Chương 280: Chapter 272: A Gentle Duel: Terminator vs Juggernaut

The Terminator was a monster. An inhuman endurance backed by a robotic mind, as precise as it was relentless. His energy attacks obliterated the forest, annihilating any corrupted unlucky enough to stray too close to the battle. Eight novas would have drained any other rival of their aether, but the homunculus unleashed them without limit. Priam's theory?

The Var Elegis had two energy sources: in addition to the aether reserve created by his meta-endurance, a nuclear reactor allowed him to generate a terrifying amount of thermal energy. Against any other opponent, this would have been the end of the fight. Not for Priam. His instincts allowed him to dodge the core of the explosions, and his resistances kept him alive long enough to escape their blast zones.

Plus, the fires sparked by the detonations became his emergency teleport points, thanks to his mastery of the Fire Concept. The chase dragged on for minutes. Priam was regenerating his body while bombarding his foe with an absurd number of explosive spears… with underwhelming results. When it became clear neither was gaining a real advantage, Arnold switched tactics. Instead of trying to vaporize Priam outright, he decided to slice him to death with a thousand laser cuts.

While Priam could dodge the worst of the novas, he was a sitting duck for this new weapon. Star Wars had lied to him: dodging a beam of light fired by a machine was nearly impossible. The next few minutes were as bloody as they were blinding, with Arnold firing several lasers at once. The beams targeted Priam's most vulnerable spots. Eventually, the Homo Elysian had to shut his eyes after his opponent managed to recreate a disturbing scene from Final Destination. The battle raged on.

Trees collapsed, the forest burned, and the corrupted stumbled over the severed fingers and toes of a hunted rival. Lvl Up: [Solar Resistance] lvl 21 CONST +2 VIT +1 Lvl Up: [Fire Champion Physique] lvl 23 VIT +3 CONST +3 META (Endurance) +3 Any spectator would've been horrified by the duel, but Priam was far from fazed. Sure, he couldn't dodge the lasers, but did he really need to? [Homo Elysian Obsession] and [Life is Hard; I'm Harder] let him evolve, hardening him against the attacks.

Most people fought to survive, but Priam? He survived to fight. A fierce glint ignited in his eyes as he activated one of the last Merits he'd earned. [Life is Hard; I'm Harder - Gold] - Tier 3: You can select a resistance and accelerate its rate of progression. Selecting [Solar Resistance], Priam felt something akin to an epiphany spread through his cells. The next round of lasers ripped through his body, searing his muscles, scorching his skin, and stimulating his molecules.

Lvl Up: [Solar Resistance] lvl 22 CONST +2 VIT +1 The level-up arrived twice as fast as his add-on had predicted. A split second later, the lasers stopped. Clearly, the Var Elegis could assess his opponent's attributes—and he was too damn smart to keep helping Priam bolster his resistances.

"You're stronger than me," Priam admitted, breathing hard, one lung punctured.

"But you won't kill me like this." The homunculus nodded.

"You're right... I'll have to get my hands dirty," he said, leaping with the grace of a tiger. Priam met his rival's charge with a thrust from Promesse, slicing off Arnold's ear. In return, a punch folded him in half. The two Champions launched into a savage martial dance, clashing throughout the burning forest. The Var Elegis fought like a monk, using nothing but his body as a weapon. Their Domains canceled each other out, the clash preventing any Concepts from manifesting.

It left only two bare-knuckle warriors, fighting savagely, trying to tear each other apart with their fists, feet, and sheer rage. Priam landed an uppercut that could have cracked a slab of granite, only to wince as his joints exploded from the impact against his opponent's jaw. The Terminator had earned his title. His body didn't shapeshift, but the metal beneath his skin was so dense that Promesse dulled against it—not that close-quarters combat gave him many chances to use the spear anyway.

Promesse needed an upgrade, and that was possible with the reward he had just earned. Completed Quest: Fallen Once a Fallen, now a dead. Sumstreh died the way he lived: stupidly. The Sphinx's revenge claimed him. Reward: Bloodline Purification (+1%) Talent Token - Seraph Rarity [Talent Token - Seraph Rarity] - Choose one of your Talents from the list and evolve it to seraphic rarity. Note: Talents are etched into the soul. Upgrading by multiple rarity levels may negatively impact the user.

List: Ultimate Sensory Memory, Promesse, Chimera, Spectral Familiarity, Hoplite Warpath, Blessing of Viracocha, He Who Eludes Gods. Priam hadn't delivered the finishing blow to Sumstreh, but he would get a second chance after traveling back in time. For now, he needed to pick a bloodline to purify and a Talent to upgrade. The bloodline was tricky. The draconic was clearly superior, but he could improve it by killing other carriers like the skulcs, certain Snaherts, or the Terrors of Valaryth.

His phoenix bloodline, though, was much harder to cultivate, according to his mentor. Choosing a Talent was just as difficult. There was no room for error—like his bloodline, the seraphic Token wouldn't be refunded by Back in Time. According to Hyshana, some blacksmith hoplites had enhanced mechas by incorporating new magical metals. Kazuki had also revealed that reaching Spear Mastery II helped awaken wielded weapons. In short, Promesse could be upgraded without wasting a Token.

Other Talents tempted him, but Priam still vividly remembered how close to death he came when upgrading [Eidetic Memory]. Rushing could be fatal, even with [He Who Eludes Death] primed. More confusing still was the presence of [He Who Eludes Gods] and [Blessing of Viracocha], two Talents that couldn't be upgraded previously. Could my celestial soul be a prerequisite for improving them? If so, why is [Knight of the Aether] not on the list? Lost in thought, Priam overlooked his opponent's double feint.

A devastating punch launched him backward. His spine collided with a tree, snapping it in half. With a quick spin, Priam landed on his feet, healing his fractured bones. His face twisted in a grimace as he spat out splinters of wood. Note to self: one parallel thought stream isn't enough to fight efficiently.

"Your regeneration's finally running dry." Priam frowned at Arnold's words, then noticed a strand of white hair falling across his eyes.

"Oh." Burning through his lifespan to restore his body wasn't without its consequences—who would have guessed? His add-on constantly monitored his body using [Diagnostic], and it seemed mimicking a hydra's regeneration without rest exponentially aged him. Even Second Wind couldn't fully reverse the trend; his soul remained old despite his body's youth. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Getting old's just the mark of experience kicking in," Priam quipped, raising Promesse.

"Come on, I feel like I'm getting better." And it was true. There was nothing like a deathmatch against a superior opponent to spur a man's growth. Seeing his rival hesitate, Priam lunged to impale him. His Spear Mastery grazed the enemy's chest, only a burst of kinetic energy letting him dodge a devastating elbow at the last second.

"You missed!" The young warrior landed in a flip, his hearts pounding in his ears and his blood boiling in his veins. Thrusts, swings, cuts, grappling, dodges, feints—he was honing his skills against the first rival he had encountered in Elysium. Perhaps it was the thrill of the challenge, or maybe the adrenaline flooding his system, but Priam couldn't help but smile.

Lvl Up: [Matrix Dodge] lvl 13 AGI +2 DEXT +1 Lvl Up: [Battle Flow] lvl 28, 29 PERC +4 DEXT +2 The homunculus was right on his tail, and Priam had to use both his thought threads and his add-on just to stay alive. Every attack from the Terminator was meticulously calculated, factoring in the environment to create perfect ideal trajectories that left his opponent with little room to maneuver. The pressure built steadily, forcing Priam into mistakes that were immediately punished.

With every misstep, Arnold tore muscles and bones, trying to deplete Priam's energy reserves. It was as cunning as it was cruel, but Priam had found a countermeasure. The undead falling around the periphery of their duel granted him enough Sun points to buy nutrient pills, which materialized directly in his mouth. That was how the Champion kept up with the energy drain of constant regeneration. As he retreated to dodge a left hook, Priam cursed when his foot caught on a root.

He wasn't used to fighting without the omnidirectional perception granted by his Domain. The homunculus exploited his stumble, sweeping him to the ground, and Priam narrowly avoided decapitation by pulling off a capoeira flip. If Kazuki was a storm, Arnold was a machine. His flawless movements, robotic precision, and mechanical approach to combat were all designed to methodically dismantle his opponent. Without his regeneration, Priam wouldn't have lasted five minutes. How could he?

Arnold had survived more waves in the Colosseum and earned the rewards of a quintuple Tribulation. He was one of the rare rivals with higher stats than Priam. The Var Elegis wasn't just strong; he was an absolute monster, easily one of the most powerful Tier 0s in all of Elysium.

"What was your final ranking in that quintuple Tribulation?" Priam asked between dodging deadly punches. The homunculus responded by opening his mouth and firing a laser, which singed off Priam's eyebrow instead of gouging out his eye.

"I wonder if you did better than Dishnu…" Arnold stayed silent, but his attacks sped up. Priam smirked, noticing the crack in his opponent's composure. Despite the pressure, he was starting to enjoy resisting the Terminator. While he was slowly losing ground, his add-on was busy analyzing Arnold, building a model he could train against later. Information was the sinews of war, and when the time for revenge came, Priam would be ready. Arnold feinted to the right.

His system predicted the perfect trajectory, and Priam braced himself to block the ideal strike that was sure to follow. When the homunculus's steel-gloved hand pierced between his ribs, Priam's eyes widened in shock. For the first time in the fight, Arnold had deviated from perfection.

"If my enemies expect perfection, I become predictable. Thanks for the lesson." Priam leaped back just as Arnold crushed his human heart. His face twisted in agony as he landed awkwardly on a low tree branch. Stumbling, he shook off a wave of dizziness and straightened up. Instead of pressing his advantage, Arnold paused, observing him, and that was when Priam felt the intense pain radiating from his chest.

"You're not regenerating when I hit you with a spiritual attack. Seems like we share the same weaknesses."

"... You got Seth's racial Talent when you killed him," Priam realized. It was so obvious that he cursed himself for not figuring it out sooner. Just as killing Taishi, the hoplite Champion, had granted him his racial talent, the murder of the necromancer had bestowed [Soul Duality] upon the homunculus. Priam had read about that Talent when he upgraded his own race. [Soul Duality - Gold] - High Duatian's racial talent. Your soul is linked to your body.

The degeneration of your physical envelope leads to that of your soul. [Homo Elysian Obsession] was superior, but the link between his body and soul remained, and it could be a potential vulnerability.

"That is right," Arnold admitted.

"Without it, I'm not sure I would have been able to analyze your aetheric code. Mixing the races of Champions… what a brilliant idea. As expected of the First." Priam was starting to hate that sentence. Coughing up blood, he understood Arnold had sacrificed part of his own soul, preventing his body from regenerating. Summoning Pyro and disabling his pain sensors, Priam cauterized the wound.

"I guess I'm not the only one evolving," he muttered, grimacing. From now on, any injury would be permanent until he found a way to desynchronize his body and soul at will.

"You want another lesson?"

"Yes," the homunculus replied with disarming honesty.

"Always be aware of your position in a fight," Priam said, retreating further. Pushing through a few stray leaves, he emerged into a clearing. In the background, the tribes' camp sprawled out. His allies were close. Priam's grin faded when he saw the sheer number of corpses littering the ground. Most were corrupted, but close to a thousand of them belonged to the tribes. Seth hadn't shown any mercy. Seeing the carnage, Priam realized the difference between him and some of his rivals.

For all his flaws, he still valued life.

"I'm sorry, Osiris, but I don't think I can share an island with your brother," Priam mused, surveying the aftermath of Seth's rampage on the tribes. The corpse of the necro titan was visible, half draped over the fortifications. Braato was beside it, methodically dismantling the skeleton, bone by bone. The tribes wouldn't waste the body of a Tier 4. Braato noticed Priam's gaze and leaped toward him.

"…I'm sorry," the warrior said, his voice tired, sad, and ashamed. It wasn't in a Gaesert's nature to abandon their allies in the heat of battle.

"Your clan comes first," Priam said. He would have done the same to save his own family.

"Seth…?"

"The shamans are hunting him down to retrieve the souls he stole." Braato's knuckles turned white from clenching his fists.

"When they bring him back, I swear his soul will power our latrine enchantments for the next thousand years." Priam thought to himself that he had no desire for his rival to see him taking a piss. Unless he becomes a god.

"They'll catch him. What about Ophis?"

"Leo's trying to stop the monster that's taken control of him…" Braato furrowed his brow, then gave Priam a hearty slap on the back.

"But why dwell on our losses when we can celebrate a victory? The Fallen is dead! I don't know how you managed it, but we owe you." Popping his shoulder back into place, Priam grinned.

"You can pay that debt right now. See that rival over there? He's trying to kill me, and I could use a hand putting him in his place." [1 hour 56 minutes before optimal activation of Back in Time.] Status: PHYSICAL: Strength 782 Constitution 1 445 (+10) Agility 930 (+3) Vitality 1 380 (+10) Perception 822 (+5) MENTAL: Vivacity (D) 599 Dexterity 684 (+3) Memory 896 Willpower 1 193 Charisma 754 META: Meta-affinity 923 Meta-focus 444 Meta-endurance 804 (+6) Meta-perception (A) 443 Meta-chance 332 Meta-authority 258 Potential: 12 485 (+13) Tier 0 Sun point: 41 (+41) [He Who Eludes Death] charge: PRIMED [Tribulation]: Six Tribulations pending.

Future Tribulations delayed until: Time: 152 days 7 hours 27 minutes 14 seconds. Next thresholds: 12 attributes > 600 / 6 attribute > 900 / 3 attributes > 1 200 / 1 attribute > 1 500 This arc is already complete on Patreon if you want to find out what happens next! https: //www. patreon. com/ANovelConcept