Arlosse immediately set out to test if he could use Reform to heal himself. He had several questions about its mechanics that he needed to confirm, but he figured a practical test would answer most of them in one go.As he thought, it did.Upon choosing to use Reform with a mere trigger of his will, Arlosse instinctively placed his hand on his chest where the damage was most severe. To his surprise, a faint globe of solid orange light appeared around his hand and highlighted his tattered tunic as well as the skin on his chest which rose and fell as he breathed.The way the Far Ji expressed itself was just like how its power manifested from the candle beside Alabas’ throne. It was astonishing, mesmerising even.However, a minute passed. Then ten.Nothing happened.Arlosse quickly convinced himself that this wasn’t too surprising. The Limit on Reform was that each successful usage of it would cost him half an hour’s worth of time.Indeed, it was quite frustrating, but a Unique Quality’s
[You have arrived on the SECOND FLOOR, the Crucible of Twin-faced Hope]As the Host Guide announced the strange name of the new Floor, Arlosse hardly registered it in his head. His mind was a bit preoccupied trying to reconcile that he was back in a place like this, the home of death, its emissaries and victims, all of whom raged senselessly – recklessly – as though possessed by devils.Blood spilled every which way the Incarnate looked.Bones crunched under the feet of whinnying horses and tamed, canine beasts he didn’t recognise.Flesh squelched, torn open for all to see the unsightly beauty it hid.The scorching orange sun above, merciless and uncompromising, seemed determined to make all the thousands of corpses lying about look as insignificant, shameful and irrelevant as possible by arousing the stink within them, summoning flies and starved critters in the dry, rocky desert.Human men and women with assortments of armour roared, their steel clashing against that of enemies whil
When it happened, it took a great portion of the wide battlefield by storm.There had been no prelude – no surge of Spirit Essence, marking its advent known.When Arlosse opened the Hermetic Vault, he didn’t hesitate to send out one of the Immaterial Slashes he had stored from his exchange with King Alabas, the Flying Reaper Sword.To maximize damage, ensuring that he caught the largest body count possible, which would immediately free him from the crowd of assailants, he had the disembodied slash materialize an inch from him, its lethal edge lateral.A loud noise, not too dissimilar to a vicious boom rolled out across the battlefield.Because of the sheer speed the Immaterial Slash charged forth with, it butchered nearly fifty bodies directly in front of the Hollow Demonling at once, creating a sound akin to an explosion. Those who had been struck barely registered that their lives were forfeit, but the attack itself neither waited nor cared.It traveled far and wide, culling human,
“What did you have to kill many of our own for, you fool?!”“Uhh…” Arlosse murmured, unsure how he was to answer this question if it even required him to give a lengthy explanation.Besides being stunned by the question, the Incarnate was also taken aback by the appearance of his fellow demon.Back in his old days, Arlosse wouldn’t have pegged himself as someone who had any right to judge another individual’s appearance. He didn’t have that luxury and wasn’t exactly a handsome model of a man himself.However, today… right now…Long story short, the poison green half-mantis, half-caterpillar creature packed before him, dressed in leather armor and shawl that somehow fit it perfectly well… was atrociously hideous!It had a thick, black chitinous layer on its back that extended to its small head, which was decorated by dark, beady eyes and sharp mandibles that clacked when it spoke.“Well? How are you going to explain this to the Generals? And come to think of it… How come I’ve never see
The blaring sound of the horn, so mighty it caused the ground to tremble, came to a sudden halt, puzzling Arlosse.What was that sound?Why was the abomination beside him along with the other demons getting so excited because of it?What was the shroud of crimson the Hollow Demonling was seeing, brimming around each and every one of them?Why was he untarnished by this energy?Arlosse didn’t know what to think. Even the mount he and the caterpillar-mantis were riding was coated in this curious energy, and, though it might have been a mistake, the Demonling felt the galloping beast’s muscles toughen up.Eager and curious, Arlosse sought the source of the blaring noise that had prompted everything. With quite some difficulty, he turned and surveyed the battlefield. It took him a few moments, but soon, he spotted it. It indeed was a horn, as far as he could see – a gigantic horn whose details he could hardly see.The horn was far, far away, roughly four kilometers south; its location was
Three hours passed on the battlefield, and to the Hollow Demonling’s surprise, the fighting only intensified.The humans had been indeed put at a disadvantage when the great horn sounded, most of them – the weaker ones, Arlosse had noticed – pushed to retreat to safety. However, while rallying around powerful human warriors whom the Demonling heard being called Tenet Commanders, the human forces found their footing once again and charged, ripping the frenzied demons to pieces with clever formations.Arlosse had watched without openly engaging for a while. He needed to learn more about the nature of this conflict. What was the Shard his fellow abomination had referenced? What were the staves issuing the golden beams of light?While trying to figure these things out, Arlosse had used Reform to heal the wound on his back, which, thanks to his ability to not bleed out – which was further reinforced by the recently earned 225 points to his Spirit Essence – hadn’t caused problems too great
The moment Arlosse saw the horse and took in its deep desire to protect its master despite being injured, a thought rapidly sprang up in his mind; it was something that he had been introduced to rather recently.The Bond System.After completing the First Floor, he was given a new privilege that allowed him to create bonds with living creatures and have them accompany him on his trials to become the Hateful Demon Tyrant.At once, the Incarnate imagined himself astride the large white horse as its master, having completed the conditions required to earn its loyalty and invoke the Host Guide’s Bond System. It was a fleeting image, but it was wonderful indeed.The Incarnate felt a tug at his heart… hearts. Perhaps, a greater contributing factor to how he was suddenly compelled to charge forth and kill the demons now attempting to breach the tall walls of ice the white horse had created, was that he had also had a loyal horse he had known for a time in his previous life.The horse had bee
The tall demon was adorned in a scale armor that featured bursts of rugged, brown fur at the joints on his steel bracers and just above his greaves. What looked like a scarf of braided blonde human hair was wound around its neck, pairing beautifully with his pale, yellow skin.The demon was rather handsome. He had sharp features on his face that were all nearly human-like except for two small extra eyes on either side of his face. His long, dark hair cast a shadow over his face and as he looked from the hulking warrior to Arlosse, his fury was unmistakable.The great, bloody battle axe in his hand was suddenly suffused by a raging crimson tide of energy the likes of which the Incarnate had yet to see on any demon much less a weapon.“What is going on here, hybrid?” he said in a sharp tone, his blood-red eyes constricting on Arlosse’s figure. “I desperately wish, for your sake, things are not as they appear.”Arlosse stammered.He wanted to speak and quickly explain, but something abou