A System That Beats Death

He then glared at the mummy which had interfered with his duel against the Diabolic One. Seeing that Revel"s attacks had no effect on the mummy, he also decided to interfere with their match. Using chat to notify Revel, he then unleashed a gigantic wave of water at the mummy. It tried to dart away but Revel took hold of its wrappings and held it in place. As the wave of water crashed onto the two, the mummy wailed in pain while Revel continued the battle with renewed vigor.

Due to being drenched, it had taken considerable damage and could no longer properly manipulate sand. Meanwhile, the Holy Supremacy joined the Duke of Sloth in fending off the robot. The surviving Demon n.o.bles also took part in the onslaught as they could partially contribute due to the sheer number of people combating the robot. With its vice grip, it could crush bones but that was trivial compared to being devoured.

The Diabolic One looked on in shock as he had not expected the World Traverser to have the ability to discharge or create water. The prophecy only mentioned an ability related to blood which could devastate the world and that his arrival would be foretold by the Trial of Wrath. He started doubting the general interpretation of the prophecy and began to ponder if the blood manipulation was merely a subset of water manipulation.

After weakening the mummy, Atlas returned to focusing on the Diabolic One. Gripping the hilt of his blade, he rushed forward and drew multiple arcs in the air. Each slash was deflected by a hidden blow and flurries of slashes were avoided altogether. Despite the blatant cowardice, the Diabolic One was still a formidable foe. However, his evasion seemed to stem not from skill but from an ability.

As Atlas continued to swing his sword, the Diabolic One refused to exchange blows and continually avoided direct confrontation. Finishing the preparations, Atlas" index finger which was the center of over ten thousand strands, moved in a taunting fashion.

[Technique Learned: Silk Prison]

An entrapment consisting of thousands of nearly invisible silk strands that coordinated to form a coc.o.o.n surrounded the Diabolic One. As the formation shrunk rapidly, the Diabolic One abruptly vanished.

"I understand now. It"s your spatial property not your combat prowess", Atlas stated before looking behind him.

"You"re definitely not the World Traverser...no..You"re far worse. For once, I am proud of my duty. I will rid the universe of monsters like you", the Diabolic One said before he began to expand.

In one corner, a pile of sc.r.a.p metal began to malfunction while Revel had finally managed to crush the mummy"s heart. The amount of Demon n.o.bles remaining were only 2 dozen and most of them were unable to remain conscious. The battered Duke of Sloth and the exhausted Holy Supremacy moved towards Atlas along with Revel. The four stood together as they watched the Diabolic One writhe while transforming.

"Your sole purpose was to stop the World Traverser yet you have invited an even more treacherous calamity. Do you not want to repent for your sins?"

"What sins am I repenting for? My parents were the ones who led me down the path of hubris. What"s even worse is that somehow they"re not here but I am", Revel roared in anger. He thought, their purpose was obviously to be fed to the undead dragon and that the Diabolic One was just being spiteful as he was indifferent to their unjust suffering.

"Monk, why are you siding with demons? Do you not fear Heaven"s wrath?"

"From my perspective, you are far more demonic than they are"

Realizing that he was unable to get through to any of them or influence them in any way, he could only continue the ritual.

"Oh deity, I have sinned. Consume me as I am gluttonous and deprive me for my avarice. As the Servant of this Realm, I request the genocide of all remaining", the Diabolic One chanted before once again, the entire realm started to quake.

Intending to combine his spatial property with the Sin of Gluttony, he intended to devour the realm and through the Sin of Greed, reincarnate with greater prowess. Sensing the tears in the realm, Atlas immediately took action and used Soul Imbuement offensively.

[Technique Learned: Soul Bombardment]

Millions of vengeful souls gathered to exact retribution. They ranged from having recently died to being dead for over a millennium. The one thing that they all had in common was that they were imprisoned in h.e.l.l by the Diabolic One in the previous cycle. Some of them deserved their punishment as they truly were vile beings but that didn"t lessen their rage. As pure incarnations of Wrath, the desire of vengeance granted them an eternal but insufferable existence. Finally having the chance to be set free, all of them a.s.saulted the Diabolic One which had already destabilized his soul through being consumed by the Sin Qualifications.

As more and more souls voluntarily convoluted his will, his body imploded into a ma.s.sive void that began to expand endlessly like a black hole.

Turning to the three, Atlas said, "I will sever his connection to the realm" and entered the void.

In the void, the emaciated spirit of the Diabolic One lay shackled against a nonexistent wall. Noticing Atlas" arrival, he grinned and began to laugh maniacally.

"You should have just accepted your demise. Now you"ll also have to be a mere slave like I am", the Diabolic One said with glazed eyes.

Atlas ignored him and continued walking forward. The path which he had followed ended with a door that had 7 slots. Since there were 8 Purgatory Shards, he a.s.sumed it required the Sin Qualifications and took out the 4 which included the ones given by the Duke of Pride. Upon inserting all 4, the Sin Qualifications of Wrath, Gluttony, and Greed then drifted away from the Diabolic One and inserted themselves into the slots of the door.

All 7 slots turned and the door began to open. Taking one step into the room, his vision then began to distort.

[Trial of Existence Inflicted]

The void remained but the door had vanished. A dark and treacherous silhouette then appeared in front of Atlas who had been stunned as he did not expect an additional Trial as a reward for obtaining all 7 Sin Qualifications.

"Did you think everything was done after beating my slave? Sure, he might have been strong but in the end, he was but a desperate thing with an unwanted duty, wouldn"t you agree?", the silhouette uttered before smiling ear to ear.

Atlas stared at the sinister shadow which hovered in front of him with suspicion. Compared to the Trials of Sin, this one was distinct. It seemed to have an awareness of itself and the fact that merely existing could be sinful caused him to ponder. He then agreed with the supposed thesis.

"I am indeed different from the rest. The Trials of Sin are like infants when compared to the question of why. Why do you exist? Why do I exist? I am fundamentally different as I don"t judge you through reactions, I evaluate you through exposing you, breaking you, and knowing you"

Intrigued by its audacity, Atlas decided to taunt it.

"And how will you break me? Psychological torture? Heart-rending grief? Castration? Cuckoldry?"

".....Those are interesting ideas", the silhouette muttered with a faltering smile. The smile then increased in magnitude, "Why not?"

"You do realize that I have the capacity to utterly crush you, right? This wouldn"t be the first time, I cheated a trial"

"The Trials of Sin are exploitable but I am not. Clearing the Trial of Envy is quite impressive but why does that give you the confidence to clear me.... Oh... I see you have an ent.i.ty similar to me a.s.sisting you. How amusing", two crimson eyes then appeared on the dark face of the silhouette.

"Don"t you fear it? It"s stronger than you, better than you, and greater than you. If it wanted it could seize your body? What if it"s just a hallucination? After all, it"s only in your head isn"t it?"

To his surprise, Atlas then grinned.

"If it"s just a hallucination then that"d be quite interesting. As that would mean I am managing my own abilities in a peculiar manner. But..", he then turned to leer at the silhouette with an expression that exuded seething fury, "Who are you to question my connection to it?"

The silhouette subconsciously shivered under such a frightening gaze and one of the crimson eyes disappeared.

"Aren"t you even the slightest bit concerned about your perception of reality? Your current experience could be schizophrenia or brain damage. What if you were just dreaming?", the silhouette said.

"Such a dull reality should perish. If I was dreaming then the answer is extremely obvious. I would immediately return through eternal rest"

"Don"t you fear death? The finality of it all. Everything is destined to die and you don"t even have any progeny to continue your legacy"

"Why would I need children? My legacy will die with me as it would perish in an even more intolerable manner if I entrust it to always defective sp.a.w.n"

"Defective? Do you have a genetic illness?", the silhouette taunted.

"Indeed, imagine creating a batch of immature brats that have the power to destroy the world. Unlike me, they"re guaranteed to fail at using their strength to its fullest potential and might even forsake it.... Those who forsake their advantages due to their desire to become "normal"....they make my blood boil"

"You"re being too prideful. Haven"t you heard of the creation surpa.s.sing the creator?"

"You"re the Trial of Existence. Tell me if something nonexistent can surpa.s.s something that exists"

".....Speaking of Trials, why did you not pa.s.s the Trial of l.u.s.t legitimately. All you"d have to do is endure the experience of carnal pleasure"

"Do I look like someone who needs a prost.i.tute? Also, why did you make the Trials so easy?"

Easy? It figuratively coughed up blood as the Trials managed to remain unbeaten for centuries yet the madman in front of him spoke of them like they were elementary math questions.

"Oh! I get it now. You did not want to forsake your lover right?"

The silhouette regained the crimson eye it lost but slightly paused when it felt an extra pair of eyes glare at it. How did another person enter the Trial while this Trial was currently in session? Wait... is that the aura of a Deity? So it must be supervising my interrogation, the silhouette thought.

Gaining a layer of skin, the silhouette continued to taunt, "Did you know that your love is artificial? You yourself have no capacity for love but now you have been manipulated to possess it. Don"t you feel angered? Violated? Disgusted?"

It wanted to continue taunting but the deity began to exert an oppressive aura and exude bloodl.u.s.t.

Was my questioning not adequate, venerable one? The silhouette began to slightly panic.

The bloodl.u.s.t only disappeared when Atlas began to laugh.

"I knew it. It is fine though as I did not hate the sensation"

Unable to find any more cruxes to exploit and fearing the administrative deity, the silhouette began to shimmer and rambled fearing its demise.

"Now that you found love, aren"t you scared of losing it? Your lover isn"t with you after all. She could have fallen in love with someone else, she could have been violated by someone more powerful, or she could have reincarnated and you could have lost her forever? W-"

Atlas interrupted in a tone that demanded total silence, "Total annihilation"

"What does that mean?"

Atlas merely smiled s.a.d.i.s.tically in response to the question.

"You truly are an enigma but in the grand scheme of things, we are all slaves to fate", the silhouette said before returning to being featureless.

"That"s where you"re wrong. I have already transcended the cycle of life and death and I know this isn"t the first time that I"ve utterly derailed the fate of a world", Atlas proclaimed as he thought of the clock he gave Kamui.

"..."

"Don"t lie to yourself. You"re exactly the same as the Trials of Sin. You all judge me with the standard civilized moral compa.s.s"

[Trial of Existence Transcended]

[Objective Completed:

Realm Subsystem Acquired

Nirvana"s Grace Acquired(7 Sin Qualifications)

Corrosive Dragon Marrow Acquired

Bulwark of the Pharaoh Acquired

Cybernetic Core Acquired]

[Key to Purgatory a.s.sembled(8 Purgatory Shards)]

Leaving the rapidly dwindling void, he was bombarded with notifications. Seeing all the rewards gained, he felt ecstatic and even disregarded the fact that zero points were added.

The last reward which had automatically a.s.sembled itself lay in the palm of his hand. He wanted to find what the Key to Purgatory opened but the notification dissuaded him.

[Requirements Not Met]

So he pocketed the key and continued shuffling through his rewards. He equipped the Bulwark of the Pharaoh which did not wrap around his entire body but only the forearm of his left arm. The Cybernetic Core"s description was inadequate so he tried to use his imagination. He held the Core close to his chest to see if it would be absorbed and he would gain the heart of a cyborg.

"Host, that is not the correct way to use the Cybernetic Core"

"Then what is the correct way?"

"The method is currently unavailable"

So it"s useless? Well, I could at least study its composition and improve the complexity of technology, Atlas thought.

"System, what do I do with the Corrosive Dragon Marrow?"

Instead of replying, the System used a Subsystem to hint at its effects.

[Corrosive Dragon Marrow

Type: Ingredient

Grade: Platinum 7

Condition: Radiant

Description: The marrow of an exalted undead dragon. It has the ability to harden bones, increase immunity to toxins, and impart the ability of corrosion]

The entire week after, the 3 Followers groaned in indignation as they were forced to endure the aroma of a magnificent dish that they couldn"t partake in due to it being too poisonous for them to consume.