Fatigued. Bleeding. Hungry.

Arin could barely keep his senses together. His body was nearing its limits, soon reaching the point where he would no longer be able to continue. No matter how strong his will was, it could not go on forever.

Focusing on the very last Combat Technique he left, Arin gritted his teeth and persevered. This Combat Technique had the sole focus of sacrifices for gain. The most destructive one is to try and learn. Yet with his back to the wall, Arin had no other choice, the other two Combat Techniques he had learned only showed him a dead end.

To sacrifice… what did it mean? How would Arin use Malum as a sacrifice for power? This seemed like an extremely contradictory ability that Arin had a hard time grasping. Just how would losing something of his give him great power? The innate principles of it weren’t something he could understand.

Trying the least egregious approach, Arin took a strand of his hair and tried destroying it using his Malum. The result was unfortunately anti-climactic. The strand of hair he had tried to sacrifice only resulted in it being destroyed.

Arin kept going, plucking out a stand of hair every time, trying different ways to extrapolate something to gain from this Combat Technique. Each trial and error was starting to hurt more and more, time was ticking.

Five hours had passed ever since he had begun.

He had looked extremely pathetic at this point. His skin was scarred and skinned, with barely anything still intact. His physique was skinny, nearly looking like a skeleton with how drastically malnourished he was. There was no longer a strand of hair on his hair anymore. The price for experimenting with no regard for consequences truly was heavy.

The reward for going this far?

Arin managed to achieve a slight temporary increase in power. That was all.

He could create a small blob that couldn’t attack nor move fast, essentially useless in combat. He then could derive and put his personal will into something, unfortunately, it took an extremely large amount of mental burden to keep this going. And from the very last Combat Technique, he had managed to turn a small aspect of himself into a temporary boost of power.

“I’m fucked.” Arin was lying there on the cold desolate floor alone. He was emptily looking at how much effort he had placed into this to only fail at the very end. This looked like the very end of his journey.

“Hahahahahahaha!” Learning of his certain demise, he laughed out. Slowly growing in volume to reflect the madness growing inside him.

~~~

A man clad in black was walking amongst the territory of a very savage Pravum. He traversed this area as if he was the very person who owned it. He didn’t even place the Pravum in this area within his eyes for he had a greater goal in mind.

Searching this very odd desert-like environment, the sandstorms were severe while the blazing sun above tried to scorch anyone unprepared to a fine crisp. The environmental aspects of this area would even cause a Seal Solver to struggle greatly.

After going past numerous sandstorms, he finally saw the very place he was interested in finding, an oasis. There was a small makeshift camp right beside it where a few people were casually bantering. Yet the most eye-catching thing was the very grand door that was placed on a pedestal.

One of these people saw the man clad in black and was immediately wary of him. They immediately threw away the plates of food and jugs of wine in their hands. Opting to ready their weapons for combat instead.

“Anyone know who this guy is?” A muscular man with a blaring scar over his mouth shouted out. He had a great axe within his hands, taking the vanguard as the sturdiest person of their group.

“I sure as hell don’t! You! Don’t come closer!” A female archer took out her bow and aimed directly at this ominous person coming in closer to them. It was as if nature itself resonated with her bow, causing the sandstorms around the man clad in black to increase in intensity.

An old man who took out a cigarette from his pocket started lighting it. What was odd was that this cigarette burned an odd green light. “Prepare for combat, that guy’s not here to make friends.”

Hearing this old man speak, everyone immediately took this encounter much more seriously. For him to speak out meant that this was grave.

The youngest of them drew his sword. As he had done so, the dry and unbearably hot environment turned into a humid one. The atmosphere turned so severe that it even caused the sand below their feet to show signs of being damp.

Pointing his sword towards the man clad in black, he gripped it tightly. The sensation of dread within his heart was much more palpable than anyone else’s. He was the one who knew just how much of a monster came for them, despite a band of cloth wrapping around his eyes.

The blind swordsman grabbed the muscular person’s shoulder and dragged him back.

“I’ll handle this. Go run.” He didn’t waste time empowering himself with as much Malum as he could. His cold expression showed signs of anxiety as even the edge of his blade quivered. “Combat Technique, Sea of Knives.”

Oddly enough, as he spoke out, despite having a sword as his weapon, he had a Combat Technique that revolved around knives. It seemed contradictory yet there was a much deeper reason for why he did so.

“Leonard’s going all out!” The female archer was shocked to the point of nearly dropping her bow. She winded her bow, gathering the power of the elements around her, and let go, aiming to test out their opponent.

The very core of this area embodied itself within the tip of her arrow. Its previous metal tip was now charged with a burning yellow edge, the glow signified just how searing hot it was. As it flew through the air, it started to distort the air around it due to the air itself burning itself into ash.

The man clad in black didn’t even put it within his eyes. Letting the arrow get closer towards him, ignoring it as if it didn’t even exist. He was arrogant yet he had the strength to back it up. The arrow that had been flying through the air oddly stopped dead in its tracks, stationary in mid-air.

“What the… that had 20% of my Malum…” The female archer couldn’t believe that despite pouring so much of her Malum inside it, it didn’t even reach their opponent’s body.

The arrow seemed to have been crystalized with some sort of black crystal. Everything inside this black crystal had been snuffed out, oppressively destroyed.

“Combat Technique, Wall Breaker.” The female archer had decided to fully put everything into this one attack. At this rate, she was going to be useless in the fight so she might as well try to inflict some damage towards the monster coming right after them.

An even stronger arrow was charged, and even though she hadn’t released her arrow yet, the surroundings were already struggling to contain itself from bursting apart. She sent her arrow straight and true, filled with as much power as she could muster.

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“Interesting.” The man clad in black spoke some words of praise.

The arrow had started to show signs of black crystals forming within it yet it continued on despite that. It was much faster than her initial arrow.

Even so, despite having put so much power behind her attack, the arrow only made it so far. It had stopped just a few meters away from the man clad in black. He continued on walking as if the attack that had tried to reach him was inconsequential.

The group saw just how overwhelmingly terrifying this person was. There was nothing else they could do but die if they didn’t do something drastic.

“I’ll delay him. I don’t know how long, could be an hour, might even be just a few minutes. Don’t look back. Make sure to get the Labyrinth-level Trial back to the City of Sin at all costs. This is the only path of salvation we have left.” Leonard took his stance, ready to lay down his life for the survival of the city.

The man clad in black smiled underneath his cloak, he was impressed at how willing Leonard was. For someone of his power to sacrifice so much for the weak meant that he had a good heart.

“We’ve spent years searching for this! We finally got one after so much sacrifice yet… we still have to lose so much more?” The female archer broke into tears. Despite already being mature, the mental anguish of losing much more than this was gnawing at her mind.

The old man comforted her, “Let’s leave. Leonard, all you need is to bide us five minutes. If you do that, I can make a-”

“There’s no way you’re going out like this, old man! Not before we settle our battle!” The muscular man raged, and despite saying such aggressive words, his pained tone made it clear that he was close to him.

From an initial party of ten Labyrinth Solvers, only four had remained. Even within the remaining four Labyrinth Solvers, Leonard had lost his eyes, with everyone else losing something a part of them to continue on the journey.

Leonard had his eyes firmly placed on the man clad in black, he would immediately react once he tried to do something. Keeping track of his opponent’s movements, he knew this was a desperate moment.

All of a sudden, the man clad in black’s position changed, from a distance of a few kilometers, he immediately appeared directly in front of Leonard. As he no longer had any vision, he used the mist he had created to sense his opponent’s movements, no longer fooled by feints and illusions for he only knows what is true.

And the truth he had foreseen here was that the man clad in black was a force of nature, equivalent to a calamity. Leonard went forward with his Combat Technique, Sea of Knives. He brought out his sword and tried to strike him down.

With one simple slash, Leonard’s initial strike seemed to be quite slow and weak, letting the man clad in black quite easily dodge and outmaneuver him. When the man clad in black tried to test Leonard out, the same seemed to be the case as well. Neither side could attack the other, yet Leonard’s strikes were getting faster and heavier. He was starting to ride the flow.

In the middle of this short interaction, Leonard added one more Combat Technique.

“Combat Technique, Fluttering Shadow.”

Immediately, Leonard had split into two. With Malum as his source, both copies had the exact same amount of power. What made the man clad in black even more interested was what he added next.

“Combination Technique, Doppelganger.” Leonard had mixed two different Combat Techniques into one. The special properties of both Combat Techniques had been merged into another more powerful attack.

There were now two Leonards attacking the man clad in black from two sides. And their attacks were growing more and more in strength, further increasing to the point that was getting quite entertaining. If it was the same amount of increase as last time then it wouldn’t have been interesting but with two bodies acting out the same movements, both of their strikes were exponentially getting stronger.

Such a move was without a shred of doubt, overwhelming against any other enemy with a similar power level. It was completely oppressive. You would have to fight against two enemies and what was worse was that you would have to end it quickly because these two enemies would exponentially increase in strength.

“You’re decent for your level.” The man clad in black praised Leonard’s current achievements. He knew just how much effort and talent one would need to reach this point. “Killing you would be a waste.”

As the man clad in black had finally stopped testing him out, he struck the clone directly in the chest, piercing straight through it. This impact caused the real Leonard to feel the backlash as his Combination Technique was destroyed. He coughed up blood yet still retained his grip on his sword, continuing his attack with fervent determination.

“Go sleep.” The man clad in black dashed forward, ignoring the sword that his enemy had, and struck him in the stomach. This attack was much less lethal than the previous one since he had been aiming to knock Leonard out.

“You…” Leonard was struck with a controlled amount of force that had knocked him out. The overwhelming power that he was faced with caused his brain to shut down to protect itself.

The other three saw that Leonard had fallen and there still wasn’t enough time for them to leave for safety. With someone able to do anything they wanted, they wanted to at the very least negotiate.

“What do you want?” The old man spoke up, he took the man clad in black’s attention, he was the one who could retain his senses the most out of the remaining three. “You can’t possibly be out here to just kill us right?”

Surprisingly, the man clad in black nodded, “That’s true. I’m not here to kill you.”

“Then why…” Before any of the three could notice, they had all been knocked out. They all lost consciousness as they dropped to the ground, susceptible to the elements.

He ignored them for the time being and finally reached the Labyrinth Trial, the reason why he came out so far. Even going well beyond The Boundary to just intercept a Labyrinth Trial. No one knew his intentions other than him.

Taking this humongous door with him, he went off, leaving the four to go through years of traveling for nothing. When they all woke up, it was safe to say just how much anger was within their hearts. Far too many reliable people have died for nothing.

“What do we do now?” The muscular man clenched his hands in pure anger to the point that it dripped blood.

“What else? Let’s head back to the City of Sin. It’s time to tell everyone… we’ve failed. The Cleansing will come soon and there’s nothing we can do about it anymore.” Leonard sighed in despair. The fate of the city has just been sealed.

~~~

Back in the Sephirah Bind-level Trial, Arin had been laughing non-stop ever since he had failed to try to mimic any of the Combat Techniques. With no way to further compress his Malum, he could no longer get any stronger. Worse was that he was getting weaker and weaker as time passed.

“Is this it? Is this how I’m going to die…?” Arin took in a deep breath and used everything in his power to stand up. He swayed from side to side, barely able to keep himself straight. Glancing to the side, he could see the spiked shard that he had procured from the Pravum.

Arin didn’t even bother anymore and reached out for it. His hands drew barely any blood, he had spilled far too much for there to be spilled anymore. Dragging his corpse-like body out of his presumed tomb, he struggled to even move forward.

Pushing what couldn’t be pushed anymore, he finally kneeled, unable to keep himself standing anymore. Going up the circular staircase in an embarrassing manner, he moved forward.

As he reached the top, he finally understood just how futile everything had been. The angel that had supposedly just waited there for him to slaughter had called in for reinforcements. Even if he had sacrificed himself using his Fragment, there wasn’t any point to it at all, he wouldn’t have been able to take down five of them.

With a shard in hand, he took rapid breaths, moving forward to try and fight and struggle to the very end. This was his final stand, struggling to fight until the very end despite how futile it seemed.

He menacingly stared at the five angels before him with a murderous glint in his eyes. He could finally see just what kind of monster he was facing for the first time.

Each and every single angel didn’t have a human form at all, instead being a disgusting amalgamation of flesh and bone. There were numerous limbs with extremities looking extremely revolting.

Mouths that shouldn’t be there, eyes that were non-functioning, even beating organs that should not even beat. Its very existence was disgusting to the point that Arin wouldn’t hesitate to destroy them all even if it meant losing everything, not that he had much left.

Arin noticed that these creatures were now using Malum, something much more gruesome than before. Arin held the spiked shard in his hand too tightly, causing one of his fingers to fall off due to the sharpness. He ignored the sensation as he had already lost most of his sensations.

Rushing in with an unexpected speed, he came toward the closest angel and pierced its innards. Digging out whatever flesh he could as it could not resist at all. Despite having protection using its Malum, Arin had used most of his Malum to break it apart, counteracting it with suicidal abandon.

He was forcibly breaking through at the cost of both parties losing something. This unexpected move had given him an edge, letting him slaughter an angel amidst such a one-sided battle.

As he managed to finally kill one, he fell down, unable to even continue anymore. The four angels had turned frantic, pushing their very limits as their rage grew from one of their comrades dying. Arin tried to laugh yet couldn’t there wasn’t anything in his voice anymore.

“Is this it?” These were the last thoughts Arin had in his mind. “Maybe… just one more. Mantle of the Damned… I’m pretty damned at this point, right? Hahahahahahaha!”