Chapter 96 – The First Flame (3)
This can't go on.
Nala thought to herself. The feeling of oppression coming from the Black Abyss was getting heavier and heavier, it had already gotten so close to this world that if she didn't prolong the flame soon, this world would really be finished.
Nala was barely able to hold her own against these three at once, and it was basically impossible for her to defeat them.
Myerson's wasn't much weaker than she was when it came to close combat, so it wasn't easy to defeat him. Furthermore, Ellis was constantly interfering with their battle through creating falsehood, and Connor, who rarely attacked but always forced her to dodge every time he did. Even a little bit of negligence would result in her defeat.
All of a sudden, Nala's complexion changed, her beautiful blond hair began to wither, numerous dark spots started to appear on her skin, followed by a sense of dizziness. Nala propped her body up with her sword, half-leaning on it as she gave Myerson a complicated look.
At this time, Myerson had the same afflictions Nala did, and to a much more serious degree.
The reason why he betrayed the Church of Divine Grace and pledged his allegiance to Negary in the first place was because of the illnesses and diseases that plagued this world. After implanting Chris' remnant soul, he obtained the ability that he had always desired.
Disease Synchronization, through this ability, he would resonate with an ill person and become afflicted with the same disease they were, after which his body could generate a curing germ to treat the disease. Furthermore, this cure could also slowly spread and integrate itself into the environment, which meant that with every cure he completed, there would permanently be one less disease in this world.
Although Myerson was technically the captain of the Ghostmen, he hadn't led them much at all. Most of the time, he would be travelling the continent, constantly using his ability to record new diseases while spreading their cure and vaccines at the same time.
Among the people here, Myerson was the one who had probably saved the most people. His body had now recorded over 100 types of diseases, and whenever he needed to fight, he could use reverse synchronization to spread the diseases that he recorded onto the people he was resonating with.
And the price for this was that regardless of whether he was recording a new disease or reverse infecting others with them, every disease he recorded within his body would violently act up every time he used the ability.
Because Nala had the Dragon Bloodline, her immune system was powerful, but even she couldn't be immune to over 100 kinds of diseases at once. Furthermore, as the ability only synchronized the symptoms, she couldn't use [Respiratory Art] to expel the germs from her body, as there were no actual germs to expel.
The records and doc.u.ments that Eldridge provided included a lot of information about Negary and his subordinates, so as soon as Nala saw Myerson who looked even sicker than she was, she instantly understood Myerson's ability.
At the same time, she couldn't understand the man called
He betrayed his companions, pledged his life to the evil Negary, held the soul of her mentor Chris within his body thus blaspheming the dead, all of which were unforgivable acts.
However, in order to cure a disease, he would voluntarily infect himself with that same disease, each time doing so by getting afflicted with every disease he had ever recorded. He had acc.u.mulated over 100 diseases, which meant that he had suffered these afflictions over 100 times.
But no matter what, Nala needed to defeat this opponent, as she was indeed walking on the right path, there was to need for her to be confused.
Enduring the afflictions of these illnesses, Nala's [Dragon's Pressure] madly surged forward into her surroundings, as Nala continued her unique rhythmic breathing, the two effects combined and inflicted a heavy sense of fear into the hearts of everyone around her.
At this moment, everything in this world was under Nala's control, she seemed to have become G.o.d's incarnation herself, ruling over the life and death of everyone around her.
Without hesitation, Nala swung her sword. Despite not hitting anyone with the attack, a clean slash mark appeared on Myerson's body before it was collapsed in two pieces. The masked Ellis was the same, their body cut up horizontally, the cleaved surface giving off a foul scent of burnt flesh. Even Connor's iron ball that came flying was the same, cut in half in an instant.
The smooth surface of the cut on the iron ball showed traces of it being burnt, displaying just how sharp that slash was just now.
Her [Dragon's Pressure] gradually faded, Nala panted heavily while pointing her sword at Connor, the only Ghostmen fortunate enough to survive that attack.
Myerson collapsed on one side, his immortal Undead body did not do anything to save him. He could feel his life slowly slipping away from him, the same feeling from over 20 years ago when he was waiting for death from the disease in the slums.
Augustin's figure appeared before his eyes, it was him who had come to the slums and rescued Myerson who was waiting to die all those years ago.
Good men like him have probably made it to Heaven, while people like me should be struck down to h.e.l.l. It's a pity that I couldn't say sorry to him, but I do not regret my decision from that time.
Following Myerson's death, his ability also faded away, the symptoms of illness gradually subsided on Nala's body, her eyes were just as sharp and unwavering as they were in the beginning, as soon as she defeated these people, she would be able to enter the gate and head into the kiln of the first flame.
"[Dragon's Pressure] combined with [Respiratory Art], taking control of all rhythm within the range of [Dragon's Pressure] for a brief moment, completely dominating them, then cutting them all off" Noah smiled as he commented. He could clearly see the principles behind Nala's slash just now, in a way, as long as something belonged in this world, she would be able to kill it.
At this point, it was necessary to understand the origin of [Respiratory Art]. The so-called essence of [Respiratory Art] was nothing but the perception and harmonization of oneself with the rhythm of this world, and was the current world not one born from the flame? Therefore, the nature of all rhythm in this world was actually the flickering frequency of the first flame.
As one of the three G.o.ds who came out from the first flame, the Dragon race that the Progenitor Dragon created was naturally born with this world's 'Authority'. Through [Dragon's Pressure], Dragons were able to force the world – which was also the flame – around them to harmonize with themselves, harnessing it to produce their signature Dragon's Breath.
Because of that, Nala, who combined [Dragon's Pressure] and [Respiratory Art], was able to fully control the rhythm of the world for a very brief moment and destroy anything created from the flame in this world. And if a being's rhythm was destroyed, even an immortal body would die.
"[Respiratory Art] was most likely a technique invented by the Giant in order to prolong the flame. By restricting it so that only humans can utilize it, he also prevented this power from being acquired by the Black Abyss" through this phenomenon, Noah discovered the essence of [Respiratory Art].
He then recalled the information that he had obtained through studying the records of the Cauchy people's Spirit Shamans over these years.
Although the Cauchy people claimed to be a race of humans created from the spirit of the Progenitor of all things, through his constant research, he had found the truth. Rather than being offsprings of the Giant, the Cauchy people were more likely to be a hybrid between humans and the Divine race.
The names of G.o.ds uttered by the Spirit Shamans, through the memory of the Last G.o.d, Negary had found that most of them were actually names of members from the original Divine race from the ancient era, including the name Negary.
However, during the First Empire, the New Deity had already brought the Divine race with him and fled this world. In order to conceal this disgraceful fact, after the Cauchy established their empire, they destroyed the majority of the records regarding the Divine race and modified the creation mythos. The Giant was uplifted as the Progenitor of all things and claimed themselves to have originated from its spirit.
As he thought about this, Noah looked at the girl who was pure as she once was and grinned.