Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player

Aside from the fact that Kieran's Wild Crash has leveled the terrain within a 20-meter range, Soulless was taken by Kieran's ability to unleash the same terrifying skill twice.

Such a destructive skill should naturally be accompanied by a hefty cooldown time.

Otherwise, where was the balance of ability?!

After dodging Kieran's sudden Wild Crash, Soulless glanced out the corner of his eye and frowned. Two of the markings on his blade symbolized how many times he could use Spectral Tread and Intangible Step.

Thanks to another usage of Intangible Step, the brightness of one of the runes on his blade had dulled considerably. 'This isn't good. My natural AGI isn't enough to evade his attacks. I must find a way to end this before my invincibility skills go on cooldown.'

In the meantime, Kieran noticed Soulless' dissatisfied expression and smiled. He didn't need Soulless to confirm his suspicions. Such a look would only occur when one was unhappy about a cooldown.

Kieran had witnessed far too many players wield the same expression to not understand it at a glance.

Since he had a decent understanding of Soulless' situation, it was about time to back him into a corner.

"Crimson Barrage!"

Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

Kieran pulled on the Tensile Blood Swath and waved it about erratically until the sky was littered with crimson scars that converged on Soulless' current position.

The power of each of these crimson scars was remarkable, so it prompted Soulless to consider his choices.

Though, once he laid eyes upon the state of his two runes, Soulless decided it was not worth the expenditure. Instead, Soulless slashed his sword, producing a torrential might.

"Lunar Tear!"

As Soulless moved his blade, the darkness and chill of the night spilled into the sky, which was similarly blotted out by a collection of crimson scars.

Upon closer examination of the skill, Kieran realized it was undoubtedly a high-level A Rank Skill.

The crimson scars were eviscerated by the Lunar Tear, but Kieran lifted his hand, swiftly amassing a large amount of blood that coalesced into another majestic sword of blood.

"Seethe Burst!"

BOOM!

The Lunar Tear and Seethe Burst canceled each other out, but Kieran didn't await the result. He flickered forth with a Phantasmal Flicker and snatched Crimson Ashrune out of the air.

Not long after, the ground beneath Soulless' feet began to rumble and burst with a red glow. In response, he moved back, narrowly avoiding damage from Kieran's sneaky Wrath Eruption.

It was a difficult skill to defend against now that Kieran understood how to activate it at a distance thanks to the marking on his feet.

'Why does it seem as if he's become more dominant? Does he believe that my Ghost Release will end soon?' Soulless wondered.

It hadn't dawned upon Soulless that Kieran was aware of the presence of skills with multiple charges nor did he realize that Kieran knew he possessed a few.

A few seconds later, Kieran executed another Phantasmal Flicker, followed by an Accel Shift to rapidly change his end position. After that, Kieran spun around Soulless before delivering a circular slash.

Clang!

Because of that, Soulless' blade was knocked back in the clash, which created a large opening for Kieran to exploit. In a situation like this, Soulless could only begrudgingly make a concession and waste another charge of Intangible Step.

However, Kieran's eyes tracked Soulless's movements thanks to the effect of his True Unveiling Eyes.

As soon as the step ended, Kieran executed a Fury Rush to catch up and potentially put Soulless in a vulnerable position.

Fury Rush was another basic skill of Kieran's, but until all of Soulless' evasive avenues were expended, Kieran couldn't unleash his large skills.

After all, they were not skills he could afford to miss.

"Ghost Presence: Glacial Icial!"

As Soulless slashed out with his blade once more, a horrifying ghost departed from it. Its icy-blue eyes and purplish-blue body emanated a bone-chilling icy wind as it approached Kieran.

From its presence alone, Kieran could tell this thing would inflict an abnormal status. In fact, the moment it appeared, a thin layer of frost appeared across Kieran's blade.

As he analyzed this frost, Kieran similarly noticed the near-negligible movement speed of the ghost.

Unfortunately, the weakness of Icial's movement speed was covered by the large range of its frost effect. The frost that Icial exuded spread out ten meters in every direction.

Kieran wasn't sure if his body was resistant to frost yet since it had yet to Advance. If he wasn't careful, he could end up slowed by the chilling atmosphere or worse.

Of course, the situation wasn't hopeless.

Summoning skills possessed finite duration, after all. The longer the summon existed, the more of a burden it became on the user's Mana Pool.

Summons generally came from another realm or distant location. Because of this, transporting them from their initial environment naturally required a great deal of Mana.

'That's right. While a Spellblade is a mix of a Swordsman and Mage, a Bladed Ghostmancer is a mix of a Swordsman and a Summoner--two Intermediate Paths.'

When two Intermediate Paths merged, it naturally resulted in a superior class like the Bladed Ghostmancer. If not for the ability that only Mythic Classes held, perhaps this class could be considered a contestant for the next Mythic Class.

A few seconds later, Glacial Icial receded into Soulless' blade.

Surprisingly, the cost of the Ghost Presence skill doubled after every 5 seconds it was active. On top of that, the initial cost to activate it was 20 Mana per second.

As soon as it disappeared, Kieran resumed his forceful approach.

Without hesitation, Kieran spammed his basic skills until he forced Soulless to consume the remaining charges of Intangible Step and Spectral Tread.

The latter's cooldown was comparatively short when compared to the former since Spectral Tread was the Bladed Ghostmancer's basic ability. Yet, when it related to the high-pace combat of Titled Rankers, the relativity of the cooldown period meant nothing.

It was reduced to two absolutes--either the cooldown was too long or it was perfect.

Kieran's True Unveiling Eyes picked up on the completely dull runes on Soulless' blade and smiled. "It would seem some aspect of your power has been put on cooldown. That means, whether it's your Omniscience or your annoying evasive abilities--they can no longer assist you."

All of a sudden, five huge tempests of sanguine energy surfaced behind Kieran. The appearance of these tempests made Kieran seem like a triumphant blood god amidst a remarkable battle.

As he pointed Crimson Ashrune at Soulless, Kieran's hair swayed wildly, soon blown forward by the absurd momentum of the five Sanguinem Tempests.

The growing shade of crimson expanded within Soulless' gaze as his pupils contracted.

Left with no other choice, Soulless bit his tongue and spat blood onto his blade while holding it vertically. "Devoured Release: Phantasm Overdrive!"

Ooom!

Out of nowhere, six ghosts suddenly came out and circled Soulless' body.

Two departed from his body, while the other four emerged from his blade. As Soulless opened his mouth, every last one of them was devoured.

As soon as this happened, the markings on Soulless' body deepened until they released a ghastly flame of a gray and purple color. The eerie vibe that Soulless exuded was similar to what Kieran felt inside the Chasm of Apogeton.

The only difference was the lack of a sinister presence and the scale of this energy. It didn't amount to even 1% of the energy that leaked from the Nether Severing Hex-Seal.

"I am coming," Soulless said, his voice distorted and ominous. Swallowing six ghosts at once led to some unusual change.

"I'm prepared," Kieran replied with a grin.

Kieran's anticipation was high because he looked forward to clashing with someone that had a full-blown release skill activated. He needed to know how his basic body fared against the strongest state of his competitors.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With great speed and force, Kieran and Soulless clashed a ridiculous number of times, the shockwaves of each collision spreading throughout the surroundings. Because Soulless devoured a large number of ghosts, the nether energy of each ghost collided inside his body, resulting in an eruption of power.

However, just like Bastion's Last Stand, this state was wreaking havoc upon Soulless' condition.

Meanwhile, Kieran continued to lose Health without so much as a worry.

When his Health dropped too low, he merely presented the True Berserker's best way of battling--ruthlessly.

"Vim Restoration!"

"Blood Bind!"

Twelve chains of blood wrapped around Soulless and attempted to hold him in place, however, the Devoured Release form was truly bizarre. The chains of blood that wrapped around Soulless' body quickly decayed as if met with some form of strange plague.

"Perish!" Soulless bellowed, slashing his sword down.

"Phantasmal Eradication!"

This was Soulless' sole S Rank Skill. Because he understood that his current state would last no longer than 30 seconds from the time he activated it, Soulless did not hold back in the slightest.

Once he revealed Phantasmal Eradication, Xion and Vielens similarly made their moves. Soulless had told them beforehand that if he ever unleashed a Phantasmal Eradication, they were to include their attacks to ensure Kieran's death.

With these directions in place, Xion and Vielens did not hesitate to unleash their strongest skills. In Xion's case, it was a dense arc of dark energy while Vielens was a collection of lightning in the form of a large fist.

As these attacks converged upon Kieran...

He grinned.

BOOOOOOOM!

The entire battlefield was rocked by the simultaneous attack of these three players. Everyone, including Altair who was in the middle of slaying a few players, stopped as they stared at the crater that formed.

Alone, Vielens and Xion could not alter the terrain. But when combined with Soulless' S Rank Skill, the outcome was much different!

The battlefield grew pin-drop silent, while Kieran's stream even stopped typing. What had just happened? Did... Kieran fail? This was the question on everyone's mind.

Phantasmal Eradication was like a bomb of nether energy that exploded after coming in contact with its target. The players that witnessed this ordeal couldn't see how any player could survive such an attack.

But after a moment of consideration, Altair looked elsewhere and revealed a smiling gaze.

"Kill Aatrox? You're not worthy," Altair said, letting his voice resound amidst the silence.

All of a sudden, a tremor occurred as if an earthquake was taking place.

A second later, Kieran shot up from beneath the ground with a large amount of blood dripping off his body.

Appalled, Soulless could only stare in disbelief as he witnessed what remained behind Kieran's body.

"My turn...!" Kieran's deep voice sounded, somewhat whimsical but predominantly malevolent.