Taste of Defeat

"Well Morgan, you fighting prowess was not needed but I still have a proposition for you." Jun said to her.

"Let us hear it my husband." Morgan responded with a faint smile.

"How about fusing your noble phantasm with my new one and make a permanent existence you can then call upon much more easily?" Jun inquired.

He then proceeded to tell her about his Domina Coronam and its properties, as well as how he had three reality marbles to fill. Jun wanted Camelot to fill one of them and Morgan's Lordless Camelot would become one of its components.

Needless to say, she willingly accepted with all of her heart as this would also mean her noble phantasm would have access to nearly infinite stores of power that each reality marble drew from Aurea Poculum.

The rituals took a few days and the design of one of Jun's rings had changed because of it and he also gave a copy to Morgan so she could draw power from her noble phantasm within his.

Jun had ten rings in total and their design would changed based on what the reality marble contained. Simple gold rings for empty ones but unique rings for each of the filled ones. So far, only two had unique designs.

The first was the ring corresponding to Peccatum Aurum, the Tower of Babel. It was still golden but it had a detail of various arches and engraved Origin Language as well as a seal with a carving of an ornate golden grail.

The new rings based on Camelot was pure black with glowing blue lines forming Fairy Letters and a shining blue jewel.

With this done, Jun could now summon Morgan's Fairy Knight counterparts to the Knights of the Round Table but since he had nothing for them to do right now, he let the idea go for the moment.

All that was left now was for Jun to train himself to accept his lost power back. Although he would require assistance, he decided to evaluate himself and undergo some training before going to find the individual he thought of as the most qualified to help him.

'What am I lacking?' Was the question Jun mentally asked himself.

The answer was clear too. While his powerful skills and noble phantasms were pushing his parameters high, his base ones were still quite weak. If it wasn't for Body of the Seven Seals raising all of his physical parameters to A++ they would be at the B rank.

While this wasn't bad at all, it could be better but this was something better trained with the teacher he would later seek.

'There is one more area I'm lacking, the refinement of my abilities through battle, in other words, experience.' Jun thought.

He then decided to sharpen himself and train alone of the Akashic Tower before seeking his new teacher to work on the fundamental problems he had.

[First Challenge Floor: Skeleton Empire]

[Enemies: Outer Rim: Skeleton Warriors, Skeleton Archers, Skeleton Magi, Skeleton Knights.]

[Enemies: Middle Ring: Skeleton Elites, Skeleton Commanders.]

[Enemies: Inner Ring: Grand Skeletons, Bone Guards, Skeleton Generals.]

[Enemies: Core: Bone Keepers, Skeleton Lords, Skeleton Emperor]

With the familiar sight of the challenge he faced numerous times over the decade he spent in the Nasuverse, Jun had still never conquered it.

The Skeleton Generals proved to be a greater challenge than he had imagined, with their power reaching that of a Divine Spirit and them possessing unfathomable techniques.

Now though, Jun felt he had the power to challenge the Core and overwhelmingly crush the inner Ring before it by going at it with his full power which was the plan this time.

As soon as he entered, Jun unleashed the true name of his daemonic noble phantasm.

"Apokalypsis!"

His body grew to to over fifty meters in height his his hair also massively grew and became more wild. Jun's whole body was covered in iridescent crystal scales and he grew ten majestic horns twisted to form a jagged crown of evil.

Next, two extra pairs of arms formed, all three pairs being tipped by razor sharp claws and a massive tail, longer that Jun's current height formed, it took the shape of a massive crystalline serpent that flicked its tongue, sensing its surroundings.

Seven pairs of crystal feathered wings gren on Jun's back, with a wingspan of a hundred meters when fully stretched.

Yet, even in such a monstrous form, Jun's entire being gave out a feeling of decadent, luxurious beauty that would put any goddess to shame. It was even stronger than the feeling he gave of in his more human like form.

In this state, despite not yet being able to draw upon the full might sleeping within him, Jun was as powerful as a God, not a Divine Spirit but a full blown God.

He charged through the Middle and Inner Rings, his roar and presence alone crushing the weaker skeletons and a single Idea Burst enhanced swipe of his arm killing the Skeleton Generals that once gave him so much trouble.

But it was only once he entered the much smaller core area that Jun knew the true terror of the Akashic tower.

There were eight fortresses strung about in an octagon while a much bigger one stood in the center, covered by an impenetrable barrier.

[Only by defeating all eight Skeleton Lords will the path to the Emperor become clear.]

Seeing this message, Jun knew what to do next. What he didn't expect was the level of resistance he would find.

He had already felt the strength of the Skeleton Lords and the Bone Keepers. Near Gods and weak Divine Spirits. Now this was downright horrifying but Jun was a full blown God, one with Primordiality rather than Divinity so with a huge advantage over other normal gods as well.

Jun valiantly charged, holding nothing back, and summoning weapons onto his each of his arms that were all combinations of powerful noble phantasms.

He felt invincible, tearing through the Bone Keepers as their strikes bounced off his scales and they crumbled before a single blow of his weapons, enhanced by his Idea Burst.

Jun fought his way into the fortress, reaching the throne room where a thirty meter tall skeletal giant made of various bones and smaller skeletons fused together by the looks of it stared him down with a look of disdain.

Jun smirked and unleashed a sword slash that brought forth a wave of apocalyptic flame towards the seated Skeleton lord of summoned a bone greatswords and just swung down. The slash cancelling his attack, nullifying his defences and threatening to cut him in half.

Knowing he could not dodged as the slashed seemed to have locked him in, Jun used True Nothingness to phase through it.

His true shock came when the slash nearly killed him all the same, cutting him in two and destroying his heart, piercing and damaging his core.

Jun instantly teleported out of the challenge floor and gasped in an emotion had had long forgotten, fear.

Not even True Nothingness could save him, neither from the slash nor from the fear it brought.

In that safety of his tower room which had enlarged to hold his colossal form, Jun crumpled to the ground as the wound he suffered. refused to heal.

Only by drawing upon Aurea Poculum was he able to force back the power left in the wound to fully heal it but it left him dead tired, a state he had long forgotten. He then fell into a deep coma.

A few days later he woke and checked his status to see what his own arrogance and overconfidence had cost it, only for the result to horrify him.

Apokalypsis: Advent of the Sinful Daemon (UEX) (Broken)

That single strike had damaged his noble phantasm to the point of his being unable to use it or repair it through normal means. As a consequence of this, his physical parameters all fell to B and his special abilities conferred by Apokalypsis also were gone.

He was still powerful and charming but now, he looked about the same and gave off a similar feeling as to when he suppressed himself without needing to actually do so.

But . . . After the fear passed, Jun found himself burning with ambition. The reason was quite simple.

"That skeleton was using the Boundary of Nothingness that I use! Only his was much better, more refined, he cut apart my True Nothingness with an anti concept slash." Jun evaluated.

"I refined that martial skill by fighting the Skeleton Generals, it would only make sense the Lords can use it even better. He beat me, a being with overwhelmingly superior stats through pure martial prowess!" He concluded.

He then said one last thing . . .

"I can still get much stronger . . . Much better . . . Much more refined . . . I can go even further beyond . . ."

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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.

You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

There's also my other novel Archon of DanMachi, do check it out!

I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.