The Path of the Strongest Mortal, page 12
Impossible! she thought. This attack should’ve destroyed his body! Has he directed all of his Will at the point of the collision? But how?! How can his Will be strong enough to stop mine?! He’s not even a true master! What did this mortal have to go through in order to temper his spirit so much?
If only she knew that this duel had helped Kai gain experience and understand the use of Will, which he couldn’t have achieved even in thousand training sessions. Thanks to this, as well as his Ultimate Focus, he managed to create a strong shield out of his Will. However, he almost fainted due to such strong pressure.
Before she had time to blink, Kai suddenly disappeared. Intuition alerted her of danger, and she immediately created a new sphere of Will around her. However, it didn’t work the same way this time.
Kai still reached her, and one blow to her shoulder threw her away and broke the barrier. The Will of the Sword neither disappeared nor followed her; it exploded, cutting off Kai’s legs at his knees.
After activating Life Rampage, Kai was once again at the peak of his power. This ability not only revealed the maximum potential of his body but also allowed him to spend less ki on maintaining the Body Gates while using them with the same efficiency, and gave him the opportunity to open four Gates at once.
Ultimately, all of his physical parameters were increased by three.
An’na jumped up, clutching her broken shoulder. Shaking her head, she noticed Kai’s figure, slightly enlarged by the power that burst out of his body. By this time, both of his legs had grown back, and his hand had fully recovered. He took a step and...
Disappeared.
A blurred silhouette approached her with the speed of light. She only managed to lower her invisible blade and generate a powerful wave of the Will of the Sword, which made the air light up when it hit her opponent. It turned into a shining stream that covered the raven-haired cultivator. All viewers saw it.
An’na was breathing heavily. Her hands were shaking, but she kept pushing on. And then...
A bony arm, covered in chunks of meat, burst out of the shimmering stream.
“Monster!” the girl yelled. Even Beast didn’t scare her this much.
Both of her hands instantly broke as if a multi-ton boulder had fallen on them. She screamed in pain and then jumped back. Her attack was interrupted.
When the stream disappeared, everyone could finally see Kai. He stood there, naked, with patches of his skin missing. As well as a half of his face. His skull was exposed. However, his insides, and most importantly, his brain, weren’t affected. Thus, although he looked like a living corpse, he wasn’t in mortal danger. A second later, the muscles in his arms recovered, and the rest of his body followed.
Kai moved forward. An’na took a step, too.
The second round of their duel began. An’na continued to attack, slashing her opponent over and over, but she couldn’t achieve the desired result. Kai healed without any problems, from time to time actually managing to hit her. At this point, even the slightest blows were enough to inflict serious damage to her.
She could no longer move her left hand. She had to use The Master’s Will to move her broken right hand and maintain the Blade of Will. Several of her ribs were broken, which made each breath incredibly painful.
Two minutes had passed since the beginning of the fight, and both of the participants were exhausted. It was high time to finish this dance.
“I’m the sword. The sword is an extension of my hand. My Will...” Closing her eyes, An’na began to recite a mantra in order to strengthen her Will so that she could use her most complicated attack.
Kai sensed danger the moment the first syllable rolled off her lips. He rushed at her, but ran into an invisible obstacle that was the Will of the Sword that had surrounded her.
“…I put my sword into my Will and…” she continued to mutter, spreading the Will of the Sword throughout the arena.
Kai didn’t intend to wait for her to charge her strongest attack, so he started hacking at the barrier. It damaged his skin and knuckles, but he didn’t care. He continued hitting the barrier. Again and again…
Again and again…
A roar so powerful that it not only made the front-row viewers cover their ears but also made An’na’s eardrums burst, filled the arena. Blood flowed from her ears and trickled down her chin, but that didn’t distract her even for a second. She didn’t seem to notice what was happening around her. Her Will only grew stronger, and fed the barrier with even more energy.
Kai wasn’t holding back. Locking his palms together, he tried to break the barrier, using every drop of energy he had. The ground around them cracked under the pressure of his hits, but the barrier remained intact. For a little while, at least. Soon, the first crack appeared on it. What Kai didn’t know, however, was that it wasn’t An’na’s Will that had faltered but that she had purposefully weakened the barrier.
The next moment, she opened her eyes. Glancing adamantly at her opponent, she raised her right hand to the sky. The barrier burst, tossing Kai far away.
He immediately jumped back to his feet and ran toward her again. He took one step. And then another, and another… And then he abruptly stopped.
The Will he had spread around him didn’t cover a very large area, because of which he was unable to notice the new attack in time. Hundreds of Blades of Will hung a few feet above the entire arena. And as soon as An’na lowered her hand, pointing it at Kai, all the swords fell on him. There were so many of them and they were moving so fast that they instantly pinned him to the ground.
First, there was a crash, and then a cloud of dust rose in the place where Kai had fallen. When it finally settled, it revealed a crater, in the center of which lay the raven-haired young man. A huge hole gaped in the place where his heart should have been. He wasn’t moving.
Exhausted, An’na fell to her knees. She didn’t have the strength to move either.
The hostess raised her hand to declare the winner.
***
As previous participants, Shacks and Malvur were allowed to take seats in the fighters’ area, since all the other seats had been bought out.
They both wondered what Kai would do in this fight. Would he surrender immediately, or would he fight? And if he decided to take An’na on, how would he try to win? They had a lot of questions since they knew almost nothing about the Will of the Sword, which, from the outside, seemed like an invincible force that needed no energy or Forces in order to work.
The beginning of the fight went as Kai’s previous fights had. He eventually got used to his opponent’s attacks and gradually made his way to An’na. The fight went on without much hubbub until the girl released an attack so powerful that it shook the entire arena and reduced Kai to a pile of minced meat. To the surprise of all the spectators, even the Holy Lords, his bloodline saved him again.
After that, he somehow got the hang of avoiding the Will of the Sword, simultaneously demonstrating the miraculous power of his regenerative bloodline, and then he almost completely blocked her most powerful attack with his bare hand. He was eventually torn apart, but still, he remained alive.
At some point, the audience started doubting whether Kai was really mortal. His monstrous speed, strength, endurance, and stamina provided by the Life Rampage, made even the Holy Lords rub their eyes in surprise.
But before the audience had time to close their wide-open mouths, a wave of the Will of the Sword covered Kai. This time, everyone was sure he was dead, but, once again, he proved them wrong when he, a bit too alive for a corpse, returned to the fight.
The two kept exchanging blows for another minute, after which An’na began to prepare the final attack. Kai tried to stop her, but a barrier stood in his way.
When his friend got thrown back, Shacks realized that things had gone too far. He started shouting to Kai to surrender, but, unfortunately, the screams coming from the stands drowned out his voice. All he could do was keep watching and hope that his friend would survive.
And then, the worst happened.
Shacks stared at Kai’s corpse in disbelief. He didn’t believe that Kai could actually die. Not that easily, anyway. Not in a fight where he had a chance to surrender.
“Come on, Kai, get up... Get up, damn you!” he kept repeating as he stared at his friend.
Seconds passed but Kai didn’t move. He didn’t show any signs of life. And the longer it went on, the tighter Shacks’ fists clenched.
And when the hostess appeared on her flying podium to announce the winner, everything inside him went cold.
Is this really the end?! flashed through his head.
The hostess had just opened her mouth when Kai’s fingers twitched.
***
A wave of Force suddenly exploded from the center of the arena, throwing everyone back. The first rows were enveloped with a dark mist. Shacks, Malvur, and those who had previously been in the Abyss instantly recognized it.
In the next instant, Kai’s body disappeared and appeared in front of An’na. The hole in his chest was gone. But that wasn’t all. His body was covered with a dense layer of darkness, from under which clouds of that very dark fog emanated.
Waves of Yin filled the arena, surrounding An’na, who sat there, frozen in fear, forgetting about fatigue. She looked at Kai, but saw someone else in front of her.
Kai’s eyes were filling with darkness, and his hand reached for the girl. For some reason, it seemed to her that Kai’s palm was approaching very slowly. And this only intensified the terror growing inside her.
Meanwhile, in Kai’s soul world, Rune’Tan tried to shout to him, but in vain. Darkness had invaded the world around him. Before he could make heads or tails of the situation, he got surrounded by wolves woven from dark mist. And although he managed to kill a good chunk of them, their number didn’t decrease. If anything, there were more and more of them.
Surrounded by enemies, he was entirely cut off from Kai. Still, he smiled. Casting a disdainful glance at the creatures running toward him, he turned around to face them.
“Who do you think I am, eh? I don’t know what hellhole birthed you, but you’ll regret crawling out of whichever cesspool you had come from!” he exclaimed and snapped his fingers, reducing the creatures to dust. “I used to kill armies on my own back in my day. You’re nothing.”
Turning around, he looked to the horizon where more darkness was gathering. He had destroyed almost all of the Yin that had invaded his world, but it kept coming back.
“This is out of my hands. Kai needs to intervene. I have to wake up that idiot before it’s too late...”
With one sharp movement, Rune’Tan pierced his stomach and pulled out a translucent bluish liquid. This was how Kai imagined soul energy, so, in his spiritual world, that was exactly what it looked like.
“One quarter less.” The redhead grimaced.
Having absorbed the soul energy into his fist, he drove it into the ground. Its surface cracked, creating a long crevice.
“Wake up, Kai!” he shouted. “Don’t make me think I’ve used up my soul energy in vain!!!”
This amount of soul energy could wake him up even from the deepest meditation without harming him so it wasn’t considered a violation of their oath. But Kai didn’t only have to wake up, he also had to fight the darkness that had consumed his body and soul.
Meanwhile, in the real world, less than a second had passed. Kai’s hand continued to reach for An’na. Shaking with horror as she looked into Kai’s eyes, she remembered what she wanted to escape from so badly.
The image of her father, towering and cruel, appeared before her eyes. Every time she remembered him, she froze with fear and began to shiver. She had never stopped being afraid of him. Afraid of what he’d do to her if she didn’t fulfill her task.
“Remember, An’na... Remember and never forget...” a frightening voice whispered.
The image slowly blurred as her eyes filled with tears. They trickled down her cheeks and chin and dropped to the sand below her. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt scared and helpless.
But still, she found enough strength in herself to say: “I... I give up!”
Kai’s hand stopped. Maybe Rune’Tan’s attempt to wake him up worked, or maybe An’na’s words resonated in his clouded mind, or maybe both, but one way or another, he finally woke up.
HELL, NO! THIS TIME, I WON’T BACK DOWN! he roared, remembering how the Cold Void had captured his soul.
His eyes flashed with a bright purple fire, and instantly dispersed the darkness that filled them. At that moment, the Yin that surrounded them disappeared without a trace. Just like the eerie aura that had filled the entire arena.
In order to overcome the darkness, Kai had to beat himself.
He had to overcome his own limits and reach a new level of willpower.
Chapter 13
THE LONG-AWAITED FREEDOM
When Kai finally opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a tall, fair-haired elf in golden armor, whose aura he couldn’t sense. However, one glance at this powerful towering figure was enough for him to realize that the elf’s strength was far beyond his comprehension.
It wasn’t until a few seconds later, when he properly started coming back to his senses, that Kai finally realized who he was looking at.
“Is it... really you?” he asked, puzzled.
“I don’t know exactly who you’re referring to,” Starks said. “So it could or it couldn’t be me.”
“Where am I? What happened?” Kai grabbed his head as his consciousness slowly cleared up. Memories of his fight with An’na flashed through his mind and everything fell into place.
“I see you remembered,” Starks remarked, noticing the change of expression on Kai’s face.
“Why are you here...?” he asked, and quickly added, “Lord Starks.” As the younger, and, more importantly, much weaker cultivator, it’d be extremely rude if he addressed the elf only by his name.
“Lord?” Rune’Tan said sarcastically. “You never call me that, even though I’m much stronger than this youngling…”
“You were much stronger. Now you’re just an old man without a body,” Kai replied in a similar manner.
“Heh. And this is what I get for helping you wake up...”
“I came to congratulate you on your victory,” Starks replied.
“But what about what happened at the end of the fight? Shouldn’t I’ve been disqualified?”
“That’s a great question. The rules state that ki and Forces of all slaves have to be completely suppressed by the collar. This is the very rule that the Fist Fight was based on. However, in your case, it’s not that simple. You probably didn’t notice, but your opponent partially damaged your collar with her last attack. Second, you didn’t use your ki directly for victory. The girl surrendered on her own. We found no evidence that her mind had been tampered with. And, lastly, the investigation showed that it wasn’t you who used the Forces. An uncontrolled burst of Yin tried to capture your soul but you fought it off. Congratulations.”
“You know about Yin?”
Starks raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know what world you came from, but in Nikrim, the concepts of Yin and Yang aren’t considered a mystery. Several hundred cultivators across the continent can use them, including me.” The white light of Yang appeared in the elf’s eyes. “It’s precisely because you overcame Yin and remained yourself that I came here to talk to you personally. Your Will is pretty strong. It even came close to the level of The Master’s Will, even though you’re not even an Exorcist.”
“But why did Yin try to capture my soul?”
“It’s the essence of all concepts,” Starks replied calmly. “Neither you nor I can understand the Highest Force. But, apparently, in the universe, there’s a loophole that allows you to master its distorted reflections — their concepts. But this opportunity can’t be used without consequences. The concepts are dangerous. If you manage to perfect your understanding of them, and then someday you might happen to lose the meaning of your life, fall into despair, turn insane, succumb to uncontrollable emotions, or simply lose consciousness, then the concept will instantly try to capture your soul in order to pervert its very essence.”
Starks’ words made Kai remember his brother’s death, as well as how he succumbed to the Cold Void, which then seemed to have frozen his soul.
“Pervert the essence...” he repeated the elf’s words. “But I haven’t yet perfected my understanding of Yin.”
“I know.” Starks nodded. “Even the most talented of cultivators need at least a century to do so. And given your talent and level, I wouldn’t even give you fifty. However, in your case, another factor was involved.” He pointed at Kai’s chest. “The wound left by the demon already contains the perfected understanding of Yin, and it became the catalyst for what has happened.”
The demon’s Yin helped me? But then what about the Cold Void? I also didn’t perfect my understanding of it. What could’ve served as a catalyst there? Maybe it was... The Guardian and U’shor!
He remembered that when he passed the test in the underwater temple, he had absorbed the Guardian’s Cold Void particles in order to merge with the concept’s own particles through the bloodline and better adapt to the frost. He had swallowed the drops of U’shor’s blood, which also contained the Cold Void, which he used to reach the Soul Stage. Particles of this concept must’ve remained in his acupuncture points and spiritual nodes.
“Do you believe in that demon’s existence?” Kai asked after a second.
“Many people think this is just a fairy tale, but I know that a demon chained to a black pyramid exists,” Starks replied firmly. “For it was from its claws that my teacher died.”
