By the time she was gone, Aito had already absorbed all four mana cores. He could feel his mana reserve filled to the brim. Before, it had only required two mana cores to fill his reserve. But now, after absorbing the level 2 soul core, fifty human cores, and some others, it was able to hold double that quantity.

However, for the purpose of leveling up, he absorbed one more mana core. The amount of energy circulating inside him pushed his soul core past its limit, forcing it to expand temporarily.

For what he had planned, Aito had no choice but to level up. It would enlarge his soul core, allowing him to use mana and his soul power for a longer duration. Moreover, it would instantly heal all his injuries and restore his stamina.

Just like the siblings during the fight against the sect members and him when he had acquired a class.

Feeling that his soul core was about to burst with mana, he stopped and covered himself with a plain bloody grey cloak, then stealthily took out his candle..

Although he roughly knew this item's effect, he wanted to be certain of it. There might be things Gwen omitted.

To avoid any eventual prying gazes, he hid the candle behind the cloak's cloth, and light it to reveal the special item's secrets.

__

Ninja's Cloak

Description: A cloak worn by the hobgoblin ninja of the Tower's fifth floor. Upon activation, it allows the user to turn entirely invisible for a total duration of two minutes. Attacking under the influence of the cloak's invisibility will automatically deactivate the spell. Extremely resistant against sharp edges, but the momentum of the impact will still get through.

Application: Infuse aura into the cloak to activate the spell. Usable once per day. Note that the spell will not expire before the two minutes are not used in their entirety.

__

'Interesting. Extremely resistant to sharp edges, guess it means blunt attacks will still get through, though.'

If Aito interpreted the last part correctly, it meant that he could deactivate the cloak's spell after one minute of usage, then activate it again for one more minute.

As long as he didn't use up the entire cloak's effect duration, he would be able to activate and deactivate it at will.

Done with his examination of the cloak, he placed the ninja's soul core on top of the candle's flame. Just as he had expected, it was a level 2 soul core.

He stared at it for a moment, stored his candle in a safe place, then took out three common hobgoblin soul cores.

'What a stupid idea…,' he thought before absorbing what he was now certain was a level 2 soul.

Aito intended to level up thanks to the ninja's soul core. He could, of course, try to absorb other level 1 soul cores and hope for the best.

But even if he felt on the verge of a breakthrough, he didn't know if level 1 soul cores would be enough. His situation was similar to a bottleneck, though, not really.

The last time he had digested a stronger soul, it was incredibly painful for him. Even if he had succeeded, it took more than an hour. His soul had been weaker at the time, though.

Having absorbed plenty of human souls and apparently on the verge of breaking through to level 2, his soul was now much stronger than two days ago.

Although highly risky, he needed it if he wanted a higher chance of success with his idiotic plan. Aito bet on that to accelerate the level-up process, but not only.

After absorbing soul cores for the first time, he had tried to study what was happening inside, and even tried to control his own soul, only to fail.

But it hadn't been completely in vain. Thanks to that, he had realized that the souls he absorbed each time weren't solely fighting his own soul for survival.

In fact, it was more akin to a battle royal. Every absorbed soul would fight and try to eat each other. Aito's soul being more powerful than the others, some souls would team up against it to compensate for their lack of power.

However, Aito's soul always came out as the victor. Not only because it was stronger, but because it wasn't weakened by the process of losing a physical body.

Since Aito couldn't control his soul at the moment, he intended to use that to his advantage and help it digest the ninja's soul.

It was risky. He had never tried to do this before, but…

'In theory, it should work… in theory.'

The ninja's soul core disintegrated in his hand, transforming into specks of dust. Aito barely had enough time to absorb another soul that he spat out blood.

Inside him, two souls were fighting with their lives on the line, with a clear advantage for the ninja's.

Another participant joined the fray but only seemed to spectate. After all, two powerful souls were battling in front of it. If it intervened, it might be crushed.

'One more,' he encouraged himself, grabbing another hob soul core.

His abdominal muscles contracted; the growing pain barely bearable, thrice as painful as a broken bone.

Amidst corpses, wounded, screams of terror, and hobgoblins' battle cries, Aito took his ax handle, bit it to avoid injuring himself, and tightened his hold to channel the pain.

'Come on!'

While absorbing a new soul core, blood poured out of his mouth, coating the ax handle red. To force him into such a state after barely a minute, the ninja's soul was indeed more powerful than the goblin shaman's.

Inside, another hob soul joined the fray, immediately attacking the one that was spectating. That, however, wasn't enough to push them to attack one of the two stronger souls together.

Aito's vision blurred. His face reddened by the suffering and pressure compressing his bosom.

'One more.'

Clawing the marble floor with one hand, he used the other to force a new contestant to join the internal clash happening inside him.

Suddenly, just as a fifth soul joined the fight, the ninja's soul viciously rammed into his own. Aito's soul slightly fissured but held its ground. If it had been weaker, it would have certainly shattered right now.

However, because it was deeply linked to the soul, Aito's core weakened, threatening to crack, pulsing madly because of the internal battle's aftershock.

Aito's body spasmed uncontrollably for a moment, the pain so great his brain was about to shut down. With sheer willpower alone, Aito forced it to stay awake, while absorbing another soul.

'One more.'

Sixth soul.

'One… more.'

Seventh soul.

'One… more….'

Eighth soul.

Each new one that joined the battle royal did not dare involve themselves between the two strongest.

A total of ten souls were now fighting for dear life inside Aito's body that was in a pitiful state. No real winner was decided, yet.

Such a battle cracked Aito's core, sending ripples of soul force throughout his entire body.

Nine foreign soul forces invaded Aito's body. Unable to contain it, his mana circuits fried, on the verge of breaking beyond repair.

To evacuate this excess of energy, his every pore was forced open. Fissures appeared atop Aito's skin. A transparent mist with a slight blue hue smoked out of the fissures, while forcefully pushing out blood.

'No… not yet.'

He tried to absorb a new soul core, however, his mana circuits didn't respond.

'F…uck… truly a... foolish plan.'

***

Not far from Aito, a paralyzed Ogoro watched him bathing in his own blood that kept pouring out.

If that continued, Aito would bleed to death. A normal human's body needed at the very least a bit more than half its total amount of blood to function—and that was the bare minimum.

'Just how did he end up in such a bad state?'

A challenger, however, appeared to be more resilient. But even a challenger couldn't escape a mortal body's inconveniences.

Remembering the two times he had been saved by that man, Ogoro's eyes trembled uncontrollably.

'It's time to repay my debt. So please… move!'

His brain ordered the release of adrenaline.

His heart beat furiously, rapidly pumping blood, spreading the adrenaline.

His hand… did not move.

Despite Ogoro's fierce willpower and desire to help, he couldn't overcome his state of paralysis.

'MOVE! WHY WON'T YOU FUCKING MOVE!'

Heroes in the countless anime and manga he had seen always came out on top in such a desperate situation.

'MOOOVE! EVERYONE IS DYING. SO MOVE!'

They were courageous and brave. Capable of overcoming any difficulties. Always looking forward. Always moving forward. Always striving to do what was right.

Even plunged into despair, they never gave up and succeeded no matter the obstacles, no matter the difficulties, rising up from their ashes like majestic phoenixes.

'Why…,' Ogoro thought, tears running down his paralyzed cheeks. 'Why can't I be like them? Why can't I move when a friend needs me the most?'

There, he was forced to realize again that the heroes' power of friendship meant nothing and was nothing but the product of his own belief.

And so, as his dream crumbled, the guilt crept up, strangling his shattering will.

Even though it wasn't his fault. Even though it was pointless, and he felt guilty. Even though he couldn't possibly save Aito with any means in his possession. But that, he couldn't possibly know.

'If only I had listened to him before and taken a break…,'

More tears poured out his eyes and snorts from his nose like a river stream.

His dreaded Ryu family on Earth would have laughed at his face had they seen him in such a lamentable state.

At that moment, he, a man who had been feared by a great number of people, looked completely powerless, crying like a child.

'I'm so useless…. I couldn't save Sheyla on my own during the red trial. I couldn't save her on my own when she was imprisoned with the sect and nor was I able to save her after our last mission… And now... I have to watch my sister and savior die while I'm unable to do anything! Why... why am I always so useless….'

There, in between two corpses, cries for help, the rapidly dwindling number of challengers, Ogoro in his feeless state was forced to watch the massacre while blaming himself and his own stupidity for depleting all his soul force.

Around him, the challengers' defenses were crumbling. Seeing this, Ogoro wondered how all this was supposed to be a trial.

'Were we... all sentenced to death?'

Impatient to taste their due rewards, hobs drove paralyzed women into corners, next to piles of grey corpses. Shredding their clothes and armors, they forced themselves on the defenseless female challengers.

Unable to do anything to save his friend and sister or anyone else from such a perilous situation, Ogoro lost his iron-like composure.

Ogoro Ryu, the deadly assassin, wept like a newborn child. Powerless and helpless.

'Please..., someone...'

As his heart bloated with despair...

'...anyone...'

...he prayed to whoever was listening for any external help...

'...save us.'

...but wails of misery were all the answers he got.