Chapter 52: Battlefield Grinding II

“That strange hellfire they used to ignite the soul nexus,” Orodan said. “Any idea what it could be?”

Prince Zhou Shan looked apprehensive as the question was asked. He frowned as he spoke.

“It could be a few different things... but one of the most likely is soul-devouring hellfire,” the Prince answered. “A wicked flame unique to the hells which can cause soul explosions in the target. It must’ve been a modified one capable of virulently spreading.”

“I sensed a pulse of world energy go out before the nexus went off,” Orodan added. “From a ring on that Devil’s finger no less. Is that his crown?”

“Yes, having dominion over a world core allows a Sovereign to direct world energy to various ends, as you no doubt know,” Zhou Shan said. “With that thing possessing his body, the puppet Sovereign has essentially ceded control of his world core to the Devil King within.”

Orodan nodded in response, yet in truth his control over world energy wasn’t anything special. In fact, he suspected there were skills related to it which he didn’t currently have. His current abilities with it were limited to increasing or decreasing the density of world energy upon Alastaia.

Using world energy to set a virulent hellfire upon a soul nexus? He wasn’t sure if he could do anything of the sort.

“Before I charge in, tell me more about these bull demons that compose the enemy’s front ranks,” Orodan said as he drew his weapons.

“The rank-and-file chaff of the typical devil army. The cultivators among our foes are pacified only by the fact that they’re mere slaves and not equal soldiers within the army,” Zhou Shan explained. “The puppet Sovereign must have some method of controlling them. Still, while their battle methods are crude, they possess the physical attributes of a body cultivator and can be a genuine threat in melee combat. Forcing our troops to confront fifteen-thousand bull demons first is a devious but undeniably effective tactic. Their cultivators can then sweep in, fresh, to unleash their full might against our exhausted front line.”

“Their loyalty to the enemy doesn’t run deep. Once I eliminated the control mechanisms within their minds, they broke and ran rather quickly,” Orodan said.

“Truly? How many of these bull demons do you think you could subvert in such a manner?” the Prince asked.

“If I managed to gather them together, all of them. Of course, their common-sense measure of keeping respectable distances between each regiment makes it difficult to catch them all in one go,” Orodan answered. “Anyhow, I’ll ask more questions once I’m back here again. For now, battle calls!”

“I’ll be keeping you updated on the status of the battlefield, Orodan,” Zaessythra said as she fluttered about. “If I’m going to sit here and go along with your insane training regimen, then the least I can do is keep you informed.”

He nodded and then turned to take stock of his foes.

Forty-thousand troops. Fifteen-thousand of whom were bull demons. Not a real threat, but enough of a distraction to him that the enemy captains and commanders who were Transcendents and Gods could capitalize. Hells, in the last loop just thirty enemy Transcendents working together had posed a serious threat to him.

Not every enemy Transcendent was a monster. Hells, he estimated he was stronger than a newly ascended Transcendent, and the bulk of them consisted of new ones. Of course, they also had some monsters among them, such as the gold cultivator. The existence of strange and deadly abilities among the enemy was something to respect. Particularly the anti-healing techniques that gold cultivator had used.

It was time for war.

There was no fancy announcement or declaration that Orodan would be facing the puppet Sovereign’s army by himself. One moment, the enemy army was arrayed before him, expecting battle against the third army. And the next...

...space was mangled with brute force and endless power as a Teleportation tore through their space-lock formations. Orodan stepped through, eyes blazing white with excess soul energy.

“The enemy Celestial!”

“Our space-lock formation was overpowered!”

“Front ranks! Advance and engage! He’s isolated!” barked the Transcendent whip cultivator, the commander of the center-line bull demon regiments. Unlike last time, he had no allied forces supporting him. No friendly flying dragons, no allies on the flanks occupying the enemy. No allied Transcendents and Gods occupying a portion of the enemy elites.

Which meant...

“Orodan! The flying fell beasts are converging on your position! You’re about to become the target of focus fire!” Zaessythra warned him mentally. She was the only one he allowed inside his mind to communicate with him. He wouldn’t say he trusted too easily, but she’d given her life for him before.

Last time, he’d seen one enemy unit working together to coalesce into an energy beast, a formation assault which amplified their destructive prowess. Then, they’d stopped firing due to him entering melee and for the threat presented by the rest of the Third Army.

Now, however, as more than ten enemy formation assaults began winding up, Orodan realized that facing an entire army by himself was a tall order.

Each unit of enemy missile troops sent their own volley at him. Four separate barrages of empowered projectiles hit him and blasted holes through his body. Although each bow cultivator in the formation was a mere Grandmaster, when empowered by formation flags and working together, they could strike with devastating power capable of felling even a Transcendent. These units of Grandmaster-level troops weren’t mere chaff. They wouldn’t have been fielded in warfare unless they could present a genuine threat to beings a tier above.

Barrages of fire, water, ice and lightning also made contact, but these weren’t an issue thanks to his resistance skills. The threat came from the missiles delivered by the enemy archers and javelineers.

Arrows, javelins and even a small volley of throwing axes struck him, with the axes hitting especially hard, signifying they were an elite unit. This was just the beginning though, as not even the skies were safe! From above, flying monsters carrying enemy forces rained down all manner of attacks upon his devastated physical form.

He was but chunks of glowing meat upon the ground. And the enemy Transcendents hadn’t even gotten involved yet. Facing a regiment of five-thousand bull demons was one thing. And receiving the assault of multiple enemy ranged units at once, was another.

Orodan was near death.

Yet, in exchange...

...his enemies paid a severe price.

Striking Orodan Wainwright in great numbers without adequate preparation could spell disaster.

“How...! How have all these troops died!” the whip cultivator bellowed in shock and disbelief.

Last time, he’d been struck by a single unit of enemy bow cultivators working in concert. Perhaps the confusion of battle had caused their deaths to be overlooked then. But to now be struck by multiple enemy ranged units, the effect was devastating.

Even if barely, Orodan had survived. The same couldn’t be said for the enemy missile troops who assaulted him though. Over two-thirds of their number were dead, slaughtered by the more than five-fold return of damage. Warrior’s Reciprocity was deadly enough when facing a strong foe. In the context of a battle, it could spell instant disaster, cutting enemy numbers by a third in an instant.

The army of forty-thousand, was now an army of less than thirty-thousand.

“Stop! Hold fire! Hold fire! He can somehow return damage when attacked!” one of the enemy Gods commanding their own formation roared. “We must engage with Gods and Transcendents!”

“Front line! Pull back! Time and Soul cultivators! Replenish casualties!” the gold cultivator in the back ranks ordered. “Captains and commanders, advance and engage the enemy Celestial in combat! Xue Ran! Gather your healers and help offset that ability of his to return damage!”

Orodan reformed, and before the enemy could pull back their bull demon regiments in time... Domain Of Perfect Cleaning shot out. The effects were immediately apparent, and the enemy’s reactions swift.

“Mind cultivators defend! He targets the control mechanisms upon the demons!” the commanding whip cultivator ordered. Unfortunately, it was too late.

The first sign that the five-thousand strong regiment of bull demons had their minds cleansed was when the bloodlust in their eyes suddenly abated. Without corruptive mind control effects upon them, their natural instincts returned. And they realized that facing Orodan was a bad idea. Immediately, they began scattering, refusing to follow the retreat order in a disciplined manner.

“Cowardly slaves! Our front line erodes! Send in the reserves!” the whip cultivator ordered. “Target the Celestial! Now!”

Unlike last time where he’d fought only thirty enemy Transcendents at once. This time, without the distraction and reprieve an allied army provided him... he was up against over two-hundred enemy Gods and Transcendents.DiiScôver new stories on no/v/e()/lbin(.)com

It was totally unfair, and he could put up no resistance whatsoever. Although he did gain four levels in Divine Resistance from the Gods landing their incredibly destructive attacks of divine energy. Frankly, even without the gold cultivator attacking him there were plenty of enemy Transcendents who were especially lethal in their own right. In the last checkpoint loop, he’d not met these foes as they were likely keeping Zhou Shan or the Third Army occupied.

Yet as a gravity cultivator created multiple singularities around his body, forcing his flesh to be torn apart, Orodan had to respect the fact that the forces of the puppet Sovereign had some diverse foes who he couldn’t easily overpower. The shredded chunks of his body were then devoured by an enemy cultivator with a profound level of control over acid, and he was finally killed when the gold cultivator stifled his healing, and a beam of energy destroyed the chunks.

[C$h@ec(kp*oi#nt R#es%to&red]

[U@ses Re^ma#in@ing - 2212]

“My Prince! The puppet’s army has been spotted on the horizon! They... they come in extreme numbers!” a messenger declared.

“They have over two-hundred Gods and Transcendents altogether,” Orodan said.

“Huh? How do you know the exact-”

“Ugh! You’re time looping and fighting the army by yourself, aren’t you?” Zaessythra asked and Orodan nodded. “Why am I not surprised, of course you would do something like this.”

He smiled.

“They’re stronger than I expected though,” Orodan replied. “They killed me before the puppet could even set the soul nexus aflame and cause that gigantic explosion.”

“-what?!” the Prince roared in shock.

“Ah, right. Upon realizing that I won’t work alongside him, the puppet Sovereign decides to set the soul nexus aflame in a bid to cause me permanent damage,” Orodan explained. “From what you explained, it’s something the System itself will punish him for.”

“By the heavens, for that devil to sink so low... I abhor it all the more, yet I cannot blame it,” the Prince said, and then elaborated when Orodan gave him a look of confusion. “Think about it, you’re the single greatest enemy a being of power could have. Once your allegiances are made clear, who wouldn’t want to strike a permanent blow against you?”

It made sense. The Devil King possessing the puppet Sovereign had the pragmatism and decisiveness to sacrifice itself in a bid to strike such a blow.

“Of course, I’ll have to actually reach the puppet Sovereign first,” Orodan remarked. “Fighting the enemy army by myself gets me killed before it even deigns to come out.”

“Is that how you’re doing it? Such a ridiculous method of acquiring strength,” the Prince said. “Yet, if you really are a time looper, then perhaps this is the most effective method. It also does not harm us to have you soften our enemies up.”

“Right, after all, you have to turn around and deal with your tyrannical father after this, no?” Orodan asked, and in response, the Prince’s face took on a stormy look.

“That is... a complicated matter,” Zhou Shan said.

“Alright, we can talk about it after I win,” Orodan said as he picked up his weapons and faced the direction of the enemy. “Eventually, that is.”

He charged the enemy battle lines, ravaged the enemy ranged backlines through reciprocity, routed the regiment of five-thousand bull demons and was then promptly eradicated by the assault of over two-hundred enemy Gods and Transcendents.

At least he’d gained levels in Divine Resistance, Harmony of Vitality and Domain Of Perfect Cleaning for it.

#

[C$h@ec(kp*oi#nt R#es%to&red]

[U@ses Re^ma#in@ing - 2211]

“My Prince! The puppet’s army has been spotted on the horizon! They... they come in extreme numbers!” a messenger declared.

“Alright, what’s the name of that gold cultivator,” Orodan asked. “His abilities are an excellent counter to my self-healing.”

“Eh? What do you mean? The Sovereign of Endless Riches? He’s one of the inner-circle commanders of the enemy forces,” Zhou Shan said. “You have a grudge against him?”

“Far from it, rather, I respect his abilities and the opportunity he’s providing me.”

“Let me guess... you’re time looping against the enemy army?” Zaessythra asked and Orodan simply smiled in response. “Of course, why am I not surprised? How many tries has it been?”

“Only two so far.”

“And the hardest challenge at the moment?”

“The moment when more than two-hundred enemy Gods and Transcendents focus fire on me,” Orodan answered. “I just can’t seem to survive it yet, even if I’ll eventually grow to overcome it. Another issue is that the enemy’s formation spacing doesn’t allow me to cleanse all the enslaved bull demons at once.”

“You can purge them of their masters’ control?” Zhou Shan asked.

“Yes, but I’m wondering how I might go about doing so,” Orodan said. “There are three regiments of them. However. causing one regiment to rout makes the enemy commanders pull back the other two.”

“Why not use Spatial Folds and extend your reach?”

“Spatial Folds you say?”

Now that was an idea.

He kept it in mind as he entered battle once more.

He rushed the enemy army as usual, caused massive numbers of their ranged troops to fall, and when the time came to subvert the enemy bull demons...

...two Spatial Folds were cast to the left and right of him, towards the left and right flanks of the enemy where their remaining bull demon regiments were. Each regiment was five-thousand strong, and Orodan could reach those flanks in a single step if he now wanted.

Yet, that was not his intent.

Domain Of Perfect Cleaning shot out, purging the bull demons of the center regiment, and at the same time the skill shot through the compressed space of the Spatial Folds to the left and right of him. A devious method of extending his reach with the skill.

What was it?

The acid cultivator he’d spoken to in the Third Army’s war camp had explained that acid was a liquid which, through reaction, broke down target material, interacting with the smallet units of matter and breaking them down to further constituent parts. Yet, this was just the fundamental nature of acid.

It had different names in different places. Here, in the Ascendent Sword Cluster, it was the Dao of Acidity. Upon his home world of Alastaia, he’d heard of Acid Mastery. Certainly, the concept of acid wasn’t unique to any particular world or faction. Yet, the concept was empowered and pushed past its limits by the System.

So, while he was on the right track in trying to stop the reaction, attempting to just prevent the acid from reacting wouldn’t help him. Not when System-empowered things could do so much more than what one would expect of them. This enemy acid cultivator’s fluids could corrode even glass, much like his cleaning could purify the mind and soul. Utterly illogical, but he needed to acknowledge that high-level concepts could begin to bend reality.

Then... the key was tying this high-level concept back down to its roots.

Acid achieved its effect through a reaction. A reaction which broke the bonds between a particle and broke it down into smaller parts. To resist it then involved denying the reaction itself. But what if he went even further? What if... the reaction wasn’t possible because there was no smaller part to break something down to. What if his cells were a whole thing in and of themselves?

It was madness, Orodan admitted. Even for him.

To reject the very basis of matter-form composition, that everything was composed of parts which made up a whole. Even the soul, which some quack philosophers often theorized was a thing in and of itself with no parts, was in fact composed of parts. The outer soul layer, the inner soul core, the Blessings and Rewards. And deep within... the skills granted by the System itself. Yet, Orodan refused to entertain this notion.

To create a cell which was a thing in and of itself, with no parts. Was a tall order. Yet, instinctively, he felt he was onto something.

He strained, struggled and bled, yet he felt his mind was on the right track.

What did it mean to create something that was a thing in and of itself? Indivisible, whole... unified.

His body had many parts, the lungs which were responsible for the intake of air, the heart which pumped blood, the veins which carried it in a network across the body. The body, by its very nature, was composed of parts. And each part of the body had different sorts of cells, some specialized, some generic.

The goal then, was to create a cell which could handle each and every one of the body’s functions by itself. A cell that could power the brain, as well compose heart muscle, as well as compose the lungs. A cell that could fit in anywhere and do it all.

Yet even cells had parts they were composed of. To create a cell which had no parts, but was a thing in and of itself, it was madness. His fourteen minds worked together, and all the remaining vitality in his body was smashed together as his iron mind forced reality itself to bend and break to accommodate his desire.

The entirety of his body’s remaining cells coalesced into something. He was down to a single cell, and near darkness... yet this single cell was something else entirely. It couldn’t even be called a ‘cell’ anymore. Something that defied the traditional understanding of matter-form composition. It was unified and indivisible, unable to be dissected and pried apart.

A thing in and of itself.

It’s composition... absolute.

[New Skill (Mythical) → Absolute Body Composition 1]

[New Skill (Rare) → Acid Resistance 26]

Orodan didn’t have time to dwell on the fact that he’d acquired another Mythical skill, nor could he dwell on the fact that this insight was an especially critical one and not at all reflective of the skill rarity. To become something unified and indivisible... just how far could this extend?

The differences were immediately apparent. The gold could no longer find purchase in his veins, because there were no veins to find purchase within. His body was a strange thing now, and he felt that he could breathe through his skin, taste through his eyes and hear through his feet if so chose. Each cell was a thing in and of itself, and his body felt exceedingly strange, yet not in a bad way. It was as though all the functions of his physical form were condensed into each cell.

He’d essentially re-created his own form into something more.

Blood? Air? He needed neither of those as each cell did its own work self-sufficiently, packed with vitality. Life in and of itself.

And with Harmony Of Vitality, he began pushing back against the tide. Acid failed to corrode his cells since there was nothing to break them down to. His cells were a thing in and of themselves, and the gold had vastly reduced effect upon him as well.

Brute force or energy could still destroy him, but no longer would the cells of his body be divided. The acid also began washing over him ineffectively. If he had his old body, the Acid Resistance skill itself would’ve still caused minor corrosion damage. With this new form however, the acid was entirely ineffective as there was no lower base particle to break a cell down into.

Against all odds, despite the cataclysmic assaults crashing into him, he began to heal and recreate his body anew. Cell by cell, Harmony Of Vitality began to heal a new blueprint for his body. With this new form, Harmony Of Vitality wasn’t any stronger, but its task of reforming him anew was made dramatically easier. Now, for the same amount of power, he could heal far more since the blueprint was so much simpler.

His entire body was composed of this new cell. It had no parts, it performed all the functions of his body, and there was no dividing or prying it apart. As a result, he no longer had veins as they weren’t necessary. Organs? Veins? A brain? None of it was needed as each cell in his body could take the place of all of them.

The vulnerable spaces in his body where the gold had infiltrated before were now filled with densely packed muscle. These new cells of his were much more conducive to being tightly packed together too, so he felt his reformed body was at least half again as strong. All his physical abilities felt as though they would go fifty percent farther. He was a human, but one that had altered his own biology to be free of the unnecessary parts.

He’d seen golems at Bluefire, the well-made ones composed purely of one powerful material, and in a sense, he was now similar to them. A human still, but without any organs, veins and unnecessary vulnerabilities. Composed purely of densely packed muscle and bone. Those golems were powered by either their creator’s mana pool, or a power core within. And now, he was a man powered by naught but his soul.

“My acid isn’t working, he must have developed some kind of resistance,” the Scouring Liquid Sovereign said.

“My gold is having a difficult time entering his veins as well... what is this?” the Endless Wealth Sovereign uttered, baffled.

And while Orodan would’ve loved to beat back the enemy ranged tide and engage them in melee to see what they had to offer up close, it wasn’t to be.

“The enemy general is approaching you Orodan!” Zaessythra warned.

Sure enough, he saw the approaching form of a flying fell beast in the air, two familiar figures standing upon it. The puppet Sovereign and the Thousand Broom Sovereign.

“Hold all attacks!” the puppet bellowed. “Time looper, your brazen display of charging my army by your lonesome is admirable and amusing. But do not presume I don’t recognize the possibility that you’ve been looping.”

“Was it obvious?” Orodan asked. “You gave it a fair try, detonating the soul nexus in an effort to permanently cripple me, but I’ve recovered from the complete destruction of my outer soul layer before.”

The puppet Sovereign’s eyes narrowed and the foul thing wearing the face of a man looked to be deep in thought.

“You survived even that? Hmm... you truly are a most troubling foe, I will admit,” the possessed being said, and to its right the Thousand Broom Sovereign looked utterly incensed at the mention of the soul nexus’s destruction. “Very well, you’ve convinced me.”

Orodan had a perplexed look on his face.

“Convinced you of what?”

“That this is unwinnable in the long term.”

The puppet Sovereign’s body promptly exploded. Or rather, something came out of the ruined remains of the possessed man’s corpse.

Seven feet tall, not quite as big as Devil King Gutriyaz, but then this must’ve been a Devil King more specialized in underhanded methods of war. Pitch black skin, deep red eyes the color of rubies, and horns which gave off a fierce aura.

The sight would’ve made Orodan’s blood sing for a fight on any other day. Save for a minor matter...

...the Devil King had turned around and began fleeing.

“Get back here!” Orodan roared and immediately gave chase.

The Gods and Transcendents of the puppet Sovereign’s army were shocked silent, either from the revelation that their general was a puppet possessed by a Devil King, or by the knowledge that the soul nexus had been detonated in a past loop. And their attention was then drawn by the charge of the Third Army who finally decided to intervene.

Leading them was a furious Zhou Shan.

“Pursue the devil! Thousand Broom Sovereign, join us and strike down the Devil King! We need not fight!” the Prince said.

“Prince Zhou Shan! I’ve always had respect for you, but your father is a tyrant whom we cannot defeat without the aid of these foul demons!” the Thousand Broom Sovereign roared back in reply. “Desperate circumstances necessitate this wretched alliance.”

“You’ve seen the power of the Celestial skill bearer with us! You doubtlessly know of the rumor that he is in a time loop! Join us, and we can work to bring down the Celestial Court together and usher in a new era for our people!” Zhou Shan said.

Orodan was the nearest to the fleeing Devil King. And a Spatial Fold brought him right into melee range...

...only to witness the familiar pulse of world energy going out from the crown-shaped ring on its finger.

“The soul nexus!” the Thousand Broom Sovereign called out.

It was an incredibly quick pulse of world energy, and neither Orodan nor anyone else was quick enough to react.

The hellfire contacted the gigantic white vortex of trillions... and in the final moments before disaster struck, Orodan reached out and attempted to lash out with Time Reversal.

[Time Reversal 50 → Time Reversal 52]

[Time Mastery 50 → Time Mastery 51]

His new body was powerful, far better suited to channelling the copious amounts of soul energy running through him. Yet, he was but a candle before a cosmic storm. Generating the requisite amount of power necessary to reverse the destruction of the soul nexus would kill him, and the alternative in any case was its detonation.

The searing white wave of annihilation reached him, and darkness was all he knew.

[C$h@ec(kp*oi#nt R#es%to&red]

[U@ses Re^ma#in@ing - 2179]

“My Prince! The puppet’s army has been spotted on the horizon! They... they come in extreme numbers!” a messenger declared.

Broom in hand, it took Orodan a minute to sweep the camp and get one more level in Domain Of Perfect Cleaning, bringing it up to 86. Which subsequently helped him remember who he was.

“That cravenly devil!” he yelled. “Running away and then detonating the soul nexus again, how irksome!”

Zhou Shan looked outraged at the suggestion of the soul nexus’s destruction, but Zaessythra seemed calm.

“Looping to beat the threat, are we?” she asked, accepting the fact that Orodan had time looped easily enough. “How many more tries do you think you’ll need?”

“Well, last loop I managed to survive their Gods and Transcendents long enough that the puppet Sovereign came in and simply accepted defeat,” Orodan explained. “It was during my pursuit of the devil that it decided to ignite the nexus anyways.”

“So... you won, but then decided to pursue it regardless?” Zaessythra asked. “Why not leave the matter be? Given the foes you have after you, don’t you think you have bigger things to worry about?”

Orodan clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“Yes, and how else do you expect me to acquire the strength to face the approaching foes?” he asked. “If I can’t beat this Devil King and stop its detonation of the soul nexus, then I’m no match for the Celestial Emperor, who’s far stronger. And this Administrator who’s beyond even that? Forget it. There’s only one way forward, and it’s through hard work and death. I know my methods seem nonsensical at times Zaessythra, but in our current circumstances every whetstone we can find before the imminent confrontation is to our advantage.”

“Fair enough. I can already sense your body is... different. More dense and whole. I’m sure you’re working on it,” she admitted. It was a bit strange, to see her agreeing with him on many things nowadays. Then again, he’d begun to prove that his method of training could provide results. “How does it detonate the soul nexus? Hellfire?”

“Yes, it uses a pulse of world energy to begin the chain reaction.”

“Have you tried intercepting the pulse?” she asked.

“Far too fast,” Orodan said. “It reaches the soul nexus quicker than anything I’ve seen so far. And then, using Time Reversal would kill me with the amount of power I’d have to draw upon to reverse the entire nexus.”

“How about cleansing the nexus of hellfire after the reaction begins?” she asked.

“I’ll try that in one of the attempts, but the detonation of the first soul causes a chain reaction that quickly spirals out of my control,” Orodan said. “The entire thing also lasts less than a few moments before annihilation. Although, seeing what I can do in that time would be good training.”

All in all, his one-man crusade against the enemy army had excellent results. Skill gains across the board, the shattering of the enemy bull demons, the massacre of their missile troops and back ranks, and the diversion of all their Gods and Transcendents in combat.

If he fought alongside the Third Army, victory was very much a possibility now.

That was, if the detonation of the soul nexus wasn’t a concern.

An incredibly quick pulse of world energy which caused a chain reaction leading to the soul explosions of trillions. Destruction which could obliterate an entire solar system and without fail managed to eradicate his outer soul layer.

Moving to prevent the explosion in the first place might’ve been the wise move. However, this wasn’t the case. He had over two-thousand checkpoint repeats left, and a loop in which the Administrator would reach the galaxy after a month. Orodan’s methods were stupid to many, but in this case, hard work and determination would be the only things that gave him a fighting chance against what was to come.

And before the arrival of the foe, each and every challenge to surmount was an opportunity to grow stronger.

Still, his ruminations would suffice.

Intercepting the pulse or interfering with the detonation of the nexus wasn’t his way. He had work to do, and a soul nexus to clean.

And it would be done the hard way.