Chapter 825: Path of Oblivion
“Worthy of the Path of Oblivion? What does that an?” Zac asked, but the only response he got was a deafening scream of danger and an alabaster fist ripping the air apart in its approach toward Zac’s left temple.
Just a fraction of a second later Zac heard the crashing sounds of stone tiles breaking, the sounds of Kaldor lunging toward him finally catching up. The fist seed straightforward, but it exerted the pressure of a whole world collapsing in on him. Was it Kaldor’s technique, or was it the inherent power of a warrior with a perfected inner world? Zac couldn’t tell.
Zac’s instincts imdiately kicked in, and he actually leaned into the punch as he pivoted, countering with an axe swing of his own as the chains on back his began their dance of death. But it almost felt like he had been transported back to his first day in the Orom World where Travo Raso put him in his place.
It was like his perfected movents were as clumsy as when he first arrived, and ti slowed to a crawl as Zac saw the fist grow closer and closer. Zac believed he had tid it perfectly, and he had confird that Kaldor had restrained his aura down to 1,000 Attribute Points, yet his calculations were way off. His instincts told him that insisting on his current route would only end with his skull being cracked like an egg, when it should have led to an equal exchange of strikes that would have won him the bet.
He trusted his instincts.
Even if Death couldn’t be avoided forever, it could be delayed. He had been too impatient and geared up, hoping to end the fight in an instant in a surprise upset. Now, Zac had to make a small sacrifice to not be imdiately taken out of commission. His muscles scread in protest as he forcibly stopped his swing while changing his pivot to raise his arm to block.
A rapid clashing of chains pushed two of the links between Kaldor’s fist and Zac’s bicep as well, narrowly allowing him to divert the force even further. But suddenly, the sense of danger resurged with refound urgency. What should have been a light graze had sohow turned into a deadly assault, once more subverting Zac’s understanding.
Two chains slamd into the ground, pushing Zac backward over ten ters as he absorbed the force of Kaldor’s punch. A sheen of sweat lacquered his back, and he looked at the reaver standing in Zac’s previous position with surprise. Without any facial features, Zac couldn’t glean anything about Kaldor’s mood, giving Zac the impression he was fighting so sort of emotionless robot.
In a sense, it almost seed like he was fighting a Technocrat for a mont there, considering he hadn’t sensed any emanations of Dao at all from that opening salvo. Kaldor had sohow tricked Zac’s mind twice without using any of his insights to empower his strikes.
“Not completely hopeless,” Kaldor grunted, his voice now muffled as though he was speaking into a can. “You want answers? Win the bet first.”
Zac wasted no more effort on talks or contemplation, and instead completely lded with his path. His new Dao Avatar radiated unquestionable finality as it released dense black tendrils of pure death. It no longer looked like the dead tree with a hanging coffin. Zac now understood that imagery had been partly a crutch, where he based his understanding of death on his understanding of life.
But now that he had stepped onto the Path of Pure Death, the two conceptualizations had diverged further. Now, the Dao Avatar appeared in the form of an Iron Maiden, with so differences from the grotesque dieval torture device. Instead of spikes, the insides were lined with chains, judging by the endless rattling of links you could hear from within.
Also, instead of a tornted face at the top, there was just a pitch-black halo, like a black hole leading into the abyss. Just like the Kalpataru’s vines rustle ford a song of unfettered life, the rustling chains of the Iron Maiden ford a tune of inescapable death. However, while their portents might seem dour, Zac felt a sense of comfort hearing them. It was stability, it was peace.
Just like the Branch of the Pale Seal had woken up, so had the miniature version of himself, the Dao Avatar for his Branch of the War Axe. No longer did it switch between his two races. It had solidly beco Draugr as it wielded the axe of chains, giving off the aura of a grim reaper. Its strikes were death incarnate, repressing and unyielding.
The tendrils of death were imdiately attracted by the display, forming a dour shroud that almost looked like the chains on the real Zac’s back. As his avatar moved, so did Zac, the aura around him shifting into one of utter inexorability. There was nothing else on his mind any longer, only the battle.
Another snort echoed out from within Kaldor’s skull as he shot forward, but Zac wouldn’t allow himself to be ambushed again. The chains ford an outer periter as over a million deaths showed the way. The short breather had allowed Zac to figure out the truth. The situation had felt similar to when he first was bested by Travo Raso, but the circumstances weren’t the sa.
Instead of vastly surpassing Zac’s skill level and fundantals, the reaver was rather using extrely intricate footwork that ssed with Zac’s perception.
When it looked like Kaldor stepped to the right, he was actually moving left, and vice versa. The minute cues for montum and intent that Zac’s instincts based themselves on turned into traps. Nothing was as it seed, where slowing down could an speeding up, or so other action altogether.
It was an extrely refined thod that required not only exquisite control over your body, but also a ticulous understanding of the mind. You needed to perfectly grasp what drove an opponent’s actions to so perfectly trick the instincts that had been forged through thousands of battles. It was not sothing Zac could do at all, at least not against soone who had so experience with life-and-death struggles.
But ultimately it didn’t matter. It was just another attempt to escape the inevitable.
There was no worth in analyzing the disconnect between the Izh’Rak Reaver’s gruff and straightforward persona with this kind of refined fighting style. He might be trying to teach through battle, or it might be a natural expression of soone so far ahead on the road of cultivation. Zac only needed to focus on his own path – to restrain, to whittle down, to deliver death.
The sound of rattling links echoed through the courtyard as the four chains spun their web of death, their undulations restricting Kaldor’s options to advance. It wouldn’t help even if Kaldor’s techniques made him unpredictable, as long as Zac controlled all the avenues to choose from. However, a Monarch was not so easily contained, and Kaldor chose the most straightforward solution; to break the pattern and force open a path.
Kaldor shifted his position, placing him in a precarious position right among the chains, but Zac didn’t have ti to seize any advantage before the reaver unleashed an extrely precise combination of a punch and roundhouse kick. A shockwave rocked the surroundings as the chains beca entangled in an unproductive ss.
Zac knew his patterns weren’t airtight, but it had to have taken a terrifying ability to so utterly expose the weaknesses. However, just as Kaldor dealt with the chains, a gleaming edge was almost upon his head. It was Zac who made his move while Kaldor had his hands full, and his axehead radiated a deathly luster as it closed in on its target.
A thin forearm appeared out of nowhere as Kaldor twisted his torso, using his other leg as a pivot. Zac’s axe slamd into Kaldor’s arm, and a painful rebound shocked his own wrist while not as much as a mark was left behind on Kaldor’s bones. No one said anything after the exchange; they both knew this didn’t count as a hit.
Kaldor had been fully prepared to block the strike, and he used his forearm as a shield in place of an actual weapon. Even if the reaver hadn’t said it outright, Zac knew he had to land a true hit that the Monarch couldn’t avoid. After the initial exchange, Zac knew things wouldn’t be over so easily.
Zac was still a bit surprised to see that his Branch-infused swing didn’t as much as push the reaver off-balance, even if he was bent at a ninety degrees angle and used only one leg for balance. The other leg was still in the middle of the previous kick, but Zac felt a pang of danger as the kick sohow gained montum by transferring the force of Zac’s strike.
Death didn’t back down or cower, so force t with force as Zac stayed true to his path. The chains had already untangled thanks to Zac buying so ti, and they resud harassing the reaver while Zac kept up his pressure. Kaldor wasn’t giving an inch either, and it felt like he had three heads and six arms, continuously parrying swings or disrupting the chain formations.
It was an odd feeling, where Kaldor was simultaneously stronger and weaker compared to Pavina. He was stronger in his understanding of rhythm, of making the most of simple timing. His control was appallingly accurate, where Kaldor kept forcing advantages by manipulating Zac’s trajectories and strikes by almost unnoticeable degrees.
These small differences only cost Zac fractions of seconds, but they gave Kaldor the breathing room he needed to shift the rhythm and avoid being put on a defensive. However, his techniques were inferior to Pavina’s due to restricting himself to concepts limited at the level of Fragnts. After having battled Pavina so many tis, Zac felt the attacks were almost simplistic after gaining so understanding of what Kaldor was doing.
This was the key to victory, and Zac took full advantage, using both his Dao Branches in his strikes and as a basis for his Inexorable Stance. Every attack he perford contained the inevitable nature of death, every movent was like another layer of choking constriction that would eventually claim its prize.
Kaldor had already turned into an alabaster blur as he fended off chains and swings from every direction, but Zac could tell that death was slowly creeping closer. In the beginning, Kaldor’s unpredictable nature repeatedly disrupted Zac’s rhythm, but the reaver was increasingly moving in accordance with Zac’s own Dao.
Zac’s axe descended, and Kaldor once more avoided the strike with a hair’s breadth, no longer able to afford himself inches of leeway. Still, their battle had beco akin to a chess ga nearing its end. Even if there were still a few hundred moves that needed to be perford, the ga should end in Zac’s favor unless he committed a blunder.
Fetters clanked, and the hollow calls of sharp tal colliding with bone ford a song of cessation as the two combatants moved toward the inevitable. Still, Zac didn’t dare let down his guard at all, and he entered a transcendent state where he was one with his path, not letting any emotions or distractions lead him astray.
Kaldor was aware of the conundrum, but no matter how he fought, he couldn’t break free, restrained by not only Zac’s technique but more so by the rules of engagent. Zac had already reached the level required to contend in this duel when he defeated Olgoroth. Since then, he had made so massive improvents, turning a life-and-death struggle into a passable trial just like he had planned.
However, Zac suddenly got a sinking feeling as the refined technique of Kaldor got more rugged, more brutal, and a dense red haze seeped out from his body; congealed killing intent. Luckily, Kaldor’s ti was running out, and Zac’s work was reaching fruition. The reaver had been pushed off-balance by a powerful swing, and the four chains lounged.
Both hands were temporarily bound just as Zac’s axe shot forward, aiming straight for the reaver’s chest. The opening had finally presented itself after hundreds of exchanges; death had co to collect. However, just as Zac was about to checkmate the reaver in this ticulously planned ga of his, Kaldor did the one thing that would prevent a victory.
He flipped the whole table.
The indistinct steam oozing out of the reaver’s bones suddenly moved, transforming into an unrecognizable seal beneath Kaldor’s right foot as he stomped down. Zac’s chains were completely disrupted and lost their grip, while Zac himself was once more flung away.
“Good, good!” Kaldor growled, his form barely visible in the thickening mist. “You didn’t disappoint . To think you managed to push this far. But it’s not enough. Not enough! Show your Path. Show Carnage!”
“Are you breaking the agreent?” Zac frowned as he steadied himself.
“Breaking what? This is just killing intent, the mark of a warrior,” Kaldor laughed. “I never used a skill! How did I cheat? How?!”
Zac looked at the skeleton with wide eyes for a mont, once more lanting that most of the old monsters he had encountered shared one common trait; shalessness. Was that a core component required to reach the peak of cultivation, to blatantly twist the situation into one’s favor, forgoing any sense of dignity?
Certainly, it hadn’t been explicitly stated, but using the killing intent of a Peak Monarch was overstepping the bounds of the duel. That strike had been decidedly more deadly than anything that could be dished out with Peak Fragnts. He had even felt huge pressure when using his Dao Branches.
It was the first ti Zac had seen killing intent be weaponized to this degree. Zac himself had used it a few tis before to suppress or even knock out weaker enemies, but that thod was extrely crude compared to what Kaldor had done. The skeleton had actually controlled the intent sohow, then turned it into what looked like an array to amplify his power.
“Are you going back on your word?” Zac repeated.
He imdiately got his response as Kaldor rushed forward, his killing intent on full and unabashed display. Zac only hesitated for an instant before he rushed forward to et the charge. He didn’t know if Kaldor was losing control due to battle lust, as reavers were reportedly wont to do, or if he wanted to push Zac a bit further to test him.
If it was the forr, Zac could back off and return when Kaldor’s head had cooled down. Since Zac would have won with that final strike if not for the interruption, Kaldor would probably hand him the remnant without complaint. However, if it was the latter, Zac felt giving up so quickly might cost him his chance to get the splinter. Kaldor had made it clear; he had no love for cowards.
For now, Zac would keep going a bit longer since he hadn’t reached his limits. Kaldor no longer bothered to rely on finesse, and Zac’s instincts told him that that had never been the skeleton’s true path. It was painfully obvious as the reaver clawed at him with wild abandon, his fingers glowing red.
Zac countered with a swing of his own, but even death was rebuffed by the insatiable will contained in Kaldor’s attack. Zac was pushed back a step, but he imdiately adapted and lunged for another strike. With unprecedented focus, Zac restarted his stance as he cald his mind. Death couldn’t be impatient, it couldn’t be swayed by outside events.
It was steady, intractable. And if it failed, it was only a temporary defeat. Death would win out in the end; no one could escape. But it quickly started to feel like Zac was trying to contain an enraged Barghest with a prison made of twigs. Kaldor’s punches seed simpler compared to before, but they contained an indomitability that broke Zac’s Dao.
The reaver’s strikes ignored everything as they went in for a kill. Technically, it should have ant leaving his body with nurous openings, but Kaldor kept unleashing those red arrays with his fists, feet, knees, and elbows in a furious barrage.
Every ti their attacks collided, Zac felt like being rebuffed by an army of battle-hardened veterans, where their wills had been turned into a power of faith. Zac tried to regain control, but he repeatedly found his technique unable to withstand this kind of power. It was undying, everlasting, a true manifestation of the Dao of Conflict.
The strikes put Zac under a kind of pressure he hadn’t felt since entering the Orom World, where every strike of Kaldor’s carried the threat of death. The whole courtyard was drowned in it by now, pushing Zac’s nerves to a breaking point. Even Zac’s vision started to blur, like he was being dragged down into Kaldor’s madness.
No matter what the reaver was planning, one thing was clear. The killing intent was all-too-real, and every single strike was aid at Zac’s vitals with the intent to kill. If one of those array-empowered strikes was allowed to hit his body without its force dispersed, his Duplicity Core wouldn’t be able to fake his death and save him.
Zac briefly considered giving up on his chains, fully concentrating on his axework to focus his strength. However, he imdiately discarded the idea, choosing to trust what he had built over these past four years. Part of him wanted to discard it all now that he finally encountered sothing that cleanly suppressed his Inexorable Stance. When real stakes were at play.
But his path was not a lie. It had led him through insurmountable odds, and it would take him through this as well. The clamoring calls of the illusory war hidden in Kaldor’s bloodlust faded away as Zac’s abyssal eyes stared straight into Kaldor’s soul. He advanced again, and he felt sothing shift as his soul and body lded into one, where his path filled his very essence with enduring purpose.
He was inexorable.
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