Chapter 713: Combo Strike!
|Blood Magic: Blood Puppetry.|
Jamie cast a spell with their blood, the sight reminding the two boys of the fact that Jamie was a Vampire-Werewolf Hybrid.
The swirling blood formed magic circles that Jamie sent flying toward their chests with a flick. The circles fused seamlessly into their bodies, pulsing faintly for a moment.
Then, Jamie explained.
"That will let you control your bodies like puppets. Now, your movements will align perfectly with your thoughts—or should I say, your puppet commands."
Arthur and Evan exchanged glances as understanding dawned on them, their initial wariness replaced by grudging gratitude.
With a snap of Arthur’s fingers, Evan’s clothes were rewound into existence.
However, the moment they tried to stand, both of them staggered. Their knees buckled, and they collapsed back onto the ground.
Evan clutched his head, groaning as a torrent of foreign information surged into his mind, leaving him disoriented. Arthur’s hand went to his chest, his face twisting in pain as his Existential Aspects fell into disarray, the imbalance hitting him like a tidal wave.
Watching the scene, realisation flashed through Jamie’s eyes.
"Ah, right. One of you is juggling Four Pseudo-Authorities and Two Ultimate Seeds, while the other is hauling around a Deity Soul packed with power from a previous incarnation.
Getting slammed with deity-level power on top of all that? Yeah, not exactly a recipe for smooth sailing."
As mentioned earlier, Jamie’s situation was one of him merely reclaiming a power level he had surpassed long ago. With this power-up, he could better stabilize his vessel.
The cracks that had been spreading across his skin gradually receded and he regained full access to his Authorities.
But Evan’s case was a different story.
Unbeknownst to Jamie and Arthur, Evan held a hidden title they couldn’t see.
’Reincarnated Hero.’
Evan was a Reincarnator, but there was one key difference that set him apart from most reincarnators.
Evan didn’t die in his previous incarnation.
Death had never claimed his soul.
Because he had never died, his soul had not undergone the usual cleansing process. Instead, it remained as powerful as it had been in his previous incarnation.
He just couldn’t access all that soul power due to his Vision Seal, as well as the fact that his current body and Energy Core were those of a Mortal.
This was why Arthur, whose soul was at the strongest level any Mortal Soul could be, had stated Evan’s soul was stronger than his.
Because Evan’s soul, was a Deity Soul.
A Deity Soul with all of the law comprehensions he’d attained in his previous incarnation.
Now, with Evan’s body and Energy Core infused with Deity-level power, his Deity Soul began to awaken.
The weakened energy layers around it strengthened, and his law comprehensions from his previous incarnation surged into his head with force.
Fortunately, Evan had prepared for a situation like this long before. Specifically, it was preparation for when he reached Level 1000 and exuviated normally.
He had taken steps to regulate the influx of his past law comprehensions after his Vision Seal was partially unlocked months ago.
Without these precautions, all of his law comprehensions—easily more than a dozen—would have flooded his mind at once, likely causing his brain to shut down.
Thanks to his preparations, only two comprehensions entered his mind. Even so, those two were still overwhelming.
To put things into perspective, Evan was currently receiving a surge of law comprehensions comparable to Arthur’s Destruction Comprehension level—excluding his 0.1% Low Rank Comprehensions.
In other words, the entirety of the Basic Rank Law of Destruction, which had taken Arthur nearly two years to comprehend, was now being force-fed into Evan’s mind all at once. It was enough to grant him an Authority.
And that wasn’t all. Evan’s main element, the Law of Fire—bolstered by the presence of his Ultimate Seed—was also part of the equation.
Moving on, Arthur was a unique case of his own.
If not for his True Name Seal, Arthur would have undergone exuviation right then and there. But its presence prevented his soul from advancing to match his body and energy core, which were now infused with deity-level power.
This disparity between his Existential Aspects created an imbalance. Arthur’s body and energy core had grown far stronger than his soul, and if his soul had been any weaker, it would have likely collapsed under the strain.
But Arthur’s soul wasn’t weak. Its foundation was fortified by Four Pseudo-Origin Cores and Two Ultimate Seeds, giving it the strength to withstand the overwhelming power flowing through his body.
Even so, Arthur’s soul was still that of a Transcendent and couldn’t gain Complete Authorities like Evan had regained from his previous incarnation.
That didn’t mean Arthur was left unchanged.
The deity-level energy infused into his body had also impacted his soul, temporarily empowering his Pseudo-Origin Cores.
These cores surpassed the Cosmic Limit of power typically allowed for Pseudo-Origin Cores but fell just short of the threshold required to form Complete Origin Cores.
The result? Arthur gained False Authorities.
It was similar to his Faux True Voice, where he mimicked the effects of a True Voice using Cosmic Energy.
◇ ◇ ◇
Of the four combatants in the Core Dimension, Jamie was the only one who was relatively fine.
Bewússtsein, on the other hand, was in an absolutely dreadful state.
Half of his power had been siphoned away, his vessel was incomplete and damaged, and he no longer had sufficient energy to maintain its creation or support several of his Authorities.
Bewússtsein was beyond furious.
His face flushed a deep red, veins bulging across his forehead as his rage boiled over.
He roared in rage, the energy-infused sound quickly prompting Jamie to erect a barrier shielding himself and the boys from its effects.
Condensing cosmic energy into his palm, Bewússtsein infused it with stupendous amounts of death and destruction law energies, forming an enormous dark-red arrow that hovered above him.
[Todesnova!!]
He hurled the deadly technique towards them with all his might, and Jamie immediately acted. Snapping his fingers, he commanded the space between them and Bewússtsein.
|Expand.|
The space responded, expanding a hundredfold.
Now, Bewússtsein’s attack had to traverse one hundred times the original distance to reach them, significantly delaying its arrival.
To further stall, Jamie used his Imperial Privileges to slow the flow of time around them, then turned to check on the two boys beside him.
"You guys okay?"
"...no. Definitely NOT. I feel like I’ve got the worst stomach-ache ever."
Arthur muttered, struggling to his feet while taking deep breaths to steady his turbulent energy.
Hearing this, Evan raised a brow with an incredulous expression on his face.
"Stomach-ache? Really dude?"
Arthur and Jamie turned toward Evan, only to see him pressing a block of ice against his forehead.
"You look like someone nursing a headache."
"The word ’headache’ is not worthy to describe what I’m feeling right now."
Arthur couldn’t help but chuckle at Evan’s quip, and seeing their interactions, Jamie smiled lightly.
"Good to see you two are fine."
""HOW THE FUCK DO WE LOOK ’FINE’ TO YOU?!""
The two yelled simultaneously, but Jamie just laughed, glancing toward the expanded space as he replied.
"So, we’ve got a bit of a situation here."
Arthur and Evan followed his gaze, and upon spotting the ginormous arrow hurtling toward them, their expressions shifted to alarm.
"Is that spatial expansion? Neat."
Such was Arthur’s remark, momentarily distracted by his curiosity.
"You gotta show me how to break that. The Second Finger uses it all the time."
Evan added after Arthur spoke, his tone nonchalant despite the circumstances.
Jamie, however, ignored their comments, keeping his attention on the dire situation at hand.
"Even with the space expansion, that thing’s absurdly fast. It’s already a quarter of the way here, even after I slowed time."
Arthur immediately responded, "Oh, that’s not good."
"No shit, it isn’t," Evan muttered, pressing more magic power into the ice block on his head as though that would somehow help.
Satisfied they all understood the gravity of the situation, Jamie made his suggestion.
"So, how about we destroy it? You can use the opportunity to test your new power output levels."
Arthur’s excitement was instant as he exclaimed.
"Let’s do a combo attack! I’m going first!"
Without waiting for a response, he held out his palm, gathering cosmic energy from the space around him.
|¬False Nothingness Authority ¬|
A crimson-silver orb of energy materialized before them, swirling with dense, destructive energy that distorted the surrounding space.
This was Arthur’s False Authority, born from the Ultimate Seed created by his Extreme Nothingness.
Jamie, rolling with Arthur’s enthusiasm, snapped his fingers to activate his own Ultimate Skill.
|Azure Void Authority|
A deep blue layer of void energy wrapped around the crimson-silver orb, the fusion of their respective powers amplifying the destructive potential.
The synergy between their ’Nothingness’ abilities caused fractures to spread across the space around them, as though reality itself couldn’t handle the pressure.
Both then turned expectantly toward Evan, their eyes practically saying, Your turn.
Realizing he couldn’t worm his way out of this, Evan let out a resigned sigh. Extending his palm, he channelled his power and added it to the mix.
|Prismatic Inferno Authority.|
The Ultimate Skill born from Evan’s Mesarthim Skill and the law comprehensions of his previous incarnation.
The orb before them ignited, bursting into prismatic flames that burned with the intensity of a newborn star.
Right after Evan acted, Arthur, ever the dramatic one, shouted.
"I name this, ’Prismatic Destruction Void’!"
"That’s not... actually a bad name."
Evan wanted to protest, but halfway through, he realized the name was actually quite fitting, and Arthur puffed his chest with pride.
"Of course, it’s not. I named it, after all.
I was going to call it ’Prismatic Nothingness Void’, but ’Nothingness’ and ’Void’ are kinda redundant, so I went with the more generic ’Destruction.’"
When Arthur explained his reasoning, Jamie placed a hand on his chin and nodded.
Right after that, Evan’s urgent voice interrupted the discussion.
"Since we’re done playing Name That Skill, can we hurry up and fire it already? That thing is getting way too close for comfort.
I don’t know about you, Jamie, but if that hits us, Arthur and I are toast."
When Evan said this, Arthur shook his head and objected.
"Actually, I wouldn’t die. I’ve still got three charges left on the Stellar Guard."
Hearing Arthur’s words, Evan’s eyes widened as realisation dawned.
"So, I’m the only one at risk of dying?!"
""Yep.""
