Manifestation [47]

Jin-Woo felt a sudden, dull sensation he didn't often experience, suddenly receiving a notification.

[Yogumunt has activated the skill: Call of the Sovereign.]

It didn't take him long to realize Advanced Observation assisted him. He silently thanked the skill.

When he obtained the skill, he began to see notification screens for when people were activating skills, and it had yet to fail him. The skill even gave him brief warning of oncoming attacks, although that only occurred when he was thoroughly focused on an individual target.

Still, he acknowledged his skill for the warning.

The Sovereign fell to the ground, landing softly. As soon as his feet touched the ground, it began rumbling.

"What the hell?!" Fanzer cursed, which was becoming a habit of his.

"What's happening?!" Ichigo yelled, frowning.

"He's calling reinforcements! We have to move now!" Jin-Woo ordered, and then he was off, charging towards Yogumunt.

It was only as he ran that he realized how destroyed the ground really was. He had to watch his steps, the ground of Yogumunt's world entirely too unsettled to trust. He moved forward quickly though, his impressive stats bolstered by a series of skills that he once thought he could've never achieved.

However, Yogumunt didn't wait for him to show up, light flashing out towards him. Jin-Woo activated every speed boosting active skill he could, barely dodging the attack. However, he landed on unsettled ground, and he stumbled for just an instant.

No, rather, the ground wasn't just unsettled, it was manipulated.

However, Jin-Woo didn't receive a notification about it.

It wasn't hard for him to suddenly realize what'd happened. If Yogumunt didn't activate a skill, Jin-Woo wouldn't be warned beforehand. A slight, sloppy movement to a piece of the ground wouldn't count as a skill in Advanced Observation's eyes, not with everything else happening.

Jin-Woo didn't know if Yogumunt had pieced that together or not, but he abruptly realized it wouldn't matter, Yogumunt's Light crashing into his body.

The attack hurt, a lot, like he was suddenly thrown into a super active volcano. However, a lot of the pain was massively subverted by his defensive skills, which he'd been focusing on since he realized he didn't have enough of them.

The attack faded shortly after it began, and Jin-Woo felt his body reforming itself as he began moving. It was an extremely uncomfortable feeling, but one he could manage. However, what he couldn't manage was the amount of MP and HP Yogumunt's full attack took away.

Every one of his defensive skills were broken, all pushed to their limits, and his HP was stripped to under 40%. All in one fatal attack.

Jin-Woo immediately reactivated the skills he could, but he knew he couldn't handle the blunt blow of another attack if he messed up again. He would've died on his own.

Well, he wasn't fighting alone.

Immediately at his side were Ichigo and Fanzer, moving in sync. They all dodged Yogumunt's next attack, but their focus on dodging meant the reinforcements arrived.

Thousands of Constructs appeared, all of them different shapes and sizes. Some were dragons, some were insects, but no matter what, they were all humanoids. Yogumunt's dark red mana spread outwards, touching each of his Construct's heads.

A chill went up Fanzer, Ichigo, and Jin-Woo's spines.

The sight was too familiar.

[Yogumunt has activated the skill: Soul Absorption.]

[Due to being the Sovereign of the Soul, Yogumunt has bypassed the condition for his Constructs to die to absorb their souls.]

Before the trio could react, the world went white. It wasn't the same as what Jin-Woo experienced, it wasn't an attack. No, it was just a massive wave of pure, untouched mana.

Even before he could see anything, Jin-Woo heard a notification.

[Yogumunt has transcended the limits of his physical body.]

Vision came back to the three, and all the reinforcements were simply… limp. They were completely dead, no souls to fit or match with their bodies. Unlike the humans who accepted that they were more than the souls, the Constructs believed that's all they were, and they died because of it.

Yogumunt's body was surrounded by pure mana swirling about. The mana was visible to even an untrained eye.

The monster no longer looked like Yogumunt. Color almost faded entirely from the being, leaving only black, white, and gold. The being's body was entirely black, no identifiable features beyond white eyes and a hole within the chest. Behind him, four golden wings spread outwards. Finally, a floating crown of pure gold was floating near the being's head.

[Yogumunt has activated the skill: Spiritual Body Manifestation.]

[Yogumunt's Soul Realm is permanently activated if Spiritual Body Manifestation is activated.]

The three were frozen solid.

They couldn't quite say what'd happened, but they were getting pretty good at fighting the monster before he evolved even further.

Suddenly, Yogumunt was something else, unlike what he just was. No, rather, he was something purer than before.

Yogumunt looked down for a second, flexing his hands and outstretching his wings. He didn't speak for a long time.

"I see. So, this is what it's like to bring my soul to a physical plane. It's quite… taxing, however…." Yogumunt simply looked past the Hunters, a massive explosion of mana occurring behind them. The force of the explosion pushed them all forward, causing Fanzer and Jin-Woo to stumble. The Sovereign smiled, "This is truly amazing."

"Let's take him down," Jin-Woo said. "Give it everything you've got, because he can definitely kill us like this."

Coins flew around Fanzer, flipping every passing second.

[Fanzer has activated the Soul Attribute skill: The Devil's 666 Lucky Coins.]

"Of course, what, you think we wouldn't?"

Ichigo devoured several different foods, all appearing from her subspace in the shape of a minifridge.

[Ichigo has activated the Soul Attribute skill: Ultimate Binge Eating.]

"We'll take him down right here!"

Jin-Woo grinned, fusing with his three Shadows. He could feel them all sync with him, their thoughts flickering through his mind as they all wished for what he did.

"Don't die."

As Yogumunt looked at the three with an annoyed expression, the three shot off, the ground shattering underneath their combined force. Several orbs of energy appeared around Yogumunt. Light was the main element, but several other elements were there.

The magic coming from his hands was distinctly different, providing an assisting effect to his attacks.

[Yogumunt is activating the Soul Attribute skill: Blessing of a Dragon's Soul.]

[Yogumunt is activating the skill: Homing Magic.]

Suddenly, the battlefield became an even bigger mess than before.

The three Hunters were forced to go against spells in their own ways.

Ichigo tried to change the spells into food, but she had to deal with attacks continually pelting her even as she tried to eat and run. However, she didn't stop, even after being hit by several Light spells dead-on.

Fanzer magically blocked the skills however he could, even with Yogumunt's Soul Realm conflicting with his magic. He felt himself growing exhausted, but he summoned several Lucentials and crushed them to keep himself moving forward.

Jin-Woo challenged every attack he thought would hit him while dodging those he believed he could. He was hit several times, but he somehow managed to keep his HP above zero, even when things got dicey. With his title's assistance, he kept pushing forward, even though he was pretty sure he wouldn't get another chance if he messed up.

The three converged on Yogumunt. The Sovereign's attacks only got fiercer as they got closer.

Fanzer barely dodged a dragon of light, while Ichigo smashed through another. Jin-Woo just dove through them, his HP dropping but his progression unfaltering.

Ichigo's bat slammed into Yogumunt's leg before she dropped it and tore off a wing, devouring it whole. Her body pulsed with energy right as Yogumunt's hand nearly touched her nose. As it slid past her, the mana fluttered in between his fingers.

The attack blew Ichigo into molten earth, straight into the ground.

Fanzer tried to get the drop on Yogumunt, his eyes brimming with rage, but the Sovereign saw through his act. Fanzer tried to activate Lightning Devil's Wrath, but the mana refused to form.

[Yogumunt is using the skill: Lesser Magic Nullification.]

Yogumunt didn't even need to reach for a spell to form above Fanzer's head, a pure white dragon shooting down and dragging Fanzer through the earth.

Jin-Woo suddenly threw Igris forward, teleporting with the monster before slashing directly towards Yogumunt's chest. A wave of power suddenly and abruptly yanked Jin-Woo's leg down, tearing it from his body. He could feel his skin and bone tear, but his body maintained the same shape, thanks to Shadow's Body.

He couldn't even react before Yogumunt tried repeating his earlier actions. Jin-Woo teleported once more, Igris showing up and taking Yogumunt's blast. Jin-Woo silently thanked the knight before he Dashed away from another attack coming his way.

'I need a stronger version of Void Slash, even if I dumped all 50,000 MP into Void Slash, I've got no idea whether it would even work…! I also need to make sure those two are okay!'

Jin-Woo dodged another attack, his MP growing thinner and thinner by the second. He was forced to rely on Infinite Strike every time he wished to run away, and that was a very fast way to drain away his energy.

Far underneath the ground, Ichigo sat in the lava. It was only for a second, but she accepted the reality before her.

[Ichigo has activated the Soul Attribute skill: Binge Eating.]

She began eating through literal lava. She ate and ate and ate, swimming through lava like it was a hot tub. It was not something an average Hunter could've survived, but in the many, many foods she'd eaten, she received her fair share of heat resistances. And to her, the lava was just about as warm as hot chocolate.

It didn't taste good at all, but she tried ignoring that.

Fanzer was being carried deeper and deeper into the earth by Yogumunt's attack, but he slammed his hands into the dragon over and over again, trying to force his mana through the magical construct.

[Fanzer has activated the Class skill: Steal.]

And eventually he succeeded, bloodied and exhausted.

[Skill "Steal" has successfully worked.]

[New skill, "Lightning Dragon's Outrage" has been created.]

He sighed as the dragon faded. He didn't even let the pain start to settle in before he started running up the massive hole, Wind Devil's Footsteps assisting him.

Ichigo and Fanzer emerged from their respective spots at the same time. They were not in necessarily good condition. They were both bloodied, broken, and they should've been dead a few times over, but there they were, still alive.

Yogumunt was still focusing on Jin-Woo, but that opportunity would only exist in an instant, and for no longer. The two Awakened didn't miss their chances.

With a quickness they shouldn't have had, Ichigo slammed her fist into Yogumunt's head while Fanzer kicked him in the gut. The attack was sudden, even for the uber powerful Sovereign. The attacks weren't weak either, rather, they were densely packed with everything the Hunter's could spare, which was quite a bit for their determined souls.

Yogumunt recoiled, and Fanzer and Ichigo took several flickering steps back.

Jin-Woo, at the same time, noticed Fanzer and Ichigo's attack. With a smile of pride on his face, he stopped fleeing and rushed forward. It didn't even take half a second for him to pass by Ichigo and Fanzer, who were fleeing.

In that instant they passed one another, Jin-Woo could hear them.

"Go get him," Fanzer grinned.

"Do it, Jin-Woo!" Ichigo cheered.

Unlike anything he'd ever experienced—no, there was one time he remembered an experience like this one—Jin-Woo was filled with energy.

[Fanzer has activated the Soul Attribute skill: Lucky Coin Buffing.]

[Ichigo has activated the Class skill: Healer's Final Harrah.]

Suddenly, time slowed as Jin-Woo grasped Legacy and approached Yogumunt, who was busy healing himself.

Void Slash stopped being enough a while ago. It was partially a consequence of Jin-Woo's fighting abilities, but mostly because Yogumunt's incredible abilities just didn't hold up as Jin-Woo was fighting stronger and stronger enemies.

So, he needed something more. And that's what he'd get.

Void Slash gathered in Jin-Woo's blade, but he held the energy there, intensifying it. This was no longer the skill he used against Kabuto and Jill. This was something further, something greater.

Jin-Woo didn't just use Void Slash, his other skills multiplied the skill by several times. Umbra Control and Shadow's Domain fed him even more mana, which all promptly went into the attack. However, after a certain point, the attack shifted.

At the same time, several attacks of varying elements formed around him. They raced towards him in slow-motion.

No, rather, he started seeing everything much faster.

Despite how much mana Jin-Woo was guaranteed was floating around and within Legacy, the dagger was light as a feather. And furthermore, Jin-Woo could feel a distinct connection with the mana the blade touched.

Then, energy started being pulled in even faster than before, the surrounding area darkening dramatically. It wasn't just mana; it was light and kinetic energy as well.

Jin-Woo felt his unused energy being pulled into it, and he could even feel Ichigo and Fanzer's loose energy join too.

The darkness coalesced, and suddenly, a spot of pure darkness appeared. The darkness spread across Jin-Woo's blade, unstopping and unflinching. The darkness wasn't just dark, the area within it simply didn't exist.

And then Jin-Woo felt his body begin to creak. He felt himself twist and writhe unnaturally, only barely sticking together due to Shadow's Body.

He didn't remember moving his body, but suddenly he was slashing forward, towards Yogumunt.

The attacks racing towards him bent uncharacteristically, folding and losing their power as they were drawn into the power.

And, for a moment, Jin-Woo wasn't sure if he could handle the power being created.

The next moment, the world went black.

Then the moment passed, and the attack flew.

Jin-Woo didn't remember being in range to hit Yogumunt, but a slash of raw, pure darkness shot out of his blade. The slash directly hit Yogumunt, the beginning of the shot landing under his naval and the end of the shot landing on his bicep. It cut through two of his wings as well.

It was as if every single one of Yogumunt's defenses meant absolutely nothing.

The attack burst through him and refused to maintain any sort of shape. It burst into a beam of darkness, shooting out just feet after it hit Yogumunt.

The beam grew larger and larger, destroying—no, absorbing—the ground and anything in its path. The attack was driven higher and higher by the dormant surrounding energy before it disappeared in just as fast of time, like it was never meant to be there at all.

Patches of skin, clothing, and his equipment began forming over Yogumunt's body as his Spiritual Body Manifestation abruptly faded. He began falling forward, eyes wide as his arm fell to the ground and his torso opened up. The two halved wings began falling to the ground, fluttering away in golden mana before they even hit the earth.

Jin-Woo took heavy, hard breaths. He was used to it, but this was something innately different.

He heard a few notifications flash, as he looked down at Yogumunt's body.

[Due to having your Soul Attribute unlocked and manipulating the mana beyond your body, you have obtained the new skill, "Void Manipulation."]

[Due to completing a special action while manipulating the Void, you have obtained the new skill, "Chaos Void."]

As Yogumunt laid on the ground, nearly dead, Jin-Woo stood above him, golden eyes highlighting the darkness of his figure.