The Regressed NoBody

Under the effects of acausality, my body began to burn with an unimaginable scorching heat which caused me to pass out at any moment. My eyes lids heavy and my body feeling like lead. My body which had yet to regenerate the damage done to it, was shivering and quaking in agony as I felt my blood run backward and my vision a blur, as I felt the sensation of millions of sharp needles being impaled into my body, continuously.

A sharp pain began to go grow near my sternum, as I stiffened and choked on my breath.

Even with all the training I had done in the last three months with all the chances I got to use acausality, I never got used to the effects which allowed me to stop and bind time. My body would always begin to reject and pull me out of this static world—back into the physical realm—before the damage became everlasting and permanent.

But I had come to realize that my body couldn’t withstand the pain and stress even if I trained this ability perfectly. This was the biggest draw back for using this skill.

But as I persisted, and pushed the pain back, I lunged in the Basilisk’s direction, trying to reach Lucas before the effects of my skill ran out. My legs trembled as a splitting headache shrouded my mind. I felt like my lungs were on fire, as my entire body quaked in convulsions.

I gnashed my teeth as I circulated the mana inside me to reinforce my body, as it reacted to my will and began to enforce each step I took, to help me cover the distance faster.

I heaved for breath as my chest was on fire, as if I had drank alcohol which was as searing and intense as a volcano’ magma which burned and warmed each part of my body. The time limit for staying inside this world was quickly coming to an end. And the damage my body had undergone had caused that time to be shortened, as the bursts of pain were coming over me more strongly.

I quickly covered the long distance, and now was only a few steps away from Lucas and the Basilisk’s long tongue.

My eyes laid on the statues—my companions and the Basilisk—in this shade of grey which covered the entire world. Their body's were stuck to their places, some midair, some dodging and some striking back.

But...the biggest problem was that I couldn’t interact with the frozen objects or beings, when I was inside this static world. I had tried many times in the past, but have miserably failed each time to interact with the objects and beings, as I separated myself from binds of the physical realm. As if there was some essential key point I was missing this whole time, which could allow me to gain access to that power to pull the others inside here with me.

But I was able to do so only once. Back in the devil’s whisper dungeon, where I had killed the demon which was completely immobilised, and I had even pulled my sword together with me inside this inverted world.

But I didn’t know how. Back then, I was so close to dying that killing the demon and surviving was the only thing that had overcame my mind and rationality. So I couldn’t make out of what I had done back then.

I grabbed Lucas’s body, wrapping my arms around him and trying to wiggle and nudge him,—desperately as my time limit quickly came to an end—move him from his location. But it was all futile. His body was stuck to its places, like a statue carved by the finest of craftsmen.

My eyes widened as my knees buckled, as I vomited a mouthful of blood. I went on all four as the pain had started to become unbearable. My mana was exhausting and every inch of me crying in pain. I couldn’t withstand it anymore. I need to do something, anything.

I pondered over what I could do, but nothing was coming to mind. I felt miserable.

I released my grasp over the skill as the colours began to return to the world around me once again. My connection with the mana around me re-established as I felt my body pull and drink the mana as quickly as it could. In that same moment—when time was beginning to move again—I tightened my grip around Lucas, and as the world returned to what it used to be, I grabbed Lucas and lunged as far as I could, as I forced my stiff body to move.

All the mana inside me pushed and pulled at my inside as my legs felt like lead.

My body momentarily gave out under the unbearable effects of the unimaginable pain. But I felt a deep stinging overcome me from behind as I rolled over the ground together with Lucas.

Lucas gasped and squealed in surprise, as he saw me lying over his crashing body now. Blood rolled down my mouth, nose and eyes and I looked to be in terrible shape.

“What!!!? How are you here? You were over there just now?” Lucas threw a barrage of questions at me as his expression displayed a mixture of surprise and confusion, as his eyes widened. I tried to push my body aside, but it didn’t listen. The stinging grew more potent as time passed. And it grew to the point that I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs, I wish that I was dead.

I felt my body burn even more intensely, even more so when I was inside that static world.

The Basilisk’s poison had entered my nervous system. It was unlike any poison I had ever been affected by. It felt like my mind was breaking apart, as my body burned uncontrollably, as it threatened to destroy me.

I heard a loud hissing noise emerge from behind me as I felt for my mana, and I still had a tad bit above half left.

The wounds which the Basilisk had left over my body were healing gradually as time passed, but not fast enough that I could fight with my full strength.

The wound over my back wasn’t able to heal. The poison was trying to destroy my nervous system from the inside as well as the outside. My veins bulged outwards, as they became visible enough for anyone to see.

My skin colour paled considerably, not like the creamy pale which girls wished for, but a sickly pale which would cause you to be worried about your well-being. I squinted my eyes as the unbearable pain gripped hard at my insides.

Lucas wrapped his arm around my shoulder and began to dash to create some distance from the Basilisk. The others were still stalling as the majority of the students reached for the tunnel.

“Oy wake up,” Lucas jerked my body, as he let go of me and forcefully pushed a potion in my mouth. I chugged the entire potion down as a lukewarm sensation enveloped my body and the pain and burning resided barely.

My blurred eyes became better as I looked at the youth with burgundy hair. His face had a twisted frown as his brows kept on furrowing in distress.

“What are we supposed to do now?” He urged in a tone which indicated desperation and panic, as I straightened and took a moment to allow my passive skills to do their work.

_____

【CONGRATULATIONS 】

【PASSIVE SKILL: PAIN RESISTANCE HAS LEVELLED UP】

【PAIN RESISTANCE】: [LV.2] ---> 【PAIN RESISTANCE】: [LV.3]

【PAIN RESISTANCE】: [LV.3]

_____

A window popped open in front of me as I saw one of my passive skills level up. But I wasn'table to give much mind to it. Then another one popped open beside it.

_____

【CONGRATULATIONS 】

【PASSIVE SKILL: REGENERATION HAS LEVELLED UP】

【REGENERATION】: [LV.2] ---> 【REGENERATION】: [LV.3]

【REGENERATION】: [LV.3]

_____

The pain and burning subsided considerably as I felt my body regenerate quicker than before. But my insides seethed as I vomited blood and whatever food I had last eaten again.

The poison was destroying my body, faster than it could regenerate the damage.

“Give me some time and distract the Basilisk as much as you guys can,” I said in a single breath as I closed my eyes tightly. My head had began to spilt and my vision blurring, as I held back the impulse to succumb to cold ground.

I needed to end this battle in a single strike, and I had no choice but to use that.

“You seriously want us to stall for time against that gigantic fucking lizard?” Lucas asked deadpan. His eyes glaring at me with contempt as his nose kept on wrinkling in a sharp sneer directed at me.

“Please, you guys have to, until I use my trump card,” I said in a tone of plea as I looked straight into his eyes. “And...I know it w-will be enough to kill it.” Lucas frowned deeply as he turned his head in the Basilisk’s direction, and saw as the others fought against the colossal beast with their lives on the line.

They barely dodged the mana beast’ attacks as they were all pushed back merely by the gust of the wind and shockwaves which were created by the beast’s swing, as it whipped its tail and poisonous tongue around.

Lucas grunted as he spoke. “Alright! But the best we all can do together is fifteen seconds even with our lives on the line! So you better make haste!"

I nodded in acknowledgement as he tightly held the daggers he had acquired in the treasury chamber and dashed in the direction of the Basilisk. Wind covered each of his steps, allowing him to cover the distance only in a few seconds.

“You better use that trump card of yours quickly,” Lucas hurriedly quipped as he was over the Basilisk in a fleeting second.

There was a short distance between me and Basilisk. I took in a deep breath as I quickly withdrew my sword back into the sheath and firmed my grip over the hilt.

Now that was only thing I could bet on, the last trump card I held was the crescent moon style. But under the damage and pain my body was in, could I able to successfully perform the movement? The rebound would be tremendous if I perform it in such a half-dead state.

No, I had to!

I buckled my knees as the mana inside me erupted in a rippling pulsation, as well the atmospheric mana heeding my call. The mana around me began to ripple as it hurriedly began to conglomerate in my direction.

I activated Mind’s Eye, as the tiny sparks of mana and demonic energy became bare to my eyes, glittering the entire field around me. The mana all around me was shimmering according to their corresponding elements. They burned brightly, powerfully, with purpose, as if awaiting some kind of command to will—bend—themselves into something that I wished—desired—for them to.

My eyes began to sting as I tried to focus, but my body was crumbling due to the poison, but I had to stead fast. My breathing laboured considerably, as I poured every ounce of my being into performing the crescent moon style.

I pulled in a hefty amount of oxygen as I invigorated my lungs, as my eyes pondered shut I pictured Master performing the crescent moon style back when I was little—in the past. The colour of my skin had paled even more, but my body had somewhat assimilated with the effects of the poison, I could move more freely now.

But just as I was about to release my sword from the grasp of its sheath, I felt the air beside me ruffle, as I opened my eyes and saw that Thomas was over me. His spear thrust forward, but in that exact moment, I activated the first phase of mind’s eye and the world around me began to become colourless as every movement became that of a snail’s pace.

His spear was drawing closer to my throat

I deactivated the first phase, while still maintaining the second phase of mind’s eye which allowed me to see the ambient mana in the atmosphere. I clicked my tongue in annoyance, as I gritted my teeth in anger. My senses had dulled considerably due to the poison, that I couldn’t even feel Thomas approach sneakily toward me.

I pushed my hands upward to intercept his thrust, but my arms gave out as my vision blurred again. The poison had really taken a toll over my body.

But I was nonetheless able to evade and intercept against his attack, except his spear dug straight into my wrist as I screamed in agony. Blood dripped from my right arm's wrist as it lolled down like a dog's tongue. My hand hanged down the stump of my wrist as it was only attached by a piece of muscle and skin.

I gritted my teeth as I glared daggers at Thomas. I quickly pushed a few steps away from him, as he defensively held his spear forward.

“Thomas you fucker! Just why?” I grumbled with uncontaminated fury in my voice which caused him to flinch a step. “You’re going to get us all killed!”

“Heh, so be it,” he said, as his face twisted into a grimaced smirk, as a weak and dry chuckle escaped his mouth. But I was finally able to see the traces of demonic energy which had intermingled with his mana as he had released his shackled and constrained power.

“You are a contractee?” I asked, caught off guard. But why wasn’t I able to feel his mana intermingled with demonic energy before. Unless, he had received blood from a demon.

There was a way for humans to perfectly hide their traces of demonic energy mixed with their mana, first was to train their body, also by using herbs which could only be used by demons—and most did that because demons weren’t so charitable to give away their blood, simply because even if they chose anyone as their contractee they wouldn't want their contractee surpassing them in strength, because they were full of pride—but that is the harder option to obtain.

But the second option was to simply receive blood from your contracted demon, to allow you to perfectly hide the traces of demonic energy by suppressing it inside the body and masking it with your own mana like a veil. And the blood helps for making the body better assimilate with the demonic energy, because with the external option of signing a contract, the option to just internally ingest blood to your streams was a more profound method. But that didn’t mean it didn’t come with any risks.

The rebounds of ingesting demon blood was far worse than just simply signing a contract with one. But that also gave them a massive boost in power.

But we humans couldn’t feel demonic energy, but we were still able to barely sense the sinister presence it released, like a sixth sense by instinct.

“When did you?” I asked, with my eyes blood shot.

“I had only signed a contract with a demon just to kill you,” he said, his voice hoarse and desperate. “But I didn’t knew your strength had risen so much in such a short time.”

"Tell me, you also received blood, didn't you?" Thomas quipped with a twisted scowl. "Without it your meagre strength would have never risen to what it is now."

“Jiwoo, damn it, hurry up,” Lucas grumbled from the side as he dodged the zigzag attack from the Basilisk’s tongue. But his voice was muffled under the loud thumping of my heart.

I attached my hanging hand with the open stump, as I quickly withdrew the only advanced potion I had left and chugged it down. My passive skill was actively allowing my wrist to reattach itself back.

“Thomas, this is no time to be fighting amongst ourselves,” I spoke in a calm tone but with deep authority, trying to hold back the fury and contempt in my words. “We need to escape from this place first, then we can deal with this.” But my eyes kept on galring at him.

But he lunged in my direction and thrust his spear at me relentlessly. I was barely able to keep the others in check as I evaded Thomas’s barrage of attacks. His veins bulged outwards as they turned a shade blacker and his face began to turn paler. I stiffly cocked my head toward the Basilisk, as I saw it stomp a student to her death. The scowl over my face deepened as I looked back and forth.

Enough!

I withdrew my sword and with surging my mana, I lunged forward and with a single swing, I severed Thomas’s arm cleanly. He screeched in pain, as he let go of his spear and held the stump of his arm. His strength may have risen to the rank borderline, but the strength gap between us two was still too wide.

“I have no more time to waste on you,” my eyes emotionlessly bore down on to him as a shiver ran around Thomas’s body. The fear on his face so tangible. He grimaced as tears slipped down his cheeks. He looked desperate. He began to stomp the ground with his good hand as he kept looking at me with contempt in his changing eyes.

“Why is it you? Why did it have to be you? It should have been better for you to remain that weak pathetic worm that you always were.” his eyes began to change shades, as they turned completely black like the night sky.

I quickly pulled closer, my sword nearing Thomas’s throat, like an eagle’s glide.

“If you are able to be reborn in your next life, try to atone for your past sins," the cold blade of my sword thrust into his throat as my final words fell over him like some heavenly judgment, as blood sprayed all around him, which tainted the lush grass with a shade of bright crimson.

His head severed and rolled over the ground with a loud thud, as he lifelessly dropped down on the ground as his lifeless eyes bore into mine. I held his gaze for a fleeting second.

“Jiwoo!!!” I heard the others calling out my name, as I hurried back to the task at hand.

They were in bad state. And barely holding on. All of them. Ryuya’s arm was twisted and pulled at an impossible angle as his face twisted with a deep scowl with each attack he launched at the Basilisk, but most of them were rendered useless.

The other were no less, their body's were covered in visible flesh wounds, as they persisted against the onslaught of the Basilisk. Even I was surprised as to how long they had stalled against the Basilisk for me—as I had instructed.

With my sword back into the sheath, I firmed my grip around it, as I wrapped a torn piece of my shirt around my wrist to keep my hand in place and steady.

That son of a bitch Thomas had to pull that stunt at such a crucial and important time. I think it had been more than thirty seconds. My eyes drifted back as I saw blood splattered all across the field where the Basilisk stood. Some of the students had lost their lives already, so easily, with the others still desperately trying to run away.

With a breath, I took a deep breath as I pulled my body back into a firm stance again. An unbearable amount of pain shrouded my entire body, as I tried to move my right hand, but it was completely numb. My nerves must have been severed when Thomas cut my wrist off. My body was rejecting any command from me.

Fuck!!!

I panicked as I tried to think about something I could make use of. But nothing came to mind. A frown crept up my face as I looked at the desperate faces of my friends still fighting the Basilisk. They were now desperately trying to fight for their lives. Some of the other students had also returned to help them, but they were of no help.

Use me!

Then I heard a melodical whisper echo in my ears like the passing wind, which felt so...magical and powerful. It was telling me something. I focused, and it was telling me to use it.

But use what? I thought, confused.

I didn’t fully understand the meaning behind what it was asking me to do. But I did what it told me to. I searched from where that voice was coming from, and I came to a stop near the new power I had acquired back in the dungeon room. It was burning furiously within me, unshackled. With a power which I had felt back in the statue room.

Without even giving it a second thought, I tapped into that subtle power, as I felt a cold sensation grow all around my body, as if I had dived into the cold waters of a lake. The pain began to suddenly vanish, as all the voices disappeared from around me. The only thing I was able to focus on was the loud thudding of my own heart which soon even, also quieted. The enchanting powerful voice telling me something, but soon enough it also hushed with all the others.

Every pore in my body opened as I felt a surge of mana raging in and out of my body.

The space around me distorted, as the ground below my feet began to crack under all the mana which was surrounding my body, a small crater formed beneath my feet as I channelled all the mana inside me.

The surge of mana that had been rampaging around me suddenly sucked inside my body as it compressed deeply into me, as a feeling of insurmountable power overcame every inch of my being. I felt absolute, the sense of superiority over everything, living or dead, began to bit away at my very sanity.

“Kuh!” I gashed in pain as I felt my mind began to split, but I pushed all of my worries and thought at the back of my head for now. All that I cared about as of this moment was the total and absolute destruction of everything and everyone.

The growing temptation in my mind was almost...enchanting. But I was barely able to suppress the feeling of destroying everything and one around me under the sense of mania.

I heard a loud, desperate and fearful voice calling out to me, as it nudged me away from the grasp of this intoxicating power. Just who's voice was it?

I turned my head in the Basilisk’s direction and saw that Jiyoung was looking at me with wide, fearful eyes, as she held on to her left arm which was profusely bleeding, and many visible wounds and bruises had appeared all over her body.

I suppressed the mania of this power which was poisoning my mind, as I firmed my grip over my sword.

Just as my eyes landed over the Basilisk—as if our eyes had met in that exact moment—it flinched away from its place, as if...as if it was afraid of me. I felt a surge of ecstasy emerge from deep within me, as I intently looked down at the colossal beast. My eyes fixed on the enormous figure of the beast which seemed to pull away from me as its eye displayed horror.

It’s big scarlet eyes displayed an emotion I had seen on so, so many.

Fear!

It was definitely afraid.

The mana surrounding me looked as if it was bending to my will, as if I was bending nature itself. Everything felt to be in my control, I felt like a deity right now, I felt I could do anything.

Without even a command, the wind particles rushed to my sword as it converged around it. But I felt a deep stinging pain grow in my body, as the effects of using two skills were too taxing over my body right now in such a condition. Blood profusely dripped from my mouth and eyes, as I felt I could lose consciousness anytime.

But I saw that the other elements were also awaiting my call, as if ready to rush to my command, even demonic energy. But it was a little strange that the other elements with the exception of wind and fire—which I was most compatible with—were awaiting my command. I was not a mage, then why?

But I once again pushed these thoughts to the back of my head and focused on the task at hand.

I drew in a quick breath, as I felt a surge of unshackled power brim from within me, as my arms hissed and blurred from in the front of me.

I pushed my sword out of the sheath, and performed a vertically upwards slash. The mana condensed round my sword, which gave it a bright sheen, giving more force and inertia to my swing, as I vividly saw the wind particles of mana attaching and conglomerating all around my hand and the blade of my sword.

The veins over my arms bulged outwards, as they were perfectly visible to the naked eyes.

My wrist was almost fully healed, as I saw the space from in front of me distort and darken. As if the mana was bending to my will alone, and adding more force to my swing without even my call. My arms almost gave out under the extreme stress of performing the first movement of the crescent moon style.

“First Movement of the Crescent Moon Style: Moon Split!”

The air around me began to ruffle and ripple as I heard a loud shattering noise emerge around me. The slash of my sword created a force strong enough to cover the twenty meter distance between me and the Basilisk, as I saw countless deep wounds appearing over its sharp scales, as it hissed in pain. The ground in front of me began to tear apart in a straight line, as tendrils shook the air. The others hissed and gasped in pain as they were also affected by the force of my swing and mana. It zigzagged in a frenzy as the beast lurched in my direction. The heavy wiggling of the Basilisk shook the ground, as I almost lost my footing, due to my body giving out as an act to stop me from my reckless actions. But killing the Basilisk was the only think which was harbouring my mind.

But it wasn’t enough to kill it. The first movement was only complete when the second and finishing part was added.

I firmed both hands around the handle as I changed the trajectory of my sword and released a sharp breath, as I saw the others quickly escape and create some distance from the Basilisk and me.

Jiyoung used her ‘Shadow Emergence’ skill and vasnished from my gaze and Ryuya used his ‘Air Step’ skill, taking Amelia and Derek with him. Lucas and others did the same and rushed to create some distance between us, as the extreme rattling of the wind uncontrollably rang in my ears like explosions. Even the faintest of sounds were making me annoyed.

But it looked be like the Basilisk had perfectly ignored them. Its attention was entirely on me now. As if it had deemed me the centre of its attention. That I was a threat to it.

I gathered all the mana I could have and as the curtain dropped, I forced my numb arms to move as I pushed vertically downward.

"Ahaaaaaa," I grunted as I kept pushing.

The space in front of me distorted, as a bright blinding glow erupted out of me and completely covered the area, as a veil of white descended in a straight line.

All of my mana which I had condensed, I poured into this single slash. Blood dripped from the edges of my mouth as the Basilisk was over me and only a few meters away, as it bared its fangs at me.

Just as my movement reached its completion, the ground completely tore apart to the other end of this field, the tear stretched as far as it could, until it hit the wall and ceiling as it began to collapse and made a loud thuding as the stalactites broke apart and crumbled to the ground.

The ground kept on quacking as the white glow erupted out of me and the force of my swing blanked the space momentarily from in front of me, as the Basilisk met my slash head on which was destroying anything in its wake.

But the thing which I had anticipated, the power and speed generated by my swing, while using the outmost amount of mana which I had left, cut cleanly through the Basilisk’s body as it plummeted and rolled on to the ground with it body severed into two perfectly bisected pieces.

The ground beneath me quaked as the body of the Basilisk drifted and stopped only a few feet away from me.

I kept looking down at the mighty beast which had now fallen to my feet and been cut into pieces. But the temptation for destroying even its body was intoxicating my mind. The power kept on whisper in my ears, to destroy everything, that with it, I could conquer anything. That everyone was beneath me as of this moment.

But, vomiting a mouthful of blood, I plummeted on to my knees as my vison began to darken, the tight clenches of the power released me and I felt like a mountain had been placed upon me. I slightly lifted my left hand up and saw that the blade of my sword had completely shattered and destroyed. My body gave out a final painful groan under the re-bound of using all of my skills—except for leap—under the condition my body was in, as well as the crescent moon style. I was barely holding on now.

A series of windows popped open in a front of me, indicating my level up and one window generating the rewards right now after I had killed the Basilisk, but I was unable to focus on them at this time.

Then as I weakly pulled in a final deep breath everything went blank.