Book 5: Chapter 21: Dangerous Sacrifice |
This was not the time to talk. It was high noon for a beating.
David used [Passage] and teleported much deeper into the ocean. Surrounded by nothing but the sea, he felt more secure. At least his people—his territory—wouldn’t be in danger. Only he was.
Zephyr moved quickly. His massive form flashed into place before David, and the Poisonous Beast God attacked without hesitation. He was tired of talking as well, releasing a stream of green, viscous liquid.
David tried to block the incoming jet with [Bloodbound Bastion], but the liquid tore through the crimson shield effortlessly. It punched a hole through [Crimson Bulwark], spreading out to corrode the crimson armor.
Electra hissed in pain, forcing David to cast [Passage] again. He teleported around Zephyr, restoring the armor with pure Blood and healing his Sacred Beast with a stream of his own.
He cast [Herald’s Blessing], [Origin Lightning], and uttered Words of Power to release Rend with the Law of Unbinding, unleashing a crackling crescent blade of Lightning Rend toward the Poisonous Beast God. Zephyr turned, his scales clattering, and blocked the incoming attack. Liquid seeped from the seams of his scales, burning through Lightning Rend. Though not enough to destroy the crescent-shaped blade, it weakened the attack considerably.
Lightning Rend cut into Zephyr’s scales, leaving only a shallow gash. The attack failed to pierce them.
David’s eyes narrowed to tiny slits as his perception caught droplets of acid and other toxins pouring into the ocean below, sizzling on the water’s surface and evaporating it. The sight distracted him just long enough to miss the fluctuation in space—and the massive tail lashing toward his back.
A sickening crunch echoed through his body and ears as the blow landed. His breath vanished, and his body was hurled toward the ocean.
Zephyr burst through the surface in pursuit, reaching David in a heartbeat. David tried to use [Passage], but the surrounding space was suddenly locked. Someone was blocking his escape—exactly what he realized the moment he glanced into the Weave.
Zephyr wielded a vast amount of Might, willing to sacrifice it all to cage him. David fought to escape the space lock, to squeeze through the gaps with [Passage], but the Poisonous Beast God was already upon him. Another high-pressure jet of deadly liquid shot forward, destroying the water between them, tearing through [Crimson Bulwark] and Scalemore alike. The pressurized stream ripped through David’s chest, jutting out his back and surging onward, likely annihilating life in the ocean—but that was the last thing on David’s mind.
The liquid death shifted, carving a searing line across his chest. Then Words of Power—foreign, mighty—rumbled through the ocean, muffled yet lethal, and the stream subsided. Yet as the pressure faded, liquid death poured into David, trying to consume him, corrupt him, tear him apart from within.
But Vitae Nihilum was already inside him. It surged naturally through his body, intertwined with Titanblood, and began to devour the liquid death. Slowly, too slowly. David summoned the [Domain of Vitae] upon himself, engulfing his body in the power of the End to consume the Poisonous Beast God’s toxin. The corruption fought back, tearing into Vitae, but it was not its equal. In the end, the liquid death was consumed, devoured, and transformed into Vitae.
As the [Domain of Vitae] took hold in David’s body, it spread outward. First it consumed the liquid death around him, then it shot toward its source.
Zephyr was already closing in, his maw gaping wide around David, when Vitae Nihilum expanded explosively. David sensed death pressing down on him. He discarded [Passage], since the space around him was still locked, and instead overclocked [Phantom Rush]. Pure Blood surged through his veins as he cast [Herald’s Blessing], overclocked with Origin Essence, onto himself and the Class Skill Rune of [Phantom Rush]. Then he pushed to the side.
Moving in water was cumbersome, and he moved slower than he anticipated. Zephyr’s maw snapped shut, his fangs tearing through David’s right side. The Poisonous Beast God’s fangs barely missed his head, but they ripped through his chest down to his lower body, ripping him in half. It took barely a moment, as well as massive amounts of Might and liquid death, to tear through David’s defense and his highly tempered body, but it worked.
The ocean was dyed dark with his blood. A crimson haze flooded his sight, but most of his blood was dark and deadly at this point. Therefore, trying to make use of the situation, he roared aloud, accessed the Law of Blood, and cast [Blood Manipulation]. His blood, diluted in the ocean, as well as the masses of blood and body parts swallowed by the Poisonous Beast God, responded immediately, and so did Vitae and the Titanblood that were now in Zephyr’s stomach.
At the same time, Fountain of Life activated. It shuddered, trying to form more lifeforce, while David cast and overclocked [Vital Weaving] and [Transcendent Restoration]. His body regenerated rapidly, courtesy of Fountain of Life, [Unyielding Vitality], as well as [Mender’s Lattice]. However, David was more focused on attacking rather than defending. He spread his perception outward as thousands of dark blood blades formed in the ocean and in the Poisonous Beast God’s stomach.
As the first blades formed, they shot toward Zephyr, the mark of [Lifeweaver’s Bond] informing David all about the Poisonous Beast God’s health, strengths, and weaknesses. He couldn’t find much of the latter, but he tried anyway. Instinctively, he applied [Herald’s Blessing] and traces of the Law of Unbinding via Rend to the dark blood blades as they plunged into the gashes in the massive Beast God’s scales. It was hard to sense the insides of the beast, even with half his body stuck in the stomach, but he sensed something and commanded Titanblood and Vitae to wreak havoc, which seemed to work.
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The Poisonous Beast God roared aloud—a pained roar; however, it was hard to tell what hurt Zephyr the most. Did [Equivalent Exchange] work on the Beast God, or was the gap in strength between the Beast God and David too great to inflict noteworthy damage? He was only a 3-Star Ascendant, but even the System had declared his physique as incalculable. Shouldn’t the loss of half his body, which would have killed most beings instantaneously, inflict some damage on the Beast God… or was [Equivalent Exchange] a useless Class Skill at this point?
Regardless, David shook his head. Zephyr roared in pain.
David grimaced, released a burst of pure Blood, and shot back out of the water, away from the locked space. Zephyr didn’t pursue him immediately, so David redoubled his effort to worsen the effect of the dark blood blades with the Law of Blood. While already triggered, the Law of Blood was not nearly as useful as the Law of Unbinding without the right Words of Power—which he uttered quickly. Another scream rang out from the ocean below as David burst through the ocean’s surface, and he used Passage as soon as he could, increasing the distance to the Beast God—a very angry Beast God.
Space rippled, and Zephyr emerged beside David. The Beast God’s head smashed into him, hurling David through the air. Once again, space fluctuated, and the Beast God vanished. He reappeared several kilometers behind David, precisely following his trajectory. Zephyr’s tail snapped and crashed heavily into David, breaking his back and dozens of other bones upon impact.
The Poisonous Beast God flung David through the sky for a good minute, sealing space and David’s movements with a mountain of Might. Zephyr ensured David lost access to the Weave with the gargantuan amount of Might he sacrificed, reducing him to a pulp of his former self. David’s bones were broken, his organs wrenched, his flesh mangled, his eyes burst, and his senses thrown into disarray. He… was on the verge of dying—he should have already died—yet no matter how much damage Zephyr caused, David was still alive, hanging by a thread.
Arcana, Titanblood, leveled up. 20 → 21
Arcana, Fountain of Life, leveled up. 84 → 85
Arcana, Fountain of Life, leveled up. 85 → 86
His Arcanas worked harder than ever, but so did Vitae Nihilum and his healing abilities.
First, [Transcendent Restoration] reached Middle–Basic, and it advanced further as David cast it continuously. [Healing Sphere]s were conjured in the hundreds, filling the sky and the ocean in dazzling light. Zephyr attacked the wispy structures, but he had to use Words of Power to demolish them properly. That, as it turned out, was not worth it for the Poisonous Beast God. It was a waste of precious power, so Zephyr refocused on David, pushing him closer and closer to death.
[Healing Sphere] advanced. It increased by several ranks, augmenting each construct and restoring David with more health.
However, the Class Skills that allowed David to survive this long were [Mind Palace], [Soul Domain], [Indomitable Will], and [Unyielding Vitality]. The latter two reached new heights, with [Unyielding Vitality] surpassing the Advanced rank and reaching Transcendent. That, as David quickly learned, allowed him to control his lifeforce with more precision than ever. He could command it to keep him alive no matter the circumstances, and lifeforce obeyed. It kept him alive even as his body resembled a mass of mangled flesh, twisted and unrecognizable.
At the same time, dozens of system notifications popped up, informing David of [Equivalent Exchange]. It leveled up again and again. And every time the Class Skill advanced, Zephyr looked worse. He was still the same towering figure David couldn’t beat, but the Poisonous Beast God was panting. He was slower than before, his fierce attacks weaker. The changes were minuscule, yet David noticed them. Simultaneously, the area of sealed space shrank. Zephyr had an insurmountable amount of Might to spend, to waste in order to kill David, but even his resources were finite, and that could be abused.
David’s mind was rattling. His brain was mush, but his mind was strong. As to how that worked…[Unyielding Vitality] and [Mind Palace] had something to do with it. Other than that, Fountain of Life, [Two of a Mind], and [Indomitable Will] helped. But the details, David couldn’t care less. His mind was still working, and he had a plan up his sleeve.
He reached into his mind space, found his weakest Tier-2 Skill Rune, and crushed it. His soul resisted the destruction of the Skill Rune, but David shattered the resistance at once. The Rune was crushed to smithereens, and golden particles sprang to life. They surged through his mind space, revolved around his Source, and shot toward one of his least used Class Skills.
[Sacrifice].
Not enough. Sacrificing [Blood Burst] was far from sufficient. It was not even close. [Sacrifice] was active, triggered and ready to fulfill his wish, but it needed more. A lot more.
David crushed [Radiant Expulsion] next, then came [Crimson Bulwark]. While useful, [Crimson Bulwark] was not strong enough. Conjured through pure Blood it was mighty, strong enough to block Ascendants, but no matter how potent Blood was, [Crimson Bulwark] could only protect David so much.
As the Skill Runes dispersed into brilliant golden particles, David moved to his last two Tier-2 abilities – a pair of Sparks. [Chain of Will] and [Two of a Mind]. He left the latter intact but shattered [Chain of Will], sacrificing it for the greater good.
Next were his Tier-3 Skills and Sparks. [Bloodbound Bastion] shattered, [Mender’s Lattice] followed (Fountain of Life and Titanblood’s properties pushed David’s natural regeneration more than the Tier-3 Spark could provide), and he crushed the Skill Runes of [Healing Sphere] and [True Sight] with a heavy heart as well.
Only [Herald’s Blessing] remained for his Tier-3 Skills.
The healing wisps, constructions of [Healing Sphere], remained even as the Skill Rune shattered, and David continued to supply them with more Blood – as long as he could afford it.
Among his Basic Sparks, [Bleeding] and [Lacerate] were shattered. [Transcendent Restoration] stayed behind. His only Intermediate ability, [Vital Weaving], was sacrificed all the same, and so was the Spark of [Lifeweaver’s Bond].
His Class Skills followed next. David crushed [Reinforce]. While it had been essential for his growth, it could no longer be used. His Body and Energy Pathways wouldn’t revert to their weak self just because the Skill disappeared. Unfortunately, he couldn’t sacrifice [Mind Palace] or [Soul Domain], as their constructs were creations of the Class Skills. They would have empowered [Sacrifice] greatly... Regardless, David moved on.
He sacrificed [Archaic Shackles], [Fearwrought], and even [Primeval Pulse]. If he’d been close to fulfilling his goal, David wouldn’t have sacrificed the Advanced Class Skills, but he was nowhere close to his goal. Still, he couldn’t touch his Lifeweaver’s Class Skills. They were essential. Therefore, he went for his Intents and his only Legacy Skill.
He unleashed the power of [Sacrifice] upon [Dao Comprehension], Bloodlust, Origin Attribute, Divine Compass, and his youngest creations – Domain (Vitae) and Pillar of Life.
Just like that, his only Legacy Skill, a Superior Skill, two Basic Intents, one Intermediate Intent, and one Advanced Intent transformed into a whirlwind of golden particles. They surged throughout his mind space, filled the Skill Rune of [Sacrifice] to the brim and beyond, and shot toward their designated destination.
That better be enough…