That instant, the sound of shattering erupted, followed by a howling wind.
With the swing of a fist, his right arm suddenly swelled. The throbbing muscles inflated as if filling with air, swelling to several times their original size and revealing a grotesquely fierce shape.
As Huai Shi dodged, that punch slammed into the ground, and the entire square shook violently.
It was as if it had taken the impact of a tank cannon.
Was this a Transformation brought about by the fear once held by the Red Gloves under the supervision of the Book of Fate, or was it something else?
Huai Shi had lost interest in knowing. He had already died under the instructor in this form more than once or twice. Bullets, firearms, and explosives had no effect whatsoever. It was just like a nightmare within a nightmare. In the memories of the former Red Gloves, this cruel instructor who had forged him into a weapon was almost an unbeatable symbol, his Power artificially amplified, monstrous. If Red Gloves hadn't been absolutely certain that the instructor was just an ordinary man, Huai Shi guessed that the instructor's Transformation now would probably involve sprouting bat wings and goat horns and casually casting forbidden curses while wreaking havoc on the world. Fortunately, it was just this degree of Transformation. For Huai Shi, it wasn't too exaggerated—
He reached out, touching the blood on the ground.
Hand of Confinement!
This was his first attempt at this newly mastered skill in the records.
Following this, the Source Flame began to rise from his fingertips, and the blood stirred almost to the point of boiling, with grey wisps of steam continuously rising from it.
From the remains and blood of who knows how many people, a dense fog of Apocalypse rose, shrouding the entire square within it.
Although he didn't know why his Soul was given the strange name "Hand of Confinement" by the Sea of Silver, Huai Shi was very clear on its essence. It was a relatively rare type of transmutation among the various large categories, spanning both Spirituality and matter.
And the range was Source Substance and iron.
This meant that he could build a bridge between the Source Substance representing the foundation of the Soul within Spirituality and the most abundantly present iron within matter, achieving arbitrary conversion between the two.
It could be said to have a wide range of uses.
The invisible Axe was the weapon spawned from the transmutation of the unrest and killing intent that Huai Shi had harbored within the Source Substance over the past seven years into iron.
And now, based on the Hand of Confinement, Huai Shi once again tried to transmute the diffused Source Substance from the outside world.
Thus, countless specks of rusted Iron Sand rose from the blood, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye.
That was the essence of destruction.
The Apocalypse condensed from death.
Entwined with the dry wind and dust, they rose rapidly amidst the pungent scent of blood and gunpowder, swiftly spreading far and wide,
bestowing all the despair and pain evenly upon everything.
That instant, husky roars and bellows emerged from the dark fog. A fierce gale spread, yet it could not disperse the mist that lay between Source Substance and matter. A hideous shadow charged towards Huai Shi, fists thundering down!
Huai Shi pivoted aside, the dagger in his right hand sweeping across, leaving a ghastly gash on that huge deformed arm. Then, the dagger made a swift turn, thrusting toward the instructor's throat!
CRASH!
The dagger sank into his raised forearm, colliding with the bone, sounding like steel clashing against steel.
Sensing the instructor's breathing erupt from his chest like a ferocious beast, such violent Power caused him to inhale the Apocalypse in the air in gasping breaths. Under the stimulation of pain and despair, this made his fury grow even more wild.
Like a beast.
"How does it feel, the despair you've created with your own hands?" Huai Shi gripped the military saber tightly, staring at his face across the disfigured arm, his smile mocking.
"—I've grown accustomed to it. How about you?"
BANG!
The huge arm swept across, emitting a thunderous roar as if it had shattered the void. The ensuing whirlwind nearly blew Huai Shi back three steps. Yet immediately, Huai Shi charged again, toward the instructor who was thought unbeatable, a ferocious grin on his face.
He felt as if he were drunk.
It was as if he was deep in a daze, yet fully lucid, and then, he felt a feverish enthusiasm.
It was a kind of indescribable freedom.
Like the release that comes after extreme rage.
When he breathed, he pulled the Apocalypse into his lungs, inhaling the pain of the dead and merging with their despair.
It was as if he were bonded with countless deaths.
He went from being the recorder and the recorded to becoming one with the record.
He could feel at once the pain of those countless deaths, and also wallow in the despair of those who had died in massacres and cruelty.
It was as if those Souls stood shoulder to shoulder with him here.
Thus, those void deaths turned into flames, churning between his ribs. Mixed with his rage, his unwillingness, and his will, they turned into an inexplicable impulse, exploding from the inside out, engulfing him, urging him to confront his adversary, to deliver Punishment, and to bring true death!
And so, in the tight clasp of the Hand of Confinement, that gray flame rose from the blade. It was a color even grayer and paler than Apocalypse, purified from endless despair and pain, extracted and sublimated into a substance of purity.
Pure poison.
It was the toxic substance gleaned from the records of death, the quintessence of concentrated Apocalypse. Although non-lethal to the flesh, it would undoubtedly bring unfeigned agony of death to the spirit of whoever it touched, just as Huai Shi had experienced countless times before.
In that instant, the script on the Book of Fate subtly transformed. Not only was the level of "military boxing" rapidly soaring, but new branches also quietly surfaced under the Soul description of the "Hand of Confinement"—applications of the Soul deemed worthy of its recognition.
—Heart Poison!
"That's right, just like that. Retribution in Blood, an eye for an eye!"
Raven gazed at the youth absorbed in madness within the records and smiled with pleasure. "Go on behalf of death, take revenge on the beasts in this dark ravine!
This is your Sky's Command, Huai Shi, the last Heaven Kingdom's Guard…"
That instant, Huai Shi's dagger fell.
The deformed instructor roared in pain as a huge arm smashed down, as if breaking Huai Shi's already numb left arm. He didn't falter at all, still advancing step by step, almost obliviously examining the twisted face before him.
Pure darkness filled his pitch-black pupils.
Then, the military saber fell once more!
BANG!
The military saber, normally light, now made a heavy sound of cleaving air under the grasp of the Hand of Confinement, as if it were a ponderous axe.
An unbelievable weight emerged from it, and with Huai Shi's swing, tendons were severed and flesh was split again and again.
The sound of breaking bones was like kindling snapped apart beneath a great axe.
The instructor bellowed, clenched his fists, and reached out with his huge hand to grab Huai Shi's face. But the next instant, with a slash of the saber, the iron-colored palm was severed between the index and ring fingers.
It became two pieces.
The blade's edge deeply wedged into his wrist.
In excruciating pain, he saw Huai Shi take a deep breath, and then bellow as he lunged forward!
The sound of thunder exploded!
As the military saber shattered suddenly, the Source of fire burst forth. It formed the outline of a Sharp Blade, inching forward, unstoppable, breaking the entire arm neatly in half down the middle!
Then, the burning dagger rose again and fell!
The deformed arm fell from the instructor's shoulder to the ground. Blood spurted from the wound, staining the square that had witnessed countless bloodsheds.
It mixed with the blood of the suffering elderly, the desperate women, and the bewildered children. Their blood converged on the barren earth, forming the same dim, dark hue.
The instructor struggled to push him away but couldn't steady his body; he staggered backward and fell to the ground.
But Huai Shi kept moving forward, panting, stumbling over one corpse after another, walking past pair after pair of lifeless eyes, leaving behind blood-soaked outlines amidst their faded spirits.
"Thanks to you, I've finally figured out one thing—"
He murmured softly and abruptly stepped on the instructor's chest, pinning him back to the ground, letting him struggle in vain.
At last, he raised the dagger, pointing it at the instructor's neck.
"The reason I chose to become a Sublimator—"
As if saying farewell, Huai Shi solemnly looked at the twisted face and told him word by word:
"—is to chop off the damn head of a bastard like you!"
That moment, as the blade fell, a deep chasm was left on the ground.
Blood spewed forth from the neck of the headless corpse, seeping into the parched earth through the fissure. It brought rare moisture to this dead land, leaving behind a glimmer of hope for flowers to bloom next year.
Then, Huai Shi saw the whole world begin to shake.
All things shattered.
He sank into darkness and soon woke up from the chair, feeling drenched in sweat, completely drained, and terribly uncomfortable.
Yet for some reason, he felt a calm and satisfying peace within.
As if he'd received compensation from that just-passed sham of revenge.
"Congratulations on breaking through."
Raven stood on the table, observing him. "Did you gain anything, Huai Shi?"
"..."
Huai Shi remained silent, not knowing how to answer. Ultimately, he hadn't managed to achieve anything. It wasn't any kind of salvation, nor could it be considered revenge. Perhaps over a decade ago, everything had already ended. All he did was find the original, unsatisfying plot, tear it up, and write a piece of fanfiction of his own. What else could he gain?
After pondering for a moment, he chuckled lightly.
"A pleasant dream, I suppose, with a beginning and an end..."
With that, he leaned on the table, slowly stood up, noticed the dagger he had placed there earlier, couldn't help but fiddle with it in his hand, and then threw it back on the table.
"As for the rest, consider it a consolatory bonus..."
Having said that, he no longer looked at anything else and turned to walk upstairs.
After staying up the whole day, he felt dizzy, his vision darkening in spells, as if he was about to pass out from sheer exhaustion.
In this world, nothing could be more wonderful than a complete, deep sleep. If there was, then he'd sleep twice.
"Go to sleep early."
He waved his hand and closed the bedroom door.
Raven watched the young man's figure disappear up the stairs, then turned back to the table.
Under the dim light of the desk lamp, that cheap, free-shipping dagger faintly reflected an iron color. It was nailed into the cracked and peeling paint of the long table, casting a long shadow.
And exactly where the tip was nailed, a ghastly scar was clearly revealed.
As if cloven by an axe.
"Good night, Huai Shi."
Sleep now.
Raven spread its wings and flew into the dim night sky outside the window,
disappearing from sight.