Chapter 7 Death

Damien agreed without hesitation. To him, no pain could be greater than what he had experienced at that moment. Arnold gave him a book that looked like it would crumble with a touch. The words Fatal Painforged Rebirth were written on the cover. Despite of how it looked Damien could feel that even if he used all his strength he wouldn't be able to destroy it. He opened the book and read its introduction. Just as he was about to turn the page he saw some tiny muffled words. He couldn't read them so he asked Arnold if he could. Arnold was confused as he didn't remember anything about any muffled words. He took the book back from Damien and saw that there were tiny muffled words written on the bottom of the page. With his extraordinary vision, he could easily read them, 'The younger one starts practicing this technique, the easier it is for them to strengthen themselves.' He was too shocked to say anything. He told what he had read to Damien and asked "Are you sure you want to practice this technique? If you don't want to..." Damien interrupted him by saying "I want to" with certainty in his eyes.

Damien opened the book and opened the second page. It stated the 9 stages of the technique. They were:

1. Skin refinement

2. Muscle refinement

3. Tendon refinement

4. Bone refinement

5. Bone marrow refinement

6. Five viscera refinement

7. Six bowels refinement

8. Meridian Formation

9. Meridian refinement

After completing these nine stages one will attain a pure body, free from any impurities.

His body was already being destroyed by the disease so he only had to start the technique. His skin started itching so badly that he almost stopped, but he grit his teeth and held on because he knew that if he stopped now, he would die. His hair also started falling and regrowing. When the itching stopped, a cocoon of dead skin and old hair had formed around him. He broke the cocoon and emerged like a butterfly. His skin looked glossy and gave a faint glow. He could feel that ordinary weapons couldn't penetrate his new skin. Arnold looked at him in shock. He had thought that Damien would at least scream the first time he practiced this technique but Damien had proved him wrong.

20 Years later,

Damien had grown into a handsome young man. Due to him using the Fatal Painforged Rebirth his already good looks had transformed into otherworldly. He had already completed all 9 stages of the technique 3 years ago but stopped progressing after that. He could feel that there was more to the technique but he hadn't met the requirements for it. After practicing the technique he had also achieved great control over his own body. So he could tell that he didn't have much longer to live. His strengthened body wasn't able to stop the disease only delay it, and even that stopped after he stopped progressing. He hadn't told this to his family yet because he didn't want them to worry about him. He gave a call to his grandfathers, parents, and his little sister, Rosalind. Ellie had given birth to her when he was seven years old and he adored her. They all reached the Chase Residence the next day. Ellie could feel something was wrong with Damien. She was his mother and nobody knew him better than her. Damien said "I have called you all here to tell you something important. I will die soon. The technique stopped working 3 years ago and the disease has adapted to my new strength. I have decided to cultivate so that even if I die, it will be on my terms. I just wanted to spend the last of my time with you all." There was pin-drop silence in the room as they processed what they had just heard. Ellie was the first one to come back to her senses and started crying. Her crying awakened everyone else from their trance and they also started crying. Nobody tried to stop Damien cause they knew that once he had decided on something he wouldn't change his mind no matter what. They threw him a farewell party and played family games. They even drank wine made with special mana fruits. Damien wanted to live in these moments forever, but all good things must come to an end. Arnold came up to him and asked: "How do you want to do this?" Damien answered: "The way it all began, in the energy room." Damien sat cross-legged on a mat in the center of the energy room. He closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings. He once again saw a storm made up of different colored particles with the most prevalent being bright violet and deep red. He tried to absorb these particles in his body, and just like last time they rushed into his body. He once again felt pain from the depths of his soul but this time, he did not pass out. Practicing the Fatal Painforged Rebirth had not only trained his body but also increased his pain tolerance by a large margin. He could feel his cells being disintegrated. Personally experiencing such destruction gave him a special feeling but he couldn't put his finger on it. He opened his heterochromatic eyes to look at his family one last time before disappearing.