Apocalypse Forecast

In fact, Yin Soul was an auxiliary Stigma. Really. That's what the manual said, anyway. Its talent was to generously share the Source Substance possessed by the user with those nearby, emphasizing selfless devotion. It just so happened that what was shared wasn't anything good. After combining with Huai Shi, who had been transformed into a Negative Energy Generator, what was shared and spread around became the Apocalypse and aura of death Huai Shi had extracted from his countless death records. It was just as Raven once said: this was the enhanced V2.0 version of Gold's collection!

Once Yin Soul was activated, there was no need for contact. Anyone who entered within three meters of Huai Shi would be generously and enthusiastically embraced by the thickly condensed, tangible negative energy. It was like the calculation method in some board game. You had to calculate based on both parties' base values, and after adding those and other complex factors, make a saving throw. If the throw failed, one would suffer in the endless aura of death. For Sublimators beyond Huai Shi's Fourth Stage, this might feel like a mere breeze caressing their faces. Those two stages higher would start to feel uncomfortable. For adversaries at the same stage, it was an inescapable horror and nightmare.

Looks like the difference between us isn't that significant, huh? Huai Shi mused. He whistled, lifted his foot, and stomped down on the Corrosive Creature that fell from the ceiling. He looked down at its screeching form with curiosity and asked, "Are you having a heatstroke?"

The next instant, the Axe of Anger fell in a chop! Foul-smelling plasma sprayed everywhere. Heart-poison spread. From the corpse, a viscous fluid let out a sharp cry. It rapidly solidified, forming long needles like a hedgehog, then disintegrated. It turned into a pile of dust.

Huai Shi nodded in approval. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. This is a good thing. Then, he raised his head, gazing curiously at Jin Mu, who clutched a Border Relic in his furious grip, and asked, "Do you know how to use that thing?"

The answer was the furious slash of an Iron Whip. Even without unleashing its full potential, the brute force of the Source Substance driving the whip carved an abyssal fissure into the ground. A hurricane erupted, nearly ripping apart the Apocalypse Fog surrounding Huai Shi, but in the next instant, the fog closed in again.

Sliding backward, Huai Shi steadied himself. Feeling the terrifying wind pressure that had momentarily been applied to him, he couldn't help but whistle. Casually, he brought the axe down upon the skull of another Corrosive Creature trying to pounce at him. Plasma sprayed out again, followed by another shriek.

Feeling an inexplicable throb in his chest, Huai Shi stretched out his hand and clenched the air, igniting the flames of the Hand of Confinement. Amid the crisp sound of Source Substance solidifying, a black Sacrificial Knife grew anew from his hand. Having lost its material form and turned into Source Substance, the Sacrificial Knife was now reformed out of Source Substance by Huai Shi. Savoring the nostalgic feel, Huai Shi swung the blade in his hand while pulling the axe out with the other, the knife and axe colliding, sending Source Substance and sparks flying together. In the Fire of Apocalypse, the young man grinned broadly.

"Come—" he whispered softly. "We officially begin!"

The next instant, the Yin Soul howled in approach! As if soaring, suddenly weightless and able to fly at will, Huai Shi ran lightly and swiftly through the wind, slashing his blade toward the sweeping Iron Whip before him. Steel collided. Using the force of the Iron Whip, his body leapt into the air, stepping atop the heavy whip like a tightrope, spiraling like a bird on the wind. Thus, the blade and the axe edge traced ice-cold, moon-like arcs of cold light in the air.

The blade chopped into Jin Mu's body, sparking as if striking gold-infused metal, leaving only a small notch on his neck. The effect of Stigma Ely was constant. Even without being actively invoked, the user's body would remain fairly tough, impervious to small-caliber bullets. Like steel, indestructible. However, it was, after all, only steel...

In an instant, countless overlapping, high-pitched sounds resounded as Huai Shi unleashed the Dual Sword Technique of the Theravada Tantra. Even without a pair of swords, using only the knife and axe in his hands, he achieved terrifying speed. The Source Substance of steel and the steel of Source Substance overlapped, tearing through the wind, letting out a sharp wail as they reached a terrifying velocity Huai Shi had never before achieved.

A moment later, Huai Shi landed from atop the Iron Whip, while Jin Mu staggered back. On his bare chest, neck, and even his face and features, a dense network of cracks had spread. The Border Variant hidden behind this excellent body screamed in rage, pounding its Iron Whip onto the ground, nearly causing an earthquake of terrifying proportions. The hurricane swept through. It pulled at the Iron Whip in its hand, lashing wildly around, reducing everything in its vicinity to ruins.

The corner of Huai Shi's eye twitched—he was certain that even with his advanced physique, if he were hit, he would be reduced to a pulp. Neither the astonishing might of the Third Stage Stigma Ely nor the horrendous weight of the Border Relic was something a First Stage newcomer like him could withstand directly. That's why I envy these Berserkers...

Moving his fingers, which had begun to numb, Huai Shi once again readied his axe and knife. "Let's go again!"

Like dancing alongside a speeding train, the fierce wind roared. Compared to the earlier attacks aimed at Huai Shi, this state of mindless rage was even trickier to handle. When there were patterns to discern in a fight, it was manageable. But when such fierce force went off-script, it was easy for an unexpected blow to take down even a master, let alone a newbie like him.

The closer he got, the more suffocating the immense air pressure became. Even the ground beneath him grew unstable and unreliable, like trying to maintain balance inside a hamster ball. If he slipped, he would be sucked into the storm, which had become a flesh-grinding maelstrom, leaving no remains. At close range, he could even hear the boiling sound of the viscous fluids inside Jin Mu's body; it was becoming agitated—no, it was developing unease. The Fear Aura was beginning to take effect, subtly but surely.

With a sudden shriek from his opponent, Huai Shi abruptly twisted aside. He felt a gust of wind, like that from a collapsing building, blast his face as the Iron Whip smashed down, almost grazing the tip of his nose. Immediately after, his axe and Sacrificial Knife cleaved through the air. He roared with all his might, the Hand of Confinement that held the axe ablaze with fervent fire, constantly converting Source Substance into the weight of steel, exerting it on that cleaving strike. A piercing screech of metal grating against metal erupted.

Jin Mu's single arm suddenly trembled. Then, a little finger flew off his hand still gripping the Iron Whip, revealing bone underneath that had already transformed into a steely hue. A finger severed!

Next, with the clash of the Axe Blade and Iron Whip, a sound as deep as a tolling bell boomed by his ears. Huai Shi's vision almost went dark. He lost his hearing amidst the deafening noise and quickly retreated, only to see a notch on the blade of his prized axe. What level of Border Relic is that thing?! It has to be A-level at least! Just its own mass and the Source Substance backlash damaged my Axe Blade, while it remains unscathed!

Huai Shi inwardly clicked his tongue. He stumbled, nearly getting swept up in the storm created by the sweeping Iron Whip. The thunderous sound was so intense that even his semicircular canals were vaguely damaged. Fortunately, his Stigma-enhanced body possessed a slight regenerative ability, healing these minor wounds—not even severe enough to be called internal bleeding—within a few seconds.

And now, having lost a little finger, the one-armed Corrosive Creature could no longer grip the Iron Whip tightly. This exposed an even larger flaw and opening. To Huai Shi, it was as if the doors had been flung wide open with a warm welcome at the threshold. Welcome!

His palm slid across the Axe of Anger, magically mending the notch. He lunged forward once again. As the Iron Whip chopped down, he sharply twisted aside, simultaneously flinging the Sacrificial Knife in his hand with a violent swing of his arm! The thrown Sacrificial Knife couldn't even significantly harm Jin Mu's body. It slashed heavily across his face before spiraling back into the darkness behind him. But then, Huai Shi's palm clenched fiercely as he pulled back. Come back to me!

The thin thread tied to the knife handle rapidly expanded and multiplied, taking on the color of steel. It circled the Corrosive Creature's body along with the returning blade's edge, inflating from a fine thread to a steel cable as thick as a little finger, shrinking inwards as Huai Shi pulled! As the steel cable tightened, dazzling sparks sprang from the Corrosive Creature's body due to friction. However, the instantaneous binding had already made the Corrosive Creature's movements stiffen for a moment.

Immediately, Huai Shi was upon him. He descended from mid-air, aiming his Axe Blade at the hand clenching the Iron Whip.

CRASH!

A roaring sound accompanied by a surge of air spread out once more. This time, the thumb was cleanly chopped off and sent flying. The Iron Whip slipped from its grasp.

The Corrosive Creature raged, struggling violently. This caused the chains of Source Substance binding it to emit a piteous wail as they crumbled apart. Huai Shi felt a dull pain in his head from the backlash, but his movements didn't stop for even a second. The returning Sacrificial Knife flew back into his hand, chafing against the Axe Blade, sparking, and the flash stung the eyes of the Corrosive Creature.

Countless overlapping, sharp screeches burst forth. It was like a cutting machine whirling and screeching as it sliced head-on into steel. With a loud BANG, scorching sparks flew from the colliding knife and axe. The Heart-poison burning on the Axe Blade left a moon-like arc in the air. This repeated dozens of times in an instant.

Finally, the knife and axe parted ways amidst Huai Shi's roar, leaving a brutal cross-shaped wound across Jin Mu's chest, from which boiling darkness emitted terror-filled screams.

"See you never, motherfucker!"

The Sacrificial Knife penetrated the thick liquid, wedging deep into the viscous body of the Border Variant. In the next instant, the Heart-poison erupted. Terrifying shrieks rose from within the viscous fluid, then abruptly ceased. Silence fell abruptly.

In front of Huai Shi, the powerless Jin Mu slowly knelt to the ground. From his open chest cavity, the ashen remains of the viscous fluid scattered.

"Thank... thank you..."

In that moment, Huai Shi heard a whisper, faint as an illusion. When he looked down, Jin Mu's cracked face seemed to hold a relieved smile.

He's still alive? Huai Shi was incredulous. To think he's still alive after being parasitized by the Border Variant for so long... His vitality must be terrifying. But now, he has finally reached his limit, hasn't he? He sighed, raising the axe in his hand, gripping it with both hands.

"Sorry," he said, "to prevent you from turning into a Corrosive Creature after death..."

He left the rest unsaid, but Jin Mu understood. Without fear or anger, Jin Mu calmly closed his eyes. Using the last of his strength, he lifted his head, the steely color on his throat slowly fading.

"Go... to the north..." A raspy voice came from his broken throat. "Shen Yue... I'm counting on you..."

Still worrying about his companions, even at the very end? What kind of saint are you? Huai Shi lowered his gaze, a flicker of pity in his eyes.

"Okay."

The Axe Blade flashed past. The headless corpse fell to the ground, slowly turning into ashes amidst the encroaching Apocalypse. Huai Shi watched silently as he vanished from this world.

After a long moment, he turned and walked into the depths of the darkness, toward the direction from which the mad shrieks emanated. The Fire of Apocalypse blazed fiercely.

「The Yin Soul engages!」