Nothing is Impossible

Epharion gathered Mana all around him exerting his will directly on the space. Once the mana was all concentrated around the mirrored cube across the room, Epharion released it, causing the space around the cube to writhe with potent mind energy. It was one of his most powerful skills. Brain Melt was a ZZZ ranked spell that made the victim's brain literally begin to melt because of immense pressure and mental 'heat'. Epharion had killed many adventurers with this combination. Trapping them within his Refraction Prison and then once they escaped, causing them, with their weakened mental abilities, to suffer and die over the course of a couple hours.

Epharion relished pain, he even had a spell that let him gain exp from the agony of others, which is how he continued to advance even as a hidden boss monster. He had just recently broken through after killing the morsel, and now he would only get stronger after eating the pain of this annoying fly.

Epharion hated to admit it, but this human forced Epharion to strain his abilities to the limit. Because of the man's reflection armor, Epharion was forced to use his less potent skills instead of his more powerful spells which would only rebound.

Epharion was struggling more than usual due to one, massive fact. Denarion had been killed within the first few moments of the fight. Epharion was deeply wounded at the loss of his Soul Twin, and so much of his power wrestled against him, stirring because of how much emotional and spiritual pain Epharion was going through. All the benefits of his Soul Link had been lost, and now there was only an empty void where the link to his twin had once resided.

Epharion ached at the loss, but he had to fight through the pain, turning it from weakness into strength, from pain into rage at the death of his brother. He felt hope in the fact that when he died and reincarnated, he would still be Soul Linked with his brother. Soul Links transcended death and couldn't be broken. If someone had a Soul Link, they would never lose it, even in death.

He felt the prison tremble, but he didn't add his will to it. He wanted the Champion to escape from his first trap before stumbling into the next. So instead, he reinforced the Brain Melt spell, adding more mana into it, emptying his entire reserves into it. He was completely confident that this spell would kill the low life, as it had never failed yet, and had killed men far stronger than this young champion. Though, Epharion had to admit, none of those men had killed Denarion, otherwise he wouldn't have even had a brother to lose in the first place.

The Refraction Prison shook once more, and Epharion prepared himself for the final clash. It was time to feed off of this upstart's pain and have him suffer as Epharion had after Denarion had died so uneventfully.

The prison exploded into shards of glass, but Epharion engaged his weakened Mage Barrier, simply shrugging off the shards as he had done so many times before. He took control of the Brain Melt spell directly, adding his will to it, making it stronger than a Mythic tier spell of its rank had any right to be.

A form appeared amidst the broken glass wearing pitch black armor and holding a devastating looking obsidian scythe. Upon the figure's head was a black helm, with two red eyes glaring through. Upon the helmet was a crown of such brilliant light, that it illuminated the room just with its presence. There were two spectral wings on the figures back, stretching longer than 5 feet each, or a total of 10 feet all together. The man's eyes locked on Epharion, and the white kobold felt a chill run down its spine. True fear was felt in the kobold's heart and he hurriedly attacked before the monster could react.

There was simply no way that thing was a man. It had to be a monster, as sure as the Mind Sage lived.

The spell, which looked like pink and purple formless mist, assaulted the Reaper's mind, attempting to kill it from the outside in. Epharion felt his will clash against the monsters, and he struggled to fight back, only to slowly lose ground. Clenching his teeth, he summoned the vestiges of power from his now dead brother, and surged forwards, using all of his fury to bear down on the monstrous being that stood before him.

Epharion gained some ground back, but the monster responded in kind, pushing back even harder and causing Epharion to lose ground rapidly, once he felt like he could go on no longer, he released the spell and sagged to the ground, breathing heavily. Epharion saw the monster fall to one knee before standing up on shaky legs, walking towards Epharion.

Epharion felt terror strike his soul. There was nothing he could do. All his mana was spent, he was exhausted, and he could no longer stand. He closed his eyes. He would be joining Denarion sooner than he had thought, and they could go to the next life together.

Epharion remembered his life. It was a good one. He had become moderately powerful at a young age, reaching power that was truly extraordinary in his small village. He had ventured into the world, leaving his family with Denarion and traveling to the Mind Spire, where all kobolds were accepted and were fostered into truly powerful Mind Mages. Epharion and Denarion had been crushed when they realized that the large amount of power that they had and were proud of, the power that was lauded and of much renown back in their village, was nothing, not even a spec of true power compared to those who lived in the Mind Spire. Epharion and Denarion had struggled to grow more powerful, but they failed and became bottom feeders, feeding off of monsters' pain.

The Reaper took a step closer, dragging his scythe.

The system had provided them an option one day. To join a dungeon. They could never truly die as they would only be a simple Acolyte. They had accepted, fighting constantly against adventurers. Sometimes managing to kill them, sometimes being completely wiped out. After years of struggling, they managed to rise to the ranks of Miniboss. They were called the soul twins and they killed many adventurers, feeding off of their pain.

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The Reaper continued to come closer.

They managed to rise past that, becoming a hidden boss. There was only one problem. They were a special hidden boss and then only would appear in anomalies, and that meant they would grow stronger, far faster, but bosses and hidden bosses killed in an anomaly were killed for good. That meant that they would no longer be immortal, but would have the ability to grow beyond their wildest dreams.

The Reaper reached Epharion.

They had accepted, and this had been their 17th incursion, with them managing to kill 2 of the 12 champions, that didn't account for the little morsel that Epharion had consumed just barely. The 10 others had either gone to other hidden bosses, or they had chosen a lower difficulty. The 5 other groups either hadn't found all the levers, or had chosen not to fight against a hidden boss. The weaklings.

The Reaper raised its scythe.

They had lived a good life. Managing to climb up a whole 2 tiers from where they had started. But now it is all over. Epharion only hoped he would be born with more opportunities in the next life. Not that he would remember any of this. Epharion was glad to see this life fade away, though he was sad he hadn't accomplished more.

The scythe met his neck, and Epharion went on to be reincarnated, only sparing a single glance back at his headless corpse.

Denarion met him with open arms, and they continued on together. As they would always do. They were Soul Linked, and they would never be deprived of each other, not even in death. Especially not in death.

***

Atlas stood over the two headless corpses. He felt triumphant, and a large smile stretched across his face. He had done it! He had succeeded and killed the hidden boss. Prevailing where others had thought he couldn't! Where… Where Jay couldn't.

Atlas's smile waned, and he felt a pang of loss. He still wished that Jay hadn't gone in front of Atlas, but it had been his choice to make, and he had paid for the consequences.

A notification appeared at the corner of Atlas's vision, blinking incessantly.

Atlas frowned slightly. What could the notification be about? He didn't gain levels in the dungeon, unless…

Atlas hurriedly opened his notification, eagerly reading over it.

Due to defeating a Tier 4 Hidden Boss, you have gained rewards!

Reward 1: Gain 60 levels.

Reward 2: Infuse All Soulbound Equipment with energy.

Reward 3: Gain Stone of Mind Magic

Light filled Atlas, covering him and his items. A small stone thudded against the ground.

You have reached the maximum level of tier 3!

Checking…

You have the achievement level required to advance to tier 4! Would you like to advance? (You may always advance your tier later, but until then, you can not advance any of your skills or your level.) Y/N

Selecting yes, euphoric light filled Atlas and he smiled in pleasure. He lifted off the ground slightly before settling back down on the ground.

Your body is now strong enough to house Life Force pathways!

Life Force pathways created! Rarity - Rare

LUCKY BONUS!

Life Force pathways upgraded! Rarity - Rare -> Epic

Life Force pathways: Rarity - Epic: Your body has become much more powerful at harnessing the healing powers of Life Force. Each rarity of pathways unlocks a new benefit. With each higher rarity possessing all the benefits of the rarities below it.

Trash: The effectiveness of Life Force is increased by Constitution divided by four. (Current effectiveness is 818% where someone without a pathway has 100% [100% is the minimum.])

Basic: You can choose a different aspect of your Life Force to upgrade. Potency, Quantity, Quality, Regeneration Speed. (When upgraded by another rarity, the upgrade is better.)

Common: Your Life Force regeneration is doubled. (You regenerate the same amount of Life Force in 30 minutes as when it was 1 hour.)

Uncommon: You now get one point of Life Force for every one point in your other stats. (Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence and Wisdom)

Rare: Choose one of the three options. 1: Your Life Force is purified when it enters your body, halving your regeneration speed, but quadrupling the efficiency of your Life Force. 2: Your total Life Force pool is halved but it is now 10 times as potent. 3: You regenerate Life Force four times as fast but at the cost of having half as potent Life Force.

Epic: You can choose a different aspect of your Life Force to upgrade. Potence, Quantity Quality, Regeneration Speed. (When upgraded by a higher rarity, the upgrade is better.)

Atlas chose his options, looking at his Life Force Pathways again.

Life Force pathways: Rarity - Epic: Your body has become much more powerful at harnessing the healing powers of Life Force. Each rarity of pathways unlocks a new benefit. With each higher rarity possessing all the benefits of the rarities below it.

Trash: The effectiveness of Life Force is increased by Constitution divided by four. (Current effectiveness is 818% where someone without a pathway has 100% [100% is the minimum.])

Basic: Quantity. Multiply Life Force (After all other calculations) by 4.

Common: Your Life Force regeneration is doubled. (You regenerate the same amount of Life Force in 30 minutes as when it was 1 hour.)

Uncommon: You now get one point of Life Force for every one point in your other stats. (Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence and Wisdom)

Rare: Your total Life Force pool is halved but it is now 10 times as potent.

Epic: Quantity. Multiply Life Force (After all other calculations) by 10. Due to choosing the same benefit twice, the lower tier benefit is engaged first to prevent them from causing problems.

Atlas was proud of his choices, and he glanced at his new Life Force total.

Life force: 986,380

Atlas smiled. It looked like he wouldn't be dying anytime soon.

He picked up the stone and a tear in space appeared in front of him. Completely confident, he stepped through.