Chapter 212: Killing A Conceptual Entity

The blade pierced his skin.

Just as it was about to touch his heart, Neo stopped.

"I'm getting tired of faking it."

His eyes became clear.

"Sorry, but you could never control me since the beginning."

Neo felt a foreign power trying to control him.

"You want me to kill myself?"

He could read the orders Anomaly #33 was giving him.

After that, it was his choice to follow the orders or not.

"Seems like you are confused why I can resist your control," he said and returned his sword to the sheath, not intimidated in the slightest.

"As I said, you could never control my mind. I let you do it."

The noose in Neo's hand started to disappear.

He could feel the confusion of Anomaly #33 in his mind.

"How, huh."

It was normal for the monster to be confused.

Neo's skill was still not strong enough to resist Anomaly #33.

However, he had something else.

[Age]

Thanks to World Core, Demigods gained resistance to elements as they grew older.

Both physically and mentally.

Neo was physically young, but the same was not true for his mental age.

He had lived for eternity.

Anomaly #33, who used Mind Element to control others, could not manipulate his mind unless he let himself be controlled.

Neo's brows rose.

He could feel the emotions of Anomaly #33.

"Look at you, your confidence returned as soon as you received the answer."

Anomaly #33, a phenomena-type monster, existed as the play of 'Hanged King's Tragedy.'

How could one kill a 'play'?

He shook his head with a sigh.

"Seems like you really think you can't be killed because you are an abstract concept.

"Use your head, why would I go through weeks of nonsense unless I could defeat you?"

Red lightning manifested around Neo.

The Anomaly grew agitated.

It dispersed and tried to escape.

Unfortunately, the black dome, Coffin of Darkness, proved to be an unbreakable cage.

"You can't even break a simple Darkness-based trap. Seems like all you can do is control the minds of other people."

The thick presence of Death surrounding Neo swirled like a typhoon.

It filled the insides of the Coffin of Darkness completely.

The Anomaly #33 had been cornered.

"Since I'm in a good mood, I'll tell you why you are going to die today," Neo said, recalling Kane, who had awakened.

He had purposely cornered Kane mentally to put pressure on him and help him awaken.

Neo felt content, knowing Kane could now defend himself.

He spoke the words he had read.

"Case File AZ10CE: Anomaly #33 containment method is as follows:

"Anomaly #33 is a phenomena-type monster.

"It has no physical or spiritual body. It exists as a conceptual entity.

"Anomaly #33 controls its target's mind and makes them act in the play 'Hanged King's Tragedy.'"

Neo explained.

"As the play progresses, Anomaly #33's presence grows concentrated around the 'protagonist' of the play.

"The Anomaly #33 covers the protagonist completely when the play ends. It eats the protagonist's soul after hanging them.

"At the exact moment when the play ends, the presence of the Anomaly #33 reaches its peak."

Neo's words were simple technical jargon he read in documents.

The words were simple and to the point.

They looked like a normal monster information file,

information that needed countless sacrifices before it could be completed.

Neo, having lived in the apocalypse for the past weeks, could picture how many people had died and would continue to die at the hands of Anomaly #33.

"To defeat Anomaly #33, seal the area around the protagonists of the play as soon as he is hanged. "Using an isolation space barrier is recommended."

The red lightning thrashed around wildly.

Neo could feel Anomaly #33's presence disappearing.

"After Anomaly #33 is sealed inside the barrier along with the protagonist of the play, use Death element to kill everything present inside."

Death element could kill everything.

Physical body. Soul.

Even abstract concepts.

Mastery in element needed to be high to kill abstract concepts, of course.

But it wasn't a problem for Neo, who was on the verge of reaching Expert-rank mastery.

"I didn't kill you earlier because your presence was spread throughout the city, and you could escape the city too if you were in danger.

"But now?

"Now you are trapped with me."

The red lightning suddenly returned to Neo's body.

For a moment, nothing happened,

like the calm before the storm.

Then, the presence of Death erupted from Neo, dozens of times stronger than before, and everything within the Coffin of Darkness was erased.

…

Outside Coffin of Darkness

"Ugh… he could've held back," Kane groaned.

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His forehead was swollen due to Neo's flick.

He stood up and noticed the citizens were writhing on the ground.

"This must be Neo's doing."

A smile was about to appear on Kane's face when suddenly he sensed something.

He snapped his head towards the south side.

"Having my senses strengthened because I awakened feels… weird.

"It's like I can see through the walls, taste food that is kept far from me, hear ants walking on the ground."

Kane looked at his arms.

The influx of information did not overpower his brain.

He felt comfortable, as if he was a fish who had finally returned to the water.

"The statue monsters have returned."

Kane could tell the identity of the monsters who appeared within his range.

He took a look at the Coffin Of Darkness and rushed towards the approaching statue monsters.

"I can't let them disturb Neo."

A few seconds later, Kane learned a lesson.

Newly awakened awakeners were not superior to humans in terms of physical strength by a large margin.

He was breathing heavily by the time he encountered the first statue monster.

"Only one…."

Dozens of statue monsters appeared around Kane, forcing him to clamp his mouth shut.

Over the building, hiding behind cars, standing next to trees.

The statue monsters were everywhere.

"I'll be damned."

Kane smiled grimly.

He was feeling weak due to not having eaten anything for the past few days.

The sprint earlier only made it worse.

"You saw my face! I'll kill you!"

The statue monster nearest to him pounced.

It moved so fast that its body blurred.

The monster was suddenly before Kane, its claw heading towards his throat.

Only a single thought occupied Kane's head while he faced imminent death.

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The world lost its color, becoming monochrome.

Everything started to move in slow motion.

Kane saw a red line connecting the tip of his sword to the monster's neck.

He followed the line.

His body moved instinctively, as if he had practiced the move hundreds of times.

He ducked under the monster's attack and jumped lightly, before slashing towards its neck.

The monster's head fell off, separated from its neck.

"Hufff! Huff!"

Kane fell to his knees.

The world became colorful again, and everything returned to its normal pace.

Before he could stand, another monster kicked his abdomen.

He was flung away.

"Cough! Cough!"

Kane puked blood.

He could see dozens of monsters rushing at him.

They had no intention of giving him a break.

'What was that?'

'It felt like time slowed, and I could… I could see the sword path to defeat the monster with a single slash.'

'Is that my trait?'

Kane jumped to his feet and raised his sword to block the incoming attack.

Although he blocked successfully, he was thrown away again.

He was too weak physically to face the monsters.

'I… need to… use my trait again…'

'The awakeners I met… in the past said using traits is like breathing.'

He rolled on the ground to dodge the attacks.

Each bone in his body cried from pain, but Kane did not stop.

He had to buy as much time as possible.

'Focus.'

The world lost its color and slowed, only for everything to turn normal the next second.

His trait was activating and deactivating randomly.

'I have to do it!'

A monster stomped its foot towards Kane's head.

Just as the attack connected, the world lost its color.

In the monster's eyes, one moment it was about to kill Kane; next moment something flashed, and in the next, its leg was chopped into hundreds of pieces.

The monster fell, having lost its leg, when Kane's sword flashed again and its body was split into two.

"Huff! Blergh!"

Kane tried to stop his trembling and stood with the support of his sword.

He was bleeding too much.

His eyes, however, were calm.

He exhaled, gritting his teeth.

He forced his broken body to move through pure will and pointed his sword at the monsters.

"Come, you naked bastards! I won't let you take a step towards Neo!"

The monsters rushed towards Kane, and he clashed with them.

…

Inside Coffin Of Darkness,

Neo stared at the burnt rope on the ground.

"So you survived by manifesting a physical body."

The rope wriggled, as if it couldn't contain its happiness and smugness.

Everything around him was erased.

Only he and the burnt rope remained.

"I guess being able to control others didn't make you smarter.

"Why did you think I went out of my way to talk to you earlier?

"I wanted you to fight back and do anything in order to survive."

The Anomaly #33 realized something was wrong.

It tried to return to its conceptual form, but Neo grabbed it before it could escape.

A starry glow covered his hand.

A smile appeared on Neo's face.

'Finally, i can defeat it now.'

Neo had been bluffing until now.

He couldn't kill abstract concepts.

Apprentice-rank mastery of Death allowed one to kill physical entities.

Adept-rank mastery of Death allowed one to kill soul entities.

One had to have Expert-rank mastery to kill a conceptual entity.

Neo had nearly reached Expert mastery.

However, it didn't change the fact he had not reached Expert mastery.

"Thank you for turning into a physical entity.

"I can defeat you now since I can use my blessing on you."

'And I'll be able to gain a new ability.'

He held the rope tightly and used the second stage of his blessing.

[Judgement]