Chapter 54

Kiyotaka clutched his heart as he kneeled on the cold floor and suppressed the scream of pain. His soul was being reshaped, transforming yet again. The pain was second only to when he went through blood fusion. The three red suns that were almost drained from the fight stirred as they made way for the fourth, new one.

As his soul underwent transformation, his body followed suit, catching him by surprise. Kiyotaka screamed in agony as he failed to suppress himself from doing so. His body... was also undergoing change.

It felt as though his bones were breaking, his muscles were tearing, and his skin was on fire... Which was true because crimson flames engulfed him fully, just like during the time he fought the Forsaken Knight back in Dark City.

The crimson flames made him roar in agony as his skin burned, bringing even more pain. But those flames weren't destructive; they were reshaping his form, bringing him closer to perfection.

After what felt like an eternity, the flames subsided and were fully extinguished. Kiyotaka remained lying on top of the cold floor of Ruined Castle as he struggled to catch his breath.

Allowing himself to calm down and adapt to the sudden changes, he lay back and tried to catch his breath. looking at himself from the mirror on the wall he was surprised . He seemed to have gotten taller , his muscles became a lot more refined and his frame more suited for combat. Letting himself to adapt to those changes he felt a need to rest .

After some rest time, he dove into his Soul Sea. There, he was met with a red expanse of sky with four crimson suns hovering above. Looking deeply at his new core, he observed how it did not seem to be different from the other three, but his instincts told him there was something.

Averting his eyes from his soul cores, he carefully analyzed his runes. There, a new attribute appeared among his runes.

[ Blood Pyromaniac ]

"Blood Pyromaniac... I wonder what it does," he said, closing his eyes and concentrating on his soul, trying to feel the origins of the mysterious attribute. As he did so, he felt a connection within his fourth soul core. Looking at the red sun above, he tried to manifest that connection into reality.

Slowly, crimson flames appeared around his body as they fully engulfed him, creating a layer of crimson flame armor. In all of the process, only a minuscule amount of his blood was needed, contrary to his previous rough method with a crazy expenditure of blood.

He stood there, his body fully embedded in crimson flames, with only his golden eyes piercing through it. At this moment, there was a strange contentment and desire in the depth of his usual emotionless facade. He was exhilarated, his heart was sparkling with internal fire that further ignited his desire for strength. A trace of madness appeared in the depth of his mind.

If anyone were to see him now, they would say one word to describe him.

Devil

He was a Devil now, a being that was not supposed to exist as a human.

Experimenting with his newfound ability, he found out what he could do with it now.

First, he could compress the fire, gathering more flames and releasing it in a blast that could be released in radius as an Area of Effect attack or a direct attack that resembled a Fireball.

Second, he could fully engulf himself in fire, enhancing his defensive capabilities. The crimson fire acted as armor, protecting him not only from physical but also soul attacks, burning down anything that dared to come close to him.

Last but not least, he could conjure flames, manifesting them in the form of a sword. He could also spread his fire towards his existing swords, enhancing their durability and adding fire damage.

All in all, he was satisfied with his newfound power.

Sighing to himself, he looked towards another change among his runes, specifically at the new memory.

Memory: [ Blessing of Ice and Wind ]

Memory description: [ For many years, Frostwind Valkor followed its master Azarax, bringing chaos to the world, conquering thrones after thrones, nations after nations. The glory days had to be stopped, as its master perished in battle by angering the gods, leaving the Valkor alone to eternity, just to be slain by Angel of War ]

Memory type: Armour

Memory rank: Transcendent

Memory tier: 1

Exiting his Soul Sea, Kiyotaka silently analyzed the description of the memory. It had some information about the Dream World's past, especially something about Azarax, the Hawk's master, the person whose conquests were only stopped by the gods.

"The Dream Realm has many mysteries... Azarax and the endless wars, the Gods... the Daemons... I will unravel all the secrets of it," he resolved.

Sighing to himself, he summoned the armor. As he did so, he immediately felt a soothing effect of winds and ice. The armor didn't physically appear, but he felt like there was a layer on top of his skin.

Confused, he summoned Abyssal Reaver and tried to cut himself, seeing only a very faint trace of blood that froze immediately into ice and healed itself, with a flutter of winds enveloping it.

He then tried to use his blood manipulation and took some blood out of his veins, but this time the blessing of ice and wind didn't take effect. At that moment, he concluded that there wouldn't be any problems using his blood-related abilities.

His skin was now akin to functional armor of Transcendent rank, fully enveloping him in its embrace.

Thinking for a second, he smirked a bit, his emotionless facade crumbling for a moment.

"With this... challenging the Second Nightmare doesn't sound too crazy," he murmured.

With these thoughts, he gazed at the Nightmare Seed in front of the War Goddess's statue, a glimmer of lust for power appearing in his eyes. Deeply exhaling, he stood up and reminded himself that he still needed to prepare himself and gather as much information as he could about this ruined castle.

Turning around, he checked on the status of his Echoes. They seemed battered and bruised from the fight with the Corrupted Hawk. Still, it seemed there wasn't much damage that would need more time to heal. Returning them to his Soul Sea, he patiently observed his surroundings.

It was time to unravel the secrets of this Castle.