Norman's sword suddenly became heavy and heavier, which made Allen immediately step back. Surprisingly, as Norman's sword became heavier, his grip weakened, which gave Allen a chance to retreat but raised a big question: why did the sword become heavy while his grip was weakened? But before Allen could think about the possibilities, his stomach was pierced by Norman's suddenly extended sword.
'Pervenire Mors is a sword made from the monsters of Old Cato in the 8th-floor dungeon. They use their nails which can extend and retract, to catch their prey from afar. Its power wasn't the best, but it could be deadly depending on how you use it.'
Just as Norman thought, Allen's stomach was successfully pierced by his armacar but not through the back. This was because Pervenire Mors did not have enough strength to penetrate Allen's body, and Norman didn't use enough strength to push his sword forward in a surprise attack.
"A physically strong person is a bad opponent for Pervenire Mors, but at least with that hole in his stomach, he can't move much and will die instantly from blood loss," Arthur thought.
But no, it turned out that instead of Allen trying to escape from his sword, he grabbed Norman's sword and thrust it further to penetrate his own body.
"?!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Norman instantly pulled back his sword, shortening it to its original length. Allen collapsed, breathing heavily in pain, and lowered his head to look at the deep wound. Blood oozed profusely from his stomach.
"I must increase the hatred inside me," Allen said. At that moment, thoughts passed through Allen's head, dredging up painful memories that fueled his hatred for humans, the world, and even himself.
'With this... the conditions have been met,' Allen thought.
Allen raised his head, fixing his glare on Norman. A tense aura filled the air as their eyes locked, and Norman felt goosebumps form on his skin. Suddenly, Allen's face underwent a drastic transformation. Once appearing as a man driven to protect the girl beside him, he now resembled a ferocious monster poised to eviscerate anything in its path.
'He's going to do something!' Norman, from his position immediately pointed his sword at Allen and used his rampage sword skill.
"Abare! Perveni-"
"GOD BLESSING..." Allen's aura became more gripping. Thus interrupting or possibly devouring Norman's who was about to activate his sword rampage skill.
"The Spillege Mysanthrope"
Allen activated his god's blessing; he used his left hand to ruffle his abdomen, deepening the wound from Norman's sword stab. Then came out black blood that quickly spread around, drowning the surrounding 30 meters area calf-deep.
"What is this?!"
"L-lets quickly move away from here! This child's blessing might be very dangerous!" Norman quickly grabbed Clarissa's body and jumped back as far as possible; he ran away from the area inundated with black blood. But as soon as Norman was almost out, a blood pillar resembling a scythe stuck out from below, forbidding anyone inside from escaping.
Norman looked at Allen, who was panting while holding his wound. There was a kind of tattoo that crawled from the wound all over Allen's body. Norman stomped on the liquid with his feet,
"This is... Blood? It can't be..."
"N-no... T-this liquid… All of them are mana manifested into a liquid thicker than blood," Clarissa explained.
"You're kidding me... Is this the blessing of the same space type as Nishizaka?"
"P-probably not. Nishizaka's god's blessing is to create an isolated space with her mana. T-to activate it, she has to spread her mana with her armacar's rampage skill. As for this boy, he didn't spread his mana through any intermediaries. All he needs to do is make a fairly severe wound on his body. And he can trap people inside the territory he created."
"And from what I can see, he's currently in pain. That means this god's blessing didn't last so long... But..."
Knowing what Norman was about to say, Clarissa continued
"But... the higher the risk of the mana users, the stronger the god's blessing will be,"
Then Allen's body was surrounded by a black liquid that flew around him. But it wasn't just an ordinary liquid. The liquid turned out to form something that looked specific. The silhouette of little Allen carrying a spear flew around Allen like a fairy.
"Clarissa."
"Alright..." Sensing the threat from Allen, Norman immediately asked Clarissa to activate the amnis buff.
Soil amnis "Clay Guardian" for anti-physical attacks
Fire amnis "Phoenix Cuddle" to resist attacks
Air amnis "Increase Wind Step" to increase speed
Air amnis "Wind of resistance to mana control" for anti-mana-disrupting attacks
While using the amnis buff, the target who gets it will not be able to move for one to three minutes because their body must adjust to the amnis that will be installed.
That's why no one will use the amnis buff in the middle of a battle. One minute was plenty of time to kill people.
In an immobilized position, Norman could see Allen pulling some kind of liquid-shaped sword in front of him.
When Allen swung the sword, he could control the black blood, altering its shape to target his opponent. In this case, Norman who was unable to move was easy prey, with Allen able to strike him anywhere and anytime within his blood territory.
But Clarissa didn't just use the four amnis. Clarissa immediately drew the amnis circle of the non-attribute elemental spirit, "No Delay,"
At that moment, Norman's body was instantly able to move. Allen sliced his sword through the air; the liquid substance under Norman's feet twisted and shaped itself into a large thorn that sprang out to strike its target.
Norman dodged and weaved his way through the thorny-shaped blood, his movements quick and agile. However, Allen was always one step ahead, anticipating Norman's every move and directing the thorn accordingly. So despite Norman's impressive speed and agility, he could not evade all the thorns that Allen hurled at him, receiving deep scratches and tearing his clothes. Only thanks to Clarissa's amnis buff, Norman's wounds would have been even worse.
Norman pointed his sword at Allen, then muttered, "Abare: Pervenire Mors."
Norman's sword instantly extended to pierce Allen's body. Allen created a wall of blood in front of him to deflect it.
"So he can also use the blood as a shield. At this rate, we won't be able to get anywhere near him."
Allen's attacks were very systematic; when Norman thought he was getting closer, it turned out that he was just trapped bait to throw him further.
"It can't be helped... It'll waste a lot of time if we keep running around. Clarissa, use your god's blessing on that boy."
"E-eeeh?! But how? My god's blessing can only activate if I connect with the target's mana. If we can't get close to it, then I can't activate my god's blessing either."
"ARE YOU STUPID?! WHAT DO YOU THINK WE'VE BEEN STEPPING ON?!"
Just then, Clarissa remembered that everything that overflowed beneath her was Allen's mana. Which meant, Clarissa could connect to Allen's mana just by standing there.
"O-okay... Please distract him-" Clarissa said.
Norman threw Clarissa's robe forward, blocking them from Allen's view. Allen immediately poked at the robe. But there was nothing underneath.
Allen was then surprised again by Norman who had suddenly gotten closer to him.
"Pervenire Mors." Norman's sword once again extended, stabbing straight at Allen. And in the same way, Allen created a wall of blood in front of him to protect himself.
But Norman did that not to attack Allen, but to cover his eyes from Clarissa.
Clarissa was currently sitting in a sea of Allen's black blood. Her pink eyes shone brightly as if there were stars in them. She made a hand gesture in the shape of a heart and a human by putting her hands together.
[ILLUSTRATION]
As the wall of blood that covered Allen returned to normal, Clarissa caught Allen's figure in the heart shape she had made and then prayed to activate her god's blessing.
"God Blessing: Season of the Soul, Spring."
Various small flowers grew incredibly fast from Clarissa's direction towards Allen. Suddenly Clarissa's body went limp and lay motionless on the ground like a corpse. As for Allen, he felt a tremendous heat enter his body. The heat seemed to force its way into Allen's body, so he felt like a hot, sharp object was slowly stabbing it.
"AAAARRRGH!!!"
'What is this? My body feels like it's going to boil!' Allen sat down. Then his body suddenly becomes motionless.
At that moment, Allen seemed to lose consciousness. His scattered black blood instantly disappeared from the surface, swallowed by the ground. It looks like Clarissa's god's blessing made Allen's blessing turn null.
"It's finally over," Norman said.
'Clarissa, the Witch of Dread, is not only a nickname because she memorized and created many amnis that no one would even guess, but she also has a god's blessing that is terrifying to the third degree.
Clarissa's god's blessing, Season of Soul: Spring, is a god's blessing that extracts souls into mana.'
"Summer, winter, spring, and fall; are phrases past heroes used for the seasons. Since Clarissa uses spring, it means she probably also has winter, summer, and fall. The only one I've ever seen is spring, which is Clarissa's ability to transfer her soul into the opponent's soul."
Clarissa possessed a rare and extraordinary ability. She was endowed with the blessing to transfer her soul into her opponent's, enabling her to gain complete control over their body. Once she had taken over her target's body, Clarissa could use their blessing with incredible proficiency. It was as if she had been born with their blessing.
And Clarissa was now inside Allen's body and could control it perfectly.
