MM - Chapter 122 - BREAK ON THROUGH!

With his brain still pumped full of Discipline-fueled adrenaline, Raine almost felt slow as he tore across the ruined cobblestone plaza. The pain from using the technique was growing steadily, and his health continued to drop by 100 every second. There was no time to waste. Instead of strafing like before, he ran straight for the noble, directly into a hail of booming whips. Bloodlust and Connection were set to full-blast, ensuring his attributes would not dip while the thickened air minutely slowed the incoming attacks.

Raine sidestepped a red-hot vine aimed for his head. The following two were unable to correct for his rapid shift and also missed. The paroxysm’s loaded eyes loosed their payloads, filling the air with deadly rays and globs of superheated, explosive plasma. If not for Raine’s Flame Resistance, even standing near the monstrosity would have meant instant death.

He countered the numerous ranged attacks with a combination of shuffle- and dash-steps. The scything Blasts were narrowly avoided, their speed no longer beyond his ability to track. The Bursts required two points of Discipline each to overcome their expansive AOEs. Raine was already down eighty Discipline. It was obvious that if he didn’t tighten his movements to dodge with less waste, he wouldn’t be the one coming out on top.

The noble was only a few seconds away from returning to full health, but Raine’s direct approach allowed him to reach it in time. He ducked low to allow a whip to crack where his neck had been a split second ago. Putting all his strength into his legs, Raine launched past the brazier just as Rupture’s cooldown ended. The attack shaved off a tiny percent of the Unliving Paroxysm’s health, but Raine was just getting started.

He Lunged right back to its base, avoiding several whips that snapped at where he would have been if he hadn’t reversed directions. Sidestepping as quickly as his feet could complete the complex martial technique, he circled the brazier, attacking four times per second. [-1,224] [-1,236] [-1,199] [-1,213] Rapid clangs filled the air as his arm and the spear turned to a blur. His free hand reached out and slapped the resilient container with Life Drain. [-813] [+813]

[Life Drain: (Beginner) Lay arms or hands upon a target to absorb health equal to 250% CP (Cost: 15 CP) (Cooldown: 6 seconds)]

Raine’s regeneration from Healing Burst ticked as well. [+96] His aching skull didn’t allow him to relax just because his health was back to ninety percent. If he pushed too far with the technique, ZionLine would eject him. Unfortunately, even if he attacked non-stop at maximum speed, his regular hits and Rupture would barely outstrip the demon’s regeneration. Not that the paroxysm was going to allow a one-sided beating.

What Raine needed to do to overcome the monster was obvious. Had he stopped to think for even two seconds, he would have convinced himself it was impossible. Instead, Raine rode the adrenaline high straight down the throat of his prey.

Close enough to touch, the paroxysm’s whips fell with extreme rapidity. The heat bursting from its body was enough to make Raine lean forward so as not to be blown away. Connection helped by thickening the air behind him, but that wasn’t Raine’s primary focus. He could only do so many things at once. His brain was still guzzling down Discipline, and the rest of his attention was split between madly sidestepping, weaving, and the battle between their mental abilities.

Raine’s killing intent soared to new heights with each bloated second. His plan to overwhelm the noble’s mental strength with his bloodlust—reducing its attributes—instantly resulted in failure. He may as well have been trying to push a mountain up another mountain. Despite throwing all his mental strength at it, Raine barely pushed its bloodlust back a few centimeters, earning himself a redoubled headache that blossomed stars in his vision.

Still, the little progress infuriated the Unliving Paroxysm to no end. Raine could feel its hatred. Instead of backing down, he luxuriated in the rivalry; the sensation drove Raine toward the edge of maniacal carnage. He wanted, needed, to see the demon bleed, and it desired nothing more than to see his blood evaporate in a raging inferno.

Guardians Bane punched another hole in the brazier—unfortunately not critting. Guillotine Slash arrived on its heels, rending a tear in space that cut the giant five times. The pulling force of the tear countered the excessive heatwave. Together, both skills dealt over a hundred and twenty thousand damage just in time for the monster’s regeneration to tick. [+50k]

Half of Raine’s Attack Speed was eaten away by the need to deflect its heavy whips. Each time he was forced to do so, his knees nearly buckled as immense force crushed him from above. He shrugged off the damage and pain like a berserker, growing more furious and determined as his health dwindled. With his defenses cut in half from Guillotine Slash, Raine had no choice but to kick the brazier, unloading another Life Drain.

Precious seconds passed, and even though Raine couldn’t see the demon’s heads, he sensed a spike in its malicious satisfaction. Since the timing aligned with expectations, he Lunged away from the noble, sprinting to the side right as a meteor shower of Blasts and Bursts shattered the ground. The paroxysm's outrage surged, flames gushing from its form to brighten the plaza. Keenly feeling the fury packed into its killing intent, the last piece of the puzzle slid into place.

What Raine was experiencing was the second fundamental cornerstone of mental abilities. It wasn’t directly sensing the mental ability of his enemies, it was sensing their emotions ‘through’ the clashing of their mental abilities. In that brief flash of realization, Raine was presented with a subconscious choice that would affect his martial path forevermore.

He could rein in his emotions, making his actions harder to predict like a knife in the dark, undetectable, unfeeling, inevitable. Or he could throw everything he had at his enemies, overwhelming them with his convictions and desires until they were left helpless before his onslaught.

In truth, it wasn’t much of a choice.

Raine roared. Fury and need packed to bursting inside his lungs was released in a sound both alien and pleasing to his ears. Thick emotions mingled with killing intent, empowering his bloodlust. The noble’s mental defenses slipped another millimeter, but it still wasn’t enough to reduce its attributes. That was fine with Raine. What he felt at that moment wasn’t enough for him either.

Lunging back to its side, his spear flashed forward and clanged off the hard brazier. The rebuff infuriated Raine, and he threw that anger into the mix as well. Another stab to the same spot created the tiniest chip in the metal. Raine received a lash across the back for daring to not deflect the demon’s whip. The pain was distant, unimportant before the inspiration gripping his every action.

He sidestepped back and forth, avoiding some of the whips and being grazed by others. Even the near-misses packed enough force to throw him aside. He used the force in conjunction with his Connection to make his movements more erratic and to further fill his soul with the raging desire to crush this worthy foe.

He knew he was close to something important: a vital secret. Every cell in his body was screaming to keep pushing, one more step, another millimeter, a single nanometer; it didn’t matter how far, so long as he didn’t give up. A distant, logical part of Raine knew the next Infernal Eruption was coming soon. The attack would be too fast to dodge even with his skull hopped up on Discipline. And just as he knew whatever was calling to his blood was at the tip of his fingers, he also knew that being interrupted right now would shatter the moment of inspiration.

Raine raced the clock, each second marking an opportunity, and another four stabs that struck the same exact spot on the brazier. The smallest crack formed. Raine’s desire spiked. He needed to break through; on the other side lay the truth he sought, soaking in the magma the demon used for blood. It was there; he was so close.

Unfortunately for Raine, the Unliving Paroxysm was, in fact, a demon, and everyone knew the creatures from the Demonic Realm didn’t play by the same rules that applied to everything else. Just as that first succubus had fled from him instead of laying down to die like a regular monster, this demon was determined to dash his dangerous moment of self-discovery. It altered its tactics, raising all six arms simultaneously to unleash a combined bundle of whips.

Raine had no choice but to Lunge away or risk instant death. The crack grew smaller with distance, taking his vital introspections with it. However, Raine did not squander the moment’s break. He consolidated his amassed emotions as the cauldron's edge bubbled over, signaling that an Infernal Eruption was coming. There was no stopping it; if it blocked his view of the crack entirely, the moment of inspiration would pass.

Raine threw desperation into the convoluted mixture of emotions threatening to burst from his chest. His gaze locked on the tiny, far-off crack in exclusion of all else. He Lunged off the air, spear tip leading the charge. Another roar and flexing of his intent and bloodlust washed across the paroxysm’s sturdy defenses, failing. Plasma erupted less than a meter from his face.

There was no time for spoken words; nonetheless, they rang loudly and true in his mind.

I do not turn from danger! I fear, but I do not relent!

“Unassailable Aegis!!” A caramel shimmer of thick energy exploded from the Heart of Plutus’s pinky ring. It rapidly coated Raine’s skin and armor. The eruption splashed harmlessly against the shield, its force and damage nullified. Like a speeding bullet, Raine arrived, and the crack swelled in his sight.

His moment of inspiration blossomed into a vastness that could encompass the sky. Every ounce of what he was, what he had been, and what he wanted to become coursed through his body in a powerful pulse of intent. He vibrated with purpose made manifest. He pushed it all into bloodlust, letting it mingle with his killing intent, then loaded it into the tip of his weapon. Raine’s spear found the crack and ripped through it with deplorable ease. [Critical hit! -3,071] More emotions than Raine could count, along with a hefty dose of bloodlust, shot into the brazier.

[Negative affliction applied (Enfeared): All attributes reduced by 20% (Duration: 8.34 seconds)]

The demon momentarily froze with terror. Its mass shrunk as its attributes plummeted, and finally, the molten blood Raine sought spilled to the ground in a bubbling spray. Though the crit itself appeared underwhelming, in truth, the demon lost two hundred thousand maximum health. It was now slow enough now to easily dodge without Discipline, and it would remain that way so long as Raine occasionally injected bloodlust into it. Relief flooded him as the flow of energy to his skull halted. The world zipped into frenzied motion as his perception of time normalized.

Still invulnerable, and brimming with need to repeat his momentary success, Raine tried to concentrate his bloodlust onto the tip of his weapon again. The mental energy destabilized, flaring away from him to batter the demon’s defenses. Raine didn’t give up. Now that he succeeded once and knew how activating the technique felt, it was only a matter of time.

As the demon’s lowered health registered within whatever it used as a brain, the paroxysm released a familiar splitting howl accompanied by a tide of fire. There was no need to escape the fifteen-meter-tall wall of flame. It washed over Raine, just as useless as its Infernal Eruption. He attacked relentlessly, Life Drain, Rupture, Guardians Bane, Guillotine Slash, and Healing Burst activated on cooldown.

Unassailable Aegis faded, and the heat of the battlefield crashed into Raine. He welcomed it with a vicious snarl, continuing to stab for all he was worth. The demon tried to attack him with combined whips again. A single Parry sent them careening to the side. The redirected force pulled its flaming body out of position. While its waist was still connected to the brazier, its torso fell. Three powerful arms crashed into the ground. Glowing eyes packed with fear and hate locked onto Raine from the side. Blasts and Bursts filled the air. He Leaped over them.

An aerial Lunge brought him back to the fresh crack he’d been working on. While the demon righted itself, Raine chanced upon the same feeling as before, and his bloodlust swarmed onto the tip of his weapon, blasting another hole that leaked hot fluids. [Critical hit! -3,071]

The enfeared affliction refreshed, and seconds later, its health bar entered the red. The demon screamed murder at the sky. The released wall of fire was too little, too late. Another Guardians Bane plunged through the metal shell, and as Raine was picked up and pulled away, his spear lashed out too quickly to see. Uncanny Acceleration, packed with bloodlust and killing intent, instantly punched the final hole in the brazier, and it shattered into pieces.

[Uncanny Acceleration: (Beginner) With any melee weapon, ignore momentum and force while accelerating attack speed by 600% for one attack. Additionally deals 300% physical damage (Cost: 25 Discipline) (Cooldown: 18 seconds)]

By the time Raine finished sliding across the smoking plaza, the large elemental was naught but a wisp of its former self. With a soul-rending screech, its essence was pulled through the air toward the very center of the city. A cataclysmic roar was unleashed from that same direction, shaking the ground. Half the buildings in the city collapsed as the realm shuddered in response to the second boss’s call.

Raine, spear butt firmly in the ground and standing tall on a cushion of Connection-solidified air, grinned wickedly as his next worthy prey revealed itself.