shadow slave: Avatar of Apocalypse Chapter 20 20: Scourge bringer

It had been a few days since Senrix experienced that enigmatic dream, and he had done nothing but ponder its aning.

Ultimately, he arrived at the only logical conclusion available to him: he needed to talk to Elysia.

If Elysia was currently trapped within the Forgotten Shore, he would get his answers in no ti.

If she wasn't, he would simply have to wait until he beca an Awakened to search for her.

As for the possibility of her dying?

It was nearly zero.

The only way she could have perished was if the Spell had ruthlessly dropped her into the Hollow Mountains, Godgrave, or so unexplored instant-death zone.

After all, she had earned a True Na during her First Nightmare.

Those who accomplished such a feat shared one definitive trait: they were completely abnormal.

Nephis had quite literally challenged her Second Nightmare as a Sleeper, though her Divine Aspect was a massive reason for her success.

Sunless was the epigone of Weaver; as a Saint, he fought thirteen enemy Saints simultaneously without breaking a sweat.

Even Senrix himself was a transmigrator who had fought and slain an Awakened Terror as an Aspirant in a direct, brutal confrontation.

Then there was the Smile of Heaven.

Ki Song had noted that the world itself seed to revolve around her, as if she were beloved by the heavens, or at least by the Nightmare Spell.

If Elysia had conquered her First Nightmare and been bestowed the True Na Everlasting Love, it ant she belonged among these monsters.

Though the personality she displayed to the world was... unique, she was undeniably far from normal.

Flying toward a faint, flickering orange light in the distance, he saw a hundred or so carapace scavagers devouring an enormous carcass.

A sudden, genius idea struck him, a reckless plan that would rapidly propel him toward his second core.

Plunging from the sky like a teor, he willed [Crimson Engine] to take on a different variant.

The full-body armor variant of [Crimson Engine] materialized around him just before impact.

BOOM!

The violent landing created a small, smoking crater.

The shockwave interrupted the feeding frenzy, drawing the attention of every single Carapace Scavenger.

They turned their grotesque, multi-eyed faces toward the source of the noise.

Standing ominously in the center of the dust cloud was Senrix.

He looked like an angelic, armored knight.

He stood proudly, his silhouette defined by a glowing red visor, a pulsing chest emblem, and six tallic, razor-sharp wings arranged symtrically in groups of three on his back.

The monsters screeched, abandoning their al to swarm the intruder.

Senrix didn't wait.

He unleashed his divine Aspect.

Crimson flas erupted from his skin, superheating the tal plates of his armor until they glowed with a blinding, incandescent intensity.

He charged.

Using [Tempest Wings], he skimd inches above the stone floor at terrifying speeds.

When he slamd into the front line, his tallic wings acted like giant, molten shears.

They didn't just slice through the first three Scavengers, the intense heat of his Aspect sealed within the iron wings lted their thick carapaces instantly, cauterizing the wounds into sizzling black slag.

A Scavenger lunged at his flank, its scythe-like arm swinging for his neck.

Thanks to [Crimson Arsenal], the armor on his right gauntlet shifted, lting and reshaping into a wicked, serrated spear.

Infusing his raw, destructive fire directly into the weapon, Senrix thrust it forward.

The spear pierced the beast's skull, and the concentrated heat caused the monster's internal fluids to instantly boil and explode.

The sheer volu of the swarm began to press in on him.

Five Scavengers leapt simultaneously, attempting to pin him under their collective weight.

"Get off!" Senrix roared.

He triggered [Storm's Breath].

The compressed air within the armor released violently.

But mixed with his Aspect, it wasn't just a shockwave of air, it was a devastating firestorm.

The explosive, crushing gust scattered the diving monsters like autumn leaves, while the superheated wind lted their eyes and roasted their joints.

Seizing the opening, Senrix channeled his fla Aspect directly into the armor's own [Ember Heart] enchantnt.

The synergy was terrifying.

The armor's internal furnace roared to life, feeding off his personal fire.

Blinding jets of crimson-and-gold plasma burst from his gauntlets and boots.

He flew into the center of the dazed pack, striking with apocalyptic aggression.

Every punch unleashed a shaped-charge explosion of pure thermal energy that shattered and liquefied the Scavengers' armor.

He spun in a deadly vortex of fire, his tallic wings folding and unfolding dynamically to slash through limbs, leaving a trail of lting, ash-choked corpses behind him.

The battlefield slled of sulfur and burning chitin.

Despite his dominance, a Scavenger managed to ambush him from his blind spot.

Its sharp scythe-limb slamd heavily into his shoulder armor, cracking the steel.

Senrix barely flinched.

The passive enchantnt of [Living Iron] went to work, drawing ambient essence from the dying monsters to knit the broken tal back together.

Because of his Aspect, the armor didn't just repair itself; the cracks glowed like magma as they fused back together.

"My turn," Senrix growled.

He grabbed the monster's scythe-limb, his gloved hand burning straight through its outer shell.

His left gauntlet shifted into a heavy, brutal cleaver.

He hacked the limb off, then grabbed the beast by its throat, unleashing a point-blank burst of his Aspect's devastating heat straight down its maw, vaporizing its insides instantly.

The fight beca a blur of frantic, blood-soaked, and ash-filled violence.

Senrix fought like a living volcano, testing the absolute limits of his masterfully forged relic.

He shifted his weapons from blades to hooks to spears seamlessly, lting every defense the swarm possessed.

The armor drank the boiling blood and essence of the fallen Scavengers.

Beneath the surface, [Feast of Evolution] began to subtly stir, absorbing the traits of the burnt beasts it destroyed.

After what felt like an eternity of non-stop slaughter, the chaotic clicking and screeching finally died down.

Senrix stood amidst a mountain of lting shells and smoldering ash.

The ground beneath his boots had turned to glowing, liquid glass.

His breathing was heavy, his visor pulsed with a satisfied crimson light

Feeling an indescribable pain in his body, he kneeled down and clenched his chest, specifically where his heart was.

He heard the Nightmare Spell speak in its typical chanical tone.

[...Your soul is overflowing with power.]

[Your soul is taking shape.]

His Attribute [Indomitable Human Spirit] went into overdrive to make sure Senrix's mind didn't lose itself to the pain.

After a few seconds, Senrix heard the Nightmare Spell once more.

[Your soul is complete.]

As soon as he heard that, the pain imdiately disappeared, and his Attribute [Indomitable Human Spirit] deactivated and returned to its normal, neutral state.

"That fucking hurts like hell."

Senrix imdiately checked his runes as he saw the only change that had happened.

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Na: Senrix

True Na: Avatar of Apocalypse

Rank: Dormant

Class: Monster

Soul fragnts: [312/2000]

mories: [Calamity Engine], [Flask of Eternal Well], [Azure Sword], [Starlight Sword], [Starlight Legion Armor], [Midnight Cloak], [Hollow Carapace]

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Seeing the three new mories, he was rather surprised that there had actually been a Carapace Centaurion mixed in with the Scavengers, but thinking it over, he found it quite reasonable.

For such an enormous carcass, it was more surprising that there hadn't been a Demon in the batch.

He looked at the still-enormous carcass and went to examine it.

He saw that only the edges had so blood from Scavengers and Centaurions, and it was also quite clean for the carcass of whatever rank this creature was.

"Guess we're eating good for a whole month or so," he said rather loudly as a black sword with a crimson edge appeared in his hand, replacing the gauntlet.

After an hour of examining which parts of the carcass were edible and which were inedible, he burned the inedible parts just like he had done to the Scavengers and Centaurions.

He looked to his right and saw that there was still a mountain of at left.

He smiled and took out the [Hollow Carapace] as he read its description and enchantnts.

The [Hollow Carapace] looked like a hollowed-out, do-shaped piece of black chitin that seed to have originally served as the armored backplate of a Carapace Centaurion.

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Na: Hollow Carapace.

Rank: Awakened

Tier: I

Type: Utility

mory Description: [This curved fragnt of black chitin once protected the spine of a fallen Carapace Centaurion. Even in death, their shells refuse to let go of what they have claid.]

mory Enchantnt: [Preservation]

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Looking at it, his smile widened as he gleefully stored the at.

He looked at the tall hill far away and once again activated the wings of the [Crimson Engine] and flew toward it once more.