Chapter 128 - Dance Of Light And Dark

As the tainted, obsidian blood from the creature landed on his skin, it evaporated in an instant, cleansing his body of unwanted impurities. The second of these gluttonous giants attempted to avenge its kin, raising a colossal club formed of a raw chunk of stone into the air.

Any attempt at an attack was completely halted by it as Ren's palm was pressed against its bulging stomach, moving with such a speed that it froze out of surprise more than innate fear.

"Negative Karma: Extinguish."

Releasing the words with utmost eloquence, a pulse emitted from his palm throughout the monster's enormous figure. It was instantaneous and without pain, the force manifested by Ren vibrating through the creature's body before releasing a sudden volatile force exploding through, blowing it apart into rotten smithereens.

Numbers didn't make any difference, the finally awakened innate ability of Ren ran rampant. After almost a year of keeping this power bottled up subconsciously, finally releasing it felt like stretching out a limb he never knew he had.

The intense, overflowing nature of the manifested ability drove him into ecstasy, as if enacting his own lucid dream, overpowering the many fiends of the labyrinth that attempted to stand to him.

To call it a man facing an army of monsters wasn't right. Such a thing would imply that the singular person was fighting an uphill battle.

In this scenery of bloodshed, it was the creatures of the labyrinth who began to fight out of the instinct to survive, while the human flourished a desire for violence. When such power came into play, it simply became one force versus another. And the weaker of these two forces will fall to the will of the other, that is an undeniable truth.

The many undead goblins, covered in decrepit, fatal wounds used their intelligence to devise a form of offense rather than mindlessly taking charge as the rest of the fiends did. They took up posts atop the high-reaching walls of Asterius' chamber, catapulting stones etched with rune magic.

Engulfed in battle with the ground-level beasts, Ren wasn't able to sense this underhanded assault until just before the impact. As soon as these magic-enchanted rocks met with the ground, the runic seals activated--unleashing small, but high in number explosions across the chamber. His heightened instincts threw him forward, but not before one of these magical blasts collided against his body, throwing him back as he landed on his feet.

"...Goblins. As crafty as ever."

Checking his body, he managed to avoid the brunt of the explosion, only leaving non-factor cuts across the left side of his body.

In the state he was in, his pride reached beyond the clouds, to be inflicted any level of harm by the bottom-feeder fiends sent him into a flurry of anger. Even in his wrath, it didn't feel as so, feeling his own spirit alleviate the emotion--as was the price of enlightenment.

"I have to hand it to you bunch, you're smarter than these weaklings. However...Before me, all are equally helpless."

Positioning his gaze towards the squadrons of rotten goblins that lined the peak of these old walls, Ren raised one arm to the side.

"Hama Yama."

The words manifested themselves into his grip in the form of a long, two-meter bow. Using his amplified sense of sight, he could see them as clear as day, as if he was standing directly in front of them. Most of them had open wounds displayed across their decomposing bodies, displaying blackened flesh and hollow bones.

Raising his bow leisurely, sliding the string back caused a hesitance to every monster inhabiting the room, allowing for the summoned spirits to dismantle a group of distracted undead giants with their ethereal blades.

"...First their weapons."

Whispering to himself, an arrow breathed itself into existence, positioned between his supple fingers that prepared to unleash its destructive power. As the undead scavengers moved their hollow bodies, unclaimed by death, desperately loading in more ammunition into the makeshift catapults--Ren released his hold on the feathered, airborne spear.

Traversing the still winds, the arrow suddenly made an abrupt shift in direction, turning to the left with an intense speed guiding it. It had locked onto the set of slings, zipping through the air before crashing into the first of these shoddily made weapons, breaking it apart into a hail of timber.

No time was spared as the singular arrow continued on its path to the next target, rocketing through another catapult with a serene light coiled around its form.

As the flung tool of catapult-destruction finished its rounds, Ren finished with a quiet utterance to himself, "Hama Yama: Part The Sky."

Following his command, particles of light began to conjure in the path the arrow had traveled in, from its initial impact to its final one. These small, almost miniscule specs of light radiated with great intensity, bubbling up into releasing into a stream of light that stretched across the precipice of the walls.

All at once, the dynamically weaved tunnel of light melted the decrepit flesh of the goblins, reducing the majority of them into nothing but piles of scattered bones.

"When you find yourself in opposition of the honored one...It is best to give up."

The chamber had been lathered in a mixture of many different fluids from the destruction of the horde: purple, green, red, blue, even black.

"Do any others dare challenge the honored one--"

As Ren announced to the hollowed chamber, a sharp jolt threaded itself through his body as he caressed his own head in a grimace.

It felt as if his muscles had clamped down on his bone, attempting to squeeze them of their essence, causing a full-body cramp to momentarily overtake him. Whether it was his increased pain tolerance or luck, he managed to remain standing.

"...I see. Using the bodhisattva is too much at my current level. Disappear."

Swiping his arm, he did away with the manifested spirits as he caught his breath. Holding his palm over his heart, he felt the cardiac organ rumble against his hand, pumping itself at a hastened pace that sent a cold through his body.

"--I don't know how much longer I can hold this. Where did that damn bull go…"

As if the heavens themselves answered his question, the familiar density underneath the clomp instantly told him of the presence of his foe. Wherever the minotaur had gone, it wasn't to retreat, at least not in the way he had thought.

Asterius now donned a massive hammer in one hand with the battle-axe he always kept close in the other. Awarding himself time away from battle, his ability cleared his body of all injuries, even regrowing the horn that was previously stripped from his head.

"...A battle of attrition? Is that what you intended? No, I'm giving you too much credit."

Still holding his smile, a single cough from Ren blew out droplets of blood from his mouth. Taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm his rapidly beating heart, Ren faced towards Asterius, who seemed to have done away with his blinding anger. It no longer felt like he was putting down a beast, but dueling against another warrior.

Drawing his blade from its scabbard, Ren looked up to the stoic minotaur, feeling a streak of blood trail down his nostril as he smiled faintly.

"Sunyata."

Not another word as spoken, the sharp-steel of Belus met against the rough, unrefined edge of Asterius' axe as a shockwave erupted from the collision of such powerful forces. All it took was that single swing to accelerate the bloody nose Ren had cooked up, ignoring it as he spun around gracefully to evade the meteoric impact of the giant hammer.