Author's Note: Had a tone of crap to do today, I'll start fixing chapters tomorrow.

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'You are not real! They are not here!'

"ARGGGHGHHH!! {FAST FORWARD!}"

I could have used {Rewind} to retreat, but I didn't want to waste my ability. Although the cooldown had greatly diminished, {Rewind} still needed five minutes between uses. That might sound short, but in a high-stakes battle, it was enough to get someone killed.

Swinging my weapon as my head spun took my everything, but I was rewarded by the sweet sound of multiple impacts. A sharp series of booms began, like a static eraser; my mace thrummed as it moved through supersonic speeds.

[Recalibration completed. {Mind Shield} is now back at 100%]

As my defenses came back online, the hallucinations vanished and my vision and hearing normalized. In that moment, I grew thankful that these Specters were fighting like monsters rather than people.

'If these people used their domains and multiple {Fates}, winning would be impossible.'

Within seconds of touching the treant, its entire body was erased with my swing. It couldn't even use the entire 999 strikes as it died too quickly. Luckily the Shark lunged at me from the back. [Attuned] gave me the foresight of his attack.

Smiling, I twisted my body and used [War Dancer]. Rapidly changing my direction allowed me to conserve all the momentum of my initial swing but redirected it to a new target.

"GRAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

I was half expecting the shark to notice, but it didn't. With a single-minded focus, it opened its jaw to bite down on my neck. It was so fast that I couldn't evade it despite being in [Sky Sentinel].

"So what? Take it all, you bastard! [Gladiator]!"

Changing my discipline in a single millisecond, I felt the souls in my body reorganize. By the time the shark's teeth buried themselves in my left shoulder, I was already a different beast.

The Specter shark's saw-like mouth sliced open my skin and crushed my bones. Despite having a body stronger than the average descendant, I was helpless. A fiery sensation burned through my entire arm as pain shot through me like a lightning bolt.

'I felt worse.'

Gritting my teeth through the pain, I gave my shoulder in exchange for the chance to counterattack. [Auto Rewind] kicked in and began to heal my shoulder while it was still being bitten off.

Pain and relief danced on the nerves in my body as I felt every bit of damage and healing. Funnily enough, it hurt far worse because of {Regen} not delaying the healing process until after the attack.

But apart from never shying away from pain, Exa knew what she was doing.

A sudden surge of strength numbed the pain and restored clarity to my mind. Whatever weariness and exhaustion I felt earlier was blown away as if I had taken an adrenaline shot.

"Fuck, yeah! That's the stuff."

[Gladiator] was my boss killer mode because it was meant to take a beating. While [Defender] focused more on protecting and preventing damage, [Gladiator] embraced it.

[Valiant], a skill of [Gladiator] used Aki's {Dope} but shifted the trigger from eating to taking a blow. Which meant so long as I took hits while in [Gladiator], I could technically keep fighting forever.

And that was not even counting [Loner], which boosted my brain the more I was outnumbered. Here in the depths of this dark ruin, alone without allies and surrounded…

"HAHAHA! I am not the prey but the predator, you fake fucks!"

High from adrenaline and [Valiant], I bashed the still thrumming Faker mace into the shark Specter. The satisfying sounds of its skull getting crushed and its brain matter turning into paste sent pleasure up my veins.

'This. This was what was missing. I was never meant to fight from a safe distance.'

The realization caused me to run wild. Stomping my legs into the ground, I raced to meet the other Artificial Arisen coming for me. As my mind drowned in the thrill of battle, I didn't even mind that my left arm was rendered useless.

I even dropped my M32 grenade launcher somewhere down the line. But so what? I wasn't someone so weak that losing an arm mattered or stopped me from fighting.

"{Regen}!"

"{Thursday}!"

At my call, a Soul avatar appeared behind me. Commanding its body, I had it speak a single sentence.

"Exa, bless this whole fucking ruin. [Dual Pilot]!"

I could do it myself, but I wanted to relish the feeling of devoting everything to combat. With Exa present, there was no need to do everything myself.

"I have control. By your will, my lord."

As if watching myself in third person, Exa commanded Thursday in my stead. This was the main benefit of having clones, yet I never used this setup till now. I was so convinced I had to do everything on my own that I disregarded my base instincts.

"[Heavy Gunner]. [Arsenal]. 40 M32 MGLs, 50 FT5s. Loading Sacreds… 5 seconds remaining before salvo. 4. 3…"

Leaving Exa in charge of both the lighting and the blessings, I moved. Driven by my instinct, I ran toward the biggest presence I could feel.

"Exa, how many Specters remain?"

[There are over twenty, and the number is steadily increasing.]

"HAHAHA! This just keeps getting better!"

[My lord, your battle junkie tendencies are showing.]

"So? I have to end this quickly. After all, I have to fight Hannibal next."

[That is true; please note, my lord, that you are gathering malice at an alarming rate. Note that your mental instability is a direct consequence of your soul collapsing.]

I used to worry about such matters. But now? Rather than cleanse the malice with the Benevol in my hand, I have a much better way to use it.

Reaching out with my left hand, I drew another Faker mace from my storage. Armed with two of these spiked monstrosities, I felt my blood race.

"Exa, how much malice do I have?"

___

Malice Available: 16,953

___

"Tsk, that's not enough. I only have enough for 16 uses."

I remembered the horrible experience of making the raw malice usable. What I had right now was a lot of unusable malice and only 16,000 that had already been processed.

'I need a way to automate this crap. Otherwise, even if I gather them, I will not be able to use any of it.'

Looking again I noted what I was fighting against.

"There are twenty of them; I should be able to make it work if they are all simple, straightforward brawlers."

At that point, a sudden explosion of light came from behind me. I didn't turn around but felt the immense cleansing energy that bathed me. The soothing feeling was so warm, as if all the goodness of the world gathered in this very spot.

ROARRR! KREEE!!!! ARRRHHHHH!!!!

Loud noises came from my opponents as they were exposed to the same light I was. Some of them were already approaching me and were in the blast radius of the attacks. Their bodies began to turn to dust, but it wasn't as fast as the undead nor as slow as the demonkin.

"Exa, make sure I do not get disoriented."

[Understood. Using {Imaging} to adjust brightness automatically.]

Seeing the Artificial Arisen cry out in anguish, I switched disciplines to [Sky Sentinel] and flew toward them.

[My lord, there is a happy little coincidence that has happened just now.]

A sudden pop-up appeared in my field of vision as I raced across to my opponents.

___

Malice Available: 156,953

___

Seeing the large amount of malice I suddenly gained, I couldn't stop myself from shouting.

"FUCK YEAH! I fucking love you, Exa!"

Ecstatic that I no longer had to purify the malice, I tightened my grip on my Faker morning stars. When I finally came within striking distance of another undead African, I made my move.

"{Fast Forward}!"

I invoked my entropy and swung without any mercy. The Artificial Arisen looked like a cross between a humanoid lobster-man and a scorpion. It looked intimidating, but it had its arms crossed to protect its eyes.

'If I had any chivalry, I would have waited for you to regain your posture.'

BANG!

"Sadly, I could hardly give a shit."

The moment my weapon met the lobster's body, powerful impacts caused its carapace to fold inward. Within seconds, it was erased into nothingness without even blood to splatter.

"Where is the next one?"

[8 o'clock from your current position. Two miles.]

"{Blink}, {Replace}!"

Hearing Exa's instructions, I blinked to turn myself around. {Replace} only works in areas I can see. Thus, I cannot use it to reposition behind my starting point.

'Tsk, this is far too slow!'

"{Replace}!"

Trying to maximize the script from {Fast Forward}, I used {Replace} a second time as a makeshift {Blink}. Rapidly jumping through space, I arrived in front of a second target before it could even notice my arrival.

The sudden shift in momentum made the Faker Mace weigh a hundred times heavier, but I smashed it into the fourth undead Specter regardless.

A deafening explosion later, it died on the spot.

"I know these are dead, brainless Specters, but it is still impressive, right, Exa?"

[Most definitely. Few can attack with such overwhelming force that it turns everything it touches to mush.]

Turning around, I faced the other Artificial Arisen and licked my lips.

"Let's dance, you fake bastards."