The Giant Black Heart and The Fire Sword II

Outside the dome of fire…

Arthur, who had his hand stretched forward while maintaining the dome of fire, felt something.

"Oh no! The protection I placed in the fire sword broke!"

Arthur became nervous and worried for Zen. Without the protection he placed in the fire sword, Zen would have to suffer the full brunt of the piece of divinity's power. It would also stimulate the Lord of Evil's Heart, causing it to go amok.

No one below the Gods could endure the damage caused by anything related to divinities.

Even if it was only a piece, it would be enough to pulverize mortals in a blink of an eye.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Arthur heard some explosions inside the fire dome, making his worry increase.

"Damn, just what the hell went wrong!?" Arthur cursed in frustration.

However, he couldn't do anything about it. The fluctuations inside the dome of fire were increasing in intensity as time passed by.

His wavy maroon hair fluttered as his left eye, which was a shade lighter than his other eye, dimly lit up.

If observed closely, one would be able to see that there was a symbol of fire inside his left eye which slowly started burning.

"Fuck it. Desperate times calls for desperate measures."

Strands of bright orange power that was purer and more powerful than mana slowly appeared around him.

If a God was here, they'd thought in shock; 'How could a mortal use Divine Energy!?'

Arthur seemed to have made a difficult decision in his mind as he chanted,

[Eye of the Fire God]

Boom!

Flames shot out of his left eye as it continued to burn brightly.

The dome of fire also stablized gradually and soon enough, not a hint of fluctuation could be felt from it.

'Phew. Thankfully, I made decision quickly. Otherwise, we would've been long discovered by the God of Light.' Arthur thought in relief. However, the problem at hand hasn't passed yet.

He put all his attention and focus on maintaining the enhanced dome of fire.

Inside his heart, he prayed silently, 'May the God of Fire help us…'

***

Inside the dome of fire…

Crackle! Crackle!

"Arghhhhh!"

Zen's roar could be heard as his left armed burned fiercely.

If it was only normal fire, then although it would still sting, Zen would be able to take it without a sound.

However, this was a fire from a piece of divinity. A fire at the divine level which was even capable of injuring Gods.

Thus, it was extremely shocking that Zen was able to endure it to this extent and not instantly turn into ashes.

However, only Zen knew what hell he was going through right now.

When observed closely, one could see that Zen's entire left arm was turning to ashes in an instant, but it was also regenerating in the next second.

However, one could also see that as time passed by, Zen's regeneration couldn't keep up with the fire's damage.

At first, he could still regenerate his arm completely. Then, he was only able to regenerate the arms in his muscle and didn't have enough time to regenrate the skin.

It had only been a few seconds and now, only the bone of his arm could be regenerated by Zen.

"I'll sure die at this rate…" But before Zen could continue any further, the sense of something coming alive within him, together with the feeling of hunger, overwhelmed his senses.

In the next second, he noticed that his right hand was touching the giant black heart.

"Oh, shit…" Zen could only curse as severe pain kept him from thinking.

Black veins where slowly spreading through his right hand. It was the Lord of Evil's Heart beginning its invasion of Zen's body.

His left side was continuously being burned by divine fire while his right side was being invaded by the Lord of Evil's Heart.

Zen seemed to hear a system notification. However, he didn't have the chance to look at it since the feeling of hunger increased by at least a hundred times.

The divine fire also became fiercer while the giant black heart's invasion intensified to a terrifying degree.

All the pain and the feeling of overwhelmed assaulted Zen, almost making him unconcious.

Getting desperate, Zen thought, 'What if I just give up… No! Never!' Because of the pain, he couldn't think straight.

However, due to the desperation and his survival instinct, an idea popped in his head.

'Oh right! I still have a skill that I haven't used yet!' Thinking this, Zen gritted his teeth and chanted with a roar, giving all he had.

[Absolute Apathy]

Zoom—

His senses, instinct and brain activity was drastically enhanced as his crimson pupils constricted and lost its light, becoming devoid of emotion.

Zen, who had been roaring in pain earlier, now only had an expressionless face.

He looked at what was happening in his body and said without any emotion, "Damn, I think I played myself."

Zen looked at the skill's effects, specifically the part where it said that it "suppresses" his emotions.

"What the fuck." Zen said without any change in tone or expression again.

The reason for this was because he could still feel pain and because of the various enhancements it gave, he even felt the pain clearer.

Earlier, his consciousness was blurry, it was his body's defense mechanism when his brain was stimulated with pain to its limits. He had only been holding on due to his willpower that had been tempered in his 10 years of being bedridded.

But now, his sensitivity was pushed to its limits, making him feel everything clearly. It was terrifying.

It was not that his emotions were "gone", instead, it became even more clear.

However, he could not "express" it. He didn't know how to express it. He was feeling the pain but he didn't know how to deal with it.

To put it bluntly, he could "feel" but he couldn't "express" his emotion. It was pure torture.

"I should have tested this before…" Zen felt like crying but he couldn't.

Deep inside, he knew that the skill was very effective. It drastically enhanced his body, making him reach his peak combat state.

There are people in the world that didn't have a sense of pain, but it also became the reason why they die early since they wouldn't know what was wrong with their body.

Zen, on the other hand, could feel his emotions but wouldn't be affected by it. So, it could be said that his state was the perfect state for combat since he would be able to tell where his injuries are while not letting the pain hinder his ability.

Then, he remembered the system notifications that he heard earlier. He looked and was surprised by what he saw.

[Ding!]

[Detected that the player's body is being invaded by an outside force.]

[The player's {Immortal Cells} have begun to take action.]