Midnight Prince: Empire of Sin

Usually, even when Adam used all of his minds simultaneously for different tasks, they would all be present in the same place at the same moment. It was not a true split of the mind per se. Using this method lowered the amount of discomfort he would feel in a singular moment.

This time though… this time Adam truly understood what it meant to be overloaded. He felt like his brain was being fried and overcooked due to all the multitasking that he needed to do right now.

Fighting against Lycaon with all his four minds had been a challenge already and now he was definitely going a bit too far by separating them and making them each their own individual entity. This was the first time he had done something so crazy. Even as he blocked Lycaon's punch, at the price of breaking his arms into smithereens, Adam could only grunt as his vision quite literally swam between three different planes.

Takoda's realm had not been completely useless per se. Even though it could not bring out its full power, the basis of suppression between realms still applied somewhat, making the pressure Fenrir imposed on them diminish by a great margin. In the end, the guy had not been completely useless like he presumed.

This was at least one win in his mind. Even more so with the revelation it brought to him.

"You… You are facing me while being distracted?"

Lycaon was speechless for a second before his eyes started to flash with anger at the clear disregard Adam was showing toward him and the fight they were having.

He was not as prideful as his brother but this, he had gone too far—

"I am going too easy on you?" n-)1n

Before Adam could even answer, his throat was pierced by Lycaon's hand, causing his consciousness to slip slightly as death overtook him for a split instant.

But there was nothing but a smile on his face.

'I did not lose consciousness!'

This was enough. In this place— he could die and stay completely conscient no matter what! This was proof of one of the theories he had speculated pertaining to this realm.

"Fight!"

He headbutted a stunned Lycaon, causing the older brother to be astonished by what he saw.

"You…"

He immediately understood what was happening here.

Adam, even while dead, was using his body to fight him by using his consciousness and soul.

"What a fucking monster."

Lycaon's lips twisted into a feral grin; his anger abating slightly as he started using the full potential of the body he was currently occupying.

He was planning to kill his brother as many times as possible in the most imaginative ways possible.

At the same time, while Adam even used his cut arms as weapons and his head as Cannonballs, the body he made out of ice was facing Fenrir with equal ferocity.

Truth be told, he did not require a body. This was simply to make him focus on a single point. A way to strengthen his concentration and keep it in this place to fight against the giant wolf that was trying to take over his girl's body. It was also bait, an obvious target for the wolf to stop him from killing Takoda, or his true body for that matter.

The very moment the fight started between them, Adam immediately understood why Takoda did not last for long even though he was quite powerful in his own rights. At least, from his specs alone, it was clear that Takoda was a powerhouse.

Fenrir was simply too agile and nimble. Too strong and though all the movements of this wolf were utterly predictable, there was nothing much he could do about it since he outclassed him in basically everything.

Thankfully, Adam was not limited to using this body of his in his humanoid form. Rooar~!!!

In the blink of an eye, ice and snow were attracted from the surroundings by his mental command, gathering, forming, increasing, again and again until the small Adam was covered by a gigantic four-meter tall armor made entirely out of compressed ice and snow with lightning flashing all around him.

This was a body that was entirely made for combat and though its creation put even more burden on Adam's main body, so much that he started to bleed from his nose and most of his orifices, he did not particularly care about it.

He wanted to go all out. He wanted to go even beyond his limit and surpass every notion of it.

Like two primordial titans, the giant made out of chilling ice clashed against the giant white wolf.

Blasting snow and shock waves everywhere under their might. This fight soon changed into one out of pure strength but Adam was able to keep a certain edge by constantly lowering the gravity of Fenrir's shadow.

All the parts of the giant were weapons that he personally created to attack the white wolf. Even when they were destroyed, they would immediately reform and attack without restraint, ice spears filled with lightning rained everywhere and while it wasn't as powerful as the super attack he used against Lycaon at the start, the heat was still enough to cause the surrounding to boil ever so slightly.

This time, Adam was not suffering a one-sided beat down. But it was still very hard for him to keep up with the ancient wolf.

In the end though, for Adam, neither this fight nor the fight against Lycaon were the main battlefield.

The true battlefield was none other than Natasha's soul.

.

.

.

[Natasha's Consciousness]

The interior of Natasha's soul or should it be called Fenrir's soul was another filled with utter ice and snow.

This was her consciousness, the place that made her what she was, and a place which was slowly being encroached on by another entity.

Fenrir's shadow.

Adam remembered the mission he was given by Genesis. The three ordeals that he had to choose from.

[Epic Ordeal: White Knight

Description: An entity with the potential to destroy the world may appear if nothing is done as soon as possible. Protect the world, and kill the entity to avoid all possible dangers.

Reward: +20000 Karma points.

Additional Quest: Kill the body and mind to bring an end to all possible Danger

Reward: +10000 karma points]

[Epic Ordeal: Black Knight.

Description: An entity with the potential to destroy the world may appear if nothing is done as soon as possible. Discard the primary mind and tame the beast. Make him your Herald and show your power to the world.

Reward: +45000 Karma points]

[Epic Ordeal: Grey Knight.

Description: An entity with the potential to destroy the world may appear if nothing is done as soon as possible. Do the impossible and make the entity coexist with the primary mind.

Reward: +30000 Karma points]

He might have hesitated in the past but now… now he was sure more than ever regarding the path he had to take from this point on.

He was greedy and as such, he would take the road that would give him everything he wished for and go beyond that.

"So… You are the one, huh."

Adam slowly looked up as a shadow covered his entire field of vision.

This was very different from the relatively tall and muscular wolf wreaking havoc outside.

This was a monster beyond measure, standing at more than twenty meters in height, its legs were already like giant pillars for him, and standing in front of this beast, one would have the impression that Adam felt incredibly small and helpless.

But Adam was thinking the opposite and from the way Fenrir's Shadow started growling, it was more or less ready to tear him apart at any moment.

This was the moment of truth for him. The start of what should have been an epic fight but all Adam did was open his arms and stand open in the most non-threatening way possible.

"Hi… I am here to talk with you."

All he received as an answer was a paw descending on him like a meteor from outer space.

BOOM~!

Even so, his smile did not vanish and in fact, he expected something like this happening when he wished to talk it out with the monster. This was why he was ready for this moment from the get-go.

When the paw reached him, Adam simply moved a finger, a tarot card materializing close to him.

[Strengh]

Light flashed as his imagination affected reality or rather the world of dreams as he invoked the strength card. This place was not a dreamscape, this was not even his consciousness.

But when it came to a battle of minds, there was simply no way for this entity to hope to even match him in any way, shape, or form.

One hand, or rather a single finger, was all he needed to contend against such a measly entity. Even though his feet buckled slightly, his strength became high enough that he completely blocked the paw with just the use of one of his fingers.

Even now, Adam could have retaliated if he so wished. He But he did not think of doing something like that.

{Adam! What are you doing!? Are you going to ignore the warning!?}

Even Genesis seemed to be completely surprised by what he was doing in this situation. The entity could have never imagined that Adam would act like this in the current situation.

Adam ignored Genesis, not even listening to what the book spirit was trying to say to him at the moment. In the current situation, they needed anything but cold hard logic.

There was no need to even bother trying to listen to his reasonings and he would bet everything on what he discovered.

His goal was clear now and for once— Violence truly was not the answer. "I do not want to fight you."

Adam's lips twitched as his second mind who was controlling the ice giant punched the Real Fenrir across the jaw, causing the wolf to cry out in pain and agony.

The way the projection of consciousness looked at him became even more unkind but Adam kept a composed face throughout.

He was not lying. He truly was not here to fight the behemoth of a being.

All he wanted was peace and freedom.

"I do not want to fight you. Not the you outside fighting by following nothing but the instinct of the Sun Devouring Wolf. I am talking about you. The true you."

He smiled.

"My name is Adam Gospel. Son of Cecilia and Mei Kaminari. My father is Cain. The First Sinner."

The wolf growled, its eyes flashing with a smidgen of golden and crimson light as it was ready to throw another attack.

But Adam did not budge, he continued to speak calmly, "I think I know a little about what you are feeling right now. Everyone hates you. Everyone fears you. All of this is because of what you are. But in the end… You are not even Fenrir. Neither are you his shadow."

"...."

For the first time. The wolf stopped his attack and chose to listen to his words for once.

"This is why… I want to ask — What is your name? How may I call you?"

His gentle voice filled the air.

The cold icy wind seemed to slowly abate and the giant voice's height progressively lowered until they were nearly at eye contact.

The wolf was still wary. Still hesitant. But Adam did not move, did not speak more, and simply observed quietly with a gentle and serene light in his eyes. It was as if he was urging him to state what he had in his mind.

[You… Do not want to kill me?]

The voice of a young woman came out, not from its maw but from its mind. This was an awkward voice, as if it had never spoken and was now only slowly adjusting to the words, having to think about every one of them.

Adam then knew that he had won his bet.

It was time to appease the Wolf inside Natasha's heart.