Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player

The Cardinal of War and Flame claimed to only dabble in this power but wielded it well.

Suspiciously well.

What should have come off as honest humility… somehow turned into backhanded boasting. Cardinal Weiss' adroit blood usage was far from the level of an amateur who "dabbled" in the craft.

'This man is shameless!'

Kieran had ample experience when it came to molding blood. It was the primary nuance of his Class. From what Kieran learned, or more correctly experienced, the True Berserker was a Berserker at its core, but its bizarre blood abilities gave it aspects of other Classes, which was likely what gave it that Mythic rating.

He could self-heal, empower any weapon in his grasp, and perform medium-range attacks via his blood. Those concepts alone escaped the orbit of what Warriors should be able to do.

But, a True Berserker wasn't a Warrior.

Like the Flame had mentioned, Kieran had, at some point in time, become the embodiment of a Slayer, which was the claimer of many lives.

Slayers left their unrefined shell of being a Warrior behind and sought the lives of many to gain power for themselves.

That was the principle of a Slayer. It was part of what Kieran absorbed from watching Agrianos fight in the Land of Ruins.

'Agrianos… right. He helped me in ways I haven't yet placed. Aside from that, isn't the Land of Ruins Lord Agrianos' home, no? So, where is he now?'

Staring at the Cardinal of War and Flame with a blank look, Kieran recalled a piece of information he should have asked himself this entire time.

The Land of Ruins is where the Barbarians inevitably came to call home. If there was a threat to the land, shouldn't it be something the Barbarians subdued?

Yet, he hadn't seen a hint of a single Barbarian.

Granted, he rarely walked outside the Temple of War and Flame's walls, but a Barbarian's presence could be felt across long distances. From the stories he had read, Barbarians embodied primitive wildness, grisly savagery, and brutal combat. They engaged in so much of it that it bled from their presences like a natural mantle.

They were soaked in brutality.

Their absence from the Trial made Kieran question whether this was before the Barbarians had colonized the lands, creating their many tribes to roam freely.

Or was there another answer?

'Is this too far from where the Barbarians typically wander?'

Kieran wasn't too knowledgeable of the Wildes' landscape, but he did remember catching a glimpse of fractured mountains in the background before Agrianos pushed him into the Chasm of Apogeton.

'Are those the fractured mountains?'

Kieran looked at the jagged, prideful mountains beyond the Lifeless Pass before looking to the west. If he remembered correctly, the center of the chasm should be somewhere west of their current location.

Then, this ravine before him was not the beginning of the Chasm of Apogeton like he suspected initially.

'Right. Cardinal Weiss is powerful, but nowhere near the level of power needed to severely alter the landscape. That would require the power of a cataclysm. A walking disaster…'

For some reason, the thought of a walking disaster sent chills down Kieran's back. Like a sinister presence was blowing on him from behind. But he knew it was all in his mind.

"Condemned Fiend, you're spacing out on me. What happened to our friendly spar? Were you that surprised by my feat?"

Kieran shook those puzzling thoughts from his mind and focused on the current situation — battling with Cardinal Weiss.

But, he found his mind adrift once more.

'How the hell did he learn how to wield his blood?'

Kieran knew why he regained the usage of his blood. It resulted from the markings that marred his limbs, looking no different than tribal tattoos. This Mark of the Maddened, however, was much larger than he was familiar with.

Cardinal Weiss possessed an untainted body in comparison. All he had was an abundance of scars that sang the grim tune of his story.

Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, Kieran fell into a battle stance with his blade readied. The blood crust encasing the sword thickened and solidified, giving the edge an excessively sharp quality, but a layer of viscous blood remained.

It wasn't a regression of ability but rather a stagnation of it. He may have the body of a Fiend, but the profound capabilities didn't accompany it.

'Whatever. My original skill will have to do for now. I'll spend some time refining my mastery of blood later.'

Then, Kieran was the first to move.

He disappeared with a burst of incredible might. When he reappeared, his arm fell with the speed and power of a ruthless guillotine. Anyone else would have perhaps been beheaded by the swiftness of this attack.

But Cardinal Weiss responded without alarm.

His eyes glinted with a cold ruthlessness while he moved with baffling rapidity. He caught Kieran's dropping guillotine between his palms and wrenched it sideways.

Kieran found himself twisting in the air against his will, but the worst had yet to come. He was pulled with inexorable force, and then Cardinal Weiss punched with an open fist.

A shockwave of force traveled through Kieran's body, followed by a fierce power rocketing him backward with a thunderous explosion. His sternum and ribcage had bent inward, exhibiting hollow properties.

There were also minor cuts from the sharpness of Cardinal's Weiss gauntlet. Its hardness likely surpassed tempered steel.

Kieran collided against the ruined lands like a human skipping stone, leaving craters in his wake until he stopped with the help of a boulder.

He groaned as his body screamed in pain.

'…Holy hell!'

Kieran's eyes widened in disbelief as he gasped for desperate breaths of air. It felt like the weight of a world had hit him. If he knew what that felt like…

Still, the pain in his chest radiated throughout his entire body.

Sounding far but also close, Cardinal Weiss spoke.

"One and done? Oh, no, no, no. Draw on the body of a Fiend and come again."

Once he gained control of his breathing, Kieran listened, drawing upon the Flame's Condemnation that flowed through his veins. His concave chest rose visibly, allowing Kieran to gulp air like a whale devouring the sea.

Then, Kieran stood with a fire billowing in his eyes. He rushed towards the mighty foe with a fool's courage and a Fiend's might.

Of course… the outcome of the second exchange wasn't much different.

He had succeeded in holding out for a few exchanges until Cardinal Weiss abruptly increased the pressure, which ended up with Kieran entombed by the ruined lands.

Cardinal Weiss stood over the Kieran-sized hole with a hearty chuckle.

"Valdu, are you okay down there?"

The answer came in the form of an intensifying rumble. The rocks shook, and then something erupted from the ground with sinister abandon. It had attacked with impunity.

Exercising his supreme reaction speed, however, Cardinal Weiss barely leaned back. The slight slant was enough that the rising crimson blade brushed against his chest, throat, and chin without inflicting damage or drawing blood.

"I appreciate the gesture. But, Condemned Fiend… I have already shaved recently."

Then, he spun and viciously lashed out his leg.

Unbeknownst to Kieran, he rose into the violent embrace of a swift kick to the solar plexus.

"Oh, but I do have a hidden hobby. I didn't take you to be a seer, Valdu. Imagine guessing my hobby with such accuracy. Yes, you caught me – I love skipping stones!"

Again, Kieran flickered through lands as an unwilling human skipping stone.