the primal flame of anger was lit. Another chafe over came my body. New scales began covering my body. They were abyss black with the edge blood red in color. It was a mix of the scales from the dragons. ¡°[We are the origin dragons of end and beginning.] [We are the ever burning flame and the never ending darkness.] [And we shall swallow all creation!]¡± Two voice I never heard before spoke in my head. Following that was roar equivalent to two dragon roars. I felt my strength returning slightly. I couldn''t fight at this rate¡­ So I used my finally technique. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: ultimate technique: wrath of the chaotic overlord.¡± My ultimate was like true dragon rampage but gave an x100 increase instead of x10, Along with that I got an even bigger increase in speed and power, ultra high speed regeneration, Burst set a minimum of 1000, and finally I became able to defy several laws of physics. Basically I temporarily gave myself divinity or power on par with it. For the next ten minutes I was a demi-god. In exchange once the battle was over I may never open my eyes again. If possible I would reawaken in a couple of years if I was lucky. I roared savagely declaring the start of the battle. I began to lose control. Instinct overturned reasoning. As I fought I blacked out several times. During those moments some force controlled my body. Mid battle the scales formed a humanoid dragon like exoskeleton around me, like armor. After a long four on one confrontation I got a chance. ¡°[Takemikazuchi] form 3!¡± I acted the last form of [Takemikazuchi]. The six golden swords moved away from my feet and floated above my head. Form 1 gave the ability of flight. Form 2 gave a chest like increase in speed. Form 3 on the other hand was all about destructive power. They were like infinite high powered homing missiles fired endlessly. Each sword stuck with the speed and power of lightning. I smashed all over the defenses apart at the same time. As they were ravaged by the onslaught of golden speeds I made my move. I tore the first archangel in half with my flaming claws. The flames burned the body as it crashed to the ground. The second archangel was first impaled by my sword then incinerated with my dragon''s breath. Seizing that chance both archdevils attack me from behind. It was a perfect sneak attack but their weapons only hit my afterimage. [Takemikazuchi] immediately suppressed them. Using my tail to restrain one I crushed his insides and tore his neck apart with my teeth. I dismembered the last archdevil and sent him flying to the ground. When he crashed tendrils of darkness devoured him. Finally I was done.... Truly drained of everything I had I lost consciousness. From ashes to ashes, dust to dust. I was finally alone in this empty world. Part 4: Watching over Shin were two people. The first was a gorgeous grey haired woman, the second a human shaped mass of darkness. ¡°See! He surpassed our expectations like always.¡± The human shaped darkness said cheerfully. ¡°But¡­¡± The woman on the others and was filled with worry. ¡°Don''t worry. I guarantee master was happy to have fought like this. Too bad he''ll probably forget everything that happened here. ¡°But¡­¡± She just couldn''t accept it, seeing her master suffer like that. ¡°Come on! Master was overjoyed, didn''t you see the smile on his face?¡± ¡°I just hope master will be alright.¡± She said with a slight smile. The mass of darkness appeared beside Shin. He pointed his fingers at Shin and muttered something. Under Shin a massive magical circle began to form. It grew and grew until the outer edge disappeared from sight. The woman placed Shin''s head in lap. She pleasantly smiled as she began a prayer. ¡°Come forth our master! Our lord and creator! Our master Kurogane Shin!¡± She said loudly. At first nothing happened. Then a slight crack formed. Following that cracks spread out everywhere from the ground to the air. Spilling out front the cracks was darkness. Darkness which swallowed all it touched. Just like the calamity. The woman gave Shin a light kiss on the cheek before vanishing. Only these words were left behind. ¡°Please be safe ????-san.¡± The darkness sank into Shin''s body. It was the same darkness that made up the other person''s body. Shin''s body was hugged a pale warm light and vanished. Shin had died already. He met his end and was now coming back. Kurogane Shin had come back to life. Part 5: ¡°Huh?¡± I woke up feeling really confused. The very fact I was able to wake up confused me. I all could see was shoddy looking stone roof. The craftsmanship was terrible. ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± I asked myself. This was neither heaven nor hell, not even purgatory. I looked around but spotted no reapers. Then I was alive again. How is that possible? I even had a super realistic dream before. Strange¡­I can''t seem to remember that dream properly. Oh well, I''ll probably remember eventually. Getting up I looked around only to find an empty room. The thing I was sitting on was an altar. Upon further inspection I found a pile of documents neatly placed by the exit. On top of the documents was a letter. I immediately became suspicious. I poked the letter with my foot see if it was a trap. I was prepared to quickly dodge if anything happened but nothing happened. I grabbed the letter and began reading. 500 years ago¡­ A great war erupted in this world. The armies of heaven and hell clashed on the earth for ownership of the world. Disregarding the inhabitants if the earth they fought on. Caught in the crossfire humanity suffered catastrophic causalities. With the sacrifice of countless treasures humanity gained an ally. Calling on the help of the dragons they entered the war as the third force. Despite being low in number the dragons annihilated armies upon armies of angels and devils. The fighting grew more brutal from then on. Many human kings died but in turn Lucifer and Metatron were nearly assassinated. Dragon kings battles archangels and archdevils, changing the landscape of the world. As the war continued many other races began joining in. A fourth side was created. The fourth force stayed on the defensive but vastly outnumbered the other three. Demi-humans, demons, spirits, mythical beasts all made up this force. And then at the final battle all sentient races of the world gathered together in battle. The number of dead was beyond the millions. At this rate all sentient life firms would be wiped out. Since no one would admit defeat they joined in. It was divine intervention. As mediators the gods of every faith negotiated the end of hostilities. It was only a century ago that a peace treaty was signed. Now the world has entered an era of peace. On the second page was a world map that had my location marked at the southernmost tip of the continent. The major kingdoms around here belonged to the elves. According to the information on the next page the kingdoms most nearest to me are ruled by exiled elf nobles, who harbor disgust towards short eared races. Unable to advance with the times they were exiled. As I sat down to think I felt something deep down. Yearning. I was yearning for something. ¡°Interesting.¡± I muttered as I exited the room. Passing through the hallway I found an exit. ¡°Yay!¡± Like a child who found a new game I rushed outside. By the entrance was a neat pile of corpses. All of them had similar wounds. The person who killed was really skilled with sword. Majority of the bodies were old human men and were neatly put out of my path. Not my problem~ Ignoring the corpses I headed out into the world. Whoever killed them catched my interest but I had different concerns for now. I wanted to see what will become of me now. After all¡­ I, Kurogane Shin, am now experiencing resurrection/rebirth. Chapter 1: Guild Formtion Chapter 1: Guild Formation: Part 1: After running out like an idiot I got lost. I couldn''t find the place I was in earlier at all. My current condition was not great either. Poor and jobless. No food, no money, no weapon. This probably only the second time in life that I was in this state. If I wanted live properly I would money and connections. The best way to do both would to get famous by spreading my name everywhere. And so I continued my wandering. Eventually I happened upon a small city. I quietly slipped in when the guard was not looking. The city had a desolate atmosphere with most of the people looking down. The only lively place was the bar, which was my destination. When I entered the bar went silent. All the big ruffian looking man stared at me. Ignoring them I headed to the barkeep. ¡°I would like the¡ª¡± ¡°What do you think you''re doing in my bar, brat?¡± My order was interrupted by a pig of man. On his back was a large axe. Now that I look more closely these guys resemble bandits. Crude looking, shitty weapons and petty breams. What caught my interest the most were the girls kept in the corner of the room. I see now¡­slavery. The girl who caught my eye the most was barely 15 years old. With her brown hair tied in a ponytail she was hiding her face. She was one of the few who didn''t give up hope. What she didn''t notice was the view of the rest of her body. Her model like body and her big breasts were not the main selling point. It was her luscious long legs. Before her were women dressed in tatters with dead eyes. ¡°Are you listening, brat!¡± I was so focused on the girls I forget about the pig snorting at me. ¡°Do you know who I am? Listen closely I am¡ª¡± ¡°Pig bastard with a low bounty, right?¡± My words hit home. ¡°Who, who are you calling a pig!¡± The pig roared in anger, his fat jiggled as he drew his axe. ¡°Can I have some beer now?¡± I asked the bartender while ignoring the raging pig. Getting up off the chair I walked towards the girls. A moment later the chair was crushed to pieces by the pig. Without even looking back I continued walking. I was still ignoring him. I grabbed the brown haired girl and forcefully made her stand. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± I stared at her face for a while. ¡°W-what do you want¡­¡± She asked fearfully. ¡°Name.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Name.¡± ¡°¡­Mira.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± I began staring again. Behind the big bastard raised his axe up high. ¡°I''m interested in you Mira.¡± I quickly turned around and delivered a roundhouse kick to the pig''s arm. A cracking could be heard as his arm twisted the wrong way. They were only at this level. Lightning step. In an instant I incapacitated all the bandits. I motioned for Mira to come with me; she followed behind with a stunned expression. ¡°Allow me to introduce myself, I am Kurogane Shin.¡± ¡°¡­Mira Stromlak.¡± ¡°Can I ask you some questions?¡± She nodded hesitantly, she was really wary of me. ¡°Where can I sell these guys? I really need some money right now.¡± She just looked at me in blank amazement. Luckily I didn''t have to wait for her answer. A plump old man entered the bar. ¡°Are you the one who eradicated this menace?¡± ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°I thank you on behalf of this city.¡± The old man was the mayor. He couldn''t get rid of these bandits because they had bribed his guards. Naturally he gave me the bounty money¡­ but I wasn''t satisfied with this much. I gave him the leader but took the others. With Mira''s help I sold the rest as lifelong slaves. I sold their equipment to the blacksmith who was going to melt them for ingots. With that I acquired 5000 gold! My money problem for near future was solved! ¡°Why did you rescue us?¡± I almost forget about them. ¡°Cause I felt like it.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Mira was still very suspicious of me. ¡°Also because I''m interested in you.¡± Mira face went red as she looked away. ¡°What do you intended to do with us?¡± That was her real question. She was worried about herself and the others. ¡°Nothing. All of you are free to go¡± ¡°Eh?¡± ¡°Didn''t you hear me? I don''t care about the others, I''m only interested in you.¡± I gave the girls 500 gold for their trip and saw them off. Only Mira stayed behind with me. ¡°Where are you going after you leaving this place?¡± Mira''s attitude became friendlier when she saw the girls leave unharmed. Where should I do from here? I thought about it as I drank my free beer, which tasted way better than normal beer. ¡°Aimless wandering for now, why do you want to come as well?¡± Faintly blushing Mira declared. ¡°Please bring me along, onii-san!¡± ¡°Get ready to leave in the next hour and meet me at the north gate.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± With an hour to kill I wandered around the city and entered a certain shack out of curiosity. Swim to the depths insanity to find the abyss. When you look into the abyss it looks back. Is that how you found your answer? Or did you reach the peak of solitude to find the light? Drenched in the blood of thousands, you continue to kill. Walking the path of demon is your destiny. Only at the peak of your path will you be liberated, huh? This was the prophecy given to me by some fortuneteller in some back alley. She was confused in the end because everything disappeared. My fate vanished and the memories related began to fade. Like always my curse was strong. A curse that made me invisible to fate. Anyone who tries to discern always suffered memory loss. The only exception was of I told them myself, but my fate was forever changing so it was useless. I could only let out a tired sigh as I thought of these things. Worrying about it was useless so might as well continue with my original objective. I headed to the city gates where Mira was waiting for me. ¡°Ah! Onii-san you''re finally here!¡± Ever since yesterday she has been calling me like that. When I asked, she said it was because I was her savior and she read somewhere that boys were happy to be called that. Basically she was the imouto character. Thanks to her I was able to figure out more about the world. What interested me the most was the guild system. It was introduced after war for three main purposes. 1. To create an impartial group to solve post war issues and problems. 2. To deal with ever growing monster problem plaguing the world. 3. Explore the dungeons emerging all around the world. Management was left what is now known as [Guild HQ]. Everyone needed to register with [Guild HQ] before they form a guild. Only simple test needed to be completed to get the adventurer title. Once you were an official adventurer you could form or join a guild. Using this system several guilds were created. To form a guild you just needed a minimum of five people. Facilities and privileges were provided to guilds that raised their rank or fame. To rank up you needed to complete quests given by [Guild HQ], clear dungeons, defeat strong monsters, or defeat a higher ranking guild. Along with the guild system a method to measure and classify your strength was created. This was known as the class system. Warrior, magician, healer, fighter, assassin, summoner, and archer were the seven basic classes. Within each class is a rank system. Starting from beginner, intermediate, advanced, apostle, saint, ruler, god. The rank system applied to your skills and abilities. Your rank was the overall level in your class. Like beginner stealth, sword master, shield saint, ruler class fire mage, healing apostle, intermediate spirit summoner, god level fist, etc, etc. Based on what you train/specialize in you may be given a special class. This is rare since most people have their hands full raising one class skill. Of course having an entire guild move on every single task was inefficient, so the party system was created. The party system had a freedom that the guild system did not. In guilds you can only team up with fellow members, or allied guilds. The exception beings alliances. Alliances were an unbreakable union of several guilds, defying the alliance once a member had severe penalties including death. Parties on the other hand freed you from all restrictions. It created smaller manageable groups to adventure with and promoted diversity and competition. Right now Mira and I are headed to the free city of Someren. A branch office of [Guild HQ] isolated there, we intended to create our own guild. Creating our own guild better suited my purposes then joining an existing one. I only needed to gather more people when we get there. We need two more people to become official. Part 2: After a month of wandering we reached the city. ¡°Mira-chan do you want to go to inn first or head to the guild?¡± ¡°Onii-san let''s head to the guild, I want get this out of the way and talk with onii-san.¡± As we walked to the guild building I heard something interesting from the people walking by. The guild is apparently setting up a quest for all new adventurers. The prize was unbelievably a magic guidance book. An enchanted book that allows the user to create a unique magic that reflects their true selves. When we walked into the guiding building someone immediately caught my eye. An elf. No¡­¡­a spirit elf? I had no clue why I knew this but I was too captivated with her to care. Long light blue hair, creamy white skin, a voluptuous body filled seductive curves, sexy legs, goddess like beauty and added to that were her massive voluminous breast. When I looked at her a strange feeling struck me. Yearning¡­ Was she what I was looking for when I woke up? She noticed my gaze. A strange light dwelled in her eyes when she met my gaze. Her cheeks were tinged red as she averted her eyes. The innocent type, how cute. ¡°Mira-chan finishes up the registration process and do what I instructed earlier. I you do I''ll reward you. I''ll be back slightly later than expected.¡± ¡°Yay~ Onii-san I''ll do my best!¡± She said enthusiastically. ¡°Good girl.¡± She was so adorable I began petting her head. ¡°Ehehe~¡± Mira separated from me with a satisfied smile. Now to get down to business. I silently slipped into crowd and blended in with them. Hiding in plain sight. A throbbing pain ran through my right eye. It''s been a while since used this. My left turned black with blood red irises. Contrary to golden right eye, this was like the eye of a demon. Divine right, demon left was how it looked to an outsider. I quickly took a quick look around before changing the color back to normal. Well normal wouldn''t be the right term. The demon eye was the original form of my eye, the golden appearance was a cover up. My left eye transformed into this due to the corruption of an aftereffect from an experiment. I named my demon eye the [fate eater]. Its ability was borderline taboo. A very simple, almost deceptive examination would that it allows me to accurately judge someone''s strength and combat experience. Of course many people didn''t believe me when I told them. Only five people (excluding myself) knew its true power. With this all my doubts were cleared. I will talk with that elf. When I slipped out of the crowd I saw here sitting with what appeared to be her party. They conversing something at one do the tables. Not to bother her I took a seat at a nearby table, within earshot distance. ¡°You can really see the diversity if you look around.¡± In this building were numerous races that were at war a century ago. Peace was really amazing. ¡°Naive fools¡­¡± I said loud enough for the surrounding people to hear me. I couldn''t restrain my true thoughts from surfacing. My bloodlust was at the point of nearly being exposed. ¡°That''s a rather demonic smile you have young man.¡± Eh? I''m smiling right now? ¡°It''s nice to meet you young man, this old man is known Horito.¡± I heard that name from Mira. ¡°Cursed blood Horito, an apostle level monk. I''ve heard of you before.¡± ¡°Why don''t you speak your true thoughts young man?¡± ¡°As expected from experience of the elderly.¡± The light in my eyes vanished. It was replaced by pure unbridled savagery. ¡°Horito-san have a death match with me? I really want to rip you to pieces as I kill you. Come on, face like a warrior and die like one.¡± My words echoed through the silenced guild hall. ¡°Fine I, cursed blood Horito accept your challenge.¡± He was surprisingly eager. I followed Horito-san to the arena behind the building. I didn''t notice the elf and her party following along, brimming with curiosity. Part 2: We planned to begin the moment we arrived at the arena but were forced to wait for the tribunals to fill up. This arena only lacked an announcer. ¡°Young man may I know your name and rank?¡± ¡°What would do with that info when you''re leaving this world soon?¡± ¡°This old man would like to know the one I will face in mortal combat at least.¡± No reason to keep it hidden. ¡°Kurogane Shin, unranked.¡± ¡°So then Kurogane are you monk like this old man?¡± ¡°No. Though I have not registered yet I can assure I am not a monk, but I have trained in hand to hand techniques.¡± I''m not sure how I would go in the current class system, but I was certain that none of the basics classes were for me. ¡°You did seem trained in martial arts. Will you tell this old man what school you trained under? Cause this old man will conquer it if he lives.¡± I could only burst out into laughter when I heard his question. ¡°I belong to Kurogane shomatsu-ryu school.¡± ¡°Never heard of it. Can you tell me more about it?¡± ¡°Established eight years ago.¡± ¡°So it''s relatively new.¡± ¡°Founder is the only member.¡± This time his eyes opened wide I surprise. ¡°You created your own style? Damn that is something this old man was unable to do.¡± Horito smiled wryly as he got into position. ¡°I''ll show you the true terror of the Kurogane shomatsu-ryu soon.¡± Smiling demonically I also got I''m position. My reason for fight Horito was simple. My urge to fight and kill was overflowing. So I picked a strong opponent and challenged him. Horito probably accepted because he wanted to test my true skill. His title of cursed blood originates from his fighting style. His attacks cause massive bleeding often covering him in his opponent''s blood. This in turn resulted in his ki absorbing it. Now whenever he attacks his fist is covered in an aura that looks like dried blood. His cursed blood aura gets stronger with defeating/killing stronger foes. At the very least he recognized my strength, but if he intended to look down on me like that, he won''t last long. Time to see how far a monk apostle goes. ¡°Begin!¡± Horito tried to instantly close the distance but quickly jumped back instead. A thick wall of killing intent kept him at bay. An immense pressure weighed down on him. ¡°Lightning step.¡± His eyes managed to keep up with movement but his body couldn''t. My fist slammed right into his face and sent him flying. Gathering aura at his feet he kicked off the air and flew at me. The aura around his fists was burning like flames. I will neither dodge nor block. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Void rending fist.¡± My fist collides with his. The aura surrounding his fists disappeared the moment it touched my fist. He read my intention in not attacking when he was vulnerable. I wanted a contest of strength and skill. That he should come at me seriously without looking down on me. And then we clashed once more. Launching numerous kicks, punches, palms and feints. Then dodging, blocking, and parrying each attack. Slowly but surely Horito was increasing his speed. Each of his attacks was becoming faster and sharper. It was slowly overwhelming me. Ducking under his kick I activated lightning step. At the speed of lightning my leg crashed into his side. ¡°Hah!¡± With a shout his aura creates a shockwave and pushes me back. ¡°Seriously!¡± Horito just stood there with a strange look on his face. ¡°Young man I can sense that you are holding back.¡± Just what I expected from a veteran fighter, he could sense that. ¡°This old man is curious how times stronger are you at full power?¡± ¡°There is no need for you to now since you''ll die but I''ll tell for the heck of it.¡± I had no reason to hide it, plus it could motivate Horito to get more serious. ¡°If I had to take a guess it would be around¡­¡­10,000x stronger then I am now.¡± It would probably be lower if I was using my true strength right now. ¡°10,000 are you serious! And you said right now, meaning you haven''t gone all out yet.¡± If Horito''s calculations were correct I would be around god-level in any class in terms of power alone. ¡°It may sound amazing but you can''t ignore the fact that it puts you on the boundary of death and life for several years, plus a coma.¡± ¡°Stronger power always comes with consequences. Especially that kind of power up.¡± His gaze changed. From this point on Horito will show what an apostle level monk could really do. ¡°I have no choice.¡± At this rate I would be overwhelmed before I could enjoy the fight more. So I activated [fate eater]. My left turned black and red. ¡°Could you not like at me like that. A weak human like me can''t face you without relying on this.¡± All sort of information flowed into my eye. Based on his muscle contractions, heartbeat, emotions and thought process he was going for a ranged attack. His fists launch a ball of aura at me. Fist aura far strike, intermediate level technique. Compressed shot of aura fired at target. Just as I was about to deflect it Horito roared. Lions roar, advanced level technique. Disrupts enemy''s senses, paralyzing them for a few seconds. Variant form of beast races voice magic. ¡°[Takemikazuchi form 2]¡± My speed increased 14 times the norm. The paralizes is ibstantly blown away. Easily dodging the attack I charge in. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Azure Hell.¡± Horito couldn''t keep with my increased speed. His right arm was sent flying through the air. Blood sprayed from everywhere on his body. Azure hell was one of the few one on one techniques in the Kurogane shomatsu-ryu. I currently used a weaker version that had a heavily weakened effect. This is why he only lost an arm and was cut up badly. Horito was swiftly enveloped in a pale cloak like shroud. Touki: apostle level technique. Wearing fighting spirit on one''s body. Increase in defense, healing, stamina and strength. With my smile twisting more savagely I charged again. In his perception it must seem like I was teleporting. ¡°Hah!¡± He created another shockwave with his voice to push me back. Too bad I already saw through that. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: howling pain.¡± To counter a shockwave use a stronger one. A deafening screech came out of my mouth. Everyone immediately covered their ears. Now! Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Azure Hell. My hands transformed into the claws of a hell beast. ¡°Lighting step.¡± Combining lighting step and [Takemikazuchi form 2] gave me god like speed. My claws were covered in an azure flames, these flames were the part if the proper azure hell. Their purpose was to nullify is touki''s defences. In less than a second my claws ripped through Horito''s touki and impaled him. As I retracted my hand I ripped a hole open in his chest. And when a second passed my transformation was already reverted. A tossed Horito who on the brink of death to the floor. Blood was gushing out of his wound. By now everyone was already focused on us. ¡°You¡­monster¡­¡± Coughing up blood he sounded rather happy. The reason he accepted my challenge was because he was too old. Death was probably approaching him. So he made the decision to die fighting, preferably against someone stronger than him. ¡°Monster? Don''t make me laugh. I had to go through so much trouble to fight an old man whose skill had degraded due to age.¡± I spoke harshly because I was annoyed and irritated. Strength wise Horito was only around advanced level. If he was in his prime it would''ve lasted longer. Of course I wasn''t going all out but to have to go that far against a weakened opponent didn''t make me happy. I guess u ah e to train from scratch again. I wasn''t entirely accustomed to my new body either. ¡°Goodbye.¡± I said raising my leg up high. This going to be the final blow, to put him out of his misery. ¡°Thank¡­you.¡± Horito weakly said before my foot crushed his skull. Ignoring the gazes around me I wordlessly punted my finger at the body and it combusted. The ashes were absorbed into the earth. A solemn atmosphere fell over the coliseum. It was a rare moment of silence. A few people were even crying. It was an end fitting a person who filled the marital path. Cursed blood Horito had now entered eternal rest. ¡°That was fun!¡± I broke the silence happily as I wiped the blood off of my face. A pure incident smile spread across my face, not the like of someone who just killed. Ignoring the gazes again I headed to the betting counter of the coliseum. I made a total of 30,000 gold! Betting all my money on myself was worth it. The looks from the people from the audience were getting worse. I happily took my money and left. I still needed to register after all. My other objective also remains after all. As I walked back to the guild building I was given strange looks. I wiped the blood of my face but not my clothes. The news of my match with Horito already spread like wild fire. Of course there was a lot of negative stuff about me included, mostly because of my demon eye. Meg, I don''t care about people''s opinions anyway. ¡°Hi, I''m here to register.¡± I got the form from the beautiful receptionist and filled it out. Then I was given a strange crystal. There was something called status magic inscribed into it. It was the tool used to keep track of the class system. I heard about but didn''t know it was this crystal. Well let''s see my status so far. ¡°Status.¡± Name: Kurogane Shin Age: 18 Gender: Male Class: N/A ¡ª Warrior: Sword mastery: beginner Axe mastery: beginner Spear mastery: beginner Mace mastery: beginner Shield mastery: beginner ¡ª Magician: Fire magic: beginner Water magic: beginner Earth magic: beginner Wind magic: beginner Ice magic: beginner Lightning magic: beginner Light magic: beginner Dark magic: beginner Nature magic: beginner ¡ª Healer: Healing magic: beginner Cure/detoxification magic: beginner Barrier magic: beginner Holy magic: beginner ¡ª Fighter: Unarmed combat mastery: beginner Ki mastery: beginner Fortitude: beginner ¡ª Assassin: Dagger mastery: beginner Stealth: beginner Alchemy: beginner ¡ª Summoner: Spirit summoning: beginner Beast summoning: beginner Material summoning: beginner ¡ª Archer: Short bow mastery: beginner Bow mastery: beginner Longbow mastery: beginner Crossbow mastery: beginner ¡ª I was given beginner rank in everything because I wasn''t registered during the fight. If I was I would probably be around advanced class in unarmed combat. But this better suited my purposes. I was already planning on training from scratch. I departed [Guild HQ] and headed to my inn. When I went back to the inn I was slapped. Mira was pouting as she glared at me. ¡°Onii-san you idiot.¡± I could tell what happened. She cheerfully finished her registration and fulfilled my orders. Since I told her I was going to be little late she had time to prepare various things. And then she waited¡­ And waited and waited¡­ Soon dark thoughts started to emerge. Mira began to think she was abandoned. Repressed memories of her parents began to emerge. Mira in her solitude began to fall into despair. Gloomy thoughts consumed her as she fell into despair. It was so extreme she considered killing herself if I didn''t show up in the next couple of hours. Her present state reminded me of what happened to me in the past. A choice I didn''t have, despite not being right that could''ve happened to me. Back then I didn''t despair but I still sunk deep into the darkness. In that infinite darkness I found a light. Mira was tightly gripping a dagger in her hands with her eyes shut. The moment age was rejected she would kill herself. Wordlessly I got up. Mira couldn''t tell where I was walking since my footsteps were silent. Mira felt her body become weightless for second. When she opened her eyes all she could see was me. I tightly embraced her and patted her head. ¡°It''s okay. It''s okay now, Mira-chan.¡± The floodgates opened and tears fell like a waterfall. ¡°Onii-san¡­¡± She called to me in between sobs with her face buried in my chest. Every time I would repeat ¡°it''s okay.¡± When she finished she collapsed like puppets whose strings have been cut. That night I went sleep while embracing her. Part 3: Mira''s point of view yesterday was still fresh in my mind. The various emotions that spiraled out of control the despair I was in. Onii-san saved me again. Onii-san comforted me until I fell asleep. Onii-san¡­ When I opened my eyes I onii-san''s face filled up my vision. ¡°Eh?¡± I went to sleep with onii-san. His arms were still wrapped around me like yesterday. I could feel my face growing hot as continued to stare at him. I always caused trouble for onii-san. My eyes fell to his lips. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. They were only a few centimeters away. ¡°Onii-san''s scent...¡± Unknowingly I inched closer to him. My chest beating wildly. I was at the distance where our noses were touching. I can''t! I can''t do this while he''s asleep, but I may never get this opportunity again. Just a little but more forward¡­ this is embarrassing. Unaware of my inner turmoil onii-san tightened his embrace. Still holding me he began murmuring in his sleep. ¡°Mira-chan¡­¡­ interested¡­¡­ its okay¡­¡­ good girl.¡± Even in his sleep he pets my head. So unfair. Onii-san is no fair. He always spoils me, never letting me do the opposite. I''ll do it. Our lips were just about to touch. So close, yet I froze. Onii-san''s eyes opened. His eyes of different colors were looking at me. Those gold and red eyes carried a mysterious feeling. He must think I am weird or a pervert. Eh? EEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Our lips were touching! Onii-san and my lips were overlapping! Onii-san kissed me! My heart was beating so fast I thought I would faint, I nearly did. I wanted this moment to last forever. I was reluctant to separate. I wanted more but was too embarrassed and satisfied. I felt I no longer had any regrets. When I look at onii-san''s face he was smiling warmly at me. ¡°Good morning Mira-chan.¡± That blew away any thoughts that this was a dream. I¡­with onii-san¡­ Responsibility! I could force that onto him¡­but I don''t want be hated by onii-san. Experiencing his S side would also be nice. If it was with onii-san I was willing to accept anything. My mind was instantly filled with delusions. What am I saying? ¡°Eh?¡± While I wasn''t looking onii-san disappeared. Calm down, calm down! Think rationally! Onii-san just woke up, he wouldn''t have gone far. Focusing on my hearing I could hear the faint sounds of water moving. He was taking a bath. Phew. I breathed out a sigh of relief. Onii-san''s footsteps were too silent. It was superior to someone with intermediate level stealth. I panicked for nothing. ¡°I have to trust onii-san more.¡± ¡°That is your personal freedom Mira-chan. Personally, I wouldn''t trust someone that fast, but in the end it is your choice.¡± At some point Shin had returned. ¡°¡­onii-san please don''t do that. You scared the hell out of me.¡± Seriously! He doesn''t even make the tiniest sound as he moves. My eyes were instantly glued to his body, his shirtless body. It was a body that had no excess fat. On his lean build were heavily toned muscles. What caught I eye the most was the lack of scars. Onii-san was someone who had a lot of combat experience, yet for him not to have any scars was strange. I could feel my face getting hot as I stared at his body. ¡°Mira-chan take a bath and meet me for breakfast.¡± Eating together with him was my daily joy. Wiping off the drool, I headed into the bath. After taking a quick shower I put on some cute looking clothes and headed downstairs. Like he said onii-san was waiting for me with the food already on the table. I did give him a reproachable look when looking at the bottle of wine near him. Alcohol so early in the morning was not good. I didn''t want him to turn into a good for nothing drunk. ¡°What where your parents teaching you? Drinking so early in the morning.¡± My tone was harsh because I was worried about his health. ¡°Parents¡­¡± He had a very solemn look on his face when he muttered that. Did I just step on a land mine? ¡°Don''t worry Mira-chan I won''t get angry over something as little as this.¡± He spoke as if he was seeing into the depths of my heart, and was soothing all my worries. Onii-san knew a lot about me but I knew very little about him. He never talks about himself. He gave off the vibe of someone with many years under his belt but his appearance contrasted that feeling. ¡°Onii-san. How old are you?¡± ¡°18.¡± He answered in a matter of fact manner, but something was off. I could tell he was he lying but my intuition told there was more to it. Onii-san will tell me when the time comes. I have no intention of spoiling our relationship. I wanted to stay with my kind and beloved onii-san forever. After the meal Onii-san left saying he had business at [Guild HQ]. I was alone again but thus I would be fine. I headed back to the room and fell onto the bed. Memories of yesterday and what happened earlier flashed through my mind. ¡°Onii-san''s scent¡­¡± I grabbed the towel he used to dry himself with. ¡°Onii-san¡­¡± I muttered to myself longing for him again. I really am¡­ Part 4: Shin''s point of view. After waiting for an hour Mira-chan peeked out of the room. I had a feeling she would want to tag along so I waited for her. I was worried about her. She was growing in a strange direction, mentally of course. Her body was fine. Maybe I should¡­ no it''s still too early. ¡°Let''s go.¡± Nodding she grabbed my hand and followed along. Really this girl, was I spoiling her too much? ¡°Onii-san what did you do while you were waiting? What were you whispering? You had a pained look on your face so I was worried.¡± She caught that? This child''s senses are greater then I previously thought. ¡°Studying the basics of mana manipulation and conversion, and reviewing my knowledge on magic arrays, runecrafting, ki channeling, and stuff about the touki.¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± ¡°¡­?¡± ¡°Onii-san is smart after all, you can do all that¡­¡± Her smile was really strained. Was it really that abnormal? At least she forgot about the pain. Still, calling me smart¡­ A "dunce" like me can''t do anything without drastic measures. When we entered [Guild HQ] all eyes fell onto me. Defeating Horito made me really famous. I headed up to the large library they had here. ¡°Mira-chan can you bring me every book on this list, I really need them. I''ll give you a reward at the end of this.¡± Her eyes lit up at reward. I gave her a couple before giving me credibility. ¡°Yes! Onii-san I will do my best!¡± ¡°Yes, yes good girl.¡± I patted her head before she ran off. ¡°Eavesdropping is a really bad hobby. Also your tailing was amateurish, so come out before I make you.¡± Coming out from behind the bookshelf was a wolf beastman with silver fur. ¡°The other one as well.¡± The elf from yesterday appeared as well. ¡°Nice to meet you I am Yrilssa Swordsith. Kurogane Shin I''ve been looking forward to speaking with you.¡± ¡°What coincidence me too.¡± If Mira were here she would be burning with jealousy. ¡°And you are?¡± ¡°Tanaka Silverfur, Swordsith-san''s party member and bodyguard.¡± So he''s the guard and she''s the princess strange considering she is stronger than him. ¡°Kurogane Shin¨C¡± ¡°Shin is fine.¡± ¡°Kurogane¨C¡± ¡°I said Shin is fine.¡± I stubbornly repeated myself. ¡°¡­Shin-kun.¡± Yrilssa said with her face slightly turning red. ¡°Yes?¡± Yrilssa took a deep breath and built up her resolve. ¡°Stop.¡± I cut her off again. ¡°I know what you want to say and understand why you want ask, but are you sure that you want to say it here. I can guarantee that your fake bodyguard will not understand.¡± Tanaka tenses up when I saw through his act. ¡°Tanaka-san please leave us alone for a little bit. Please take the energetic dog listening in on us with you.¡± He made a complicated expression as he left. He was not dumb by any means. In fact I considered him to be wise and talented. But despite all of that he will not understand what we''ll talk about. ¡°Mira-chan can you stop muttering curses and come over here.¡± Mira appeared from behind the other bookshelf dragging a cart full of books with a dark expression. She took the seat right next to me. She was glaring at Yrilssa. With everybody here I motioned Yrilssa to begin. ¡°When I saw you yesterday Shin-kun I accidentally peeked into your past with my insight ability.¡± Yrilssa said with an extremely sad expression that was on the brink of tears. ¡°I see, so you saw that part of my life.¡± She must have seen my childhood. ¡°It was all in pieces but I still saw all the fragments.¡± Mira-chan directed an extremely worried look at me. ¡°When I was six years old my mother was tortured to death right before my eyes.¡± Both Yrilssa and Mira gasped on horror. Hearing it from the person himself had more impact them hearing it from others. ¡°After that I was eventually rescued. I was brought back to my father, yet he threw me away as well. The rest of that year was spent in solitude, where my only contact with other people was the doctor at a mental institute my father brought me to. It was clear to me that he didn''t want me anymore.¡± In reality it was way more cruel then that. ¡°After that year I began living alone. For the next two years I trained in order exact revenge.¡± It was the beginning of the bloodiest part of my life. ¡°Standing atop a mountain of corpses, surrounded by an ocean of blood stood a young boy whose white hair was stained red with blood. The only sound that could be heard was the boy''s laughter.¡± Yrilssa interjected, describing the last image she saw. ¡°Shin-kun, you became absolute evil to right the wrongs done to you. With no one to help you, you walked the path of bloodshed. Yet despite all that you can still smile.¡± Years began to run down her cheeks. ¡°Shin-kun you became a broken person at a young age. Faced with overwhelming odds you fought back. Like hero you became evil to defeat evil.¡± Eh? Her understanding was getting more and more distorted. ¡°I''ve felt this the moment I saw you. When I looked at you my heart was beating so fast¡­¡± Mira''s faced instantly paled. ¡°Right! When I saw you I thought this is the person. Shin-kun I will become the light to your darkness! I will save you...¡± Mira wanted to stop her but couldn''t. Those words were coming, she was sure of it. Yet at the same time she strangely relieved. She hoped that her onii-san would gain more companions. ¡°¡­because I love you!¡± And the bombshell was dropped. I looked at the woman who just offered her all to me. I looked at girl whom I taking care of. I made my choice, or at least I''d like to say. There was only one choice available for me. With a single chop Mira was knocked out cold. Using lightning speed I moved to the other side of the table in a fraction of a second. ¡°Yrilssa¡­¡± I stood right behind her. I didn''t express my answer with words. I easily pushed her down on top if the table. Looking into her eyes that widened in shock I gave my answer. ¡°Shin¡ª mmph!¡± I sealed her lips with a kiss. At the moment the fate of Yrilssa Swordsith distorted. Her preordained fate vanished without a trace. Like ripple everyone close to her effected as well. Unaware of all this Yrilssa fainted. ¡°I guess it was too stimulating for her.¡± To think that I would soon corrupt such an innocent girl. Well it''s not the first time I did it, and I found it strangely fun. I was considered an ''S'' by the people close to me. I moved her to seat beside Mira and fixed her posture. Based on my estimations I had about an hour before they woke up. Of course I could''ve woken them up but I wanted to let them rest a little longer, because from now on their lives will never be the same. Along with silence I began reading books I had Mira bring. Magic theory, research on forbidden magic, race exclusive magic, some history books, mana conversion, principles of ki, difference between ki and mana, magic circle vs. chant, martial art forms and stances, anatomy of non humans, were some of the books I read. I barely cleared the cart a little. These books were really interesting and had some shocking content. My evaluation of Mira went up greatly. She gathered all these books really fast. At that time I didn''t know about how Mira''s family has connection with every library in the world. This will be very difficult to do properly. I rapidly increased my reading speed, to the point I finished reading every book in under an hour. I reviewed my knowledge as the calm before the storm passed. The girls woke up. It took a while to calm both of them down. Yrilssa was lost in a daze while Mira glared at her. I should deal with the current situation, yet I can''t muster the energy to do so. Both of them glared at me with dead like eyes. It only took them seconds to realize what happened. A woman''s intuition is scary. Mira and Yrilssa clearly wanted on explanation I didn''t have. ¡°Is it true you kissed that woman when you knocked me out?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Is it true that you kissed this kid before meeting with me today and despite that you kissed me?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°¡°Why are you answering so calmly?!!¡±¡± ¡°Why shouldn''t I be?¡± I didn''t understand what they were talking about. I was always like this. This situation is so nostalgic. I can''t help but remember all the quarrels those two would have in the past. ¡°¡°Pay attention when I am talking to you!¡±¡± Both of yelled completely in sync with one another. ¡°¡°Tch!¡±¡± They click their tongues as they turn away from each other. ¡°Shin-kun why did you do this?¡± She didn''t get it even now? ¡°Simply put because I love you.¡± Her face instantly flushed red. ¡°Th-then what about her?¡± ¡°Naturally I like her as well.¡± I answered if it was the most obvious thing in the world, causing Mira to go red as well. ¡°Is there really a problem with?¡± ¡°¡°Of course there is.¡±¡± Once again in sync they yell at me. Taking a deep breath I explained to them. A long story on why I like them, my feelings about the future, why it''s okay, and a little explanation on my obsession with woman. So in summary I told I live them a lot, to the point I possibly want to marry in future, but despite all that I am certain I will cheat on them. Naturally I''ll do must beat to abstain, but it was inevitable that it will happen. So I told them if they want to leave they can do it now. When I told Yrilssa this she was appalled. She slapped with an angry expression. She even declared she will never leave my side! Fufufu I am such a sinful man. I had a flower in each hand that consented to a mutual agreement, were they would share me. It was a difficult decision made for the sake of staying with me. On a side note well be moving into Yrilssa''s house! Yay! Free lodgings! I was yet a little regretful of not getting a commuting wife like character. Part 5: Yrilssa''s point of view. It''s been a day since Shin-kun and I confessed to one another. I became that person''s girlfriend, it was still kind of unbelievable. And we even¡­ No I shouldn''t think of that right now! I might faint from happiness again. Today Shin-kun was moving in with me. He was placing his things in his room right now. I was really happy that we were living together, it would have been perfect if not for that hindrance. No, I can''t think that right now. I have to get along with her or Shin-kun will be angry. ¡­I kind of want to be scolded by him. I wanted the same feeling I felt when he fought cursed blood Horito. That look sent shivers down my spine, yet strangely excited me. ¡°It would be nice to experience that again.¡± (Yrilssa us unaware that she has awoken on the path of masochism.) I muttered weakly to myself as I walked to the kitchen. Such thoughts were not likely. I should focus on my current priority, making a delicious breakfast for Shin-kun. The only problem is that I don''t know how to cook. I could only sigh as I looked out of the window to distract myself from my plan that was doomed from the start. I could see Shin in the garden. When did he get there? I wanted to ask but all my thoughts were blown away. He was in deep meditation. ¡°What''s that?¡± A strange apparition was coming in front of him. It slowly began to take his shape, becoming identical. I''ve heard of something like this before. Astral projection. But it seemed odd. His projection didn''t appear to be doing anything. I was thinking about this all wrong. What could see was because of my racial traits. It was something only my eyes could capture. I continued watching, half in daze as numerous delusions ran through my mind. At some point Shin got up and only now did I notice he was shirtless. ¡°A man''s body¡­¡± The body of my beloved. I could feel my face growing hot as continued watching him intently. ¡°Onii-san''s body¡­¡± Mira''s voice leaked out from beside me. She too was staring intently. Both of us stared at him, slightly drooling. Aw! Why did he put his shirt on! He winked at us as he came inside. He knew we were watching. ¡°So shall I make you a meal, oujo-sama?¡± I froze at those words. It felt really nice yet really wrong. Even though it was a joke it made me feel weird. I should be the slave not him, was what I almost thought was natural. ¡°Please do master/waka.¡± I replied back so naturally I had trouble concealing it. Shin, not knowing if he was aware of my inner turmoil or not, began to cook. A delicious aroma filled the room as Mira and I watched his back. This is the man I love, his back is broad and dependable. ¡°Eat up.¡± When I took the first bite¡­ ¡°Delicious!¡± This food was amazingly delicious. It tasted even better knowing he made it for me. Breakfast was a mice relaxing change of pace with extravagant food and a lover. This morning was truly mystical, and from now on I can experience this every day. Breakfast was passed without an issue. The issue came when we were headed out to [guild HQ]. A slight competition was started by Mira and Me. Both of Yrilssa wanted walk him by holding hands, but when we dusty at wee were struck with the idea of getting ahead of the other. It resulted in our current position where Shin-kun''s arm was buried in my chest, which pressed against his side. Mira was in the same position but Shin-kun''s arm was dangerously close to her thighs. Moreover, when we walked to [guild HQ] everyone was staring at us. The stares directed at Shin were painful to endure. Only his slight whisper of ¡°its okay¡± let me keep my cool. I felt this from the moment I met him. I can feel safe around him. I can be open with him without fear. I can fall for him. I wanted to forever stay by his sides. Part 6: Shin''s point of view. I am in bliss. On my right side were giant soft mountains and on my left size were hills that were not too big or too small. It seems every time I enter [guild HQ] the shock was different. ¡°Shin-kun what are our plan for today?¡± Yrilssa''s smile was as lovely as ever. ¡°I have quite a few things I want done today.¡± Training, creating my guild and maybe do a quest. First I''d like to handle the guild creation since we are here. It was stated that five members were needed but sometimes you are allowed to start with four. The entire process was extremely simple. We just had to right down our name, rank and class on a registration form and pay the registration fee. Guild name: Name: Kurogane Shin Rank: Beginner Class: Undecided Name: Yrilssa Swordsith Rank: Advanced Class: Spirit marksman. Name: Mira Stromlak Rank: Beginner Class: Undecided Name: Kurogane Yukihime Rank: Beginner Class: Undecided When Yrilssa and Mira looked at the sheet I was suddenly being scorned. ¡°Are you girls perhaps angry about Yukihime?¡± ¡°¡°Who the hell is Yukihime?!!¡±¡± I calmly waited for their anger to subside before pointing at her last name. With that problem temporarily taken care of, we can now decide our guild name. ¡°Any objections to incantation of chaos?¡± Yrilssa swiftly raised her hand. ¡°Why did you pick something so ominous?¡± ¡°Incarnation of chaos was the name of my unit and one of my nicknames in the past.¡± ¡°It''s perfect!¡± Her attitude did an instant 180. ¡°Notated why onii-san picks it''ll be the best name.¡± Mira stated in a matter of fact manner. ¡°We are officially The Incarnations of Chaos!¡± Following the applause of the two girls we left the guild. Yrilssa wanted to try recruiting more members but I stopped her. Member selection and recruitment will be left to, along with all management duties. If anyone wanted to join they would have to pass our just created test. All evaluations will be left to [fate eater]. With everything sorted out we''re off to begin training. Part 8: Deep into the night I was enjoying the view of the stars. Both of the girls were deep asleep so they didn''t notice I snuck out. Or at least that was supposed to happen. ¡°Shin-kun are you thinking?¡± Rubbing her eyes she sat down beside me. ¡°Can I say something weird?¡± With sleepy eyes she nodded. ¡°As a breaker of the decree no light shall fill your life. In the cesspool of the world is where you shall dwell. Do not hope, do not pray, do not resist. For your despair is the will of god.¡± Yrilssa caught to what I was talking about. This was my preordained faith. Something I should''ve never been able to escape from. ¡°In the pursuit of the light I have killed countless people. As cruelly and mercilessly as possible.¡± A thick coat of killing intent wrapped around me. ¡°Countless more will continue to die in the future. True chaos will be created with my hands. Are you still able to join me, and I mean truly join me.¡± A moment of silence passed. Shining under the moonlight was Yrilssa''s graceful smile. Ignoring my killing intent she embraced me. ¡°I will. Even if the entire world would be your enemy I will still stand by your side.¡± ¡°Shin-kun there are many things I need to tell you. Will you listen to my story?¡± It was unknown when the rumor started to circulate. Sometime after the war an ancient legend began to spread again. A certain breed of elf will be born again. Blessed by an elemental lord at birth with half the flesh of an elemental. Spirits of the highest level treated them like kings. They were named spirit elves. Based on which elemental lord blessed them they were given free control over an element. Spirit elves were given a colossal amount of magical power and excellent physical bodies. They surpassed normal elves in every aspect. That was where the problem emerged. Spirit elves were usually born into noble families. From birth they were used as tools. With an heir being a spirit elf your bloodline was secured and influential families will offer their daughters to you. If you were woman, it was a lot worse. A female spirit elf''s only purpose was to be married off against their wills. They were given to the highest bidder or the one with the most power. It was not on the level of political marriage, it was being sold into slavery to some noble. It got even worse when actual slave traders for involved. With a rise in kidnapping of spirit elves the market for them increased. Nobles who lost the chance to acquire one could simply buy them on the slave market now. Of by chance a slave managed to escape they were rejected by everyone, even their own families. Once the brand of the slave was on you there was no hope left. Even suicide was impossible due to them being half immortal. To escape this hell all spirit elves devised two techniques. Death''s embrace and inheritance. The former was used immediately by every living spirit elf. Death''s embrace was suicide spell. A speed that instantly gave them a painless death. This in turn activated the second technique. Inheritance was a world scale spell that activated by draining all their magical power. It was a spell that implanted all their knowledge and wisdom into the new generation of spirit elves. The first generation gave hope to those who would now be in their position. No other elf race was aware of this and has no way of finding out. Then once every spirit grew old enough all of them collectively vanished. It was like an entire race was spirited away. Despite freeing themselves from the nobles their struggle continued. It was a long grueling process, constantly filled with death, for the spirit elves to adapt to the wild. With inheritance still in effect more and more spirit elves were freed. Yrilssa herself was one do those who escaped. In her travels she heard rumors that there was a hidden village were all spirit elves could live peacefully. After finding the village and spending a few years living in it she headed out to be an adventurer. So far I was one of the very few that knew her face, and I was the most trusted. We sat in silence staring at the moon shining up above. She told me this because she wanted me to know. All about her and possible future dangers. Yet I found it all to be pointless. The moment she approached me there was nothing for her to worry about. I would never let anything harm her in anyway, even if I had sacrifice thousands to do it. She was blessed by the elemental lord of water. She had excellent combat capabilities but her forte lay in healing and support. We just stayed together under the moonlight. It would be quite some time before we broke out of our trance thanks to Mira''s sleep talking. Part 9: Deep into the mountains a strange rumbling occurred. A massive gate appeared out if the sky. A hand of bone chillingly cold ice climbed out. A beast was crawling into this world. It shuttered as it felt a large source of power nearby. Hidden amongst countless lives nearby, a powerful being was residing. The second hand began to crawl out, freezing the area around it. Coming along with it was an army of creatures that had humanoid figures with lizard like facial features. The beast wanted to attack the town and devour the power located there. The beast was a large dragon like figure measuring around 20m high with six eyes glaring at the city. Chapter 2: A thing called magic Chapter 2: A thing called magic: Part 1: I have been feeling a strange presence since last night. It felt like something powerful just appeared in the mountains to the north of the city. More importantly I could feel its gaze, it was directed here. I was stuck contemplating whether to confront it now or later. It would be better to have a fun battle. Using my existing skills and powers was a no go. Training my magic skills would be a way better idea. Mastering a new power to defeat a strong foe would be fun. Now how do I raise my nonexistent magic skills? I read tons of theory about magic but I still had no idea on how to actually use it. Reading a book and doing it or real are two different things. Nevertheless hard work will never fail you. I sat in lotus position and entered a meditative state. Going by what was written first you had to control your mana. Using either a magic circle or a chant or both you use your internal mana externally. Doing this normally would take forever. I barely had any talent in the use of magic. ¡°Time to cheat.¡± A dark mist like substance began to pour out of my body. It enveloped the area around, creating a pitch black space with no light yet you could see perfectly inside. This space was also larger then what it appears from the outside. In here I can train properly. First off I should decide how I''ll use magic and what type to learn. For use I''ll go with extreme offence with moderate support. Type was a harder question to answer. Following an already created system didn''t suit me. I would rather create my own system that layers on top of my preexisting power. As of now I can only use two types of magic. Both are forbidden and lost for different reasons. It was an instant execution for me if anyone untrustworthy found out about them. Actually I had a third type it already surpassed the bounds of being magic so it was not included. My two magic''s were creation magic and soul magic. Creation magic was creating anything I desired as long as it met the requirements first. A bypass would be gather material needed to create the object. Also once something has been created, and if it''s not extremely powerful, it can be reproduced indefinitely at no cost. Naturally there was something that could not be created no matter how powerful the spell was. Soul magic was the system of magic governing souls. My usage of could be considered the most vile and evil. Magic was mainly used to resurrect the souls of the dead. My usage was to trap the dead and drain their souls of power. This was measure to completely kill my enemies and make full use of their deaths. I used the raw power in their souls to fuel my creation magic to create more powerful stuff. The third power was more special them both of these. It was originally supposed to be dimensional magic, yet it evolved to an unprecedented level. This space was entirely separate world created with dimensional power, yet such a thing I supposed to be impossible. The act of creating a world is something only a large group of gods or an omnipotent god could do. Yet this went beyond that. It created a world in an entirely different dimension. In this world I could set all the rules. It was manipulated only with my thoughts. In here only will was omnipotent. I could control all concepts of the world, making it an ideal place to train. I drastically sped up the time in here compared to the outside. Even a mere hour outside would equal days in here. It sure was nostalgic being in here. I would train in here after every mission and it made the best storage space. A lot of my past belonging were in here. I gathered my scattered thoughts as began to concentrate again. I was going to use a rather unorthodox method to start using mana. I read somewhere in a book that some creature form a core of mana inside of themselves. A mana core is like an invisible organ. It regulates the flow of your mana and makes magic easier to use. The reason everyone didn''t do this was the method to create mana core was lost in the past. I didn''t know the method as well but since I''m here it doesn''t matter anyway. ¡°Creation magic: mana core.¡± I whispered softly. I could feel the power drain out of my body. It all gathered before and formed a large boulder size blue orb. ¡°Crystallize.¡± At my command the orb turned into a solid blue crystal. Crystallization of mana was another lost art. It was first used by artists but researcher found an even better use for it. With a way to turn mana physical and solid many new uses were discovered. A crystallized mana core was more powerful than an ordinary one. It could store vast amount of pure mana at once and amplified the power and control over it. It was also now possible to create multiple cores. These cores could be used to fully restore mana in battle, allowing you to fight longer. Normally I would have to wait for mana to regenerate before I could create another one but not in here. ¡°Creation magic: crystal mana core x13.¡± This was limit for now, I needed a better understanding to create more cores. With a thirteen cores I could probably fight for months without running out of mana. Now to take it a step further. I changed each mana core to represent an element. Fires, water, earth, wind, ice, lightning, dark, light and neutral were the main elements I was using. For secondary elements there was metal, nature and poison. Each core was represented by the colour of the element. The thirteenth the core was for backup power, so it wasn''t altered. ¡°Now for even more cheating!¡± Between creating magic circles or using chants neither sat well with me. So I went with voiceless magic with the magic circle being created in my mind. Chants were left for special techniques. Magic circles as well will be for special moves. Now for designing spells... the more destructive the better! I never liked attacks that only targeted a single person. AOE''s were not efficient enough either. The best would a hybrid that could change at will. Burst was created with that principle in mind. An attack that could hit a single person with the force of many or hit many with the full force of one attack. Using concepts would help do it after as well. My personal magic would not using magic to create a phenomenon from the area but altering reality to create the spell. I just needed to create the spell, and then practice for a long time and then move on to the next one. Of my experiment was a success I would begin adding magic to all my powers and techniques. [Takemikazuchi] was one example. It did not fulfill the full form of the god it was named after. The move only incorporated the lightning part of the god. Form 1 was the lighting in the sky, hence moving on air. Form 2 was the harnessing the speed of lighting which was fourteen times faster than my top speed. Form 3 was a thunderstorm. Gelsemium swords from for 2 would strike like lightning at any foe. With magic I could expand the number of forms and enhance the existing ones. It would be most helpful to the Kurogane shomatsu-ryu I created. The main focus of the Kurogane shomatsu-ryu was the annihilation of large number of enemies. This effect was delivered mainly through body manipulation. An example would azure hell which changed my hands into claws. At its full form azure hell created indestructible claws coated in finales the burnt the target from the inside out. It also provided mid ranged attacks that could easily take down a squad of soldiers. The Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: was a style that rested at the peak of martial prowess. It was complete formless style with infinite attack variations, body modifications and could be used with any weapon. Adding magic to it will evolve it to the next level. My belief was that you could never have enough weapons but high quality weapons were the best. It was truly needed now because using my top skills would bring to many disadvantages to me. I was going to reforge myself. My resurrection still bothers me but it could be placed on the back burner for now. Getting stronger was my current goal. I was also in need of new equipment. My best weapon was currently sealed. I needed several replacements. Luckily I had the mana cores! For this needed new cores. I moved the existing thirteen cores into my hands and ate them. According to the history I read about dragons, dragons ate their mana cores to have them permanently affect their bodies. This method could only be use once. Mana cores ingested after this would have no effect. With all thirteen mana cores safely ingested I created the next batch. My method of forging equipment would probably get me lynched by any passionate blacksmith. I teleported over to the large hearth I have here. Luckily there was still a decant amount of metal left over. I changed all mana cores to the metal element and had the float over the hearth. Next I gathered the metals and tossed them inside the hearth. Now for the main task. ¡°Creation magic: sword.¡± The molten metal flew up the mana cores, creating a fourteenth sphere. ¡°Combine.¡± All the floating spheres became one, yet stayed the same size. Now I just thought of the details of my ideal sword. The blade length should be two meters, the hilt would be around thirty centimetres. A normal shaped guard would be fine. All extra material would be used to reinforce durability. With the basic shape done I moved into finer details. I have do this carefully I don''t want a repeat of what I did last time. ¡°Enchant, enchant, enchant, enchant, enchant, enchant, enchant, enchant, enchant, enchant¡­¡± I follows the sword with as many enchantments as possible. I put an enchantment on every layer of the metal, on the hilt, guard and designs. Weapons in this world also had a ranking system. Low, average, high. Magic, rare, unique, ancient, artifact, legendary, phantasmal and divine. My average looking longs word was on par with an ancient level weapon. Though once again majority of the enchantments were for durability. My sword breaking rate was extremely high. Especially with the Kurogane shomatsu-ryu. A normal sword would snap in half after one attack. ¡°Analyze.¡± I activated the game like feature added to the . Mugen. Durability: 100,000,000/100,000,000 An invincible sword capable of changing forms. Has an unknown power sealed inside. Effects: -Almost impossible to damage. -Never rusts or corrodes -Blade is forever sharp -Can morph into other types of swords - Great power rests within. When I examined the sword I was happy it met my expectations. This sword would last a long time. Oh? There was more material here. I opt together the remaining stuff and began my next project. Items for Yrilssa and Mira. After several days of work I got back to my training. Part 2: I finished my training in time for breakfast. I began at the early morning around 3:00am and finished around 9:00am. In a mere six hours I trained for an unbelievable amount of time. By my estimate around thirteen years passed in there. It took that long for my talentless self to produce results. I took a short shower before taking a seat at the table. Today was Mira''s turn to cook. She was the one who wanted to do a rotation to avoid eating the same things every day. It was also a way to pick at Yrilssa''s lack of cooking skill. With me and Yrilssa seated Mira was about to bring out the meal but was interrupted knocking on the door. Yrilssa moved to answer but I told her I''ll do it. I wanted to her to help set food and start eating without me. When opened the door I was greeted by a group of fully armoured men. With a single glance I could why they were here. It was for a truly petty reason carrying hopes that even gods can''t fulfill. The world felt like it was in slow motion as the man in the fanciest armour began to draw his axe. I decided to observe a little while longer. In the worst case scenario I''ll rip his head off. ¡°You are under arrest for the crime of l¨¨se-majest¨¦.¡± Now this was something I wasn''t expecting. I don''t remember insulting anyone important lately. ¡°In addition to the murder of a large amount of people in an abandoned lab.¡± The captain said impatiently. They found that place? I was meaning to go back there for a while now. The captain took my silence for resistance and attacked. I let out a tired sigh and slapped away the axe. ¡°I refuse.¡± The guards drew their weapons surrounding me with raised shields. ¡°Take your bullshit allegations and leave before I make you leave.¡± Thinking I was off guard the captain charged at me. ¡°Earth shackles.¡± Chains shot out from the ground and restrained him. Without holding back I slap away the arm trying to grab me. The arm flew of sending blood flying everywhere. ¡°Flames.¡± His wound was devoured by flames, sealing the wound in expanse for immense pain. Cauterize ¡°Take your men and leave, I am giving you ten seconds.¡± I said as I grabbed his head. An unpleasant cracking sound was heard by everyone in the area. I tossed away the captain before he wet himself. All the guard stared me frozen to the spot. ¡°You have three seconds left.¡± I displayed my seriousness with a fireball forming in my right hand. ¡°3¡­¡± All of them flinched. ¡°2¡­¡± They tried to move but were frozen with fear. ¡°1¡­¡± I lifted up my hand. ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!¡± They scream as they push each other away as they ran for their lives. It was utter mayhem as a group of guards knocked each other to floor, frantically running away. ¡°Problem solved.¡± With more flames I turned the severed arm to ash and evaporated all the blood. When I went inside Yrilssa and Mira were giving me a strange look. ¡°Onii-san what happened outside, there was a lot of screaming?¡± Yrilssa didn''t ask, she probably heard everything. ¡°Some retards came by, causing some trouble. They pushed some false charges on me and tried to arrest me that was until I persuaded them.¡± Mira contained herself from exploding in anger. Mira would have probably hunted down those guards if we weren''t eating right mow. She silently passed me plate and I began my breakfast. Done eating we decided it was time to do our first quest. But before that we needed to prepare our equipment. I bought a cheap sheath to hold my new sword. Yrilssa and Mira bought some potions. ¡°Shin-kun where did you get that sword?¡± Yrilssa asks brimming with curiosity. She could probably sense the weird mana around it. ¡°I made it.¡± ¡°I didn''t know that you blacksmithing and such a high level one at that.¡± ¡°Hmph! Onii-san knows everything.¡± Mira proudly declared as if it was her own achievement. ¡°By the way I made stuff both of you.¡± I presented Yrilssa a blue crystal like long bow. For Mira there was a not a weapon but a bracelet. ¡°Yrilssa the bow you have can transform to both medium and short bows. It augments your water, ice and wind magic. There is no need for arrows since it creates them from mana. Also there are several other features you can discover yourself.¡± ¡°Thank you Shin-kun this was more then I could ever ask for!¡± Yrilssa excitedly began to check out her new bow. ¡°Now Mira I made you a bracelet since you don''t have a proper fighting style yet. Think of it as a booster, it increase all your capabilities in exchange for all your stamina. In your current state it will last for two minutes tops, but the stronger you get the greater the effects. Also as you grow it will evolve with your growth and specialize on your strengths.¡± ¡°Thank you onii-san!¡± Mira smiled happily as she put on the bracelet. Their equipment was overpowered so I thought they would hinder their growth. So I decided to add a hidden feature into the bow and bracelet. The greatest feature of these items was self evolution. With an application of soul magic I could make the weapon grow along with the users. Each item passively brought out their full potential and increased it. But in exchange the durability had a special condition to it. When they would reach a plateau in their growth the items would break. In the past I used thing like this, since as a weak human I needed power to defeat my non human foes. Once they reach the peak these weapons would become meaningless, both would be able to achieve the same effect with normal equipment. There were also penalties in each time but I''ll keep quiet about them. With everything taken care of we took a quest to investigate a disturbance in the northern mountains. If any danger was spotted we had to exterminate it. Since we lacked numbers we joined up with another group taking the quest as well. While Yrilssa was negotiating the terms of cooperation I spotted something interesting in the corner of my vision. The group of guards from earlier were back. This time with more people. They quickly spotted me and all thirty men surrounded me with drawn weapons. Their leader was not the idiotic captain from earlier. Instead a man dressed in fancy armour that had too many decorations was the leader. ¡°Kurogane Shin you are under arrest for defiling Lady Yrilssa Swordsith and the murder of a group of researchers!¡± His voice echoed throughout the room. ¡°Grabbing a hold of her weakness and threatening her to do this and that. Lady Yrilssa Swordsith we will save you!!!!¡± He shouted again, rallying the nearby adventurers. ¡°He is Horito-san''s murderer!¡± ¡°There was no way Horito-san accepted a death match against him!¡± ¡°He used cheap tricks to kill our mentor!¡± Rallying with the guards was a group of bald man that screamed the word monk at you. Everyone else just watched in anticipation. ¡°Should I handle them?¡± I asked Yrilssa who looked troubled by what was said. ¡°No. Please let me take care of this Shin-kun.¡± She was so enthusiastic about I let her do it. She lifted up her bow and aimed at the leader of the guards. ¡°Please leave me and Shin-kun alone or you will regret it.¡± All expression vanished from her face, her icy tone sent a chill down their spines. ¡°But Lady Swordsith that man, he¡­he¡­¡± Before he could explode in anger Yrilssa reacted. An arrow passed by the man''s head, nearly killing him. ¡°I see you have no intention of repenting.¡± Instead of an arrow a blue ball formed on her bow string. ¡°This is punishment for bad mouthing my Shin-kun.¡± When she let go of the bow strong thirty arrows shot out. Each pierced a limb on each guard. Before the monk could react she already fired her second shot. Arrows of ice shot into their legs, causing them all to fall to ground. ¡°Never appear before me or Shin-kun if you value your lives.¡± Her icy voice was accompanied by sixty arrows waiting to be released. See all the man frantically nod their heads she sat back down beside me. Yrilssa acted as if nothing happened and began clinging to me again smiling happily. The other party whom she was negotiating accept her demand with a pale face, once the deal was done he swiftly fled. ¡°Remind me to avoid pissing you off in the future.¡± I said to Yrilssa who was smiling like an angel. ¡°Silly Shin-kun, it already certain I will get angry with you. Please try not die.¡± I could only smile wryly in response. My future will be filled peril. Part 3: After buying a carriage for travel we headed north. It would take a couple of days to make the trip. The other party cooperating with decided to take a different route and meet us at the base of the mountain. I got nice relaxing trip with two beauties clinging to me. With the abundance of spare time we had, I began to train Yrilssa and Mira. I gave Yrilssa tips on archery, Mira was given basic exercises to build her foundation. It was a nice relaxing trip without a single fatality so far. Mira was fast asleep behind me. Yrilssa simply leaned against admiring the view of the scenery. ¡°Sometimes I wonder if this is all a dream.¡± Yrilssa muttered while looking away from me. ¡°So I am a figment of your imagination?¡± ¡°No! There is no way that is possible! Shin-kun never say that again.¡± Her anger over such a slight issue was cute. Not good¡­ I don''t think I can hold back any longer. I have to take it slow. Not too fast. Now that I remember that method still existed. I grinned evilly thinking about it. I did have a way to exploit our situation. ¡°Yrilssa there something I want to give you.¡± ¡°Another item?¡± ¡°No, something along those lines but still different.¡± ¡°I don''t get it but sure, if it''s something from you I will accept wholeheartedly.¡± ¡°I''ll apologize in advance since it''ll be intense.¡± ¡°Intense?¡± I proceeded to kiss Yrilssa silently. No, it could not be described as that gentle. I forcefully sealed her lips. "Ah...mmm. Shin-kun¡­" She mumbled with unfocused eyes. She''s making it harder to stop. I savagely drew Yrilssa into my arms, leaning forward all the way. I pressed my lips on her soft and inviting lips. A violent kiss. Beneath my lips, hers were trembling. This small movement further excited me. Gasping for air Yrilssa''s lips tried to separate, but I didn''t allow it. Opening my mouth wider I completely sealed her lips. She was already panting yet I was nowhere near done yet. She tried to stop and breath but nevertheless she didn''t even rest my kiss. Instead she began to take the initiative. She passionately kissed me, with an intoxicated expression. I forced my tongue into her mouth, taking our intensity tithe next level. ¡°Mmmhmm¡­ Shin-kun¡­ don''t¡­ mmmhmm¡­¡± Yrilssa tried to start pleading but that just let loose the restraints even more. Drunk on passion we kissed nonstop. Holding each other tightly our intoxication grew more and more. Our hearts were racing like horses. My gift began to enter her body. My gift joined flowed through, truly connecting us. There was slight indication that she noticed but kissing took her attention again. I wanted to speak and tell her now but this was more important. Both of we''re panting heavily. We weren''t as bold as before, only gently kissing. Lightly kissing we slightly rested ourselves. This time Yrilssa''s flame was rekindled. Forcing her tongue inside she began our intense kissing. Letting or her lips I but her earlobe lightly licking it. Her ears were really sensitive. Her usual attitude was becoming strange. Yrilssa embraced me even tighter than before. Her breasts were pressed against me. Entrusting the weight of her body to me and leaning on me. The entirety of her voluptuous bosom was felt on my chest. It was an extremely intimate embrace. Her sweltering body was supple with her excellent skin. My hand ran down her back, enjoying the sensation of her entire body. ¡°Shin-kun¡­ stop¡­ I can''t¡­ Ah~¡± Yrilssa released her seductive moan that she was trying to suppress. Her mind went blank with pleasure completely drunk in happiness. Gazing into one another eyes, with loving smiles we kissed again. Intimately embracing, our tongues were entangled as we exchanged an endless amount of kisses. Her intoxication flowed into me and mine flowed into hers. Yrilssa''s feelings were thoroughly transmitted to me and vice versa mine were sent to her. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! I gently held her sweat moisten skin, savouring the exceptionally tender sensation. Yrilssa tearfully smiled as she was drowned in happiness. Overcome by her tears I stole her lips again. When I released her lips Yrilssa collapsed, completely exhausted. ¡°Shin-kun that was too intense...¡± Yrilssa muttered as she rested her head in my lap. Her breathing slowly became more composed. ¡°I''m glad you liked it, but that was only part of it.¡± I gazed back at Mira-chan who was still asleep. When I looked back at her, her ruby eyes were staring at me with mixed emotions. ¡°You''re not going to give a gift to Mira, are you?¡± ¡°Mira is too young right now.¡± ¡°But if you don''t that child''s heart will be hurt.¡± ¡°It''s better than her being wiped out of existence.¡± Based on this conjecture Yrilssa and Mira probably came to some kind of agreement to not steal the march on one another. It was a way to keep me and them happy. ¡°Listen carefully to what I am going to tell you.¡± Yrilssa nodded with determination in her eyes. ¡°What I gave you was access to my one of original power called . It allows you to enter the world I created in a different dimension. That space can be used and customized in any way you want.¡± I took a small break to let it all sink in. ¡°This power literally ties our soul together. From now on you are forever mine, in life and death.¡± Her reaction to this was far from normal. She found it romantic. A man forcefully sealing the fate of the woman he lives with his own. My obsession was accepted peacefully. Once in the past I was asked why I turned out this way. I could only answer ¡°20 millennia of solitude does that to you¡±. ¡°Then without further ado, I invite you into my world.¡± Our surrounding was instantly stripped void of any colour, replaced with endless darkness. ¡°I''ll leave the secrets of this place with you.¡± Yrilssa nodded without as much surprise as expected her to have. Her mind set changed to, ¡°if it''s Shin-kun anything is possible.¡± Somewhere between that Yrilssa''s impressions of me began to warp. It was along the lines of bottomless obedience. With our tryst finished we turned back to check on Mira, surprisingly she was still asleep. Breathing a sigh of relief we cleaned up. With everything taken care of Yrilssa sat down in my lap and fell asleep. I gazed at Mira''s sleeping back. ¡°Wait till your older, try your hardest to endure.¡± I whispered to Mira who twitched slightly. Our future will be filled with carnage. Part 4: With both girls asleep I sat on top of carriage, bathing in the moonlight. It was another sleepless night for me. Once in a while I had a night like this. In nights like this I always felt strange. My mind was swamped with something like a reoccurring dream, yet whenever it happened I was awake. In times like this I had one solution, and the world supplied it to me. Our carriage was surrounded. I could feel the presence of about a hundred humanoid figures. Focusing my senses I could feel that even more of them were on the way. ¡°Looks like we just walked into an ambush.¡± I smiled evilly as I set a barrier around the carriage. ¡°All of you are now my lab rats.¡± I said to the humanoid ice lizard things that came into sight. In the end I couldn''t learn true chantless magic, but I got to the point I only needed to say the spell name to use it. ¡°True heavens lightning strike.¡± An original AOE spell that dropped powerful bolts of black lightning down from the sky. Black lightning struck everything in a large area around the carriage. Utterly annihilating the ice lizards'' frontline. More ice lizards poured out of the forest, unfazed by the death of the first wave. ¡°Chaos fireball barrage.¡± Fireballs with a tinge of black in them slammed the enemy lines like artillery. Chaos fireball was my basic level fire spell, yet it had the power of the highest tier of intermediate level fire magic. Now to step up the experiment to the next level. ¡°Chaos fireball barrage. Fuujin''s razor.¡± From my left another barrage of fireballs fired. From the right wind blades invisible to the naked eye spilt everything in two. Fuujin''s razor was my advanced level wind technique that solely focused on power. Its main focus was cutting everything apart. I thought of it as an invisible sword that was very, very long. ¡°Consecutive casting check.¡± Now for something harder. In my left hand I gathered wind, in my right I fathered flames. ¡°Fusion magic: Aerial doom.¡± Combining the two I shot out unimaginably hot winds. A wave of annihilation spread out with the carriage as the epicentre. Everything not in the barrier was instantly burned to a crisp, turning everything into cinders. ¡°10, 20, 30¡­ 35 meters. A good range for now.¡± The power of this spell was extremely high but the so was the consumption. ¡°Melding spells together check.¡± Now all that was left was an efficiency test of my remaining magics. With my primary goal, checking the effectiveness, complete I used the rest of spells without restraint. ¡°Hydro surge. Air mine sphere. Shadow immolation. Hyper ray. Forest''s torment.¡± I used a spell from each remaining element except ice in rapid succession. Hydro surge shot heavy streams of water from below. Air mine sphere created a flying stone above that shot spear like rounds at anything in a ten meter radius of the carriage. Shadow immolation caused shadows devour their owners. Hyper ray shot a condensed beam of light at enemies. Forest''s torment prevented retreat by creating a wall of roots behind the last of the ice lizards. Magic was absolutely devastating. Even in unskilled hands it could deal a lot of damage. With this experiment I figured out my biggest problem. My conversion rate was off. I spent too much mana on each attack. At least it was problem that more training could solve. Also now I can finish my specialization in each element. I wanted to master magic itself not an individual element. Thus I created specialization system for myself. Normally that would mean I would pick on element and raise it and only it. My specialization was choosing what type of magic I wanted to use with each element. Though some feature would be shared I would have a specific function for each element. Fire would focus on versatility. From area of effect to illusions, I was going to make fire magic usable in every solution. Water would be for preventing advances, keeping enemies at bay. Mostly spells to stop attacks and movement. Wind would specialize in invisible attacks, disruption, recon and assassination. Earth would be an offensive defence, providing defence with attacks was the primary use. Ice would be extreme precision, to the point of effecting molecules. These were going to be the spells that had the most control on them. Lightning was going to be about precision area of effect attacks that carried high power. Light would be about condensing light and creating beams based on the stars. Dark would specialize in shadow magic and manipulating darkness itself. Nature would be in charge of illusions, deception, traps and ambushes. ¡°.¡± With my verbal command it activated incomparably faster than last time. Procrastinating would prove to be deadly in the future. Also with my specializations decided I needed to alter the mana cores I devoured. Aside from the boosts provided by the mana cores, they increased your handling of the elements. It gave you an indefinite increase on control over elements and severely reduced casting time. By altering them I could focus them to better use the elements in the ways I want. Due to test results from my spells I wanted try a non magical experiment. In the past I briefly researched aura and ki but could never use them practically, at least not until now. If I could master this one of my ultimate goal could be reached. The complete upgrade of Kurogane shomatsu-ryu, bringing it to unprecedented levels. Hopefully removing all the conditions for using my full power in the process. Before this could happen I need more skills, more magic, more knowledge¡­ I wanted research more about race specific magic, lost magic and especially forbidden magic. Expanding the power of my soul magic, improving the limit of my creation magic and creating new application of my dimensional magic was something I wanted to achieve. First I decided to focus on raising all pouts of current magic abilities. When thought about it, the idea to create summonable elemental came to mind. Creating weapons trained the elemental mastery, using mana increased my overall magic skills, summoning it levelled up my summoner class, using it increased my skill with the weapon in question, plus creating them had the added benefit of possibly upgrading all future equipment made by me. The original op equipment I created was made from a mix of my three major magics. If I could do this it could further refine the process, increasing the possibilities. I acted upon my though right away. I started with fire. Corresponding to my choice with element I needed to make a versatile weapon that could be used in all situations. Naturally the sword came to mind. The base model was going to be a one handed sword but like my other equipment I was going to give it the ability to morph. I gathered mana in hands and created a ball of fire. And now the long gruelling process began. Countless hours pass by as I manipulate the flames slowly working out every detail of sword. Halfway through I decided to give life to the blade, turning my idea to into spirit weapon creation. Except the spirit was replaced with a soul hence turning it into spirit soul weapon creation. The product was beautifully created masterpiece of sword burning in golden flames. Now to add the finishing touches. I placed a freshly created condensed fire mana core into the hilt. [Typhous] was the name of the sword. Now moving onto water. Unlike with flames water was meant to keep the enemies at bay, which meant a weapon with powerful knock back power, thus water was going to be a mace. Just like with the sword it took a long time for the masterpiece pike to be created. Around the head was an illusion of a stream of never ending water, as dark as the oceans. The mace was named [Thalassa]. Wind was going to be a rather special dagger. Since I was using this spirit for covert ops it required special modification. At the end of the hilt of dagger was a long chain that wrapped around my hand. The dagger was named [Eos]. Earth was set to become a shield that was an abomination to all armour crafters. The tower shield was curved like a ball, in a semi circle shape. On the face of the awhile were massive spikes. The shield was named [Gaia]. Ice was next on the list and the weapon with most precision plus power combo was the bow. The lustrous ice on the bow absorbed all light around it glowing in an eerie black colour. The bow was named [Khione]. The choice of weapon for lightning was unorthodox, in fact is not an actual weapon. It was a robe but an incorporeal. Made from stitching together lightning, its colour was strangely white. It looked liked like a shroud of white mist with hundreds of currents running through it. I named it [Aethier]. Light was easier to use since I already had the perfect image in mind. The weapon of choice was a spear. The shining red spear measured around two meters long. It gave a heavenly feeling. I named the spear [Hemera]. Dark was going to easy as well, since the weapon I chose for that was a kusarigama. The actual product was hard to see since they were obscured by a dark aura that was constantly gushing out of it. I named it [Nyx]. And now finally there was nature. This was the one that took the most time and thought. The spirit soul of weapon of nature magic was going to be a flute. I named the flute [Fysis]. This was the only spirit soul weapon that did not contain any metal. As the wind passed through it let out a pleasant sound. With mana cores planted in every weapon I finished the production. I contemplated whether to give them egos and humanoid body as well but abstained from the idea. Having one living, breathing, talking weapon was enough for me. Besides I don''t want to incur her wrath, for now at least. And I don''t want remake them once I turn them into girls. No, there was no option to make them male. Never in hell will I do that. After painstakingly creating a back door to the spirit world I left the . Renewing the barrier around the carriage I drifted into sleep. Part 5: A couple days pass we continue our travelling. The encounter rate with the ice lizards increased as we got closer to the mountain. There were so many encounters that we got delayed for a couple of days. This time around I didn''t get to battle. I simply spent my time instructing Yrilssa and Mira. Based on my observation Mira had no aptitude with mana, so she was better of using ki instead. Her affinity, when tested, was pretty high. Seeing her growth in this field I presented her a freshly created weapon that was compatible with her, which turned out be a mace. With a new weapon her training was coming along nicely, the constant battles really helped grow her skills. Soon she will reach intermediate rank in mace mastery. "Did you see that onii-san?!!I defeated it without help this time." Mira was ecstatic with her results as she another ice lizard''s skull open. Petting her head I said "good job!" Yrilssa was acting calm with her achievements but secretly was burning with jealousy towards Mira''s straight forwardness. When our eyes met she swiftly looked, blushing furiously. Memories of that night probably remerged again. It was a nice relaxing time, but still this was taking way too long. A part of me wanted to use some dangerous techniques to speed up this journey but doing so will reveal too many of hidden cards. I kept a lot of useful things hidden in anticipation of future problems. Hmm... As I thought about killing time I remembered a certain issue that bothered me. It was something I have been meaning to ask Yrilssa for a while now. "Yrilssa why did you suddenly turn so subservient to me?" "Eh?" Surprisingly she was shocked with my question. "Shin-kun are you by any chance unaware of it?" I simply nodded in confirmation causing her to take another hit. "Shin-kun let me give you a history lesson about the spirit elves." It was what happened when the spirit elves got their freedom with deaths embrace and inheritance. The freed spirit elves began to search for their origins. With a lot of research they found a shocking revelation. Their origin was connected with the ancient gods and the legendary dragon kings. Unlike the previous misconceptions that were spread they now had proof that the dragon kings and a part in their creations. When they approached the dragons and explained their plight they were given protection by all dragon kings. From that point on it was spread that harming the spirit elves would incur the wrath of the dragons. Though the protection wasn''t absolute it allowed the creation an actual city owned by spirit elves. This was why Yrilssa was free to become an adventurer without worry of her family coming after her. From this point on dragons and elves formed a more formal master - servant relationship. "I understand but what does that have to do with me... wait... you don''t mean-" "Yes, Shin-kun you are part dragon." That was a lot to take in all at once. Somehow I became part dragon. Was this constantly thinking of dragons in martial arts? If my guess was correct this change had to do with my resurrection, but was not all. There was something more to this. Something I just can''t see yet. It was sinister feeling that spooked me a little, heck I even wanted to devour it with [fate eater''s] true power. Who knew my life would change so much. From human to some kind of soul devouring dimensional demon and now to some unknown creature that is part dragon. More importantly if I am part dragon, then what are the other parts? This just had to happen when I had that annoying reoccurring dream I keep forgetting. "Can you guys give me a minute to think about this?" With their permission I sat alone on top of the carriage, regaining my calm. To take my mind off things I decoded to check current status. I did spend some time tweaking with it ever since I got it from the guild. "Status." Name: Kurogane Shin Age: 18 Gender: Male Race: ??? part dragon. Class: Omni ¡ª Warrior: Sword mastery: Intermediate Axe mastery: Intermediate Spear mastery: Intermediate Mace mastery: Intermediate Shield mastery: Intermediate ¡ª Magician: Fire magic: Advanced Water magic: Advanced Earth magic: Advanced Wind magic: Advanced Ice magic: Advanced Lightning magic: Advanced Light magic: Advanced Dark magic: Advanced Nature magic: Advanced Neutral magic: Advanced ¡ª Healer: Healing magic: beginner Cure/detoxification magic: beginner Barrier magic: Advanced Holy magic: Intermediate ¡ª Fighter: Unarmed combat mastery: Advanced Ki mastery: Intermediate Fortitude: beginner ¡ª Assassin: Dagger mastery: beginner Stealth: Intermediate Alchemy: beginner ¡ª Summoner: Spirit summoning: Intermediate Beast summoning: beginner Material summoning: Intermediate ¡ª Archer: Short bow mastery: beginner Bow mastery: beginner Longbow mastery: beginner Crossbow mastery: beginner ¡ª Very few of classes had any advancements due to utter lack of use. Especially the sword. My actual skill was beyond what was displayed but it won''t advance since I barely use it. Even Mugen was only used once. All focus was on my magic skills. "Techniques." This was the separate menu that I created to catalog my skills, powers and spells. It was to get rid of the need to memorize all of them. - Powers: Takemikazuchi Amaterasu Susano-o Tsukuyomi All creator Soul magic Skills: Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Absolution field Azure hell Burst Earth slayer Lightning step Sky slayer Void fist Void step Secret technique: True dragon rampage Ultimate technique: Wrath of the chaotic overlord Magic: Kurogane magic system (tentative name) Aerial doom Air mine sphere Chaos fireball Forest''s torment Hydro surge Hyper ray Shadow immolation True heavens lighting strike - I still needed to fill the magic and skill slots with the rest of my techniques and spells. Inventing and improving killing techniques was really relaxing. When ever I was confused I would review my techniques and possibly make new ones. I guess I can accept it now. I''ve become half dragon. Do I get dragon power along with it? ¡°Meh, I''ll figure it out as things go along.¡± With my thoughts sorted out I went back inside the carriage. In there I was hit by another surprise attack by Yrilssa. ¡°From now on I will call you master!¡± ¡°Why?!¡± What is happening to this girl? ¡°You are my master and that is that!¡± This was the first time I''ve seen her being so stubborn. ¡°Do you really have to do this?¡± I tried to changed her mind one last time. ¡°Of course I do! If I leave it like this who knows when some other woman would try to cling to this position!¡± ¡°What position?¡± Was this another thing about dragon-elf relationships? ¡°Only one elf can serve a dragon at a time, this is the law made by the dragon kings. So if I leave position open some other elf we will try to get closer to you. When an elf serves a dragon it either as a caretaker or a lover. So as you are my master and no other female elves may approach you!¡± It made started to make sense now but still bothered me. ¡°Do you really gave to call me master all the time?¡± ¡°Yes! If I don''t who knows who might misunderstand our relationship!¡± ¡°Then what is our relationship now?¡± ¡°It''s¡­ um¡­ me¡­and¡­ master¡­¡­¡± She finally lost her boldness and turned meek. ¡°Master is¡­¡­¡± Yrilssa mumbled incoherently. ¡°So it''s your preference.¡± ¡°No! I¡­I''m not¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­yes.¡± She gave up pretty fast. I wanted to tease her about, but let it go. I did the same thing to Mira once and she didn''t speak to me for a whole day. ¡°Fine¡­ I''ll allow it.¡± Yrilssa immediately brightened up and gave my smile brighter than a thousand suns. Mira was also strangely happy. Probably because she also fought for her position. The hostility between the two girls lessened. Seeing them happy like this helped me resolve a certain issue. When we get back to town I will interrogate those fake guards. I needed the location of the place I woke up in. Once I get back there I will thoroughly investigate my revival. And if it leads down the path I think it will, I''ll destroy all obstacles. ¡°Be it gods or devils, nothing shall stand in my way.¡± I whispered to myself. I changed my mind set to face the upcoming trial. I slowly began to tear off the mask I made and revert back to my true persona. Upholding the name of the I will not fail this time. Part 6: The beast atop the mountain had fully emerged from the dimensional fissure. The ice beast was a primordial, a lesser primordial to be exact. It was a beast that existed since the beginning of time. They were the precursors to the elemental lords and the gods, and there were also their greatest enemy. For millennia their existence was forgotten, but now they began to reemerge. The primordial race was sealed due to the cooperation between all races and all gods. That very seal was damaged during the great war and now the primordial make their return. Their vanguard was lesser ice primordial Arctis, accompanied by countless numbers of his spawns, the ice lizards. Arctis was a large ice lizard that resembled a dragon. Unlike his spawns he was not bipedal. If you wanted to specific Arctis is more like a four legged Tyrannosaurus rex then a dragon. Unlike the peanut brained dinosaur, Arctis was fairly intelligent. That was why he was confused. The source of power he noticed in the city had now arrived at the mountain. What grabbed his attention even more was the strange presence beside it. Arctis shifted his attention beside him. A humanoid figure was standing before him. ¡°Arctis-sama I am glad your return has been well.¡± The man greeted him gracefully. On his back were ash gray wings. "Stop the formalities and inform of the purpose of your visit." He looked disgusted at the man, who smiling frivolously. "My master just wanted to make sure nothing went wrong, so he sent me as an observer. If you do well you might even get rewarded." Arctis merely grunted at the man before turning away. With a loud roar all of his spawns assembled. His army numbered over 3,000. Arctis had made his decision. At dawn they''ll strike, first taking down the source of power and then the city. He needed to pave the way for the primordial''s return. Arctis was going to be the opening act. The next great war as coming... Chapter 3: Unquenchable rage Chapter 3: Unquenchable rage Part 1: At the brink of dawn we were confronted by the enemy. An army of ice lizards, with a giant ice lizard was leading them. But none of them even entered my vision. All I saw was the man flying beside him. Those gray wings were something I will never be able to forget. A deep rooted emotion began to surface. Something tucked away, in a place where should have never seen the light of day. That overwhelming feeling that controlled all my thoughts. [Fate eater] emerged as my mind went blank. It was unleashed. My locked away feeling. It was hatred, hatred so strong that it made me lose my mind. An incomparably large killing intent seeped out of my body. It was so strong that some ice lizards were crushed by the pressure. Yrilssa and Mira shuddered when they saw my change. But the most shocked was the man with gray wings. ¡°It can''t be?!!! Why are you still alive?!!!??!¡± The man was even more shocked as he turned ghostly pale. Nephiliam. A forbidden race that was exiled from the world like the primordials. The name of the race that is my sworn enemy¡­The race I will exterminate from existence¡­The people who killed my mother¡­ ¡°Kurogane Shin?!!!! This is impossible, you can''t possibly be alive!!!¡± He hysterically tried to deny reality yet couldn''t since I was standing before him. On the contrary I was smiling. Despite the fact I met my most hated enemy I was smiling. That was because I can kill them. I can kill, and kill, and kill until they were finally exterminated. My smile made him shudder even more. ¡°Hmph! Why are you getting so worked over this small fry?¡± Arctis snorted on disgust of the nephiliam''s fears. The man''s face instantly grew bright when he remembered Arctis''s existence. ¡°Hahahahahahahahahhahahahah! That''s right! This is a god send opportunity! If it''s now it''s possible! Now that he can''t use his full power nor use his sword. To think I, Raph would get to eliminate our races'' greatest nemesis!¡± The bastard fell into hysteria. As he spread open his arms countless magic circles appeared behind him. I recognized the type they were teleport circles. Behind him amassed an army of nephiliam. All of them armed to teeth, fully prepared for battle. Along with them was boney skeletal figure. A lich I read about this race before. A lich was a powerful necromancer that resurrected their own body, obtaining immortality. ¡°Rise from your graves and strike down the living, Undead rise.¡± With a simple chant an army of 50,000 undead was formed. ¡°Yrilssa, Mira-chan I am going to send you away from here in second.¡± ¡°No! Onii-san let us he¡ª¡± ¡°We can''t Mira, we would only get in master''s way.¡± Both of them were uneasy of leaving. ¡°Please I don''t want to lose you.¡± They instantly complied when I pleaded. I sent then inside of and properly faced my enemy. Badump.... Badump.....Badump...... All sound except my heartbeat left my ears. Ah¡­ what a nostalgic feeling...... Along with my hatred another thing was released. Something on par with it or even worse. My insanity was freed. I broke into maniacal laughter as the world lost its color. It slowly became void of everything. Just a single thought entered my mind. The two who I couldn''t keep my promise with. It was the single most greatest regret in my whole life. It was something I will never allow to happen ever again. With that my mind went blank. When I opened my eyes again I felt completely refreshed. Visible cracks ran across the air all around, seeping out of was darkness. Power was seeping out as I called a certain name. ¡°[Typhous].¡± At my call the sword of golden flames materialized in hands. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Heavenly demon king manifestation. Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Asura soul. Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Immortal heavens.¡± I activated three skills of my kurogane shomatsu-ryu without hesitation. Heavenly demon king manifestation was an internal body modification technique, as well as a cheat ability. The skill was formed when I consumed the soul of demon king that strangely ascended to heaven. It changed my body to meet the specs of that demon king and enhanced to meet my level of training. My body turned into the body of a heavenly demon king that trained for the same amount I did, while keeping the strengths of my original body. Asura soul was skill that morphed my mind. It made my mind enter a complete battle mode, with cognitive abilities of an Asura. My reaction speed, five senses, body functions were able to rival that of a three headed, six armed demon. Immortal heavens was an energy morphing technique that changed my life force. The name itself was a lie to hide the evilness of this technique. Important heavens boasted my life force greatly by absorbing the life of others. It also purifies any negative effects forgiven life energy night carry, giving me only pure life energy. My boosted life energy gave me ultra high speed regeneration. To go even further I changed my decision I made yesterday. With a drop my blood hitting the blade I activated the ritual to give true life to it. If possible I wanted to avoid doing this. The future consequences will be immense. ¡°Damn it! Arctis-sama please stop him!¡± The nephiliam turned ashen as he desperately begged the disgusted lesser ice primordial. ¡°What are you so afraid of? I thought the nephiliam were a proud warrior race that planned on ruling heaven and hell, not a bunch of cowards that get scared over a single crazy brat.¡± His mocking words deeply wounded the nephiliam a heart but he still begged. ¡°Arctis-sama do you not understand what he is doing? That is soul magic, the vilest branch of magic in existence! Combined with the forbidden art of creation magic and the lost art of dimensional magic!¡± This time even Arctis was shocked. The Lich was also taken a back. ¡°Soul magic, creation magic, dimensional magic?!! How us that possible, not even we the primordials know how to use them! How do you know so much about this boy?¡± ¡°It''s not matter of using it or not and of course I''ll know him! There is no nephiliam alive that doesn''t know him! He is the for god''s sake!¡± Arctis had heard the name before. At the time he thought it was mere exaggerated legend. The , whenever the name was mentioned the bravest of the nephiliam will go pale. It was the legend that entire race feared. It suddenly happened one day, twelve years ago¡­ The human agents of nephiliam were being rooted out. Corpses began appearing everywhere. At first it looked like it was done by their enemies but everything changed that fateful day ten years ago. A demon god, who was the younger brother of their king, was killed. From then on there was one who could forget it. The unknown monster in human skin killed hundreds of thousands of nephiliam. Sparing no one. It was complete slaughter as nephiliam and their allies were killed day after day. Their bodies piling up like hills, their blood flowing rivers. But that was not worst part. The tragedy exceeded their imagination they saw him using soul magic. With soul magic he captured the souls of everyone he killed. Ripping them out of the cycle of transmigration. There was neither heaven nor hell for his victims. Only eternal oblivion awaited them. He twists and torments the souls in his cruel experiments either draining them of all their power or eating them to strengthen himself. Just a few months ago the monster and the nephiliam king who ascended to divinity had a death match. The battle was beyond imagination as both sides used enough power to destroy the entire world. In the end the nephiliam king was killed and his soul was ripped out of his body. It was only then did the monster let down his guard for a split second. It was miracle! Using up all his divine power the nephiliam king barely managed to kill the monster. Yet even that wasn''t the end as the monster played its last card unleashing darkness upon the world, destroying an entire star. Hundreds of thousands died that day but the monster was finally killed Now was the time of celebration! It was time for the nephiliam to regain their former glory. Yet now the dead man stood before them perfectly fine. ¡°Y-you! Just how did you survive?!¡± The nephiliam asked like he expected me to answer. What a dumbass. He wanted to stop what I was doing yet began eating his time with random questions. Even the primordial and lich with wanted an answer. He does realize that was trying to stop me, right? ¡°Survive? I have no idea what you are talking about?¡± I played along to waste even more of their precious time. Just a little but longer and they''ll be regretting this. ¡°Don''t lie to me, you were supposed to have been killed by lord!¡± He yelled in fury. He had mistaken my tone for insulting his shitty lord. ¡°That''s what I meant, retard. I died that day.¡± ¡°Then how are you standing before and how are you HERE?!!¡± He yelled in disbelief, despite he felt it was possible. The monster before him could not be judged common sense and logic. ¡°A dead man doesn''t need to know. And retard, thanks for wasting your precious time.¡± The golden flames around [Typhous] shined brightly. ¡°Soul creation.¡± Following the blinding flash of light a small voice entered my head. ¡°Nya~ Master nice to meet you~¡± [Typhous] said in a relaxed manner. ¡°I''m joking, I''m joking I''ll take this seriously~ let me at ''em I''ll take destroy all of master''s enemies, so please give me a proper body later nya~¡± She immediately apologized when she saw my deadpan look. ¡°You know you are a snake and not a cat, right?¡± ¡°Don''t worry about that, its part of my character nya~¡± Holding back my retort I simply ended this conversation. [Typhous] probably sensed my intentions and stopped talking as well. ¡°Master can you please make me prettier then my sisters?¡± She meekly appealed to me. ¡°I''ll try.¡± I gave her vague answer in return. Does she even remember that she''s based off a snake? ¡°Thank you master!¡± With her sudden boost in happiness the flames intensified. I can''t believe they just stood back and let me prepare, it was like some third rate villain waiting for the transformation scene to finish. The argument between the lich, nephiliam and primordial was probably what bought me the most time. I made my before they could finish. Void step. I teleported right behind the nephiliam. Backstab! Once the sword pierces his heart the flames reduce him to ashes. Eh? The one who died was the retard from earlier, it was some random cannon fodder. ¡°You dare to use a sneak attack!¡± Arctis roared as a large blast of ice shot out of his mouth. ¡°Burn [Typhous].¡± ¡°Yes! Master!¡± With her roar a hundred flaming snakes shot of the blade, taking the attack head on. The clash ended with both sides cancelling each other out. ¡°Tch.¡± [Typhous] clicked tongue in annoyance when attack was stopped. ¡°I''m nowhere near the level of onee-sama nya~¡± She secretly grumbled to herself. Arctis on the other hand was shocked that his attack was stopped. ¡°All forces enter formation!¡± At the shout of the nephiliam general, who miraculously appeared behind his forces, the armies quickly enter a strange formation. The undead were the vanguards with the ice lizards in mid guard and the nephiliam being the rear guard. ¡°[Hemera]!¡± At my call the spear of light manifested in my free hand. ¡°Mow them down.¡± ¡°Yes, my master.¡± Following the angelic voice a beam shot out of the spear. With a swiping motion with the spear the beam it hit the entire frontline of undead, any undead touching the beam instantly turned to dust. ¡°Quickly fire back!¡± From the rear the nephiliam began firing intermediate to advanced level magic at me. Lightning, fire and ice come crashing down on me with incredible power. I was tempted with resisting it with my body but it was bad to take unnecessary risks for no good reason. ¡°[Gaia].¡± A massive greatshield manifests before me. ¡°As long as I''m here no one can hurt master.¡± In a calm voice of a mature woman [Gaia] expands greatly shining lustrously. All magic attacks are effortlessly blocked and reflected back. ¡°[Aethier].¡± As I called her lightning wraps around, ready to be discharged at anytime. ¡°Let''s make some havoc master!¡± Completely full of energy [Aethier] cheerfully charged her deadly bolts of lightning. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Behemoth stomp.¡± Cutting off my acceleration I reinforce my leg muscles with as much energy as possible when I stomp down on the ground. A ridiculous amount of wind pressure crushes enemies before me. With a wave of my hand powerful bolts of lightning fire from the cloak. I tore a hole open right through the undead army. With the skeletons blasted out of the way superior undead appear. Dullahans, ghouls, skeleton mages, skeleton knights and even a bunch of skeleton lords. There were very death knights present as well. At the rear the lich was in the middle of a large chant, it must magic of an extremely high level. ¡°[Khione].¡± Temporarily throwing my other weapons in the air I grab the bow. ¡°It''s not like I came because I wanted to. I just had no choice but to help you out.¡± She dropped a genuine tsundere line as the ice converges around the manifested arrowhead. The arrow flies at high speed tearing the air around. Everything it passes by is frozen over. Though much of the power was lost due to the ice lizards the arrow slammed into the head of a nephiliam healer with such a force that it ripped it off. The trajectory was changed because it had gone through so many people. Swiftly sheathing the bow, I grab the airborne [Typhous] and [Hemera] and continue my charge. ¡°Black heavens lightning strike.¡± Using [Aethier] as an amplifier extremely power lightning strikes the undead at my sides. When I see the lich almost finish chanting I fire another arrow with [Khione], but it can''t reach him due the undead acting as shields. ¡°[Eos].¡± ¡°¡­master¡­support¡­fully¡­¡± Muttered the wind dagger as she manifested. I swiftly threw [Eos] at the lich, once she left my hand she turned invisible. The blade flew with no air resistance, it only got faster and faster. Just as the lich was about to cast his magic [Eos] pierced his chest like a speeding bullet. The damage interrupted his chant and caused a mana reflux, damaging him and dissipating his magic. ¡°Assassinate [Eos].¡± ¡°As¡­ you¡­ will¡­ master¡­¡± From within the wound several wind blades are fired in all directions, heavily damaging the lich. Using the chain on [Eos] is pulled back into my hand. I calmly began to walk forward. Taunting everybody to try and attack me. A death knight desperately swings its axe at me, I dodge the blow and counter [Hemera]. When a skeleton mages fire dark magic at me, it''s blocked by [Gaia]. Enemies nearby me are stunned by [Aethier] constantly discharging a pulse of electricity. [Typhous] and [Hemera] deal with nearby enemies while [Khione] takes out the healers in the rear. [Eos] prevents the lich from using any big spells with a barrage of wind blades. Nonetheless there are too many undead. No matter how many I destroy the lich in the back is reviving them at a breakneck pace, though barely keeping up with my speed in destroying them. Sighing inwardly I prepare to wipe out the undead for good. I''ve been meaning to test out this nice for a while no but I didn''t want someone to see me use it yet. ¡°Bring forth the end flames, the wonderful holy flames of chaos. O'' great and almighty creator of fire. Send down the blazing bird of prey to spread holy apocalypse upon this land. Deliver to this land the immortal flame bird of the end. Supreme Phoenix of the golden heavens!¡± In the air there was a magic circle, an extremely large magic circle. The inscriptions were so complicated even an archmage would be dumbfounded. Only someone with god-level understanding of magic and a shit load of time would be able to decipher it. A massive amount of mana was being drain from me at an alarming rate. This spell was one of my ultimate spells that I recently created. It only took a mere couple hundred years in the to make them. My target was the lich. I had to abstain from experimenting on him because of his unending army of undead, so I''ll settle for his soul. From the magic circle in the sky appears a majestic phoenix covered in holy golden flames. Its wing span was over a hundred meters long. ¡°Kaaa!¡± With a fierce roar all lesser undead turn to ashes. Just a mere flapping of its wings created whirlwinds. Mini tornadoes threw many undead and ice lizard into air. Sending them falling to their deaths. Just the pressure from the phoenix caused the faces of the nephiliam to change greatly. I can''t tell if Arctis or the lich went pale cause the former is made of ice, and the latter is an undead without any flesh. ¡°Annihilate.¡± At my command the phoenix truly attacked for the first time. Soaring highly into the air the phoenix nosedived towards the lich. Seeing the flaming death descending upon the lich activates as much defensive magic as possible. He even raises an army of undead to shield him. Dodging was not an option. ¡°Ultimate darkness manifest before me. Bringers of doom, killer angels give me strength so I can smite the holy. Demon spear!¡± Saint ranked dark magic! A massive black spear was thrown by the lich. ¡°Ignorant fool.¡± My cold voice pierces into his mind. He shuddered as my words ushered in his death. ¡°Your paltry spell could never match the majesty of my magic.¡± The phoenix dissipated the spear by just by glaring at it. ¡°N-no¡­ w-way¡­¡± His voice was cracking up as he watches death crash into him. ¡°God-level¡­¡± Those were his last words as the flames burned him into ashes. From the centre of impact erupted a massive pillar of flames that pierced the heavens. Flames erupted in all directions wiping out the undead and a chunk of the ice lizards. Only the nephiliam took minor losses, because they had already ran out of the blast radius. One down. Two to go. At that time I didn''t know that the lich was actually a famous figure among necromancers and was a rare talent that was approaching ruler level. His efficiency in this battle was nowhere near his full power due to the constant attacks of my unfathomable spirit weapons. If this was in a more ideal location it probably would''ve turned into a tough battle of attrition. With the dark magic user out of the way my job became easier. ¡°[Nyx].¡± ¡°Ma-Ma-Mawster I''ll he-help y-you¡ª ah! I bit my tongue again!¡± While stuttering the kusarigama manifests in my hands I didn''t use her earlier because the lich may have a use for the dark element that she is made of. ¡°[Nyx] I''ll be relying on you.¡± ¡°¡­! Wawawawa ma-master th-thank y-you.¡± In my head all I can see is a shy loli blushing whenever he speaks. Following that inspiration her future body has been decided! ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Absolution field.¡± I calmly stepped into the ice lizards'' line. Everything around was either smashed to pieces or cut apart. Anything that survived a hit or was only skinned by it was hit by a shadow immolation spell that was embedded on [Nyx]. In the skies above a group of several hundred nephiliam throws spears of light down. [Gaia] intercepts the spears, taking only minor damage. Spear of light was a specialized lift magic used by angels, so the power was strong enough to give minor damage to [Gaia]. ¡°Reap [Nyx].¡± [Nyx''s] blade emerged from the back of each nephiliam and cut off their heads. Blood rained down everywhere as the headless bodies splattered on the ground below. I gave the timid [Nyx] a break to help calm her heart. [Nyx] was really shy and was probably close to fainting by now. ¡°[Thalassa].¡± ¡°Yo~ master nice to meet you~¡± A totally relaxed voice came out of the rigid looking mace. ¡°Actually I have favor to ask of you.¡± ¡°Sssssure~ ask away~¡± ¡°I''m going to use a difficult skill with you, so you might feel some discomfort.¡± ¡°No problem~¡± With her consent I began waving the mace around like wand. ¡°Blood magic: Tepes''s mist.¡± All blood on the battlefield gathered around [Thalassa], forming a red mist around her. When swung I [Thalassa], a huge wave of red shot out, swatting more nephiliam out of the sky. I used [Thalassa] to control the water in blood which acted as a bypass to let me use blood magic. Naturally there was a decrease in power with this method. It was also rough on [Thalassa]. The mist that hanged in the air was deadly poison. Air superiority was secured by me. Know to crush the crippled ground forces. ¡°Sing [Fysis]¡± ¡°Master~ I''m so happy so called~¡± A masterpiece wooden flute manifests in my free hands. Unlike the others she spoke seductively, as if there was no battle going on. Ignoring her advances I began playing. A sweet sound spread out on the rampant sound. A calm, relaxing melody. Accompanying the noble music was blooming of plants, followed by an air of tranquility. Even Arctis the strongest present was affect by the melody. Slowly both ice lizard and nephiliam lowered their hostility¡­ And began committing suicide. Nature magic: lost mind. Normally it send out hypnotic fragrance found in some rare plants but is limited in effect. With [Fysis] I could steal their sense of self and make them to kill themselves. The tranquil music that brought about peace was a melody of horror that only brought death. With only nine weapons I destroyed over thirty percent of their forces. At this point most armies would retreat or surrender. I could only smile as I was watched the blood drain from the faces of the survivors. Killing always felt good. Part 2: ¡°[Typhous], [Aethier], [Thalassa], [Eos], [Nyx], [Fysis], [Khione], [Gaia], [Hemera] change to passive form.¡± ¡°As you wish master.¡± All nine of them replied as they transformed into rings on my fingers. Leaving only the ring finger on my right hand unoccupied. I had switch to passive assistance cause this battle was surely taxing for them. They were only given life a while ago and now were used to their max capabilities. Thus I elected to give them rest and keep them ready for any surprise situations. Over 50,000 undead, 2500 ice lizards, and 2,000 nephiliam were killed so far. 0 undead, 10,000 ice lizards, and 3,000 nephiliam remained. Arctis managed summon the reinforcements that were supposed to be used for the occupation large cities. They were reduced to such a manageable number now. Magic certainly is wonderful. ¡°Kurogane Shin! How are you able to use magic?! Humans from there should not be able to use it!¡± The nephiliam general that always disappears whenever I attack starts complaining. This guy was like a roach, annoying an undying. Also what was the point of asking this question now? I had already used a numerous amount of magic already. ¡°What do you mean "should be unable to use magic" explain brat!¡± Arctis''s was confused over what the nephiliam was saying again. From his eyes I proficiently just used god-level magic, how can someone say that I should be unable to use magic. ¡°That is because he is from a different world. Not like our world with different realms. He comes from an independent world that may as well be from a different dimension. In that world magic does not exist and it is dominated by humans. It is a world that pursues science to the extremes where humanity can now live in space and can effortlessly travel the stars. Thus being someone from such a world how can he possibly use magic on such a high level?!!¡± A different world¡­ The very prospects of it were stunning. It was something that speculated but never actually discovered until very recently. Only the nephiliam possessed the rare ability to travel through dimensions. It was what made them powerful yet also the reason they were banished. They could enter any realm at will with no problem with security. Fearing an attack both heaven and hell banished them, hunting down all those who refused. Through aimless travelling though out the countless dimensions the nephiliam found Shin''s original world. An ignorant world they could rule from the shadows, eventually attempting to become the true kings of the stars. Arctis changed the way he looked at me. His eyes gleamed with interest. ¡°I fully understand now. When I finish killing the brat I will enjoy dissecting his corpse.¡± ¡°That is also the deep wish of my race as well.¡± The nephiliam expresses his interest in my corpse as well. Doesn''t remember what happened last time they tried this? Or did those turn into repressed memories? Arctis roars at the sky. A large scale magic circle forms above him. All the ice lizards crumple into piles of ice, which is all absorbed by him. I see¡­ absorbing his spawns to dramatically increase his powers. His appearance bears no change yet his higher has increased several levels. With the sacrifice of 10,000 ice lizards only one powered up primordial and 3000 nephiliam remain. ¡°Kurogane Shin, be honored that I Arctis, general of the primordial vanguard, shall face you personally in battle.¡± Everything around him slowly freezes over. Using [Khione]''s influence the ice and the cold simply don''t affect me. ¡°Rather you should be honored lesser primordial Arctis. When I extract your soul for my experiments I''ll make sure to destroy your will and utilize your power. In fact I may as well damn your entire race. There is no salvation for those who team up with my enemies no matter who they are. You can watch as I slaughter everyone you''ve ever known. Watching the despair you fall into will be simply ecstatic.¡± I was rather cheerful as I spoke. Having such a powerful soul will further my currently stalled research. After that I could use it for forging or reinforcing equipment, possibly stuff I haven''t even tried yet¡­ So many possibilities¡­ I could feel the drool leaking from my mouth as I thought about them. As long as he doesn''t piss me off I will have a good harvest. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Sadly that will never happen. Inevitably he will make me snap. With [fate eater] I could tell that future is set in stone, something even I can''t overturn. At the very least I will enjoy this battle. ¡°Face me you arrogant brat!¡± Arctis roars as he lunges at me. The massive living chunk of ice comes flying at me. ¡°Bring it on you overgrown ice sculpture!¡± Lightning step. At the very last second I dodge him. As soon as Arctis lands he fires a rigid beam of ice at me. Dodging the beam I counter attack with a heavy kick to his right foreleg. There was a gong like impact as his body pushed back several meters. ¡°Don''t get so cocky.¡± From his mouth comes out a barrage of ice spikes. ¡°[Amaterasu form 1].¡± White flames wrap around me like armor. All the ice that get nears me vanishes, the temperature was so high that there wasn''t even any steam. If he used water magic we would be having continuous stream of steam explosions. ¡°Tastes the wrath of the flames of the sun.¡± A small fire forms above my head. Released from the tiny blaze was a colossal torrent of white flames. The flames ate away at Arctis''s right foreleg, disintegrating it. ¡°You dare!¡± His roar drowned all sound in the area. Torrents of ice are fired at me from multiple directions. With a slight flick of my wrist all the attacks are intercepted by white flames. As he fires more ice I counter with even more flames. ¡°[Amaterasu form 2]!¡± The blazing white armor vanishes, along with all light in the world. The world was robbed of its light and was plunged into temporary darkness. Only I could see now. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Titan core.¡± With the physical strength of a titan I kicked Arctis with my full body weight behind each blow. I sent him flying up into the sky only smash him down into the ground again with another kick. Grabbing his tail I repeatedly smashed him into the ground like a rag doll. ¡°Arrogant!¡± Arctis roared in anger firing ice spears indiscriminately in every direction. He forced me let go even at the risk of injuring himself. ¡°You dare to humiliate me the great Arctis like this?!¡± Arctis activated his god level magic. Above him was a bloody iceberg the size of a large city. Since he can''t see me he''s going to destroy everything around him. ¡°You think I''ll let you do something like this?¡± I gathered a large chunk of my remaining mana and retaliated with another one of my god class magic. Unlike most people I have several god level spells. ¡°Gather under the banner of the true king, O'' glorious knights of oblivion. With our swords will purge all sins in the world. With our shields we will resist the ends of time. For we are the harbingers of chaos, the knights of the end and infinity. Imperial spirit knight legion of oblivion!¡± Another immensely large and complex magic circle appeared. This time behind me. What I was summoning was an army. 5000 heavily armed knights riding with grey flames covering their armor. Each knight individually is very strong, in terms of raw power the lowest at saint level the highest at the peak of emperor level, together they are in an entirely different dimension of strength. All knights bowed to me, awaiting their orders. ¡°Charge!¡± I gave the assault order. ¡°OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!¡± With a large shout the legion charges, leaving a huge dust storm in their wake. Surrounding Arctis from all sides they barraged him with countless attacks. Each attack ignored his defenses, delivering only critical hits. Arctis''s prized body was no different from paper before these knights. Arctis who had his vision robbed from him could neither dodge nor defend. He could only fail about like toddler. Uselessly expanding his stamina as swords cut up his sides. With the barrage his concentration was dropping, his god glass magic was losing form. Before long it would dissipate only making lose his precocious mana. ¡°Cripple him.¡± With my command all knights raise their swords to the sky. ¡°We call on the legendary god of swords to deliver us the blade of infinity. The sword to banish sin from this world. Give us the blade forged in oblivion and annihilate all who oppose our king!¡± From the sky descended five 100m long swords. The swords pierced all of Arctis''s remaining limbs, his tail and torso. ¡°Exterminate.¡± When I gave the final order a fanatical light appeared in the eyes of the knights. Their target was changed. Grinning like maniacs they charged at the remaining nephiliam, who were trying to stay hidden. My emotions had leaked into the knights, giving them my insane hatred, all that hate was given to five hundred along with a kill order. The knight''s mindset shifted to that of suicide bomber. Now with the nephiliam being dealt with I could finish off Arctis with any hindrances. ¡°[Amaterasu form 3].¡± Light returned to the world so fast that all who were slowly growing accustom to darkness were blinded again. A pillar of fire crashed down on Arctis. ¡°With this it''s the end.¡± With a wave of my hand it began to rain fire. Stellar flames from beyond the heavens scorched the earth. Like meteors, flames rained down where Arctis was. The crippled primordial could only watch in anguish as he was bathed in stellar flames. ¡°Experience true pain.¡± We''re my last words to him. I was unaffected by the flames so I calmly walked up to him. Calmly stretching my arm out, I touched his melting side. This ice was amazing, it resisted my flames for so long. I pulled off a small sample and tossed it into the . Now for my real objective. I touched his side again but this time my hand phased through his body. I had activated my prized soul magic. I slowly searched around until I found the object I was looking for. My hand had grabbed his soul. Arctis screamed loudly in pain as I began the excruciating process of ripping out his soul. As a strand of resistance tore he felt an impossible amount of pain. The pain so bad that he lost consciousness only to regain it from even more pain. As I dragged his soul out his body I grabbed a few other things as well, mostly his insides which he surprisingly had. When I successfully ripped out his soul his body fell limply to the side. Turning into a puddle and evaporated by the now stopped torrent of fire. Today was a good harvest. One lesser primordial soul acquired! I could dance for joy but I finally got to the main course now. With the rampage of the knights only 1000 nephiliam were remaining. They couldn''t finish off the rest because I needed preserve my remaining mana. It was now 1000 vs. one. I reduced them by this much since the battle started. By now even my mana reserves were running low. Using two god class magic spells in row was really taxing. I suddenly felt an intense pressure behind me. ¡°You really don''t know when to quit do you?¡± An ice spear flew by head. ¡°How are you still alive?¡± I asked Arctis who somehow miraculously revived. He was clearly weaker than before. ¡°That''s really strange. I ripped out your soul and destroyed your physical body, there should no way you could be alive. Is this a racial trait or ability of primordials?¡± My curiosity was ignited by this strange event. This is the second time someone whose soul I ripped out got back up again. I also wanted to know how he reformed his body. Should capture him or kill him? Research or mission? This was quite the dilemma I have fallen into. What would be more beneficial living or dead? ¡°Secret formation: disruptor.¡± Unbeknownst to the nephiliam had set up a peculiar formation. It was the fruit of their long research to counter me or any of my possible successors. ¡°Kurogane Shin you are really formidable. You wield an unusually high number of techniques and powers, but your downside is we know about them as well.¡± It was that nephiliam general that was acting as the leader, weird I was sure he would be dead by now. How is this roach still alive? ¡°Your main three magics are lost techniques, your powers are created using the powers and legends of the Japanese gods, your weapons bear the names of the Greek gods. Your techniques are created from the bodies of monsters or demons of myth.¡± ¡°Your point is?¡± I was getting annoyed with him. ¡°We can now disrupt all your powers.¡± He spoke coldly as a flash light swept across the battlefield. Mira and Yrilssa whom were watching from the were dragged out. Those two stood on the battlefield totally dumbfounded. ¡°Hahahahahaha!¡± The nephiliam laughed like a maniac as his forces swiftly surrounded the two girls. ¡°Retaliate and they die.¡± Arctis approached me from behind ready to crush me with his claws. I watched as their weapons were pointed at them. I could feel my blood boiling in fury. I knew this would happen¡­ Now the harvest will go to waste. I''ll cut my losses and settle for their deaths. Never will I permit anyone touching my women. A dangerous light emitted from my eyes. I see¡­ I thought to myself, as I smiled evilly. I still had this in reserve. I wonder why I only noticed it now. It was such a surreal feeling. My mouth opened and out came a strange incantation. It was something that just popped into my head yet felt nostalgic. [I am the dragon god of the end and the beginning. The dragon king of destruction, chaos and rebirth. I am creator the immortal flame and the infinite darkness. I am the true dragon lord. And I shall feast on all creation!] A cataclysmic pillar of mana erupted from my body. My entire body was turned into magic energy. My skin was replaced with abyss black scales tinged with a blood red color around the edge. My teeth turned into fangs, my nails into claws, my eyes turned cross shaped, massive wings sprouted out from my back and I even grew a tail. In addition to that I grew several tens of meters in size, reaching the height of fifty meters. Just one thing rang in my head as the light diminished. Dragon transformation. Part 3: Everyone, including even me, was shocked with my transformation. My body stood at an unbelievable fifty meters of height, and it was covered in strangely nostalgic black scales that were tinged blood red at the edge. Just from a glance I could tell that these scales were ridiculously hard. To the point even I would have difficulty destroying them. My fangs and claws were also immensely powerful. Their strength was on par with artifact level weapons. Despite this being the first time transforming I have complete control over my body. This was probably a side effect of the kurogane shomatsu-ryu which is all about manipulating the body. This was strange, really strange, but now I have something else to experiment on! I need to know the limits of my dragon body and how far I can take it. I was always a researcher at heart. The unknown and forbidden always intrigued me. This was only a piece of it¡­ I wonder what else did my resurrection do to my body? *ROAR!!!!!* I roared at the top of lungs. This was a dragons'' roar, an absolute power that made all lesser beings tremble in fear. Only a being of equal power would be able to resist. Ah! I got distracted. I turned my head towards the petrified Arctis. He was trembling in fear. Even the primordials fear the power of dragons. I condense the mana in my mouth. This was something I always wanted to do. Dragon''s breath! A peerless attack capable of causing large scale destruction. The signature move of dragons. A beam! My breath attack was a beam! That was so awesome! Several tens of nephiliam were vaporized. I fill my mouth again but this time more condensed. I fired up into the clear skies. Dragon''s breath rain mode. The massive beam slips into countless tiny lasers raining down on the nephiliam. With pin point precision the rain of lasers kill every nephiliam near Yrilssa and Mira, not harming a single hair on them. My on the spot improvising had impressive results. I''m glad I stole that prototype laser artillery in the past. Yet again the nephiliam leader managed to slither out of the kill zone. He just won''t die. If I recall correctly Raph was the name of the general who managed to conquer mars. I''ll declare him to be a subspecies, hence the first ever cockroach nephiliam. Once again I charge up my breath, but this time I fire dark red flames. Somewhere in my memories I remember being able to use more than one breath attack. First was the laser, second were molten flames, and third were black flames of the abyss. I read about this in a book once. Certain levels of beasts have hereditary memories that give them access to countless techniques. Apparently my dragon form came chock full of them. Putting that aside for now I shall rampage. I pick up Yrilssa and Mira with my wings and out them on my back. It was the safest place here. Sending them back into the was a viable option but since the nephiliam could disrupt my powers it was not a good idea. Their distortion was very minor, almost minuscule, but targeted vital parts of the powers. No matter I''ll update them in future to get rid of the weakness. First I had deal with a lesser primordial who refuses to die and several hundred nephiliam that will sacrifice everything to kill me. Honestly right now Arctis was the most annoying. Even burning into vapors wasn''t enough to kill him. I guess I''ll use a stronger power then. ¡°I am the Shining Heavens born from the left eye of Izanagi, the creator god. I am the absolute ruler of the sun and light. Now repent for your sins by facing the wrath of the sun.[Amaterasu final form]!¡± At first nothing happened¡­ A small white flame manifested in front of me. That flame burst creating a blaze that consumed everything around me. All the fire was absorbed by my body. The final form of [Amaterasu] or any of my powers were different from all the previous effects. It was pseudo divinity. In my insanity in the past I researched the depths of soul magic. Researching anything I could find about the soul be it myth or fiction. I would harvest souls in the battlefield and then use them in my experiments. After making breakthrough after breakthrough I reached certain level where I decided a certain experiment. I did the one of the three ultimate forbidden acts in soul magic. I began mutating souls. Using the power of one soul I would strengthen another or use them to equalize the power of two separate races. The soul of a human and soul of demon were quite different after all. I spent countless years researching this in the , to the point years turned into centuries. Then I reached a certain plateau. I wanted to create artificial souls. I challenged the taboos of soul magic. Real souls had a race restriction. My collections of human souls were numerous but I was severely lacking in higher level souls like those of demons, angels and nephiliam. If I could create souls using the one in my collection¡­ And so I tried it¡­¡­Over and over again, until I finally succeeded. I usurped the authority of god. With the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of souls I managed to create a god soul or a soul on the level of a soul belonging to a god. With numerous modifications and testing I began to create artificial souls of the major Shinto gods. When I consumed them I create the powers in the image of certain a myth or what was recorded about their abilities. And I left the final form as pseudo divinity. Entering god mode with all their powers for a limited amount of time. Divinity was something that was more powerful if your base was higher. A divine snake and divine human are world apart in power. And that was why I chose to do this now that I was in my dragon form. A divine dragon nearly trumped everything in existence. This power''s drawback was the massive drain of stamina and it left you weak for a couple of days. That restriction could be bypassed with a dragon''s abilities. As long as too much power was not used. I shouldn''t dawdle any longer. I don''t know how much longer this form will hold. I can''t take the any chance now. Yrilssa and Mira''s life was more important. I was going to end this for good in the next attack. I swiftly take to air flying for the first time. Controlling my wings felt totally natural. Now that those two were out of blast radius I could let loose. With just my thoughts I could unleash a horrifying number of deadly attacks. I used the flames of the sun that were augmented with divine power. Fire rained down from sky incinerating several on the spot, those who dodged from consumed by the pillar of flames came out of the ground. I used massive flaming stakes to pin Arctis to the ground. He was whelping like a lowly mutt as he looked death in the eye. ¡°Bring forth the end flames, the wonderful holy flames of chaos. O'' great and almighty creator of fire. Send down the blazing bird of prey to spread holy apocalypse upon this land. Deliver to this land the immortal flame bird of the end. Supreme Phoenix of the golden heavens!¡± My voice rang in the minds of everyone present. In dragon from I lost the ability to talk but I could simply communicate with telepathy. ¡°No way¡­¡± A nameless nephiliam said as everyone looked up in horror. The god class magic that could wipe out an army of 50,000 was coming again. This time equipped with the flames of the sun and they were augmented with divine power. What''s more there were three phoenixes now! ¡°I call upon the origin of ice to bestow absolute protection upon me.¡± Arctis roars an incantation to strengthen his defenses. Black ice rapidly creates a shell around him. ¡°Futile.¡± My body was glowing red as I shouted the next incantation that came straight from my hereditary memories. It was the first large scale destruction spell I found. ¡°I desire chaos and destruction, O'' legendary flame of beginning. Send down the force of nature. Bring down the infinite death from the stars above to ravage this world. ????????''s wrath.¡± Half of the name came out in an unknown language but the spell still activated. *Kaaa!* Flowing the phoenixes was an endless stream of white stars. This was not a meteor shower but a barrage of unstable stars from the sky above. They all explode on impact with 1/10 of the force a supernova produces. And to make it even more overkill I fired my breath at full power as well, using up almost all my remaining mana. Golden flames mixed with flames of the sun and exploding stars and followed by a full powered divine dragon''s breath hit the lesser primordial and nephiliam. A massive explosion engulfed the mountain a massive vacuum, shockwaves, and resulting tornadoes destroyed everything outside the blast radius. This was not the level of a nuke, it far surpassed that. Because the explosion was controlled the blast radius wasn''t as big as it could''ve been. Most of the energy was sent upwards. Yet it was still strong enough to reduce the mountain and everything around it to ashes. All my enemies were atomized. Even I was in awe of this destructive power. ¡°Amazing¡­¡± There was no need to confirm anything. It was guaranteed 100% that everything on that mountain or around it was dead. Part 4: Yrilssa''s point of view. I finally got to see the true face of master, and it was absolutely captivating. He was more ruthless, more bloodthirsty, more cruel and most of all more evil then anyone or anything I''ve ever seen. Even all his incantations vow to spread annihilation to this land. Just like his nickname he was the very incarnation of chaos. He was so breathtakingly dreamy¡­ So handsome as he fights the world¡­ Who cares if the world will reject him and fear him. Even if it is only me, I will forever stand by his side. As master said before in life and death I solely belong to him. I didn''t matter how many taboos he committed or has yet to commit. I will easily choose him over anything else. I was such a bad servant. Desiring my master so strongly. Even in my dreams I want him. That night was still fresh in my mind. I want to kiss again. I want him to bully me like that again. I want to do everything with him¡­ There is still so many things he has left to do to me. It was both fortunate and misfortunate that he was still in his dragon form. Fortunate because if he went back to his normal form my rampaging emotions will go out of control, and I will attack him. Misfortunate because I lost that opportunity. I can just imagine him turning the tables on me, and then having his way with me. I didn''t know which option I preferred more. We are destined lovers. Lovers who would''ve met no matter what. Spirit elf or not I''m certain that master would love me unconditionally. I loved him so much that I''ll even forgive his future cheating. No matter how many flock to his sides I''ll forever love him. In fact it just shows how attractive master is. When I looked at Mira I could easily spot her change. I was both overjoyed and disappointed. Overjoyed that I clearly loved master more, disappointed that something like this was enough to shake her feelings. From the start I always looked down on Mira. She treats master as her pillar of support yet she dares to get scared so easily. My feelings against her were biased. As a spirit elf I knew what hardship was. She on the other hand was just a human that was merely abducted by bandits. Her feeling could never match mine. I am easily surprising to her, but u will never say to her. If master hears he won''t be happy. And if it''s for master I could do anything. I seriously loved master so much! Part 5: Mira''s point of view. I loved onii-san ever since he rescued me from those bandits. After travelling with him for month we met Yrilssa-oneechan. That was the first time onii-san would cheat on me. He knew my feelings, yet did such a thing so casually. Eventually I forgave him and he thanked me with kiss. My feelings for him had grown slowly over time but Yrilssa-oneechan only had to meet him once to be so passionately in love with. They were even kissing when I was asleep. Even so I forgave him when he promised the same treatment when I grew older. But then came the battle on the mountain. It was here that I learned about onii-san''s past. I also learned about what he did. Coupled with that I saw how he fought. Yrilssa¨Coneechan was completely captivated by onii-san and panting like she was in the heat. I on the other hand was scared. Though I hated to admit it my feelings for onii-san were definitely weaker then hers. The fact she could love him so pure heartedly despite his faults was amazing. I on the other hand was scared of his faults. I was scared by that indifference to life and death. I fell in love with onii-san when he rescued me from those bandits. To me he was a heroic figure that I treated like an older brother but love as a man. I wonder why I didn''t notice it before. From the very start onii-san''s view on life and death was different from mine. Many times during our journey to the city onii-san acted strange. Only now did I understand he was suppressing his desire for blood. If I wasn''t there a lot of thins would''ve died beige he got to the city. Onii-san was someone who could kill thousands of people and not bat an eyelash. To him it was something normal, something he''s been doing his entire life. Maybe onii-san noticed my subconscious thoughts? Or did Yrilssa¨Coneechan notice? More and more often they drifted into their own world together. The more I thought about it the more splintered my thoughts became. The most important fact would be onii-san said that he liked me but he told Yrilssa¨Coneechan he loved her. From the very start there was difference in our relationship. Just what am I going to do? Part 6: When I regained my composure I landed on the edge of the crater and let Yrilssa and Mira down. As I looked at the crater all I thought was ¡°my dragon form is amazing!¡± To create an explosion of this magnitude without having to use life risking techniques was something that I''ve always wanted to do. If this could be achieved in dragon form what could do with the other ones? Were they like this or were they specialized in their uses? There were so many questions that I wanted answers to. At least this transformation made up for the losses I faced. Arctis''s soul was severely damaged in my rampage. It was only half usable in experimental use at best and for absorption it would only give the boost slightly more than that of a normal human soul. It wouldn''t even increase my power by a single percentage. I need to capture more primordials, a live sample would be best. I need to test the limits and boundaries of the race. Still my dragon form is awesome, and that chant¡­ I feel I heard it somewhere before¡­ yet it felt slightly altered¡­ I could feel that it was vital to figure out the mystery behind my dragon form. After we turn in the quest I''m going to find those fake guards and bust out my (torture) interrogation skills. Also meeting with dragons of this world was now a top priority. From the information I gathered the black dragon king''s kingdom is the closest one. The future of the guild was fresh in my mind. With it I could travel the world and be rewarded along the way. When I found down suitable land in going to build a house there for me to live in and a base for our guild. Having a base would be really nice. Though the is really efficient having stuff placed in base just felt better. That and I wanted to upgrade my workshop. Moving it out of yet keeping it there at same time. I wanted to influence it with the mana of this world. There was also the matter with Yrilssa, her attitude was guaranteed to change now that I transformed into dragon. I was completely lost in thought so didn''t notice the changes in the environment. Above me an extremely dark thunder cloud formed, that held an abnormally large amount of power in it. Danger! Alarm bells screamed in my mind. Instinctively I concentrated all my remaining mana on my wings spiking their defenses. Without hesitation I immediately covered both Yrilssa and Mira in wings, leaving my body exposed. As if on cue a tremendously powerful purple thunderbolt struck full force my undefended body. My consciousness faded as I crashed into the ground. Chapter 4: Mortal rank tribunal Chapter 4: Mortal rank tribunal Part 1: Fucking lightning! I glared at the black thundercloud, contemplating on how exactly to torture a cloud. Mid crash my consciousness returned. Allowing me to reduce a little of the damage from the crash. I was forcefully reverted back to normal from the damage, hence my entire back was burnt black. If not for all the techniques I used and the buffs they have provided, along with my sturdy scales there would a gaping hole in my chest. My dragon form was lost because I couldn''t maintain it properly thanks to the sudden damage. That and primary reason it emerged had vanished. Essentially it was a forced activation. My dragon manifested due to my anger. Despite how wise or knowledgeable dragons are at their base they are a war loving species. Many dragons who have given into their desires are written as evil in history, like the evil dragon who hordes mountains of treasure or the evil dragon who kidnaps fair maidens. My dragon form was along that basis, I who had given into my hatred then fell into my primal anger. Hatred against the nephiliam for their past sins and anger surpassing that due to them threatening the girls. Hence once I wiped them out my dragon form was sustained due to a mere coincidence, that thunderbolt severed the connection completely. The landing was also horrible. My arms, legs and chest were badly bruised. Thankfully minor wounds like this healed easily, unfortunately my back was not the same. Yrilssa who saw the state my back was in completely panicked. This was the very first time she''s seen me injured. Mira would''ve had the same reaction if she were awake, the impact rendered her unconscious. In her panic she chanted several healing spells that began cancelling each other out. The phenomenon she caused interested me. Her overlapping spells were out of sync thus cancelling each other out, but what if they weren''t out of sync? It would be possible to stack effects of magic doubling the effectiveness. Theories about it existed but no one pulled it off efficiently yet. With my infinite time I could find away to do it, in fact I already have some idea how. Knowledge from a different world was very helpful. It would be like writing code or building circuits. Seeing her spells having little effect Yrilssa began chanting high level healing magic. ¡°[Khione], [Thalassa] some help would be nice.¡± I casually asked for some help from the water and ice spirit. ¡° ¡°Master don''t die!¡± ¡± Their response was over the edge. Along with all the other spirits they were all frantic with worry. I forgot that they were given egos not too long ago, so despite their maturity they had the intellect of a child. After eventually calming their worry [Khione] and [Thalassa] began to treat my back. [Khione] created an ice pack while [Thalassa] applied healing water. Combined with Yrilssa efforts, which involved a saint level healing spell, the damage was completely healed. Not even a tiny mark remained. I decided to keep quiet about my regenerative ability and promised to reward all of them. ¡°Yrilssa do you what that cloud is? Also can I kill it?¡± ¡°Master you probably don''t know since you came from a different world. In the distant, long before the war, there was group that is now known as the forgotten gods. Those gods observed how life grew for centuries with a passive stance. Due to this they noticed a problem. The mortals were beginning to get really strong, slowly advancing to their level of power. So the gods decided to invent a testing system.¡± She was really cheerful knowing I came from a different world. I don''t know at the time but Yrilssa apparently had used all connections to try and figure out my past. Making this piece of information valuable to her. ¡°The tests were named the divine tribunals. Mortal rank, beats rank, magic rank, trinity rank, immortal rank, dragon rank, Demi-god rank, divine rank, divine king rank, true god king rank are all the ranks. Every being starts in the mortal rank, even gods, though the gods tend to surpasses it from a couple of hours to a year after being born. The standard would after a century one would surpass god level and face the tribunal, this is why most humans don''t face a tribunal. Tribunals are not random events, the ones facing usually know ahead of time. In your case, master was probably caught unaware because you train in a different dimension not connected to this world. Master how many skills did you get to god level?¡± ¡°I''d say about over thirteen from the standard? I was tinkering with the crystal a lot, adding in stuff they missed.¡± ¡°There is stuff missing because this is still a work in progress. When we head back to the guild please show them your modifications. If its master I''m sure they''ll advance by leaps and bounds.¡± I wonder if I understated it a little. When I took break from training I gave the status magic thing a complete overhaul, practically changing everything. I made it similar to a system that I had seen in the games I used to play. ¡°Listen carefully Master your tribunal is special, because of your actions you have to face all those tribunals at once. That is why those thunderbolts were so strong. Tribunals carry really strict rules. You have to pass with your own power, no one can help you. If someone tries they become a target of the tribunal along with increasing the difficulty. Also the tribunal can target you anywhere. No matter where you hide or run to it will target you. Finally passing it will increase your rank giving a major boost in strength. These power ups are dependent on race. For example a magic rank human is still weaker than a peak mortal rank dragon. I don''t what master is right now but I know for a fact you are extremely powerful. Triumphing over this tribunal will make you more powerful then you''ve ever been before.¡± Now I''m motivated. Possibly more than I''ve ever been when facing a test. My conventional method for training is "taxing", plus seriously time consuming. Despite my strength I am horribly talentless in anything involving combat, my talent for magic and martial arts are practically nonexistent. A method to increase my power with using a shitload of time was something I was searching for. Shortcuts were always welcome. Take for example my sword mastery. My training is something that would even scare off high level swordsman. For ten years straight swing down at 90¡ã angle. Every decade move 1¡ã clockwise until you finish the full 360¡ã circle clockwise, them repeat this time doing it counterclockwise. Then repeat again while moving. Once you''re finished practicing this while doing every type of movement this you can finally move onto the next step. Due to this my sword can strike perfectly from any angle, in any position. It has reached epitome of the formless sword. I possessed godly skills at combat that came at an ungodly amount of time. My body wasn''t strong enough to use my skill to the fullest. A chance to increase my power like this was highly appealing, to the point I feel like purposely triggering tribunals. ¡°Master please do your best!¡± Giving me a light kiss on the cheek she backed away, her face was dyed red. Seriously, when you do something like this how am I supposed to not overdue it? Containing my happiness I glared at the thundercloud. When the next strike came I was ready. I kept all the spirits in passive mode to buff my defense and summoned Mugen. After making the spirit weapons I kind of forgot about it, so this was the first time it would see combat. A second thunderbolt shot down from the heavens, clearly stronger than last. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Sky slayer.¡± My very first experimental technique that combined my martial arts with magic was unleashed. Wrapped around in burning hot winds the sword shot up like an uppercut, bisecting the lightning in two. The second thunderbolt was defeated. As if angered by my success the thundercloud up above rumbled loudly, firing off three thunderbolts at once. Gripping the sword with two hands I filled it to the brim with mana. ¡°Burst x10!¡± With a single heavy slash I destroyed the trio of lightning bolts. Burst augmented with many buffs held greater power than before. With the metal element manipulation the swords abilities increased according to the number of burst used. The thundercloud rumbled again, this more loudly and fiercely. It flashed purple as the next thunderbolt was about to come. A big one was coming, the next shot would be unlike the other four. In the mortal rank tribunal you are supposed to overcome 4 thunderbolts to pass. Since I have a thirteen in one package I have to survive fifty-two thunderbolts. ¡°Bring it on!¡± I had the perfect weapon to use in this situation. Grinning evilly I awaited the thunderbolt. A massive purple thunderbolt shot out of the cloud wont out warning. The dual charging must''ve taken place inside to delay my reaction. ¡°Burst x100!¡± With a heavy swing using my full force behind the blow I intercept the thunderbolt. Gritting my teeth I forcefully bring out more power from my body. At the cost of all my remaining mana and by surpassing my limit I repulsed the thunderbolt. I underestimated it. Without enough mana I can only rely on pure physical abilities to survive now. I was tempted to use a spare mana core but felt I would feel cheated if I had to rely on that. I could try using ki yet I felt that gambling on an unknown power while you still had options available wasn''t a good idea. I had to face attacks that could potentially kill me in one hit another twelve times with just my body¡­ Challenge accepted! All my previous used techniques were unavailable, it was due to a cool down time as I called it. Manipulating your body on the cellular level was down thing you could do consecutively without stopping. Though if you use a different technique it was okay, this was one of the mysteries of the kurogane shomatsu-ryu. Even though I created it I had no clue why this happened and I never bothered to find out. Defense techniques wouldn''t work for me right now, no matter how high defense if the thunderbolt is destroyed this will never end. What I needed as an even stronger offence. Most of the techniques I have used so far were balanced. Now I was going for pure offensive ability. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Kishin will. Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Corpse walker. Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Sutr''s blaze.¡± Kishin will was a really messy technique. If defense had a value it would be reduced to zero, that also includes your natural body toughness, leaving you with flesh as strong as an average human''s. In exchange for this loss your raw power and regenerative abilities skyrocket. Essentially the technique turns you into a semi-immortal berserker that can only attack. Corpse walker was another energy morphing technique. This death with stamina instead of life force. In abut shell in exchange for the draining the surrounding earth of its nutrients, turning it into a barren wasteland, in exchange I get infinite stamina and endurance resembling that of an undead. Sutr''s blaze was one of the rare few techniques that didn''t use body modification. It was a hybrid technique between creation magic and soul magic. Using an artificial flame devil soul to create fire worthy of the leader of the fire giants. This unworldly fire was used for weapon enhancement. They held the power to burn down the world tree which housed the nine realms. The molten flames seamlessly wrap around the sword, as if they became part of it. These flames will be used to counterbalance the heat and force of the thunderbolts. All defenses will be left to passive mode spirit weapons. A second massive bolt shots down, this time a lot more powerful and fiercer. ¡°Gombarai master!¡± Yrilssa was cheering me on from a safe distance away. I softly smiled to her before viciously clashing with thunderbolt. The heavy pressure tried to crush me into the ground but I resisted with superhuman perseverance. ¡°Burst x1000!¡± I used burst in peculiar way this time. I noticed that the characteristics of me skill resembled gravity magic. For example increasing the weight of the sword for heavier hits is similar to increasing the power with number of hits in one. So this time I decided to try using it 50/50 dispersion. Five hundred was used in the typical strengthening feature but the other five hundred had a different purpose. They projected the blow upwards. Attacking the thunderbolt with force of five hundred slashes. They weakened the thunderbolt so the burst 500x could destroy it. All in all this a pretty risky move. My arms made an unpleasant cracking sound once the thunderbolt was dissipated, it was not a problem my regeneration can take care of it. With that the second thunderbolt was conquered. Only two more remaining¡­¡­ ¡°Is it me or are the thunderbolts getting a bit too strong?¡± I asked Yrilssa since she has more information about this then I do. Even I who never knew about thus saw it as weird. ¡°Master your divine tribunal is very strange. There has never been a case like this in history. My guess would be that you must have caused a bug in the system, since these thunderbolts are stronger then ones in even the hardest mortal level tribunals recorded.¡± She happily replied not worried at all. In her eyes there was no chance I''d fail. I held up my sword again awaiting the next strike. Oh? The last attack chipped the blade, despite the fact this thing was enchanted on molecular level to be near invincible. I heighten all my senses awaiting the third shot¡­ Danger! Pivoting with right foot I swiftly turn around and swing for my life. The third thunderbolt came from behind, flying parallel from the ground. Shit! My position was not good. The thunderbolt was slowly sliding on the blade towards the hilt. If it reaches I can count my hands good bye. I have no choice¡­ ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Void fist.¡± Releasing the sword mid clash I punch the thunderbolt with all my might. Using the spilt second delay bought by void fists space manipulation, I gather all my power in my right fist. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Goliath force!¡± A technique that gathers all the power of all the bodies muscles and compresses them into a single point. All the veins in my arm were throbbing like crazy. Planting my feet firmly on the ground I unleash the fist containing all of my physical strength. ¡°Burst x5000.¡± A sonic boom echoed behind my fist as it collided with the lightning. An explosion of blood erupted from my arm as the third thunderbolt was conquered. The skin over arm was completely singed and ripped apart from the force. The damage was so extensive that even the bone could be seen at one part. Blood flowed down like tap water. The strange thing was that my blood wasn''t red, well not perfectly red. There was a constant trace of black inside the red. My arm didn''t stay limp by my side for long, as it regenerated at high speeds. You could visually see the skin put itself back together, erasing all the burns. In just under a minute my arm was perfectly fine again, the speed was abnormally high because of Goliath force. Having all that power concentrated there made healing a lot easier. With arm fully healed I grabbed my sword again, more careful this time around. I was told that the tribunal could target you from anywhere, but I never thought that it would use that to launch a surprise attack. Let''s see what it''ll try now that I''m watching every vector. The rumbling above intensified, to the point that sparks flew everywhere. Here it comes! This thunderbolt surpassed all the others combined! The last thunderbolt was fired! ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: secret technique: Absolute Kaiser Blade!¡± Absolute Kaiser Blade was one the strongest sword skills I possessed. Meaning it was also one the most dangerous as well. The technique was something forcibly evolved a sword to the highest level, and sacrificed everything for destructive power. Just for an instant it could make poor quality weapons on par with divine weapons. The stronger the sword the higher the upgrade. After one strike the weapon will turn to dust and I will need to pay a toll. So far only one sword in existence was able to withstand this technique. ¡°Burst x10,000.¡± Combining Kishin will, corpse walker, Goliath force, absolute Kaiser Blade and finally burst gave me, for just an instant, destructive power stronger than that of a high ranking gods. Veins burst in my arms, legs and shoulders sending blood flying everywhere, my body was not at a level where it could withstand this kind of force. In my prime condition this would be different but now I am still recovering from the backlash of the previous battle. Bleeding heavily all over my body with grievous wounds on limbs I overcame the final thunderbolt. The mortal level heavenly tribulation was finally conquered. This entire ordeal sent a chill down my spine. My sword''s blade had turned to dust leaving only the hilt behind. The last thunderbolt¡­¡­¡­there was only a minute difference between our powers, if it was a little bit stronger or my sword was a little weaker I would be dead. Completely exhausted and suffering the consequences of using so many techniques and powers in one day I lay down slowly drifting off to sleep. Yrilssa took this chance to give me lap pillow, as she blissfully stroked my head. Water and wind magic was already used to clean up all the blood. She even used healing magic to speed up the super fast healing process I looked at her blissful smile one last time and then fell fast asleep. I entrusted myself to her. Little did I know of her internal discord as drool was leaking out her mouth after I fell asleep. She carried me to the carriage that somehow miraculously survived the destruction. After putting me down and erecting several barriers around the carriage she went sleep while embracing me like a hug pillow. Mira, whom regained consciousness, simply watched all this happen with a complicated expression. Part 2: It been a week since I disintegrated the mountain and reached beast rank divinity. We finally got back to town after another boring carriage trip. I was secretly shocked that the horses survived and didn''t run away. When we got back I immediacy dealt with the problem that I created, namely Mira''s fear. Unlike Yrilssa''s blind devotion and love she was normal, so as a normal person my utter disregard for life scared her. Of course this didn''t mean I was going to throw her away. Even though she is scared of me, Mira still looks at me as a pillar of support. Though her love for me did wane greatly. I decided to send her on a solo journey. Mira was only a fifteen years old girl, her world view and beliefs were reflected by it. This I decided I to let her explore the world and broaden he horizons. She needed to do some soul searching to help decide her future. Since I was sending her out on a journey I took several quests from [guild HQ] and gave them to her. All of them involved traveling all over the world. Giving her some money, food, equipment and survival guide I sent her off. She took to the idea surprisingly well considering she broke down crying when I was back home late once. Just in case I gave her a special ring. If she was ever in mortal danger and exhausted all her options, she could call me to help. The ring acted as summoning vessel. As long as it was with her, no matter of what condition it was in, I could save her whenever she wanted. Thus Mira set out to mature and explore the world. Now it was just me and Yrilssa, whose emotions were somewhat unstable. I spotted her drooling while watching me several times already when I was changing. Right now I was having a rare moment when I was alone. Yrilssa had headed to go buy ingredients for tonight''s dinner. Rolling out a map of the world I procured I began my personal study session. There was still way too much I didn''t know about this world. Beside the map I placed several large history books, only books that Yrilssa claimed to be accurate were gathered. I trusted her opinion because of how she knows the world, I didn''t want to read some biased crap written by some random fool. I was really curious about those old gods who created the heavenly tribunals. Since they were called the old gods that must mean there were new gods as well. History of various races was also high on my priority list. The more I studied the more I realized that this world is big place. Based on my estimates from the world map I conclude that this planet is at least two times bigger than the sun back at my world. On this super planet existed several Pangaea like supercontinents that have all been connected with artificial passages, essentially forming one mega continent. Surprising a large chunk of this mega continent was still unexplored. Based on what I read the monsters that inhibit these areas are all extremely powerful, the weakest being at beast rank. What''s more the tribunal system was different for monsters. At the end of each tribunal based on unknown condition monsters gain the opportunity to evolve into different species. Along with that was the dungeon phenomenon. A rather peculiar space time anomaly caused by an impossibly saturation of mana in an area. It is widely known that the most dangerous places in the world are dungeons. Despite that many dream of clearing them. The rewards for conquering were so great that just conquering one dungeon gave you enough money to live for several lifetimes Along with that were precious materials and highly valuable equipments, along with the scare possibility to acquire a divine level weapon. It is no wonder why thousands of adventurers threw themselves into these death traps. But above the ordinary dungeons were the great dungeons. They were extremely difficult to challenge, at the level that even the dragon kings are wary to challenge them. The rewards in great dungeons compared to normal dungeons if like the difference between heaven and earth. Dungeon diving does sound like something I would like to do in the future. I planned raiding several if given the chance. Yet right now I was too busy to indulge in my desires. Now back to the world map before I digress again. On this planet existing countless kingdoms and countries yet only has really large empires. All small empires either quickly became huge or were eradicated. These large empires were also placed I wanted to visit. Maybe I might make my empire. Surprisingly [guild HQ] allows any guild with sizeable achievements to create their own territory and possible start a country or kingdom. They adopt a hands off policy, letting you fend for yourself. Many ambitious guild masters were crushed by their ambitions this way. As I looked through the map I slowly memorized everything. Then cross referencing the historical texts I marked down several location that may hold lost treasures. There was a likely chance that someone has already raided these locations but I was willing to take the risk. At the very least I''ll enjoy the trip. A location I really wanted to visit was north east from here. Marked in big black letters was Shadowscale kingdom. The kingdom of the black dragon king. The next topic would be about the gods. What I learned about the gods in this world was truly bizarre. The gods of the old were the ancient god who banished the primordials from this world. After that they simply faded out if everyone''s minds, leaving behind the heavenly tribulations. It was speculated that in the great dungeons the legacy of the old gods lay resting, until they would be would be found by someone worthy. Since there were old gods naturally there were new gods. The new gods were more active than the old ones, they interacted heavily with every race. But even they did not know what happened to the old gods nor did they even remember their names. Strangely enough many churches dedicated to the gods of old still exist. Since the names were lost they identified the gods of old by their major traits, for example god of war or goddess of knowledge was they called them. Churches were more prominent on the western side of the contingent while shrines and temples dominated the eastern side. Also due to the heavenly tribulations if one reaches demi-god rank they will be recognized as a proper deity, and be given a permanent position in the divine realm. The divine realm was accessible by anyone who was passed the first tribunal. The divine realm was another place of interest for me. After studying up on the gods I began to research weapons and other equipment. Low, average, high, Magic, rare, unique, ancient, artifact, legendary, phantasmal and divine were the grades given to equipment. Low grade mostly consisted of decorative swords, tree branches from ordinary trees and other misc items. Normal grade was the average stuff made by beginner blacksmiths. All in all they were normal weapons but nothing amazing. High grade was equipment created by good blacksmiths they tended to higher quality and whole lot better than normal grade weapons. Magic grade actually has only slight difference from high grade, the difference being the weak enchantment it has. Rare grade was nearly the same as magic grade but had a stronger enchantment. Unique grade was where everything changed. These weapons have powerful enchantments and were made of rare hard to find material, they were highly expensive and powerful. Artifact grade weapons were on completely different level from those grades below it. These are weapons and equipment found at the end of dungeons. Artifacts are believed to have been created with the lost arts of the era of the gods of old. Legendary grade weapons are weapons used by heroes in myths and epics from the ancient past. This category also included weapons used by whatever evil these heroes defeated. Most of them are also believed to be from same era as artifacts. Others were conferred upon the heroes by the gods themselves. Phantasmal grade weapons are the ultimate creations of all races. These weapons are the strongest class made from the most rare and strongest material. Phantasmal class weapons can only be found at the depths of the hardest dungeons, though there is a really small chance of finding them even if you succeed. It is speculated that these weapons from the old era were crafted of the use of Demi-gods, minor gods, archangels, demon kings, dragon kings and other pinnacle level existences. And finally there are divine grade weapons, the absolute ultimate weapons in existence. These are weapons used by the gods of old and most powerful of the new gods. The only place one is able to procure a divine grade weapon would be in the divine realm, and that is if they are lucky. I pulled out several books on ki, which went hand in hand with books on aura. But to understand ki one must first have an understanding of the concept of mana, since many people''s end to mix them up. Mana is an invisible energy that exists everywhere in the world. When mages use magic they take in mana from outside their body and concert it into magic power, then activate the spell they intend to use. For normal mages 99% of the mana used us gathered from the outside, only 1% of their own mana is used. But that 1% takes a toll on their mental strength. The one percent represents the conversion rate from external to internal. Increasing your mana pool basically reduces this ratio to make it more balanced. When external mana. Is used more the chance of failure increases, along with longer casting time and decreased effectiveness of the spell. A balanced ratio is more ideal. Since it gives the perfect consumption rate and effectiveness. Most higher level beings, such as myself, use internal mana instead of external. My internal mana pool is large enough to use several god-class magic before I run out. The ratio do me would 99% internal and 1% external. My magic is ridiculously powerful in exchange for a higher cost. External mana is also subject to the environment, making it hard use in certain area''s of the world. To grow your mana pool is long process of exhausting your internal mana, and then refilling it with external mana. This is repeated until you reach a suitable level or until you are satisfied. Essentially the absorption of external mana is training method to prepare your body to became a proper mage. Absorbing external mana and transforming it into internal is the essence of using for most beings. This process is continued until the mage has developed a sufficient mana pool and has reached a suitable level in magecraft. Ki on the others and is all internal, the only exception being natural ki and transferring of ki and life force. Ki is cantered in your daitian, otherwise known as the ki center. The factors effecting ki are the size of you daitian and the purity or corruption of you ki. Ki is the life force that circulates throughout your body. Aura is when you use your ki externally. The touki technique that monks use is a variation of aura, aura is called fighting spirit. Ki is mainly used for body strengthening, and martial arts. Warriors, monks, assassins and archers all make use of ki. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The use of ki was started by martial artists during the age of magic. It was a source of hope for those who couldn''t use magic. With ki those without magic could have superhuman strength, speed and reaction speed. It even lead to the creation called magebane, a magic killing technique that any melee class of ruler level can learn. That if they find a practitioner willing to teach them. Purity is a major factor in ki, almost one of the most important. Monks have a higher affinity for ki them everyone else, their ki is excessively pure. This was due to constant purification of their bodies or through constant prayers. Spirituality is a really important aspect of using ki. The more purer the ki the more effective it is, even at small quantity pure ki is better than a larger amount of normal ki. Another factor of ki, more like the opposite, is corruption. Not all people who make use of ki are good people, thus they can''t produce pure ki. So they found a detour. Corrupt ki is commonly known as evil ki or dark ki. It is more potent than normal ki but is still weaker then the pure version. A disadvantage of it would be people could sense your evil intent. Those are the two main variation of ki that were founded in the distant past. Now there countless different types of ki that are tailored to different martial arts styles, an example would be the cursed blood style I fought previously. After finishing off a bunch of other books related to ki, I moved onto my next topic of interest. War. In this world there was a massive war, a war bigger than anything I''ve ever seen or heard about. A true world war that was truly fought by all sides in an utter battle for supremacy. Trillions upon quadrillions of soldiers took the field. Based on what I found this war lasted for countless years. No one remembers when, why or how it actually started and no one wants to find out. Mostly in fear that, that reason my spark another one. I was actually jealous of those who fought. If only I was born a couple of centuries earlier I could''ve participated. Even if I had to lose my life fighting I would have no regrets, I''ve fought a war my entire life and I have no intention of stopping now. It was just a hunch but I think both the nephiliam and the primordials have something to do with the war. It''s suspicious that they would remerge just when the war was finished and this world was at its weakest state. All beings that could stop them were still recovering from injuries from the war, or have lost a large amount of power. Based on what I read the leaders of heaven and hell were nearly assassinated by human assassin squads, surviving with grievous wounds. The weapon that injured them was the sacred treasure of the vampires, which of course the humans stole. The last thing I found was that majority of the nobles and kings from the era of the war were executed for their crimes. Probably to soothe all the bad blood after the war. Yet researching these executions led me to a peculiar rumor. A bunch a researcher from the human side and their allies gathered together in a remote research facility. In that facility unknown experiments were conducted, rumored to create something for some unknown purpose. Coincidentally that very research facility was in this region. Now I really wanted to find that lab. I overlooked so much since I was overjoyed at reviving in a new world. Finished reading I quickly tidied everything up. A surprising amount had passed since I started. As I out the books away I passed a handkerchief to the drooling elf watching from the hall. Yrilssa came back a while ago, spending good amount of time watching me in a daze. Part 3: My morning routine has been undergoing complete change. First was that Mira was gone, second was that Yrilssa''s advances have turned really aggressive. Before she used to prefer pajamas, stuff that showed no skin, and no she was almost naked while she slept. Sleeping in her underwear. Peeling myself out of her embrace, instantly a feeling of regret hit me. The soft sensation of her chest was gone. I was tempted to just go back into my previous position but managed to hold out with willpower. I had spent enough time resting and relaxing. It was time to go capture those fake guards. I needed the location of those ruins. ¡°Good morning Yrilssa.¡± I called out Yrilssa whom was trying to sneak up on me. ¡°Good morning master.¡± With a good morning kiss on cheek out day started. After eating a light breakfast, hand in hand we went out search for those guards. We headed to [Guild HQ] since it was best place gather information fast. That and I wanted collect the reward fur the quest we did, including the other parties cut. When entered the building I felt more glared then last time I came. I wonder what Yrilssa said to anger them to this extent. Oh well, as along they don''t try anything it won''t be my problem. ¡°Yrilssa can you find out the information we need? I just remembered there was something I had to take care of.¡± ¡°Of course master, please order me as you see fit.¡± I left everything to her in the end since I remembered a promise I made a while ago. And my policy was to never break promises. Taking the seat at a vacant table I immediately got to work. Tapping the red ring on my finger I called out the name of spirit weapon. ¡°[Typhous].¡± The flaming gold sword manifested on table, yet didn''t even singe it. Placing my hand on the blade a faint white light began to cover it. ¡°Nyaa~ master~ what are you doing now? Nyaa~¡± Continuing her cat like speech [Typhous] asked with burning curiosity. ¡°I''ve decided how I am going to create your bodies but there is a condition.¡± ¡°What is it? Nyaa~¡± ¡°All of you have to share the same body, your turn us determined by which spirit I am using.¡± ¡°Rejected nya!¡± ¡°Let me finish, I am sure my offer will be enticing. In exchange for sharing a body, whenever it''s your turn it will change into a personalized form for you. For example I can give your form cat ears and tail.¡± ¡°Do it! Please do it now!!!¡± With her consent I began to create the base of their body. With base acting as a template I''ll create their personal forms. The base form was a loli, around ten year old image. The reason I''m having them share a single body is because I don''t want an army of uncontrollable children running around. This way was much more convenient. Let''s see for [Typhous] who is based off of snake but wants to be cat¡­¡­ fiery red hair with nekomimi, her eyes would like those of a snake and also be red in color. Adding her tail into the mix made her really cute. Next is [Hemera] is the saint like one with complete devotion¡­¡­ for her it would shining white hair in a hime cut. She was given jewel like gray eyes. All in all she gave off an obedient aura. [Gaia] would the calm mature one that gave off an elder sister like aura¡­¡­she would be a brunette with shoulder length straight hair, along with her emerald eyes she given an extra inch in height. Overall she had a calm, mature air around her. [Aethier] was a bundle of entertainment in the form of lighting¡­ yellow hair tie in a ponytail with purple eyes was the look I have her. Her smile was bursting with energy. Next as [Khione] our residential tsundere, whose aura doesn''t suit her personality¡­ silver tied in twin tails with dark blue eyes. He had the air of noble around her. [Thalassa] our relaxed spirit that was on the border of laziness¡­ blue hair and blue eyes. An easygoing feeling permeated from her. [Nyx] our horribly shy and clumsy incarnation of darkness¡­¡­ black her with long bangs that nearly covered her pitch black eyes. All I can say is her clumsiness combined with her shyness made her cute. [Eos] a soft spoken wind with absolute loyalty, she reminds of ninja¡­¡­ she had shoulder length dark blue hair tied as a side tail, her bright blues eyes were like the sky. There was a somewhat unapproved atmosphere around her. Finally there was [Fysis] the father complex spirit¡­¡­ her orange hair was tied in braid that went along with her glasses that covered her silver eyes. She had a refined air around her. With body creation out of the way I set some ground rules. Namely that they will share it equally, no fighting, etc. etc. I left making the time slots to their hands. If they turn out to be unreasonable I will forcibly change them. The main reason I didn''t give them all separate bodies is the same reason I didn''t want to give them egos. I fear the wrath of her backlash. The existence that [Typhous] instinctively noticed and submitted her. The spirits address her as onee-sama. Our circumstances were really complicated so I won''t go into detail. To make it short the existence that spirits call onee-sama would be ultimate creation. She is sentient like the others but had been "alive" for several years know. Due to her nature she tends to jealous of others like her. So having in an army of loli'' would really piss her off. Her anger was not something to trifled with. As turned [Typhous] back to passive mode Yrilssa returned, and she brought information with her. ¡°Master I found them with some help from a friend who uses clairvoyance and divination.¡± I acted immediately on her information. Those fake guards were in the village where I met Mira. Catching them there will lessen the trip to the ruins. ¡°Yrilssa get ready to go while I make some preparations. Also good job.¡± We separated for short while, as we made various preparations for the journey. Everything was ready in roughly two hours. ¡°Everything has been readied do you wish to depart now, master?¡± The only thing Yrilssa brought along was a supple bag, everything else was stored in the . ¡°If you''ll allow me¡­¡± I scooped her up and held her in a princess carry. Travel by carriage, which was the norm of this world, was way too slow for me. We are traveling in a less conventional method this time, one that is a whole lot faster. Though I did her of fast carriage services but those tend to be very expensive. Despite her ecstatic smile and slightly red cheeks Yrilssa eyes were glued to my back. Eight large white angelic wings had sprouted out of my back. Each emitted a regal warmth. ¡°Before you ask I''ll tell you right now, I have no clue what these wings are as well. I was running a small experiment to try and grow dragon wings but these showed up instead.¡± First part dragon and now an angel part was thrown into the mix. To boot it was also a really high class angel considering the number of wings. ¡°So beautiful¡­¡­ those wings make you look so handsome master.¡± Her daze didn''t last long as her eyes were glued to my face. She was murmuring under her breath but I couldn''t make any of it out. I held her tightly as I lifted off. I already practiced the use of the wings earlier. The use was similar to an obsolete technique for flight I created in the past, before I created [Takemikazuchi]. Add in some wind magic and my speed skyrocketed, a while back I even heard a sonic boom behind me. I was going at Mach 1 right now. It took roughly two hours to make it to the village that usually took week and a half by foot to reach. I didn''t even spare the village a second glance as we passed over it. By expanding my senses and making use of nature and wind magic I already found the target. ¡°Root prison.¡± I activated a simple nature spell that creates a prison of roots to bind and trap foes for limited time. Since it was an improvised spell it was a lot weaker than normal. ¡°We meet again, scum.¡± I greeted them with an angelic smile that only looked demonic to them. Before they could resist or flee a beam of light pierced their knees. Using a little bit more magic I fully bound them to the spot and disabled their ability to do anything other than talk. ¡°Now then, do you know why I am looking for you?¡± ¡°Obviously to kill us. We thought we got away¡­¡­just how did you find us so quickly?¡± All of the men had blank defeated faces. They had prepared themselves for true despair they would were now about to face. Interrogation and torture. That is what were expecting, but I had no intention of dirtying my hands with them blood. I had a more effective, less dirty method. One that will handle both interrogation and execution cleanly. Mind hack. A lesser power born from my use of dimensional magic and soul magic. As a power it was not as strong as my other powers, hence lesser power. I only had a few lesser power and they were all weaker then my actual powers. Mind hack rips apart the targets mind turning them into a mindless doll that can only answer your question or follow orders to a limited degree. There several severe side effects on the target, mainly the slow death as their mind decays to the point they drop dead on the spot. This method is not good in all situations, but with these guys it''s okay. I just needed the location on the ruins and any information they had. At the very least this will give them a painless death. ¡°Tell me everything you know about the ruins, the one linked to that false charge of mass murder you tried to pin on me.¡± There was no audible answer, since they had already lost the ability to talk. I can see into their minds so there was no need to waste out breath. From what I can from their memories¡­¡­¡­ the ruins are about several kilometers south from here, it would probably take a while to walk there. For more detailed info I decided search their memories of the place. What I found was astounding. The ruins were a research facility created during the war. It was made to overcome the innate weakness of the human race. It was also the epitome of human greed. There they researched the prospects of every race on the planets, even extinct or banished races. Everything from monsters to gods was researched in that place. It was all for the sale of their main project. The creation of an artificial being to turn the tide of the war. To bring victory to the human side. For that same humanity spent many battles collecting information. Analyzing the techniques of all sides and creating a compendium of knowledge on magic, martial arts, strategy, racial traits and power, physical ability of each race and their unique abilities. I couldn''t believe I missed much an abundance of information. My determination to go there has increased several folds. The last thing I wanted to know was who their backing was. No matter how idiotic they were, someone had to pulling the strings from behind. The crimes they tried to pin on me were very specific, to point I could tell that someone with influence wanted to separate me and Yrilssa. A name floated in their minds. Duke Leignar Swordsith¡­¡­¡­ Yrilssa''s father¡­¡­ Unbeknownst to Yrilssa I hired someone to run a background check on her. Through that I investigated her family. It wasn''t that I didn''t believe her, I just wanted to know about the past she abandoned. In addition to that I also located all her problematic family members and get some blackmail material. That ordeal would''ve cost a fair bit of gold, since I hired pros that no one could really afford, but got away with giving them equipment instead. The main points of my investigation were her father and the man her father wanted her to marry. I refused to acknowledge him as a fianc¨¦. Looks like that bastard is still obsessed with his fantasies about spirit elves. When I meet my father-in-law I''m going to give him a cruel reality check, the fianc¨¦ was of no consequence. Done with the guards I snapped my fingers, causing all of them to fall lifelessly to the floor. Like I said I gave them a painless death, after all minor characters for need anything special. ¡°Let''s go Yrilssa.¡± ¡°Yes master!¡± Completely ignoring the bodies we took off again in a princess carry. Yrilssa did tell me that shouldn''t use that power much since mind magic is frills related to necromancy which a banned practice. Seriously is everything I know either forbidden or lost? I retorted. In response Yrilssa could only chuckle. Part 4: Nightfall. The distance to the ruins was greater than previously estimated, so we decided to rest for the night and get there early in the morning. When I thought about getting the answers to resurrection. I was strangely tired. Physically and mentally I was fine, not even fatigued in the slightest yet I felt tired. Another thing would be that my wings have yet to retract or revert. Not knowing how to handle this I just went ahead and used them as a blanket. Yrilssa of course was glued to my side, she remarked that my wings were surprisingly warm. That night A strange event occurred¡­¡­¡­ In a vast open plan that stretched endlessly stood six figures. All of them radiated power of the highest level, a level that I could die from just a one on one confrontation. What''s more all of them glared at me in hostility. It seemed that any second now they would pounce on me, with the intent to rip to shreds. The only thing stopping them was massive chains that bound them in place. Even with all their power they couldn''t break free. Only I was free to move as I please but even I was wary about moving near them. Their killing intent made my skin tingle, as my blood boiled in anticipation. What Yrilssa said was right. Ever since coming to this world I''ve been restraining myself far too much. A familiar weight entered my right hand. The golden sword of salvation was once again in my hands. How long has it been since I last held this sword¡­¡­ my mind wanted to drift off. My mind slowly entered combat mode. All unnecessary thoughts or desires left my mind. Just as I was ready the chains constricting the six were released. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Secret technique: Life constraint release Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Secret technique: Dimensional constraint release. Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Secret technique: Soul constraint release Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Secret technique: Mind constraint release Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Secret technique: Body constraint release Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Secret technique: True dragon rampage: Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Ultimate technique: Wrath of the chaotic overlord.¡± I activated my most powerful techniques that sat at the pinnacle of the kurogane shomatsu-ryu. The very core of my being was altered. Just the names of the techniques suggest I released all my constraints. I was using my genuine 100% power, sparing no expense. In addition that every technique found under any of the categories was activated. This was the peak of the kurogane shomatsu-ryu, utilizing every technique it contained. Everything was used all at once for sake of victory. All or nothing. In comparison true dragon rampage and wrath of the chaotic overlords seem too weak to be my strongest techniques, but that was the scary thing about them. Sure an increase of 10x or 100x was great but other abilities or a one hit kill technique will surely be more effective and approximate for an ultimate technique. That would be true if not for the actual affective was of technique. The 10x or 100x affected everything. Raw power, stamina, mana pool, life force, the power of each technique, five sense, mental functions, body functions, physical ability, weapon skills, magic spells, powers, absolutely everything was increased. But adding the release of my body, mind and soul my power has reached its absolute peak. It was my full 100%, sparing no expense. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu founder and master, , Kurogane Shin will now face you with all my might.¡± I displayed a rare amount of respect as I introduced myself, my title and my school. This method of introducing myself was taught to me by Yrilssa, who said that when I face an opponent that I replaced I should introduce myself as such. It seems my intentions had been understood by the six before me. ¡°Red dragon god of origin, , Ignis.¡± ¡°Black dragon god of origin, , Tenebris.¡± ¡°Leader of the archangels, , Lux.¡± ¡°King of angels, , Vas.¡± ¡°Great devil king of hell, , Superbia.¡± ¡°Great king of devils, , Ira.¡± Some amazing names just came out, so amazing that it was almost unbelievable. I didn''t recognize the names of the two dragon gods, their names were probably lost in the past. The other four were incomparably more well known. In fact almost no one in the entire world hasn''t heard their name. Lux, Vas, Superbia, Ira were the leaders of heaven and hell during the war that swallowed this world, in fact they were the ones who started it. Many stories of their strength and renown where spread everywhere. It was said that right now they live secluded lives in their respective realms as they recover from the grievous wounds they received in the war. This will be excellent blackmail material against their successors, since they''re hiding this fact so it must be valuable information. First is our battle. Each of them already drew their respective weapons and already adopted a battle stance. How exciting. As a provocation I offered them the first strike, and they wholeheartedly responded. All six attacked in perfect coordination with an already established formation. I wonder how long they''ve been planning this. Vas and Ira were the rear guards, Lux and Superbia were the mid guards, and finally the two dragon gods were the vanguards. Their pride allowed nothing less. First came the claws, followed by the spear of light and sword of darkness, and finally the magic of heaven and hell. Using my blade I knock away both the dragon gods, then quickly party the spear coming at my side. From that angle I slash down at the blade about to cut my back. From that disadvantaged position I unsealed a flurry of cuts to rip part the incoming magic attacks. Despite surrounded on all sides in less than 0.01 seconds I repel all attacks coming at me, no matter which position I am in. ¡°True heavens lightning strike.¡± I rain magic down on the rear guard, which naturally block it with ease. No matter it was only to stall them in the first place. As I clashed with dragon gods I suddenly reinforced my legs with enormous amount of power. Like a soccer ball I kicked iguanid off into the horizon. At the very least that will be but me a seconds. Tenebris was surprised to see Ignis blown away but that didn''t show in his aura. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: infinity blade.¡± At max power I showered the dragon god with innumerable slashes and cuts. Continuously shifting the angle at each attack, making each attack unpredictable. There were no predetermined movement or motions in this attack at all, each attack was utterly random. It only lasted three seconds as Lux''s spear was narrowly dodged with a tilt of my head. Not missing the chance Superbia''s sword closed in on me from the side. Behind me was Tenebris''s claws that cleaved through the air. Letting go the sword I swiftly kick away the sword, and intercept the claws with blade I redrew while in midair. Just as my foot makes contact with the ground I vanish, moving at incredible speed. My target was Ira. Her reaction was superb, in spilt second a several large magic circles were already in front of her. An unknown type of magic that utilized the flames of hell. Not even I would be unscathed taking that on. ¡°[Susano-o form 1].¡± A regal mirror manifested beige me, Yata no Kagami. The power to deflect any projectile attack of any type or power. The flames rebounded off the mirror and slammed back at Ira full force. Ira neutralized them some effort. I had no time to counterattack as Ignis''s strike came at high speed. Shit I can''t dodge this one. Stabbing my sword through my gut I intercept the attack. Unhanding the sword I slam my leg into the shocked Ignis''s side. In one fluid motion I pull the sword out and threw it at the flying Ignis. It in paled Ignis and sent him flying even further. I had no time relax Superbia''s sword shot out black lightning bolts at me from above. They were of no consequence as the Yata no kagami took care of them, but these constant attacks were disrupting my rhythm too much. Ira had already changed tactics see her magic being blocked so easily. Wielding a spear she launched an endless stream of stabs, firing magic from the tip at point blank range. Superbia offered his support by drawing a good number of blows. Tenebris, Lux and Vas were preparing a large attack. Ignis also returned, with my sword still stuck in his chest. ¡°You''re insane.¡± That was first Ignis ever said to me other than his name. Despite his glare of hatred his eyes held amusement. ¡°I can believe that those dried up old men would select someone like you.¡± He was getting strangely talkative, in fact no one attacked as he spoke to me. Perhaps they were interested in what he was talking about. ¡°I have an idea of what old men you''re talking about, but I have a clue about what you''re trying to ask.¡± A flash of confusion went through his eyes. Did he think I was deciding them? ¡°Two months ago did you not absorb as per their instructions? I''m sure that those twisted experiments are still continuing. Surely you must be another warrior that lusts for power?¡± He was confused since he thought I was weak warrior seeking shortcuts at first, yet when he saw my strength it only deepened his confusion. I''m starting to understand him less and less, though I made sure to harvest all the information he gave me. ¡°What you speak of is impossible.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°It would be better to show you.¡± Using telepathy I inform them of my death and resurrection. I did this to avoid the obvious denial that would follow. ¡°I understand now.¡± Ignis could not hide his surprise this time around. Along with the other five he was shocked. At the very least he took it really well. Somehow I felt he was relieved. When he fell back into his battle stance I knew the battle will be continued. I guess if I want answers I must win first. With a flick of my wrist my sword manifests in my hands. Ignis had tried to remove it but the shocks it let out prevent him from doing so. The golden sword of salvation, otherwise known as [Tsumi], my greatest creation and ultimate weapon. [Tsumi] was also the onee-sama of all the spirits. The golden sword of salvation [Tsumi] is weapon that has surpassed divine level weapons. At Max power a single swing is enough to destroy a large city. The main personality difference between her and her little sisters would be her possessiveness and etiquette. As a weapon she made a strict rule to never talk in battle. For performance differences it would be that she does not originate from a mana core but something else entirely. Ability wise she is superior in every way. [Tsumi] was sword that possessed her own divinity and evolved into a sword god. I entered my stance and waited¡­¡­ The six abruptly changed their rules of engagement, instead of six on one like before it will now be six consecutive one on one matches. I can''t help but shake the feeling test I am being tested here. ¡°Care to explain why we''re fighting in the first place? Not that I mind though.¡± Despite knowing it would be fruitless I asked anyway. ¡°We are testing you mortal, you who has only passed your first tribulation. If you couldn''t even pass one tribulation there would be no hope for you here, yet you are an interesting one who was strength beyond his divinity. If you wish know our true motives defeat us. Show us your resolve and face this tribulation!¡± Tenebris answered with a booming voice, his answer coincided with my expectations perfectly. Let us see who is stronger me at max power or these six figures who on their own could turn the world upside down, especially the two dragons gods. They radiated power far stronger than the others. My toughest battle ever was beginning. Unable to suppress my excitement any longer I attacked Ignis, my first opponent, without holding back at all. Twirling around the edge of my blade was a pitch black steam, that let out red stars surrounding the sword. ¡°[Tsumi Full Armament]!¡± I activated my last trump card, the ability with power to destroy stars! Chapter 5: part 1 Chapter 5: Atavistic ruins Part 1: The darkness wrapping around my body slowly solidified, transforming into a full set out of armour. The dark gold armour covered from head to toe. The shape was similar to that of a humanoid dragon. With no opening except for the eyes. Channels of platinum ran through the armour converging at the silver core in the chest. Along the outer edge of the amour was a thin pitch black mist, quite similar to aura but fundamentally different. ¡°[Susano-o form 2]!¡± A divine jewel formed in the armour. Yasakani no Magatama. The ability to teleport at high speeds at will. Instead of movement speed like with [takemikazuchi], this was more like the ability to attack with no meaning for distances. My sword can strike at any foe no matter how far, the only condition would that I had no where the target was. Just as I was about to clash with Iginis I teleported behind him, slashing at his back. As he turned to counterattack I had already teleported and attacked from a different side. With an angry roar Ignis fires an energy wave that hits every direction. At close range this blast of energy could not be dodged. That is against normal opponents. I step towards the wave and the moment it''s about to touch me I teleport past it. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Storm Field.¡± I teleported above and rained down countless tabs on him, lightning shoots out from the tip of blade. Just as his defences were up I teleport to his side and fire slashes like a raging hurricane. ¡°I call upon the immortal ice that shall embrace the world, freezing all to death. Bring forth the chilling hell of a world with no sun. Create the beautiful wonderland that will consume world at the ends of time. Bring forth the death of stars. World End Garden: Primal Ice Storm.¡± Carved on the ground below him was a massive magic circle. Ignis immediately tried to jump away. Gathering the swirling black stream around the edge of my blade, I fired a wave of energy at Ignis from above. Hit by the wave he was slammed heavily into the ground. The black steams'' true identity was super gravity. My version of the sword that can cut apart heavens and earth. A massive spike of ice pierced through Ignis''s chest, followed by many more ice piles impaling him. But that was not all. The temperature around him rapidly dropped, all the way to absolute zero. Even the spikes of ice were affected, not that they mattered their purpose was only to bind him a little. Ignis could sense the danger as the temperature rapidly fell to the negative degrees below a hundred. He released powerful flames all around to offset the damage, but even they began freezing over. Slowly his blood froze, the liquids in his body froze, his organs, even his mana. Everything froze till the point that even particles froze over, the absolute zero temperature had completely shut down the dragon god. But this was a dragon god, an existence I can''t even begin to measure. In terms of raw power he is superior to me, has more experience then me, his divinity was stronger then mine and he knew how to use it. There was no way an existence like that could be beat by something as simple as absolute zero. Now that I had the advantage it was turn to truly strike! I had to use this chance while it lasts. I gathered a large amount of power into [Tsumi], I was at very least going to get one full strike through. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Celestial Executor.¡± The sword technique was strongest destructive power! Plus a massive increase in range. With that single slash a large deep cut was made across Ignis''s torso. I had no time for another attack, I had noticed the minuscule movement Ignis did. In seconds absolute zero was crushed by a massive blaze. In the center of fire stood Ignis in his full humanoid dragon form. He was finally pulling out all the stops. I instinctively could tell that [Susano-o form 2] would no longer be effective. It was time to stake everything on pure power. ¡°[Susano-o form 3]!¡± A black katana descended down from heavens. Kusunagi no Tsurugi, otherwise own as the Ama no Murakumo. The magnificently crafted divine katana merged with [Tsumi] granting her all the powers it held. But that was not all, this was not enough to defeat Ignis. I can remember the thickness of his scales, more power was needed. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu forbidden technique: Burst x infinity.¡± Just like any other martial arts schools I had my own forbidden techniques. My forbidden technique each had a different price associated with them but all lead to death, it didn''t matter how strong you were if you any of them you would die. The chance of survival was mere 0.001%. Each forbidden technique was base off of certain concept or theory. Take burst x infinity for example. This technique uses the base of the technique burst and combines it with a radical idea, if one strike with sword takes I.5 seconds to execute how many strikes can a person generate in their an entire year? In one year they generate 47,304,000 strikes. Now how many would that if you added in the seventy year lifespan of an average human? 3.31128e+9 strikes. The price for the technique would the time it would take execute the number of attacks required, but if sacrifice a soul the price can be bypassed. And if I you more then one soul it 3.31128e+9 times the number souls, making the number for busty seem truly infinite. Just like my other skills this is effected by a cool down, a really severe one at that. This a technique that can only be activated once per year and you need to repay the half price once again the cool down is done to unlock it. Ignis on other hand didn''t charge at me, well not yet at least. He was chanting something, most likely more unknown god class magic. His humanoid dragon body was covered in raging flames that made him look like an avatar of fire. Anyone could that these flames were not normal. These were the fires that gave birth to and destroyed planets. Both of us launched at one another at the same time. Clashing in mid air, resulting a massive shock wave. None of us were yielding an inch. I my have repeated this many times but the kurogane shomatsu-ryu buts its main emphasis on annihilation and body transformation. It is completely formless style that rest at the top of martial arts, but that is not the ultimate purpose. The ultimate goal of the kurogane shomatsu-ryu is turn the body into a living weapon. This goal was only achievable by using all the techniques in the style along with releasing all constraints on the body. Hence my body surpassed even the dragon god before me. Combining a sword god along with it, I naturally began to overpower him. Despite that the dragon god held his ground striking more stronger and fiercer than before. Using more and more powerful flames. It was even fight as both of our fighting styles matched one another, both unpredictable and savage. Relying more on instinct then knowledge. [Tsumi] cut through the wind leaving afterimages on each movement of the blade. Even with the slightest vibration of my hand countless cuts and stabs were fired at Ignis. A proper swing fired a truly innumerable amount of attacks that devastated the environment. With the support of the Kusunagi no Tsurugi Ignis''s scales were easily damaged, I only felt half the thickness from last time. In response Ignis fought back with his flame hell. Whether it was raining down from the sky or rising up from the earth, his flames struck from anywhere. Coupled with that was his ultra fast speed you would think that would be impossible for his body. The damage was slowly beginning to pile up on both sides. Both of our "refined" martial arts were fading, turning into a savage fight. Both us had already lost the ability to track time as we endlessly clashed, each team nearly delivering the killing blow. Even more greater power was needed to end this fight. I could already hear Ignis chanting a new spell in an unknown language. Whoever seizes the initiative now would be have the advantage. ¡°I am god of war and storms that has led 2000 rouge gods in rebellion. I am dragon slayer and owner of three regalia. Feel the earth of the rampaging storm god, Haya Susano-o no Mikoto! [Susano-o final form].¡± I activated god mode, arming myself with the [storm authority]. Thunder storms and most natural disasters were all under my control. After the tribunal I researched more on what exactly these divinities were, the results were astounding. What I came across where [authorities]. [Authorities] acted differently from what I imagined. Wrote now I had [racial authority] and the [storm authority]. My [racial authority] was granted to me by the tribunals, the [storm authority] was granted through power. [Authorities] were something that were only available to true gods, or those with the corresponding rank. They were powers of the highest level, truly befitting the gods. [Authorities] were also what defined gods, for example a sword god would''ve have a [Sword authority] or [Elemental authority] based on what element they excelled in using. What''s more they were upgradable, getting more stronger and versatile base your skill with them. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. This truly opened my eyes to the fact that I could still get even more stronger. If I could achieve this I would be able to call myself a true god of war. Based on my analysis Ignis also held several [authorities]. According to him he was the red dragon god of origin, he didn''t identify himself as a dragon king or talked about his rank. This led me to believe that he must be one of the gods of old or possibly from an era before them. And now I pushed him to point that he will begin using his [authorities] at full power. Ignis''s flames turned dark red, covering his entire body forming a demonic armour of flames. He fired his flaming scales in all directions, spawning a horde of flaming phantom beasts. Just the contracting of his legs muscles destroyed the ground under him. His speed was unbelievable as his flaming claws neared my faces, millimetres away from hitting. The heat he was emitting was ungodly. In his an instant almost all my advantages were stripped from me, leaving only one singe advantage for me. It was the sole thing I had that he didn''t. Insanity. It was our state of mind that put us apart. My actions and thoughts were not bounded by commons sense or morals. Everything was for the sale of victory. Ignis also acknowledged it as well, only an insane person would stab themselves to block an attack coming from behind. That''s way even if he expected it he couldn''t help but get flustered when I acted. Kicking [Tsumi] into the air I grabbed the approaching claws, turning this into a contest of strength. I withstood the burning heat not giving an inch as my hands were heavily burned. The golden sword dropped towards Ignis who easily dodged the descending sword. He sneered at me for my simplistic plan, but my next action wiped that smile off his face. Catching the blade with my mouth I once again impaled his torso. Stretching back I managed to make him slightly lose his balance as he roared in pain. Using his hands as a support I kicked the sword will all my strength, sending it flying through him. A gaping hole was opened in his chest. Flicking my wrist [Tsumi] was back in my hands. Ignis jumped backwards putting distance between us. Oh no you don''t. I was not going to give him an opportunity to heal. I at rushed him with intentions of cutting him while I still had the chance. Hordes of flaming phantom beasts stood in my way, even individually they were really powerful. More importantly they were coated in those ungodly flames. Underestimating them would do me no good, but I can''t decreased speed either. Leaving me only one option to break through. ¡°I call upon the inhospitable boundless oceans that shall blanket the land, bringing all life to end. Deliver them all life''s final resting place. Create the wave of extermination that will wipe the world clean. Bring forth the death of planets. World end garden: Primal Oceanic Abyss.¡± I shot up into air with eight angels wings sprouting from my back. Below me, behind where I was previously standing was a tsunami so thy it reached the clouds. To prevent Ignis from taking to the air I gathered the floating red stars together. Like lasers the stars homed in on Ignis, causing massive explosions on impact. Effectively grounding him. With no where to run he was swallowed by the wave, along with all his phantom beasts. Anything inside of water lost control over all their senses, as well losing their sense of direction. There was no light entering the water, cutting off the path to escape. Each passing second they could feel their vitality dropping. Even aquatic beings like the frog- like phantom beasts were effected. Those who tried to move around were hit by abnormal water pressure and water resistance. I calmly watched as everything was slowly brought to death, crushed by the water. The dark pool of water was truly a herald for the end. It was time to end this. We''ve been fighting for very long time now, based on my estimate several days have probably passed by now. I gathered an unbelievable large amount of magical power in [Tsumi], having her eat the super gravity and red stars as well. I was putting in everything for the final attack. Ignis must''ve read my mind since he was doing the same. ¡°Divine darkness accepts all, divine light cleanses all. True darkness swallows all, true light purifies all. Light and darkness are just the two sides of same coin, separated by a thin border¡­¡­¡± Bursting from my body was a spectrum of black and white energy. ¡°I hold the sword that governs both sides. The divine sword of light and darkness, the sword of salvation and damnation.¡± ¡°I am [Tsumi], the incarnation of chaos! Destroyer of worlds!¡± Her melodious voice was heard from first time. She was bursting with power as she used her own personally created technique. ¡°Star slayer blade: light and darkness annihilation.¡± A mix of black and white lights coated [Tsumi], with a singe slash a torrential amount of power was released. Ignis''s attack was his dragon''s breath, but it was insanely powerful. It held the strength of a meteor barrage. This too was an anti planet attack. There was many factors that affect victor or defeat in this clash. Factor 1: body strength. Factor 2: our footholds. Factor 3: power difference between our respective attacks. Factor 4: endurance. Factor 5: reach. Factor 6: state of mind. Our bodies held the same level of strength. My foothold was slightly in better condition as I used my skills to drain the vitality of the land he standing on. Our attacks were almost equal in power, with a minuscule advantage for me. We had equal endurance. The last two were the most deciding. Mid clash I summoned storm behind me, using the rampaging winds to propel me forward. This round my insane judgement had won over Ignis''s rational judgement. In a single breath I was standing before him, he had entered my absolute kill range. Retaining [Tsumi''s] technique I unleashed the full fury of burst x infinity at point blank range. It was my victory. Part 1.5: Only when he battle was over did I realize that it was not several hours but days that passed. The situation was so intense that it felt the battle was over really fast. Thanks to the life constraint release and the dimension constraint seal release I could heal my wounds and maintain all my techniques without experiencing the cool down effect. In addition that I could create a small territory around that acted as a miniature in my immediate vicinity. Speeding up time and increase my recovery rate. I could just relax and recover if it wasn''t for a small problem. ¡°You know when you die you''re supposed to stay dead.¡± I spoke bitterly to Ignis who miraculously revived and stood before me unharmed. I didn''t react because there was no intent to fight coming from him. ¡°That is not something you are qualified to say.¡± He does gave a point but this and that are different! ¡°I only came back once, you on the other hand are taking your second turn here.¡± ¡°How perceptive¡­¡­ there is much to talk about but so little time.¡± Suddenly who spoke like a lonely old man who wanted some conversation. I also wanted ask him some things. ¡°I can tell that you are very confused and are searching for answers, that is why you are headed to those ruins. Sadly I don''t have the time to answer those questions, all I can give you is a lead.¡± I expected as much. His body was slowly fading away, his revival was only short term lasting a few short minutes at best. ¡°Find the shrine of the fire dragons¡­¡­ with my flames you will be able to head to deepest level. Kurogane Shin I leave to you my legacy.¡± With those words who faded out of existence, permanently this time. I pondered on his words for while but cut my words short. My next opponent had arrived. Wielding a gorgeous spear, the otherworldly beauty who was the and a glorious king of devils, Ira stood before me. Chapter 5 part 2 Part 2: I calmly evaluated the beauty before me, instantly facing my earlier regrets. Why couldn''t I have been born in an earlier era. If I was there when Ira was still alive I would''ve done many things. Her beauty was on par with Yrilssa''s, which was surprising since it was hard to find such matching peerless beauty even in this vast world. I banished those thoughts and intercepted her magical attack. Her showed no reaction as her surprise attack nullified. She just poised her spear up again and created another magic circle. I could sense that this one was stronger then the last. I see, she''s trying establish which level of magic will be suitable to face me. Once she finds it I can expect an endless barrage of countless magics. I read before that Ira was greatest archmage of her time, possibly the greatest in history. So I challenged her in way that even she wouldn''t expect. ¡°I call upon the peerless light that shall cleanse the world, turning all to ashes. Bring down the heavenly light that will turn the world to dust. Purify all with the light of oblivion. Give us the final light before the darkness. World End Garden: Primal Light of Extinction.¡± A warm almost comforting light descended from the heavens. It was a light that was neither too bright nor too dim. It was just right, the world lit up with a heavenly glow. Ira on the other had felt the true effects of the light. She could feel the forcing her body and soul to begin decaying. She could feel her very being turning to ash. ¡°What a terrifying spell.¡± She muttered as she activated a series of high level spell, creating a veil of darkness around. The light touching it was dispersed. Her barrier was constantly being renewed the moment it weakened. Above her were enough spears to block out the sky. ¡°Now it''s my turn.¡± She said as the spears came at me like missiles. Just as the speed was executed she began preparing another series of big attacks. Planting my feet on the ground I intercepted every projectile, cutting them all to pieces. Whenever the swarm losses up I would fire off a couple of sword waves at Ira. I could already tell that her magic shields and barriers will make all small attacks meaningless. This was going to nonstop battle high level magic. Drawing battle in close quarters combat was impossible. At the very most I could bring it to mid range but I''ll probably take heavy damage doing it. The entire area in front of me was littered with powerful magic traps. My only option was to continue our magic showdown. ¡°I call upon the infinite darkness that shall embrace the world, returning everything back to the lifeless beginning. Deliver us the darkness devouring darkening. The infinite abyss from the beginnings be end of times. Give us the darkness from a world void of light. Accept all into nothingness. World End Garden: Primal Abyssal Void.¡± Instead of sky this time specks darkness simply formed into existence. Scattered all over the area tiny specks of darkness. Ira felt chills run down her spine when they formed near her, she instinctively used my magic to destroy it. Contrary to her expectations, her magic was absorbed. The specks steadily grew, spreading out over the land. It absorbed every it touched. When the darkness reached Ira''s barrier it began to eat it. Loud chomping noises could be heard as the barrier was being eaten at a faster rate then it could be repaired or replaced. Ira meticulously kept up her defences as she prepared counter measures. Living up to her name as the greatest archmage she had already found a way out. A thick blue light shot out in every direction, displaying together with the darkness. I had no idea what hell she just did but somehow I understood what happened. World end garden: Primal light of extinction was slow acting but had more stability and control. On the other hand World end garden Primal abyssal void was straight but unpredictable and power based, leaving it vulnerable to anti magic techniques. Though only techniques of the highest level would be effective. My entire world end garden serried of god class magic was like this. All spells were created various method of extinction in mind. I had one for each element. And the World end garden series was my deception. Since the very start of our magic battle, no even before that, I was laying my trap. A trap that would only work once. For everything to work I needed to continue pestering her, allowing her to see through more of my magic. She could already disrupt some spells without god class magic, just a little more¡­ ¡°I call upon the immortal lightning that rules over the sky, dropping damnation on all. Deliver the baneful hammer of the gods that shall smite the world. Give us the absolute ruler of the skies, the peerless act of god. I desire the lightning that will sunder both heaven and earth. Exterminate the world faster then a single breath. World End Garden: Primal Lightning of Annihilation.¡± There was no delay, no wait, no sound, no thunder, no sign, no warning¡­ several times faster then the speed of sound decimated the area where Ira was previously standing. It was due to luck. She understood that it was purely luck that allowed her to avoid that. The lightning strike was so fast all she saw was a blur, which in itself was amazing. All her precious which she magic defences which she painstakingly created were effortlessly punctured. Ira''s eyes were widened by shock as she floated in the air with eight bat like wings. Her incredulous gaze was directed at me. ¡°Honestly I was under the misinterpretation that you were a brute that went for power the most. Colour me surprised when you splendidly tricked me like this.¡± Unbelievably she was pouting like a child, her face was similar to an older sister who found out she was tricked by her younger brother. I could tell from experience. ¡°I was seriously about to scold you for your crude usage of magic.¡± Her eyes were filled with regret and longing. Her sentiments her completely shared by me. ¡°If only you were born an era earlier¡­¡± ¡°I think the same thing Ira-neechan.¡± Her face visually brightened when I addressed her as such. Despite our duel to the death, I can never resist making a beautiful woman smile. ¡°Then little brother, do you believe you can surpass your exalted elder sister?¡± ¡°I''ll prove it. How can go against the request of my beautiful older sister.¡± ¡°Then to prove it¡­ I want you to release your¡­rage.¡± What a strange request, but I had no reasons to refuse. Ira was devil king of wrath. Rage must have a special meaning to her. With mind constraint release it was easy. I simply the the emotion of anger the highest priority and changed it to my main emotion. It didn''t even take half a second to accomplish. At very same time I thought it was time. Operation start! Faster then the eye could follow anther lightning bolt struck down, destroying one of Ira''s wings. Just before she could react several more lightning bolts stuck, destroying the rest. Ira quickly entered a defensive position, activating as many anti-lightning spells as possible. The only thing that could fully resist was her body. All her spell proved fruitless again. Even when she stacked barriers of the higher level, all the lighting did was strike the same spot in rapid succession. She managed to withstand the spell only suffering some serious burns and losing her left arm. But she didn''t looked she was in pain, in fact she was smiling gleefully. Her spear danced gracefully through air, with each step in the dance another spell was crafted. Ira was using her original magic. How could I not respond in kind, only god class magic could withstand god class magic. She could reuse her spells I on the other had could not. After I used a spell it became obsolete. If I used it too much I was confident that Ira would steal my magic. ¡°I call upon the true flames of stars that is the lifeblood of worlds, the power of give birth to and destroy universes. Deliver us the stellar flames born from the death of stars. Give us the absolute force of space, the fire that could easily burn the gods. I desire the flames of the beginning and the end. Wipe out all life with the absolute flame. World end garden: Primal Hellfire Supernova.¡± This was no unbelievably fast strike, no or complicated multi step attack or a slow acting instant deaths spell. In fact this was the most simple spell in my arsenal. A massive explosion. This was my trap. I had Ira get used all the high level complex magic I''ve been using so far, making her let her guard down against this simple attack. The massive explosion of white flames engulfed her as stretched out endlessly, easily surpassing the force of 10,000,000,000 TNT. Yet deposited my preparation she''s aged to mitigate the damage. ¡°Black hole field.¡± She said softly as the rampaging flames were sucked in, severely reducing scale of the explosion. Only a fraction of it managed to hit her. ¡°You''re really merciless, little brother.¡± ¡°Can''t we say the same to you Ira¨Cneechan?¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I said as I dodged the onslaught powerful raining weapons. I parried the ones I could but I was forced to stick to only dodging. Every time I stopped or tried to parry a news spear or sword would find its way into my back. Is she trying to make me into a weapon rack? Honestly now even dodging was inefficient, some of the weapons would detonate if they made contact with earth. The damage to my back as legs was piling up, and the onslaught showed no signs of ending. Ira was smiling pleasantly as more and more weapons came out me, this time with more enchantments than the last. All my options are drying up. Parrying as no go, dodging was inefficient, distancing myself only subjected me to magical land mines. My only choice was to counterattack. It would be test to see who fell first. Preserving mana was a no go. I was going to give her everything I''ve got. ¡°Crawl out of depths of crimson purgatory. Roar valiantly as you will step foot on this land once more. You are the beast to steal the place of Trihexia, the beast bearing the number of 666. With fangs stronger then Fenrir''s, lightning mightier then Zeus''s, and claws superior that of a dragon''s, you stand at the apex of beasts. Rise fallen bestial soul. Fallen Azure Beast of Purgatory.¡± A large magical circle appeared beside, a magic circles that required Ira''s level of magic to decode. Her eyes flashed in excitement when she saw it. Crawling out from the magic circle was a large alpha dire wolf like creature with captivating azure fur and blood red crystal like eyes. Sparks of purple lightning were constantly being discharged from its fur. Letting out a none chilling roar, the beast charges at the stunned Ira. This was the true extent of my trap. My true god class magic was avatar manifestation. The magic to summon an your avatar with an element of your choosing. Avatar manifestation was an extremely powerful type f magic but for that same reason it was unpopular with most wizards. The mana consumption for one spell was enormous. Even a single mistake could result in a deformity. That was why those that practised it my made it their main type of magic. I didn''t have that problem thanks to using creation magic and the unlike others I could several hundred years designing a spell. This was why Ira was stunned to see it. So far throughout this battle I was using extremely complex elemental magic. She regained her composure faster then expected. I could feel a slight chill run down my spine when I saw her smile. Words from an unknown language were coming out if her mouth as her spear smacked through the air, crafted a magic circle that rivalled mine in complexity. From shining magic circle emerged a giant heavily armoured knight, standing at least 15m tall. It was equipped with a massive tower shield and axe. The beast clashed with the knight, pushing it back due to the knight being summoned after the beast had already gained momentum. Clad in purple lightning the beast put pressure on the knight, forcing it in the defensive early in the battle. The beast and the knight were more agile then their size suggests as they rapidly clashed with one another. The knight fought with its polished martial arts, the beast relied completely on its wild instincts and inherent abilities. Utilizing the storm clouds I made above the knight the beast dropped heavy lightning bolts on it, briefly stunning it. With its prey paralyzed the beast chomped down on the knights shield arm. The armour put up no resistance as the fangs easily pierced through it, putting in more force the knights arm was ripped off. Freed from the paralysis the knight swiftly swings it''s axe at the beast, the speed was faster due to no longer wielding the heavy tower shield. The beast jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the axe. The beast stepped in, entering a range were using an axe would be unwieldy. At point blank range the beast fired a ball of lightning at the knight''s gut, ripping a hole through it. Jumping on the weakened knight the beast began ripping it apart, clawing up the flesh and biting off vital organs. It was my chance! Grabbing [Tsumi] I charged full speed towards Ira. In an instant I was in front of her. ¡°Sadly this was a bad choice, little brother.¡± Her spear pierced through my back, along with an army of weapons all clad in a black flame. All I could see was her beautiful smile as I was assaulted by a full powered magic blast at point blank range. Despite her haggard breathing Ira walked towards my battered body. She had defeated me. ¡°Looks like you couldn''t win in the end little brother.¡± Smiling happily she stroked my face affectionately. Her eyes held a slight trace of sadness. She was suddenly surprised when I suddenly jumped up, locking my lips with hers. Ira desperately pushed me away in a hurry, blushing furiously. ¡°W-w-what in the world are you doing?!!?!! We''re sibling not love¡­¡­¡± Her frantic speech was interrupted by a sudden surge of pain in her body. She could only stare at her hands in horror as she began coughing up blood. Her eyes were drawn to me, who was supposed to be defeated, who had a savage grin across my face. ¡°World End Garden: Primal Void Blaze Purge.¡± Inscribed on my tongue was the same familiar god class magic circle, the chant was secretly muttered by me when our avatars battled. ¡°It is my win Ira-neechan.¡± I said as stroked her cheek. Her content smiled as mirrors by my own. Her eyes betrayed no sign of how content she was. The internal blaze that materialized in her burnt her to ashes from the inside. The flames burnt her till nothing was left. Part 2.5: I rested on the ground as activated my life and dimension constraint release. It was invigorating to feel your body re-enter prime condition. ¡°I know you''re here Ira-neechan so stop hiding.¡± At my words Ira appeared from behind a pile of rubble, she had a complicated expression her face as she came closer. Wordlessly she sat down behind me and placed my head on her soft thighs. Her complicated expression switched to a smile of happiness as she stroked her fingers through my hair. ¡°That last move was brilliant, I never saw it coming. I only have praise for you little brother.¡± Like Ignis her voice was filled with loneliness. When you reach a certain pinnacle of strength that others could never reach, it certain that you will be all alone. ¡°I''m guessing that Ignis-sama did not tell you much, that old man is far too shy for his age.¡± Shy? Why would a dragon god be shy? I ended the thought there since I wouldn''t be able to get any answers. ¡°Like him I will not reveal everything to you. That duty rests in the hands of Tenebris, who will be your final opponent. I can only leave you with a lesson and a request.¡± A magic lesson from the one of the greatest archmages in history, how could I refuse. Even more so since she was beautiful elder sister. ¡°Little brother I was honestly astounded by your magic skills. The variety and applications of your magic was amazing. But that was there that I also found your flaw. You are aware of it, aren''t you?¡± I could nod weakly as she pointed out the most fatal flaw in my magic. I hated having my weaknesses pointed out like that. ¡°You''re using too much power per spell considering little brother''s unfathomable mana pool you should''ve been able to summon more then one avatar, despite all the spells you already casted.¡± Her lesson turned into a scolding, which in turn became nagging. Ira was complaining about everything I did wrong and about how crudely I use magic. Half through her nagging she mentioned the location about her personal diary containing all her theories and techniques, including the many theories she couldn''t test due to the war. Normally I would tune out nagging and pretend I was listening but just for Ira I patiently listened to every word. After all this would be the last time I will ever see her again. ¡°Thank you for being here in the end. My biggest regret and desires were fulfilled by you. In past I had always wanted a little brother and I always wanted to pass on my knowledge to someone I deem worthy, preferably to a little brother. Thank you for meeting me here, thank you for becoming my little brother.¡± So Ira is a brocon who desired a little brother even in death. This must be the biggest secret hell for all theses years. ¡°Like Ignis-sama I would like to request you to inherit my legacy. In my castle there should be a large sculpture of me created by grandmaster level sculptor. Spilling your blood in the pedestal will grant you access to personal dungeon. In there you will find my legacy. I earnestly wish for your success.¡± Giving me a long kiss on the forehead she softly said good bye, I burned that smile into my memory as she faded into nothingness. My next opponent calmly waited for me to sort out my emotions. When I met his eyes I was ready for our battle. My opponent was an incredibly handsome man known as the , Lux the Lord of archangels. Chapter 5 part 3 Part 3: Lux drew his sword gracefully, as he spread out his majestic eight wings. A holy light permeated from his entire being, mostly concentrated around his golden halo. Any seeing would call him the embodiment of good and righteousness. I on the other hand was covered in dark gold armour that gave off a menacing feeling, the thin black aura surrounding me increased that feeling. Instinctively I could tell that magic was not effective against Lux at all. I dot know how but I sensed that Lux was immune to all types of magic. Only by using a special technique, that Ira created, is it possible to use magic against him. And that was technique I have no knowledge of. For me it''ll be a battle utilizing my pure martial abilities and powers. [Susano-o] had already entered cool down, so needed to carefully choose my next power. It was just the slightest movement, a tiny swing of his blade. The pressure from his slash smashed full force into me. Just that alone was enough to dent the armour. In front of Lux the armour provided superficial protection, though little defence was always better then no defence. I shudder to think what his full power slash would look like. In fact I was glad I wasn''t using [Susano-o] dodging with the Yasakani no Magatama was out of the question. As soon as I entered his range I was getting cut no matter what. Teleportation would leave me vulnerable. What I needed was ultra high speed or impenetrable defence or the ability to retaliate. Based on the situation I went with a slightly unorthodox chose. Avalokitasvara''s universal vision ¡°[Avalokitasvara form 1].¡± [Avalokitasvara] was technically not a Japanese deity but since Buddhism was a religion in Japan I managed to squeeze it in. [Avalokitasvara form 1] granted me a portion of Avalokitasvara''s universal vision, the ultimate mind''s eye. The power to see through god speed. With this I could see through all of Lux''s movements. For the sake of convenience I named it divine eye, ultimate mind''s eye was mouthful to say. Divine eye was skill that let me the world in slow motion, making it possible to follow even godspeed with the naked eye. I had to be extra careful this time, by now the remaining four should''ve seen through the weaknesses of my powers. First they must be activated in succession, there is no way to skip a form. Once a form has been switched it is not possible to go back. Second no two powers can be activated at the same time. Third the cool down. My advantage was that they had no clue what power each form held or the possibilities that each power possessed. The first one to move was Lux, I was not a step behind as well. With wings growing at my back, through the slots in the armour, I clashed with Lux midair. Or at least that was what Lux was expecting. Just as our swords were about to hit, I changed the trajectory of my strike. My sword curved around his and nearly landed a blow. Lux managed to dodge at the last second. I could see all his attacks in slow motion. Allowing me to counter, dodge or parry. I exploited every opportunity using a personal sword skill I call the clockwork sword. Every slash is continued by another slash, all executed in one fluid manner. No attack was launched from the same position, each deviated by a couple of angles. I could get in a good combo until I forced to back by a powerful combo sword strike. My longest combo so far was thirty. The damage was insignificant but it will pile up. ¡°Marvellous. Now that I have experienced your sword for myself I am simply in awe of your skill.¡± I tilted my head in confusion as Lux spoke for the first time. Was he this kind of character? He gave a more cool impression when he didn''t speak. ¡°I can only express my gratitude by giving you me all, now it is your turn to experience my sword skills.¡± Just as I thought he was a battle maniac, the type that was obsessed with fighting strong opponents. Testing his skill against them. What a conflicting personality for a supposed peace loving angel. In terms of aerial battle skill he''s far surpassed me, flying with my physical body was not my specialty. I was slowly getting used to his sword with divine eye, and the more I saw the more captivated I was. I rushed myself as I got to point where I could relatively see through his sword without using divine eye, which in turn actually made it even better as the upper limit kept growing. Despite it being early I wanted to advance, I wanted the sword style of the strongest angel. My body had adapted to his speed, so know I time to head the next level. ¡°[Avalokitasvara form 2].¡± I swapped out divine eye for abyssal insight. Divine eye was the power to see through the person, even beyond their physical capabilities. Abyssal insight was to see through the fighting style. It would steal the style technique by technique, then upgrade and adapt. Before I could see the sword in slow motion, now I can track its path through the air. I could guess where the sword is going, which path it''s following, and where the next strike is coming from. [Avalokitasvara] was the god who peered down from heaven with his universal vision, seeing through something like this was child''s play. It was similar to constantly analyzing fighting videos or boss battle in video games. To find the out the attack patterns and techniques, then plotting out countermeasures. With abyssal insight I countered with the exact same techniques he was using. Lux noticed it almost instantly and was agape with shock. His prized sword style was being stolen right before his eyes, nothing made him happier. Slowly all our attacks were becoming the same. Slash for slash we executed the same the moves in attempt to conquer over the other. A thought occurred to me as the fight continued. How does Lux generate so much power? I turned my abyssal insight away from his sword and to his body. Just as I thought Lux was immune to magic, but at the same time he was unable to use it. Imagine that, an archangel who can''t even use the most basic holy spells. He had a birth defect that forcefully expelled all the mana in his body and refused to let any back in. It was like he was born with anti magic in his body. His strength came from ki. Lux was one of the top geniuses in history as a ki user. I could only match him blow to blow was the fact that we were equally skilled in martial arts and using the entirety of the kurogane shomatsu-ryu. Without these I would''ve been heavily wounded during the first minute of the battle. In the future I planned on learning how to use ki as well. So why not reap the benefits right now? Using abyssal insight I began to steal his ki distribution technique and the entirety of his strength. It was bit hard at first trying to analyze the energy flow but when I noticed a similarity to body transformation I made a breakthrough. Same as before analyze, improve, adapt, and then strike. All the while I kept the pressure on, I didn''t give him any ground as I tried many times to land a fatal blow. Internally I began to unravel the energy that rested in my daitian. Ki distribution was similar to something that I did in the past. A deep dark gold aura that was outlined black formed around me. Supposedly the colours of aura had a meaning but that was beyond me. The only reason the aura formed was I unskillfully leaked ki out of my body and tried to contain. It didn''t go back in and formed aura instead. Lux saw my aura and smiled like a battle maniac. Absolutely bloodthirsty, truly unlike an archangel. In response to my gradually refining aura he let out his. A pure white aura that held minute traces of gold. Wielding our respective swords, both loaded to the brim with ki, both of users our respective techniques. Ready for the final clash. Both divine eye and abyssal insight have served their purpose. It''s time for the next stage. [Avalokitasvara''s] universal vision was what my power was based on, but only my interpretations of it were used. That was why I could do something like this. ¡°[Avalokitasvara form 3].¡± Abyssal insight was swapped with foresight, the power to see the future. It was not a unique power since many could do it but those people I could see a few seconds forward. I on the other hand could see through minutes. In my version there were no infinite paths for the future. I limited it to a select few possible futures and then shifted the battle to the direction. Essentially it was the power to control the battle. [Avalokitasvara] powers came into three steps. Adapt, analyze, and then control. Normally adapt would come after analyze but in the all I fought were opponents stronger than me so this was the perfect order. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Lux was cautious about another form being activated, so various he was unaware that I was manipulating the battle. I subtly led him on as our swords clashed nonstop. I confused him by showing no visible changes. ¡°Eh?¡± He let out a dumb voice when my sword cut through his wrist. It was through the use of countless feints and strikes did I arrive at this future. My sword cut the tendons in his right arm, which was his dominant sword arm. Lux immediately caught the sword with his left hand, ambidextrously twirling it. Both of his hands were equal in strength, at least that was what he was insisting but I could see it. Every future indicated that his use of his left hand is not as skilled as his right. There will be noticeable drop in ability. Taking the chance I used my first big attack in this fight. ¡°Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Forbidden technique: Divinity slaying chaos blade!¡± All of my aura wrapped around [Tsumi] making it seem that it grew a hundred fold in size. It was a sword that reached the end of the horizon. Around the edge of the aura was rampaging black energy, which burned like flames. The anti god blade made by sacrificing the souls of a god and further enhanced by aura, the attack power of this technique was unmatchable. The anti god sword crashed down on Lux at full force. He tried to block but his prized sword gave way. The anti god blade bisected him in half. Maintaining the attack as long as possible I unleaded countless strikes of my sword using clockwork sword. The anti god blade struck again and again, it kept going till Lux was cut to pieces. It rained blood and body parts as coloured the ground. The has been slain. Part 3.5: Panting heavily from using the forbidden technique I entered healing mode as I waited for Lux to appear. It took quite some time for him to appear, far longer than the others so far. Contrary to this previous appearance and previous attitude he acted like a frightened dog. Lux was fidgeting nerviously as his eyes constantly darted around. The one spot his eyes stopped the most at was [Tsumi], that was resting at my side. "Creation magic: sword." In my free hand appeared a sword almost identical to the one he was previously wielding. When he reached for the sword I pulled it away. I did this several times until I finally handed it over. The teary look in his eyes was unsettling. Watching a grown man cry like this over sword was pretty fun, but I wanted my reword more than screwing with him. When Lux held the sword his original confident appearance returned. Seriously unlike an archangel, much less a leader of an entire race. Just how the hell did he become the leader of the archangels? "Thanks you Shin-dono." He completely disregarded me toying with him earlier. "I am sorry to say this but while I was alive I had no interest in anything but the sword. When I discovered that I couldn''t use magic I drowned myself in the world of martial arts. I spent countless years studying and learning about ki and eventually reached the pinnacle. But throughout my entire life I never actually collected anything." So he lived like a hermit with no interest in material possessions, meaning he won''t have much to offer me. "I do have a record of all the ki techniques I learned, both internal and external. I will pass them on to you. Shin-dono please spread them across the world as you grow to surpass them. I will name you as my succe- wait you have defeated me so I will call you master? No, no that doesn''t work. How about this Shin-dono you are now both my successor and master. I will forever know you as my prot¨¦g¨¦ master!" I am not even gonna retort to his logic. I''ll just let him do what he wants, he doesn''t have much time left anyway. I''ll accommodate his selfishness for now. "Fine whatever you say, so where are these records?" "No clue! Ask one of my descendants they''ll surely give it to you." I highly doubt that. Why would an archangel give their ancestors possessions to a random stranger? I guess I''ll have to use some alternative means to get the records from heaven. "So Shin-dono is there anything else you would like to ask me about?" "Then can you tell me the purpose of this battle? Not that I mind fighting, I would at least like to know why you guys are testing me." The other two refused to answer but I''m sure I can draw out some answers from Lux. "You asked a difficult question... the duty of answering was given to Tenebris-sama..." Lux looked really conflicted but he answered anyway. "We are testing you to see if you''re--------------------" Just as he was speaking words stopped coming out of his mouth, not that he realized it. Looks likes there is no other way to find out what going on without defeating Tenebris. "Ah! Looks like it time for me to go as well." Lux''s body slowly began fading away. "Now then prot¨¦g¨¦ master I wish the best of fortune in your travels." Bowing his head with a content smile Lux faded into nothingness. I solemnly watched off one very few people he could match my swordsmanship off with a hint of sorrow. When I wake up from this dream will I ever find someone strong enough to satisfy my thirst for battle? As such thoughts filled my mind, my next opponent had appeared. The great devil king of hell, the , Superbia entered the stage. Chapter 5 part 4 Part 4: The first thing I noticed about Superbia was not his wild look nor the sinister aura he let out but his mischievous smile. "How shall I address you?" I asked since Ira wanted to addressed a certain may be might also want that. I didn''t ask Lux because he was too engrossed with swords to care. "How about big bro? I''m not as respectable as Ira-san so I like less formability. But to ask such a questions means you''ve guessed a certain portion of this test, right?" "After going through three times how could I not?" Whenever I defeated one of them I inherited their legacy. Along with that I fulfilled their wishes/regrets. "Enough of the speculation little bro it''s time to kill each other!" With a twisted smile he tossed his sword away and donned a pair of gauntlets. "So that how you want play. No problem big bro can accommodate you. [Tsumi] form change." [Tsumi] was covered in light as she transformed from sword into a pair of gauntlets that resembled the dragon heads. I adopted a fighting stance and awaited his strike. Defence was not my specialty but charging recklessly was not a bright idea. In a mere blink of an eye he was already I front of me, not even foresight could keep with that speed! The heavy blow to the face blew me away. I instantly regretted my choice as I nearly lost consciousness. Collecting myself mid flight I was ready for the next blow. [Avalokitasvara] was not effective anymore. Superbia was simply too fast for the foresight eye to capture. Though it was premature I needed to push my power to its limit or I wouldn''t even be a match for Superbia. "[Avalokitasvara] is the god that peers down onto the earth from the heavens. The Bodhisattva that is known as the lord who looks down, forever watching the earth. The lord who watches the past present and future of the world. The possessor of universal vision. [Avalokitasvara Final Form]!" The final form of [Avalokitasvara] gave me full access to universal vision, along with a powered up version of each form. It gave me ability to capture everything with my eyes. But along with it comes a large strain on the brain. The information that is being processed is so numerous that if I attempt to use it for large periods of time, I''ll technically think myself to death. When I opened my eye I was assaulted by a never ending torrent of information. Taking a deep breath I focused all my vision on Superbia. When he moved it looked like he in slow motion. That unbelievable speed came from this strange flame- like aura that resembled an aurora around his legs. The heavy impact came from the same thing that was attached to his hands. I could tell that this was a form of ki and aura but my lack of knowledge made me unable to process it. Superbia was cautious at a new power being activated but nevertheless he still attacked. Just because I could see him in slow motion did not mean I got faster. It allowed me to react and counter attack. Parrying his fist, I halted his movement by stomping on his foot and drive my elbow into his face. My sudden movement caught him by surprise and I didn''t give him any time to calm down as i laid down the pressure. From the elbow I went for a shoulder charge that was followed by palm strike to his undefended chest , that sent him flying. Taking off with my wings I intercepted him with an axe kick that sent crashing to the ground. "Black heavens lightning strike!" Several powerful bolts of black lightning crashed down on him as he was buried into the ground. "How ferocious little bro~ I almost died back there~" Superbia''s carefree voice came from the crater. When he crawled his body was charred and bent the wrong way in sever placed. In fact his ribs were piercing through his back. Yet he looked completely calm, carefree and a tad bit excited. I could only widen my eyes in surprise as his body regenerated at ultra high speeds. Returning to perfect condition under a few seconds. His regenerative abilities completely outclassed mine. "Are fucking immortal big bro?" "I am a devil king after all." His immortality was extremely troublesome. I had only two ways of killing him now, and first method was beyond my skill set. The only method was to kill him faster than he can regenerate. Have the damage surpass his immortality and break it or his mind. Whichever came first. I had to settle this fast as the strain from using universal vision was increasing and the time limit was rapidly approaching. "I call upon the cursed earth that is the final resting place of life, the final cursed cage to hold them until the end. Deliver us the final piece of lifeless and that entrap the living. Give us the shrinking cage of death that withholds all screams. I desire the curse of the earth as it traps all, ending it life along with all others. World End Garden: Primal Decaying Core." Thousands of stone arms grew out of the ground and pinned Superbia. All of them overlapped together and prevented all movement as they crushed his body under that immense weight. The surrounding earth rose and created a massive cage around Superbia. The earthen cage was air tight and held no air inside. Superbia was struck they an immense pressure that was strong enough to crush his internal organs. The pressure just growing and growing as the cage began to shrink. No matter how much he struggled, no matter how he screamed in pain, nothing could be felt from the outside. He was all alone as he suffered under the wrath of my magic. Words could not express the suffering he was put under. Just as the cage reached the size of a speck it imploded. Unable to take the pressure it created it exploded, sending a mixture earth, blood, mushy body parts flying in every direction. There was utterly no trace of Superbia being alive, his crushed remains were sent flying everywhere. Did I get him? "Seriously big bro, that wasn''t enough to kill you?!" All the scattered chunks gathered together in an instant and Superbia was standing there again without a scratch on him. He looked rather bothered with the disappointment I was showing. "I know we are in the middle of a death match but can you not talk to your big brother like this! You spoke a lot better when you were fighting Ira-san." "I''m only respectful to beautiful women." I simply retorted in a matter of fact manner. "....That is a severely limited mindset...." Both us stopped our words and clashed again. Fist versus fist, kick versus kick. Due to his injuries I could exchange with stroke for stroke. AS we fought our battle changed from a clash of polished techniques to muddy fist fight, that held no resemblance to our previous clash. Blood flew in every direction and bones were broken as we pummelled each other, both of us vying for supremacy. Only with universal vision could i avoid the attacks coated in the aurora, I let everything else go through. "what''s wrong little bro? That one looked like it hurt." Superbia laughed loudly as he managed to sneak an aurora coated fist into my gut, though it was weaker than the others. that hit pushed me back several meters. "Son of a bitch...." The blood rushed to my head as I went berserk and did something really reckless. Blinded by my rage I unknowingly attempted to combined my mana, ki and aura together. A genuinely insane act. Combining two clashing forces held crippling consequences and now I was combining three. Blood vessels all along my burst, nearly exploding. It felt as if my arm was filled with fire and was burning from the inside out. At the end of the bloody arm, coating the fist was a dark gold flame-like aurora. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Superbia''s eyes widened in surprise as I stole his technique, despite being incomplete and creating through sheer power. Skill was temporarily made up for with my vast stores of power. I could only maintain it for one strike and that strike was ungodly powerful. With a single punch I gouged out a massive gaping hole in his chest. He survived nut nonetheless his regeneration was noticeably slower. The damage was finally settling in. Now it was time to finish this. Without holding back I''ll end him.... if not I''ll be killed by my universal vision. "Kurogane Sh¨­matsu ryu: Space smashing divine fist!" Ripping through the concept of time my fist slams into Superbia who was several meters away from me. The attack completely took him by surprises and opened up his defences. "Kurogane Sh¨­matsu ryu: Time smashing divine fist!" I closed the distance instantly and rapidly tapped him several times instead of using my fists. Just before he could counterattack I already jumped back several meters. Just as Superbia was going to attack he was suddenly struck by numerous heavy blows all over his body. The invisible attacks halted his movements again, as well as inflicting heavy damage. "Kurogane Sh¨­matsu ryu:...." "Little bro if you do that I might die!" Superbia panicked when he sensed the attack that was incomparably more powerful than the previous ones coming. "...Time and space shattering divine chaos fist!" My fists slam into his chest and abdomen simultaneously. Superbia''s body was unable to handle the sudden impact and was blown away, leaving his lower body partially intact. Time and space shattering divine chaos fist was a high level move in my arsenal but it was not at the top. In fact it was the gateway technique for a combo that ends with an ultimate technique. "This the end big bro!" Superbia didnt respond back, in fact his expression completely changed. His wild appearance was now in different and gave an icy feeling. "...!" With power surpassing what he showed earlier he counterattacked. That heavy kick completely killed my momentum. "Seriously what the fuck big bro?! How the hell did you get such broken immortality??!!!" Superbia''s immortality''s weakness is that it can be overcome by killing him enough, he basically has a set limit of lives. It weakens each time the number of lives decreases. But the broken thing was that each time his immortality weakened Superbia got stronger. The longer I fight him the more stronger he going to become. It''s to the point that he could easily overpower me if I didn''t have universal vision, which only had a minute and a half left. In the next minute twenty nine seconds I needed to turn off universal vision or I will die. SI needed a plan and Superbia wasn''t going to give me any time to think. His moves become incomparably more sharp, to the point that I was barely dodging. Instead of getting cautious I just got more and more pissed off. I hated things that don''t die when I kill them. "Kurogane Sh¨­matsu ryu; Vermillion inferno!" An improvised technique utilizing a power I did have control of, the previous aurora. The original technique''s powers were greatly augmented by it but the duration was super short. Superbia was also preparing a finishing move. The one who survived this clash would become the winner. Both of us charged at the same time, Superbia surpassed me physically, but I had the upper edge in a straight forward encounter. When there was only a meter between us both of our fists shot out. *BOOM!* A large explosion rang out as our fists clashed, blowing us both away. "Y-y-you...?!" "......?!" Superbia was staring blankly at *it*, the object that should never be seen. My was frozen since I knew immediately what he was looking at, but before he could talk the effect of Vermillion Inferno kicked in. All the rampant energy that was forcefully stuffed into his body ran wild. His insides boiled as all the veins in his body burst. The rampant aura served it''s purpose by crippling him. "Do it [Tsumi]." At my command the gauntlets changed back to its true from and flew at the crippled Superbia at high speeds. Stabbing his heart. The was slain... Part 4.5: My situation was extremely dire. Universal vision was deactivated barely in time and I was now suffering the consequences. The massive mental strain caused a massive migraine along with a temporary reduction of mental abilities. Along with that I had suffer for my recklessness. My right arm was a mangled mess, barely still attached to my shoulder but dangling unresponsively. Various part of my body were several bruised and I had several broken bones, though most of the bones were accidently broken by me. Thank god I was wearing armor... Bur Superbia saw *it*. It was something that no should be allowed to see. I was confident that I managed to hde it fast enough but I''ll bet that the other two already noticed the abnormality. "Little bro we need to talk." When Superbia showed he was super serious. "How many know about your "condition" and are you aware of what *that* is?" ".........." For a moment his face twisted with an extreme amount of anger when I refused to answer, but he kept his cool. Instead he simply glared at me for a while in silence. "Fine, I''ll put that matter to rest." He said the reproach and reluctance. "Originally i planned on explaining my power o you and giving you legacy normally but after seeing "that" I changed my mind. I now you want you discover it yourself, find my legacy. Only then will you able to inherit it. The only hint I''ll offer you is, in your blood lies the answer. Hopefully you''ll find something in my castle." I silently accepted his change of mind. "My legacy will tell you control that aurora like power. The most I''ll tell you is that it the ultimate outer energy offence method." He grumbled a few thing after words but they were too quiet to be heard. "Finally I will give you warning. The path you are treading on is perilous. Especially with your "condition". Whatever you do never let that out without proper control. I don''t want to see another tragedy like that ever again. Please promise me this little bro." "I will try my best big bro..." Those non-confident words were the best I could give. It was impossible for me to relieve him of his worry. It was a problem that was beyond our control. In reality I was already like a ticking time bomb. All that was needed was a trigger, no matter how small. "All that matter is that you will try, I hope you found your light." It was gloomy conversation that was not fit for the current situation. "I now we encountered an obstacle at the end but I pray for you success, little bro." With a worried but content smile Superbia fades into nothingness. In mere seconds afterword my next opponent has already arrived. The entered the fray. Chapter 5 part 5 Part 5: "You came faster a lot than the others." I initiated the conversation with Vas whose beauty rivaled that of Ira''s and Yrilssa''s. I was skeptical about what was written in history books but she was the definitely top beauty of heaven. "Hmph! Of course someone as exalted as myself would never appear slower than anyone else. Also instead of "you" you shall address me as onee-sama, I am not as boorish as Lux to forget something like this." I wouldn''t call Lux boorish just less dignified and more of a sword freak then an angel. I guess from her perspective he just an insensitive man who out his sword obsession before anything else. "And I most certainly don''t want to lose to that devil..." She muttered under breath. So it''s also about rivalry with Ira. A haughty person like her must find it unacceptable that Ira stole the march on her. "Then Vas-oneesama it is a pleasure to formally make your acquaintance." Her face brightened up when I addressed her as she requested. Were all the leaders of heaven and hell, with one notable exception, crazy for siblings? "Onee-sama so what type of match will you propose?" Her smile became wider when I asked. Each opponent I faced were the ones who decided the rules of engagement. I wonder where her specialty lay. Ignis tested my overall strength, Ira tested my attack magic, Lux tested my internal energy technique, and Superbia tested my external energy technique. "Dear little brother my strength does not come from martial arts, barbaric combat or attack magic. It''s best to say I have peerless talent in support magic." Vas said proudly as a large magic circle bloomed above us, orbiting around it were countless other small magic circles. "For our duel I propose that you break through my strongest skill. Prove your worth to your exalted elder sister, Kurogane Shin." An unbelievably large amount of magic activated at once, it surpassed anything I''ve ever seen before. Just how large is Vas''s mana pool?! Her magic summoned an extraordinarily well crafted staff, that radiated massive amounts of power. What was even more surprising was the magic she used next, it surpassed even the amount of magic used to summon her staff. "Unlimited peerless heavenly vanguard: True rulers of the supreme heavens!" A golden light that shone brighter then the heavens above encompassed all the eye could see. When the light faded Vas stood several hundred meters away from me. In the space between was an army of uncountable quantity. This was summoning magic but the scale it was an utterly unbelievable. Just how formidable was this new elder sister of mine. The army was made up of creatures of all kinds and numerous types of golems. Some golems were over fifty meters tall. An army that will never diobey orders, an army with never-ending stamina, an army that will truly fight to the last breath. I had to face such a foe. But that was not all, it was her other magic that made her dangerous. The buffs and blessing she used made even the weakest of her soldiers as powerful as a person with a low level beast rank divinity. What was worse was the barrier she created, a barrier that disables the magic of everyone but the casters, a mage killing barrier. She wasn''t joking when she wanted to me to prove my worth. It was an unbelievable blessing that I was able to heal before facing her, yet that also piqued my curiosity. Why was she more powerful than the ones before when they declared that they equal strength? I could not battle like before. I needed to exceed my limits right from the start just to stand a chance. "{Takemikazuchi form 1}!" The new and improved {Takemikazuchi''s] first form gave my the power of to summon divine lightning to smite my foes, along with body reinforcement. The first from was the very most basic ability of the lightning god. Despite using my power i was not confident i could win with it alone. At the very least I''ll be able to heard them with this. They to victory lay in my skill and endurance. "Here I come onee-sama!" I moved at a speed that was beyond what my body was able to handle, all the damage I was taking was rapidly healed by the ki concentrated in my legs. My action was borderline suicidal but also my only chance at victory. What Vas was testing was my wit and strategy, how I will survive and achieve victory in this situation. Contrary to her expectations I didn''t annihilate the front line but I bypassed them. Ducking under their attacks I launched myself into the middle of the enemy army. I opened a path for myself as well as intercepting all projectiles with lightning strikes. Heck I even managed clear a circle with a thirty meter radius at my landing location. "Kurogane Sh¨­matsu ryu: Crimson Reaper domain." I carved a deep circle in the ground around me that that was about two meters in diameter. Vas looked at my suicidal action with curiosity. Pushing [Takemikazuchi] to the max I made a barrier of endless lightning strikes in a circle with fifty meter diameter. A few gaps would occasionally open to drag enemies inside, but I first needed to deal with enemies already in the cage. Naturally I made sure the lighting to wipe out everything in the cage before I let others in. Though the golems and some other beast could come in while resisting the lightning, thanks to their natural resistances to it. As soon as they neared the edge f the circle they were cut to pieces. Crimson reaper domain was a technique to eliminate everything that entered a set territory. I restricted my movements to the extreme and focused every fiber of being to eliminate anything approaching the domain. I created a fortress in the middle of the enemy ranks. A stronghold to endure the waves of enemies until I have a chance to execute the next stage of my plan. It was a strategy that could only be achieved with my level of swordsmanship and full confidence in my abilities and the resolve to throw away my life on a gamble. Be it beast or golem I easily ripped them apart regardless of the number that came at me, regardless of how many came at once, regardless of what angle they came from. Blood, guts and stone were scattered everywhere, as the horde was continuously cut down. Anything entering the cage was instantly annihilated. Vas persistently used human wave tactics to tire me out, which has yet to show any results. At this rate I would take months to defeat her, despite the fact I am destroying numerous foes every passing second. For every foe that falls twenty take its place. Like a machine i continue the massacre still not showing a single hint of exhaustion. When another hour passed I took my chance. Condensing the lighting cages around me i created an impenetrable barrier, sadly by doing this and sung too much power by compressing lightning it would last for less than one minute As all distractions were put out of my mind I began a incantation utilizing the breathing room i was given. An in cantation to activate a special type of magic. "Sitting on top a regal throne of bones in a castle of crystallized blood, you rest. A true ruler of life and death, the supreme manipulator of blood. O monarch of the endless night come forth with the power to banish the sun. For you are the king fang and leader of damned. The vile beast in human flesh, the embodiment of endless desire. Rise twisted creator of slaughter and give birth to endless chaos. Plunge this world into a never ending nightmare! Deathless blood emperor of the endless night." The space around me froze and burst open, as rippling cracks spread across the skies and the earth shook uncontrollably. At the same time the lightning barrier shattered, unable to hold an longer, swarming me with beasts and golems. But it was too late...... My summon had already been completed. From the cracks emerged a deep blood red pair eyes that struck terror into the hearts of all who saw them. Just with a mere glance in my direction everything was reduced to dust. Grabbing the tear with its claws it ripped them open and slowly walked through. What was standing before me was an abomination. Standing over two meters tall with a muscular body. It had pale white skin, and pointed ears. This creature looked like the fusion of an elf with a vampire lord. It had a handsome, noble look an the outside but on the inside it was darker than black. This creature was in fact fusion of one of a blood elf, true vampire lord, lich king and archdemon. As stated before my god class magic is avatar manifestation. All of my avatars are split into two levels, Normal and ultimate. The one I just used was one of my ten ultimate avatars. It was comparable to one of my forbidden techniques in level. Sadly the consumption was insane. To the point I couldn''t move nor cast magic for quite a while. Stopping in my would equal suicide, or more importantly defeat. I needed to forcefully move my body forward. "[Takemikazuchi form 2]!" A 20 times increase in speed and the power to turn myself into a lighting avatar was the new {Takemikazuchi form 2]. By turning into the lightning avatar I could forcefully make my body move, though the speed boost was cut in half. None of that matter now anyway. My only thought was feeling this area as fast as possible because as soon as a single drop of blood is spilled all hell will break loose. Just as I exited the danger zone, mere seconds before it occurred I winked at the baffled Vas. Before she could understand my actions my avatar let out a bone chilling roar more powerful than a banshees. "Spread despair across the land and bring about unsurpassable corruption. Holding the right to grant death to all, nothing will stand in your path. Kingdoms shall fall, empires will rot, spread carnage until nothing remaining in your path. Plague king enchantment!" Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. A dark eerie aura burst from my avatar. This was a supplementary smell for this particular avatar, an upgrade spell that can only be used by it. It was the only type of support magic I knew. Since the first spell drains me of all my mana this one is lasted purely with my life force and the life-force of the land around me. Vas froze at what I just did. "How are you still able to use magic?!" While smiling evilly I pointed where I was previously standing, under the mounds of dust several deep lines could be seen. "Your barrier is one that dissipated all mana in the air making it impossible to cast magic normally, but what if I use the old traditional method?" I casted magic by haphazardly pouring magic into the magic circle under at a rate faster than it was being dissipated. Once the magic was put into the magic circle it was no longer under the effects of the barrier, thus letting it activate without hindrance, Though because of that I drained all my mana and a large chunk of my life force, shaving a few years off of my life. Not that I cared about that anyway. But Vas on the other hand had no time to think about the method I just used. My avatar had entered it''s frenzy and let out another bone chilling scream, this time it was like a chorus of banshees. Streams of blood erupted from his hands, creating strong whips of blood. The blood had an odd coloration just like mine and they gave a menacing feeling. Lashing out with his whips everything around was met with a wave of obliteration. Everything coming in contact with the whip was turned to dust. The dust pile would erupt in a black light after mere seconds they were created, and turn into undead. Even golems rose up despite not being living beings, the golems were replaced by death knights. It was a combination of the powers of an archdemon and a lich king, or at least how I hypothesized them to be. Composition by imagination. That was how I created this magic in the first place. The process was really complex but a simplified explanation would be I used creation magic and soul magic to create the avatar and then infused some element into it. The finer details were all left to creation magic. The entire process didn''t take long because I already had a blueprint of a similar idea already. To fight an army that outnumbers you, you simply have to make army that surpasses it in both quantity and quality. With every wave of it hands, with every step it took, my avatar brought death down on all in its path. With every step taken an enemy would fall and an ally would rise. I simply sat back and watched as my avatar and it''s army clashed equally with Vas''s army. The battle entered the state where Vas''s had begin summoning more soldiers and casting more support magic. As my army grew it slowly drained her mana. "Sorry to say this onee-sama but you''ve already lost." "Eh?" I had no need to explain, she noticed the abnormality immediately. A sudden feeling a weakness hit her. Losing her balance she fell to her knee unable to stand. Despite her struggles she couldn''t muster any strength, neither could she even manifest her magic. An amplified effect hit all of her living forces. Instead of powerlessness they felt death. Their organs ruptured and their skin decayed while they were still alive. "A bio-weapon....." Vas muttered weakly as her forces were ravished by an unknown, unblockable, invisible attack. "I would like to ask why you know that term, but I''ll leave it for later....." I said in an unbelievably tender voice. ".....I will give you merciful, painless death." I whispered sweetly into her ear. She let out childish shriek as she tried to back away, only resulting in falling helplessly on her back. It was an easy task reaching her in an instant using the full speed given by [Takemikazuchi form 2]. As Promised I was going to give her a merciless death, just like the one I gave Ira. Vas was shocked when I gently lifted up her face, and kissed her. Her face instantly turned bright red as she tried to struggle but could not muster up any strength. Just like before i had a magic circle carved on my tongue, but it was a different one from last time. "World end garden: Primal omni poison." The poison infected her in an instant and instantly killed her. Not even a second past since it was administrated. , the king of angels, Vas met a painless death. Part 5.5: Vas appeared even before I could begin healing myself. She was glaring at me while pouting, her face was still bright red. "So pure. I thought you and Ira-oneechan would be more experienced." "A-a-a-aren''t y-you the o-odd o-one, Doing something like that so suddenly." She was pouting like a little girl, how cute. "Well putting that aside for now, let''s talk about more important matters onee-sama." I quickly changed the topic in an attempt to carry the conversation forward. It could get awkward if let this continue. Vas happily complied as a means to hide her embarrassment. "Before I hand over my legacy to you I want know just what was that? Just how did that vile avatar use a bio-weapon?" "I must say I am surprised that you know the term bio-weapon." "It''s nothing much, you exalted sister simply peeked through your memories when you showed some of them to us..." This girl..... I could feel anger well up inside, but I let it go since it was my fault. ".....I used that term since it was suitable for your attack." "Just how did you see?" I asked completely serious, with no intent of backing off. Resulting in an awkward atmosphere. "....U-up to everything you did during the year prior to our death....." Her face went red up to her ears. So she saw that..... Oh god, she saw something that no one else should see. Now this is seriously awkward. "We should skip a head to the legacy now, right?" "Y-yes....." She nodded still beat red, completely forgetting about her previous question. After s long period of silence Vas finally spoke after calming down. "As you already know I have compatibility with attack magic, leaving me with only support magic to use. In the past I was laughed at mocked my colleagues just like Lux was. But with due diligence I became the strongest, to the point I was strong enough to become the king of angels. I regretfully took the title of king since they did not let me become queen, those men wer a real hindrance back then. They were about to make Lux the king! Can you imagine a place run by that sword idiot? I was saying unlike that despicable devil Ira I have mastered support magic to untold levels, and I want to pass that legacy and theories onto you. My legacy may not have the power of the other but I hope you will accept it." "Of course. I''ll treat anything you give as valuable." ".....Thank you. \When I answered without hesitation She smiled happily. I guess in the past despite her power no one was willing to follow her path. Angels are a prideful bunch, none of them would be willing to undergo such hurdles to gain strength regardless how strong both Vas and Lux. Acceptance was something both of them probably wanted during their lifetime, just like to two devil kings. All of them reached monster level of strength that left them unmatched by their peers. And since they had so much power people would not approach them in fear of accidently offending them. The treatment must''ve gotten worse when the war started, where they displayed the full extent of their abilities. You can only imagine the fear both sides felt. Finished with what she wanted to say silently placed my head on her lap. We just silently stayed like that until her time was nearing its death. "Thank you for everything Shin. I pray that you will overcome your last trial." She smiled gently as she began fading away. "Take this as an extra reward, little brother." just as she was completely gone she gave me a big kiss on the forehead. The same action as Ira. Before I could ask she faded away with a mischievous smile that didn''t suit her at all. Seriously what is up with both of them. I had no time to dwell on that thought as my final opponent had arrived. With a stoic expression, the dragon god of the end, Tenebris had arrived. Chapter 5 part 6 Part 6: I finally reached Tenebris, and now I can finally get some answers. And yet to all my displeasure he looked like he had no intention of speaking. "What the hell man? I demand answers, not another damn fight!" "Despite what you say you want to fight don''t you." "I also want answers!" "Defeat me and you''ll have them." I responded with an intense glare. "..........Fine I''ll give you some." He responded with a tired sigh. "Haven''t you wondered why all your previous adversaries had such a limited amount of power? It''s because all of our powers that you already acquired are unavailable to us. An example would be Ignis''s and my dragon forms. But be warned you unlocked most of Ignis''s powers not mine." Meaning this old geezer had most of his arsenal still with him. Now that I think back I haven''t used anything related to him at all, I barely used the darkness element as well. Tenebris changed back to untalkative mood and adopted a combat stance. His limbs were already in a partially transformed state. Truly a dragon, despite how wise they are they can never deny their warlike nature. I also adopted a combat stance and could feel my blood boiling in excitement. I guess I truly do have dragon blood running in my veins. "[Takemikazuchi form 3]!" [Takemikazuchi form 3] gave me the power of divine lightning. My body was enhanced with that power, adding that power to my strength. Along with that was a power centered divine lightning avatar. I exchanged speed for as much firepower as possible. I vaguely remember that his scales were ranked first in toughness and were very hard to destroy, even with [Tsumi]. Neither of made a move, we were probing each other''s defences while waiting for the perfect chance of landing a fatal attack. In a battle of wits the first move is the most dangerous but the most effective. In a battle between two high level combatants the first move could decide the entire fight. Thus I was making a first move a big one. Through a huge amount of intricate planning, I had come with best method to deal with Tenebris. And that was using my entire arsenal for victory. Tenebris too must have made planned countermeasure against every power I revealed so far. Everything I used before was useless in this battle. Four avatars have already been used. I suspected that they already knew about the two I used against the nephiliam. Meaning I had less than eight avatars left, and three of them are highly unstable. Sadly those three are the most powerful. Leaving only five avatars left. "Time alter: triple accel." Activating magic to speed up time for myself I rapidly began chanting my spells. "Bring the raging winds of the heavens down upon the earth, descending wrath of the heavens scourge the land. You are the blade of the gods, the evil slaying wind. A raging wind that no armor can withstand, that no fortress can endure. You are the silent death that prowls the land in search of sinners, sacrificing them to the gods to further strengthen your blade. You are the invisible death that can cut apart anyone, anywhere. The invincible wind that cuts apart both life and death, the denier of immortality. Manifest malevolent winds that slay all. Divine evil slaying blade storm of omnipotent winds." Before the avatar could appear I already started chanting for my second spell. "Freezing winds of the north, burning winds of the south, fierce winds f the east, barbaric winds of the west gather here. Embodiment of calamity, create the storm that even gods will fear. Wield the power of nature wrath. Making hurricanes, tornadoes and cyclones look mild, conjure the storm that shake the heavens and sunder the earth. Natural Calamity enchantment!" And that was not enough. How could it be? M enemy was a dragon god, and he has the power to destroy the world at the end of time. Simply draining all of my mana on a big magical attack was nowhere near enough. That is my I took this big risk. Recklessness, curiosity and the desire for victory fueled me as I began my final incantation. "Peering down from the heavens above, in your glorious castle you watch over the world. O'' wielder of divine power, exercise your authority on this world. Let your divine might color the night white. Let your fallen power color the sun black. As the true master of the heavens above exercise your right smite all sinners with the true light of the heavens. As the god of the angels command all light. Reveal the power to control corruption and purification. As the king of the fallen angels you hold power over all corrupt magic. As the avatar of justice you bring forth brilliance to the land, taking all sins onto yourself. Benevolent Divine king of the fallen heavens!" I coughed up a lot of blood as my magic completed, a large amount of my life force was used in exchange for my mana. But it was done. Three large magic circles erupted across the sky, encompassing the heavens, stretching farther than the eyes could see. Two magic circles overlapped each other and each of them was both overly complex and unique. A massive amount of gale force winds surged overhead but before they could fully form a massive blinding surge of light stole both mine and Tenebris''s vision. Descending from the heavens above as massive angel like being, the only difference being the eight red wings with white lines running through them. Donned in lustrous silver armor, wielding an equally lustrous silver spear with blood red blade. Through the silts in the helmet, a pair of golden eyes could be seen. On the ground below it the gale force winds gathered together and made a giant hawk that stood over three meters high. The feathers on its head were fiery red like a burning crown. Its body was covered in dark purple feathers. The beaks and claws it had given off an extremely dangerous feeling. An eerie black aura was emitted from the hawk. Tenebris did not just stay idle despite using time alter he was moving just as fast. From his body burst a mountain sized dragon like apparition. A large quantity of mana was gathering in its mouth. In his hands was a dark sphere that also had a continuous amount of mana being poured into it. So he also had something prepared as well. "Kurogane Sh¨­matsu ryu: Garuda devastation." I entered a stance where I held my sword parallel to my sword, all the bones in my arm made a strange creaking noise as my muscles all bulged abnormally. All the veins in my arms were throbbing violently as well. Just as it reached the point of collapse I released it. A huge trail of destruction burst forward. As it neared Tenebris he acted. He fired the orb forming in his arms to intercept my slash, while simultaneously having the dragon apparition fire it breath at me. "Intercept it." Both of my avatars immediately acted. The light avatar readied its spear and fired a large beam of light at the dragon''s breath. The wind avatar gathered a tornado of wind blades under its command and fired the barrage at the breath attack. All of our attacks were equal in might, resulting in a massive explosion on the sky and ground. The land between me and Tenebris was reduced into a crater. "Kurogane Sh¨­matsu ryu: Rakshasa fangs." In an instant I appeared behind Tenebris and swung my sword that began morphing into his back. The blade seemed to have turned into a numerous claws as they neared his back. "Don''t underestimate me!" With the slightest movement I dodged while turning to face him. "I could say the same!" "Wha...?!" Impaling his back was a lustrous silver spear that was brimming with holy light. Utilizing that chance my sword struck his chest, digging into it. Blood began to drain from his body just as the heavenly sword of wind struck him head on. I leapt back along with my avatars and fired off another slash at him, along with a beam of light and a barrage of wind blades. Tenebris didn''t take this laying down. Wrapping himself in a strange intangible darkness he warded off our attacks, and charged at us with unbelievable speed and power. He surpassed me in every category, and I had to use everything to resist. Entering the divine lightning avatar mode could equally trade blows with using my skills beyond max power. My Light avatar joined the fray as well, tanking his attacks with its tower shield. Its spear was used to limit Tenebris''s movements. My wind avatar took the role of ranged attacker. Gather up various winds it attacked with barrages of heavy wind blades, with majority of them carrying purifying qualities. Light based attacks slightly corroded his defences. His scales were harder than before but with our coordinated attacks we began breaking through inflicting wounds all over his body. My avatars and are also had several injuries but they were all minor. Yet the situation was reversed in an instant when Tenebris''s claw nearly took my head. Large claw marks were left on my face. "YOU!!!!" He roared angrily as he saw ''''it'''', my terrible secret. His voice carried enough force to push me and avatars back several meters. "I see.... so that was why Superbia acted like that...." In an instant his calm was restored and he began analyzing my condition. His faced said that he was going to lecture after this fight, whether I won or not. I took this as a chance and signalled my avatars to use their ultimates. Above the avatar of light shone a blinding magic circle, above the avatar of wind was a magic circle that stretched across the entirety of the skies above. Gathered around the light avatar''s spear was a rampaging golden light. IT endlessly twisted and turned until it formed a dragon like figure. The avatars body was also wrapped in a golden light with a blood red outline. The wind avatar was summoning a storm. With it in the epicenter a large amount of clouds blocked out the sun. Covering the entire sky except the area directly above the avatar. A massive tornado was forming, holding inside it a near unlimited amount of blades. First went the light avatar. With suicidal abandon it charged at the distracted Tenebris with astounding speed. Its body blinked just when it entered his range, warping into his blind spot. Gripping the spear with two hands it launched a flurry of attacks on his unguarded body. The light only grew stronger them ore it corroded his defence. Each strike became more powerful than the last and Tenebris suffered twice the damage due to his weakening defences. Tenebris counterattacked at every opportunity he got but the avatar paid no heed to it as it continued attacking. Just as Tenebris''s defences were completely nullified his arm pierced the avatars chest. Ignoring the fatal wound, with the light on its spear reach the apex, the avatar using all of its force stabbed Tenebris through the chest. A powerful explosion of light resounded throughout Tenebris''s body, as the avatar faded to nothingness. Leaving no interval to rest the wind avatar made its move. The instant the light avatar was destroyed a large tornado engulfed Tenebris. From all direction wind blades assaulted Tenebris. Each them were over three meters long and really heavy. Along with blades came a heavy wind pressure that threatened to crush him. The winds blades slowly transformed into arrows and spears barraging him from sides, and sticking into his wounds. As the spears and arrows continued, hammers and maces were added in. Soon a huge variety of weapons of all kinds assaulted Tenebris. Drawing on the power of nature the winds grew stronger and stronger, to the point that they devastated the land all around. The ever increasing speeds sucked out all the air around Tenebris. Tenebris was thrown upwards, just as he reached the clouds an unbelievably heavy pressure sent him crashing back to the ground. After that the wind avatar charged at Tenebris, slamming into him full force and self detonating. Claws and beaks ripped into Tenebris, along with a massive explosion. The explosion ripped apart everything around it, widening and deepening the previously created crater. I nearly fell down from exhaustion and over using my mana and life force. Clenching my teeth I held on, I really can''t do something like this again. I nearly lost my life back there despite not being hit fatally once. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. It took quite a while for me to regain my senses, entering a calmer state of mind. The next battle would be twice as hard, considering that this was only the opening move. It was time to go back to the basics, no magic, no ki, and no hybrid techniques. It was only pure use of the kurogane Sh¨­matsu ryu from now on. Besides it''s not like I could do anything else anyway. Tenebris also climbed out from the crater, ready to battle. He was covered in cuts, bruises, puncture wounds, a series of severe burns, and a gaping hole in his chest. In several places his skin was shredded to the point that the bone could be seen, mostly around the ribs and arms. Almost all of the scales on his body were torn apart and he was bleeding profusely. What caught my interest more than his injuries was that strange shadow he cast. It was that of a gigantic dragon, and was surrounded with an eerie aura. Dark specks were flying up from his shadow. The specks attached themselves to his body, slowly forming a dragonoid shape. The darkness formed a layer about half a meter thick, it solidified giving the impression that it was extremely difficult to destroy. Tenebris was in a state similar to I was and despite being more injured then me he seemed even harder to defeat than before. I guess the true fight starts now. "Kurogane Sh¨­matsu ryu: Final ultimate technique: Chaos avatar seal release!" Snapping sounds burst from body, the sound of every bone in my body snapping could be heard. This was followed by the sound of tearing skin and muscles. Blood burst from every open wound I had, blood that was mixed with a strange black liquid. A massive physical change overtook my body. My height somewhat increased, leaving me standing at two meters tall. My hair grew to the point it was waist length. Countless horrifying scars were etched across my body, to the point the scars did not seem humanly possible to survive those wounds. My right eye was shining bright gold, while my left eye was burning black with a blood red iris. My skin had changed into a strange scale like texture and look. [Tsumi] also was overcome with a rapid change. The blade grew to the length of three meters, the blade grew to about thirty centimeters thick. The black aura around the sword darkened and now had traces of red going through it, while the rest of it shone even brighter than before, giving the mixed image of a divine sword and a demonic one. The hilt of the sword transformed into a dragons head and was encrusted with unknown gems and jewels. My tired and battered body was flushed with a sense of omnipotence. All my injuries and depleted resources were healed. I was restored beyond my limit and was bursting with power, so much power that it had a limited time of activation. So far, despite all of my training, this form lasts five minutes. Not a second less nor a second more. Neither Tenebris nor I asked about the others change, we simply raised our respective weapons and charged. The sound of clanging metal resounded throughout the area as we moved at speeds faster than the eye could capture, leaving behind several hundreds of afterimages. My body was coated with divine lightning at an output on different scale from earlier, the same could be seen with Tenebris as he was coated it in a shroud of darkness over his exoskeleton like transformation. "Bring forth the sinner to sacrifice before the lord. Drain him of his blood as you rip him apart, piece by piece. Bleed him of his soul, and annihilate his existence! Divine Sin Execution!" [Tsumi''s] melodious voice rang out in a more mature and icy tone from before, her change was affected by mine. [Tsumi] disappeared from my hand. She manifested in the air a hundred meters above Tenebris. She immediately grew to the size of hundred meters long and was surrounded by meteor sized red stars. "Exterminate him!" At her cry the meteors fired at Tenebris with blinding speed! He swiftly jumped to the side barely evading the meteors before impact but [Tsumi] wouldn''t allow it. With just her angry intentions the meteors teleported above Tenebris, leaving him no time or space to dodge. As the explosion bombarded him none stop the giant sword shot out, piercing his chest as if cutting butter with a hot knife. The giant sword pinned him the ground and the aura it emitted acted as corrosive acid, burning through his flesh. He roared in pain as they meteors continued dropping. "Kurogane Sh¨­matsu ryu: white tigers divine palm strike!" Jumping through the flames I struck his heart with my palm strike with enough force to send him flying, which split him in half as he was still pinned by the massive sword in his chest. Tenebris lay on the brink of death as I prepared my ultimate and final attack. "Kurogane Sh¨­matsu ryu:......" I took a deep breath as [Tsumi] reappeared in my hand and a pale white aura that came out from my body wrapped around it. "......DIVINE LIBERATION OF THE MONSTER GOD OF CHAOS!!!" A pitch black light mixed with blood red streaks descended from beyond the heavens above, and engulfed me. A swarm of power burst with such brilliance it split apart the sky above. The bustling energy formed a blade that reached beyond the heavens above. Gathering together all the strength in my body, I unleashed it upon Tenebris. The force destroyed the entire world around us as it crashed down on the defenceless Tenebris. The world collapsed around us a devouring darkness exploded in every direction, it was the same darkness as the one I used in my death. Along with the total destruction of the , the world around us collapsed, leaving me around a comfortable lingering darkness. Part 6.5: I dropped to the floor in less than a second after Tenebris was killed. I had absolutely no energy left to even attempt to heal anymore. The only thing keeping me awake was the warm energy that flowed out from [Tsumi]. She still didn''t let out a word but I could tell she was worried. I used the slight amount of energy I built up to begin the healing process, which [Tsumi] happily supported as she released another strand of energy. Just as I was able to hold my consciousness and able think rationally Tenebris appeared. He had a smug, content look on his face. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!" He burst in laughter when he saw my sorry state. "As expected of my successor! Winning a death match with one as exalted as my life will not come without a price. Nonetheless you did very well!" He laughed loudly some more before finally calming down. "I will entrust you with three important things. First of course is my legacy. In the shrine of the black dragon god you will find my teachings and the secrets of my powers. It will teach you how to use and learn about your newly acquired powers and possibly awaken an [Authority]. Second is a mission I am entrusting to you. Which is the evaluation of the current king of the black dragon tribe. Using your own standards I want you to judge if he is good enough to rule over my tribe, if not destroy him. I leave the judgement to you. And finally I want to deal with your unique ''condition''. It was something that greatly interested me during my lifetime and I have found a way to control it. Though I suspect you found it as well." I simply nodded in understanding. But this old man was really cunning. He clearly gave me that mission so I could find his legacy first. The black dragon king''s is really close by my current location and it is also the most likely location to find the shrine or concrete information about it. With that simple request he placed himself at the top of the list. "May I ask what your suppressant is? The previous cases I knew about used gold, weapons and bloodshed." It''s only natural for him to wonder about that, after all only a very few handful of people in history should have been able to commit the ultimate taboo, and received this stigma. "..........Women." I answered after a long pause. I decided to tell him since he could offer me further insight. "What a peculiar suppressant. It''s the first case where a living being can be used as a suppressant. Also I suspect that there is more to it than that or does simply any woman do?" He didn''t even let me deny or confirm the before he continued. "If my hunch is right you have to fall in love right? But that contradicts every previous case where one suppressant was not enough. So you have to fall in love with multiple woman right? Expanding that thought means that your condition may be the most dangerous of them all..." He entered a period of silence as he thought rapidly. "My advice would to travel the world, seek out adventure and power. Woman will flock to you and hopefully you''ll fall in love, though you seem to be rather picky in that area. Never let go of those you love or you will face your doom but be careful. The effects of a betrayal would be catastrophic." I tool his advice to heart despite that being one of my original objectives. "Regarding all of this I can''t but help to wonder what your end game is? I know that you came to this world without your consent but your actions show that you have a goal you wished to achieve." He asked a really vital question, a question I would normally have no intention of answering. "Answer me first and we have a deal." "Fine. The reason we tested you is to see if you are worthy of inheriting our powers and become a new existence that will shake this world to its core. To see if you could carry our legacies, wishes and regrets on your back. With each of you victories you''ve been given the power of the one you defeated but it will depend on you if you can fully unlock them. You have handed the mission to fulfill our wishes, and forced onto a perilous path filled with bloodshed and treachery. We wanted to see if you could stay true to your path while you carry our legacies with you." "I understand, though I fought for intention of getting answers it would be more fun to found out by myself. It was a fun battle and I''ll never forget it." "Haha of course you won''t, no one carrying dragon blood would! But I have something else to tell you as well. Be very careful in heaven and hell. Ira and Vas have given you their blessings, a thing that will bring out the ire of many angels and devils." We talked about a few other minor topics before Tenebris began to fade away. "It seems my time has arrived." He said solemnly. There was no hint of regret in his eyes, he calmly accepted his second death. "My goal......" I began to speak just as was completely gone. "..........In about a decade the dimensional door in the will recover, once it does I will head back to my world.........." I kept my rampaging emotions in check as various memories ran past my mind. "..........And I will finish my war and have my revenge!" I said in a voice seething with rage. Tenebris cracked a ferocious smile, with bloodlust filling his eyes in response. "Teach those fools who dare to oppose you the wrath of the dragons!" He roared as he vanished. His last words embodied his savage nature as a dragon. A nature that he has now passed down to me. In mere moments after Tenebris''s departure the world around me collapsed and I was hit by the sensation of waking up. Chapter 5 part 7 & 8 Part 7: When I opened my eyes I was greeted by a beautiful sight of two large swaying hills and a soft sensation on the back of my head. Looking at the sun I could see that I was asleep for quite some time. Yrilssa had already woken up and place my head on her thighs. It seems she dozed off while waiting for me to wake up. "Good morning master." When I let out a slight breath she immediately awakens, her eye look into mine and she smiles brightly as she greets me. "Good morning Yrilssa." I return the greeting with a smile of my own. Despite happening in the world of dreams that battle took several days to finish. This increased my desire to see Yrilssa. Ignoring my feelings of regret I stood up and set out to fulfill the reason we started this trip. I hurriedly headed to the ruins, at a pace that was a lot faster than before. Yrilssa silently followed me, not questioning my sudden change in mood. When we got there I noticed the mass of corpses were missing, all that was left was a massive burn mark were they once were. Opening the I pulled out a stick of incense and lit it. Clasping my hands together in prayer towards the ruins. Yrilssa was puzzled by my actions but she also followed suit. In silence I offered my prayers to the devil kings, archangels and dragon gods that passed away here. These atavistic ruins were home to inhumane acts and research but it was also the place where I received my new beginning. Finished with my prayers I set the place ablaze, with flames hot enough to burn stone. I was treating these ruins as funeral pyre for the six that fell to me in battle and were finally able to pass on. At first I was targeting this place for information but now I no longer wanted it. In memory of the six I consider to be close to me I burned this wretched place to the ground. Yrilssa sensed intent and silently watched as the flames consume everything in sight. In a few minutes the flames died down and all that was left was a massive pile of ashes that was taken away by a timely breeze. Yrilssa didn''t ask anything and simply accepted my change in plans. She sensed that something had changed when I fell asleep. Yrilssa smiled softly as she saw the determination burning in my eyes. She could tell I had clear goal in mind and she was already to wholeheartedly support me in whatever I had planned. "Yrilssa its time to go." "Yes master." Grasping my hand we began to walk back to the city. Leaving behind a future landmark that all will come to see. It was here that I truly set out to accomplish my goals in this world. Hand in hand with the elven maiden I fell for, we began the journey that would shake this world to its core. Part 8: As we left the area a change descended on the world. A change despite being so massive was only sensed by a select few. A change that I strangely didn''t notice at all. All over the world an oracle was spread. Straight from the gods an oracle was given to all leading figures residing in this world. All the oracles told the same message, as they were forcefully possessed by divine spirits to accurately portray the message. "In the far south, near the tip of the continent, a new being has made its presence known. A being that is invisible to the eyes of the gods and the eyes of fate. We know nothing of this being. It is not known if it is friend or foe, all we know is that recently a massive explosion occurred in the south and a mountain was turned to ash. This simply a message to inform all of you." This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. With that the oracle was finished. In response the world underwent a massive change! Many countries wanted to meet the being out of curiosity, many wanted to recruit it, and many feared it. Not a single one stayed neutral in this matter after hearing about its power. The strongest reaction was that of fear. People have always feared the unknown and have always let that fear rule them. Masters all across the world where summoned by the respective masters and allegiances, all those with an allegiance were recruited in large numbers. Spies flooded the southern continent in unprecedented numbers, to the point that they easily indentified one another before they even got there. Yet strangely another unusual event occurred here, where all the spies decided to work together, an incident that would draw the ire of the leaders and make them ultimately fail their mission. All of them went to look for something out of the ordinary and unique in appearance. A creature that looks nothing likes a human. And that was precisely why they would have never found no matter how hard or thoroughly they searched. They simply had no clue what they were searching for. Their reports only added to the widespread fear that was growing in the leadership position of every fearful country across the world. Only the powerful took a more relaxed approach to this matter as they were more intent on satisfying their curiosity then useless fear mongering. In the eyes of the of the truly powerful the actions taken by other countries were useless and only creating problems for their nations. The economy also nearly failed in several nations as the prices for goods changed erratically as several nobles and kings took the oracle as an omen for the end. They lived as luxuriously as possible, believing that their lives would soon come to an end. The most extreme reactions occurred at the western edge of the continent where the army took advantage of the turmoil and led a bloody rebellion, leading to the fall of a large empire that ruled for the last century. A really interesting situation was accidently spawned from a simple warning. The gods wanted to spread caution to avoid any potential disaster but as a result created an even bigger disaster. I was completely unaware of the turmoil the world was in due to my existence as I flirted with Yrilssa throughout the entire duration of the trip back to the city. We discussed many plans as we peacefully walked back, ultimately finalizing my plans to go on a journey and travelling the world. In fact during our trip back we even encountered the spies dispatched by various kingdoms, though I didn''t know who they were at the time, but I have to say they were pretty fast to reach her despite setting out mere hours ago. A discovery that would lead me to learning more about teleportation. We began to treat like a guild mission and set our first destination as the Shadowscale kingdom that was under the rule of the black dragon king. A move that Tenebris wanted me to make. I did not know what his objective was in making me go there but I hope it will be beneficial to me. After a few hours Yrilssa and I made it back to our home and fell asleep, the trip itself had not tired us at all it was more for the purpose of being well rested to complete the preparations we had to do tomorrow. Naturally we slept together. Unaware that our actions had already sent the rusted gears of fate into motion. Ironically the very same gears that I was invisible to.
And with that chapter 5 is now complete with a total of 20,000 words.