Return of the Fallen Volume 13 Chapter 53
Kazuki tried to look into his slave collar but found that the collar itself blocked his powers. Every time he aimed his powers at the collar… tried to sense it properly with his aura, he found his power would be reflected almost perfectly.
(Instead of perfectly blocking me, it’s like it’s deflecting my powers away. This wouldn’t be too bad because at some point it would run dry of energy and eventually fail. Things are not so simple though. Even though I can’t read this collar, I can still feel my own body. As I try to investigate the collar and the collar deflects, I can feel an incremental pull on my own power. Little by little my power is being drained. I am being used as a power source for the collar. In this way, the collar will never fully run out as it uses me. The only way it would stop is most likely damage or if it’s fully destroyed.)
Kazuki’s aura split into millions of tendrils and he began to tamper with the collar. He planned to try and overwhelm it in one go. He figured if he used enough power as fast as possible, he could basically short-circuit it.
Kazuki’s aura rose and he tried to delve into the collar with millions of attacks at once.
*TZzztT*
The collar responded by attacking him. This time though, it drained at Kazuki’s power far faster and the attack was amplified.
The fire and lightning were too intense and several times more destructive than the first time he was struck. Kazuki felt his soul on fire but he proceeded anyway. His millions of attacks became tens of millions then hundreds of millions.
The collar reacted in kind and amplified the attack even further.
Kazuki fell to one knee but still, he pushed himself.
(Fine, everything at once!)
Kazuki’s soul tree began to glow as his attacks multiplied again and again and again.
*TZZTZTZTTZTZTZTTZTZTZTTZZT!*
*AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!*
Kazuki unleashed a horrific roar as he fell backward. His eyes rolled up into his head as he lost consciousness.
*Tsss Tsss*
Kazuki felt a small burn on his face and his eyes slowly opened. A creature resembling a snail the size of a dog was licking his face. It had acid-like saliva and was slowly burning his face. Kazuki was constantly regenerating so it caused no real harm but it was surprising to see such a small creature capable of still causing him harm.
Kazuki was about to backhand this creature but found that it had no ill intentions. It was simply trying to wake him up. He could sense worry and concern coming from its soul. Kazuki sat up with a pounding head.
*Ugh*
Kazuki had received an attack from the collar beyond what he thought was possible. It had used his own power against him except it was amplified. It was like a dozen Kazuki’s had attacked him all at once. It was so much that he lost consciousness.
The little snail dog looked at Kazuki. Its eyes bobbing up and down as if it were asking him if he was alright now.
Kazuki pat it gently.
“Thanks for your concern. I’m fine now.”
The snail seemed happy hearing this and turned around and returned to the floating light orb with the others.
Monsuta was still out of it and recovering and the other creatures had yet to move away from the light.
Rubbing the back of his head, he couldn’t believe the collar could handle all of his power at once and come out unscathed.
(So using raw power against it is a no-go. Stupid. I can’t physically tea rit off or it will activate, and my magic and aura don’t seem to work. I’m not out of ideas just yet though.)
Kazuki tried to stand and felt a wave of dizziness and he faltered. He sat back down and shook his head a sif to drive the dizziness from his mind. He was surprised.
(My healing ability is so fast, I should have skipped the dizzy part. This realm and this collar is overwhelming me completely, damn.)
Kazuki sat on his ass and thought for a moment.
(Breaking this thing is not easy. If it uses energy then I need to take away its source of power.)
Kazuki gathered his aura and called out in his mind.
(Third form…Severing tempest.)
Kazuki used his sword forms to try and sever the energy in the collar and for a split second, the defenses of the collar failed. Kazuki was about to take a look inside the collar when the collar quickly drained some of his energy and raised its defenses once again and blocked him from delving inward.
Kazuki was not discouraged by this. Instead, he was excited. It worked for a split second. If it can work for a fraction of time, the more efficient I become, the longer I can make my window.
Kazuki tried continuous sword forms. He severed the energy nonstop as he delivered millions of strikes in a fraction of a second. In turn, the collar took this as an attack and attacked back with fire and lightning. Kazuki expected this much pain so he was prepared this time. He raised the stakes and went from millions of severing sword-form attacks to hundreds of millions.
The collar as well upped its attack and amplified it many times over. As the lightning and fire began to damage his soul and Kauzki was on the verge of passing out, he managed to get a single glance inside the collar.
Once more his mind went blank and he was out cold.
Waking up with the same sting on his face, the snail proudly stood next to him as if to say I watched over you the whole time.
Kazuki again showed appreciation but at the same time it was a little disturbing to know that every time he passed out, this creature was licking his face with acidic saliva. Were he weaker, he would be no more than bones by now.
Still, he felt no ill will coming from the snail’s soul so he just brushed it off as strange affection.
Kazuki barely cared about that though. Inside he was both thrilled and excited. In the split second before he lost consciousness he managed to enter the collar with his aura and get a single glance.
The image of a partial inscription was seared in his mind. The image of part of this inscription was as clear as day. All he needed were the rest and he could then figure out exactly how the collar worked. The only thing that left him feeling unwilling were the other images. Among the clear image of the partial inscription, there were also billions of other inscriptions. Each one more complicated than the other. Each one layered and fitted together like a strange puzzle. All of them were completely blurred out and hazy.
Kazuki didn’t know why he could only catch a glimpse of a partial nor why he was able to know and see a blurred image of the other inscriptions but at least he had uncovered one small clue. So long as he continued to pursue this lead, he could eventually put it all together.
(I get a glimpse of a partial inscription every time I sever the collar’s energy and invade it. If I then take the time it takes my soul to recover from the damage along with a few other factors. It will take around 7-8 seconds to catch a glimpse. To repeat this cycle and uncover every inscription in the collar, the time it would take me…several billion years. This doesn’t even take into account the time it will take to comprehend what these inscriptions even do or how they go together. SHIT!)
Kazuki looked at the other creatures in this underground chamber. Counting them out there were a little over two dozen of them. For a moment he thought about using them. If he attacked their collars he could avoid pain while also taking a look at the inscriptions.
(If I use them, I could drastically cut down the time.)
Kazuki felt a shudder down his spine and threw the thought out immediately. If he were to use them as guinea pigs, he would be sending them up for cruel torture. Their collars would attack them while he severed the energy. it would constantly drain their energy while striking them and burning them with lightning and fire. Their bodies would quickly fall apart and their souls would become husks of rot and decay.
Sure Kazuki could repair their souls afterward but the amount of pain they would have to endure was not something anyone should ever have to bear.
(If I really did that to innocent creatures. I would truly be a monster.)
Kazuki sighed inwardly before thinking about the collar around his neck.
(I can’t torture them just so I can escape but at the same time, I have to leave here as soon as possible and return to Mei and Kosaru and find out what happened to Arc and Codex.)
Kazuki felt a pounding splitting pain in his mind and soul at the thought of Arc and Codex.
Letting out a deep sigh, Kazuki was lost at what to do.
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