Chương 31: Infinite Serpent

The akyromancer remained doing nothing for the time being, but the biomancer started charging at him and the taximancer readying his lighting spell. Just like the first time. But the same couldn't be said for the gnosiamancers. During the zeroth loop, Nolotl had been the first one to assault them, but that was no longer the case.

Perhaps all three enemy gnosiamancers were enraged, but Luminol managed to control himself a bit, whether it was because he was old and wise enough to divine a trap or because Nolotl's taunt about stealing Cillin would mean nothing if he died now. Yet the other taunt reverberated in the twins' mind with far more viciousness. After all, it wasn't the same a threat of unrequited love than straight-up murder. That blind hate and rage was their demise. YOUR RAGE IS PATHETIC.

The twiceborn's mental taunt echoed throughout the Cognition, but that wasn't even his first attack. The enchanter brothers had tried to assault his mind, failing to notice that they were standing right on top of mental anchors. This just didn't redirect their attacks to one of Nolotl's modified fuse—concretely for stopping the flow of mental power instead of mana—but linked it to them.

Nolotl's smile became the cruelest it had ever been as the brothers suddenly found a significant fraction of their thoughts trapped in a paper fuse. It wasn't even that great of a trap, they would be able to release themselves in a couple of seconds. Unfortunately for them, they didn't even have a single one. The diviner promptly severed the link between the twins' Cognition and their bodies, virtually killing them.

Their rage and the trap had left them far too exposed and open to the Cognition, even more than the time Cillin had forgot to protect her mind when Nolotl had confronted her about her attraction. Luminol's eyes shot wide open as his whole coterie died. Unlike the first time, the twins now had died simultaneously, which meant that the mental whiplash was way stronger, allowing Nolotl to do the equivalent of a cognitive headbutt.

Not as lethal as the first time he confronted the astromancer, but he didn't need to and it was also free instead of needing to fry his own brain to do so. The man slipped into a coma as he was basically hit from all directions, his mind not withstanding the stimuli. Perhaps the secretary hadn't died, but he would at least be out of commission for the next hour, which would be another virtual death thanks to the loop.

Seeing three of his companions suddenly fall to the ground, with two of them bleeding from their eyes and nose, made the taximancer panic. He wasn't a battlemage, just some hired muscle to distract Nolotl, and it showed. The man lost his concentration and was forced to start casting from zero, giving Nolotl a bit more time to deal with the biomancer. Yaxkin rushed at him with the rage of a true warrior, not having even noticed that half of the ambushers were out of commission.

Without a care in the world, the warrior swung his colossal macuahuitl against Nolotl's polygonal barrier, expecting him to shatter it with one impact. And he was right. The translucent yellow barrier dissipated with a single strike, clearly not meant to withstand this type of damage. But unlike the barrier from the zeroth loop, this one exploded.

The biomancer found himself pushed backward by a shockwave that only traveled outwards, his body nearly flying as several shards of hardened light penetrated in his flesh. But of course, this wasn't an opportunity Nolotl wasted as he lunged at Yaxkin's neck with his serrated obsidian spear, cutting through the carotid. This cut was far more brutal than any of the ones Nolotl had managed to inflict at the zeroth loop, call it practice after having the worst fight in his life fifty-something days ago.

But the diviner didn't capitalize on it. He knew he would need several more hits to kill the resilient biomancer, if anything, waiting was the correct play as Yaxkin was now on his knees with a hand on his neck as he healed himself. Nolotl hadn't managed to buy much time, but enough to rush away from the biomancer, much to everyone's surprise. Especially the taximancer. The Arcane mage had managed to finally cast his lighting, but the gnosiamancer had been expecting it.

He used the traits of his Quetzal Wings to perform a minor illusion the moment the barrier broke, just making his wings seem even bigger than normal. Far from a significant change. Unless you were a panicked mage that simply shoot at the biggest target available. The unknown taximancer failed as he hit an illusion, his eyes opening wide in despair. He didn't even have time to talk as the tepoztopilli went through his neck. Arcane didn't grant physical resistances, unlike Life.

Taximancers were known for sustaining great quantities of damage, yes, but only magical one. There wasn't anything magical about getting one's carotid and jugular curtailed. In that sense, the taximancer just had bad luck as Nolotl was his worst type of opponent possible, one that didn't possess sources magical damage. The terian's whole repertoire was limited to mental and physical damage. The mage with the amethyst eyes drowned in his own blood, too surprised to even cast a spell as a last gift.

Pathetic, Nolotl pondered with his terian body boiling in animalistic rage yet impartial clarity. At least try to claim your revenge. Nolotl dedicated a single moment to take a breath before he had to fight for his life yet again. He didn't know what the akyromancer had done, but he could no longer feel them. At least not directly. I can remember their existence and I have the vague feeling they are present, but that's it… I guess that's better than nothing.

The limitations of Vacuous Filtration as a first tier spell had become crystal clear, he wouldn't be able to follow an akyromancer using Voidform, but it truly was better than dealing with them without even remembering their existence.

"This is problematic," Yaxkin said once he stood up and inspected his fallen companions.

"I had expected that you would have brought your bodyguard to escort you… but causing this much destruction without any assistance is monstrous." It wasn't even an insult, just a regretful remark.

"The prophets were right, if you don't die right now, Cahtul won't have a future." As much as the diviner was interested in the prophesy the warrior had been given, something else had caught his attention from the monologue.

"Wait," Nolotl tightened the grip on his spear.

"Are you telling me that I could have brought Azi along with me all these times?"

"I wish you didn't after beholding such ferocity," the biomancer jested in grim comedy, not noticing the true meaning of the last two words the gnosiamancer had uttered.

"I thought this would have been overkill even with your ocelotl considering you were a weak level 4 gnosiamancer." The man's prejudice was obvious in his tone. Yaxkin didn't consider Nolotl weak because he was only level 4 by the time of the original loop—this small piece of information telling him that they hadn't been able to divine his new level since them month and a half he had gotten it—but because he was a gnosiamancer.

Perhaps he couldn't read the biomancer's thoughts with Lesser Read Thoughts because he wasn't connected to the Cognition, but the diviner could tell the warrior simply couldn't understand why a twiceborn wouldn't be a biomancer. That would make him twice as strong as the average biomancer, after all. Yaxkin, of course, failed to understand that Nolotl's strength didn't lie in the physical ambit. An aspect both reinforced by his High Priest of Nochochenca Title and Starguided Blessing.

Perhaps the Release Animal Spirit Boon series would've been doubly as strong with him, but he also had an additional strength people could not admit to possess. A promise. A simple promise that made him tread a path he might not be as well-suited as he could be. But a promise, nonetheless. Without any further exchange of words, both warriors lunged forward, their breathing long recovered.

Yaxkin was faster than him by virtue of being a biomancer, but also way less maneuverable, allowing Nolotl to sidestep with ease as he cut him with the head of his tepoztopilli. A shallow cut in the abdomen, nothing the man would register, but at least it was some blood drawn with no drawbacks. Nolotl didn't regret choosing gnosiamancy, but he was now rather uncomfortable with not being able to sense the warrior's tonalli.

Not only would that be his mana pool as he clearly wasn't a mage, but because that would've let him know Yaxkin's Animal Spirit. Did he not have one and chose a different path? Was it an animal trait that only materialized inside the body? Both options were equally likely, but the diviner hated not having that information.

Just like the first time, the Empyrean of Information started weaving some illusions to take the macuahuitl-wielder out of balance, but unlike the first time around, this time it was harder to do so. Not only did he have now Yaxkin's undivided focus, but he also didn't want to mess his brain. He needed it in peak conditions to succeed with the ritual. Everything else was secondary. Everything else is secondary… The thought echoed in his mind, forming a backup plan in case things weren't going as planned.

Yaxkin was physically stronger than Azithromycin, but also way slower. Nolotl could already hold himself against a released Azithromycin on a good day, and that was without his true self released. But he wouldn't get cocky. Outspeeding and outmaneuvering an enemy meant nothing if he couldn't kill him. And unlike the biomancer, his stamina wasn't endless. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Nolotl dodged the lethal macuahuitl with movements less than graceful, they were as orthodox as they could, saving as much stamina as possible as he landed the equivalent of paper cuts with his spear. Some of the obsidian blades had started to shatter too. It seems more likely than ever that Yaxkin doesn't have an Animal Form build, but instead one that reinforces his body. At the very minimum, Nolotl placed the man around level 6, but perhaps the true minimum would be level 7.

Not insurmountable odds even without sacrifices at this low level, but certainly difficult. I hate that he's only covering his neck, though. There were more than enough blood vessels to cut on the body, with arteries being the more dangerous ones, but the neck was the sweet spot for bloodletting a biomancer. Legs being a close second without outright piercing their heart. The diviner continued building his grasp on the man's mind, but the warrior left him little space to concentrate.

Especially because he had to keep a non-trivial amount of his concentration to the Vacuous Filtration spell. I really hate concentration as a spell requirement, Nolotl curses in the confines in his mind. Blocking the macuahuitl was a non-option, the best he could do was deflect the massive wooden club-sword when it was just at the perfect angle, but doing so added even more pressure on his body. Mental warfare it is, Nolotl meditated defeatedly.

"Your country will fall, regardless of my success," the prince of the confederation taunted the warrior.

"No," he stated sternly.

"If you are to fall here, Nolotl Xocoyotzin, Cahtul will raise to the greatest of heights. You truly are the only obstacle." Yaxkin truly believed in the statement, a conviction born out of faith. Nolotl scowled and gritted his teeth at that display of faith. Perhaps he wasn't a good priest, but he hated being overtaken in zeal.

"Then your nation shall burn to the ground for there is no path that will lead to my defeat!" He screeched in an animalistic manner, his avian Animal Spirits speaking more than him this time. The rage from his previous death having simmered more than enough time.

"The priests were right," the holy warrior swung his heavy macuahuitl in a descending arc with force enough to cleave through a tree, let alone a horse.

"Your survival a decade ago was the worst outcome for Cahtul." Memories of cyan and red assaulted Nolotl's mind, perfectly recalling the red ink spilling on the locks of gold thanks to his odious Perfect Recollection. How many times had he relived that scene? How many times had blood to be spilled? You have resisted Rage. You have resisted Rage. You have resisted Rage. His Animal Spirits shouted at him, commanding him to cleave that man in half and eat his intestines whilst he still lived.

There wasn't any mercy that he could concede to the sub-terian being in front of him.

"That was the worst thing you could have said, Yaxkin of Cahtul." Without hesitation nor strategy, Nolotl lunged at the man. The biomancer snickered at the fact that his opponent had lost his cool and readied himself for the killing blow, yet he failed to realize that rage only made the twiceborn's Animal Spirits stronger. That insult was the last push his inner quetzal needed to confound the warrior's sense, making him miss by a wide margin. So Nolotl stabbed him. Again. And again.

He pushed his body to his limits in a massive anaerobic effort, knowing full well that from here only victory or defeat existed. The spearman had managed to cut both sides of the warrior's neck alongside a nasty gnash on his thigh. It still wasn't enough to take him down. But in a sense, it mattered not at all. The time for the total celestial alignment grew nearer, making Yaxkin more nervous. He tried to lunge at the terian prince more frantically, completely forgoing defense or even healing his body.

"The prophesy will come true if I survive past the nine seconds of glory, huh?" Nolotl's grin became the most malicious expression in all of Lon, Yaxkin reaction only amplifying his vicious delight even more.

"Sorry for you, but there's truly no victory." This taunt, however, was directed at himself. For better or worse, the Cahtuli warrior would always win no matter what he did. After all, it was impossible for Nolotl Xocoyotzin, Interlooper, to see a single millisecond past the total celestial alignment. Of course, Yaxkin didn't know any of this. Only that a single minute remained for the time of prophesy. This was truly his last breath, his tonalli and stamina reaching the deepest of levels. Time was running out.

Though the same held true for Nolotl. Perhaps he had infinite time at his disposal, but he wasn't innocent enough to trust Enantyum. If he had any hope to not be eliminated from the loop, it was to get Second Mind now. Yet even with all that pressure, one fact trumped all over them. This wasn't his first time fighting Yaxkin. The terian had only had the chance to 'spar' two previous times against him, but lethal battles were always the one that made one grow the fastest. Dodge. Stab. Sidestep. Breathe. Dod-deflect.

Pommel strike. Sidestep. Cut. Breathe. It was a brutal fight. All of those actions and thoughts took place over a couple of seconds. The rhythm was too much for a non-biomancer and a bleeding man. The snow at their feet was more sweat and blood than actual water. The more anemic Yaxkin was, the easier it was for Nolotl to take ahold of his mind. How ironic that it was easier to assault the minds of people that literally had a Boon called Resistance to Cognitive Harm.

He couldn't exactly tell what was going through the Cahtuli's mind, but he knew that his senses were playing against him. And the man still managed to be a menace. This only showed how desperate the Tezlan had been to draw blood during his first try. Enantyum had been right. Yaxkin had been right. I shouldn't have survived for as long as I did that first time.

Perhaps it was a pessimistic thought, but it was a hard-won one as he pushed forward his tepoztopilli for one last time, the obsidian blades that impacted from that side finally shattering and lodging themselves in the warrior's neck. He had won. There was no healing that. At least not in time. Nolotl took a decisive and glorious breath as Yaxkin collapsed on his back, the massive biomancer sinking into the ankle-level layer of snow, dyeing it vivid red.

With a heavy mind and body, the gnosiamancer pranced forward to his ritual spot, ready to fulfill his destiny. Until he was stabbed. In the last of moments, the akyromancer had managed to slip from his mind, but Vacuous Filtration gave him that fraction of a second he needed, managing to shift the assassin's aim towards his arm.

"Ugh…" Nolotl grunted as the knife hit bone. The enraged diviner didn't let his pain disorientate him, instead choosing to bit his under lip hard enough to draw blood. With his faint lingering presence of mind, Nolotl slapped the akyromancer with his injured wing, sending them to the ground with violence. Without a kernel of hesitation, Nolotl stabbed them on the leg, pinning them on the ground and let go of his spear to remove the knife.

"It's too late," the akyromancer chuckled. A male. That checks out considering Yaxkin's views on the female gender.

"That dagger is cursed. It will decay your body and soul."

"How great that I don't need either of them," the Empyrean of Information snorted before picking up his spear—much to the assassin's suffering as they let out a blood-curdling scream—and amputating his whole wing.

"Y-you are crazy!" The man's gaze telling Nolotl enough about him. He values the body as sacred. Cahtuli definitely.

"No," the twiceborn denied and stabbed the akyromancer on the heart.

"I'm desperate." Nolotl removed the spear from the man's chest, leaving an awful cavity, and he used it as a walking stick as he limped towards the ritual site. His legs might be fine, but he was utterly exhausted and on his way to hemorrhaging to death.

"Oh, well," he chuckled as he sat down, streams of blood pouring out of the stub that was now his right arm.

"There's only thirty seconds remaining of loop, so I don't have to worry about bleeding to death." The gnosiamancer started casting as he spoke, dropping out the Vacuous Filtration divination. The Second Mind ritual used everything: concentration, hylomorphism, xenoglossia, and cheironomy. The last component, the somatic one, was the most problematic as he only had a single arm, but he would manage.

He had practiced the spellware to death, the hylomorphism was ready and hadn't suffered any damage, he could easily chant the verbal component, and his mind was completely intact.

"Now or never," he whispered before starting with the xenoglossia as the dual moons threatened to align. Barely seconds remaining for the nine seconds of glory. Nolotl couldn't even hear the words he was uttering, such was his exhaustion and concentration. He was conscious enough that he was reciting them correctly, but it wasn't until the nine seconds started that his Starguided Boon kicked into overdrive, giving him enough clarity to hear his own voice." From infinity and beyond, here I have reached the summit.

I stand as a supreme mind, with thoughts adamant. I am my own mind, and I command myself to become myself again. All to obtain a Second Mind." The diviner peered into the heavens, a supermassive black hole filling up his gaze. That already filled his mind with information, but as the ritual came to a completion thanks to the boosting effects of the total celestial alignment, he felt his very Cognition tremble as it underwent a metaphysical mitosis.

"Ukh…" Nolotl let out a dry moan, a mixture of pain and pleasure, his mental capabilities reaching new impossible heights. Information Alignment increased by 0. 1%. Information assimilation progressed by 42%. Level progressed by 93%. You have completely assimilated Information. You have leveled up. You are now a Level 6 Gnosiamancer. Select a new Boon. Even if he hadn't felt his very mind expand, those sweet notifications told him all he needed to know.

But even more importantly, they brought him a greater pleasure than the increase of his mental faculties.

"How… beautiful…" That was everything Nolotl could say, a tear trailing down his eye. Levels were something that took years to increase, if not decades. He had experienced that by only having reached level 5 after a little more than a full decade, and those were the earliest levels. Yet now he had completed a full level in little more than fifty days by pushing himself to his absolute limits. And it was pleasurable.

It wasn't just due to some metaphysical notification, but his own desire of personal growth and the self-acknowledgement of that fulfillment. It was just breathtaking. Nolotl let himself collapse on the spellcircle below him, peering into the aligned heavens, as his new mind finished forming. Or so he would have liked. Ah… Truly a suitable host~ The words filled Nolotl with a gelid feeling of gut-wrenching nausea, not just his body, but also his mind and soul becoming numb.

Reality seemed to crumble with time slowing to a crawl, the galactic alignment slipping into the background as something else took precedence. Diverse and disperse images of everything assaulted the gnosiamancer's mind.

Cities of sky-scratching towers of glass and stone that not even transmutation or topomancy enchantments could build, seas of infinite expanse dyed with the cyan of the Cognition but hosting stone towers like sequoias that had collapsed through the passage of time, yet most worryingly, a library that transcended all ages and limits of knowledge. All of this brought forth by an odious entity. A voice of pure malice, oozing with harmful melancholy, whispered in what should have been the sacred confines of his mind.

It wasn't his own voice. It wasn't Enantyum's. It wasn't even a civilized one. Not a terian. Not a celestial. Not a dryad. It was a monstrous voice, something that shouldn't exist.

"GET OUT!" Nolotl shouted with all of his might as he grabbed his head and squirmed on the snow, his own mind working against him. He knew it. The ritual hadn't been perfect. He had been half dead, bleeding to death, he failed to complete the full cheironomy as he lacked a hand. And this was the aftereffect of his failure. I fret not. The voice giggled in sadistic amusement. You're too compatible to pass up, Quetzalcoatl.

The diviner couldn't understand why the cognitive being, an eldritch creature that defied the rules and sanctity of reality, addressed him as the mythical Empyrean of Life, Light, and Information, the terian progenitor of knowledge, but he couldn't even care as he squirmed in an absolute pain, one that transcended physicality. The being continued whispering in true melancholy, but Nolotl couldn't hear it as the voice was drowned by his own screams—both physical and cognitive—whilst he cried tears of blood.

With the vision of perfect order illuminating the blood-painted skies, Nolotl's life finally extinguished, just a tenth of second short of the reversal of time, at the jaws of an infinite serpent.