Soul Venerable (Re-written)

 

The seas of eternal winter are filled with sea areas and glaciers. There’s a serious lack of soil, the whole region is dark due to the infinitesimal amount of sunlights that could penetrate the thick clouds which perpetually cover most part of the region.

Since the surface of the Seas of Eternal Winter is mostly covered by glaciers and ice, the deeper one goes, the colder the environment becomes. Creatures tend to be more sturdy and powerful as one travels deep down. To endure the pressure of the deeper regions, not only are deep sea creatures extremely powerful in their physical body, they also possess special abilities to protect themselves from other deep sea predators.

‘Ancient Darkfrost Sorrowful Whale… a giant rank 5 deep sea beasts that lived close to the Frostmourn Deep Abyss Region. House Victoria’s main bloodline… is truly powerful…’ Even Shion, who claimed to be immune to wisdom-path methods, got affected. 

The firewall in her Operating System immediately detected the foreign telepathic emotion. It instantly deployed countermeasures as the telepathic crippling sorrow emotion was identified as a harmful virus. After being flushed and cleared, Shion regains full control of her emotions. This process took four second as Shion’s operating system is an advanced system beyond the standard of this world. 

As for the greenskins who were in visual range around the two of them… they fell down as if they were puppets whose strings were cut.

“Wuu… Sobs…Sniffs…” Shion glanced at the source of the cries. Anastasia is currently sitting… sobbing her heart out. 

“So that’s the price that you’ve paid. Anyone who sees or hears your cries will be influenced by your sorrow. If their mental defense is low, the sorrow is so strong that it’ll cause sudden cardiac arrest.” Shion analyzed. Even now, her firewall constantly pings her about the intrusion of foreign telepathic emotion. Anastasia’s killer move is not the type that produces a one-time AoE damage, but continuous. As long as she’s still crying, her crippling sorrow would spread.

The Troll Warlord's son, Kel-Zulkis, was also crying. At this moment, he could not unleash his rank 1 might. The sight of a 4-meter tall figure wearing magic machinery armor sobbing is quite comical. 

Anastasia’s killer move hits his weakness. 

Greenskins have a mental network that allows them to share telepathic emotion as long as they are in proximity. If greenskins are hit by crippling sorrow, they would automatically share the telepathic emotion in the mental network to share the burden. However, when all of them are hit by the crippling sorrow, nobody other than themselves could endure the ‘burden’ shared by other greenskins. The mental network would be flooded with sorrow to the point of amplifying the effect instead of reducing it. 

Therefore, she almost single handedly killed all the remaining greenskins on Fort Esela. The ruined castle is now absent from greenskin life, with the exception of Kel-Zulkis. This could only be achieved because the greenskin lacked critical mass to share the burden of emotional attack. 

If this rank 1 killer move was activated onto a horde of a thousand greenskins, it would only make them sad. Literally just mild sadness. The killer move will be lacking in terms of lethality because the damage is spread around a thousand targets.    

“Truely, a powerful emotion that could kill hundreds of greenskins at once…” Shion praised, but did not put her attention further on Anastasia. She had fulfilled her function, it was now time for Twin Helix to attack. 

The Devastator in her hand has two sets of barrels. The bottom set are used to fire small-caliber rounds, while the top set are autocannons! Since the small-caliber rounds are richoteting when they hit Kel-Zulkis’ defensive force field, her only option is to use her precious armor-piercing rounds!

Papapapa! In less than ten seconds, one of the armor-piercing ammunition boxes is ejected. The projectile did not ricochet, but they broke into flat metal slug due to the durability of Kel-Zulkis’ force field. Switching to a new one, Shion continued to empty all nine ammunition boxes, six are armor-piercing and the last three are small-caliber rounds, she did not care about the expenditure as her bullets were actually wearing down the force field.

After she emptied all the Devastator rounds, she switched into Combat Gunlance while approaching Kel-Zulkis with the shield on her left hand to protect herself from possible retaliation. Shion showcased her one-handed gunlance reloading technique through the use of telepathic refinement thoughts. She took out cannon shells from her dimensional storage ring and put it into the gunlance’s cannon chamber. 

Of course, Devastator could produce higher damage output compared to the Combat Gunlance’s cannon, but Shion does not have infinite bullets.     

Boom! Clank! The sound of an explosion and an empty cannon shell hitting the ground formed a rhythmic pattern. Shion slowly but surely approached Kel-Zulkis under the protection of her heavy shield.  

With each explosion of HE Shells, the integrity of Kel-Zulkis’ shield is compromised, but it holds on. For now.

When Shion reached 10-meter distance from the troll, her biggest reliance for this mission arrived, which put a smirk on her lips.

‘To construct this killer move, I’ve exposed Kasumi Lightning Core’s 7 transparent star cultivation base…’ Shion muttered in her heart as she saw a figure approaching the troll under a blue acceleration force field. ‘She reminds me of my early days when I tried to decipher Intelligent Metal’s methods...’ She chuckled.

…

 

A few minutes earlier.

Four humans and a silver-colored mature Shion are taking cover outside the ruined castle wall. As long as they are not in the area of effect and do not see or hear Anastasia’s cry, they are theoretically safe from her methods. 

While Shion and Anastasia are rushing in, the three girls and liquid metal slime have started their method activation sequences to form their killer move while under the protection of Kenji. After the greenskins who are excited for combat suddenly turned silent, they knew Anastasia’s killer move had been activated. It is time for them to complete theirs.

First, Kasumi melts back into liquid metal. She wrapped Shirogane’s armor with her slime mass, reducing the amount of skin exposure to zero. “Rank 0 transformation-path magic spell, [Electromagnetic Burst Armor]!”

After the activation of her method, Kasumi transformed into an exosuit similar in form to the ones used by Hartina Military, albeit thicker and larger. If not for the ‘lack’ of blueprint in Shion’s side, Kasumi can transform into a true exosuit. This form was possible thanks to the ‘references’ that Ayame gave from pictures of exosuits worn by Galatreon and Hartina Military. Shirogane is now covered in two meter tall multi-layered armor glinting in a pale blue acceleration and protective force field.

“Rank 0 fire-path magic spell, [Mage Armor: Firefox Blazing Raiment]!” Sakuya casted her spell which was augmented by her bloodline. Magic materials are expended to create various bright red runes that imprint itself on Shirogane’s armor.   

“Rank 0 wisdom-path magic spell, [Malicious Mental Incineration]!” Sumire’s spell produced purple gleam on Shirogane’s shining armor. 

Then, the four of them chanted at the same time. “Rank 0 compound killer move, [Violet Lightning Blazing Malevolence]!”

The killer move activated accordingly. Their spells synchronized with each other under the guidance of Sumire’s telepathic thought. At this moment, Shirogane’s armored figure is shrouded with violet lighting, her large katana burning under a purple blaze.

Multiple holographic interfaces appeared in Shirogane's vision. This was the method that Kasumi provided that allowed Shirogane to monitor her condition. In short, information-path methods. 

Shion’s Soul Armament was from a Minor Inheritance of the Great Archmage, it isn’t strange for it to possess some level of information-path attainment.

That being said, Shirogane could control the ‘temporary exosuit’ parameters through her telepathic thought alone. Kasumi will immediately react to whatever move Shirogane took, allowing her to focus on activating her method.

‘I want to approach the troll…’ With that on her mind, her telepathic thoughts collided under the supervision of Kasumi. Holographic guides appeared in Shirogane's sight. Kasumi is providing movement solutions in Shirogane’s vision, allowing her to optimize her movement. Of course, Kasumi has familiarized herself with Shirogane’s moveset. 

Boom! In that instant, a controlled micro-explosion exploded on Shirogane’s armored feet, giving her a burst of speed. 

Boom! Boom! Boom! It repeated multiple times, interchanging between micro-explosion of flames and lightning. Due to this consistent burst of acceleration, her momentum increased significantly. In less than two second, she reached the weeping Kel-Zulkis from the ruined gate.

When Shirogane entered the effective range of Anastasia’s [Deep Sea Sorrow], her sea of consciousness was affected by the telepathic crippling sorrow emotion. However, her telepathic ruthless sword emotion cleaned them up without much of a hassle as it is the best counter for emotional attack.   

Her hand brandished her signature giant katana, a weapon made for Power Armors. Despite being large and heavy, it is not a hindrance to her, especially since she received amplifications and under acceleration force fields. She activates her sword-path method to produce sword force, but due to the compound killer move, the sword force is enveloped with purple fire that burns telepathic thoughts.  

The sound of a glass being scraped by a blade resounded as Kel-Zulkis’ green force field shuddered. After receiving bombardment by Shion, the force field’s structural integrity was damaged significantly, but it still held on. After all, this is a rank 1 defensive method. 

While Shion and Shirogane are shaving off his defense, Kel-Zulkis awoke from his sorrow. Anastasia’s rank 1 wisdom-path killer move might be powerful enough to kill almost every greenskins in the fort, but Kel-Zulkis handled his situation pretty well. It only took him a minute to recover. At this point, his green radioactive force field has roughly 29% durability left.

“AAAARGH, MY BOIZ. YU DARE KIL MY BOIZ. HOOMIES, I WIL KIL YUUUU!!!!” He screamed as his sea of consciousness completely purged the telepathic crippling sorrow emotion. Anastasia’s killer move now has no effect on the blood-path mage because no mage, greenskin or not, would allow their mind to be affected by the same wisdom-path method twice.

Especially from someone with a lower cultivation base.

While erecting a mental barrier, Kel-Zulkis’ radioactive force field’s durability got reduced to less than 10%, but he isn’t worried. 

“Metal Style, [Truesilver Slash]!” Shirogane muttered in a low voice as she activated one of her Killing Techniques.

[Power Overwhelming] is a strength-path killing technique, while [Triple Extreme Sound] is a sound-path one. Both exhibit powerful destructive power to the point of hurting the user when it was activated. 

Then, what if Shirogane activates her killing technique? Sword-path is known for their overwhelmingly incisive offensive power. All of their strength is concentrated to create the most powerful attack. 

In that instant, a silver sword force sliced Kel-Zulkis’ green radioactive force field into two halves. Fortunately for the troll, there’s a secondary force field that immediately flared to life in red glow, otherwise, the incisive sword force would hurt his physical body directly. The sword force immediately lowered the red blood-path force field’s durability by over 20%. 

If Shirogane could repeat that a few more times, then killing Kel-Zulkis wouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately, Killing Techniques, at least [Truesilver Slash] is not the type that could be spammed endlessly. There’s a brief period of ‘cooldown’ to allow her internal energy circulation to return. Killing techniques are double-edged swords that hurt the user first before the enemies, this was especially true for rank 0s like her. 

The troll immediately repociate Shirogane’s attack with his own. While his autocannon fires at Shirogane, his mouth is chanting a magic spell. 

A handful of armor-piercing bullets showered Shirogane every passing second, but the magnetic armor reduces the amount of kinetic force by 50%, allowing Kasumi’s slime mass, which has transformed into Shirogane’s armor, to block most of the remaining damage. Still, armor piercing rounds are armor piercing. At some point, the bullets would eventually puncture her defense and expose Shirogane into the open.

Despite the evasive measure that Shirogane used under the guidance of Kasumi, she was still hit by Kel-Zulkis. The troll is an excellent marksman, his handle of autocannon is not new. Furthermore, the troll has been amplifying the radiation his body emits as time passes by. If not for Kasumi, Shirogane would’ve experienced genetic collapse by now.

‘He was given some sort of training to handle heavy weapons?’ Shion asked herself as she prepared her own method. Since the troll is buying time to cast his spell, Shion wouldn’t leave him be. “Kenji, now!” She ordered Kenji who stayed hidden all this time to engage.

After Shion’s reminder, the Wild Savage exposes his upper half behind an obstacle on the ruined castle wall, his hands wielding a large compound bow and special gray arrow.   

“Damn, boss. You’ve calculated everything perfectly.” Kenji pulled the string of his bow, the spear-like gray arrow slowly changed form from the original arrow-shape into a needle-like form. “And then… I need to use… [Groundshaker Strike]!” 

Since Kenji’s attainment level in strength-path has reached master, he could somehow bypass certain limitations on his methods. For example, he could use his martial arts on weapons. His original martial art is typically used on warhammer, but if it is used on an arrow… It’ll turn him into a kinetic artillery.

Kenji released the string, the special design on the arrow allows it to not produce any sound when traveling through the air. Although it is not the best shape of arrow for long range attack, the relatively close range allows him to hit Kel-Zulkis’s barrier without much of a problem.

CLANK! A crisp sound of a glass breaking rang when the arrow hit the barrier. This special arrow was Shion’s antimage sonic arrow, it produces a sonic wave excels in disrupting spell activation sequence. Kel-Zulkis coughed blood as he had never fought an antimage before. After his blood-path spell failed in its infancy, he saw Shion activate a method without any warning.

“[Last Word]!”

Kel-Zulkis’ soul is now branded by soul runes. As long as he casted another spell, it will sprang to life in the most critical moment to amplify the magic rebound effect to the fullest.

Of course, Last Word couldn’t completely stop the blood-path mage if he wanted to bruteforce it. But how can Shion not be aware of this?

“[Last Word]! [Last Word]! [Last Word]![Last Word]! [Last Word]!” She stacked one [Last Word] after another to stop any effort of spell casting. To use this, Shion overdrafted her soul, stopping the continuous bombardment of HE Shell, but it gave Shirogane protection because blood-path spells might be able to bypass Kasumi’s defenses. 

Kel-Zulkis knew he couldn’t be passive anymore. Although the magic rebound effect depends on the might of the spell and the constitution of the caster, trying to find a solution around that problem will give his enemies the initiative. He threw away any thoughts of activating spells to slap Shirogane with his staff.

Shirogane’s one-minded pursuit of damage output made her sight similar to tunnel vision. Fortunately, she have Kasumi to protect her from idiotic actions like this. Kasumi’s telepathic thoughts collided with Shirogane, altering her original intention of scraping Kel-Zulkis’ force field to defend. The two are now tangled with each other, but no matter how strong Shirogane has become after the amplification of the compound killer move, she could not outpower Kel-Zulkis. 

Not only is he a rank 1 entity, he is also a troll! His 4-meter tall body is clearly stronger than Shirogane’s 2-meter tall body. The only solution Shirogane could take is… dodge! 

Boom! The moment before Kel-Zulkis’ staff hit her, her left side exploded in a controlled micro-explosion of flames and lightning. The burst of speed is the method that she relies on to fight against the troll. Her movement forced Kel-Zulkis to focus on her, allowing Kenji to continuously dish out consistent damage and Shion to somewhat recover from overdrafting her soul.

“We can’t hold on for long, we need to kill Kel-Zulkis as soon as possible!” Shion is absolutely aware of Shirogane’s condition. The compound killer move is actually hurting Shirogane as time passess by. At this point, her organs should be half-boiled due to the electricity constantly running through her body.  

Another one of Kenji’s arrows was sent, the damage inflicted under everyone’s continuous assault is sufficient to completely break Kel-Zulkis’ second force field. The magic machinery armor has yet to recover its ability to reactivate its radiation shield so he is now exposed to the elements. 

“WAAAAAAAARGHH!” The troll exploded in a radioactive surge wave that traveled all the way to the castle wall. Even under the protection of Kasumi, Shirogane received significant damage that could potentially kill her. The radiation surge wave was so sudden that Shion’s was caught off guard. Her relatively close distance made it powerful enough to scramble her system similar to an electromagnetic pulse. 

Shion is down for the moment until she can recover her system. 

As for Kenji who’s the farthest, he was able to react properly and jumped down to the other side of the wall. No long-lasting damage befel on him, but it’ll take some time for him to climb back on top of the wall.

“What the fuck is taking Ayame so long?” Shion cursed as her body was now covered in faint dark fog.

The radiation surge wave actually damages her core reactor and a few other crucial systems. She was forced to use the Dark Mist flowing in her pseudo-vein to forcefully control her body.  

Splat! Suddenly, Kel-Zulkis head exploded after a lightning-encased projectile hit him at the speed of mach 8.7, the trail of blue plasma fire indicated it came from an elevated ground far away from the ruined Fort Esela. 

Kel-Zulkis, the Troll Warlord’s son, died just like that. The easy way to kill someone with great defensive abilities and regeneration traits is to instantly kill them with one hit, not giving any chance for them to exploit their recovery abilities. Although Shirogane is strong, her damage output is lacking compared to Ayame. Though, this would be revered to as a pyrrhic victory because the ultramagnetic round that she used is exorbitantly precious.   

Shion immediately cancels the forceful possession of her body through Dark Mist, her body fell back to the ground. “Fuck, you almost forced me to reveal my trump card!” Shion silently cursed in her mind. The ghastly dark fog that covered her body dissipates as if it was an illusion. 

Just as Shion’s face kissed the dirt floor, Kasumi deactivated the compound killer move and retake Shion Mature form to cry for help. “Require immediate medical assistance, Shirogane is dying.”