Chapter 104: The Departed

“Foot-Oil! Ejection Leg!”

Accompanied by the mirror image Ace’s strange cadence and Mana pulse, he swiftly glided backward. A few turns and he was out of the tower through the door.

“Thanks to Daina’s development of the Mana Crystal Shaping and Mana Crystal Weapon series of spells. I need to thank her properly when I get back.”

The mirror image Ace muttered to himself.

“Boom!”

The tower wall exploded. A black broken blade, streaked with blood and bearing a severed hand at the hilt, spun rapidly, flying straight toward the mirror image Ace.

The mirror image Ace was too late to dodge. He was sliced into pieces by the spinning blade, and his core soul fragment shattered. He was completely destroyed.

With his last remaining Mana, he marked the severed hand, then tried to open his mouth. He could only make a gurgling sound, his lips trembling slightly. A word seemed to be vaguely heard.

“Daina…”

Carrying the hope for the Ace collective and a dawning cognition of vague affection, the mirror image Ace shattered, falling forever.

The fragmented soul essence transformed into a stream of information, returning to the host body along the special trajectory of the Projection Ritual. The remaining shell of his body dissolved into a pool of red liquid.

The host body Ace, transformed into a rusty iron nail, felt the returning soul fragment information stream. His entire soul and the Soul Sanctuary space trembled violently.

Unconsciously, Ace transformed back into his host body. A stream of tears flowed from his eyes.

“I will not grieve, because the collective entity named Ace will become stronger. We will travel further on the path of seeking truth!”

Ace muttered to himself. He tapped the Spirit of the Book. The Concealment ability activated. He then transformed back into a rusty iron nail.

He prepared to observe and remain hidden for a while longer. The bloodstained severed hand made him uneasy.

The entire interior of the high tower suffered a series of violent explosions. Boom!

The high tower completely collapsed. The explosion seemed to have triggered some kind of mechanism or flammable material in the tower, causing a larger, fiercer explosion.

Ace watched the black broken blade and the severed hand. He saw the index and middle fingers of the hand stand up in a human-like fashion. The other three fingers tightly gripped the black broken blade. It was running away quickly.

Immediately afterward, a spirit body leaped out of the tower, looking exactly like Heracles the Fearless.

The spirit body circled the black broken blade a few times, then drilled into the severed hand.

The hand, after the spirit body entered, began to swell and transform, eventually forming a massive tumor.

The tumor shrank, then expanded, finally transforming back into the naked Heracles the Fearless!

He looked at the collapsing tower and laughed wildly.

“You pathetic desecrator, you were indeed formidable! If you were an ordinary Hero, you might have truly killed them. Even a Great Hero would likely be severely wounded. But I am different!”

“I, Heracles the Fearless, possess the bloodline of both the God of Guardians and the God of Combat. I also have the regeneration blessing of the God of Guardians, which my father sacrificed his life for. You did not understand me, so you could not eliminate me.”

He slowly walked toward the pool of red liquid. He swung the black broken blade, which emitted violent magical fluctuations. In an instant, the liquid completely vanished.

“I do not like leaving potential threats alive. You desecrators are indeed cunning. You were only a minor figure, not even a Pseudo-Hero, yet you managed to create an explosion that could threaten a Great Hero. And your ability to fake death and create a false body to confuse me was truly ingenious.”

“Although you are dead, unnamed desecrator, I, Heracles the Fearless, declare you the strongest below the Hero level! Be grateful! You will be immortalized in my epic tales. This is your honor!”

Ace quietly watched Heracles the Fearless. Listening to his triumphant declaration, Ace analyzed and recorded the information in secret.

“From observation and listening, Heracles the Fearless is likely Hero-tier in strength, possessing seasoned, Hero-level combat techniques. His most formidable asset is his terrifying regeneration ability. The black broken blade he uses appears to be a Wonder with cutting and destructive effects.”

“Furthermore, it sounds like Nicholas of the Torch-Bearer Alliance is not dead. He seemingly trapped and killed a large number of Heroes from the Punisher organization.

Fate is truly strange. Decades later, I completed the most crucial first step from mortal to supernatural thanks to his diary. Calling me a Torch-Bearer is not far from the mark.”

“However, I will ultimately be stronger than them. I am neither a New Shaman nor a scholar. I am a Wizard, a torch in the long night. I will pioneer a brand new path of Wizardry!”

“Spirit of the Book, how is the analysis of his supernatural combat technique progressing?”

The cowlick on Ace’s iron nail head swayed, humming: “There was too little combat. I have analyzed less than 20%. To fully analyze it, I need more observation.”

“That will be difficult. My host body cannot engage him in close combat. I can only find a way to lure him into the trap in the performance hall and give him a proper reception.”

“Even with regeneration, if the soul is destroyed or the physical body is completely incinerated, he should not be able to regenerate.”

Ace did not rush. As a pragmatic man, he had plenty of patience.

Heracles the Fearless quietly watched the high tower collapse. He then entered the wreckage.

In Ace’s vision, Heracles found the millstone in the tower and vigorously hacked at it with the black broken blade. After hundreds of blows, the millstone cracked and shattered.

Subsequently, the black broken blade let out a mournful cry, and streaks of soul essence floated out of the broken millstone.

Ace saw the souls of several of the Monsters he had experimented on.

After the souls floated out, tiny dots of spiritual light drifted from them. One ray of spiritual light flew toward Heracles the Fearless, gently caressing him.

“Father…” Heracles the Fearless whimpered, sobbing. The four-meter-tall giant was weeping uncontrollably.

After a long while, he controlled his emotions. The black broken blade let out a joyous cry. The spiritual light circled the black broken blade a few times, then merged directly into the blade and vanished.

“Father, I will send your true spirit to the tributary of the River Styx. You will be purified of your defilement there and return peacefully to the kingdom of the Ancestor God!”

The scorching sphere of fire in the underground city’s dome seemed to have lost its support, becoming unstable and shaking continuously. The entire steel dome flickered on and off, seemingly nearing the end of its life.

Ace stopped waiting. He activated the Illusion Barrier, preparing to distract Heracles the Fearless and lure him into the trap with illusions of reality.

“Heracles the Fearless, your time has come…”

The ethereal voice of the Illusion Barrier echoed from all directions.

Heracles the Fearless suddenly felt a chill run through his body. His intuition warned him: Danger!

“Boom!”

Ace activated the pre-set Tracking Air Pressure Rail Inferno in the performance hall. Pursuing the magical imprint, the massive inferno, carrying intense heat and thermal waves, rushed toward Heracles the Fearless.

Heracles the Fearless’s arrogance vanished. With renewed caution, he quickly maneuvered and leaped.

But the inferno possessed a tracking effect, and he could not shake it off immediately. Just then, several more inferno missiles whistled through the air, converging on him.