Death.

  It was the most intimate word for him.

  From the oldest memory in his mind to the present day, every single day was filled with death. When he was small, he had to kill others to embrace death. And after embracing it, he was shackled by it and had to do its bidding for eternity.

  He was never the only one. There were several like him inside the Church of Death. Their names forgotten and places of origin erased, they were known only by the color of the masks they wore. Others called them the strongest force of the Church, but in reality, they were just disposable pawns used by others. Their lives were simply inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

  And even while living like this, they still clung to life. Even after snuffing out the lives of tens of thousands, they wanted to keep their own fires burning. Death didn't just give them power but also taught them the meaning of life. And they would do anything to preserve it.

  But fate is something that cannot be decided by will alone, and everyone has to pay their dues someday, just like now.

  Slightly clutching his stomach, the black-masked man stood up. His other hand firmly held the dagger, positioned to defend at any moment. Elemental energy was rapidly coursing through his gut and healing the damage from their latest exchange. His narrowed eyes closely observed the girl in front of him.

  Ignoring him, Neva was opening and closing her hand. The punch just now was stronger than she had anticipated. This was the first time she had felt such a rapid increase in strength from just a trait. Was it something special, she wondered in her heart.

  Suddenly, she felt her movements slow down, and her brain lose focus. However, with a single thought from her, the Ascension spell of the masked man was broken, and he coughed up blood. Moving her attention back to him, Neva said in a deadpan voice, "Is this it?"

  Instead of answering her, the masked man knitted his brows and rushed toward her. Reaching close to her in an instant, he swung his dagger. In order to prevent something like last time from happening, he also circulated elemental energy throughout his body.

  Just as the dagger neared Neva and was about to pierce her neck, she again moved back out of his reach in an instant, and the dagger missed its intended target. Yet, not giving him a chance, Neva reached out and caught the hand holding the dagger. Pulling it toward her, she kicked out, her leg striking the ribcage of the masked man and throwing him back.

  This time, he took longer to get up. Neva was also not in a rush and just observed him from her place. When he got up, the masked man's chest was still caved in and taking longer to heal.

  Neva's anticipating expression suddenly turned gloomy. "Aren't you a Rank Two? Shouldn't you be stronger?" she said in an expressionless voice. Whether it was a comment to herself or a provocation to her enemy was up for debate.

  "Arghhh!" the masked man wailed while looking up. His body was engulfed in dark black flames out of nowhere. Instead of burning him, they just encapsulated him as if coaxing a wounded child. The dagger in his hand started to change shape and transformed into a sharp willow-leaf saber. The single-edged blade was curved lightly like a willow shining in the faint light. The room was engulfed in an invisible pressure upon its appearance.

  Neva felt the shackles she had put upon her opponent break all at once. Lowering his head, he looked at her and attacked. This time, nothing impeded his charge, and his sword finally reached Neva, who rapidly retreated. Still, a gash from the latest attack was faintly visible on her arm, which was blackening rapidly. Quickly circulating elemental energy, Neva kept it at bay but was finding it hard to push out.

  The previous fear and turmoil were gone from the masked man's eyes, replaced with only cold calculations. He was keenly observing every action of Neva, finding a chance to attack again.

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  Even with the injury, the previously cold face of Neva had a slight smile at the corners of her mouth. Her previously listless eyes had a small sparkle in them. "Freeze," she slightly muttered under her breath, and the death energy invading her body suddenly slowed down. During this moment, she rapidly removed it from her body while also keeping tabs on her enemy. Not giving her a chance to accomplish her objective, the enemy attacked again.

  Neva lightly bent down and dodged the sword swung at her head by a hair's breadth. But she was still pushed back by the momentum surrounding it. The masked man again followed up on his attack, not giving her a chance to regain her footing. Neva again tried to freeze him, but the trait was broken again and again, no matter what she did. However, the smile on her face was growing brighter and brighter.

  From the time she had absorbed the trait, Neva had felt an emptiness in her. But as the fight continued and she grew familiar with the trait, she discovered where the problem lay. It was that the trait was incomplete. An invisible connection enabled her to sense the other part of the trait at some faraway place. And slowly, she was pulling at the other half. She was feeling a strong resistance from the other half, which attacked her in return. And she just directed the attacks at the black-masked man, who dealt with it for her.

  Slowly and steadily, the resistance was whittled down, and she was able to come in contact with the source. Grabbing at it with her elemental energy, she pulled with full force.

  At some other place, Lex, who was resting, felt a sharp pain from his Nexus Rings. Slowly, one of them was breaking apart and losing its power. He rapidly circulated his elemental energy and tried to balance it, but that only stopped the breaking process. Slowly, a cyan thread appeared from the half-broken Nexus Ring and traversed through the void to some unknown place.

  Looking at this scene, he lit up in delight. Although his face was contorted in pain, a slight smile tugged at his lips. "Finally," he muttered. With his elemental energy, he smoothed the flow of the string from his Nexus Ring. After some time had passed, he felt a sharp jolt, and the string was completely extracted and disappeared. Even while bearing the pain, Lex started to laugh maniacally. Any bystander might have thought he had gone completely insane, but the fact was that he was completely in the right state of his mind.

  The string traversed a long distance, guided by the strong pull, and completely entered Neva's body. As soon as the full trait entered her body, Neva felt her head go fuzzy. A rapid rush of adrenaline rushed through her veins. She was observing everything, but also not able to properly see anything. Seeing her unfocused state, the masked man attacked with his sword. Looking at the incoming sword, Neva just thought, Slow down.

  And a force of freezing cold instantaneously appeared around the masked man, seeping into his body. Now, even with the unsealed relic, he was still getting slowed down. Neva just slightly brushed past the swinging sword in a tipsy walk. Her mind was filled with a lot of random things, and at the same time, she was also able to observe what was happening all around her at a micro level. It felt like her mind was split in two.

  The masked man continued his attempts to attack Neva, but just as he got close to her, he would suddenly slow down, and she would move away. Finally, after regaining her senses for a brief moment, she looked at him and said, "Maybe I should deal with you first?"

  Suddenly, the temperature of the room fell to negative degrees, and the man felt himself being caught by invisible chains. Neva approached him while still looking a bit tipsy. He tried to resist, but to no avail. No matter how much he tried, she was still getting faster and faster. Or was he getting slower and slower?

  After some time, Neva caught up with him. Raising her hand, she just created a small needle. The needle slowly approached the man's forehead. But to him, all these events seemed like they transpired in an instant. The needle pierced his forehead and lodged inside. He tried to circulate his elemental energy but found his access to it cut off. Even the sword that he had relied upon had turned back into a dagger.

  Neva slightly picked up the dagger and, gazing at it, said, "Maybe we should meet face to face sometime," and poured her energy into it. The dagger was slowly corroded by the cold energy and broke down into fine particles. Neva turned her head to the man in front, who had also frozen solid. She just lightly touched his head with her finger, and his body disintegrated into fine ice particles.

  Doing all this, Neva formed a protective barrier around Cineris from the cold and continued to wander around the room in a tipsy manner, observing the bubbles and spheres which were enlarging and shrinking in her line of sight. The colorful colors which she was able to observe for the first time were also equally fascinating. And the rush of adrenaline, which she had never felt in her life, made her feel like she would be able to do anything.

  But sadly, all good things had to pass. As Neva completed two circulations around the room, she felt exhaustion wash over her. She just closed her eyes while standing and fell headfirst onto the hard floor.