Understanding The Light

Arghhhhh!

Bam! Bam! Clang! Boom! Boom!

Collision after collision, Athena continuously fought against the massive and imposing serpentine creature. A Pseudo Beast Emperor! Athena skipped a whole major realm and a half to fight against something like this... Yes, the thing was merely playing with her... At the beginning that is.

At the moment, the serpentine creature didn't bother playing with this woman any longer. The flames that she used, slowly, she felt her life force being burnt away. In exchange, she could feel more and more power bubbling up inside her, coursing through her body.

For this reason, the serpentine creature took her seriously. With each collision with the creature, she could feel her body, all her organs being banged around her insides. Blood dripped from her seven orifices as she was sent flying toward the surface of the earth.

At this time, she was half kneeling with one knee on the ground and barely being supported by her spear which was embedded in the earth.

Her situation... Grim. But, glancing at the body that was behind her, she could only smile sadly, thinking. 'If I'm unable to even prevent this monster from tearing apart your body, then, what right do I have to be with you in the otherworld...!'

With determination flashing in her eyes, she slowly yet unsteadily stood to her feet. This time, even if it meant exploding her dantian, she would completely obliterate this creature, preventing it from ever harming the already dead body of her lover...

"Come now, no need to push yourself like this..." Suddenly, a voice entered Athena's ears, immediately bringing her body to a freeze, even as the serpentine creature rushed toward her.

As if her body had given up on her, though she had just stood up, Athena's eyelids closed as her exhausted body finally gave in.

The several severe internal injuries finally caught up to her consciousness as her tattered clothing was soaked in blood. This body, covered by multiple wounds, finally lost consciousness, falling back.

Thud!

But, instead of falling to the ground, it fell into the embrace of a humanoid figure... This figure was what one would imagine a complete nightmare would represent itself as.

With long purple hair now passing his ankles and dragging on the ground, he had a pair of eyes missing their pupils and completely black, like a demon's.

But, the most shocking and scary fact was that one could see a gaping hole in his chest. Though there was a hole in his chest, there wasn't any blood, as one could see the other side, and the wound itself had seemingly become frozen...

His skin was sickly pale, and all the previous wounds had disappeared. Placing the woman in his embrace down to the ground, he gazed at his skin. To him, it seemed he had already become a cold corpse.

"I guess the world wouldn't accept someone evil like me as an invincible existence. My path to the zenith, if I'm to reach it, might be filled with thorns. As they said, being evil has a price... But, so what! I'll trample on this path and attain the zenith!"

Saying this, his voice was unnaturally calm and aloof. Detached from emotions...

ROAR!...

As if sensing the disrespect, as if sensing that this figure which it had previously killed had now not placed it in its eyes, the serpentine creature roared in anger. As a natural predator, it had the arrogance of one.

Seemingly now sensing the creature rushing toward him, Blade slowly stood up to his feet. Under his feet, dark energy penetrated deep into the earth itself. Raising his palms to point toward the incoming creature, a black tear escaped his left eye as he said.

"Rise!"

Rumble!

Shooting out of the ground were multiple large pillars of darkness. Though it saw these pillars, the Beast didn't place them in its eyes.

Unlike the woman, this young man didn't give off the same threat. And although his aura was creepy, it wasn't something that could make it, a Pseudo Beast Emperor, fearful...!

Fwoosh!

And like what it had thought, these pillars were unable to harm its powerful body. The most it could do was disperse into dark energy.

"Condense!"

Suddenly, Blade's outstretched right palm clenched into a fist. At the same time, a daunting and scary aura was finally sensed by the Pseudo Beast Emperor... But, it was too late!

The dark energy seemed unaffected by a physical body. Fazing through the scales of the beast and entering the internal body, the blurry dark pillars condensed into sturdy physical pillars!

Puchi!

Roar!...

As if being drained of its vitality, the beast's skin shriveled up as the body was squeezed dry and in a mere couple breaths of time, the thing was a dried corpse...!

Lowering his hand, he dropped to his knees, gazing at the darkness of the skies as black streams of tears fell from his eyes as they returned to normal with a black left pupil and a purple right pupil with a white sclera.

"It seems like this is still too much for me even under the darkness of the night! Well, whatever, right now, I've survived and should be rewarded..."

Even as he returned to his usual appearance, his voice didn't change from the cold and aloof, detached from emotion voice that was similar to when he had first returned from the dead...

"System, show me my status, and commence the level-up process." Saying this, he sat in a meditative posture.

[Host: Blade Pure-Heart]

[System: Level 5]-: [Commencing Two Consecutive Upgrades]

[System Perk: Interdimensional Space]

[System Perk: Appraisal]

[System Perk: System Shop]

[System Points: 10,005]

[Experience points: 229,000/25,000]

[Title: Monstrous Genius, Young Holy Child]

[Race: V********]

[Bloodline- R**** V******** 10%]

[Lifespan: 18/400,000]

[Gender: Male]

[Body Cultivation: High-Level Martial Lord]-: [Congratulations for breaking through]

[Soul Cultivation: Null]

Two upgrades!

Seeing this, Blade understood that the pain he was about to undergo would be even worse than all other times.

He wasn't sure why it pained like that but, whatever took place when leveling up... After leveling up his perception speed would quicken and his thought process speeds up.

The control over his body improves and his conviction, or willpower would also skyrocket. The benefits always outweighed the downsides so he didn't care about the pain.

Thrum!

Without warning, his body spasmed as beads of sweat slowly formed and began streaming down his face and back. Inside his mind, he felt as if his brain was being boiled, this boiling water escaped through his earbuds and burnt anything it touched.

His brain healed and then was boiled once more. Healed, and then was stabbed by thousands of needles. Healed, and then was torn apart by claws. Healed, and boiled... Healed and... Healed...

...

...

Hours passed like this. By this time, close to his meditating figure, Athena slowly opened her eyes with shock evident on her face.

'Hmm, wasn't I about to...!' Her thoughts stopped, and her mind blanked for a moment before streams of tears trickled down her tender cheeks. With trembling lips, she stared at that familiar back she had quickly gotten accustomed to following along through the forest.

"B-Blade...!" She truly couldn't help herself and jumped toward him...

Bam!

Her lounge forward was stopped by what seemed to be a barrier. Though it was transparent, upon coming into contact with Athena, several flickering golden patterns appeared in the space surrounding him.

Regaining control of her emotions, she assessed the surroundings. Picking up on the massive but dried corpse a couple tens of meters away, she nodded her head as countless conclusions entered.

Racking her brains, she could truly pick a conclusion that made sense. Somehow, someway, Blade had gotten a massive boost in strength at a time when all hope seemed lost.

This... it was nothing short of a dream!

Deciding to simply wait for Blade to reawaken, she took a seat close to him and closed her eyes as she was about to consolidate her cultivation base once more.

Yes, after the battle, her strength had risen once more. Another minor breakthrough...!

...

...

A couple more hours passed. This time, the sun slowly rose to the skies. At the same time, Blade's eyelids trembled, before they shot open, revealing a pair of pupilless eyes that shot waves of light toward his front.

A white aura escaped his body and shot toward the skies. It was as bright as the sun and contained a Holy and Invincible authority that'll make anyone wish to bow their heads in worship!

Hehehe... Hahahahahahaha!

"Lightning, then Darkness... Now, finally, I've understood the Light. The Light, the Invincible power, the Hope that all cherish in the face of the Darkness of Despair...! I'll be that Hope, but I'll also be the Despair!..."

Blade continued muttering like a madman. The white aura was reeled back into his body and his eyes returned to their original state.

At the same time, this exact scene... No, everything that happened since appearing in Limitless City, all the events had been playing out on a massive screen.

A figure watched it all with what seemed to be pink cotton candy in hand.