CHAPTER 42: CHAPTER 39 : BEAST AGAINST BEAST

The blazing flames around Lin began devouring his skin bit by bit, burning his flesh and leaving black marks on his body, while his screams grew sharper and louder.

“Hahaha, this is fun... this is exactly what I want! Show me what you can do when you’re swallowed by a true threat with no escape. Show me despair... show me darkness... show me the embodiment of full talent. Show me the limitless... show me nothingness!”

His crimson eyes burned with a sickly hunger, a craving for destruction and knowledge. He wanted more and more, to dive into what he had yet to understand, to feel this sensation again even if it dragged him to ruin.

It was the high of dopamine that Nullen indulged in, even if only for a brief moment of twisted happiness. Nothing else mattered to him. Even if Elias appeared, it no longer mattered. This moment alone was worth dying for.

Grrrrrrraaaaaaa!

A scream burst from Lin’s throat. It started as the sound of familiar human agony, but gradually twisted into a monstrous howl so chilling that it sent shivers crawling down the spine.

With each passing moment, the gray flames wrapping around him turned into pitch black, while a dense ominous energy gushed forth, engulfing his body. The burns that had covered his skin healed in an instant, charred flesh restored as if it had never been touched. Then the fire suddenly extinguished, revealing black eyes devoid of any whites, eyes weighed down with doom and ruin.

At that very moment, Nullen felt a terrifying shiver run down his body, a cursed sensation he had never experienced before.

“He’s coming...” he whispered unconsciously.

Lin stepped slowly out of the dying flames, black fire surging from his body, then bent into an uncanny posture, more like a predator ready to pounce.

“What kind of stance is that!”

And suddenly, without warning, Lin’s leg was beside Nullen ’s face, smashing his

head violently backward.

“Damn... this is incredible!” Nullen shouted, shock surging through him.

But amazement did not stop him from retaliating. Lin’s body moved instinctively, sprinting with inhuman speed as if he were part of the air itself, every motion flowing with terrifying fluidity. The sight alone forced Nullen to react instantly, summoning a massive magic circle that unleashed razor-sharp gray lines in overwhelming numbers toward Lin.

Lin did not falter. He weaved through them, shifting his balance as if swaying with the wind.

“You think you escaped?”

Boom!

Nullen suddenly clenched his hand, detonating the sharp lines that Lin had dodged earlier, trapping him in a lethal circle. Smoke and mist rose thick, shrouding the battlefield like a sinister curtain.

Nullen ’s crimson eyes focused on the center of the explosion, his heart pounding furiously, awaiting the end. For a moment, he thought he had won. But when the smoke slowly cleared, he realized Lin stood untouched.

Nullen ’s grin froze for a heartbeat before his face hardened in wary focus. Without wasting a moment, he formed a circle with his index and middle fingers, unleashing the Spinal Pulses technique infused with surging gray energy. Waves of power rippled through the air, threatening to tear apart anything in their path.

Yet what he did not expect was for Lin to raise his own hands and release the exact same technique, but with pitch-black energy filled with a dreadful aura that made the soul quiver. It was like a horrific reflection, as though both of them had stolen this power from the Ghoul Prince himself.

But the difference was clear. Nullen could use the technique thanks to the blessing he carried, while Lin’s body conjured it purely by instinct, without any blessing. It was as if his body evolved and adapted to match his opponent moment by moment, even reshaping the technique toward perfection, unleashing it with a force meant only for destruction.

From there, the true clash began. Ashen energy and black aura collided, exploding with tremendous force, the shockwave blasting them both backward.

Nullen quickly regained balance, charging his fists with gray energy and taking up a boxing stance, the very stance he had just seen Lin use. In an instant, he rushed forward at insane speed, unleashing booming punches.

Boom! Boom!

Lin did not retreat. He raised his arms defensively, blocking the rain of blows. When Nullen aimed for a critical strike, Lin suddenly grabbed his wrist, twisting the momentum. In a blink, Nullen was airborne, thrown off-balance.

But instinct saved him. He flipped midair, landing straight on Lin’s head like a ruler, then kicked downward with crushing force. Before Lin hit the ground, a magic circle Nullen had planted earlier detonated, exploiting the moment of distraction.

Fwoooosh!

The explosion roared, hurling Lin into dirt and ash, rolling across the ground as his consciousness wavered. Nullen wasted no time, raising his hand to cast another spell.

Before he could finish, Lin appeared behind him, seizing his back, flipping him over, and slamming him down, cracking his spine. Then Lin dropped his elbow like a hammer, aiming to crush him. Nullen twisted desperately, dodging the deadly hold just in time.

Panting heavily, Nullen stood again. He had no choice but to attack. He conjured multiple magic circles around him, launching relentless explosions in every direction. Flames tore Lin’s clothes and scorched his back.

But Lin did not scream. Instead, he raised his hand forward, palm open, pulling all the gray flames into it like a black hole devouring everything.

“What are you doing...?”

He stretched his hand, then drew it back with his other, forming a blazing arrow. Its original white glow was corrupted into pitch black by his cursed aura. The pressure mounted so violently that his hand trembled, black blood dripping from his fingers, his eyes bleeding the same. It was the brutal cost of wielding such power without a blessing to contain it.

“Damn... you used my own magic against me... and you used it masterfully! This is... incredible!”

Lin released the arrow.

Fwoosh!

It shot through the air like a black missile. Nullen quickly slammed his Spinal Pulses into the ground, launching himself skyward to evade.

“Your arrow is wasted!”

But his grin did not last. Suddenly, Lin raised two fingers toward him, and the arrow twisted midair, turning back to chase him. Then it split into multiple black arrows, swarming after him like the souls of the dead.

“Activate the gray fire shield!” Nullen shouted in panic, caught off guard.

But the black arrows shredded through the barrier with ease, piercing his body before exploding with ominous force.

Baaaam!

Nullen’s body was blasted into the air, his clothes ripping apart, his skin seared.

Lin did not stop. He sprinted at blinding speed, leaping high, then with a crushing heel kick, drove Nullen back down to the ground. Before he landed, Lin cloaked his elbow in dark energy and dropped like a guillotine.

Nullen rolled desperately across the ground, eyes wide with dread. He knew that strike would have killed him outright. Lin’s elbow struck the earth, detonating the ground into a deep crater.

“Fine... so this is a fight to the death. Then I’ll raise my pace myself.”

Nullen rose, closing his eyes as ash flames ignited around him, forming gray wings of fire. He launched like a rocket, gripping Lin’s face with all his might, slamming him into massive gray walls that erupted like shields.

The flames around his hand burned hotter, trying to crush and incinerate Lin, but Lin countered with Spinal Pulses, breaking the fiery pressure. Nullen , relentless, seized him and slammed him down again.

Lin crashed with all his weight, his feet carving deep into the ground beneath. He raised his hands to block, but his feral instinct caught a strange danger in the last moment. Nullen descended from above like a burning meteor, and Lin barely dodged, rolling aside.

Then, in the blink of an eye, both charged their fists once more, each infused with their own energy.

Boom!

Their punches collided at the exact same moment, fists crashing into each other’s faces.

But they did not stop there. Almost instantly, they drove their next blows into each other’s stomachs.

The impact hurled them backward, and in perfect unison, blood burst from their mouths, staining the ground beneath them.