Chapter 15: Endless Darkness
“Little ancestor, what else are you planning? If I had absorbed an amount of blood equal to the power you used just now, you wouldn’t even be able to move a finger right now.”
“Of course… I’m running away. Are you mentally deficient? If I don’t escape now, I won’t be this pathetic next time. Consider this a greeting. I feel like I’m about to ‘level up’—I gained a ton of ‘experience points’ from this fight. Yeah, that’s it. I definitely didn’t just get beaten up for nothing. Absolutely not.”
Death Omen turned and fled, running so fast that afterimages trailed behind her. Among the enemies who had escaped, Su Xiao felt Death Omen was the fastest, possibly even faster than Beini when she was hostile. Seeing the string of afterimages she left behind, he didn’t even feel like chasing…
Bang, bang, bang…
Su Xiao, holding D·Assassination horizontally, fired several shots. Two bursts of blood blossomed from Death Omen’s thigh and lower back as she fled. Su Xiao hadn’t expected that the Death Omen who had fought to the death just moments ago would now turn tail and run without any dignity—this was completely insane behavior.
After firing five shots, Su Xiao put away D·Assassination and Duke of Annihilation appeared in his hand. Death Omen, fleeing into the distance, twitched her cheek. Being locked onto by Duke of Annihilation was an unbearably intense feeling.
Su Xiao pulled the bolt of Duke of Annihilation, adjusted his slightly erratic breathing, and the crosshairs quickly steadied.
Boom!
A blue electric light shot from the muzzle of Duke of Annihilation. A thunder-element bullet left the barrel, heading straight for Death Omen’s back.
Death Omen, charging forward at high speed, gritted her teeth and leaped into the air. Sayanod transformed into shield form, blocking behind her.
With a thunderous roar, the pitch-black shield caved in a large chunk. The Death Omen behind the shield was shaken, spitting out a mouthful of blood as she crashed to the ground.
As soon as she landed, Death Omen propped herself up with one hand, bounded several times, and disappeared from Su Xiao’s sight, finally vanishing at the edge of the barrier.
Su Xiao put away Duke of Annihilation and sheathed Dragon-Slaying Flash, which was stuck in the ground. Although he hadn’t eliminated the violator in this fight, he had confirmed one thing: Death Omen was very difficult to deal with. Just being hit by her blade once caused about 20% of his blood to be absorbed—and that was only an instant.
The dual rapier form of Death Omen was likely her strongest state. Being stabbed once would result in massive blood loss.
From this battle, Su Xiao experienced the power of a Blade Grandmaster. Keep in mind, this was only Lv.1 Blade Grandmaster. With the resources he had, raising the level of Blade Grandmaster wouldn’t be difficult.
Before entering the Death God world, Su Xiao could have raised his Blade Grandmaster level, but he didn’t. He wasn’t familiar enough with Blade Grandmaster yet. If he had greatly increased it at that time, it might have made his already mastered blade techniques feel awkward. In the short term, his blade skills in actual combat wouldn’t improve—they might even decline.
Su Xiao looked in the direction Death Omen had fled. The wound on his shoulder split open again.
“Troublesome ability.”
Su Xiao took out medical supplies, stitched the wound, and bandaged it with gauze.
Compared to the violator Death Omen, Su Xiao was more interested in that special weapon, ‘Sayanod.’ She seemed to know a lot about the Shadow of Law Destruction, even recognizing him as a Soul Shadow.
The so-called Soul Shadow was one of the names outsiders used for the Shadow of Law Destruction. It wasn’t the correct term. Within the Shadow of Law Destruction, not all Azure Steel Shadow abilities were the same, leading to different branches. The correct term for Soul Shadow should be Soul Severing Shadow.
Soul Severing Shadow, Space-Rending Shadow, and even the more extreme Devouring Demon Shadow—these were internal names within the Shadow of Law Destruction.
The Void’s evaluation of Soul Shadows was decent, relatively speaking—compared to other Shadows of Law Destruction, they were considered ‘madmen who still reason.’
After Death Omen appeared, Su Xiao felt much more at ease. Although she was stronger than expected, she wasn’t the type of old yinbi who lurked in the shadows—that was what Su Xiao dreaded most. On the contrary, Death Omen was a goofball.
After treating his wound, Su Xiao locked the ring shackles used to suppress blood energy onto his arms. These weren’t heavy and didn’t affect his normal movements at all.
By the time Su Xiao had put on his clothes, the surrounding barrier was covered in cracks, ready to shatter at any moment.
With a click, the clock above stopped.
[Prompt: Death Clock settling…]
[Settlement complete. Hunter wins! You may randomly draw one item from Violator 10073’s storage space. Violator’s injury being assessed…]
[Assessment complete. Minimum quality of drawn item: Gold.]
…
Seeing the prompt from Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao was slightly surprised. The violator lived up to her reputation—even her abilities were this bizarre.
Su Xiao chose to draw. A weight settled in his hand, and a metal collar appeared. Judging by its appearance, it was a high-tech product.
[Endless Darkness]
Origin: Primordial World (Third Rank)
Quality: Gold
Category: Special Equipment
Durability: 5/5 (Cannot be repaired)
Equipment Requirement: Charm Attribute below 70 points, Intelligence Attribute above 70 points.
Equipment Effect: Black Prison (Active). If the enemy has lost the ability to resist, this collar can be equipped on their neck. Upon activation, the enemy’s consciousness will be shrouded in darkness, causing their perception of time to become chaotic.
Prompt: Each use of ‘Black Prison (Active)’ consumes 1 point of this equipment’s durability.
Prompt: The effect of ‘Black Prison (Active)’ lasts 3 to 6 seconds. After the enemy’s consciousness is shrouded in darkness, each second of darkness will be greatly extended. The extension time depends on the enemy’s willpower. The shortest extension per second is 20 natural days (this is the time flow rate experienced by the enemy’s consciousness).
Rating: 400 points
Introduction: Death is not terrifying; what’s terrifying is endless darkness. Those who can endure 2 seconds are tough guys. As for enduring 6 seconds—give up on interrogation. All interrogation methods are useless against such people.
Price: 158,000 Paradise Coins.
…
Su Xiao hadn’t expected to draw a special piece of equipment from Death Omen’s storage space—it was incredibly lucky. Special equipment was usually kept in storage space, and Su Xiao did the same.
Among Su Xiao’s special equipment, only Destiny Redemption was an exception. That thing occupied his special equipment slot and was immovable.
Five kilometers away, Death Omen, who was running quickly, stopped.
“Sayanod, big trouble!”
Death Omen was furious, flailing her arms as if she had lost something precious.
“What did the other party draw? That broken barrier is only used by idiots like you.”
“I’m in a really bad mood right now. Believe me or not, I’ll soak you in a cesspool.”
“…”
“Endless Darkness… it got taken away. Waa~”
Death Omen’s nose stung, and she looked like she might actually cry.
“Ah? Hahaha, great! That perverted thing should have been thrown away long ago. You’re a girl—be elegant. All day long…”
Sayanod’s voice grew quieter because it noticed Death Omen’s gaze toward it had changed.
“Death Omen, you wouldn’t actually…”
As Sayanod spoke, Death Omen’s eyes were already scanning the surroundings, as if looking for a cesspool.
“Death Omen, calm down. We’re partners who live and die together, right? Hey! Say something, damn it! If you actually do that, I’ll drain your blood right now.”
“Really?”
Death Omen raised her arm.
“Of course… I’m lying. Death Omen, think carefully. Why did you lose this time? I warned you many times before—don’t be too obsessed with a strong body. Technique is equally important.”
“Mm, you’re right.”
Hearing Death Omen’s words, Sayanod secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The cesspool issue was finally brushed aside.
…
Inside the barrier, Su Xiao was studying the [Endless Darkness] in his hand. He planned to test it himself. As the equipment’s holder, he could deactivate the darkness at any time.
He locked on the [Endless Darkness] and activated it. His vision went pitch black. In less than 0.01 seconds, he deactivated the effect of [Endless Darkness].
Su Xiao took a deep breath. He had experienced what it felt like to have his consciousness sealed. It was terrible—a vast darkness with nothing else. Worse, his consciousness was fully awake, but he could do nothing.
Su Xiao only experienced it for 0.01 seconds, and he never wanted to wear [Endless Darkness] around his neck again. As for putting it on an enemy for 6 seconds, that required careful consideration. It wasn’t because he was soft-hearted, but because he worried the enemy would go mad before revealing any information. This wasn’t an exaggeration—it really could happen.
Most Fourth Rank contractors probably couldn’t last 4 seconds before their minds collapsed. Enduring nearly 3 months in a pitch-black prison of consciousness was a horrifying thing.
This thing was somewhat similar to Uchiha Itachi’s Tsukuyomi ability. Tsukuyomi tortured enemies within an illusion. [Endless Darkness] was even crueler. Compared to ‘audible’ pain, silent darkness was actually more terrifying and more straightforward.
Putting away [Endless Darkness], Su Xiao waited for two minutes. The surrounding barrier shattered with a bang. A pulling force appeared, and he reappeared inside the Soul Society.
As soon as Su Xiao appeared, Yamamoto Genryusai, holding a withered wooden staff, suddenly appeared before him. Behind him, Ukitake Jushiro and Kyoraku Shunsui approached from both sides.
“I was ambushed.”
Su Xiao spoke with a smile, returning to his previous casual and lazy disguise.