“!!!”
Mordred awoke to a splitting headache, his body wracked with discomfort. A nauseating gurgle accompanied the emptying of his stomach, his vision blurred by the lingering effects of the Genjutsu. Fortunately, there’s an empty bucket next to his bed.
‘I’m inherently an assassin, not a warrior. She was able to destroy my truesoul while I was in soundwave form by completely mastering the principle of [Bell Palm] with a single look. As expected of the demonized king a warrior race, fighting face to face against her without at least a hundred years of preparation is no different than suicide…’ His thoughts wander as he wipes his mouth.
“The stronger the target, the greater the effect.” Shion suddenly whispered, her voice containing confidence as if she had expected Mordred wouldn’t last long under her Genjutsu. She is currently standing in the center of the room, her fingers dancing around in the air, weaving a web of faint purple lines of Genjutsu that enveloped every apprentice in the room. “The Genjutsu I’ve used on all of you is the type that deals more damage to those with greater talent and foundation. The fact that you barely last half an hour means your grade-S spirit talent is real.”
She paused, tossing a potion bottle to Mordred, “This’ll help you recover. We need to talk alone later.”
Mordred nodded, gulping down the potion. The moment the cloudy liquid flowed into his throat, he could feel his fatigued mental energy nourished. ‘Well, would you look at that…’ As someone with profound refinement-path attainment, he was fully aware that potions that recover spiritual force (mental energy) were extremely expensive compared to health or mana recovery potions of the same rank. ‘She’s truly a splitting image of myself, not sparing resources to nurture those with the greatest potential.’
After drinking the potion, he didn’t comment on Shion’s work, but according to his observation, the black crystals that he used to activate the Genjutsu must be a Soul Crystal, containing the soul of another lifeform. In other words, what she did was a bona fide heresy if seen by any Divine Envoys.
Nevertheless, he started to inspect his Sea of Consciousness. It was as he had expected, there was a three-dimensional soul rune carved in its depth. Since it is a soul rune, it is invisible to most forms of spirit-type investigative methods. Only those who are highly sensitive to souls like the divines can detect it. And even then, with how Mordred and all of his fragments are extremely specialized in subterfuge and infiltration, their stealth method allows the rune to be even more difficult to detect unless you know what you’re looking for.
Up to this point, his deduction was correct.
‘The Hunter Association being completely free of corruption is, of course, a lie. The Great Archmage must’ve set up some kind of contingencies in the recruitment procedure. Any and all cultivators who possessed this soul rune should be allowed to enter any Hunter Academy they want, the artificial intelligence overseeing the system might even prioritize their entry above others.’ Mordred thought to himself.
‘That being the case…’ His eyes glanced towards one of the apprentices who had awoken from the Genjutsu. It was Nagata, the youthful martial artist who worked with him during the war with the ants. Since having better talent meant the sooner he woke up, he should possess grade-A body talent. ‘The rune only lasted for a few years since it was a basic design whose function is to deduce its compatibility with the host’s soul. I suspect she has to modify it two or three more times before we get a pass.’
As more apprentices woke up from their sleep, the room began to be filled with whispers. At first, the apprentices tried to use hand signals and whispers, but seeing Shion’s lack of reaction, they took it as a silent acknowledgment for being allowed to converse amongst themselves. They began to exchange stories of what they saw in their Genjutsu while recovering the mental energy that they’d lost during the first round of treatment.
Mordred, however, acted as if he couldn’t hear them. His mind is preoccupied with how to break the next Genjutsu.
‘With how strong my karma is with Asmodeus, I might be forced to fight her again in the next round. Perhaps… I should try lightning-path this time?’
His thoughts wander as he strategizes, but everyone eventually wakes up and Shion’s voice cuts off everyone’s chatter. “Let’s begin the second round…” With a swipe of her hand, everyone but Mordred immediately departed to dreamland once more.
Shion did not move from her location, but she looked quite annoyed by Mordred’s high resistance. “You’re troublesome… [Triple Extreme Sound: Drum Fist]!” She flicked the air while activating the toned-down version of Triple Extreme Sound, but it seemed as if her fingers made contact with some kind of barrier. In reality, it was the ranged application of Drum Fist, allowing her to produce some kind of sound bullet.
When Mordred got hit with the invisible projectile, his consciousness faded.
…
The same body, the same look, the same earth, the same explosion of ash cloud and volcanic terrain, and the same Berserk Inferno.
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“Immortal Slayer of Tartarus Penal World, Great Archmage of Morgen World, Grimsong Specter of the Boundless Astral Realm… have you eventually come for my head as well?” She whispered, there was a hint of anger and fatigue in her tone.
He didn’t even try to converse with Berserk Inferno who already uttered three of his grand titles. This time, he did not ditch his physical body but utilized the knowledge gained during his time as the Great Archmage to refine his body to the strongest possible limit by using refinement-path and lightning-path profundity.
Before Berserk Inferno lunged at him, he had whispered to himself, “My master Takemikazuchi… it is time for me to use your powers.” He clasped his hands, and sparks of purple lightning began to manifest and condense into a blade.
The sound of a blade clashing against a heavy weapon resounded as Mordred used the lightning katana he rushedly forged to block Berserk Inferno’s molten earth blade. With the amount of energy flowing within Mordred’s fleshy body, it was enough to endure the force produced by a kinetic artillery barrage. Yet, his body was wounded despite not being hit by her blade. There was a deep slash wound following the lines of her molten earth sword, and the burning landscape behind him was cleaved open.
Mordred coughed purplish golden blood, containing extreme yin lighting current.
‘I can’t even buy time to deduce the killing solution.’ Just as he was about to activate a movement-type killer move to put some distance, Berserk Infernor’s clawing hand reached for his head.
Crunch! The sickening sound of a skull being crushed could be heard, the gore and blood containing an obscene amount of lethal electricity didn’t even faze or twitch Berserk Inferno’s muscle. Before the corpse fell onto the ground, it was reduced to a withered skeleton.
The moment that flesh suit failed to endure her first strike, his truesoul had already turned into soundwave, swimming freely underground.
‘Since I’ve yet to use any sound-path method, she shouldn’t be able to…’ Swoosh! His thoughts were interrupted, the underground world was sliced by a sword of crimson lightning, and the land became a massive gorge.
‘Nevermind…’ Mordred coagulates from soundwave into a lump of soul once more, his left shoulder having been completely cleaved apart. Due to having the opposite attribute, Berserk Inferno’s pure-yang crimson lightning is the absolute bane of pure-yin spectral beings, no longer allowing him to transform into soundwave.
“Berserk Inferno…” Mordred whispered with a hint of frustration.
Thud! Her figure has already reached Mordred, her hands gripping a katana crackling in crimson lightning snakes.
“I’ve never wanted this… I’ve never wanted to become… this…” As Berserk Inferno's molten armor dissipates, it unveils her figure enveloped in a flowing black martial robe. Contrary to expectations, her skin, traditionally red—a hallmark of a wrathful demon—now sports an unexpectedly fair, human-like complexion. This transformation seems inconceivable for one bearing the mantle of a demon king.
“I’m not here to kill you!” Mordred found a gap to extend his lifespan in this iteration of Genjutsu. ‘I have to delay until I find a new method that’s effective on her…’
“Lies!” Her black pupils seem to redden as if a volcanic eruption is about to occur. The red started to overwhelm the black as her body slowly became enveloped by the burning earth once more. “YOU’RE A LIAR LIKE THE REST OF THEM!!”
‘Did I just trigger her [Capricious Spur]?’ Mordred shook his head, already resigning to his fate. All this time, he was fighting against Berserk Inferno at her weakest, ‘sanest’ state. If she went berserk and became the person who earned her title, even a hundred of him wouldn’t be enough.
Just as he had expected, Berserk Inferno merely slashed her crimson lightning-clad katana, but it was enough to destroy Mordred’s spectral truesoul.
…
Cough! Mordred’s seven orifices bled, the backlash from this round of Genjutsu is far worse than before. It felt as if his brain was being fried, his eyes being gouged and his ears pierced by a molten spear. The damage to his Sea of Consciousness is more profound as the alteration of the Soul Rune was rushed.
As if already aware Mordred’s situation would be even worse than the first round, Shion already prepared a spiritual recovery potion and a towel to clean himself up next to his bed. Consuming the potion and feeling as his collapsing Sea of Consciousness slowly healed, he wiped the blood on his orifice.
‘I just can’t… She’s a heavenly genius who can learn any martial technique or adopt concepts and principles to her martial arts with a single glance. I need the resources of at least a Medium World to exhaust her energy and discern her methods. My lack of memories limits what I can do towards the Demon King of Berserk Inferno. How the fuck did our first encounter ended with me breaking one of her horns if her skin is as durable as a space battleship’s main armor? Her existence is truly… my absolute counter.’ Mordred shook his head. The moment his thoughts looped around in this topic, he quickly realized that he was squandering precious time.
His gaze searched for Shion who was currently weaving a web of Genjutsu to the apprentice. It was very similar to the first round, but this time, the faint lines of purple were more noticeable.
“You’re a handful to take care of.” As if noticing his gaze, she suddenly spoke, “Your training is done. Get out and spend your time meditating. I’ll send someone to fetch you later.”
Mordred was surprised. He quickly inspected the soul rune carved in his sea of consciousness only to find out that it was more complex than before, and it was significantly harder to detect.
Rune is like a symbol or an alphabet of a higher language used by high-rank cultivators, when they are formed intricately, it becomes a sentence or a phrase. From the complex intricacies, Mordred inferred that the rune carved on his sea of consciousness has a greater effect of modifying his ego and sense of worth, they are far stronger than before.
‘She’s fully convinced that ‘Satoru’ will become a Paragon in the future… Well, it doesn’t concern me in any way. The soul rune is also designed in such a way that if any True Color or Color Fragment gets it, they’ll be able to recycle it one way or another as a cultivation resource. It can be consumed as a catalyst for breaking through the rank 1 Official Ascension threshold.’
“Very well.” Mordred stood up, offered a half bow, and left the room.