Chapter 103: Moving On?

My consciousness wavers as my vision is soaked with blood. My skin became scale-like while massive black deer antlers erupt from my head. My eyes turn black with the same yellow X and grey diamond. The black tail with 2 flames at the end waved behind me and I felt extremely tired.

AHHHHHH

I let out the same ungodly scream before me and my doppelganger collide with our long black katanas. Black lightning forms around us and the black flames create an endlessly burning sea of fire.

CLANG CLANG CLANG

The sound of metal colliding against each other was ear-splitting and we created sonic booms once again. If you looked at the surroundings… it was that of an apocalypse. Tornadoes, massive black lightning bolts, bullet-like rain that hindered our movement and vision, the blood-red mist that lathered our bodies and slowed us down every second we breathed it in, and finally 2 moons and 1 sun.

At the center of it all were 2 monsters that seemed to be sent down by the sovereign spirits themselves. They didn't speak, they didn't listen, they didn't care about their surroundings, all they had on their mind was…

Kill… kill… kill… Kill… Kill… KILL… KILL… KILL… KILL… KILL… KILL… KILL… KILL… KILL… KILL… KILL… KILL… KILL… KILL… KILL… KILL… KILL… KILL…

Their aura was enough to knock even the strongest of warriors out and nobody would've guessed they weren't as feral as this before.

My body is numb all over but I still grip Raiu in my hand. Araes dress is getting torn up and regenerating but it's starting to slow down. The regeneration uses my mana and…

『Status』

[Name: Arpious]

[Race: Lamassu of Ancient Fires]

[Status: Unconscious]

[Servants: 6]

[Subordinates: 7]

[Pets: 1]

[Level: 39/100]

[HP: 185/700 MP: 139/500 SP: 269/500]

…

… My mana pool was getting low.

There were countless injuries and that wasn't even including the internal damage. Tiny cuts, large lacerations, dislocated right shoulder, broken arms, broken left elbow, sprained wrists, bruised knuckles, and fingers, dislocated left knee, broken right knee, tiny cuts on the surface of lungs, fractured top of both feet, the stomach has a small cut in it, 8 broken ribs, 4 shattered ribs, 3 bruised ribs, broken left-wing, extreme feather loss on the right-wing, and finally a chain squeezing my heart tighter and tighter.

I don't know why but I knew what was injured despite me not feeling any pain. I also knew that if this continued… I was going to die. I already lost at least a gallon of blood and if it wasn't for my blood body modification, I would've bled to death already.

My body had activated [Mystic Arm and Leg] by itself, which my doppelganger copied instantly. My ethereal leg was noble white while my ethereal arm was pitch black.

The sonic booms that we created only started to grow bigger and we had dug a massive crater the size of a common nukes radius in my past life.

AHHHHHHH

We both cry out when we split apart but then flash stepped back in with our blades colliding.

Fuck, I can't do anything… maybe I could try and activate a skill we haven't used yet.

Waiting for the right moment I could barely see through the blood but finally heard the clang of metal.

[Forbidden Magic: Hermes]

Time slowed down and my body instantly reacted to the activation of the skill. She swung her blade at the doppelganger's neck and could hear the clang of it clashing with her scales. It reached her neck but only dug partly in and wasn't able to cut through the spinal cord.

Seems my bones in this body are much harder than I thought. I have broken and dislocated ones but I guess my body prioritizes fatal areas that could cause instant death.

Time returns to normal and my body ducks out of the way for my doppelganger's swing. She noticed her head hanging to the left since that's where we cut and held it up with her hands.

Suddenly, I felt a slight tingling feeling on my upper arm and realized it was gone. My doppelganger used Hermes as well...

Luckily it wasn't the arm I used for Raiu but the sight of my arm disappearing was frightening nonetheless. I wasn't scared of the fight, but about the future after… if I ever get that future.

My body activated [Forbidden Magic: Hermes] once again and aimed for the other side of the neck but saw the doppelganger moving as well. Since we were moving at the same speed we saw each other but didn't hesitate to go for our targeted area.

My body blocked the swing to our arm while we also did a sidekick to the doppelganger's gut. This might've happened in just 1 second but it felt as long as 5 seconds.

We return to normal time and my body jumps up and flying sidekicks the already downed doppelganger. She lets out another ungodly scream but we shut it up with our foot to her gut. She grabbed my foot and twisted it out of place but my body held onto her head and pulled up.

The cracking of her bones and spine was heard as she panicked and summoned Raiu once again, slicing off the lower part of my left leg. My body didn't react as it continued to pull up until…

CRACK

My body had pulled my doppelganger's head and spine out of its body. My body then proceeded to eat the head and I saw that my bones had turned black and had strange white runes all over them.

After the head, came the body, and once I or my body finished devouring the doppelganger, time froze. It wasn't due to my skill but I saw multiple blue panels appear in front of me.

[Inner demon slain]

[You have conquered your inner demons but you have the risk of losing yourself in the future]

[The test given by [Mind Magic] has been completed]

[Please choose a reward for passing]

[Nightmare Magic] | [Dream Magic] | [Grand Mind Magic]

My consciousness returned to normal as if the built-up fatigue and injuries on my body weren't there. But when I looked down, I saw the injuries didn't disappear as well.

Now, what to choose… It seems I can't [Inspect] them and I don't want a skill with a negative side, so the best bet would be [Grand Mind Magic]. Plus using [Telepathy] without having the skill is useful. Also since it's grand, I might be able to use [Telekinesis].

[Nightmare Magic] and [Dream Magic] sound like skills I can get by eating later on, so that proves my point even further for selecting [Grand Mind Magic].

[Would you like to receive [Grand Mind Magic] as your reward?]

Yes…

[Skill has been granted]

[Day 37]

I blink once and I'm back at the broken stone building. I try to move my body but saw the insane amount of injuries that I have. Closing my eyes, I sense the injuries I received during the test had passed onto my actual body. A bit below my left knee and under was cut off while my entire left arm was gone as well.

My bleeding wasn't stopping anytime soon.

『Status』

[Name: Arpious]

[Race: Lamassu of Ancient Fires]

[Status: Near Death]

[Servants: 6]

[Subordinates: 7]

[Pets: 1]

[Level: 39/100]

[HP: 47/700 MP: 79/500 SP: 102/500]

…

*sigh*

[Summon: Phoenix]

"Heal me," I barely mutter.

The phoenix shoots white flames but they did absolutely nothing. The white flames coated my body and I felt something unravel around my heart but that's all.

[Mark of a Berserker has been removed]

Are you kidding me… it was that easy.

[Summon: Overlord Deer]

[Summon: Overlord Wolf]

Both guardians appear next to me with a sad face which the phoenix quickly keeps in check. They then noticed my injuries and started to panic before I gave them orders.

"Phoenix… carry me back to the kingdom and do it fast otherwise I'm going to die. Wolf and Deer… HUFF HUFF... carry those broken bones, this strange grey orb, and the dragon corpse back to my kingdom. I'm too numb to move my head so you'll have to dig it out," I barely mutter.

They all nod their heads while growing in size. The wolf and deer run off while the phoenix picks me up by its beak and places me on its back. It flaps its wings and takes off towards my kingdom instantly.

It descended slowly down the mountain so I wouldn't fall off but that just made me suffer more. The cold was chilling until the phoenix used its white fire on my body.

It took about 3 hours to get back and I was barely hanging on. Once I arrived at the front of my castle, the phoenix shrunk and carried me towards the entrance.

My vision was blurry and my hearing was muffled but I swear I heard Aika panicking. I heard her calling out to the maids to bring a healer. I also heard my other wives starting to panic but I couldn't console them since I couldn't open my mouth anymore.

Not even 5 minutes later did I feel a warm glow and instantly become drowsy. I was able to see my wives before I fell onto the pillow behind me and thought,

'My inner demon wasn't letting me move on but now that I have a new life, I'll live how I want, unhindered by my past life. There are times when you have to move on. No matter how much you regret the past, the past is the past, you can't change it so you can only move forward and live a better life… so that's what I'm going to try and do from now on… hehe… Arpious of the Planes huh… sounds nice,' I say mentally before falling asleep.