Two similar phenomenons competed for destructive supremacy within the War Phantasmagoria.

On one side, there was Adeia’s reluctant yet seemingly omnipotent energy that made the rivers of blood quiver in docile subservience. Deidamia continued to reach new heights, which in turn solidified the odious feeling that the horrifying image behind Adeia’s body exuded.

It didn’t seem like a Mana Manifestation, which was something Kieran had witnessed many times before. Judging by how intense the violent fluctuations were, and how closely they interacted with Adeia’s unique energy signature, Kieran found only one answer to explain this power.

“Source Realization,” Kieran muttered to himself, his eyes narrowing.

A solemn glint appeared as his lips curled downward.

As much as he wanted to achieve this on his own, it wasn’t feasible. The Seed of Vengeance was a strange and elusive source that rarely heeded his command. The Source would not abide by his wishes unless his dominance became more absolute.

‘What’s the deal with all of these items requiring a monstrous amount of Willpower? Can’t anything just be easy?’

Though he had a few grievances, Kieran set them aside to focus on the task at hand—unleashing as great of a power as he could possibly muster.

Considering a throng of vitality continued escaping from his body uncontrollably, it was a tall task. His gruesome and bloodied body simply wasn’t the best vessel to contain his current power.

Yet he had no alternative.

His body, tempered by a number of things, would simply have to hold up against the punishment.

Everything—his blood power, bloodthirst, the physicality of his bestial body—all soared to new and unprecedented heights.

He had activated Deranged Spirit and Abhorrent Paroxysm at the same time once before, but that was quite long ago. Happening far before both of them experienced the enhancement of the Seed of Vengeance, improving their sadistic and negative qualities.

Despite the precautions he had taken and all the progress he had made thus far, the dual activation of these two skills took an immediate toll on his sanity.

Even the seal around Argexes’ Blood trembled, the ichor inside thrashing about uncontrollably.

It desired to assume control of Kieran’s frenzied and inhumane desire to shred things to pieces, to raze all that stood before him as an obstacle to the ground.

Oddly enough, the Archaic Verity Compendium did not take action to assist Kieran in maintaining his mental clarity. Wielding these powers was something Nameless felt Kieran had to accomplish on his own.

He had to understand that he was the master of these powers, not the other way around.

If he continued to allow them to dictate his actions, Kieran would remain a pawn to his own emotions. A puppet of his subconscious desires that these strange abilities fed upon.

However, it was a lesser evil Kieran had to allow. He required their power. He wasn’t enough without them, and this battle against Adeia opened his eyes to this realization.

“It seems I wasn’t wrong. That power of yours seems quite… demonic. Maybe it is what we need. Rely upon that evil, but I wouldn’t let it consume you if I were you,” Adeia said, raising her odachi in a peculiar battle stance.

All of her weight shifted forward, as if one step were all it took to pierce the world.

Meanwhile, Kieran’s expression contorted into a naturally dark scowl. His exaggerated fangs and sharpened, empowered teeth clattered after receiving the brunt of Kieran’s guttural growl.

Everything about Kieran’s current demeanor seemed fiendish and sinister. All of his thoughts were currently clouded by a feverish mania.

Evidently, it was one caused by the reaction between the Source Runes of Blood Mania, Abhorrent Paroxysm and Deranged Spirit.

Together, they formed poignant chaos and rampant madness that Kieran couldn’t tame alone.

Not currently.

Of course, Kieran didn’t have much time remaining on Abhorrent Paroxysm’s duration. The vibrant color of its Source Rune dimmed quickly.

The robust and inhuman muscles beneath his taut skin twitched then contracted, allowing Kieran to erupt with such speed that none of the Fallen Ones thus far would be able to compete.

Yet, Adeia read the trajectory of his approach, responding with a glancing blow that stopped Kieran’s advance. In his current state, he relied upon instinct to act. So, when he sensed danger, his instinctual drive led him to meander around the incoming strike.

His flexibility was quite odd, almost seeming as if it should belong to a four-legged animal, and not a bipedal creature like a human.

Adeia understood that, at the moment, many, if not all, of her opponent’s physical aspects, had been greatly enhanced. As it stood, Kieran was slightly faster and stronger than this war goddess.

Nevertheless, Adeia deflected many of Kieran’s brutal and unforgiving slashes with the tempered finesse of a seasoned veteran. The countless conflagrations of wars that Adeia experienced were all seared into the depths of her being.

These movements were a part of her history. She couldn’t abandon them if she desired to.

An array of gorgeous sparks littered the air above their struggling blades, both sad and tenacious. Both sides were fighting for a purpose.

These struggles only deepened and intensified the burning of madness in Kieran’s eyes. The moment it became accessible, Kieran activated a Vim Restoration.

Except this Vim Restoration achieved something the others could not.

A cloud of blood erupted from Kieran’s body, enshrouding both him and Adeia in an encroachment of blood that she could not immediately disperse.

Within that opportunity granted by this attack, Kieran hurled Crimson Ashrune forward.

At the last second, Adeia sensed the incoming attack and unleashed a downward hack with her odachi. The strike split open the earth and then stopped the frightening weapon in its tracks.

Yet, this successful block felt wrong to Adeia. It was missing something essential that was present in all their previous exchanges—weight.

It was missing a weight substantial enough to contribute to their physical deadlock.

Then, it hit her.

Appearing from her rear with an adept Phantasmal Flicker, Kieran capitalized on his increased movement speed to move faster than sound could muster. Though, once it caught up, the explosion of his movement was superimposed by a thunderous explosion.

A depression the size of Kieran’s gauntlet-covered fist appeared in Adeia’s chest, who swiftly turned to muster an unsuccessful defense. At least… not properly.

The tip of her odachi lacerated Kieran’s right eye, critically wounding it to the point he had to close it.

With this, his depth perception had become skewed.

Letting out a bestial cry while gripping his bleeding eye, Kieran roared to the sky afterward, his rage redoubling.

On the other hand, Adeia staggered to her feet, touching the depression in her chest. Contrary to the feeling of stark fulfillment that one seeking death should present, Adeia seemed fearful.

Every crimson river in the distance seethed, moving with renewed vigor. The rivers then converged and swirled violently, creating a monsoon a second later.

During that time, Kieran looked at a few messages before his eyes.

〈System: You have cleared the fourth round of the ?Immemorial Gladiator Trial?.〉

〈System: The fifth round of the ?Immemorial Gladiator Trial? shall begin immediately. Brace yourself. You have battled, endured, and survived against your enemies. But the most dreadful enemy is without contest.〉

There was no interlude between the next rounds. There was no moment of respite to recover.

The true test of the trial had begun.

The pernicious wounds upon Kieran’s body were an issue. Vim Restoration had already stopped the bleeding, but the wounds themselves remained.

Some were deep enough to reveal the bone, tendons and viscera beneath his vigorous muscles.

Standing amidst the desolate battlefield, blood drying on his mangled body, Kieran picked up Crimson Ashrune and looked to the gray sky, one eye completely closed and now covered by his blood-soaked and matted hair. 𝗼𝐯𝐞𝐥．𝐜𝐨𝗺

“I will never stop fighting. Whether it be here or there… I will continue until my dying breath. I will not yield,” Kieran said.

As the legion of 10,000 Fallen Ones formed in the distance, Kieran growled and closed his eyes.

Now that one eye was no longer of use, Kieran was forced to focus harder than ever before. Inside that focus, a kernel of inviolable determination blossomed into an ember of sweltering conviction.

Placing his hand on the ground, Kieran exhaled and sensed all of the blood he had spilled thus far. It wasn’t a small amount. Vim Restoration was a strange skill that forced his body to instantly create new blood, which was why it created a surge of vitality every time.

The Mana embedded in Kieran’s blood could not be extracted. Thus, inside the War Phantasmagoria, Kieran felt like everything was an extension of him, albeit weakly.

Unfortunately, his connection to his blood remained incomplete, the Worldly Will of the Quintessential Aether still acting out in defiance.

However, Kieran could not tolerate defiance any longer. No, he could not afford it in his current situation.

A regal aura of domineering pressure appeared soon after, but was contained within a limited range. That aura then reversed and suffocated Kieran—precisely, the blood that flowed through him.

Infuriated with its behavior thus far, Kieran finally had enough of his blood’s mutiny. He would be usurping control of his enhanced blood, even if only for this moment.

All of a sudden, a humongous blood maelstrom scattered throughout the War Phantasmagoria, forming in several distant locations. Then again, these formations were not coincidences.

Though a novice at it, Kieran was manually controlling his mental power to augment the connection to his spilled blood, using it to launch one terrifying attack.

The skill which reaped the life of thousands of players.

Baneful Cyclone.