671 Soul-Render
Miko appeared before the monster race genius and slashed out with his sword. A gleaming white light slashed out from the sword, containing both a physical attack and soul attack.
The monster youth quickly recovered his wits, and realized he had been too easy to frighten. He was one of the monster race’s most talented youths, and was stronger than either of his friends who had just been slain. Not only that, but Miko’s cultivation was only in the Late Heaven Tribulation Realm, while he was at the Peak of the Heaven Tribulation Realm. While both were technically in the Late Heaven Tribulation Realm, the difference in power between Late Heaven Tribulation and Peak Heaven Tribulation was vast
“Hmph, my friends were not expecting a soul attack, and did not have their soul defenses raised to their maximum,” the monster youth scoffed as he took out his weapon, which was a long and thin sword, with a black handle with sharp spikes on the guard.
The edges of the sword were black, while a thin strip of glowing purple lined the inside of the blade, making it look quite impressive. Clearly it was a high-level sword, and it emanated the aura of a Pseudo-Dao Transformation weapon.
The monster race youth raced forward and slashed out his own sword, which collided against Miko’s. Soul cultivators were fearful opponents, but their weakness was always their bodies, while the King Race of the Monster Race had innately strong bodies.
The two swords collided, resulting in Miko being knocked backwards a few hundred yards, while his opponent stayed in place. In that physical confrontation he had clearly lost. Miko skidded to a halt in the sky, and a smug smirk appeared on his face as he stared at his distant opponent, who stood still and did not follow up his previous attack with another.
“Your instincts aren’t bad,” Miko said to the youth, his voice both congratulatory and mocking at the same time. “My body is definitely the weakest aspect of my cultivation, but how will you take advantage of that fact when you can hardly control your own body while we’re fighting?”
The monster youth stared at Miko with hate-filled eyes, although those eyes were squinted in pain as he clutched his head. In their previous exchange, the soul aspect of Miko’s attack has slammed into the monster youth’s soul defenses. The monster youth had been able to guard against the attack and keep his soul from shattering, but soul attacks were not so simple to withstand.
The mind and soul were connected, and the attack the monster youth withstood felt like it had nearly shattered his mind. The monster youth’s soul and head cried out in excruciating pain, making him unable to fully focus on the battle at hand. Such was the terrifying nature of soul cultivators. Even if you defended against their attacks, there would always be lingering effects. Only those with the most formidable soul defenses would be able to fully guard against such attacks.
“Hmph, this is nothing I can’t handle,” the monster race youth scoffed as he wiped away the last remnants of his soul pain, and steadied himself once more. His cautious gaze stared at Miko, thinking of how to best proceed in the battle.
The monster youth suddenly pointed his sword towards the sky, while his narrowed eyes remained fixed on Miko. His sword traveled in a circular path around his body, and wherever it traveled, a new sword appeared, one made of Qi but appearing just as strong as the original. Before long, one hundred swords appeared around the youth, revolving around him in perfect unison.
“One Hundred Swords of Slaughter!” the Monster Race bellowed out as the swords shot out in all directions.
“A domain art huh?” Miko mused as he watched the monster youth activate a domain art. “That’s not a bad idea. If you can’t approach me without taking soul damage, you might as well fight from afar using such a domain. It’s quite a good strategy, and I can tell this sword domain is incredibly powerful. Even I would perish if hit by such an attack” Miko complimented as he nodded his head in approval, as if he were a teacher complimenting a pupil.
The monster youth’s anger continued to rise as he listened to Miko’s nonchalant words, as if this life and death battle was of no concern to him.
“Let’s see how long you can remain this calm in the face of my sword domain,” the monster youth replied coldly as he pointed towards Miko. Dozens of the swords moved towards Miko with lethal speed and power, each with the power to claim his life if it landed on his body.
“However,” Miko spoke up once more as a smug smile appeared on his face and his pupils turned pure white, making him look quite terrifying. He tapped his forehead with two fingers on his right hand, as if activating something from within.
The Faerie’s behind Miko instantly realized what was about to happen and sped off into the distance. They appeared next to the Honorable Alliance youths and quickly whisked them away as well. They only stopped when they were nearly a mile away from him, as if they didn’t want to be in what was to come.
His aura began to spike once more as an awe-inspiring power erupted from him, and an ethereal white light spread out from him in all directions, painting the world around them white. “Your power is still not enough! Soul-Render!”
The monster youth felt the power wash over him, containing a powerful soul aspect. He braced for an intense pain to assault his mind and soul, but was surprised to find that there was no pain. The world around him had turned pure white, as if he were floating in an endless white void.
The monster youth gazed all around, and his gaze eventually settled on Miko, who was still standing in his original position a few hundred yards away. His white pupils stared back, as blank as the white void all around them.
“Die!” the monster youth raged out as he pointed towards Miko, unleashing his sword domain towards him. His expression quickly changed as he realized the sword domain no longer existed, and no swords were visible at all. In fact, the weapon in his hand had disappeared as well, surprising him even more. It was just him and Miko within the void, staring at each other.
“What the hell is this? What have you done?” the monster youth asked cautiously, his guard raised to the maximum.
Miko started slowly walking towards the youth without saying anything, his actions sending a shiver of fear down the monster youths’ spine. He tried to dash backwards, but realized he was rooted in place, unable to move at all. His gaze locked back onto Miko, who appeared as if he were an angel of death that was slowly approaching to pass judgment on the youth.
Miko arrived before the youth and stared at him in silence; his white pupils emotionless like the void itself. The monster youths chattering teeth was the only sound that filled the void, as uncontrollable fear washed over him. He had no idea what was going on, or how to break free of his restrictions.
Miko slowly reached out and tapped the forehead of the youth, whose eyes went wide for a brief moment, before blackness started to replace the white void that had surrounded them; a blackness that never faded for all eternity.
…
The Honorable Alliance youths watched on in a stunned stupor as Miko’s aura erupted, washing over him and the monster youth. However, to the Honorable Alliance members, it appeared as if nothing had happened at all.
Suddenly, the monster youth’s sword domain vanished, and he stood there motionlessly. Miko slowly approached the youth, who remained rooted and emotionless despite his enemies’ arrival before him. Miko reached out with his right hand and tapped the monster youth’s forehead, and an awe-inspiring flash of soul power flared out for the briefest moment before fading away. The monster youth’s eyes went wide for a moment, before he collapsed to his knees and fell on his side; his life completely exterminated. The eyes of the Honorable Alliance youths went wide once again, unable to believe what had just happened. The monster race youth had allowed Miko to walk up and end his life without even fighting back.
“What….what just happened?” Lily couldn’t help but ask the nearby Faeries after recovering from her shock.
One of the nearby Faeries glanced at Lily for a moment before her gaze shifted back to the distant Miko.
“That was Miko’s Soul-Render,” the Faerie replied gently.
“Soul-Render? What exactly is it?” Lily asked, still unsure of what had happened.
“I’m not sure,” the Faerie replied after a moment of silence, “in fact, no one, not even our Palace Master knows exactly what is happening. Miko has only used the art once before in order to win our Palace Master’s approval. Afterwards, some of us asked the Palace Master about it, and she only had one thing to say about the soul-art…that the soul art is not something that should exist in this world, and that within the same realm as Miko, no one is able to withstand this soul attack.”