An epic war song filled his ears, and his luminous eyes burned, inspiring his defiant will further. His alter ego''s identity didn''t matter anymore. Nor did the identity of his enigmatic boss. He would die...


    But even if he did, he would go out with style!


    Acting on his resolve, his spectral arms came to life, coiling around his cracked copy like two vicious snakes. Mana surged from his circuits, binding their limbs together.


    With a smirk, he prepared to blow his soul up in a gigantic firework of energy.


    However, a flicker of doubt crossed his mind when he caught the copy''s disdainful gaze.


    Then an arrogant voice echoed in his ears.


    "Idiot... Even if I hate you, your life doesn''t belong to me. It doesn''t belong to you either! You are just the other half. So, stop disturbing me with your childish antics!"


    Apanying the copy''s voice, a controlled st pushed him a step back, making him lose his grip and ripping the bindings apart.


    Then, his alter-ego stretched his arm towards the pir and closed his palm, ignoring him.


    A visceral sensation settled in his stomach. He felt that buried violent fury fueled the man''s movement. It wasn''t just annoyance but pure, feral rage. Why? What had he done to him?


    However, his curiosity, his defiance, the alter-ego''s violence... Everything would be irrelevant in the next moment because he missed his chance to act.


    BOOM


    After devouring the golden lightning for several minutes, the aegis stirred. A surge of power crackled through the air. Like a converter, everything it absorbed turned into atomic mana before crashing into the man''s fist. Scalding arcs danced around it as unbearable heat assaulted them like hellfires.


    Teeth gritted, the man''s arm shuddered as his skin, muscles, and bones melted like ice. Yet, despite the pain, he roared, animated by a mix of fury and madness.


    "Atomic Soulforge!"


    Meanwhile, Adam''s soul bore the heat''s full temperature. The copy''s actions had been too sudden, leaving him no time to protect himself. Without a shell, his consciousness blurred as an agony he never felt before assaulted his soul. Unwilling yet powerless, he lost consciousness, cursing his hesitation onest time.


    However, the copy still stood tall, enduring the heat and clenching the heartgem in his left palm.


    Gritting his teeth, he manipted the violent energies ording to his will. Like a maestro, he made them dance in a tune of sizzling sounds around them. Then, he struck at Adam''s liquifying soul, disturbing and heating its atoms in a bizarre sorcery.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "ARGH!"


    Soul-tearing roars of pain engulfed the za. But he continued. His limbs melted and plopped to the ground, but he continued. Each second crawling by was an agonising eternity, testing his mental resilience. But the worst was yet toe and he knew it.


    A vortex of madness glinted in his eyes as heughed maniacally. His mission was almostplete, and he was supposed to disappear after initiating the process.


    But he wouldn''t! He had to see the boss before and spat on his face in revenge for the thirteen years of solitude he had spent because of him!


    Despite his resolve to get his petty revenge, a wave of sorrow washed over him. The thing fueling his rage and making his soul tremble wasn''t the boss. It was Adam himself! He had lost it! His sunshine! For five years, he didn''t even n to rescue her!


    His teeth cracked and melted as an image shed before his eyes. Her beautiful hazel eyes, her determined face despite everything she went through, and her tender smile warmed his heart for a second, bolstering his determination to endure the pain andplete his mission... thest one of his existence.


    He dismissed her image, his eyes narrowing in focus as he used the potent energy borrowed from the clouds to finish what he had started. His cracked face distorted in spite as he weaved the scorching mana into a spear... and impaled his own chest.


    "ARGH! SOUL STITCHING!"


    Despite the agony, he roared, giving his mana astmand before his soul essence melted. Powerlessly floating for a split second, tendrils of burning mana rapidly grabbed it. Like nightmarish automated robots, they weaved his essence with Adam''s, moving with surgical precision yet blurring with incredible speed because...


    the aegis gradually dissipated above them, letting the lightning pir''s roars echo in all their hateful glory.


    ROAR


    A secondter, the pir pierced theirst line of defence, falling like a meteor threatening to split the earth in its fury.


    In that second, the tendrils lingered before a roughly connected ghost essence. They had served their purpose in time.


    BOOM


    The unbreakable bs of the za, which resisted thebined assault of all the elements, shattered. A horrifying dust cloud rose from the impact, reaching for the sky as, in the middle of the chaos, a crudely stitched soul suffered the strike''s full power.


    Battered by a torrent of lightning, a faint pellicle of atoms resisted the element''s fury, cracking and bending under its rage... But also absorbing it in a controlled manner toplete the merging.


    Like a golden de, the soul absorbed the terrifying lightning gradually, shuddering with each passing second. It endured, feeding on the energy to fuel its reconstruction, melding seamlessly into something stronger, more resilient... and whole.


    Slowly, the lightning pir thinned until it disappeared.


    The clouds lingered, as if scanning the za to find the heretic''s soul signature. However, Adam was gone. And so was the copy, leaving behind something potentially different.


    Unable to find their targets, they dissipated as fast as they had appeared, letting the red moon glow on the za for the first time in months.


    And on a golden specter taking shape.


    Powerful arms condensed from the liquified soul, followed by a broad torso, legs, and an obscured head. A sensation of horrific power emanated from the apparition... contrasted by its size. He looked like a teenager of Julius'' age instead of a man!


    However, the being remained motionless, his luminous eyes dim... because Adam and his copy''s consciousness awakened somewhere else.


    ****


    When Adam reopened his eyes, a deep frown covered his face.


    "Didn''t I die?"


    A soft mutter escaped his lips as a veil of confusion covered his features. More curious than depressed, he gazed at the boundless white room he stood in for a moment. It was empty... except for a humongous gate in its middle.


    "Why does it look as tall as the tower?"


    He snickered, remembering the hateful construct. But before he could continue his exploration, a roar alerted him.


    "You piece of shit! I hate you the most!"


    His alter ego appeared, unfazed by the change of location, and charged at him. With a swift movement, he grabbed him by the cor, his fists trembling and his face distorted by hate and madness.


    Adam still didn''t understand where the copy''s resentment came from... not that it mattered... but he smiled in response before mockingly saying, "Looks like you died, too. Serves you right for abusing my trust."


    The copy pushed him back, spatting onto the ground before answering, "Until the end, you are an idiot. We both outlived our use afterpleting our tasks. We only lived on borrowed time for thest thirteen years. And now he will awaken!"


    Upon hearing the copy''s ominous words, a veil of shadows covered Adam''s face. Was "he" the mentioned boss? But how was he not awake if he nned for him to steal Julius'' body? ''He even used the system to send me messages an hour ago.''


    The fog of mystery thickened in his mind. But he smiled. Now that he was more or less dead, he would have all the time in the world to learn the truth from either the copy or the awakening bastard... Before cutting him to pieces and incinerating his soul from within!


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