Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player

Kieran and Cardinal Weiss battled for hours without tiring.

In those few short hours, Kieran had countless brushes with death. His chest had been caved in and shattered, his heart had been badly damaged, and his spine had been nearly severed.

Cardinal Weiss had erupted with wrathful ferocity and punched a ghastly hole through the young Fiend's chest. It was a chilling experience, but Kieran wouldn't trade it for anything.

Once the Flame healed him anew, Kieran dove right back into the madness of their fighting. The land feared them, retreating from their rampaging feet, fearsome blows, and violent outbursts.

Daunting trauma befell the land, its surface soon reflecting Earth's moon in how craters blemished its surface.

Kieran caught Cardinal Weiss' terrifying cross centimeters in front of his face. The backlash of the sudden stop blew Kieran's hair back like he was enduring the wind force of a tornado.

It passed quickly, but the damage had already been done. Kieran's hand was shredded. The top layer of skin and the blood gauntlet had been blown away. Yet Kieran seemed unperturbed despite the state of his hand.

It wasn't the first time his skin was flayed until fibrous muscle remained his only protection. Cardinal Weiss intended to teach Kieran the Way of a Fiend, so he didn't pull any punches regarding physical might and blood abilities.

There were likely other techniques in the Cardinal of War and Flame's arsenal that he kept tucked away. Or, perhaps, he had been forced to forget or bury them in his Realm.

An Archmaster's Realm of Self had to be far more developed than a Novice who acquired the awareness through a Trial.

But a more defined Realm of Self meant it was easier for information to get lost or buried. Kieran had wound up lost in the part of his Realm that sheltered the Mind several times. He didn't want to know what a real Master's Realm looked like, let alone an Archmaster that seemed far stronger.

However, similar to how the Mystic Arts had helped Kieran return to sanity and merge his shattered reason into an amalgam that supplied enough clarity, a technique could offer the same opportunity. If it possessed deep-rooted ties to Cardinal Weiss' former self, perhaps it could serve as a rope of salvation to pull him out of the mire the Flame had created.

How much clarity would he need to regain to accomplish that? Kieran wondered if it was even possible anymore. What if the Flame had vitiated Cardinal Weiss' entire Realm?

That harrowing thought made Kieran look at the Cardinal with somber pity.

'The more I exchange blows with you, the more I realize you're undeserving of this fate that has befell you.'

Sparing another moment to voicelessly pity the Cardinal of War and Flame, Kieran dispelled those thoughts and exhibited the Ways of the Fiend the best he could. He aimed a sharp kick aimed at the old man's temple.

Only… he came to realize he had made a grave mistake.

His kick had been blocked, caught in a vice grip, and retaliated against in a quick, unbroken procession.

A crimson sabaton tapered in the form of a sharp, form-fitting boot engulfed the Cardinal's foot and continued up his leg until it formed a sleek greave that exuded dreadful allure.

Kieran couldn't keep his eyes off it, even after it punched a foot-sized hole through his chest and sent him tumbling like a ragdoll lacking a human's skeleton. His body bent in ways one wouldn't think possible.

All the while, the Flame erupted in mocking, gratified laughter.

"The Risen Fiend is beating the Way of A Fiend into you, and it's simply sublime. I can't get enough of this. I love it when the strong fight and someone is broken! Ah… but you're not being broken. Refined. You're being refined. That is exciting, too, though."

Kieran rolled his eyes and grabbed his blade to help his wild tumbling.

A jagged fissure opened up in the ruined lands, but it offered support in helping him stop. He watched his viscera recover, his bones extend to reform his broken ribcage, his muscles stitch together by each fiber, and new, slightly discolored skin scab over.

It was not a painless ordeal. It was quite the opposite. The Flame's healing inflicted prolonged agony, but Kieran tolerated it well. Somehow, physical misery didn't hold a candle to spiritual pain.

The Imprints inflicted pain that was all but unbearable. Fainting during the process was a windfall Kieran desired whenever he thought of gathering more Imprints.

'What is happening here? Am I turning into some kind of glorified masochist?! That's sickening. Ugh, gross!'

Shaking the thought aside, Kieran controlled his breathing, grabbed his blade, and sped forward.

When he returned, however, Cardinal Weiss had already dispelled his blood gauntlet, greave, and sabaton.

"If you're to learn properly, you must learn the meaning of moderation. As the Great Firebearer, you can't be consumed by the Fiend's Madness. The Great One has told me you've endured enough for today."

Kieran was a bit crushed that they couldn't continue, but Cardinal Weiss was right. The Furthered Scales of Balance struggled to repel the Condemnation growing in vigor. It was gaining a frenetic, vitiating quality.

Any more, and the balance would likely be broken. But that thought made Kieran unbelievably wary. Why was the Flame mindful of his mental state and keeping it from experiencing a psychotic break? What exactly did it require his cognizance to do?

'This damned schemer…'

Kieran sighed, then watched in awe as Cardinal Weiss grabbed the ground and smoothly plucked a piece of earth the size of a boulder. It fell with a subtle tremor controlled by the man.

Then, he sat.

"Join me, Condemned Fiend. Once you do… start digesting what it is I showed you."

With a nod, Kieran sat beside Cardinal Weiss after climbing the boulder. Then, like the sagacious fighter suggested, Kieran started digesting what Cardinal Weiss had displayed throughout their hours of sparring.

Despite physical attacks being the delivery method, the spar's focus had always been the blood. Kieran closed his eyes and replayed the events as closely to the original as humanly possible.

It was a flawed facsimile of the actual events, but he focused on the blood.

Blood Mania could be separated into two parts — Blood Manipulation and Emotion Manipulation. From what Kieran saw, the Cardinal didn't do much with the Emotion Manipulation aspect of the technique, but then again, he didn't know if his assumption was correct.

Getting a read on the Cardinal's mental state had always been an onerous task. It was like a stone wall had been built around his emotions other than the ones that befitted a Fiend.

'The emotions aren't that important right now. Let's focus on the blood itself.'

Kieran controlled his mind to act as a film where he could pause, rewind, and zoom in on specific elements. The first thing he chose was Cardinal Weiss' very first attack — the open fist thrust.

He slowed the procession of events to the slowest his thoughts could go without falling deathly still, and in doing so, he noticed something his eyes hadn't picked up.

It was a small piece of information his reason had acknowledged but simultaneously discarded as delusion. Considering how fast the Cardinal executed his strikes, it was understandable why his mind did that.

Kieran's eyes widened as he happened upon proof.

'He truly is my mentor…'