YM778.TV Chapter 267 266. The Fallen.
A white-haired man with an almost disfigured, long bearded figure had slumped down, leaning against the wall and gazing at the ground with his head down and lifeless eyes. His white hair\'s edges had turned black from the dried-up blood stuck on them; his face too was covered in dried-up blood that looked black; his clothes were riddled with holes and cuts, along with his body, which was also in the same state and covered in dried-up blood.
And at least up to a kilometre distance around the man was covered in his dried and fresh blood.
BAM
THWACK
"...." Eshwar\'s lower jaw broke and dangled again, but in the next instance, it healed completely.
THWACK
"...."
THWACK
And the process continued. It had been months since he was actually able to move; if he moved, tonnes of spikes would protrude or shoot out from the mannequin figure, piercing his arms and legs, rendering him unable to move; if he spoke, the nerve that would help him speak would be cut off; if he tried to use mana from the surroundings, they would be devoured by the black smoke; if he used the aether to pressure or do something else, he would be bombarded with killing techniques that would leave him at death\'s door; so he could do absolutely nothing except stay seated and entertain the mannequin figure that had kept torturing him, and had seemingly kept him alive only to destroy every last of the hope that remained in him, for amusement.
THWACK
The mannequin figure was a "fallen," a god or a transcended being who fell from grace, though it was on the weaker side even though it was on top of the food chain. To try and ascend back to godhood, it made "worshipers" thinking that that was why it fell from grace—because it had no worshippers even though it had an abundant amount of divinity. and because there wasn\'t really any living being in the vicinity, it fell, except for the black blob with a lot of mouths. The mannequin made them its worshipers, giving them a chance to rise in the food chain of the world they lived in, and then beings that felt similar to Eshwar\'s, humans, walked into the Fallen\'s territory and killed all of the mannequin\'s worshipers, calling them monsters. Enraged by the way the humans slaughtered its worshipers, it killed each and every one of them, except for one human, hoping he would rely on the message saying not to mess with its worshipers, but everything backfired on them as more and more humans came to slaughter the mannequin and its worshippers.
And when the mannequin killed the humans in response to them killing its worshipers, the mannequin too began to be called a monster; humans coming to slaughter its worshippers got stronger and stronger, until one day people called "God Hunters" began to appear in its territory, hunting down its gradually growing worshipers. The humans called the mannequin figure a "god" and its worshippers the "god\'s servants," only to kill them mercilessly, and then a day came when a white-haired, beautiful woman with bright blue eyes appeared out of nowhere, gazed at the mannequin and its worshipers, before sealing them into the room they were in, saying, "A day will come, when an insane guy might come kill you. If you find him, tell him to prepare for the dangers that will come his way." It was also an offer for the mannequin to be free, away from the humans that seemingly caused the slaughters of its worshippers without any real reason.
And the mannequin accepted it because it somehow knew that white-haired woman wouldn\'t kill it nor its worshipers, and it had been a few months since that incident took place, and if the mannequin had to think of that "insane guy" its saviour mentioned, then it would be the white-haired man in the corner, because it had never seen a human as persistent as him. Even though it seemed like he had given up on the outside, he was doing something unbelievable inwardly, and though the mannequin couldn\'t quite grasp what it was, it knew whatever he was doing was dangerous. Then, if he is the guy that its saviour mentioned, why was it torturing him, you ask? Because no matter what, the humans had killed its worshippers just like him, so he ought to get punished like them, and he was getting tortured because it had learned from experience that a swift death isn\'t enough to satisfy its rage.
And the skill the mannequin used to reverse the technique thrown at it was "Black Mirror," a skill that reflects 100% of the skill back to the sender.
And Eshwar, who was staring at the ground with a dangling lower jaw, continuously manipulated aether in his body to create a strong enough core to "store" aether in his body just like mana. From the information he received from Karma, he knew that it was absolutely impossible, but he had no other choice, because he had been trying to use "Frost Devil," but the black smoke would instantly zoom towards him and devour all the mana he managed to accumulate with the months of effort, so the aether core was his last chance, so no matter how long it took, he would make it, kill that goddamn mannequin, and return to Isha.
*
Almost a year later.
Eshwar\'s hair had turned completely black; why? Even he didn\'t know, but even the newly grown hair was black.
THWACK
He was still forced to stay still, and his regeneration had almost become instant; no matter the damage, he seemed to be healing instantly. How he found that out was, well, he just used that explosion technique again and almost seriously died this time, but one use of the messed-up state was that aether moved a lot more easily if he concentrated on it even amid the pain he was experiencing.
Though this was an impossible task even for Eshwar, he did it before he completely healed, so the core he was building was almost complete.
THWACK
\'1%\' He mumbled and felt his muscles tense very slightly. And he remembered "stat control," which had somehow slipped his mind, and,
\'100%\' he mumbled in his mind, and his entire body tensed, bulged to an extreme degree as if his body was going to explode, and abruptly dilated until his muscles seemingly stuck to his muscles, boosting all of his race\'s traits and also buffing all of his abilities, together with his recovery and control over the aether.
And,
BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!
A loud \'boom\' resounded because of the aether core that abruptly got completed, causing the ground to ripple as if it were water and pushing off everything that was near him. And Eshwar\'s face muscles, which had completely healed, twitched violently before his brows raised and his lips curled up into an ominous grin. His face was twisted in absolute madness and chaos as a strong killing intent oozed out of his body, causing the ground to tremble, and all the blobs in the dungeon were killed just from the strong ripples his killing intent was causing. Of course, all the torture he had been through had boosted his killing intent to a new level, and the mannequin felt a chill around its heart and felt its divinity tremble, as well.
"Frost...."
"Devil."