Chapter 316: Slaughter, My Pleasure
Pfft!
A finger resembling white jade pressed against the Black Knight's chest. His defensive amulets for ranged attacks wouldn't react to such close-quarters combat.
The suddenly erupted Dodon Ray directly pierced through the heavy silver armor. Carrying a spray of blood, it flew out from his back and blasted a building hundreds of meters away into pieces, causing a massive explosion.
The Black Knight roared in anger, and intense Battle Qi exploded with a bang.
Boom!
The ground flipped up inch by inch, then shattered and shot outwards in all directions. Even the ground turned into magma was blasted upwards by dozens of meters.
This was the ultimate energy outburst of a Second Ladder Reincarnator. Kaito Shirogane blocked in front of him with his left hand, his figure drifting backward along with the shockwave of the explosion.
When the Battle Qi impacted the surface of Kaito's body, purple fluctuation energy surged, seeming ready to burst out of his body, but was immediately absorbed by the restrictive earring on his earlobe.
Kaito drifted backward for nearly a hundred meters. His feet stepped on the air, and his entire body spun upwards, landing on the roof of a commercial building.
Hum!
A huge, fan-shaped sword energy slashed down from the sky. Amidst the shattering of soul rings, the Reincarnator who had arrived fastest for reinforcement was chopped directly from the air to the ground.
Looking at the huge wound on his chest, he flashed a light in his hand, and a bottle of potion appeared. He immediately poured it on the wound, and the terrifying injury healed rapidly.
"Careful, it's the Moon Fiend! She's not dead!"
This iconic, terrifying swordsmanship was mastered by few in the Nexus. And that abnormal sharpness was a characteristic that only possessing a Swordsmanship Specialization reinforced close to Lv9 could grant.
Combining the two, he immediately guessed Lee Chae-rin's identity.
The smoke from the explosion caused by the Black Knight's Battle Qi eruption cleared. When his figure was revealed, a large pool of blood had already appeared on the ground. Clearly, the hit from Kaito just now had caused significant damage.
"Momiji, Moon Fiend, and... Mercenary Tao!"
Beneath the armor, the Black Knight's eyes turned red, and his body suddenly began to expand.
Creak~
The sound of tearing muscles accompanied the sound of armor being stretched. The already large Black Knight became even more gigantic. At this moment, his height exceeded three meters, standing on the ground with immense tonnage.
He dropped the two greatswords and proactively thrust his hands into the magma. Then, as if grasping something, he pulled his hands out, and two even larger magma greatswords appeared.
[Knight of Owner]!
Simple shaping magic combined with this special [Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm] allowed him to possess combat capability at any time.
[Class Berserk]!
He exhaled the turbid air from his chest. The blood energy from his internal organs damaged by the Dodon Ray was spat out like a red mist, extending for nearly ten meters around him.
Within this red mist, the Black Knight activated a new ability.
The exclusive [Berserk] ability belonging to the [Berserker] class!
His body size continued to expand. His Constitution and Strength, under the two Berserk activations, had surpassed 50 points. This was a special buff exclusive to [Berserkers], allowing their Strength and Constitution not to be restricted by the Power Ladder, significantly increasing their base attributes. Combined with his [Efficacy] conversion, the Black Knight's actual Strength was approaching a hundred points.
"You all must die!"
Momiji stood in front of the warehouse like a general guarding a pass. She stood sideways, tilting her head to take in the changes in the battle.
The Black Knight, who displayed a secondary Berserk state outside of her data; the suddenly appearing Moon Fiend and Mercenary Tao; and [Thangka Seven] who swiftly reinforced the position—these people could all be considered veteran Reincarnators with a certain reputation in the Nexus.
They were all types developing well within the Second Ladder.
However...
Her eyes wandered and finally fixed on the man standing on the roof of the commercial building, wearing the iconic pink robe. He was also looking at her with great interest.
Their eyes met. Both smiled, sharing the same arrogant look.
Momiji's eyes suddenly narrowed, and intense spiritual power pierced directly into Kaito's mind.
In an instant, Kaito felt as if countless sharp thorns were piercing through his scalp and nerves.
[You suffered a Reincarnator attack. Based on the difference in Spiritual Power between both parties, you obtained the following information]
[You suffered a mental pierce. Your brain sustained damage.]
Thump, thump...
Kaito's heartbeat began to accelerate again. This was a sense of oppression he hadn't experienced for a long time since leaving the Pirate World.
This woman was strong.
The fake smile originally hanging on Kaito's face disintegrated bit by bit. Then, his brows and eyes began to relax, his mouth opened slightly, and the pores all over his body seemed to open up. That was the look of a person truly beginning to get excited, impossible to fake completely.
Thump thump thump!
His heartbeat intensified continuously. Tiny arcs of electricity began to flash from Kaito's fingertips. His fingers also twitched involuntarily. Stimulated by the electric shocks, his powerful cells became increasingly active.
Kaito's pupils focused entirely on Momiji. The Black Knight on the other side, whose body size had become huge after two Berserk activations and was holding magma greatswords, was completely ignored by him.
Lee Chae-rin noticed this and descended from the sky. Her eyes were hesitant; she didn't know what was wrong with Kaito, this madman, again. She was even less clear about what she should do at this moment.
Should she continue hunting down the relatively weaker man using Soul Ring Battle Skills, or join forces with Kaito to deal with the reputable Title Level Reincarnator, or... wait and see?
Once this thought appeared, it hovered in her mind like the whispers of a devil. Only if Kaito died could she potentially gain liberation.
Because of the contract, she couldn't harbor any thoughts of harming him. But if they faced an opponent they absolutely couldn't match, then... even if she participated in the battle, it was possible Kaito would still die fighting in the end...
The change in her eyes weakened that intense feeling of sharpness.
In just an instant, the Black Knight, having activated the second-stage Berserk, instinctively perceived that the Moon Fiend seemed to have become weaker. He didn't seem to make any moves, but the ground beneath his feet exploded with a bang.
That was extreme speed after the complete eruption of extreme strength.
Like a wall, the Black Knight smashed towards Lee Chae-rin with intense wind pressure.
Lee Chae-rin sobered up instantly. She drew her sword with one hand and slashed.
Hum!
Emerald green sword light shone again. The ground was sliced open, and a huge fan shape lit up with a bang. However, the Black Knight had lost his reason due to the Berserker bloodline's Berserk state. Normally, facing such an attack, he would definitely choose to dodge, but at this moment, he was dominated by that manic blood.
He actually crashed into it without dodging or evading.
Lee Chae-rin's pupils contracted. She saw the massive, loose silver-armored beast instantly slice through the wall of Qi in front of him. Battle Qi collided with the slash, but the sharp slash still had the upper hand. However, after cutting open that protective Battle Qi, the giant beast-like Black Knight had already turned his body and slammed into her sideways.
While the sword light sliced off the man's shoulder armor, taking a chunk of flesh and blood with it, that terrifying impact had already reached her body.
Lee Chae-rin's figure blurred. [Godspeed] had appeared. In an instant, she seemed to transform into three afterimages, leaping simultaneously towards the left, right, and upward directions.
The Black Knight roared, and the magma greatsword, over three meters long, swept horizontally.
Magma, Battle Qi, and Magical Energy exploded simultaneously.
Boom!
An explosion occurred in mid-air. Lee Chae-rin was shaken by this impact force, landing unsteadily and stumbling back two steps.
On the other side, [Thangka Seven], who had been injured by a sword slash earlier, had finished healing. The soul rings on his body lit up again. He thrust his hands into the ground, and emerald bamboo shoots suddenly pierced out from in front of Lee Chae-rin like sword blades.
This attack of his was originally a large-scale attack covering a range of over a hundred meters. But because a large area of the terrain here had already been turned into magma by Momiji, his soul power was insufficient. The Hundred-Year Soul Bamboo couldn't form in the magma, so its range was significantly reduced.
Lee Chae-rin's mind was sharp. Her Observation Haki captured this attack. Her entire body instantly leaped into the air. With consecutive [Moon Walk] steps, she flew up to nearly a hundred meters in the sky.
Whoosh!
Like a hurricane erupting, that terrifying movement, crashing with the air of a radius of dozens of meters, appeared again. The Black Knight, having erupted completely in madness, actually made Lee Chae-rin struggle to parry...
"Tsk. The Moon Fiend is overrated~"
Momiji stood on the ground, withdrawing her gaze from their battle. She realized that the [Moon Fiend], who was once looked upon favorably by many Title Level Reincarnators, was just so-so.
Her heart wasn't firm enough, and her Haki wasn't hard enough.
Even though the Black Knight was a Reincarnator who had experienced more missions, in her view, a truly excellent Swordsmanship Grandmaster of the [Strong] tier was enough to slice open the opponent's defense and cut off that barren head.
"Indeed. The current her is very weak."
Kaito nodded happily, agreeing with Momiji's evaluation. Under his 'torment,' Lee Chae-rin, this woman, had seen her Haki strength decline repeatedly. Currently, it wasn't even as strong as when they first met in the Dragon Ball World.
At that time, Lee Chae-rin's performance of slicing open a mountain range with one sword had given him his first glimpse of the power of high-tier Reincarnators. But now, only a fragile woman remained.
He had absolutely no intention of supporting Lee Chae-rin.
For the strong to support the weak was a waste of resources.
If she couldn't even defeat such an opponent, then she had no value in surviving.
Kaito's heartbeat was fast enough; electricity began to emerge in both his eyes.
Kaito shook his head, and his body also began to expand slightly.
Momiji tapped her forehead lightly, finally eliminating the influence of that sticky [Active Spirit].
Her Spiritual Power exceeded a hundred points under the effect of Efficacy. More importantly, her utilization of energy and spiritual power was completely unrelated to Kaito's brutish style.
"Mercenary Tao, you are very interesting. I didn't expect you to actually obtain a transcendent trait like [Active Spirit]. Are you perhaps the legendary type who breaks the limits in three attributes?"
Momiji's body slowly floated up, and high temperatures began to appear. The surrounding air blurred due to the rise in temperature. At this moment, even if there were cameras in the distance, they couldn't capture images that were too distorted.
Not only that, but equipment like infrared imaging couldn't affect her either.
She was able to begin releasing her ability without disguise.
There were indeed many large gatherings in the Nexus secretly cultivating multi-attribute limit-breaking Reincarnators, but currently, the successful ones were all dual-attribute limit breakers.
Over-spreading attributes prolonged the growth cycle of such Reincarnators. Furthermore, the type whose attributes were distributed evenly during the phase where attributes could be freely allocated in the Nexus was extremely rare in itself.
Reincarnators were assets of the Nexus. When the Nexus allocated attributes for you, it was actually hinting at the type you excelled in, the talent your current body possessed.
Only Reincarnators who possessed aptitudes for multiple attributes simultaneously would have their attributes allocated evenly. And this practice also made it very difficult for these Reincarnators to grow in the early stages.
At first glance, it was very contradictory. But Reincarnators who could still grow under such allocation, because they possessed more than one type of Efficacy and transcendent trait, their actual combat power far exceeded that of Reincarnators of the same level.
Momiji was very clear that Mercenary Tao was a Martial Artist type Reincarnator. Not only did he obtain [Dodon Ray] in the Dragon Ball World—an ability with a considerably high ceiling that could grow along with the Reincarnator—but he also obtained Satsui no Hado in subsequent transactions.
Therefore, his main attributes must be Strength and Agility. These two attributes, being close to balanced, were the choice of most Taijutsu-side Reincarnators.
If they were Reincarnators past the [Strong] tier, perhaps they would further reinforce their attribute gaps through active attribute point allocation.
Possessing speed, strength, destructive power, and precision simultaneously—this was the choice of Martial Artists and Fighters.
And her single Mental Pierce was enough to crush the mental defenses of most low-tier Reincarnators, causing them to fall into prolonged stupor and causing irreversible damage to the brain.
But Mercenary Tao only frowned, and the Nexus notified her that she had suffered a counterattack from a transcendent trait called [Active Spirit].
This made Momiji convinced that Mercenary Tao was likely an extremely rare three-attribute limit-breaking Reincarnator.
This could explain why he rose suddenly and had astonishing combat power, slaying Balrog and others in the Pirate World against the odds.
Kaito tilted his head, his body finally fully expanded to an exaggerated size of over three meters.
When he breathed, the sound of wind and thunder already came from his mouth and nose.
"Who knows...?"
When he started speaking, he was still a hundred meters away. By the time the last word was uttered, that sound of wind and thunder exploded right by Momiji's ear.
In the next moment, in Momiji's eyes, the magma on the ground hundreds of meters away exploded into hollows, as if invisible giant feet had trampled over them from the windward side.
Spiral energy stirred up white cloud scraps. Golden ripples spread out four or five meters from Kaito's right hand like ribbons.
For Kaito's [Rakshasa's Palm] to pursue ultimate violence, the muscles, bones, and joints of his arm were completely twisted and rotated. This was no longer just a technique, but a transcendent ability coordinated with physiological structure.
Crack~ Bang!
The instantaneous outburst of force caused the sonic boom cloud to explode completely in front of Kaito's right palm.
His right palm shattered the sonic boom cloud, followed by the instantaneous eruption of terrifying spiral energy.
Momiji's eyes flickered, her gaze shifting to her left side.
Crimson flames appeared from her left arm out of thin air.
Boom!
The flames erupted like an explosion, colliding directly with that spiraling palm.
Bang!
The terrifying collision emitted a sound wave that pierced eardrums. The shockwave of this blow instantly extinguished the magma on the ground, turning it into dark red lava.
Momiji's body tilted and rolled out to the side, while Kaito stood where Momiji had just been, crimson flames burning on his right arm.
This flame was very counter-intuitive. Without contact, the temperature felt extremely high, but burning on his body, it was absorbing his surface temperature.
Moreover, through this blow, Kaito had already realized one thing—this woman wasn't just a spellcaster. Her physical condition was very high!
A hundred meters away, the magma beneath Momiji's feet solidified. She had also completely dissipated the impact force. She patted her left shoulder; no damage appeared, only her clothes were torn by the twisting energy, revealing her crimson shoulder skin.
"Mercenary Tao, you have great aptitude. Why not join our gathering..."
Boom!
A shockwave like a hurricane erupted from inside Mercenary Tao. That intense willpower impacted her body surface, causing friction and collision like lightning.
This intense Conqueror's Haki made Momiji stop talking. She looked at Mercenary Tao, who was breathing white steam from his mouth and nose, knowing that he was completely immersed in the battle.
The corners of her mouth curled up, her smile becoming increasingly wild.
In the next moment, her hair and body surface began to burn with crimson flames, which were blindingly dazzling.
It was as if all light converged onto her body. The light in the sky began to disappear, and subsequently, the surrounding sky turned dark red.
[Crimson Night], descended.
The Black Knight, who was charging left and right in the air, leaving behind trails of white smoke dragons, also suddenly perceived this change.
Another person standing on the ground, Thangka Seven, who had unleashed several great Soul Skills attempting to control the Moon Fiend, was calmer. He immediately warned:
"Careful! It's Momiji's Title Ability. We should retreat! Leave this bunch to Dongxia!"
Hum!
An extremely piercing shriek, as if the air within a radius of several kilometers trembled in an instant.
Thangka Seven turned his head and saw only a sword light almost piercing through heaven and earth, suddenly appearing from the hands of that woman whose mask had a broken corner.
At this moment, Lee Chae-rin's face no longer held that elegance or coldness. While being besieged by these two, seeing Kaito send [Crimson Night] flying with a single punch, she suddenly felt how weak she had become unknowingly.
Remembering the scenes of being humiliated, she almost crushed her own hand bones.
In an instant, she slashed out hundreds of swords. Every sword followed the same trajectory. This was the realization she had come to in the mire.
If she wasn't strong enough, then become stronger.
If one sword wasn't enough, then slash hundreds of swords.
She was no longer the high-and-mighty Moon Fiend. She was just a slave and should no longer harbor that arrogant posture. Only blood could re-forge her long sword and Haki.
"Die!"
The woman shouted angrily. The sword light appeared almost simultaneously with her afterimage.
Hundred-Year Soul Bamboo shattered one after another. His right arm emitted the luster and patterns of Soul Power. Thangka Seven's Martial Soul was special; it was himself. He possessed a [Body Martial Soul].
But this Martial Soul that allowed him perfect control over himself couldn't sustain itself right now. Intense sword light pierced through his body. That pitch-black tachi slashed diagonally from his shoulder into his chest cavity, accompanied by Lee Chae-rin's angry shout, tearing his body apart diagonally.
As the mangled body crashed down, the Black Knight was just about to smash into her.
Lee Chae-rin turned her head indifferently and took a step forward. Her figure flickered and appeared dozens of meters away. She stroked her Black Sword with her hand. The familiar Haki and Sword Intent made her feel as if she had found her long-lost self.
She actually hugged her long sword, allowing the blade to press against her body. Beneath the broken mask, a smile of relief and joy appeared at the corners of her mouth.
"Slaughter... is truly pleasurable~"
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