The pain was worse than expected, even more so with the sudden loss of feeling in his legs and the rest of his lower body. Cutting off a tremendous amount of lifeforce was also unfortunate, especially when his eyes landed on his lower body, which was rapidly consumed by the Overlord’s Nihilum. But his upper body was fine, and he was healing rapidly as lifeforce bloomed in his chest. [Mender’s Lattice] worked alongside Fountain of Life to preserve his life, and David was half-certain his passive abilities would stimulate his body to regrow his lower body as well. However, that would take too much time—time David couldn’t afford to waste.

  He overclocked [Transcendent Restoration] and cast it a dozen times, using the portion of pure Blood that had been further refined by Deryadus’ Arm’s unique properties. Its healing characteristics were strong, and his body reacted at once. Stimulated from Fountain of Life, the lifelines of [Weave of Life] which materialized all around him, and the distinct distribution of his healing energy created through [Vital Weaving], David’s body was being restored in record time.

  The restoration wouldn’t take longer than a minute to complete perfectly, but even that was a lot. It was longer than David had been hoping for.

  If not for the Minor God, I’d be forced to fight the Overlord with half a body, he noted grimly.

  He’d be dead long before his lower body would have recovered.

  As unfortunate as reality was, David wasn’t strong enough to fight an Overlord head-on. Nor was the Minor God, for that matter. However, they did fight the Overlord head-on nonetheless, and now that Vitae tore through the Voidling, consuming Nihilum and converting it into more energy that fed on it, the tides were changing.

  Vitae was by no means stronger than Nihilum. If anything, the Overlord’s Nihilum was disgustingly potent. Despite that, the battle raging within the Overlord was fierce. While Nihilum tried to consume Vitae, Vitae did the very same. Worse still, Vitae could use the Nihilum it consumed to create more, whereas Nihilum did not possess the same properties. It was not configured to create more Nihilum from a similar energy—not that it could. Vitae self-destructed before it could be claimed and corrupted by enemy forces.

  David sat upright once his bones had been restored. He glanced at the Minor God, who was now fully engaged with the rampaging Overlord, and turned to the masses of Voidlings charging his way. The battlefield had shifted, and the forces of the End came his way, which did not really surprise him. Voidlings charged the lifeforms with the greatest lifeforce, as they were the most nutritious meal. David did not doubt for a second that whoever consumed him would grow stronger by a rank or two. A Sapling would either explode from all the lifeforce, the Corrupted Divine Heart, Divine Seed, and so forth, or it would advance to a mighty Voidre shortly after consuming him.

  Although it was a curious train of thought, David dismissed it and willed [Blood Manipulation] to life. A few Words of Power were all it took to tap into the Law and control the pool of blood around him. His blood—part Titan and part human, speckled with remnants of Vitae.

  Arcana, Titanblood, leveled up.

  2 → 3

  The pool of blood levitated around him and split into countless tiny droplets that shimmered faintly as he applied [Herald’s Blessing]. A moment later, they whistled through the air and riddled the masses of Voidlings heading his way. Hundreds of cretins from beyond the Fissure collapsed to the ground with dozens of holes in their oh-so-mighty Void Barriers, and he released traces of Vitae to consume the corpses, replenishing the Vitae, which was simultaneously being destroyed and produced inside the Overlord.

  David’s head snapped upward, where the Ascendants dealt with the remaining Voidre, combining their forces to deliver killing blows, while the Minor God and the Overlord continued to bash each other. At first, it looked like the Overlord was on the winning side, but David caught a gap in its Void Barrier the moment it struck the blazing Minor God’s side. Razor-sharp claws dug into the Minor God’s flank, which burned hotter than the rest of its body, tearing through the Nihilum that was deposited within the god.

  The Minor God’s lips curled into a vicious smile, and he accelerated with a burst of boiling heat that struck David square in the face. An opening unraveled and the Minor God punched through. Azure flames turned white, then flickered and dyed black as the Overlord screamed and thrashed. Then the other fist followed, tearing through the same opening. His hands snapped open; he seemed to grasp the Void Barrier, tearing it apart, while flames burned through the softer flesh beneath.

  Ethereal arms made of condensed flames erupted around the Minor God. One at first, then two, four, eight, and they all came crashing down at blinding speed, one burning hotter than the other. The Overlord thrashed around and clawed at the Minor God, and its attacks struck true eventually, depositing more Nihilum in the blazing god’s power with every hit.

  Determination flickered in the god’s eyes. He knew he wasn’t going to make it—that he was unlikely to survive now that the Overlord’s power had entered his body—but he continued to punch and pull. Powerful words escaped his lips, and the darkness dispersed as an azure-blue sun manifested amidst the battlefield. It lasted no more than a second, but it blinded David anyway. His connection to the Vitae rampaging inside the Overlord was momentarily severed, but it returned with his sight and a revelation: the Overlord was dead.

  David couldn’t quite grasp how the Minor God had done it, but the azure-blue sun tore through the Overlord without harming Vitae or Nihilum. It burned through the Overlord’s body and cracked its Maelstrom instead. Only parts of the Voidlings’ bodies were burned, but the End’s energy was left untouched. Henceforth, the Nihilum tearing through the Minor God had not been burned out either. It was still doing the Overlord’s work, devouring the fiery god, who was no longer burning as fiercely as before.

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  He, as well as the Overlord’s corpse, plummeted to the ground.

  David leaped to his feet, ignoring the fact that his lower body hadn’t fully recovered, and watched in anticipation as Vitae consumed the Overlord’s unmoving body. Dead, the Overlord’s power did not resist Vitae as it consumed everything.

  Cleanse the Minor God too, while you’re at it.

  Vitae ravaged the Overlord’s corpse, doing what it could do best. Without any resistance to overcome, David split a portion of Vitae and moved it toward the dying Minor God in the distance. Next, he appeared beside the god using Passage. Golden, glistening bulbs of healing energy formed at his will as he cast [Healing Sphere] and [Transcendent Restoration], preserving the fiery god’s life as best he could.

  Even though David didn’t know the fiery god well, the god had done a good thing. He had even gone as far as to sacrifice his life to eliminate an Overlord and protect everyone. Saving him was the least David could do.

  Then, as Vitae devoured the Overlord, it seeped into the ground and spread through the wasteland. Gasps and shrieks resounded, and all the corpses of the creatures of the End vanished into the ground, while those who had yet to be killed faced a drastic reduction of power—not that it mattered much.

  The surviving Voidlings witnessed the death of their strongest, which seemed to drain them of all sense of reasoning. Devoid of reason, the Saplings and Fragments charged toward the Classers, only to never reach them. Geysers of Vitae burst from the ground, and the Intents and Laws of the Ascendants levitating above them crashed down.

  There was no hesitation, no mercy, as the Voidlings collapsed. Some were torn to shreds, others disappeared as if swallowed by the ground, while some slumped to the ground unscathed, their eyes drained of all life.

  David watched in silence. He healed the Minor God, purged him of Nihilum, and restored his charred arms.

  Why is he not immune to his own flames?

  The azure sun burned the Minor God severely—so much that it was increasingly difficult to heal him. Something about his dead cells diminished the efficacy of David’s healing, though it was not like he was in a rush.

  As he spent minutes and heaps of pure Blood restoring the Minor God, Vitae returned to him. It moved smoothly through the ground, consuming nothingness all the while, and poured back into David through his feet. It felt stronger than he was used to as he circulated it through his Energy Pathways, and he savored the feeling.

  The Corrupted Divine Heart palpitated like an excited teen, and he felt subtle changes. First, Vitae spread out from his Energy Pathways and poured into his blood, leaving traces of its magnificence behind. That was not the first time it happened, but fusion of Vitae and his blood had never been this seamless. It was unusual—powerful.

  The sensation intensified as the Corrupted Divine Heart pumped the tainted blood through his body and back to his heart, where the changes continued. More and more Vitae returned to him, and David realized quickly that he had more Vitae Nihilum at his disposal than ever. Its quality was not the only thing that had changed—it was also more abundant.

  [Vitae Nihilum – 503]

  At last, he had accumulated more than 500 units of Vitae. While David did not expect anything special to happen, since there hadn’t been any phenomena when Vitae reached 200, 300, or even 400 units, he had been hoping for a change. He had felt something, and he was ecstatic that his gut feeling wasn’t wrong as the Corrupted Divine Heart began to stir. It seemed to notice that something was different and responded accordingly.

  Vitae flowed out of the Corrupted Divine Heart at the heart’s behest, surging through him in streams, merging with his blood, tainting it once and for all. The dark veins that had once spread out from Deryadus’ Arm, courtesy of his body’s adaptation to Vitae’s destructive potency, were now all over his body. His veins were dark, almost black, and there was even a shimmer of all-consuming darkness around his muscles.

  It looked impressive, savage even, but appearance was the least of David’s worries. He exhaled deeply, his eyes tightly shut as he focused on the lifeforce swirling through his body—his blood—impatiently waiting for the synergy between his lifeforce, Arcana, and Vitae to form.

  An eternity passed before he opened his eyes again, and, ignoring the intense stares locked onto him, David focused on the violet, almost blackish, System notification.

  [The foreign energy, Vitae Nihilum, has accumulated plentifully in your body. The Corrupted Divine Heart has successfully taken full control of the foreign energy, perfectly adapting your body. A myriad of warnings have been issued to the Ascendant, yet he ignored them all and amassed more foreign energy.

  Physical Modifications, some complete, others still in motion, have been detected. Ascendant has accumulated 500 units of Vitae Nihilum, which has resulted in constant augmentations in the Ascendant’s prowess. Congratulations, Ascendant, you have successfully surpassed the limits of a Perfect Physique. The System can no longer provide exact measurements to determine your exact prowess.]

  [You contributed to the defeat of a Void Overlord.]

  Arcana, Titanblood, leveled up.

  3 → 4

  Arcana, Titanblood, leveled up.

  4 → 5

  …

  Arcana, Titanblood, leveled up.

  19 → 20

  Mutation in Arcana, Titanblood, has been detected.

  Titanblood → Titanblood (Void – Vitae)

  The Corrupted Divine Heart continued to pump Vitae through his blood vessels, reinforcing the modifications that had already been initiated, and David loved it from the bottom of his heart. He poked his finger, activated [Blood Manipulation], and bared his teeth in a vibrant, devilish smile as he rocketed a droplet of blood that was as dark as all-consuming darkness through the air.

  Even his regular attacks were now infused with the essence of Vitae. That was going to be fun—for him, at least.

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