We were watching the power waves fading away, but what made Joshua anxious wasn’t something hidden there. The number of times he looked up diagonally into the sky was increasing, and the intervals were getting shorter.
He could always see what I could only see by entering the absolute domain. The sun was setting behind him. He was looking up to check the sky this time as well, and his anxiety was noticeable.
I felt like I needed to witness with my own eyes what was causing Joshua nervous.
The message popped up as a headache appeared, as if an icy spike was drilling into my brain.
Zap!
[You have entered the Realm of the Ultimate.]
Things that definitely existed but couldn’t be seen now appeared. The Great Green’s spirit was writhing high in the sky, along with a small jaw. Doom Arukuda’s mouth was indeed tiny. I could imagine what sort of hideous face it would have if it revealed its entirety. Its eyes would occupy most of the face, and the jaw would be small as a dot, making it difficult to distinguish it as a mouth.
Doom Arukuda was chewing the massive spirit of the Green with such a tiny mouth. If mental figures could bleed, then the sky would be stained in blood by now. Since that was not possible, all Green could do was writhe in agony.
Even then, the tiny mouth clamped onto the head of the gigantic soul. It felt like I could hear the sound of it chewing.
This was how far Arukuda had intervened in this area. Also, it appeared that Joshua was only focused on that scene. It was obvious that his vision was narrower than mine as he couldn’t see the phenomena unfolding beyond.
I was certain of this because if he could see the same thing as me, he wouldn’t have been anxious just by seeing the Green getting swallowed. Further away, Doom Kaos and the Old One were fighting.
Two essences of energy, which could never be merged, filled the space in the sky. At least in my view, the entire sky was tangled with the black and white energy, like pouring equal amounts of black and white oil on a water surface. It was a bizarre scene that naturally caught my eye.
The confrontation was so exquisite that it felt more like a fundamental phenomenon of the universe than a collision of two powerful forces. It was like Tai Chi.
What are you looking at?
Joshua asked as he realized that I was looking at the sky.
“Doom Kaos and the Old One. They are blocking each other from interfering.”
Joshua’s eyes narrowed, and wrinkles formed between his brows and the corners of his eyes. However, it seemed that he couldn’t see the same thing with his ability no matter how he concentrated his view. He asked a question out of misunderstanding.
Are their powers affecting you, Master?
My scrunched-up face was reflected in Joshua’s eyes. He seemed poised to take some action at any moment. In fact, a squirming movement was captured just above his head. The soul of the ancient dragon he had ridden before was now gone, but it was about to be summoned again. The semi-transparent soul of a gigantic dragon was emerging from its head.
“I just intensely focused my Sense,” I answered, shifting my gaze to him.
[You have left the Realm of the Ultimate.]
The power of Doom Kaos and the Old One, which had filled the entire sky, was no longer visible. The same went for the small mouth of Doom Arukuda that was devouring the Green. The sky had returned to the sunset of an ordinary day.
However, it was just because they were no longer visible without me focusing my Sense. Ever since I confirmed that Doom Kaos and Old One were confronting each other in a distant realm, an uneasy feeling began to cling to my entire body.
On the other hand, a thought of how to get rid of such entities crossed my mind.
That was when the purpose of my coming here began to unfold before my eyes. The wavelengths that had already been weakening completely vanished. A bright light surged from the sinkhole below, and I could tell at a glance. What lay there was something of the Old One.
“I will see you later, Master.”
I hurled myself down with Joshua’s words as the cue. A sphere wrapped in a pure white aura of divine power awaited me. It was as big as me, and when placed right in front of me, my entire range of vision was immediately filled with bright light.
The moment I reached out my hand to it, the aura began to crawl up my arm like thousands of snakes from the point of contact. Whatever this was, I was determined that I would willingly endure terrible pain if that was required to obtain this.
Then, the white aura wrapped around my face. I gritted my teeth as it slowly climbed up from below my field of vision.
Come. I don’t care what you are.
***
I thought about the experience of throwing myself at Doom Kaos. The pain that felt like my whole body was being sliced by blades was not the priority. The most important thing was to resist from being mentally dominated by these things.
However, the attack was absurd as if it had become free from the Old One’s control when it broke away from it. Other than strangling me like a mad anaconda, there was nothing particularly special…
“Kuak.”
I had long lost my sense of time while gasping in pain.
[Passion has been activated.]
[Through the effect of the trait Passion Lv. 9 (Lv. Max), a powerful defense system that protects the body, mind, and soul has been completed.]
When the message appeared, I realized a lot of time had passed for the Passion to be completed. The mighty force that had been strangling my body began to wane. As my airway cleared and I was able to take deep breaths…
Huff—
The heat that had filled my mouth gushed out as steam, clouding my surroundings. The white light of the aura had also significantly faded. It was hard until it was completed, but the effect of the Passion was amazing.
The force that had bound me could no longer inflict pain on me. It tightened and loosened around me, and eventually, it slackened completely. Now, I could grasp it like holding a rope with two hands, so that it couldn’t escape.
After I unraveled it and threw it away, it gathered into a sphere much smaller than before. It was neither an item nor anything else yet. Therefore, the system didn’t pop up a specific window.
However, soon after I clutched it in one hand and thrust it into my chest, I felt an area within my inner world rapidly expand.
Like lag coming immediately, countless windows appeared, overlapping and even making notification sounds.
Ding!
Ding!
[* This is a Privilege that does not exist in the Old One’s System.]
[Please assign a name to the new Privilege.]
Looking at the numerous windows, I realized what the Old One had dropped.
[You have named it ‘System Administrator.’]
***
It was a pitch-black night with dawn not yet breaking. Joshua’s gaze followed me.
“Arukuda has finished its meal.”
As he said this, he glanced past me to look somewhere further. However, nothing had appeared behind me.
Now, Arukuda will reveal its ambition for the Master’s possessions.
Joshua was looking at the Great Silver placed inside my storage box. I entered the Realm of the Ultimate and checked the sky. The phenomenon where Doom Kaos and the Old One were tightly entwined was nowhere to be found, and only their gazes were falling like moonlight.
The sky, which seemed like something was about to happen at any moment, had become quiet.
“Doom Arukuda’s gaze is gone, along with that of the Great Gold.”
“Their abilities are not perfect, Master.”
You will be able to catch them before long.
Joshua was visibly relieved. It must have been a very tense moment for him, as his relief was quite apparent.
Anyway, he seemed to guess that I had obtained a great power from below. He was obviously mistaking the now-completed Passion in me as what I would be like forever.
“What I got below was…”
It was essentially a statement to Doom Kaos as it was eavesdropping on me.
“Nothing useful. I had no choice but to take it because it was there. It is regrettable that I couldn’t live up to Doom Kaos’s expectations.”
I continued, “After the Stage of Advent, the Awakened lost their system abilities. What I obtained was merely the capability to restore that. What gain is there in telling the Awakened that I can restore the system’s abilities? Besides, we need the energy to be invested here to do that. Where can we get that tremendous amount of energy?”
Joshua was looking at me as he understood the intention behind my words.
I added, “I had been looking forward to offering the power of the Old One to Lord Doom Kaos, but this is trash. He must be very disappointed too. To live up to His expectations even a little, I will have to offer the head of the Elf Queen to Him before she escapes.”
Joshua’s eyes didn’t waver a bit. He knew better than anyone that not a shred of sincerity was mixed into my words.
“Let’s go to the frontlines.”
I took the first step, then Joshua sent me his inner voice.
Congratulations.
As expected, Joshua knew exactly what I had obtained. In that case, Doom Kaos would have noticed it. He was not dragging me in front of him right now, but if I were to face him…
But he wouldn’t have any clever ways. There was no way to take away the power that had been absorbed into me unless he killed me and extracted it.
Moreover, I had an excuse. If I hadn’t absorbed what was left there, then the power would have scattered all around.
Once again, Joshua sent his voice to me.
You have taken one more step closer to the divinity, Master.
He was rejoicing at my acquisition of that power as if it were his own accomplishment.
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