Primordial Awakening: I Can Evolve My Skills Infinitely

["Star Domain" has been broken.]

A wide grin stretched across Sam's face as his eyes locked on Zareth.

The shield that had guarded the enemy so fiercely was gone, shattered by the relentless assault.

Sam and his clone finally let their [Slash Storm] fade, both of them drained from keeping it alive this long.

Across from them, Zareth's expression darkened.

The hole in the mask he wore glowed with a violent light, the [Eye of Corruption] flaring as if it had awakened to something new.

"Haha…" Zareth shook his head, his voice echoing strangely through the mask, "I see…!"

Sam shifted into his stance without hesitation.

He didn't care what Zareth was saying. He just wanted to win.

"It was foolish of me to try fighting you fairly," Zareth muttered, his tone bitter, "No… I already tried that once before, and look where it brought me."

He gave a small laugh as the artifacts across his body lit up one after the other.

"Then so be it."

Fwish!

In a single flap of his wings, Zareth blurred across the battlefield and closed the distance between himself and Sam's forsaken clone.

Before either Sam or the clone could react, Zareth's roar tore through the air.

"I should have done this from the start!"

The [Eye of Corruption] burned brighter as he locked its gaze onto the clone.

Corruption Freeze!

The forsaken clone stopped moving instantly, locked in place like a statue.

Zareth's hand closed around its neck, gripping the empty arm where the [Roaring Titan's Star] had once been.

Then he unleashed his fury.

Slam! Slash! Fwash!

In less than three seconds, Zareth struck the clone dozens of times.

The [Eternal Barrier] cracked under the barrage and shattered.

He slammed the clone into the ground, then finished it by driving his abyssal sword spear cleanly through its neck.

The head rolled away, lifeless.

"I can see through you now," Zareth hissed, purple aura spilling wildly from the mask's hole.

Behind it, Sam caught sight of the purple pupils twitching and darting around like maddened fireflies.

"Haha…!"

Sam charged, closing the gap between them with determination burning in his steps.

But—

Corruption Freeze!

Sam froze.

His entire body locked in place, refusing to move no matter how much strength he poured into his limbs.

'What the hell?' His eyes widened, disbelief flashing across his face, 'I shouldn't be able to be hit by something like this!'

Neither fear nor any ordinary status effect could affect a primordial.

And yet, somehow, this one had.

"B-But how is it possible?" Zareth mocked, reading the shock in Sam's face, "Your kind can't be touched by status effects, so how is it you stand frozen before me?"

"You…" Sam ground his teeth, "You think this will be enough?"

"Oh, it will," Zareth laughed, raising all six of his arms.

His weapons glowed, poised to strike Sam just as he had struck the forsaken clone.

But before he could bring them down—

Ding!

[Your "Forsaken Clone" has used "I Always Come Back".]

The clone rose, whole again, and launched itself at Zareth.

Its primordial sword sliced toward his back in a deadly arc.

"I told you already," Zareth grinned, snapping his fingers, "I've seen through all of your tricks."

SLAM!

[Asmodeus' Trident] descended from above, crushing through the clone and pinning it before it vanished entirely.

Ding!

[Your "Forsaken Clone" has been killed.]

Zareth turned back toward Sam, who was still trapped in place.

"I spent centuries in chains," he said, swinging his weapons one after another against Sam's [Eternal Barrier].

The strikes boomed like thunder, each one rattling the barrier.

"And in that time, I thought. And thought."

Fwish! BOOM!

[Your "Eternal Barrier" has broken.]

"One question haunted me through those years."

He pointed all six arms at Sam, his weapons aligned to strike at once.

"What is it that powers the primordials?"

"Come on," he taunted, lips curling behind the mask, "Tell me."

Sam's pupils shook with hatred, but his body wouldn't respond.

"I—"

SLASH! SWASH! BAM!

Sam couldn't even finish.

Zareth swung with every artifact the moment Sam opened his mouth.

The scythe tore through him. The abyssal sword spear cut him down. The trident pierced deep.

The claws shredded his flesh. The powered fist crashed against him. And even the empty hand struck.

Hit by all of it at once, Sam was destroyed.

In that instant, his body gave way and death swallowed him whole.

And as his vision dimmed to black, Zareth's words echoed through his mind.

"The thing that sets you apart, that powers your kind, is not strength or weapons or even domains."

"It's your soul."

Ding!

[You have died.]

Sam's eyes opened again.

He floated once more in the endless void, just as he had when he first died.

But this time, he was more aware of it.

And he realized something else. The void wasn't stable anymore.

It twisted and warped unnaturally, as if reality itself strained under its weight.

Above him, countless faint silhouettes loomed, their presence overwhelming.

Their eyes bore down on him.

[Even in the face of ultimate danger, you cannot stop.]

[He is not invincible. We are stronger. Overpower him with our will.]

A crushing pressure pressed against Sam's chest as the silhouettes' eyes blazed brighter.

[You can't give up, Sam Walker!]

[Stay… DETERMINED!]

The sound of a heartbeat roared in his ears.

Then came a shrill beeping, a noise that felt like it belonged to another world entirely.

Sam's vision faded once again.

Ding!

["I Always Come Back" has activated.]

…

On the battlefield, Zareth continued speaking to Sam's corpse.

"That's why these beings hunger for your soul. Because it is your soul that makes you different."

His aura flared, seething with malice.

"And once I seize it…" He trembled with anticipation, "I'll rid myself of them all."

"The thing that fuels your power."

"The thing that drives your determination."

"The thing that brings misery to every realm!"

"I WILL TAKE IT!"

He lifted his weapons high, ready to carve Sam's lifeless body into pieces.

But—

Fwish! BOOM!

A surge of energy erupted from Sam's body, blasting Zareth backward.

Zareth steadied himself midair, wings spreading wide, his weapons still firmly in his grasp.

"I knew you'd come back," Zareth said, settling back into his stance, "But it won't matter. You'll fall."

Fwish! BOOM!

Zareth flapped his wings, shooting forward again.

In an instant, he activated [Corruption Freeze].

Sam should have been immobilized again.

But—

Gaze of the Primordial!

Sam's crimson eyes shifted, twisting into spirals of abyssal power as he returned Zareth's stare.

Zareth faltered.

The instant he met those spirals, his chest tightened, and cold sweat ran down his face.

"Haha…" his laugh came weak, trembling, "You… you figured it out."

Sam didn't speak.

He just kept staring with a cold, unreadable expression.

[Corruption Freeze] had never targeted flesh. It had targeted the soul.

That was why it had worked. That was why the forsaken clone had fallen.

And that was why Sam had been frozen.

Because the soul was the only thing that could affect a primordial.

But now Sam knew. And he poured his strength into his own soul, resisting it entirely.

Zareth's arms trembled. His body resisted him.

For the first time, he hesitated.

"You were different," Sam said finally, stepping forward, "You think take your chances and killed me instantly."

Zareth couldn't move.

His arms quivered as his instincts screamed.

'How?' his mind raced, 'I'm supposed to be immune to fear… so what is this?'

"But it still wasn't enough."

BOOM!

Crimson aura burst from Sam's body.

The raw essence of his affinities swirled around him like a storm.

Before Zareth's eyes, a panel appeared.

Ding!

[Your soul has been hit with the "Doom" status effect.]

"FUCK!"