The creature spasmed.
Its body arched backward, cleaver-arms flailing wildly.
It couldn't reach its own neck.
It couldn't stop what was happening inside it.
"Second rule," Senrix said, voice low.
"If you can't break them from the outside, break them from the inside."
The Bonegrinder screamed.
It wasn't a roar anymore.
It was high-pitched, wet, human.
It staggered to the edge of the peak and threw itself forward, off the mountain, choosing the fall over whatever Senrix was doing to it.
Senrix jumped off a second before impact.
He unfurled the wing-booster fully, gliding after it as the Bonegrinder plummeted down the mountainside, crashing through trees and stone.
It hit the lower ledge with enough force to carve a crater.
Senrix landed softly on a jutting rock above it.
The Bonegrinder was still moving, Barely, One arm twitched.
Its jaw hung lower now, broken from the internal pressure.
Black mist poured from every orifice, trying to escape the body that was failing it.
Senrix walked down to it, slowly. Deliberately.
"Not so scary now, huh?" He crouched beside its head, looking into the empty sockets.
"You were never the threat. The real threat was that you made people forget how to think."
The Bonegrinder's remaining hand shot up, trying to grab him.
Senrix caught the wrist mid-air.
He smiled.
"Third rule. Never let them get the last hit."
[Calamity Engine]'s gauntlet glowed crimson.
The booster fired one last time, directly into the Bonegrinder's skull.
The explosion didn't just kill it.
It unmade it.
The fused corpses separated, the stone cracked, and the black mist dispersed into the wind with a final, rattling sigh.
Silence fell over the Hollow Peak.
Senrix stood up, blood dripping from the seams of his armor.
His left arm screamed at him, but he ignored it.
"Haaa," he exhaled, the joyous, infuriating laugh escaping again.
"A breath of fresh air~"
He looked down at the crater, then back up at the mountain.
"Alright. What's next?"
[You have killed an awakened terror: bonegrinder]
[Wake up, Senrix! Your nightmare is over.]
"Oh? That dumbass monster is a terror? I couldn't possibly tell from how weak it is."
Senrix sarcastically said as his left arm winced in pain, he then felt that his surroundings changed, from the mountain that he claimed for so long earlier to an endless black void.
[Prepare for appraisal...]
Senrix blinked for a few seconds, the transportation was quite immediate and fast, he did not even have enough time to rest for a bit.
'oh well, it is what it is' Senrix thought looking around his new environment, the endless black void from earlier changed into a ruinous land burning with red flames.
Before even thinking of something, Senrix heard the nightmare spell said once again in a mechanical tone.
[Aspirant! Your trial is over.]:
[A nameless boy climbed the hollow mountains. Beasts and horrors hunted him without cease, yet he did not falter. He broke the monsters before they could break him. At the peak, he faced the beast king and returned. The terror did not.]
[You have defeated 89 dormant monsters: abominable spawns]
[You have defeated an awakened devil: bone scavager]
[You have defeated an awakened terror: bonegrinder]
[You have been blessed by War]
[The lineage of War devoured the Sun's lineage]
[You have achieved the impossible!]
[Final appraisal: Glorious! Your spite truly knows no bounds]
Looking upwards, Senrix saw his soul core, a burning red ball that looked like a star if not for the lava falling from it.
"What the fuck is wrong with me?" He murmured as he refocused on the spell Infront of him, the final appraisal is to be expected, afterall he confronted an awakened terror and fought it head on and won, if he gained something lower, then he might just as well kill himself.
But what does it mean by that his lineage of war devoured his lineage of sun? Perhaps he may or may not know in the future.
The remaining fragments of the previous Senrix in him had truly been absorbed after he had gone here, he was forced to remember every single detail of Senrix's life, his personality got altered too due to it.
[Dreamer Senrix! Receive your boon]
[You have been bestowed a true name: Avatar of Apocalypse]
"Huh?" Senrix was thoroughly confused, he don't understand what it could possibly mean, he was already baffled that he got a true name but that quickly got replaced by confusion.
'what could it possibly mean?' Senrix thought as he quickly tried to analyze what could it possibly mean.
Avatar of Apocalypse could mean the bringer of apocalypse for him, but that doesn't quite fit.
He also thought he would be the reason why an apocalypse will happen, but it didn't also quite fit if he thinks about it deeply.
Then the spell said once more interrupting his line of thoughts.
[Your aspect is ready to evolve. Evolve aspect?]
"Sure thing..." Senrix chose to forget what it could mean, as long as it doesn't kill him or Nephis who he considers as his little sister now due to the integration with the previous Senrix, it is not a problem.
[Dormant aspect Flame Chaser is evolving...]
[New aspect acquired.]
[Aspect rank: Divine]
Senrix stared at the runes expectedly and was not surprised at all on what he got
"As expected, if i gain something lower than sacred i would straight up kill myself out of embarrassment" Senrix murmured in a joking tone, trying to ease his mind about the problem about his true name.
Aspect name: [Scourge bringer]
Aspect description: [you are the walking origin of ruin. Where you walk, things unravel. Not through raw force, but through decay, collapse, and the spread of endings. You don't just break things, you teach them how to break themselves]]
Innate ability: [Mixed Blood]
Ability description: [You absorb a set amount of soul essence of any Nightmare Creature destroyed by your flames, as well as of any human]
"Wow what a direct way to say 'half-breed' spell, your quite original huh?" Senrix sarcastically said as he read his innate ability.
He had already guessed about what it could possibly mean, it most likely means that he can only absorb a certain set of soul fragments per rank and class of nightmare creatures, it is the same for humans.
For example, if he kills a dormant beast he will obtain 1 soul fragment then if he killed another one then it is still 1, even if he killed thousands of them all he will gain from each of them is 1.
Though he does not know the exact set of numbers, he hopes it's quite high because he wants to rise to power faster than normal.
[The First Seal is broken.]
[Awakening dormant powers...]
From the very pit of Senrix's soul, he felt a warmth rush over him. The heat enveloped his body, reconstructing and improving every inch of his form, The blood vessels in his body widened, his bones grew stronger and much harder, his muscles tear and heal rapidly, forming something greater and better.
Senrix let out a satisfied breath, content with the reward and from the feeling of his body being reconstructed.
The nightmare spell spoke once again in its mechanical voice.
[Aspect ability acquired]
[Aspect ability name: flames of ruin]
Aspect ability description: [You can command flames much hotter than it normally should.]
"So I'm a bootleg version of Nephis?" Senrix said in a confused tone, he had guessed that his dormant ability will be focused on manipulating flames.
'but isn't this far too weak for a divine aspect?'
He will not be able to guess that the flames itself burn soul too, if he knows he will just call himself a more destructive Nephis.
Name: Senrix
True name: Avatar of Apocalypse
Rank: dormant
Class: beast
Soul fragments: [400/1000]
Memories: [Calamity Engine] [Flask of Eternal Well]
"When did I obtained flask of eternal well?" Senrix asked in a confused tone, he had checked his runes much earlier, he didn't saw [Flask of Eternal Well] back then.
"And why is my number of soul fragments so high?" Senrix almost didn't noticed it, but after looking at it a bit more he saw that his soul fragments is unusually high.
"Oh well, I'm still thankful though" Senrix said in a relaxed tone, he had thought of it for a short moment and all of it pointed to his innate ability [Mixed Blood]