《The 1000th Reincarnation》 His Last Stance Zephyr sighs as he looks up at the night sky. With a gaping hole in his stomach, he realizes how hopeless it is to save any world he reincarnates into. Blood trickles down his forehead and into his eyes hiding the tears falling down his cheek, giving a red tint in his vision. He gazes up into the sky looking at the millions of white shiny sta- no, no they''re not. His vision adjusts as he sees billions of shiny white angels with futuristic plasmic weapons. Zephyr sighs, being in this situation time and time again. Eternal Ward A yellow aura appears from the ground slowly healing his wounds and attempting to slowly fill up the hole in his chest. This was Zephyr''s strongest healing ability, using up most of his divine energy. He slowly tries to get up knowing this would be his last stand. No matter what happens he was going to give it his all. Using his sword as leverage to stand up with the rock behind his back keeping him from collapsing. Zephyr wearily stands on his own two legs, dazed performs another spell. Divine Infusion Strength slowly enters back into his body, and he stands straight holding his sword high, his chest filled back with a solid white substance. Zephyr starts to run, thousands of yellow rays shooting in his direction. Ethereal Ascension Focusing his energy on making solid areas of circular shapes of divine energy, he jumps from platform to platform whilst using them as shields against the rays. He coats his sword in divine energy making his sword as sharp as possible. As quick as lightning, he leaps slicing off the neck of one of the Angels. Drops of gold blood spray onto his body, Angels frozen in fear, just staring at Zephyr. Zephyr leaps from the body slicing angel after angel after angel. At some point he just became a machine. A angel killing machine. Dodging thousands of rays by a hair length and slicing angels one by one. Time became irrelevant. Minutes became hours. Hours became days. Days became weeks. All Zephyr thought about, was to kill. Killing became his life. It was all he thought about, or maybe he didn''t think. There wasn''t any point in thinking. To think required more energy, energy that would be wasted. Zephyr had already killed hundreds of thousands by this point but it was hopeless. The more he looked the more angels there were. When he thought he had an unlimited amount of divine energy before, had drained to nothing.As the thought set in, something appeared before him that caused all of his energy to disappear in a split second.Stolen novel; please report. Ha, to think a being like this existed in this world. A massive being towering over the sky. It was truly magnificent. An all-knowing being, an all-powerful being. Zephyr laughed. He laughed at how hopeless it was. Fighting for this planet. Fighting, going through all 999 lives, all for what. His maniacal laughs get even louder. The only thing that was still present was him, the one divine platform he stood on, the angels, and this... being. Nothing else. Nothing more. Zephyr blinks, looking at it again, falling? He looks at his torso, his legs were quite literally removed from his body. A loud thud sounds after Zephyr''s body comes into contact with the wasteland around him. He coughs, blood and saliva coming out of his mouth. Zephyr slams the ground with his fist in fury as millions of white rays shoot in Zephyr''s direction. In a split second, he appears in a white void. A Greek-like structure forms out of the white void. Four pillars surround the large throne, rising up from the middle unveiling a Goddess sitting in the center. The goddess was, for a lack of better words, stunning. No other woman could ever match her beautiful white hair, snow-white eyes, and slim body that would attract any man if not for her condescending face and tone. Zephyr begins to walk up the steps to the Goddess with his fist clenched. He looks down at the steps hiding his face from the Goddess. He leaps towards the goddess attempting to land a solid hit on her beautiful face. An inch away from her face, he gets thrown back down the steps with some magical force in between the Goddess and Zephyr. "IS THIS TRULY FUNNY? DO YOU HAVE FUN SEEING ME SUFFER?!" Zephyr yells as he punches the ground in a fury. His knuckles dripped with blood but healed back soon after. "It truly is interesting. No matter how many times you get reincarnated you always try to save everybody. I truly admire your tenacity, Zephyr", the Goddess said condescendingly. "Damn you, I don''t understand why I have to go through this life after life." The Goddess sighed, "I don''t think you''ve recognized the full extent of you''re capabilities. Anybody else that would''ve gone through this would''ve gone insane after the 10th time. But you refused to give in even after failing 999 times." "Why, why, what is the point of this?" The goddess scoffed, "Why? Because it''s funny. What else did you think the reason was? I have nothing to do here day in and day out, so it''s interesting to watch you try overcoming such an impossible challenge, hanging out at death''s door every day." Calm down, calm down. If I want this next life to be different I need to find a different way to approach this next attempt. Zephyr comes up with an idea, an idea that might just save everyone in his world. "Ok, so you want something exhilarating, and enjoyable right? Well, I have a proposal for you." The goddess looks at him with intrigue, "Continue human." "If you promise to give me all the abilities I had obtained from my 999 times of reincarnating I''ll give you a show you won''t be disappointed with." "HAHAHAHA," the goddess''s laugh echoed throughout the void. "A human, trying to bargain with a divine being? How humorous. You know what? Sure, I''ll let you reincarnate with all your abilities. But with one condition. You''ll have to work for it. Deal?" "Deal." "Good luck," the Goddess says as she laughs haughtily as she waves her hand in a ritual-like motion, sending Zephyr back. The Return to Umbraxis Work for it? What does that mean? Zephyr had accepted the deal without thinking since it was a pain to negotiate with a goddess who regarded him as something so insignificant. But he had no time to contemplate since as soon as he gained consciousness he was plummeting to his death down a massive ravine. SHIT Zephyr''s mind was racing, he couldn''t die immediately right after reincarnation and he didn''t know when he''ll get the next chance to strike such a rare deal. His hands immediately try to grab onto the rocky wall of the ravine, his hands being scraped away whilst trying to slow himself down. He tries to hide the pain by clenching his teeth even though his hands feel like they are being ground down by the stone. His fingernails were almost completely broken and he lost his grip as he began tumbling down, hitting his head on a piece of stone. ... When Zephyr had woken up, he was at the bottom of the ravine. He tried to move his leg to get up, but a sharp pain shot through his leg. It seemed that his leg had immediately snapped when he had fallen to the bottom. Zephyr groaned at the situation he was in, realizing that the person he reincarnated into tried to throw himself into a ravine to kill himself. Zephyr tried to gather his thoughts thinking about how he should stop the calamity this time around, but most importantly, try and survive this insane predicament he''s in right now. In the realm of Umbraxis, five different continents make up the world. Kyomora, a continent in the southeast that used the power of qi and sword arts to fight. In the northeast, Mystharow, a medieval civilization that used mana for mages and warriors contained a monarchy that ruled over the entire continent. The Nyxthorn thicket, a continent in the southwest containing a dark and eerie forest with Banshees, Chimeras, and shadow wraiths. A continent in the northwest, The Eclipsed Realm, where the sun never shines contains astral guardians and starforged beasts. The last realm was in the center of Umbraxis, The Voidscar Abyss. No one has ever come back alive from this mysterious abyss and even in Zephyr''s 999 reincarnations, he had never gone inside the abyss. Inside the abyss, there were rumors of a "truth of books" that enticed many adventures who never came back after trying to search for this item. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. As Zephyr felt around his body, he realized that he had obtained the perfect body. Zephyr''s body was able to utilize qi, mana, divine energy, and absorb dark energy. Throughout his 999 attempts, he had always reincarnated back to the year 1452, but as different people each time. Each reincarnation he would be in a different area, whether it be in Mystharow or any of the other three continents, and only be able to absorb one type of energy. But in this reincarnation, he was able to absorb all four! Hah, looks like the Goddess kept her word. Zephyr was relieved that the Goddess was able to fulfill his request but it was a shame he couldn''t use any of the abilities he learned in his other lives. Zephyr deduced that to get out of this ravine he would probably need to accumulate one of the four types of energy. Each of the four places had a specific type of energy that didn''t let someone accumulate another type of energy in a place with a different type of energy. With this information, Zephyr realized that he could find out what place continent he was in at the moment. Alright let''s start accumulating dark energy first. ... Nope. Divine energy? ... Nope. Qi? When he started to accumulate qi, Zephyr felt a warm energy accumulating near his heart. Accumulating qi for the first time is dangerous since it is easy to mess up the formation of qi and blow up the person''s heart in the process. People who start developing qi need someone else to control the qi in their bodies to find the right path to accumulate it efficiently and accurately. But Zephyr had done this dozens of times so it was natural for him to find the right path immediately. With this body, Zephyr was able to absorb qi twice as quickly as a normal person could. The cuts and bruises he had gotten during the fall immediately started healing and the qi had accelerated the healing of his broken leg. After 15 minutes, Zephyr was exhausted but happy that he was able to accumulate this much qi in one sitting. No time to waste, I have to find a way out of here. Even after almost falling to his death he remained calm and collected. This little predicament wouldn''t set him back and finding out where he was and who he was in Kyomora was of utmost priority. Zephyr started to climb. Even though it hurt like hell to even move a muscle, Zephyr didn''t care. He had to get to the top at any cost. With each movement Zephyr started to feel numb and halfway up the ravine, he could no longer feel his hands or feet. Zephyr could hardly even breathe. But if he fell now it would be over and there would be no second chance. When Zephyr reached the top, he pulled himself over the edge laying on his back to try and catch his breath. "Wow I have to deal with this right after I reincarnate, huh," he muttered under his breath. From the corner of Zephyr''s eye, Zephyr immediately reacts to the dark silhouette, his body wearily trying to stand up. Cult of the Withering Moon Zephyr''s vision was blurry and he could barely hold himself together. The treacherous climb up the ravine had taken a toll on his body. Zephyr looked up to examine his surroundings. It was the dawn of night with the only sound being the rustling leaves in the forest and the hooting of the owls. Zephyr had to get to somewhere safe since many dangerous beasts were prone to come out at night in Kyomora and there wasn''t a chance in hell someone would be in the middle of nowhere to help him. Zephyr''s vision still hadn''t fully recovered as he saw three beasts emerge from the shadows. As Zephyr''s vision adjusted, he realized it wasn''t three beasts. It was one beast with three different heads. A Cerberus? in Kyomora? I thought those only existed in the Nyxthorn Thicket. It was a waste of time trying to figure out how this beast got here so Zephyr just booked it. The Cerberus was quick to follow and it wouldn''t be long until it caught up with him. Zephyr began to stumble, tripping over branches and rocks. There was no way he would be able to outrun such a beast so there was no other option than to put up a fight. Zephyr stopped in his tracks and put up a fighting stance. Zephyr''s body was weak, not only from all the climbing he''d done, but the fact that whoever he reincarnated into didn''t train his body at all. The Cerberus lunged at Zephyr, baring his teeth ready to sink their teeth into his right shoulder. Zephyr had barely managed to sidestep the beast with the reaction time he had built up throughout his 999 lives and used his remaining qi to get a good blow on the Cerberus''s eye. But that was it. There was nothing else he could do. He had no energy, no qi, and no abilities to combat this beast. The Cerberus flung his head to the right sending Zephyr flying into a tree. Zephyr groaned in agonizing pain as he felt his spine fracturing with the impact. Looks like it''s the end... Another life is down the drain. The Cerberus walked up to Zephyr lying face up on the ground ready to rip off his head when in a flash of purple light, an old man leaped over the Cerberus stabbing it to death. Zephyr, unaware of what was happening, closed his eyes to rest. "Baek? Baek! Baek Wol!" ... Zephyr woke up in a cold sweat. There were bandages all over his body and it hurt to sit up on the bed. First, Zephyr decided to try and figure out where he was. In Kyomora, there were three different sects. The Cult of the Withering Moon, the Scarlet Ember Sect, and the Verdant Sky Pavillion. Zephyr tried recalling what happened during the fight with the Cerberus. After he had punched the Cerberus in the eye with qi, it seemed like the Cerberus was moving slower. Either the hit did damage to hinder his movement, or, a less likely but possible option, he drained the Cerberus''s energy. But there was too little information to assume that possibility. Stolen story; please report. Zephyr then tried to recall what happened right after he passed out. Wait a flash of... purple light? The only people to display a flash of purple qi in Kyomora was the Cult of the Withering Moon. It turns out that they can drain energy out of someone with qi as well. Well, that confirms it I guess. I''m in the damn Cult of the Withering Moon. In every single life, this Cult had been a huge issue for Zephyr. This expansionistic cult had an elder who was much hated by the two other cults. Even Mystharow''s kingdoms hated this cult in some of Zephyr''s lives. Poison techniques and energy-draining strikes were one of the most hated abilities in all of Umbraxis. Next, Zephyr wanted to try and find out who he was in relation to the cult. During the battle, Zephyr barely recalled what the old man called him after slaying the beast. Hm, Baek? Yes, it was Baek Wol. ... WAIT BAEK WOL? The Patriarch''s name that ruled over the cult was Jin Wol meaning that Zephyr was one of the five sons of Jin Wol. Wow, how great. Out of the millions of people in Umbraxis it has to be someone in this damn Cult. A few moments later, the sliding wooden door in front of him opens up revealing an old man dressed in a large black robe carrying a plate of food. "Baek Wol, where the hell were you? I spent the entire day searching all over for you." His tone was lighthearted and concerned but then turned serious. "There are many unknown monsters in that forest yet you still ventured out there. You could''ve died trying to take on that Cerberus! Besides your entrance exam for Moonshadow Academy is in three days. You probably won''t survive though so you might as well savor this food." "I''m... sorry," Zephyr replied not knowing what else to say. The old man leaves letting Zephyr comprehend what the old man just told him. The entrance exam for Moonshadow Academy, huh? Zephyr had heard something about this in one of his past lives even though he didn''t know the specifics. However, he did know that there were three different brutal phases he had to go through to pass the exam. One thing was certain for Zephyr though, and that was how weak his body was. Even though he had a body built for absorbing multiple types of energies, the body itself was incredibly weak. It was also evident that the old man saw no potential and even pitied Zephyr for attending the entrance exam. Usually, people would call the elder''s sons "young master" but the old man just called him by his name so casually. It seems that before Zephyr had reincarnated into Baek''s body he had no affinity for absorbing qi essentially making him a joke. No wonder this guy tried to kill himself. But there was still one question left unanswered, why was a cerberus in Kyomora? These hell-like beasts didn''t appear in Kyomora at least not in 1452. Wait, if beasts have appeared in Kyomora... Zephyr looked around the room spotting a calendar in a dark corner. As he looked closely at the date it said, July 14th, 1457. No, no, no, no. DAMN THIS GODDESS. Beasts had begun to appear in Kyomora during the year 1457 as a result of an earthquake that connected the two continents, Komora and the Nixthorn Thicket, together. These beasts migrated to Kyomora in search of more food. Now, Zephyr was stressing out. The calamity would begin in 1465 but he had just lost five years because the goddess thought it would be funny to reincarnate five years later than he was supposed to. Zephyr ripped off his bandages and barged out the door. There was no time to waste, if he wanted to overcome the calamity, he would need to start getting stronger. And that moment was NOW. The Stone to Power There was no time to waste, Zephyr had to get stronger and quickly. But first and foremost, he had to develop his physical strength. Next to the wooden house he stayed in he saw a training field with a sandy floor and five scarecrows lined up in a single file line. He spotted the wooden practice swords right next to the first scarecrow and snatched a sword. In Zephyr''s past lives, he had been in both the Scarlet Ember Sect and the Verdant Sky Pavillion so he already knew many advanced techniques those sects had to offer. However, he had never reincarnated into the Cult of the Withering Moon so he had no idea how he would get stronger in such a short amount of time knowing zero sword techniques. Zephyr wanted to test if he could even perform sword techniques in the first place. After looking around to make sure nobody was watching, he stood in front of the scarecrow closed his eyes, lifted his blade, and concentrated. Blazing Crescent Slash, verse 1 A blazing red fire appeared for a split second surrounding the blade but then just disappeared as the blade cut down striking the scarecrow in the shoulder. Huh? What happened to the fire? After glancing around once more to make sure nobody saw that technique, he sat down criss-crossed, rubbed his chin, and began pondering. I had no trouble performing these simple techniques in my past lives, why can''t I do it now? As soon as I tried to swing my sword the energy disappeared. That couldn''t be possible. Either it''s this boy''s body or it''s... THE GODDESS. Zephyr had deduced that this was what the goddess meant when she said "You''ll need to work for it." For each sect in Kyomora, each kingdom in Mystharow, each village in the Nyxthorn Thicket, and each territory in the Eclisped realm there lay a Divine Energy Stone. These stones contained divine energy and if one wanted to create a new sword art for a new sect or a new mana trait for a kingdom they would need to lay their hands on a brand new piece of divine stone. There is a confirmed total of 12 stones throughout the entire kingdom but there was a chance more stones could be found, it just hadn''t been confirmed. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. In Zephyr''s past lives, these were useless since he could only control one type of energy whether it be qi, mana, divine energy, or dark energy. Because these energy stones had divine energy, it was easy for him to track down these stones with divine powers. But in his past life, he could strictly use one type of energy so even if he could find these stones, besides selling them on the market there was no use for them. Now that Zephyr has all four energies in this life obtaining these stones would be essential to powering himself up. Not only essential, but a requirement because it seemed that the Goddess had sealed away his powers and these powers would only activate if he had the stone linked to the specific type of technique and energy. It''s no use. I''ll just hone my body for now by slashing this scarecrow until I can cut it in half in one strike. I''ll track down the stone for this cult tonight. ... Zephyr lay face up on the ground dripping with sweat trying to catch his breath as a shadowy figure loomed over him. "Old man?" Zephyr muttered under his breath struggling to find his words. "Who do you think you''re calling ME, Yun Aran, old man, Baek? Do you want to get beat again? At least you''re making an effort to train even though it looks pathetic," Yun said scornfully. "Go hurry up and get changed your food is on the table." Yun Aran, Yun Aran. WAIT YUN ARAN? Back in Zephyr''s 665th life and onward, when the angels first appeared on Umbraxis, the name Yun Aran had been passed around as one of the main slayers of the angels. He had been around the first to slay around twenty or so which doesn''t sound like a lot but at the time no one could fight against an angel less have a one versus one against them. Zephyr staggered over to his small house and saw the steamed rice, congee, and seaweed soup on the table. He plopped down on the seat and started devouring the entire meal. He hadn''t remembered the last time he had tasted something so delicious. After the meal, he wearily walked over to the bed and trained his qi until midnight. Midnight was the time he was going to strike. The Resturaunts Basement Zephyr hopped off his bed, grabbed his sword next to the kitchen table, and sneakily opened his door, making sure to not make any noise. When he got outside he closed his eyes and concentrated. With his eyes closed, he sees a faint yellow line that passes through a small house right across from his house. Bingo He slowly walks towards the house making sure to focus on the yellow aura in front of him. Slowly opening the door of the house, he sees a messy restaurant with heaps of chopsticks and bowls on the floor. The tables were all greasy with sauce plastered everywhere. What the hell happened here? Ignoring the mess and making sure Zephyr didn''t knock over anything, he continued to follow the faint yellow aura. He eventually approached the back bar where the bartender served drinks. The yellow aura is going downward? What the hell? Searching around the back bar, he touches everything. Under the bar table, on the shelves, and the brown wooden cups they used to poor drinks. Upon further examination, he felt a strange aura coming out of one of the cups. What? Why is there a minuscule amount of mana in this one cup? After touching every single cup and placing each one on the counter he discovered that each cup had different amounts of mana inside. Zephyr roughly ordered them based on how much there was but it was hard to tell because there was just so little inside. What do I even do with this information? After pondering for a bit, Zephyr decided to recheck everything but this time tried as hard as he could to detect any other type of energy that could be lingering. As Zephyr reached under the counter again he felt something dark and cold. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Wait, is this dark energy? Dark energy is the energy that was similar to qi but instead of taking the energy from the life and surrounding area, it took the energy from the surrounding death and destruction. These two energies would easily repel each other but unlike qi, mana easily stuck to dark energy, the dark energy sucking the energy of mana for whatever reason. Zephyr had noticed that the dark energy had been arranged across the wooden platform under the counter in little circles, one having a larger concentration than the one before it in increasing order. Zephyr put the wooden cups from left to right on the platform starting with the lowest concentration. As Zephyr finished up he felt the mana leaving the cups and a small opening appeared right under the counter next to the platform where he put the cups. After debating whether Zephyr should crawl through the hole that angled downward into darkness, he figured he had no choice so he slowly crawled through. After crawling out of the hole, he slowly stands up revealing a cavern lit up by a row of torches. Slowly unsheathing his word, he walks carefully still trying his best to follow the divine energy. After walking for a couple of seconds, he spots a shelf with a box dead on the center platform. The divine energy gets stronger as he approaches the box confirming that this was exactly what Zephyr was looking for. As Zephyr approached the box, he felt a strange foreign energy. Not from the box but somewhere near the box. Zephyr moved to the right of the box pushing it aside. A chest? There''s a strange, foreign energy in this box, I''ve never felt this before. For a second, Zephyr didn''t want to approach something that he didn''t know anything about but something was calling him. Something beckoned him to find out what was inside the box. Zephyr lifted the box out of the whole Unsheathing his sword, he formed a layer of qi over the sword allowing him to cut the chain tethering the lock on the chest. The chain was made of a weird metal with a language he had never seen. More importantly, the dark energy seemed to envelop the room even more as soon as he broke it. Zephyr couldn''t wait any longer, he had to find out what was in that box. As Zephyr got closer to the box his vision got darker, it was like the darkness had completely enveloped him. Zephyr lifted the lid revealing a tome. The tome was wrinkly and old. The texture was similar to that of a human and it felt somewhat... alive. At this point Zephyr, barely being able to see, being blown with winds as strong as a hurricane, coldest as can be, reaches his hand and touches the book when it just turns... black. The Truth of the Abyss Late at night, three men are in a room, the moonlight shining through a slit in the curtains, being blown by a faint woosh of wind. An old man stands at the door guarding the room. A young boy sits at a desk, directly facing the door holding a devious smirk, one hand fidgeting with the pen in his hand, whilst his head rests on the other. A man dressed in black kneels on the floor in front of the young boy greeting his presence. "My lord, are you sure you want to go through with this?" the man in black asks. The boy chuckles. "I don''t know how that boy hasn''t killed himself yet, but I guess I''ll just do it for him. If I have to see him at the entrance exam I might have to rip my eyes out after seeing something so repulsive." The boy pauses as if he expected a reply from the assassin but continues, "Go, if I see him alive tomorrow morning consider yourself dead." The assassin disappears, not leaving a single trace behind. -------------- Zephyr was panicking. It was almost impossible to breathe and it felt like he was sinking in cold, muddy water. Everything around him was dark but he could see an outline of something or someone moving towards him. Zephyr tries moving closer to it with no avail. In a split second the figure dashes towards Zephyr. "Zephyr, I''ve been watching you for a long time now. I was waiting for when you would try to meet me," the figure said in a cold, raspy voice. "Who are you and where did you bring me?" Zephyr screamed, the darkness drowning the sound. "Don''t you want to be free, free from the cycle of death and rebirth?" the man in darkness asked whispering into Zephyr''s ear. "What are you talking about?" "I''ll get straight to the point. I am the only one who knows who started the calamity. I can help you free the curse binding you to the Goddess." "You know about the Goddess?" The dark figure walks around him in circles, "This world used to have no god or religion. After she appeared, she treated this world as something she could play with, a toy of some sorts. Everyone here is at the palm of her hand. Except..." He extends his hand out pointing at Zephyr, "You" then points at himself, "And me". Stolen story; please report. "The Goddess has been watching you all this time thinking of ways to keep you here, on this planet, forever. You''re never going to break this cycle by yourself Zephyr. That''s why you need me." "Is the Goddess the one starting the calamity?" Zephyr asked. "Not exactly, but that''s not important right now. The most important thing right now is for you to escape the grasps of the goddess. Grab the book, kill the man heading to your residence and pour his blood over the book to free me." The man disappears into the abyss as Zephyr returns back to the cavern coughing out black liquid and catching his breath. There''s no other option. If I want to get stronger I need to get this strange power and disappear from the goddesses gaze. Before heading back to his residence, he remembered that he still needed to absorb the Divine energy stone before returning back. He opened the box on the shelf, grabbed the colorful stone and sat down in the lotus position. With both palms of his hands clasping the stone, he felt the energy start to head from the bottom of his fingertips to the top of his head. After a couple of minutes he stood up. Zephyr felt like he had obtained a whole new body. Now, not only could he use the martial arts abilities of the Cult, but he had obtained an insane amount of divine energy. Zephyr grabbed the book and ran back to his residence. -------------- The assassin swiftly but quietly approached Baek''s residence. Without making any noise, the assassin opened the window next to his bed finding nobody. In confusion, the assassin dashes inside the house desperately searching for Baek until something grabs his shoulder with a blade leaned right against his neck. "As soon as you move a muscle you die and if you don''t answer the question you die. Who are you and who sent you here?" The assassin recognizes this voice, a voice very familiar to him. "Baek?" The assassin breathing begins to get faster as his heart rate dramatically increases and steadily tries grabbing the knife on his waist. As soon as the assassin touches the knife he jerks his arm, Zephyr slices his throat with no hesitation. With a rope Zephyr finds in one of the drawers, quickly he ties up the assassin, hanging him upside down from the celling. Finding a bucket used to wash clothes, he put the human skin textured book inside placing the bucket right under the body. After the blood completely submerges the book, a dark aura releases from the book forming a pungent smell around the room. After the aura clears out, Zephyr reaches inside the pulling out the book. Now, the book''s skin feels smooth but more awake. Before when Zephyr tried to open the book, it wouldn''t budge. But now, as if the book was breathing, hot air came out of the book as if it sighed a breath of fresh air. Zephyr curiously examining the book containing language all written in blood. Is this a form of martial arts, or a spell of some sorts? But Zephyr had no time to think as two hands emerge from the book pulling his body into it, sending Zephyr back into a void. The Voids Grasp Zephyr gets transported back to the void realm but this time the realm gets stronger, much stronger. Zephyr felt like he was being ripped apart as his skin started to rip off his body from the winds, the coldness freezing his body, and the void made him sink deeper and deeper into the black mud. It was pain beyond anything Zephyr experienced. The lower he sank the more hopeless he became. It hurts, it hurts so bad. It''s truly hopeless, there''s nothing I can do. As Zephyr sinks deeper and deeper, countless memories flash by. Memories of his past lives, the journey he went through with his comrades, and every death he experienced. But then he thought about the goddess''s face. The face that brought him here time, and time, and time again. The face he wanted to smash with his fist and keep pounding until it never regenerates back. There is no way in hell I am going back to see that wenches face again. Zephyr''s mind started racing. What abilities did he have, what powers could he use to escape this situation? Qi couldn''t do anything to help the situation, he hadn''t learned any cultist''s sword arts yet which still would be useless and he couldn''t use any of the abilities he''d already learned from his past lives. But then it clicked. He remembered what happened after he absorbed the divine energy stone. Wait the divine energy stone! It gave me so much divine energy! Zephyr still didn''t know what this mysterious black energy was but using divine energy was his only option. Closing his eyes, he felt a hot energy radiating through his abdomen, Zephyr tried his best to envelope himself in this energy until a yellow aura completely encapsulated his entire body. With this power, his skin started healing, he started to feel warmer, and the black liquid started pushing him upwards as if it was rejecting the energy around him. When Zephyr got to the surface, it was nothing like what he pictured. There were three massive pillars on both sides holding up nothing when he looked up. Instead, there was a faint light that allowed him to barely see in the dark abyss. Right in front of him lay a throne, a massive throne nothing like what he''d ever seen. Sitting on it was a massive giant in a dark, eerie black robe. Even if I was as strong as I was in my last life could I beat it? After giving it some thought, he shook his head no. Being as experienced as he is, he instinctively gauged how large the power gap between them was. And the gap of power between him and the giant was beyond anything he''d ever seen. Zephyr''s body instinctively stepped back but he forced himself to move towards the giant. "HAHAHA, how amusing," the giant''s voice echoed through the void his hand slapping the armrest of the throne, "Using the divine energy you obtained from the divine energy stone saved you, hm? Looks like the Goddesses ''blessing'' unintentionally saved you." Zephyr was going to ask who he was, but he felt that something was a little odd in this dimension. Zephyr felt like he was there but felt like he wasn''t at the same time. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "Can the goddess see us in this place?" Zephyr asks. "No, this is my plane of existence, besides, I would never let that wench spy on me." "Am I... really, here?" The giant''s smile disappeared, ignoring the question, and instead gave two options for Zephyr, "It seems that we have the same ideals, Zephyr, so I''m going to give you two options. Either you give me your fine body and you can be a spirit living with me, or I can take your body and you can be reincarnated again watching me save the world." Zephyr already knew the giant''s real intentions. He wasn''t going to save the world, after he does he''ll just take the world for himself, and Zephyr wasn''t going to let that happen. Zephyr had no way of beating such a monster, but after the giant ignored his question he already knew the secret to this dimension. Pretending to look submissive, he let his head go down and slowly approached the giant. As soon as he approached 5 meters away from the giant he channeled as much qi as possible to the soles of his feet and leaped, unsheathing his sword and aiming to slice the giant''s head in half. "HAHAHA, how bold of you Zephyr, knowing you can''t beat me yet you leap aiming for my head," the giant looks unfazed, as he stares at Zephyr without reacting to him. Ashen Mirage Slash, verse 10 After realizing that the Goddess couldn''t detect him here, Zephyr realized that with his body not limited by Divine Energy Stones controlled by the Goddess, he could use every ability he remembered from his past lives. Zephyr''s body starts statically glitching as ten more flaming Zephyrs come flying from every direction attempting to slice the giant''s head. The ten swords come into contact with the giant''s massive neck, unable to make even the smallest dent. The giant slowly lifts his finger swatting every single fake Zephyr until he gets to the real one that made a one-centimeter deep cut on his neck, flicking his finger into Zephyr''s body sending him flying into one of the large pillars. Zephyr''s eyes roll to the back of his head, losing consciousness. Determined to stay alive, Zephyr stabs himself in the leg, his eyes gaining back focus. I need to just survive a little bit more, come on. Leaping from the pillar Zephyr channels the rest of the qi into these last two techniques. Verdant Shroud Using an ability from the Verdant Sky Pavilion, he leaps from pillar to pillar, using the strongest cloaking technique known to man. "A technique to completely shroud yourself, huh? What a fun technique, too bad you can''t hide the darkness within you." Zephyr ignores the unnecessary comment putting all his qi into this last technique. Flamefang Thrust, verse 10 Leaping as close as he could to the giant with the Verdant Shroud, he disabled it putting as much qi as he could into the Flamefang Thrust unleashing a ten-foot-long fire shaped like a blade as sharp as obliviron, a metal that could cut through almost anything. The tip of the blade started to pierce the giant''s throat but in a millisecond, Zephyr could no longer feel below his torso. "AHHHHH," Zephyr screamed, losing track of his qi but making sure his divine energy was still attached. Just a little bit longer, please! "I haven''t seen anybody put up such a valiant fight in over a hundred years. Looks like you''d maybe stand a chance if you reincarnated a thousand more times but that won''t happen this time around." Zephyr reaches for his sword, and the giant reaches his hand over to grab Zephyr and finish him off. "Even with your imminent death you still won''t give up, just give up now Zephyr it''s not worth it." Just fifteen more seconds! The giant lifts his right finger using his nail to slice Zephyr''s neck. Zephyr''s head rolls onto the black mud, immediately sending all of his divine energy to his head. "WHY HAVEN''T YOU GIVEN UP? GIVE ME YOUR BODY!" checkmate The giant lifts his two hands from the armrest, releasing five tendrils from inside his sleeves. But Zephyr smirks knowing he''s already won. The "dimension" starts to crack as the tendrils rapidly approach Zephyr''s head. But it was too late for the giant, Zephyr had returned back to his residence. Zephyr, falling backwards, touched his neck and torso making sure they were still intact. He had done it, he had gambled it all and escaped the void''s grasp.