He swings his spear again, clearing all the puppets five meters under the ground around him.
"A soul cursed to linger."
*Gulp* - The shadow gate instantly opens under him, surely Har is aiming to drag him to the shadowverse as what he did to Aetheria.
"Cheap trick."
That spear stabs through the darkness that he's stepping on and the crimson aura swiftly spreads out to form a tidal wave of blood. It obviously negates all of Har's intention. Moreover, he can even drag Har back to the general space from that shadow gate by the blood he dyed into this world.
"Don't you think…" - He grabs the spear again and points it to Har's neck.
"You can really escape?"
*Crack* - The spear has gone through his heart, stabbed through the ground and broken all the plans hidden in the shadow.
*Tch* - That sound has already put an end to this death situation.
"RampThica!" - A cracked sound where death is right behind him. It has woken up again.
Suddenly a white muscle hand pops up from the shadow of the sky. It madly thrives over time and mercilessly grabs Luker inside its hand.
The pressure of a mountain directly crushes straight on his body, in the covered shadow when that hand blocks all the sunlight from the sky above himself - absolutely overwhelmed.
Lancer Technique: Neverland - due to the lack of mana in his old realm, Luker had no choice but developed this spinning lance technique while focusing on the spears or lances as the core. Yet, right now, he is no longer standing on that dead land, he is covered by the energy of heaven and earth - mana.
By spinning the spear madly while extending his Aura into the space frame, Luker really has an ability to twist the whole space around him. In other words, Space Breaker allows Ian to shake the space frame and release the shockwave with the destruction based on the oscillation, but this technique allows Luker to twist it and directly breaks everything inside that frame as much as he desires.
*Vroom* - That familiar sound clangs over the graveyard one more time since that day.
*Splash* - Within a second, that hand is twisted and torn to various bloody parts in the confusion of Har. Luker still stands here with a spinning bloody spear in his hand. The Hex instinctively is shot straight toward Har as a threatening declaration.
He slowly but surely takes out the blindfold while summoning Latimas via the blood gate. Those two red eyes shine again in the flame of Helheilm.
"Hunting ma'am Alphabet is one of your orders, right?"
*Haha* - He laughs but not laughs, smiles but not smiles. That curved mouth just coercively appears in his face.
Within five minutes, all his plans and traps are all destroyed. Har is no longer able to smile right now, even RampThica is defeated in a strike, he is really stuck at this dead end road.
"Honestly I didn't order it."
"Whatever, I care not. And your death is set." - Luker doesn't joke, he approaches Har with the bloody spear non-stop cutting the ground as floating through the bubbles on the surges.
"Yo yo, chill out bro. I'm not one of The Eclipsed Moon."
"As I said. I care not."
*Boom* - Within a leap, he has already stood right behind Har and taken away half of his body in a slash. Yet, he still wants more.
Lancer Technique: Mountain Breaker - Spinning the spear again and stabbing it through the enemies, nothing will be left.
Shadow Gate: Ceperp - Phantom. The two wolves instantly rush straight toward him with their sharp claws aiming straight to his heart and brain.
*Splash* - It's all fake. Ceperp is just a meat shield for Har to escape from that calamity, yet, Luker is still hunting him madly right behind.
*Vsh* - The phantom wolf swiftly chases Luker from his rear with an incredible speed. Unfortunately, Latimas also jumps into the fight and prevents any deeds in the shadows.
"Good grief." - Necrosec has been taken out from the shadow gate.
Har also points it straight into Luker's heart position, all the soul fragments saved inside the first orb are all burnt to the ground - forming one and final strike that's supposed to end this sure-dead situation.
"Adamant…"
When the incantation is chanting, it's forced to stop at the middle of his throat. Those eyes just open wide and glance at him again, but this time, their function has been activated.
Luker doesn't know what name it is, nor its power. Yet, he knows that his loss has a reason, and that reason is what causes him this mad.
He cares not about what he has; he just desires to dye his hands into the blood pool again, and fill it and fill it and fill it over and over again until his body is pinned straight to the bottom by his own spear in the ocean of red blood.
And right at that moment, Har just realizes that he stands no chance to escape the next strike. He is facing death again. Honestly, he can redo this scene as many times as he wants. It's fine to lose in the first try.
It's fine…
But why…
Why am I so disgusted?
Why don't I feel interested at the next try anymore?
Why?
So strange. So weird. What's wrong with me?
Humans are complicated creatures. They are afraid that something brings them to death, they are scared of the unknown existences around them and they fear the superiors that threaten their lives. Yet, there are still the outliers among them.
And the way to find out those who belong to that side is the scarce seconds beneath the pressure of death.
Many people wonder what if they wipe out the fear in themselves and face the nightmares deep inside their inner mind. They wonder what kind of creatures they should be after losing the fear in their humanity.
However, none of them truly achieved that imagined level of mankind. The fear of insects or darkness aren't at the same level as the fear of death.
No one can truly negate their anxiety, fear, worriness when the scythe of a reaper is put on their necks when their mind really knows that they only have one chance to stay alive.
And that's how dying as a player causes no fear for Hoshira at all.
Yet, with this 200% pain and 100% authenticity, his brain has already immersed inside this game as his real life.
Besides all the irregulars, Hoshira has felt something right beyond his thoughts. Har instantly moves himself to sacrifice one arm and escape from that spear of doom.
Surely it was his reflex. He wonders why his instinct even controlled himself before his thoughts and sanity.
*Bang* - That spear approaches his neck again while Hoshira is flowing over his confusion. He again witnesses an unconscious dodge from Har even though he didn't try to do anything. He wonders why his heart is bouncing so hard. He wonders why his breath is unstable. And he wonders why he wants to win this hard.
It's not the true indifference of death, nor the nonchalance of facing a threat. Hoshira can't determine what it is, right now, he just wants to win. He needs more incitements, more than the first time he won the swordswoman or the striker after that. Those normal feelings are no longer able to satisfy himself at all.
He remembers the day that he set all the pain synchronization up to 200%. He thought that it was an elated decision when he was in the madness. He thought that it was…
Nevertheless, right now, he's finally found out his true feelings on that day. He was just bored. He's bored of repeating the same things over and over again.
Longings…
The longings will lead you to your true self.
A whisper, a thought and a cracked guidance. He knows nothing about it, yet, it's still enough to break through the wall of hesitation always blocking his way from the start.
He murmurs to himself that there shouldn't be any more reason for him not to enjoy this game as a real life experience.
Everything is too perfect as if they are all set for him to be a true being of this virtual world.
It doesn't matter anymore. He doesn't want to think anymore.
He wants to win.
"I… hear you…" - Another whisper, it clangs throughout his mind with a low-pitched voice.
He has found out his gaps while using this ability since the start. It shouldn't be limited to only controlling puppets or dead corpses as the way he used to do.
What if… he thought.
What if I were a puppet too?
Puppet Manipulation: Self-control - After a parry, Har swiftly does an acrobatic movement to rotate himself in the very low position for an escape.
In other usual cases, he can't do it due to the limits of his view, imagination and space sense.
But right now, look at him, the true spirit standing behind him. Does he look normal now?
The red and dark pink Aura frantically overflows through his back and forms a weird being. It has a mask of a clown with one tear on the right eye, one heart on the other side. His body is only half materialized, standing for its incompleteness. But the true problem is his two arms and hands. There are even four arms and hands connected to Har's body via forty threads - which helps him to do everything he wants.
Not yet, not enough! He even desires more. It's the consequence of his overheated brain, it's running with 200% potential, that warm feeling even makes him more conscious. More, more!
Luker feels it, he feels the up-coming threat. Reasonably, he rushes straight toward Har with his strongest piercing technique to eliminate this opponent once and forever.
*Crack* - A rapid dodge, Luker instantly gets one counterstrike directly on his face. Non-stop, the spirit continuously controls Har to land more strikes in some unusual positions. Even Luker can't see through that trick, he doesn't understand how his opponent can stay still in the air for two seconds and throw two strikes into his lungs.
Luker swiftly steps back twice to maintain the safe distance for the next movement. He also looks at Latimas to make sure that they didn't see anything wrong. The abilities from Latimas allows him to see through the invisible fence between him and that spirit. Yet, he doesn't know how to counter it.
Har knows it, his brain is even running faster and faster time by time. He rapidly rushes straight toward Luker with the following strikes. Honestly, he cares not about the efficiency of this strategy right now, all he wants is more and more excitement per sudden challenge.
"So disgusting." - Luker also rushes straight toward him with his spinning spear. He knows that he shouldn't let this irregular life last longer. Otherwise no one can actually beat him individually.
It's not a glaze, Har is actually considered as a threat in Luker's perspective right now. It's obvious that a minute ago, he could easily overwhelm him in a fight, but at this moment, Luker even feels a bit of unsure hesitation while facing Har.
It's too strange and unreasonable, Luker isn't a bookworm, but he's sure that there's no way for a guy to become massively stronger without any price like this.
A contract? He thought then he denied.
Luker's sure that Har's power didn't change due to any third party, it's more like his own power has been awakened.
"This is quite unfair." - Latimas also evaluates. He was also given abilities through his demands too, but it's surely not this intense.
"Hey. Who are you" - Har asks.
"None of your business."
They both crash at each other one more time. The shockwave they release even shakes the surrounding trees crazily - surely it's massively destructive.
"More! Give me more." - He almost screams to Luker.
The dark dagger has been taken out, Har comes up with three slashes straight to Luker's face without any hesitation.
*Clash* - Swiftly swinging the spear, he has already parried all those strikes within a second. Luker also steps ahead to thrust that spear toward Har's left hip - aiming to take away as much blood as possible.
Unfortunately, Har is still able to react to that action and dodge aside while grabbing his spear. After a pull, Luker is disarmed and knocked back two steps via a kick.
*Splash* - While he's still smiling, Luker instantly activates one of his abilities - Blood Spikes - to stab them through Har's hands.
The spear is also burning itself, this is all Luker's plan to negate at least his opponent's two hands. He also rushes toward Har with another blood spear in his right hand. Of course, it's spinning.
*Clash - Clash* - With all the strength he has, Har directly clashes the spear bound with his hands to that spinning one.
But it is no help. He is sent flying back to the big rock behind and locked in the dead end situation.
Latimas also jumps into that fight and aims to harvest his head for dinner.
*Clash* - This time he coercively tears apart one of his hands while freeing it from the blood spear.
Shadow Gate technique has been activated to materialize three Aura claws to prevent that sword from cutting through his neck.
This is not good at all. He thought.
Har knows that he's pushing to death again in this 2v1 fight, he needs a turning point. RampThica is called out one more time to save him from Luker again. Even though it's destroyed in hands, it's still worth it.
He instantly runs to the left side, where Necrosec is lying on the ground.
*Splash* - Ceperp is called out to protect him from another spinning spear strike from Luker while the phantom wolf backing up him.
This guy, too annoying. Luker frowns a bit.
*Clack* - Successfully grabbing the staff, Har swiftly scrolls one more time on the ground to dodge the strike from his opponent.
"Adamanty." - This time the incantation has been chanted successfully before Luker can do anything to prevent it from becoming true.
All 3607 soul fragments are converted to one beam and shot straight toward Luker with Har's maximum energy output.
It tears all the roadblocks and blows away all the blood undeads trying to weaken that strike.
Lance Technique: Neverland.
All the space is twisted again, but this time it doesn't aim to destroy anything. Luker actually uses it to twist the trajectory of that beam via his spear and send them flying away without leaving a sweat on his face.
He also rushes straight toward Har for the decisive strike aiming directly to his brain.
*Swoosh* - That spear went through the shadow wolf but Har has already disappeared. Luker instantly realizes that shadow wolf works like a movable shadow gate.
*Tch* - He looks around and rushes straight to RampThica on Latimas' side.
*Splash* - Its two hands have been cut down.
"Latimas."
Within a slash, he has killed that beast. After five more seconds of observing the current situation, they all leave.
"Luker, I think we should prepare as soon as possible. He is too strong, we need more companions."
"My bad, I should've found more people first. But don't worry, I've carved on his left hand a blood sign of Lady Blood, we'll have another chance to assault him next time." - Luker rapidly heals himself.
"I see, but we still need more companions." - Latimas keeps the same thoughts.
"Sure, let's find Ian."
Actually they were on their way to Arezal, the crownless continent, but somehow they heard about the name "Ryun" while having lunch at an eatery. Of course, Luker didn't even make a plan to guarantee that his target would die. In short, he was too superficial.
In the shadowverse, where they can't hear or witness the truth. Har just sighs a bit, he thought that he could trap them into the final trap.
Suddenly a familiar voice appeases him, "Don't worry you've achieved it already."
Obviously, it's Zela, she hasn't died.
"Sure."
Let's pause for a bit. As you can see, it's all the scene that he and Zela built up to trap Luker to the dead end situation.
First, he used Fake Hands to make two undeads have the same identities as him and Zela's. Then they did a small play to make sure that Luker would have time and chances to suddenly assault those two undeads at the start.
Next, he activated Puppet Manipulation to control the elite undead which had his own identity to fight Luker.
Yes, all the emotions he stirred up in himself during that fight were all deceptions. He knew that Latimas had an ability to look through all the frauds when activated. Yet, it's still unclear at its function.
The Eye of Elite only allows him to determine if a phenomenon is fake or a real occurring event. Like the way it helped him negate the threat from Hex of The Upper Moon.
But that is just one usage of itself. Actually it could be used to distinguish if Har was using a puppet or himself to fight them. Yet, in this case, the ability to look straight at the essence of phenomena didn't work.
Hex is a kind of threatening Pulse, that's why when the user hasn't reached "that level" it's just considered as an ability to send the prey into the imagined calamities. Now The Eye of Elite really works.
Nevertheless, when others activate some abilities related to hoax or trickery, like the way Har used Fake Hands and Puppet Manipulation to make a clone of himself. The Eye of Elite could work in this case.
But it would've only been probable if Har hadn't done a small trick.
Let's make it clear. The Eye of Elite is thrivable by time, and this kind of abilities always start at the basic power. And for the current mastery of Latimas right now, it only helps him see through Hex and lies.
In this complicated case, obviously Latimas could only determine if his opponent was Ryun or not via the conventional colors: Green - True and Red - False.
The result should be red the first time he saw the undead in Har's identity. Yet, as I said, he did a trick.
By planting inside that undead two command codes:
1. "I am Ryun Liferberto."
"I ordered The Eclipsed Moon to kill Alphabet."
He knew that ability worked on the questions, answers and causality. So he just based it on countering The Eye of Elite.
Ryun Liferberto died already, so it basically means that it is an "empty identifier" in Aurorize. So anyone can use that name to do some causality trick. Like what Har did in the fight, he overwrote that soul fragment, which had no resistance or individuality, those two sentences to set it as another "Ryun Liferberto."
On the next step, he hid himself in shadowverse, which is considered as a private dimension staying outside the first layer of causality in Aurorize System.
And that's how that elite undead was determined as "Ryun Liferberto" instead of a corpse.
The Ex rank Irregular title was so helpful to distract them from focusing on why its heart didn't beat as usual. Moreover, Har was actually who leaked his own location around Luker indirectly. After all, it's just a small play that he made.
Yet, because of that deep immersion inside the role of a weak, he made a mistake.
Actually it's his fault for letting the emotions overflow too much that he unconsciously raised the power too high - giving them a big doubt.
That's also the reason for his failed capture.
Whatever, he just got what he's required - a corpse carved the sign of Lady Blood. Honestly, he was surprised when the System strangely talked with him yesterday with the identity of a god being.
He admitted that he was the one who put small guidelines in Har's System to lead him this far.
The appellation of that being was shown as [The Trickster] and he's in Asgard. Even a kid could know that being was Loki.
And also at that moment, he knew that he was going to go deeper inside the game lore as an Outer God servant.
"So exciting."
"Huh?" - Zela surely doesn't get what he means.
*Haha* - "Never mind."
It's so fun that he could even determine that Loki, or other Outer Gods, were able to see through the future, or Aurorize was just their playground. However, it doesn't matter for Hoshira. His job is just obeying Loki until the end to complete this role.
He smiles for a bit, he wonders what kind of challenges might be in his ways while doing this role.
Just a thought, all his body is shaken madly, the heat interwoven into each hot breath he releases from the mouth is too obvious for Zela to witness. Sometimes she doesn't know that if he just thinks about something really perverted to have that expression.
"Zela" - He calls.
"Hm?"
"It's time for us to expand our impact in this crownless continent." - The greed fires in his eyes.
"What's wrong with you? We've been all hiding from other forces, who can we find and where can we expand?" - Zela says.
"It doesn't matter anymore Zela. We need to face them at the end before achieving our top goal. The era has changed since the day 800 outsiders came to this world, we need to move right now."
Zela witnesses the massive ambition in each of his sentences, but then she smiles.
"You are weird, but you are right. I'm so done with hiding. But we need support from Aetheria too."
"Of course, I've already known where we should lay our hands on. I need you to persuade him for me."
"Oh? What is your plan?"
"If we have Holy Spirits, we must have the opposite beings of them too." - He whispers and looks at her.
"Devils." - Zela also looks at him.
But he only shakes his head, "I know that devils aren't the kind of creatures that we can easily make a contract with. We will look for all the lost souls floating throughout the undefined realm."
"Lim… Limbo?"
He just smiles, "All of them, we will devour them all and make our own troops."
That smile even sends Zela into a dark theme dyed with the purple light, it isn't Hex, but she can surely feel the pressure.
"The Greed has been activated."
[The Sinful Treasures: 1/7]
"Luker, we need him." - Ian speaks up.
"What is his ability?" - Kura instantly reacts to that information.
"Blood and spear technique. If you give him a good horse, he can even pierce through the sky." - He steadily evaluates.
"Don't forget that we are limited in this realm." - Torun reminds Ian.
"Ah ye… sure, but he could pierce something even more fancy than a sky, you know."
"Dino gave him a horse so I think it should only be activated when he has at least an equal level companion to perform it again." - Torun looks at Ian
"But we actually need him to join us."
"That's true, it's not the problem of how strong he is. We need companions, that's the issue." - Kura really plays the role of a leader. He doesn't screen his options based on any special filter because Kura always prioritizes the general profits and advantages more than anything.
Torun looks at his leader with the last question, "So do you think we really need him right now?"
Kura knows that his companion just wants to confirm his choice, "Sure."
"Alright, so let it be." - Ian says.
"But how can we find him?" - Hazen points out the second main issue of their plan.
"Oh, don't worry." - Ian puts his hand in the left socket and takes out a mana stone template which is carved the signature of Verol military.
"He has been attending this conversation at the start already."
*Vsh* - "Good morning guys, I'm Luker."
He appears via the blood holes right behind Ian. It's another function of his ability with the requirement of exact coordinates. Whatever, Luker is here after facing Har two hours ago.
"Good morning, but can I ask you a question?" - Kura says.
"Sure."
Suddenly, his Hex is unleashed in every corner of this room, surely he's not fine with the existence of Luker.
"How did you get those two eyes? Do you know what they are?"
"Kura, chill out." - Torun and Ian try to calm him down but nothing's working out.
"Surely I know nothing about them. All I got is the unstable ability of negating other's ability in some seconds, and I had it after the death of ma'am Alphabet." - Luker doesn't really get offended about Kura's actions. He knows that everything must have a reason.
"Fine. Excuse me for that manner. It just reminds me of my worst nightmare."
"Never mind, not only you, all the priests and mages also reacted the same thing when I revealed my eyes." - And then, he takes out a black blindfold and puts it on his two eyes.
"Okay, now we have two blindnesses."
"Shut the f-"
"So what is going on here?" - Aetheria slightly interrupts them.
"I wonder how we have an existence of the Unholy System in a branch of The Holy Council."
"Good morning sir. I just want to say that I was given these two eyes from a contract, and I am a human."
Surely Luker knows Aetheria's intention. He also takes this chance to explain for all of them the story before he got here.
"A star?" - Torun is confused.
"Welp, we had over thousands of small realms there. Nothing is actually impossible." - Hazan just touches his shoulder and tells him the fact.
"Ye, that's true. We have some inferior realms like martial arts based or non-spell normal worlds. Meanwhile some of them look like fictional novels or much more powerful realms while compared to others. And now I feel like we are going to see something more crazy." - Luker says.
"Hey, what do you all think about our destiny?" - Kura suddenly asks.
"This is a complicated topic. Sometimes I feel like there is a hand hiding in another dimension leading me through some events." - Hazen assumes.
He keeps going, "Ian and Luker met me already in that vestige. You guys must know that I look different from myself last time, right? I don't want to reveal too much about my past but… I have two characteristics and that always smiling guy who has taken control of this body since my old death."
"And he had decided some choices that went against your will, right?"
"And now I'm here with you guys. Also I had no reason to help Clara, nor to fight Yujin and Dino. All his choices didn't match my priorities, yet somehow it still kept me alive as if 800 outsiders entering this world weren't random, I feel like we were selected intentionally." - Hazen's face surely dyes in the color of green.
"Alyne also always murmured something about her destiny too. I know nothing actually, yet, I can assume that all the reasons come from Yujin." - Luker cuts in.
"Oh, almost forget that guy. Do you all have any information about him?" - Ian asks.
"Surely nothing's working out. Seems like he is almost deleted from this world. With that characteristic and his power, I'm pretty sure that things would've been blown up a long time ago." - Ian laughs.
*Haha* - "So true." - Torun also joins it.
"Hear me out." - Everyone instantly looks at Kura with curiosity inside their eyes.
"My background, my race and my destiny are related to this world."
After confirming that everyone is paying attention, he moves on, "I don't know what you guys have, nor your secrets. So I'll do it first." - He slightly takes down the white blindfold and reveals his two eyes.
They slowly change from the normal black to the two various white crystal orbs. His Aura slightly changes from the normal white to the mixture of azure, light purple, light pink and crystal-like colors.
"I had a book. It's the records of twelve prophecies of an unknown realm, and with our experiences and journeys, I'm pretty sure that it's about Aurorize. Moreover, all my powers have been activated since the day I entered this world, months ago. That's why I came up with this speculation."
He moves on, "Different from you all, I have two different Aura based on my eyes. And this feature is bound with the Cylians, my clansmen. Yet, I know nothing about them, nor how many people have the same bloodline as mine that are still alive. So my purpose besides creating a league is finding out the truth of Cylians. That's all."
"I also have no problem, my abilities are about blood and explosion beside the spells in this realm. So basically if you all reach a consensus, I'll follow till the end." - Torun extends his thoughts.
"Hazen myself has nothing to do too, so everything is optional for me. By the way, I haven't awakened my ability yet."
Following them, Ian also joins in, "Beside the old ability about crystallization and basic sword techniques, I can break the space. I'll follow Aetheria until we finish our goal, then everything will be optional for me."
"I'll follow this league but I want you all to accept my request." - Luker joins respectively.
"Go on." - Aetheria finally says something.
"I need help to kill Ryun Liferberto." - His Hex unconsciously spreads out again.
*Clap* - Aetheria claps his hands to get their attention, "One more time guy, we are going to purify The Holy Council and kill Ryun or anyone of The Eclipsed Moon. Then we'll move on to Kura's mission."
"Sure." - They all meet their demands except the true optional guy, Ian.
"Oh, forgot to ask, how many people should we have? Not the minimum." - Aeth looks at Kura.
"As much as possible, yet, whatever they do, they must be at least as good as my pure strength level. We are going to a special place, so it's dangerous."
"Where is it?"
"I don't even know, he only told me its name - Phelatust."
*Whirr* - Aeth's Hex is released outside with his maximum output. It's not a joke, he's really serious about this problem.
"I'm not going to lie to you all. I haven't gotten there either, yet, I can make sure that whenever you are below the Grand Sage level, you must not lay a foot on that land." - It is almost like Aeth's threatening them rather than warning.
"I'm not joking." - He presses that Phelastust isn't the place they should go right now.
"Fine then, we will talk about this topic later. And I'm given a gap of three years for this mission. So I believe we should be able to go to that place." - Kura also looks at Aeth with determination in his two bright eyes.
"Three years aren't enough. I swear to you all, even if we were jumping into a low tier creature in Phelatust right now, our heads would be taken down in a few seconds."
"So is there any way for us to thrive that hard after three years?" - To this moment, even a calm guy like Kura is forced to be quite in a hurry.
*Sigh* - "Mastering Aura and abilities. Perhaps I'd be wrong, but even a genius needs 15 years to find their own path. They will need ten more years to master all the basic techniques to their maximum scale and the rest of their life to climb even higher and higher. Humans are that weak, unfortunately, I must admit that 3 years aren't enough for us."
"We won't be able to know unless we try and start your first step." - Kura gives Aeth a hand sign.
*Sigh* - "Alright, it's up to you all. I'll do my best to teach you all about Aura techniques, but I won't be that helpful in teaching you about the special abilities. I'm just an enhancer." - Aeth gives up persuading them. Perhaps they just convinced him, maybe their determination and carefreeness are so familiar to him, or even he's bound to this boat. Whatever, Aeth has already prepared himself for the up-coming nightmares.
"Okay, last one. I just want to confirm to you guys that we should be able to win against any kind of creatures in the data book first, then we will be able to go to Phelatust." - Aeth gives them the last piece of advice.
"Sure, so let's start our training right now. All my muscles are roaring for the battles." - Ian stands up and tightens his body to reveal each sharp line of his muscles.
"Fine, it's quite a long time since we fought." - Luker grabs the spear.
"Hold on, my guys." - Aeth calms them down.
"I think we should learn from fighting other creatures."
"So…?"
"We have some sh*t to clean in the Grey Zone right now."
"Alright, that dead forest right? Let's expand our league." - Kura and everyone stands up.
"Let's go."
Legion: Echoes of World has been established on 11/29 - the night in Winter.
Asgard, right in Loki's room, he's lying on his back on the elbow chair and leisurely watches his servant's show.
"Dear, how's it going?" - Sigyn softly asks her husband.
He grabs her cheeks and slowly kneads. "Haha, he's doing very well, it seems like my ability is abused actually efficiently in his hands."
"That's good news." - She also touches Loki with her hands on his chest and slightly reclines on him.
"We are going to descend soon."
"For sure my dear." - They kiss each other in the fire of love.
"But I think we should give him divine force already." - She kisses him back and advises Loki.
"Ah,... I even forgot his rewards."
[Humans.]
Har is still farming some corpses for him to perfect the second beast, and that blue screen pops up another time. With this manner and chatting style, he knows that he's talking to Loki.
Har: [Nice to meet you, my lord. Which miracle sent you there to visit this inferior servant?]
[*Haha* - You really know your place. I like that shameless manner while obeying and smirking at me at the same time.]
[Har: Oh my lord, who dares smirking at you? I will execute him for your glory and divinity.]
[*Shhh* - Stop acting dumb with me, I have no time to play with you, shut up and get these rewards.]
[Ability: The Hand of Thief has been upgraded to level 2.]
[10% stats and mastery accumulated per touch by hand(s) - cap: 110%]
[Godly Item: Divine Force Fragment has been collected.]
[Common Item: The Dagger of Traitor has been upgraded to Legendary Item: The Dagger of Sins (0/7).]
[This item requires you to sacrifice seven fragments for seven primordial sins of mankind. When these requirements are met, its true power will be unleashed.]
Har also asks, "So what are the requirements to get those fragments?"
[They must be related to you in the causality. Which means you will need to stir up the greed inside humans to plant a seed inside them. Whenever that seed becomes a fragment, you've successfully harvested one of them.]
Hoshira is also confused, greed, pride, gluttony or sloth are still easy to get. But what about lust? It means that he must get on a woman's bed to plant this seed of sin? And now the term "100% authenticity" really shows another side of this game to him.
"Uhhh, don't tell me."
[Yes, you found out the truth. You must do it to have a seed of Lust. Moreover, except Wrath, Lust, Sloth and Greed, the three left are available to plant into yourself.]
"So basically I can plant up to three seeds inside me?"
[Yes you can.]
"Easy game."
[Side quest: The Perfect Performance.]
[Description: Do your best to show me the worst characteristics of a human that you can carve into your withered soul.]
"Do you want to do this hard, my lord?"
[Just shut up and do something inhumane for me. Nothing is better than watching others ruining others' lives. Got it?]
*Haha* - He bows his head and downs his knees, "All for your excitement, my lord."
"But can I ask for some information?" - He suddenly adds a wish.
[Go on.]
"I heard about the contract of equilibrium or binding vow. Which features can I abuse from them?"
[Binding vows are limited in the stability and scale or even their absolute. I suggest you focus on contracts instead.]
[You have two main ways to do this thing.]
[Or you use two items and plant them into yourself and your target's body, you guys can declare clauses and rewards. Some sides of this equilibrium are set by two participants, so if two sides come up with a demand, nothing is impossible within their capability.]
[Or you need a third party to make a contract. It can be anything, even the Aurorize Volition. The third party plays the role of the judge, they will check both sides' clauses and the equality for the final verdict. They also have rules to obey too.]
[Yet, the gap between contracts is set at 5 minutes as the minimum, no matter your mastery. So do it wisely. Furthermore, the kind of contracts like sacrificing a part of yourself for power can be made in these kinds of contracts, yet, the third party will need to play the role of exchanger. Which means they must be overwhelming for you in authority. The default third party in this case is always Aurorize Volition. So you need to make sure that you're able to access that kind of existence, declare the clauses, loss and rewards, wisely. Otherwise, the cost will be your death, no excuse, no second chance.]
[I have many servants, yet, you are the best one. So don't mess up anything and perform everything well to make it fun for me. The upcoming rewards won't be disappointing for you.]
"All for your glory, my lord."
The System comes back to its silence again, obviously Loki just leaves. And Har, he is still here, with a smile on his face. He likes this lore and power system, it seems like he just came up with some dirty deeds in shadow already.
"Love it." - His tongue slowly sweeps over his two lips, the greed within.
"System, tell me about that godly item."
[You must unlock me to access this kind of information.]
*Hah…* - "F* you."
[Forgot to tell you.]
"Hmm?" - The space around him slowly moves and gets freed from the divine force.
[You were in an assassination. Good luck.]
"Ha?"
*Vroom* - When the space is no longer paused, three guys instantly jump straight into him.
"Cep–"
*Smack* - A strong fist drives straight into his left face and interrupts the summoning process.
*Thud* - Non-stop, that guy grabs his left arm in order to limit his options while giving him another uppercut straight into his solar plexus. It's heavy as hell, the shockwave released from that strike even blows away all of Har's upper body.
"Incantum pedaricas, Lafongta." - A strange incantation has been chanted.
Suddenly, a magic circle pops up under him, within the runes fragment he holds in hands, hundreds of chains are released to tighten up the Ex rank Irregular.
*Squish* - A cold spear also stabs through his heart in this dead end situation.
Chains: Thunder Strike (1) - Thunder Spear (2) - Thunder Chains (3) - Thunder Zone (4) - Thunder Snakes (5) - Thunder Rain (6)
Respectively, the lightning extends and transfuses straight into Har's body in order to paralyze him all at once. Resonance, the spear also turns into a thunderous weapon while pinning him straight onto the ground. The next two spells even create another magic circle and hundreds of chains to combine with the previous one.
They all lock him up inside those one blue, one yellow circles. Non-stop, the thunderous chains even change themselves slowly to the snake's form - tightening him with death.
The final spell: Thunder Rain even builds up a wall around him, non-stop stunning Har while isolating everything from that zone.
"Ryun Liferberto, right?" - The first guy speaks up.
"Oh? Who are you?"
It's just a nonsense question, within a glance on their medals, Har has already known that they are hunters.
Even golden ones? He silently curses them inside.
Different from other organizations, The Hunter Council only has three official ranks and some specific terms to distinguish them.
Immature/Probationary Hunters: Also known as 1st to 3rd grade.
Standard Hunters: From 4th to 6th grade.
Advanced Hunters: Up to 9th grade.
And whenever those hunters are promoted to the 10th rank, they are called "National Hunters."
This special rank is divided to three levels, corresponding to each star they have.
One-star National Hunters: The Golden Hunters (golden medals and cards).
Two-star National Hunters: The Special Hunters (obsidian medals and cards).
Three-star National Hunters: The Exclusive Hunters (crystal medals and cards).
This is the basic knowledge a human must know to apply to the hunter tests. So don't wonder how and where Har can get this kind of information, actually you can find a random secondary school educated student in Empire Cala, that child can even tell you these basic things.
Then his eyes slightly flick to the left corner, right behind the oak tree, he slightly smiles a bit.
"Seems like I need to kill you all first."
*Rrrz* - Honestly, they care not about that threat, after all, he is in control. With this high voltage trap, all his nerves and muscles are already disabled, the only reason for his capability to talk currently is the mercy they spare for him.
In the shadowverse, the undead with the blood signal on its hand slightly stands up, surely it's the spirit of Puppet Manipulation.
It instantly controls the undead to point its arm over its head. It's the second plan for Har to get back to his shadowverse, by carving a part of his ability - Shadow Gate - on that corpse, he can really reactivate it right now to escape while still lying on the ground.
*Sigh* - "Just stay there until they come, okay?" - A clear voice surely from a teenager clangs from the left side.
"Oh Rudy, you're faster than I thought." - The golden hunter keeps holding the thunder spear while greeting the youngest member of their team.
"I've mastered light spells level 7, what are you talking about?"
*Haha* - "Sure you did."
The enormous light orb that he made, even as big as a sun in Har's sight, is too bright for him to expand the shadow gate under his body.
"Ryun Liferberto, accept your fate."
*Haha* - "My fate, my choices."
Thanks to their mission that must keep him alive, Har has already come up with another plan to free him right away.
Spirit: Puppet Manipulation - this time, the puppet is truly himself. By controlling that corpse as a puppet, he one more time enters that sight of the spirit. It's like switching from first view to third view in a game fight. This is purely an advantage of observation range.
It swiftly moves its ten fingers to drag him to the left side, even though his body is scorched, it's still a cheap cost to open new chances for Har.
Shadow Gate: RampThica and Ceperp have been called out to protect Har while he's dueling with the striker.
*Grrrrr* - A low-pitched voice sounds so creepy clangs around.
*Whirr* - Within a hand wipe, they are all knocked back two steps. This time Har won't play around anymore, he's locked in.
Necrosec: Undead Summoning - from the shadow of the sky, hundreds of them are dropped free falling onto the hunters.
Rudy: "Good grief. From Heaven, from the sun, even the stars. You are the bright side of this world."
Each element has the specific basic incantation to strengthen the final maximum output. And that's one of them, which is used for the light element.
"Let me 1v1 him."
"Are you sure?"
"Dude, I'm the youngest Golden Hunter, man." - Rudy looks like the phrase "Nah I'll win" has already been printed on his face.
He takes out the mage robe and throws it aside, "I've heard about an Irregular that becomes very strong unusually in a short time. Surely you've made a contract with some forbidden entities, right? Which one? Forgotten Gods? Forbidden Stars? Or Demons?"
He slightly approaches Har with the mythical item in his hand: Laryst Staff of Ten Dragons.
*Haha* - "Don't overrate me that much, I'm just a normal outsider."
"Tch, so disgusting. Since the day 800 of you all came into this world, I'm disgusted. Human-like beings with strange abilities? You all are the threats for humans in Aurorize." - He glances at Har with the look of inferiority.
"Don't be fooled, Rudy. We are the keys for this new era. I've heard about your worriness."
He smiles, or even smirks, "The Blank Era, right?"
*Shnngg* - Seven light beams are shot straight toward Har without any mercy. Seems like he has bet it right.
*Crack* - Even the rock and ground are broken beneath their pressure, non-stop, those seven lights keep chasing him throughout the forest.
But it's just a chance for RampThica to land a heavy strike on Rudy while he's casting spells.
Spell level 5: Light Bullets (maximum output)
A lot of light orbs have been made in the air, they aim straight toward that monster hiding in shadow and shoot.
Light is the group of particles with energy - photons. So basically it harms nothing on any creatures except slowly concentrating heat at the meeting point.
Yet, there is still a function related to energy and mass E = n.F.d
By exchanging the same amount of mana to light and shoot it to the enemies while aiming for the best chance to exchange it all to mass, the clashing force will never be small.
*Clack* - The dagger is cutting through the cold winds of the start of the last month of the year. Its dark and deadly blade is reflecting the bloodlust deep inside its soul and instinct.
Sure-Death has been activated.
*Shnngg* - After scanning and loading the safe coordinates, Rudy instantly teleports to that place without any second wasted.
Spell level 4: Laser (maximum output)
As I said, light can be converted into heat. That yellow is swiftly changing into the red one, even Har can feel its heat is dangerous without touching.
*Fwshh* - Within two seconds, all his left arm is blown to nothing. It was his fault not to protect himself with any.
E = n.F.d is the default function for this kind of spell.
"n" stands for the percentage of energy converted to heat. With Rudy's experience, it's been raised up to 80% already, which means 0.8 in function.
"F" stands for the pressure he can exchange from a specific amount of mana. With his maximum output, it would be 7.6 x 10^7 N. As a pillar with the mountain pressure on a 3 meters radius.
And "d" is for the diameter after exchanging into heat, with this case, it is 0.5 meter.
"Mana pressure does not create mass.
It creates work upon existence.
Heat is merely a byproduct."
After all, the final answer is 30 MJ, which can melt the granite easily in the first touch. Thankfully that Har just got the first tick of that spell, if he's forced to face the whole energy beam for ten seconds, he might be sent to oblivion.
Puppet Manipulation - He is dragged to another side with the incredible speed to dodge that deadly beam.
"Seems like you can move without pushing yourself with the corresponding force."
Chains: Light Zone (3) - Light Swords (4) - Light Bullets (5) - Scanning (6)
Scanning the coordinate while using Light Dash might be the level 6 spell, but they can do it as their reflex too, so it's unnecessary to cast it. Yet, this is the chained combo, and it also has variants too.
By combining Light Zone and Scanning, he can keep track of any moving objects in this zone - a fake domain.
Then non-stop creating the light bullets from the level 5 spell, with the determined coordinates and the fast strikes. All his work left is shooting them straight toward Har - a fake guaranteed strike.
The ten light swords even surround him as the final protection, he dares Har to approach him.
"Come here, Irregular."
"Fine then!" - He seals his hands into each other to summon his third beast.
Nothing left to do right now, so this is his best choice already.
Shadow Beast: Savan Frazan has been called out.
Har looks at it with a smile, *Haha* - "Even though I know nothing about you, you will land me your hand, right?"
*Clack* - Without a word, that knight delicately withdraws his sword. It's made from the bones and corpses of many guilty exilers.
"So disgusting."
Its Hex even dyes the whole battlefield inside its own color of black, but Savan is still standing there and looking into his new sword.
"Whatever, you are the first one who tried and successfully woke me up. If you aren't strong enough, I'm the first one to kill you."
Haven't seen this kind of undead, Har is quite shocked, then he smiles, even laughs, "Sure! So come with me! And evaluate me!"
*Clash - Clash* - Twenty light bullets are all gone into oblivion and Savan just looks at Rudy with a glance of inferiority, "Show me more."
"It's your choice." - He casts the Laser spell again, this time is really the 100% maximum output.
Laser is the continuous spell working per tick, its function is here: H2 = H1 + Et - Hl
H2 stands for the final heat per tick.
H1 is the original energy.
Et is standing for the current accumulated heat.
While Hl is for the loss of heat per tick with another function: Hl = k.H2
"k" has the range around 0.2 to 0.4/second
Let's start with some mathematical problems here. After applying the first function with k = 0.3 for Rudy's current level, we have the total heat for the second tick: 30 + 30 - 0.3 x 30; which means 51MJ.
And for the third tick, it is 65.7MJ
The fourth tick will be 76MJ
Up to the tenth tick, his maximum damage is around 97MJ.
With that destructive energy beam, he can even leave a hole through the mountain in a minute with a total length of around 460 meters.
"If you want to die, just stand still."
Unlike Har, Savan only looks at Rudy with two bottomless eyes, then he looks at Har with the order to stay here.
*Fwshh* - That laser is released again, this time, he even decreases the final diameter of the spell to make sure that its piercing ability can destroy that undead without leaving a chance to escape.
"I'm not the true Savan, so I can't activate his true power. Yet…"
"I have this one."
Ability: Space Isolation Slash - He swings the sword, splits the space ahead into two different layers.
Consequently, that beam is floating inside an undefined blank between them - the general space.
Savan slightly recalls his sword to the sheath to close those two layers, and lets that beam shoot straight toward him and Har without any resistance.
*Haha* - "Is it your ability? So interesting."
"Seems like you are not dumb." - Besides the confusion of those four hunters, they are still waiting for that beam to destroy everything.
"Idiot."
Yet, in the next, Rudy witnesses the weirdest thing ever in his life. The destructive beam set to destroy everything that he releases doesn't damage his enemies a bit at all.
Rudy opens wide his eyes, with the capacity of the youngest genius of The Hunter Council, he can't believe that there's something that he doesn't know.
"That's quite impressive." - Har looks at Savan.
"Hold your tongue, don't you dare look down upon it's my ability."
*Haha* - "Chill out bro."
Witnessing that easy as pie counterstrike, Rudy's blood has been stirred up in heat and madness.
"Guys, I think we need to absolutely kill them right now."
"Sure." - The striker, the lancer and the arcanist all stand up and enclose both Har and Savan.
Shadow Fusion - Har has come up with another idea.
"Hey RampThica, come here." - He looks at that beast with more of an order than a request.
He wonders what if he fuses himself and his beast. He wonders if he can get their strength while using his power at the same time or not.
"Love it." - That tongue licks his two lips again.
"Do some sh*t and don't waste your time." - Savan slightly blocks a strike from the lancer and rotates himself to change the trajectory.
"Not enough heat." - "Shut up undead."
"Seems like descendants all forgot my impact." - He swiftly swings the swords around to knock back all the enemies in range.
At the same time, those two legs keep dancing at their own pace and rhythm to dodge and buy Har time to fuse himself.
*Clash* - Even though the chains are really annoying, yet, they do nothing to make things difficult. Everything is still an exclusive melody for Savan to perform by himself as the most perfect artist.
*Crack - Boom* - The ground under their feet is crushed into pieces and fragments beneath one strike from Har.
His new form is related to a monster like which he used to fuse himself with. The white armor covering him is as hard as diamond, it even gives him four extra arms to do whatever he wants, which means he really looks more like a monster than a human right now.
"What have you changed yourself to, Har?" - Savan slightly stops dancing and approaches him.
*Clash* - The light swords are blocked right behind his rear by those boosted two arms. Obviously they just switch the opponents to each other.
At midnight, when the moonless sky appears over their heads, the second phase of this battle has started with the attendance of a monster.
*Boom* - With the hypersonic speed, the battle is forced to rise to another higher level. They all use their abilities to kill each other with their peak performance, once and forever, up to the next dawn in the sky, there must be some corpses on the ground.
*Smack - Smack - Thud* - Three continuous strikes heavily knock back Rudy two steps behind while another kick sends him flying away.
Har's learned a lesson about mage via what he just experienced, their key powers are spells, incantation and distance. He believes that if he is able to negate at least two of them, he can win against a top tier spellcaster.
Rudy swiftly casts three more spells to cover him, by obeying the proverb "Attack is the best defense," he shoots hundreds of light bullets toward the monster approaching him madly with the intention to buy some precious seconds to maintain back the pace and distance between them.
Unfortunately, due to the insane boosts in strength and speed, Har can easily crash straight into those orbs without any intention to block and pass through them soft and sound. And that is how Rudy lost his chance again to keep the distance by moving backward.
Within that second, Har is already right in front of Rudy, who is still struggling with casting his laser spell.
*Thud* - His two fists cover each other and form a hammer to crash toward Rudy with his maximum Aura output.
*Crack* - The crunchy sounds of broken bones have clanged throughout Rudy's body.
The first advantage has been eliminated - distance.
Then the next one will be "pace" - Har madly moves his two big fists to crush all the remains of Rudy with all his power and Aura.
He knows that he only has one chance, so fabulous and cumbrous movements are unnecessary right now.
*Splash* - However, whereas he's destroying everything, his two hands are pierced through by two light swords.
*Squish* - The third one rapidly pins straight into his neck.
*Squish* - The fourth one is right on his heart.
*Squish* - Another one stabs into his head without mercy.
And within those two precious seconds, Laser has been casted.
*Fwshh* - His skin is melted to the ground by the accumulative heat while that body is unable to move certainly.
After 5 seconds, there's nothing left after that beam.
*Gasp* - His heart is bouncing as hard as the drum, the cold sweat is all covering his back without his consciousness. That's too close to death for him, a genius with a young age, it's no strange to feel scared beneath the pressure of losing his life.
*Gasp* - Suddenly, he remembe…
*Splash* - The Dagger of Seven Sins has pinned through his heart and the effect of Sure Death has been activated.
Thanks to the lightswords, their shadows were linked into each other at the start whereas Rudy's casting them from his rear.
Within that short period of time, Har just got enough chance to silently detach himself from that empty shell and hide into the shadow gate inside his shade.
And another time, thanks to the pressure that Rudy's been under, casting multiple spells, running from death, maintaining the distance and scanning the space around him - his brain is overloaded.
Light element spellcasters need to practice their reflex and brain reactions as fast as possible to solve the problem in high-paced battles. Yet, human brains aren't unlimited, there's always a moment that they'll run out of their sanity and base accuracy after abusing scanning spells too much in a fight.
At the last moment, his sight is even blocked by many blind spots. Which can be used to prove that when he shot the empty shell, he's no longer able to distinguish between fakes and reals by small details anymore.
[Sure Death has been used - CD: 774 (+639) hours.]
[All stats of individuality: Rudy Roveny are being absorbed.]
[Warning: Due to the bond of Rudy and Heaven, he is considered as a "candidate." Consequently, they are going to kill you.]
"What the…"
*Roarr* - The thunder madly roars on the nine skies, announcing the judgement.
"Can I really escape it by using Rudy's corpse as my body?" - He looks at his System.
[No you can't. This causality is already in the second layer of Aurorize Causality System, you must take it in any case.]
*Haha* - His cracked and sarcastic laugh has carved deeply inside Savan's mind. Yet, he cares not, he declared his requirement already. If Har can't survive, he won't need to do anything in future.
"Hey, take out the Divine Force Drop."
[...]
[Success.]
He has thought about this case. Based on the game lore, an Outer God like Loki can see through the flow of time. Which means he can blatantly help Har in anything, even winning this game by giving him the strongest equipment.
And that's how he came up with this conjecture. Har believes that there are many forces hidden in the secret sides of this world. So Loki can't abuse his authority to be rebellious in Aurorize.
And if it's true, the question will be "Is there any way to do it without going against the rules."
Surely the last hope is placing on the only item that the System didn't explain the function to him before.
Considering everything based on the lore, Loki mustn't know that he can redo everything after death. That's why he told Har not to die. And that fact can be used to combine with the previous conjecture to come up with another speculation.
"Loki has already prepared for me a way out."
[...]
"If you are here, send me a sticker."
[Shut the * up human.]
That's enough. In words and only in words, there isn't a clear conversation between them about the godly item. So the rules can't do anything to punish any of them.
"Hey, Loki. If I give you a surprise, will you give me back a gift?"
[Know your place, human.]
*Haha* - "So you accepted it."
*BRMMM* - The blue thunder plays the role of calamity and drops down upon his head with incredible speed, range and accuracy. As System said, it works on causality, so Har must take it in anyway.
Yet, everything is paused again.
The system pops up again with the yellow board.
[You've met the requirements. Would you like to consume the godly item: Divine Force Drop?]
*KRACK!* - Within a blink and a blank, he has been executed. Meanwhile, the three other Golden Hunters are also taken down to the ground. Savan doesn't even feel excited about this fight even though his opponents are in the top tier under Grand Sage level.
"Why are you all so weak?" - He wipes out the fishy blood remains on the bone blade.
"Can't even be compared with the Yazanken or Rebanica, I wonder how humans can survive till this time since the day they died."
Then he looks at his rear, where the second battle had ended already. Savan slightly steps each step toward the burnt to ash zone ahead. He slowly observes the damage and consequently comes up with the fact that no one can survive through that calamity.
"Fine then."
He turns back and quits that battlefield, also a graveyard. Leaving there a burnt to ash corpse without intact parts.
"Poor guy."