Chapter 161

Adrian vs. Kai (2)

Anti-Mana Specialization (Anti-Mana Evolution).

A Primordial Evolution that excluded mana entirely.

From the moment I selected this specialization, I acquired Anti-Mana properties that prevented me from interacting with mana under any circumstances.

And as for Anti-Mana—

["It’s an opposite-phase energy with a phase and properties diametrically opposed to mana."]

Simply put, it was the power to erase/reverse/negate mana.

But this power was unstable and dangerous.

["When Anti-Mana and mana collide, they produce a ‘Pair Annihilation reaction.’"]

... Honestly, I had no idea what any of that meant. Even with Iliana’s explanation, I couldn’t understand it.

As far as I could tell, it meant, ‘When mana and Anti-Mana collide, a massive amount of energy explodes!’

... Something along those lines.

So to wield Anti-Mana, I needed a separate way to disperse the enormous energy produced by Pair Annihilation.

The answer was Mana Predation (Devourer of Mana).

Another form of Predation[S+], evolved through Anti-Mana Specialization.

I could ‘completely nullify’ Mana-Based Energy and devour it. The energy I devoured was converted again inside my body, stored as annihilation energy, and available whenever I needed it.

In short, ‘When mana and Anti-Mana collide, the world blows up, and I eat all that energy and recycle it!’

... That seemed to be roughly how it worked.

That made this power different from Ian’s Mana Manipulation, yet similar.

Mana Manipulation.

A technique that used precise mana control to regulate or restrain the flow of an opponent’s mana.

Its method differed from Mana Predation’s, but their essence was similar.

That was why I could imitate it: the process of neutralizing aura, the mechanism for breaking spells.

I had watched Ian do it and learned from him.

◆Using fusion skill, Weakness Hunt[M].

My senses narrowed with atomic-level precision.

The activity of Kai’s cells as they knitted together. The arrangement of muscle fibers fusing. The flow of nerve signals reconnecting.

All that information began unfolding from the perspective of the ultramicroscopic world of infinitesimals.

The rippling of cell membranes. Variations in intracellular ion concentrations. The minute vibrations of nerve fibers. The intervals between electrical impulses flowing through muscle fibers. Even the intermittent changes in the jumping potentials at synapses between nerve cells.

I could detect those subtle differences in displacement.

I couldn’t... see the flow of mana.

But even if it was invisible, it definitely existed.

The point where cellular reactions became abnormally amplified.

That would be precisely where mana flowed.

CRACKLE!

Sparks flew, distorting the currents of air. Kai’s muscle fibers split midway through reassembly, and the nerve cells reconnecting snapped apart.

His mana had vanished before it could transform into aura.

In other words, the conditions needed for Immortality’s aura to function had been lost.

"Just now...!! What did you just do?!?!"

Iliana shouted, almost screaming.

PATTER.

Pieces of Kai’s flesh that had failed to knit together fell to the ground. But they soon rejoined and were restored.

... I was still inexperienced. Compared with Ian’s Mana Manipulation, I hadn’t even learned to walk.

I needed more proficiency. More experience.

Weakness Hunt[M] and Mana Predation.

I needed practical combat experience to wield those two more perfectly.

"... Come."

I spoke as I destroyed my overloaded brain and restored it with Regeneration[B+].

"I’ll let you attack first this time."

* * *

WHOOSH!

The sound of air being sliced. Kai sprang forward, swinging his sharply defined aura blade.

Adrian’s nails were already sweeping out to meet it.

... An almost imperceptible difference.

But Isolde saw it.

‘He was faster. Half a beat.’

Adrian had moved half a beat before Kai.

... Coincidence? ... Prediction? Or a guess?

‘No.’

He had read the movement in advance. Adrian already knew how Kai would move.

‘How?’

Before Isolde could even finish forming the question—

FWOOSH!!

Flames surged from Adrian’s legs. Then, the moment he pushed off the ground—

BOOOOM!!

The stone floor exploded with a deafening blast, and Adrian shot forward like an arrow.

Isolde involuntarily caught her breath.

‘That’s...’

A technique she knew, too.

Concentrating energy in both legs, then detonating it to propel the body forward.

She knew it because Adrian had taught her himself, and she knew better than anyone how difficult it was.

But Adrian’s speed, his reactions...

Everything exceeded her imagination.

It happened in an instant.

Both of Kai’s arms were smashed. A large hole opened in his abdomen. Blood spurted like a fountain, and his body staggered, on the verge of collapse.

But...

He was knitting back together.

His shattered arms returned to their places. His perforated abdomen regained its shape, as though something was drawing it back together.

At that moment—

CRACKLE!

A thin, lightning-like current swept across him, severing the muscle fibers and nerves fusing together.

But that lasted only a moment. Kai’s body knitted together again, and he quickly readied himself for combat.

With his wounds restored, Kai charged Adrian again. Once more, Adrian was already swinging his nails, as though he had known what was coming.

CRUNCH!

Kai’s left leg was torn off. But he didn’t stop. He thrust his sword all the way forward.

SPLURT!

Blood spurted from Adrian’s shoulder. Before anyone knew it, Kai’s sword had torn into it.

There wasn’t even time to breathe. Adrian twisted his body, tracing a semicircle.

Then energy condensed in his leg once more—

BOOOOM!!

Adrian’s kick produced a sonic boom and slammed into Kai’s side.

BANG!

His side burst open, and his body flew through the air.

CRASH!

Kai slammed violently into the wall of the trial grounds, crashing into the shattered rubble.

A brief silence.

He walked out of the debris and extended his sword again.

Kai’s ruptured side and left leg knitted together.

Adrian’s torn shoulder regenerated.

"!!!"

"!!!"

The onlookers’ eyes filled with horror and shock.

... They weren’t human.

This was a battle between inhuman beings.

Honestly, even monsters didn’t fight like that. No, they couldn’t.

Their instantaneous reactions, the density of their techniques, their power, and even the bodies enduring it all—everything lay outside the bounds of humanity.

"W-what am I... looking at right now...?"

Sarpedon’s mutter rang out like an echo.

* * *

Kai emerged from the collapsed rubble, perfectly fine.

Even with a leg torn off and his entire side blown apart, he was fine.

... His Immortality was running wild. Even while I nullified it with Mana Predation, it was still pulling this shit.

Of course, my lack of proficiency with Mana Predation played a part. But the decisive problem was that the raw value wasn’t enough.

My Anti-Mana value of -1,560.

That was the maximum total amount of annihilation energy I could store through Mana Predation.

It wasn’t enough to devour all the aura Kai possessed.

Kai trained in full plate every day, in the harsh cold that persisted all year round. Even when the cold-soaked metal armor tore his skin, he steadfastly tempered his aura.

The aura he possessed was the product of countless hours of training and effort.

I couldn’t devour it with an Anti-Mana value of -1,560.

It seemed I had only been able to devour the Arcanoheart’s runaway energy because Seraphia was there.

In any case, Mana Predation couldn’t completely neutralize Kai’s Immortality.

Ultimately, I had to overwhelm him physically.

Metabolic Overdrive[U]?

I couldn’t afford to use it.

Maintaining Weakness Hunt[M] and supplying the calories for Regeneration[B+] was already taxing enough.

Above all, my body had evolved by consuming the ogre with Predation[S+]. More precisely, Hyperdense Myofibrils[A+] had explosively increased my muscle density.

That wasn’t entirely beneficial.

After the brain, muscles consumed more calories than any other organ in the body.

In other words, as my strength output increased dramatically, my calorie consumption increased exponentially.

Every time I used the ogre’s strength, I burned hundreds of calories at minimum, thousands at most.

I was practically a biological incinerator. An outdated model with the worst possible fuel efficiency, at that.

Thank goodness I had the Title <Saint of the Black Moon>. Otherwise, I couldn’t even have afforded Regeneration[B+].

And so the precarious tightrope act continued.

One wrong move, and my entire brain would be destroyed—

‘Here he comes!’

BOOOM!

Kai’s aura blade collided with Dragon’s Claw[A].

I had definitely read that movement in advance with Weakness Hunt[M].

But—

‘... He blocked it?’

Kai wasn’t being pushed back.

Yet with my current Strength stat, that should have been impossible.

True, my strength was still lacking compared with an ogre’s. Even so, it wasn’t something he should have been able to block so easily—

‘This guy...’

... He hadn’t blocked it.

He had redirected it.

In other words, he had grasped the principle of Flow. He was letting my strength and attacks flow past rather than taking them head-on.

He had figured it out by watching my Slime Fluid[U]. He was making the principle of Flow within it his own.

In this life-or-death battle, Kai’s experience was increasing explosively.

By imitating my Predator combat methods, he was rapidly shedding the way he had fought as a human.

The Legion Commander of Bitter Cold.

Kai was now approaching the Legion Commander of Bitter Cold he had been in my previous life.

I sharpened Dragon’s Claw[A] further and raked forward, tearing through the aura of his aura blade.

SWISH!

Kai’s aura blade expanded. The torn aura filled back in instantly.

The aura blade descended upon me.

Its sharpness, as though it could cleave anything in the world, threatened me with death.

BOOOOM!

But I held firm. Then pushed back.

The muscles of Hyperdense Myofibrils[A+] didn’t rupture. The bones of Ultra-Reinforced Skeletal Structure[A] didn’t break.

My body, strengthened by consuming the ogre with Predation[S+], was the perfect form of biological evolution.

CRACK!

Instead, Kai’s bones broke. His muscles burst. His sword’s trajectory changed. He had decided he couldn’t confront me head-on.

Keen killing intent targeted me from every direction.

Wolf’s Swordsmanship.

The keys to Wolf’s Swordsmanship were variations in technique and rapid shifts between offense and defense.

Mixing countless feints and variables to create an opening, then slipping through it to take the opponent’s life in an instant.

Like a wolf driving its prey, guiding it, and finally biting through its throat.

Neither excessively elaborate nor reliant on brute force alone.

Kai’s own sword style, Wolf’s Swordsmanship.

... I learned it.

Just as Kai was imitating and internalizing my combat methods, I, too, imitated and internalized his swordsmanship.

With Weakness Hunt[M], I broke down, dismantled, and reassembled the countless patterns woven into Wolf’s Swordsmanship.

Attack and defense. Transitions and responses.

I absorbed them, then elevated them into something uniquely mine.

The Predator’s Way.

Now, I could—

◆Activating skill, Assimilation[B]!

My body blurred for an instant.

Kai lost track of my presence. But he quickly located me again.

As expected, it was difficult to completely deceive a Master’s senses.

So I added something to it.

The wolf’s methods I had learned from you, Kai.

TAP, TAP-TAP-TAP!

Mixing countless feints and variables to confuse the opponent—

CRUNCH!

Your own method of snuffing out an opponent’s life in an instant, Kai.

It might be insignificant compared with Ian’s swordsmanship—Illusion—and the Martial Ultra Instinct that existed far beyond it, but—

["Adrian, your path to Ultra Instinct doesn’t have to be the same as mine."]

Because even if the paths differed, they all reached the same destination.

The countless rivers on this continent all began in different places and flowed in their own ways, but—

["In the end, every river meets in the sea and becomes one."]

◆Skill, Assimilation[B] is evolving!

◆Acquired evolved skill, Phantom Assimilation[U]!

◆Phantom Assimilation[U]

: When this skill is activated, the player consumes [100 Kcal/sec] to generate [Higher-Dimensional Chromatophores] and [Cognition-Guiding Particles]. By [Distorting] the opponent’s [All Cognitive Information], the player can use [Cognition Blocking], [Illusion Induction], and [Simultaneous Dispersion].

<This skill can be toggled [On/Off].>

<This is an evolved skill that evolved from Assimilation[B].>

My remaining calories were limited.

Dragging this out would put me at a disadvantage.

‘I’m going all out!’

◆Using Ultra Instinct skill, Predator[M]!

* * *

... His presence changed.

Adrian’s eyes were drenched in blood-red color. As though swallowing his reason, the whites turned entirely crimson, inverting the colors of his eyes.

Uncontrolled savagery.

It pierced Kai.

A speed even a Master’s senses couldn’t follow.

But... something was strange.

He could see only one figure.

Yet there were... three movements?

Were they illusions? They had too much real weight and killing intent for that.

Sight, sound, temperature, texture.

Every one of Kai’s senses told him the phantoms were ‘real.’

BANG! BANG! BANG! BOOM!

Three distinct movements collided with Kai’s sword. His body burst apart under the impacts, and he was driven farther and farther back.

His train of thought broke off.

He forced the fragmented thoughts back together.

... Honest— speak—, at his limit.

... Cold— speaking, couldn’t w—.

Kai— couldn’t defeat Adri—.

If— continued th— fight here, Kai would d—.

BANG, BANG, BOOM!!

Kai’s body burst apart again and again.

... His reactions couldn’t keep up.

Reconstruction was somehow keeping him going, but—

"Khaaagh!"

Any more than this... was impossible.

Above all, he still felt every bit of the pain.

Along with the agony of his wounds, the horrific pain of blood vessels fusing and reassembling tore through his mind.

PATTER-PATTER!

... But he couldn’t lose.

He didn’t want to lose.

He knew. He knew he didn’t need to go this far.

But... if he took even one step back here, it felt as though all the vows and promises he had engraved deep in his heart would crumble.

And in that instant, he felt he would never be able to stand beside her again.

If that was what defeat meant, then all the more reason he couldn’t retreat.

Even if he had to die here instead.

"Why...! Why are you fighting this hard...!!"

No matter what anyone in the world said.

"Brother, Sir Kai...!"

He would become the strongest knight on this continent—

"Please stop...!!!"

And protect Seraphia to the very end.

Even if death barred his way...!

"Aaaaaaah!!"

He would become a knight of death who could cut down even death itself.

* * *

Red radiance and blue radiance shot toward each other.

The lights collided with a thunderous roar, tearing through the atmosphere and shaking the entire space.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!

Isolde sprang forward without hesitation.

That wasn’t a spar, a fight, or anything of the sort.

It was a slaughter on an entirely different plane.

Literally, a battle between two beings intent on destroying each other.

... Why were they fighting so desperately?

She felt she vaguely understood why the knight named Kai fought. He had a reason he couldn’t afford to fall.

But... Adrian.

"Kai, I’ll defeat you here and prove it!!"

What was he fighting so hard for?

"Never again! Never, ever again will I let the nightmare of that day repeat itself!!"

And whom did he need to fight, for him to be this desperate?

"Fear and terror are yours to bear now!! Now I’ll!! Become your nightmare!!!"

Without finding an answer, Isolde crossed her arms.

FWOOOOSH!

A veil of divine power enveloped Isolde and the people around her.

Divine Martial Fist. Celestia Style.

Celestial Guardian.

CRAAACK!!

Swirling fragments of power battered the divine veil mercilessly.

Cracks formed across it.

As the veil vibrated, shuddering as though about to shatter—

"I’ll help!!"

Iliana shouted and raised both hands. Her rapidly expanding magical power brought a complex magic circle into being in midair.

FLASH!

Lines of light intersected in overlapping layers, and the shields added one atop another firmly reinforced the precarious divine veil.

And power collided with power.

"Uaaaaaaaah!!"

"Aaaaaaaah!!"

The two men’s convictions overlapped for a single instant—

BOOOOOOOOM!!

The entire Frost Trial Grounds were blown away—

And a winner and loser were decided.