Seizing My Body?

Peide leveled his spear horizontally, and in an instant, two identical figures materialized on either side of him. This was a very practical spell in close combat, effective at distracting an opponent and ferreting out flaws, but it was largely wasted on Karen. Behind Karen, the phantom image of Purr spread its arms wide. Immediately, a ring of fire roughly six meters in diameter flared to life beneath Karen's feet. The ring surged upward, transforming into a sphere of flame that completely enveloped him. The shimmering heat distortion of the flames even blurred the air before him. A fake was a fake after all; no matter how lifelike it appeared, it was still an illusion. Karen didn't need to scrutinize them to tell real from fake. He only needed to create a sensory perimeter around himself—when the real and the fakes drew near, their impact on his perception would be entirely different. Of course, only Karen could respond in such a way. His reserves of spiritual energy were so vast, his foundation so profound, that he could afford to squander it lavishly. During the earlier clash, what had taxed him most wasn't the fight itself, but reining himself in so he wouldn't unleash his full might. He no longer cared about what Ophelia might learn, since she had already deduced the truth. What he worried about was exposing his secrets to his opponent and then failing to silence him for good. Karen was certain that Peide carried plenty of sacred relics. A youth from such a pedigree was bound to have no shortage of protective baubles on his person. With the Church of Samsara currently staying at the hotel, an accident could happen at any moment. This was the real reason Karen had warned Ophelia earlier. Either he kept things under control, beat the man down, and captured or killed him, or, if he lost control and let Peide see things he shouldn't, he had to ensure Peide didn't leave here alive! Peide tilted his head. He had been puzzled by Karen's fighting style all along. Stupidity and wastefulness were practically written across the man's face, and right now, he had taken those traits to the absolute extreme. Yet Karen's strength and underlying foundation forced him to take him seriously. Thus, Peide surmised that Karen's standing in the Church of Order must be anything but ordinary. Still, the man clearly lacked combat experience! Peide made the first move. Three identical figures charged toward Karen, shifting positions and switching places mid-dash. To Karen, this position-switching was like a shell game with cups and balls shuffling before his eyes. Since he couldn't see through it anyway, he simply chose to ignore it. As the foe closed in, Karen relied on the perception granted by the surrounding flames to make a swift judgment, sweeping his greatsword across. *Clang!* The spear tip collided with the greatsword, but a deft, twisting force surged from the tip. Though Karen held the sword with both hands, a tearing pain instantly shot through his wrists. Had he not gritted his teeth and held on, the greatsword would have been knocked from his grip upon impact. Summoning a departed spirit to possess one's body and fight in one's stead truly elevated the user's personal strength and experience to a whole new plane. Peide parried the greatsword aside and dipped the spear tip, using the weapon's reach to thrust straight at Karen. Karen retreated rapidly. This was no longer a game of discerning illusions; his opponent's techniques were becoming too much for him to parry. His opponent seemed to have anticipated Karen's reaction. Mid-strike, the spear whipped around like a staff, sweeping toward Karen. A flash of white light struck him square in the chest, and even with Sea God's Armor protecting him, Karen was swept off his feet and sent flying backward. Peide tapped the spear tip against the ground, pivoted, and hurled the spear. The weapon transformed into a roaring white tiger, lunging toward Karen as he fell from midair. *Damn it!* A low grunt tore from Karen's throat. In such a raw, brutal melee, spells could only play a supporting role; they couldn't turn the tide of battle. Closing his eyes, he spurred his Dark Moon power once more. At the same time, the flames of Order flared violently, wrapping around him until, from the outside, he appeared as a living man of fire. Karen snapped his eyes open. Deep within his left pupil, the abyssal black of Order spun rapidly, covering both eyes—and concealing the blood-red gleam that the Eyes of the Dark Moon were about to display! Had he not been pushed to the brink, Karen never would have devised a way to conceal the Eyes of the Dark Moon so quickly. At this moment, Karen finally unleashed the full power of the Dark Moon Blade, amplified by the Eyes of the Dark Moon. The greatsword thrashed like a savage beast breaking from its cage. Without Karen even exerting himself, it carried his body spinning through the air, cleaving downward at the white tiger. *Boom!* The illusory white tiger shattered instantly. The spear flew backward and landed back in Peide's grip. Shock flickered in his eyes; the power his opponent had just displayed was far greater than in any of their prior exchanges. Behind the tree, Ophelia's expression turned grave and bewildered once again. From Karen, she sensed an aura that made her very bloodline yearn to prostrate itself in worship. Ophelia clenched her fists. In her eyes, this man had always been shrouded in mist. Just when she thought she had peeled back one layer, she discovered there were so many more beneath. Karen landed on his feet. The profound depth of Order in his eyes made his sockets look hollow, as if they could swallow all sight, while the black flames around him were so dense they seemed ready to liquefy and drip away. In terms of presence, aura, and appearance, Karen's current state was nothing short of astonishing. In truth, Karen had always despised flashy, unnecessary flourishes in combat. Had this been a deserted island where outside interference was completely impossible, he never would have bothered with effects that served purely as visual flair. Right now, however, he didn't dare gamble. Until pushed to the absolute extreme, he wasn't willing to wager his identity. Fortunately, as a member of the Church of Order, no matter how exaggerated the power of Order you displayed was, it would still be seen as acceptable. Even if he were exposed... the worst outcome would just be getting groomed as a promising young talent of the Church of Order, and the greatest torture would merely be enjoying better treatment and faster promotions. Peide gripped his spear anew. If one looked closely, two distinct lights could be seen in his eyes: one was confusion, and the other was also confusion. *What? You want me to run away right now?* *I can't run! We've already clashed. He'll definitely report this to Order's upper echelons, and Order's higher-ups will certainly use it to spite my grandaunt. I can't ruin the improved impression my grandaunt just started to have of me!* *I don't care what secrets he's hiding—help me kill him! Kill him! Kill him!* Karen cracked his neck, limbering up his joints as much as possible. Then, without waiting for the other man to attack, he charged forward on his own initiative. Greater speed, greater power—with the Eyes of the Dark Moon open, the Dark Moon power Karen could channel had surged to a terrifying degree. At the same time, his opponent's movements appeared to slow down in his vision. *Boom!* Blade and spear clashed for the first time, whipping up a gale that stripped bark from the trees. Flames roaring around him, Karen swung his second strike downward! *Boom!* A third strike! A fourth strike! A fifth strike! Though Peide managed to block every blow, he seemed reduced to mere parrying. *Keep going!* Karen swung again and again. Every slash forced his opponent on the defensive, using sheer overpowering brute force to deny him any chance to counter. Karen didn't know how his opponent felt, but he was having the time of his life hacking away with abandon. The scene of the Captain summoning the Light Knight armor in battle flashed through his mind—presumably, the Captain had felt just as euphoric back then! Martial arts, techniques, experience—all of it paled before overwhelming power. Moves that required others to gather their strength were mere basic strikes in Karen's hands. Just then, Karen noticed the other man's parries were weakening. Karen's mind instantly cleared, snapping out of the exhilaration of brutal offense. He knew Peide was storing up power. He could look down on Peide, but he had no right to look down on the departed soul possessing him. Sure enough, as Karen brought down another blow, the spear blocked the strike and then melted like liquid, coiling upward to bind the purple greatsword in Karen's hands. With a flick of his right hand, Peide sent his body darting directly in front of Karen. In the palm of his left hand, a burst of gray lightning coalesced and thrust toward Karen's face. *Boom!* Under this blow, Sea God's Armor actually shattered and dispersed. His opponent had already studied Karen's armor and devised a countermeasure. As the lightning faded, Peide's palm suddenly caved inward. A spray of fresh blood shot out, condensing into a miniature magic circle in midair. A serpent covered in gray scales lunged from the formation, opening its jaws to reveal dark-gray fangs seething with a potent aura of curse. The entire sequence was fluid and lightning-fast. Yet Karen, having prepared himself mentally, could have easily unleashed the Dark Moon Blade within him to forcibly melt everything around him, carving out an absolutely safe perimeter through sheer, unreasonable brute force. Although the toll would have been significant, he was entirely capable of doing it. However, when Karen saw the serpent's fangs, he abandoned that option. Sparring was sparring, bound by many rules. Life-and-death combat was much simpler—it came down to a calculation: what tolerable price could he pay in exchange for his opponent's death? *Squelch!* The venomous serpent sank its fangs into Karen's neck. Its body elongated in an instant, wrapping tightly around his throat and locking itself in place. Meanwhile, the greatsword in Karen's hands cleaved toward Peide. Peide raised both arms, and a bracelet on his wrist shattered, manifesting a protective shield! *Crack!* The greatsword shattered the shield and bounced back. Peide shuddered violently as the sound of snapping bones rang out clearly. Coughing up a mouthful of blood, he was knocked flying backward. At tremendous cost, he had successfully landed his lethal strike on Karen's neck. Gray, poisonous mist was already spreading from Karen's throat, slowly dyeing his body. *Worth it!* Karen paid no mind to the serpent on his neck. Compared to this snake's venom, he had far more faith in his own dog. With matters as they stood, Karen flicked the index finger of his left hand upward! Beneath the flying Peide, the black chains that had remained concealed shot upward in an instant, sinking into Peide's feet. At that same moment, the black chains rapidly turned white. Soul contract, severed! *Crash...* Peide seemed to hear the sound of a glass bottle shattering on the ground. Immediately afterward, blood spilled from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. This was not the internal injury from being struck by the greatsword, but the backlash his body had to endure directly when the soul contract abruptly collapsed during forced possession. A black silhouette separated from Peide's body. Peide hit the ground and tumbled in utter disarray, finally collapsing flat on the earth. Karen stabbed his greatsword into the ground, leaning on the hilt with one hand as he dropped to one knee. "Ugh... ah!" A low snarl tore from Karen's throat. Reaching out with his other hand, imbued with the power of Order Purification, he grabbed the snake's body and yanked hard! *Snap!* The venomous serpent was forcibly wrenched free and hurled to the ground beside him, where it dissolved into a pool of black blood that instantly withered several square meters of vegetation. A large patch of skin was torn away with it, leaving a gruesome, bloody wound on Karen's neck. A choking, pungent sting rushed through his senses, as if a hole had been punctured in the back of his head and an entire bottle of hard liquor had been poured straight into it. His consciousness teetered on the verge of tearing apart, but Karen gritted his teeth and held on, refusing to succumb to the instinctual blackout meant to protect him. The truly terrifying aspect of the venomous snake wasn't the physical wound, but the curse it injected into the body. It would rot your flesh, decay your soul, and cause the blossom of your life to wither away from that moment on. The back of Karen's hand had already turned a grayish brown; the toxin had spread throughout his entire body. With every breath Karen drew, he seemed to smell the rapid decay of his internal organs; with every exhale, he felt the illusion that the very functions of life were being drained from his body. "Karen!!!" "Stay where you are!" Karen shouted. He could hold on. He believed he could endure it, so there was no need to let Ophelia expose her identity at a time like this. Moreover, what puzzled him was that Peide—struggling on the ground to get up without success—had not been attacked by that powerful departed soul. The black spirit clad in battered armor merely stood quietly beside Peide. *What the hell? Kill him!* Peide struggled to stand, but it proved agonizingly difficult. In the end, he could only prop himself up on his elbows. The woman moved to run over, but he shouted to her as well: "Don't come over! I'm fine!" The woman stopped in her tracks and retreated behind the tree. Peide turned his head toward the black spirit with great difficulty, saying with a look of shame: "Grandaunt told me before that I was too weak to maintain a stable soul contract with you, and that it could rupture and break at any moment during use. It was my frailty that held you back. I'm sorry, Uncle." "..." Karen. Karen felt a strong urge to curse. *Uncle?* Still, Peide didn't seem to realize what his chains of Order had done. To him, the chains of Order were merely a common spell practiced by priests of the Church of Order. Before this, there had been no precedent whatsoever of the chains of Order severing a soul contract. The only person who had ever received that treatment was Talina, and she had already been reduced to ashes by the Captain. Peide assumed his own shortcomings were why the soul contract broke during battle. Of course, the primary cause was the immense pressure his opponent had exerted on him, which kept the contractual bond stretched to a terrifying breaking point. The black spirit's gaze held some doubt. He had sensed a strange sensation earlier and vaguely felt that the severing of the soul contract hadn't been so simple. A bead rolled to the spirit's feet, emanating a soft gray glow that formed a protective barrier. It prevented the irreversible dissipation of his soul, preserving him even after departing the host's body. Peide struggled to try standing once more, but he still couldn't manage it. Fortunately, that Order guy across from him was definitely a dead man. Then, he lifted his head—and saw, to his utter astonishment, that Karen was actually standing up. "..." Peide. Karen drew his palm across the blade's edge. From the open cut, toxic blood steeped in curse energy poured out continuously, killing off a large swathe of vegetation around his feet, but the pain and pressure on Karen steadily receded. He wasn't afraid of curses. Having been reshaped by an evil god, this body of his was the true source of pollution. While his ordinary blood might not harm simple vegetation, that was merely the lowest-level manifestation. After all, even the worms Philias had bred couldn't survive inside him! Mutated curse worms would even be poisoned to death by his blood. Drawing a deep breath, Karen leaned on the hilt and rose completely to his feet. *All right.* *Not predicting that you two were relatives was my oversight.* *But neither of you expected that a curse of this level would only bring me pain—it would never bring me down.* *In the end,* *I still win.* Karen pulled the greatsword from the ground and walked toward Peide step by step. He now had the luxury to choose whether to capture him alive or simply kill him. Killing him would certainly cause turmoil and scrutiny from Samsara's side, drawing an investigation and stirring up a storm. *Still, go die and reunite with your sister!* At times, Karen could be full of sympathy—for instance, grieving for that girl from the restaurant. But at other times, he could be utterly ruthless. His enemies were best off completely dead! "H-How is this possible!" Despair flooded Peide's eyes. At that moment, the black spirit willingly left the protection and sustenance of the contract bead and charged toward Karen. "Without a physical host, what can you possibly do?" Karen raised a hand and incanted: "Order—Purification!" The power of purification surged forward to envelop the spirit, but in the next instant, the spirit actually tore through it! Though its form thinned considerably, its forward momentum remained ferociously strong! No wonder Peide had thought the earlier severance of the soul contract was an accident. The power of his uncle's departed soul was truly terrifyingly strong. *Buzz!* The black spirit plunged directly into Karen's body. Karen shuddered, his steps halting as he froze stiffly in place. The spirit inside him was asserting itself with overwhelming dominance, aggressively attempting to seize his body. When he realized the spirit's objective, Karen neither panicked nor lost his composure. He merely said: "You actually want to seize my body?" Karen tilted his head back and let out a chuckle. "Heh, that's something even my dog couldn't pull off."