Chapter 390: 1 vs 1000 (3)
"Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow: Mirage."
In the blink of an eye, a thousand shadow clones struck him down.
Their blades tore through his flesh with terrifying ease—
The same flesh Ragna had failed to even scratch.
Lawrence let out a monstrous howl,
but his body regenerated at a terrifying pace—morphing into something even more grotesque and hideous.
Spewing dozens of red tendrils, the ghoul lashed out wildly ...
Destroying the battlefield, uncaring of friend or foe.
Those tendrils were unbelievably fast and devastating ..
Everything they touched was reduced to nothing more than bloody pulp.
And yet—
I found myself charging toward him once again.
Wielding both of my swords, I tore through those filthy tendrils at lightning speed ...
His black blood splattering and mixing with the red of his own soldiers.
I kept cutting.
Again and again.
Lawrence kept screaming ..
Each time his body changed, twisting into new, horrifying shapes.
He turned into a grotesque form covered in dozens of mouths.
Then, the ghoul tried to devour me—
And this time, he succeeded.
His many maws clamped shut around me, unleashing a terrifying crunch that echoed across the battlefield...
Slash!!!!
In less than a second, dozens of violet arcs exploded from within those gaping maws—ripping them into countless shreds.
With bloodshot eyes, I lunged at the ghoul once more, cutting him into ribbons again and again.
Black blood poured from Lawrence’s body, but each time, he regenerated—adopting a new form to clash with me once more.
That monstrous smile of his never wavered.
He kept howling.
Dozens of fists and massive mouths formed around him as the ghoul attacked from every direction.
Lawrence... wasn’t ordinary.
He was one of the hybrid demons with the highest purity among them.
Unlike others like Gvardiol or Mirgo, who were half-demon, half-human—
Lawrence was more like 80% demon... and only 20% man.
That made him a true monster.
A deadly threat with near-instantaneous regeneration.
A difficult opponent, no doubt—
But that didn’t matter to me.
His attacks left me with countless wounds.
And that only made him grin wider, tasting my blood with delight.
"Are you happy just because you managed to wound me?"
I asked coldly, murderous intent pouring from my voice as I resumed slicing him apart.
"You’re not the only one who can regenerate."
For a moment, my body was drenched in blood ..wounded and broken, every breath weighing me down.
But the next second—
Those grotesque wounds began to heal on their own.
I increased my assault speed several times over, trying to turn him into nothing but minced flesh.
...
Shadow Adaptation: 3/7
Phase One: Adapt to the enemy’s style and counterattack regardless of the situation.
Phase Two: Extreme regeneration—perfect cellular reconstruction using the user’s Aura to rebuild the body again and again.
Phase Three: ???
---
"I think I’m finally starting to understand this ability..."
With a bloody smile, I fought like a madman, caring little for what might happen to me.
"Let’s see who’s faster!"
Slash!!!!
I fired arc after arc of dark energy like a lunatic ..
Tearing the ghoul’s body apart without pause, forcing his black blood to spill endlessly.
"My blades... or that ridiculous regeneration of yours!!"
Both Lawrence and I screamed as we launched ourselves at one another again.
A roaring monster over six meters tall—
Versus one man, who carved through his flesh without end.
The earth shook beneath us as his giant mouths kept trying to devour me.
And each time I cut him, Lawrence grew even larger.
With a thunderous roar that shook the sky, the ghoul hurled me away with all his might—uncaring for the soldiers caught in his rampage.
Still, I kept leaping, dodging, slashing—
Dark Aura bursting nonstop from my blade.
Again and again, I tore into that nearly immortal body of his with overwhelming speed and unrelenting power.
After attacking me from all sides with his monstrous mouths and giant tendrils—
Lawrence realized he was at a serious disadvantage.
That’s when he bellowed with all the rage he could muster:
"Attack him!!!
All of you!!!"
He commanded the last of his remaining soldiers.
They were all powerful captains—
Ones who had fled earlier, too afraid of getting caught in the ghoul’s slaughter.
But now... he was summoning them back.
"But... sir..."
Some hesitated, but Lawrence let out a louder roar as he kept attacking.
"Kill him now or I’ll kill you myself!!!"
His bloodthirsty killing intent fell upon them like a curse.
And in the next moment, the last of the Ultras charged—
Rushing into the battlefield now covered in gaping maws and slicing tendrils.
Their swords burned with Aura as they closed in, surrounding me alongside the tendrils.
All of them were ranked above S ..
Making it nearly impossible to hold them off while still dealing with Lawrence.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! ×10!!
I found myself fending off all of them at once .. Countering with a storm of blades.
But then ..
One of Lawrence’s tendrils slipped right through his own soldiers,
Killing them in the process,
And tore into the right side of my body without warning.
He kept attacking,
Completely indifferent to his troops—
Using them as disposable meat shields to distract me.
As they screamed in horror, faces twisted by fear, I was assaulted from every direction.
I managed to block many attacks ..
But far too many made it through.
Blood gushed from every wound,
My organs nearly spilling out.
The damage was catastrophic.
Deep, devastating wounds.
Their swords pierced my flesh—
And through them... Lawrence attacked as well.
I felt my body begin to fall,
Slowly tipping backward—
Until I collapsed toward the ground.
But just before my back could hit the bloodstained, filthy ground ...
I somehow caught myself.
Mere centimeters from the earth soaked in gore and filth...
I forced my body to stop.
Eyes bloodshot, body torn open by blades and tendrils that had pierced me endlessly...
I pushed forward, dragging myself upright once more.
"I... won’t fall!!!"
I won’t lose.
I won’t fall.
I won’t allow it.
Not while those images flash before my eyes...
The image of Danzo, bleeding just as much—if not more—somewhere far from here.
"I won’t fall!!"
With a defiant scream, I spread both my blades wide, forcing them all back as violet lines surged across my torn body.
"Ignition!!!"
In less than a second ..
Darkness swallowed the world.
And in the next moment—
A torrent of violet Aura erupted, engulfing the entire battlefield in an explosion that incinerated both the Ultras and Lawrence behind them.
The massive pillar of Aura soared skyward, shaking the ground and obliterating the last remnants of the Ultras ..
Tearing away a large chunk of Lawrence’s body, Forcing a monstrous scream from his throat as he leapt away from the blast.
But before he could land—
I crashed into him like a falling meteor.
"You’re not going anywhere!!!"
With both swords in hand, I swung at full force.
Ripping through his filthy flesh again and again—
My screams mixed with his agonized roars.
He tried to strike with his tendrils—
But I severed them all.
Him along with them.
Standing atop his broken body,
I kept slashing, kept tearing him apart—
Faster.
Harder.
My strikes far outpaced his vaunted regeneration.
And then ...
Within less than a minute ..
The ghoul’s monstrous body finally burst apart.
Revealing the scrawny young man squirming at my feet.
I stood over a pool of red and black blood,
My body ruined, my breath ragged...
I stared down at Lawrence,
Now screaming in fear—muttering incoherent words between broken sobs.
His arms... gone.
His legs... gone.
The ghoul...
Couldn’t regenerate anymore.
"Aya... ayayayayayaya!!"
The filthy demon wailed.
A shriek that pierced my skull.
So without hesitation ..
I severed his head with a single slash.
Letting his final blood soak the cursed soil.
"That’s it... hooofff... the end..."
I staggered, barely able to stand.
Leaning on my swords,
I dragged myself through the field of corpses and rivers of blood...
Away from the pit of hellfire and ruin.
I walked on,
My body broken—my soul drained.
"I have to reach them..."
I had to move faster.
"I have to get to him..."
Danzo...
"I have to help him..."
I could barely see ahead ..
Staggering... exhausted... shattered.
"I did it..."
I’d made it.
"I killed a thousand men..."
I did it.
I really did it.
Trying to steady myself...
That fleeting feeling of salvation didn’t last long.
Because the moment I killed a thousand men ..
I slammed headfirst into the next wall.
I stopped in my tracks—
My face worn, my eyes disbelieving.
I stared...
At the old man standing in front of me.
Tattered robes.
A single blade.
An old man who stared at me just as disbelieving.
"What... are you?"
He asked—his hand resting atop the hilt of his sword.
This life.
This fate.
No sooner had I survived my brutal war...
Than they threw me, without mercy, into the next one.
Before Mirgo,
Lord of the Dark Hive...
An Ultras Lord standing between me...
And the ones I had to reach.
This life...
Kept cornering me from every side ...
Even to the very end.