...
...
...
...
...
...
Merciless responded to this by extending his arm out and opening his right hand, revealing the manifestation of a frightening red lightning spear in his palms, as Merciless said to Zane while pointing the spear at him.
"Give up?!! HEHE... hardly human!!"
"Oh, well, have it your way; I think I will start getting a little bit serious from here on out though, so don’t break too easily now... ok!!"
Zane spoke, and something unexplained transpired in front of Merciless’ eyes. One Zane became four, and four quickly became eight, and eight became sixteen, which became thirty-two, and eventually sixty-four.
"What the hell is this?... you can clone yourself as well; just what the hell is your power anyway?"
Merciless inquired, plainly disturbed by his current circumstances; on the other side, the Zanes began to speak one by one. As they all glanced at Merciless and spoke.
"Well, it’s nothing special, really!"
"Hehehe, I mean, vampires are fucking scary, but we outhax them quite easily."
"Out hax is a strong statement, you dazzling handsome man; we are just lucky that Arther gave us a magical nature to suit our powers; it’s the only reason why any of us isn’t dead hahaha."
"I mean, should we tell him what our powers are? We kind of know his, so it’s kind of unfair."
"Mhm! That is true, yooo. Merciless, the vampire; listen closely, okay? My power is quite simple: I can clone myself 100,000,000 times, with each clone being as powerful as the present me. But that’s not all I can accomplish; I also have a magical nature known as the Transfer Magical Nature. What this magical nature allows me to do is transfer damage or status effects to other clones, which means that it is not that your attack cannot reach me; rather, I am transferring the effects of your attack to another clone, or better yet, I am sharing it among the 59,058,420 clones I currently have throughout the vast multiverse."
When Merciless heard this, he had a perplexed and shocked look plastered all over his face as he spoke.
"WHHHHATT!! Multiverse: clones, damage transfer, 100,000,000 fucking million. Just who the hell are you, even Zane?"
"Me; well, I am no one unique! But if you want more information, then I would have to say I am an ex-member of H.A.D.E.S."
Zane responded honestly; Merciless, on the other hand, watched Zane from a distance, his mind racing with numerous thoughts as if he were debating what was going on.
’Men; what a pain in the ass. No surprise, I can’t hurt this guy. It’s not that my attacks can’t reach him; rather, his magical nature transmits both the damage and the effect to another clone. As a result, any and all hits against him are rendered ineffectual; such a ridiculous, yet extremely powerful skill to have.’
’His base power alone is already unfair as fuck; combine that with his transfer magical nature, and you have an almost unstoppable war machine, 100,000,000 clones—that is far too many to take on at my current level; one is already physically superior to my current self. So, picture a 100,000,000 all at once, much less 64... heheh... and yet, despite knowing this, I feel so... soooo... hehehe... ssSOOOO alive right now!!! What a bizarre sensation! At this moment, my odds are far lower than 0%. And yet, I want to continue, to test myself even more in this fight.’
’Oh, well, I’ll figure it out some way or another; I always do either way. But then and again; can I even beat him as I am now? Sigh, if only I could find a means to penetrate his nearly faultless defense of his. Hmmm, wait, I actually can, if I am correct, Miasma flame burns through magic.’
’Hehehehehe... oh man, this is going to be fun; although... this present form isn’t ideal for fighting someone like Zane; it’s heavy as fuck, and that’s coming from me, a Michellian, but then again, its understandable, after all, each one of my organs is heavily armored. But with a physique like his, he could practically punch a hole through me with his normal strength alone.’
’I still need a new form just for dealing with Zane, one in which I can inflict immense damage on his being. One that can compensate for a 100,000,000-fold power discrepancy. And one that will allow me to achieve this W, but can I actually execute it? I’ve never attempted custom changes to such an extreme degree before.’
’No, I must; in this battle, it is not about who has the better hax but about who comes out on top. And as things are right now, I’m a little needle in a sea of hay. However, a needle can still be used as a weapon. A needle can still injure someone.’
’Very good, I have an idea, but it will take some time to perfect. First, acquire the necessary information; there are 64 of them, with millions spread over the multiverse, or so he claims. That means his magical abilities extend far beyond what I can conceive. So how can I compensate for the multiversal difference, then? No, let’s simplify this even further.’
’I get that the real Zane is invulnerable due to his magical nature, but what about his clones? Are they also invulnerable? Can they also divide and transmit damage to another clone elsewhere in the multiverse? Or is the transfer magic limited to the original Zane? So many awful questions, and no answers at all.’
’Oh, well, there is only one way to find out., and that is to attack his clones head-on.’
...
...
...
Zane and his clones proceeded to stare at Merciless, who at this time began to do something unexpected: his armor began to disappear along with his wings. This, of course, surprised Zane, as Merciless chimera armor was his sole form of protection against him, thus, the fact that he willingly removed his armor raised suspicions.
"What the hell are you even doing, Taking your armor off in a fight like this is suicide, you know?"
Zane declared these remarks to Meciless, who just nodded and said.
"You are correct; removing my armor in this scenario is a suicidal move; nevertheless, if I were to go anywhere near you in the attempts to reach you, I would have to put myself in great danger to begin with. Overall, just view my actions as me going back to the drawing board; now, come at me, and let’s silence the chatter now, shall we?"
"Oh, men, you are simply a treat, aren’t you, haa Merciless? Okay, have it your way, and by the way, I’m pretty interested in you; well, your clan, that is."
"Hmm, how so?"
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on freёwebnoѵel.com.
"Well, the rumor on the street is that the Michellian clan is a clan of immortal warriors owing to their inherent clan trait of cellular regeneration. Is this true? Can you really survive being blown to nothing and coming back to life with only a single cell left?"
Zane asked with a curious but equally devilish smile on his face. And Merciless, of course, humored him by replying as such.
"So I have been told, but I have never been in a situation, in which I had to regenerate from a single cell once in my life. However, I have before been able to recover from wounds that have literally split me in half."
"Agh, is that true? It’s a really envious power to have, but don’t worry, we can put that body of yours to the test. First, let’s check how quick your regeneration speed is."
"Wait wha...
*SPLATTTT!!!*
However, before Merciless could finish speaking, his entire body fell limp in an instant, as one of Zane’s clones hit him in the face, bursting a hole right through his face. His first movement was so swift that neither Merciless nor Black Tail could have detected it.
Blood covers his whole palm, as does brain matter, with some dripping across his face. At the same moment, the Zane clone began speaking to Merciless.
"Fun fact: in the universe we as we know it, there are various kinds of esoteric energy, and I’m not talking about the ones that are well-known; I’m talking about the ones that could transform a normal human into a true god on Hellmora. For example, Chi, often known as life energy, is a universal energy that can be used in a multitude of applications. If you can manipulate chi, you have complete power over your surroundings. You can employ Chi to boost your total physical prowess by absorbing the life energy of another creature into your own vessel, just like I am doing right now."
"And you vampires, as soulless as you night wakers are, you lots are like dragons, you are being with limitless life force. And you know what that means for a chi user? Well, you can’t speak right now, so let me explain. To a chi user, vampires and dragons alike are like batteries, which means that from the minute I entered House of Ghal, I was supercharging my entire body, so you could say, "I’m like you right now; my stamina is indefinite, and I can heal life-threatening wounds with the chi I have collected."
Zane muttered as he removed his palm away from Merciless’ face, and the moment he did, Merciless had healed in less than a second, which astonished Zane to his core when he saw this, as not even Alucard had such freaky regeneration.
"Wow, that’s an insane healing factor you go there, dude; probably the best I have ever seen in my life. Holy shit, that is freaky as hell, hahaha!"
"Hmmm, that it is indeed, but thank you, Zane; you have confirmed my suspicion."
"I finally got one in."
"Suspicions, what are you talking ab... *Badump*... blaghh!!...
’Ha?..
Zane abruptly whispered to himself, his entire body shivering as he felt a blazing and equally moist feeling rush down his mouth and his fingers twitching in pain. As he grabbed his lips, his palm was splattered with blood; however, what startled him the most though, was the fact that his blood-smeared hand was smoking, almost as if the blood itself was boiling on the inside.
The other Zanes are taken aback by their counterpart’s shaking and screaming in anguish, particularly the original, who was the only one to recognize the messed-up scenario he had suddenly found himself in. He had abruptly lost connection with the clone.
Not psychologically, but magically, the mark on his body served as a beacon imprint, allowing him to send or divide the damage that he takes during bouts over long intervals till it becomes meaningless. However, the present Zane, who has been attacking Merciless for some reason, has abruptly become estranged from the very nature itself.
"WHAAAA?!!"
The original Zane muttered, gazing at Merciless as if he were a monster. Merciless, on the other hand, only seemed to gaze at clone Zane and say to him:
"You felt right for the bait, much like a fish does when it sees a worm. And now, your ass is grass, buddy. Like I said before, Zane, once I find out what your formula is, I can begin to make the necessary changes that need to be applied to counter it. Your fate is sealed, and I appreciate you being so gracious as to enlighten me about your abilities, by the way; that was such a massive help hehehehe!!"
"My body will handle the rest from here on out, but I must say the experiment of merging the corrosive effect of miasma, the limitless intensity of my plasma intensifier ability, and, last but not least, adding those two effects to my blood itself, transforming it into an esoteric fluid. I was able to develop a new form of body fluid that can separate the magical essence of anyone infected by it. In layman’s words, this clone has no possibility of reconnecting."
"Although it is far from flawless, but it is adequate enough to deal with your magical nature. As of right now, anyone who drinks my blood loses their magical nature because my blood corrodes the very essence of it at a limitless level, with every corrosion effect being 100 times stronger per second, being a hundred times stronger than the last effect. In even simpler terms, I created a biological form of anti-magic through esoteric genetic fusion."
When Zane heard this, he was completely astonished. Just a minute before, he was dominating this vampire in every way conceivable. Merciless was ultimately able to get back on track by using his Ichor to overcome an insurmountable power difference that should have been impossible for him to achieve at this point.
Merciless was finally able to compete on an equal footing, despite the overwhelming odds. But what puzzled Zane was how he was able to infect his clone when it hadn’t even swallowed his blood to begin with.
Of course, Merciless had already seen his discomfort and responded appropriately, as he told Zane with a smug expression.
"Zane! Zane! Confused, aren’t we? Well, don’t be; your body has pores; that’s how I got access to it, and I’ll admit that I’m not sure how much anti-blood it would take to break the connection with your clones, so I originally planned for you to beat me to pulp and have blood spill all over you until it took effect, and by the looks of it, my blood works like a charm."
"Wait, so you intentionally made yourself vulnerable just so you could have a chance of infecting me with your weird ass blood? Are you fucking crazy? What if I accidentally killed you before your blood had taken effect?"
"Pretty much, a small price for sweet victory if you asked me!?"
"You damn lunatic, hehe, but I must admit I really underestimated you; my apologies for that, I guess."
"The feeling is mutual, Zane; you must excuse me, though." I’m the sort who grows in combat; I don’t have fighting experience, but what I lack in experience I make up for in adaptability."
"This is the true power of my "Darwinism!"—the ability to evolve eternally through biological manipulation. If the house of Ghal caters to bio-users, then everyone else here is unneeded before me, since I am the all-in-one in this field. "What you can do, I can do better. Now, Zane, shall we dance? I’m quite interested in seeing what all you can do with your Chi."
"The all-in-one you say; you are one proud vampire, that much I will grant you; but between the Netherstar, Solomon, and Michellian clans. Your clan as a whole is one of the most arrogant groups of vampires in existence."
"Awww, yes!" We Michellians like to demonstrate our authority over others; there is a pecking order in life, Zane, and I am sorry to say this, but you will have to fall in line. I may acknowledge you, but that does not mean I respect you as an equal."
"And here I thought you were being a very good boy; I almost gave you a treat, but looks can be deceiving, can they?!"
"I am not a house dog, you easy-going asshole."
Merciless said to Zane, as sassy as usual; Zane, on the other hand, simply snickered at Merciless and responded accordingly.
"I mean, vampires are technically bats with human form, according to mythology, but you can still pass as a house pet, just as weird assed one, I guess, a pet bat hehehe."
"Says the species that descended from monkeys—how ironic; the duality of men never ceases to astonish me. Anyway, superhuman, I hope you’re prepared to get your ass served to you on a platter."
"Less talking, more fighting, vampire; prove your strength with your fist, not your mouth."
Zane remarked on this as his other clones began to laugh at Merciless. Merciless, on the other hand, simply smiled as he looked at the dead Zane clone, who had all of his organs cooked till they dissolved into his corpse. All of the openings in his body were bleeding blood, bodily fluids, or biological debris in general. As froth poured from his lips, brain matter, and blood dripped from his eye sockets, ears, and nose. While alive, his face showed extreme anguish, with his skin appearing red and scorched on the exterior.
But his major purpose had already been accomplished; he could win this battle now, given that the key to success was there in front of him. A body of a Zane clone, complete with all of his memories, and an archive of wonder await him. But the most important takeaway is that Zane has numbers on his side, and as a result, he will soon have Zane’s power as his own as well.
As such, he looked at Zane and his other clones, all of whom were laughing at him. Merciless, on the other hand, glanced at Zane and told him as much.
"You know, Zane, you’re sort of slow; have you forgotten what my Darwinism can do? I can separate genetic information, store it, and fuse it with my existence and other genetic information; just look at what I have in front of me, and take a guess on what I am going to do next."
Merciless proclaimed, causing Zane and his fellow clones to open their eyes in stupor as they finally just realized where this Michellian was coming from. After staring at the dead clone that Merciless had floating in the air by manipulating its blood:
"No! You wouldn’t?"
"Hehehe... oh Zane, you have an amazing ability, and I want it; thank you so much for your patronage, superhuman!!!"
Merciless replied with a smug smirk to Zane, who was filled with an esoteric horror that he had only felt once in his life when he confronted with that person. A person he could never forget—the person who convinced him to leave H.A.D.E.S. The current master tower of power, and one of the current strongest ex-class superhumans, that he had encountered roughly four years ago. The individual was just 17 years old at the time, but he was also the most skilled, strongest, and one of the youngest superhumans that G.I.F.T. had under their care. The weapon master known as [X], also called Kael Stormblade, and is the adopted son of Professor Nine.
Zane feared that boy so much that words alone could not explain it, not because of his tremendous power but because of his brilliance. When Zane faced Kael, the child imitated all of his martial arts, mastered them in four seconds, improved them in three seconds, and shit stomped his ass in two seconds. And that was because that white-haired monster was not utilizing his supernatural abilities at all; these were just his typical achievements.
Merciless now reminds him a lot of that boy. Hard labor and commitment, years of practice, and perfection, unique and one-of-a-kind. All of these concepts meant nothing to him; his life’s hard work, his uniqueness—everything would be seized by Merciless in a single instant, just as Kael had done with his fighting style.
And just thinking about it made Zane irritated. If someone could just replicate what makes you, well, you. Then what is the point of your existence? Merciless actually got under Zane’s skin at that time, and as a result, he ordered his clones.
"Aghhhh!! I’m not going to let it happen again; it’s so aggravating simply thinking about it. Stop him immediately; don’t let him devour that clone!"
Zane commanded, and the moment he did, all of the clones began to rush towards Merciless. But at that moment, Merciless smiled menacingly, clearly satisfied that the superhuman fell right into his trap.
And as forty Zane clones rushed toward him with incredible speed, just before they reached Merciless. A gigantic blue ring spanning twenty meters across suddenly and randomly appeared out of nowhere, with innumerable stars and galaxies visible on the other side, as a break in space and time was formed. All of the Zane clones who attempted to assault Merciless fly through the portal and into space, which reveals a vast vacuum on the other side. And before they had a chance to fly back through the portal with their chi. The blue ring separated the connection from interstellar space. To a strange yet familiar place with a lot of thick blue mist, black muddy ground, and purple alien-like trees.
"WHHHATT!??...
Zane exclaimed in surprise at what he saw in front of him, and what was even more shocking was the sight of a familiar maid who blessed the battlefield with her presence.
Before Zanes’ eyes, a lovely maid crossed the gap in space; she was much shorter than him and had quite the physique, all things considered. She wore Victorian maid attire and had gorgeous blue eyes appropriate for a Michellian; her hair was long and sparkled like gold since that was its natural color, and it was fashioned in huge drills. However, there was something unusual about this maid. A familiar pair of blue rings hovered over her wrist. The final blue ring, the one she came from, reduced in size as it floated back over her left wrist, which only had one blue ring.
The girl, on the other hand, did something unexpected; she began to transform into a chimera-like state of various monsters, or maybe people in this case: a pair of giant demonic succubus wings sprang from her back, together with a large white dire wolf tail. From there, a pair of extra hands grew, giving her a total of four arms, and finally, a pair of long fox ears sprouted above her head, as one eye became identical to Jordan’s, the other to Albedo, and the final eye appeared on her forehead at the center, and if you look closely, it looked a lot like Abadis eye.
At that time, the beautiful blond woman flew towards her master like a dog, answering their owner’s call. And the instant the chimera-like maid approached Merciless, he grabbed her by the waist, pulled her close to him, and spoke to her.
"Good girl, you managed to get almost all of them, heheheh... I know creating you with the goal of being my genetic archive was not a mistake; now, my adorable little library of wonders, devour this clone now, and let’s win this battle."
