This explains how the blood-burning technique works... You can skip it if you wish.
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The Blood Burn Technique has three levels… it is not exclusive to anyone, but rather a very common technique. Anyone experienced in aura can utilize it, but its strength differs from person to person depending on their power and the precision of their control.
To understand the first level of Blood Burn—Ignition—you must first understand what aura is.
Aura is a mixture of a person's blood power, soul, and will. A person uses either their blood or mana to stimulate their aura and controls it with the strength of their soul; otherwise, it will merely be a formless power that cannot be utilized. A weak aura can be used within the body, but if a person possesses a strong aura, they must release it outside and then contain it with their soul to control it, otherwise the aura will tear their organs apart if they fail to control it.
Here comes the first level of Blood Burn, which is containing the powerful aura inside the body, then using one's spiritual power to control every particle of that aura. Otherwise, if it goes out of control within the body, the least of their worries would be their body being torn apart from the inside. But for someone like Aeon, who already had control surpassing those who had lived for decades, this was not a problem.
The problem is that this form causes his body to burn from the inside due to heat. His blood circulates faster, and his heartbeat becomes faster and stronger to keep up with this state. For Aeon, he can remain in this form for a maximum of half an hour; otherwise, his body would be threatened with collapse and cease functioning if he exceeds its limits. He uses his body like wood that fuels fire—the stronger a person's body, the longer they can maintain this state.
Its second weakness is its heavy consumption of the user's mental strength and spiritual power to precisely control the aura during combat… but in the end, this form multiplies the person's power up to five times.
As for Blood Burn—Frenzy, it is the complete opposite. It burns his blood in exchange for increasing its power and strengthening his meridians, then releases the aura outside his body and uses it in the most violent ways to enhance his body and strength, raising his power up to ten times or more.
However, Aeon cannot maintain this state for more than ten minutes. If he exceeds his limits, his meridians will be destroyed and he will become essentially paralyzed.
Blood Burn—Frenzy can be compared to a dam that has a small gate through which power flows, but this technique widens and strengthens that gate to allow more water to pass through without damaging it.
Then there is Blood Burn—Destruction. Aeon knows how to use it but has never used it before, because once he does, only two outcomes await him: paralysis or death… that is because this technique burns all the cells of his body, his aura, his soul, and the essence of his blood in exchange for power equal to twenty times. Once activated, if he forcibly stops it, that power will rebound onto him and cause severe damage.
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When Aeon approached Nick, who was under the rubble of the building, he stopped a few meters away. Suddenly, the rubble exploded outward. Aeon calmly spread his aura outside his body in a small range to protect himself from the flying debris.
Then Nick's furious roar echoed:
"You forced me!!"
Nick's voice was filled with killing intent when suddenly a red streak shot rapidly toward Aeon. Sensing danger, Aeon quickly drew his sword and blocked it. In the end, he saw its form—it was a spear with three prongs at its head, crimson in color as if made of blood.
Sparks flew between the spear and the sword. At that moment, Aeon felt something and turned behind him, seeing the seven corpses he had fought earlier sealed within small red crystals, rapidly moving toward Nick.
The spear held Aeon in place for only a single second, but that was enough for Nick to summon his corpses.
The corpses appeared in their full forms before Nick as he extended his hand forward, revealing a mark imprinted on his palm. The mark glowed crimson, and suddenly glowing red blood began to emerge from the corpses, flowing toward Nick's hand and being greedily absorbed.
Nick's aura became more dangerous and more intense than before.
"You shouldn't have provoked me like this. Now even death would be a great mercy for you. You should have just died like an insect without resistance," Nick said coldly, his voice filled with toxic killing intent.
That blood he absorbed was the essence of his blood that he had injected into his corpses. More than 70% of his blood essence had been injected into them years ago, feeding those corpses to make them stronger. But now, having been provoked to madness, he no longer cared about the consequences and pulled it back from them. Because of this, the corpses would lose their strength and would never return to what they once were. At best, they would only be above-average corpses—perhaps treasures to other disciples, but to him, they were mere trash. His opponents from other sects all had their trump cards, yet he had lost his in this manner—it was an unprecedented humiliation.
At the beginning, Nick had looked down on Aeon despite sensing danger from him, but he interpreted that feeling as being due to his weakened state, so he did not truly care. Aeon was merely a slightly bigger insect.
But now, he had paid a heavy price for a meaningless fight—especially since the world of the Six Thousand Islands was about to open at any moment. This was the worst possible time for him to lose such a trump card. His best option would have been to withdraw quietly with his corpses and wait for another opportunity to kill Aeon, but this humiliation had overwhelmed his rationality. Thus, he vowed not to kill Aeon, but to cripple him, take him back to his sect, temper and torture his soul, and turn his body into a personal puppet. That was the hatred Nick felt toward Aeon at this moment.
With a gesture of his hand, Nick pulled the crimson spear back to himself, then disappeared and attacked Aeon.
Aeon blocked the attack with his sword, and a serious expression finally appeared on his face. Nick's strength had indeed increased several times and had become equal to his own.
Nick's eyes narrowed. He had not expected that even after absorbing his blood essence again, his strength would only be equal to Aeon's.
"Just die!!" he roared madly as he attacked again.
"I don't plan on dying anytime soon, so I'll refuse your offer," Aeon said as he deflected Nick's spear, letting it slide along his sword before delivering a kick toward Nick's ribs. But Nick caught Aeon's leg with his palm. Nick smiled excitedly at this foolish move, tightening his grip, preparing to tear Aeon's leg apart.
The moment Nick tightened his grip slightly, Aeon twisted his body in the air and struck Nick's face with his other foot, sending him flying toward another building, which collapsed over him.
"Your smile is disgusting. Stop doing that or I'll slap you again," Aeon said slyly as he dashed toward Nick's position, sending a crescent slash at him with force.
Nick quickly snapped out of his daze upon sensing danger and raised his spear to block, but he was sent flying again.
In midair, Aeon appeared beside him and delivered a punch, not giving Nick any chance to breathe.
Nick wrapped his arm around his chest and blocked Aeon's punch.
Nick shot toward the ground and crashed into it violently. He felt his chest and back had been crushed from the intense pain.
Aeon appeared again, his sword moving swiftly toward Nick's neck. Nick kicked Aeon's legs, causing him to fall to the side.
Aeon planted his sword into the ground and used it as a pivot to spin and regain his stance.
The moment he regained balance, Nick's spear was already in front of him. Aeon quickly blocked it with his sword, but due to the rushed defense, he did not gather enough strength and was pushed back, crashing into a building.
Nick attacked again, but suddenly sensed danger and quickly moved aside.
As he moved, a crescent slash passed by at high speed, sending chills down his spine.
Aeon gained a moment to breathe, then attacked Nick again. Nick also attacked, and they engaged in close combat.
Aeon could not help but laugh loudly—it was the best fight he had entered so far.
Nick was annoyed by Aeon's laughter, but he did not say a word. Aeon was a foul-mouthed bastard—if he said even one wrong word, Aeon would respond and enrage him with a single sentence. Worse than that, Aeon possessed far greater experience in close combat than Nick, because Nick had not engaged in close combat for years—his corpses had always fought for him. If not for his sharp sense of danger, Aeon would have already inflicted serious injuries on him. Therefore, Nick could only focus intensely, or Aeon would seize any opportunity the moment he lost concentration.
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At the center of the city
Janet was sweating as she fought two Demonic Path disciples.
Meanwhile, Alice, with her spear blazing with fire, was fighting several people at once. Every attack she made inflicted severe injuries on multiple opponents, and she seized every opportunity to kill any of them.
But the Demonic Path disciples were not deterred. They did not feel fear or terror—instead, the smell of blood made them more excited. The scent of their comrades' blood, and even better, the scent of the civilians' blood as they clung to each other in fear, was among the finest scents they could smell.
Thus, the pressure began to weigh on Alice slightly, to the point that she used Blood Burn—Ignition. But it did not take long before the Demonic Path pressed her again heavily. If she were fighting alone, it would not be dangerous—hundreds of Demonic Path disciples would pose no threat to her—but now she had to protect the civilians.
Alice was engaged in a fierce battle when she suddenly sensed Aeon's aura outside the city walls—he was using the Blood Burn Technique. She could not understand who could force her older brother to activate his technique. However, she did not feel worried—she knew her older brother's strength better than anyone.
But that calm did not last long when she sensed Aeon's aura being hurled at great speed and crashing into buildings. She became extremely worried, especially after sensing that her brother was using the second level of Blood Burn. Who could be strong enough to push her older brother like this? Especially when she felt another blood-like aura suddenly erupt, no weaker than her brother's.
She even thought about going to see for herself, but quickly dismissed the idea. Even if Janet could hold on for a while by casting a large defensive spell, it would place a heavy burden on her spiritual power.
So she refocused on protecting the civilians. This was the task her older brother had entrusted to her. Since he had assigned it to her, it meant he had certainly sensed a greater threat and went to deal with it.