Chapter 1492 - 15: Endless Darkness

Chapter 1492: Chapter 15: Endless Darkness

"Little auntie, what’s your plan now? If I’d just absorbed an amount of blood equal to the power you used, you wouldn’t even be able to move a finger right now."

"Of course I’m... running. Are you braindead? If I don’t run now, next time I will definitely not be this pathetic. Let’s just call this a greeting. I feel like I’m about to ’level up’. I got tons of ’exp’ from this round. Yep, that’s it. I definitely didn’t get beaten for nothing, absolutely not."

Death Omen turned and ran, and damn did she run fast, even dragging afterimages behind her. Among all the enemies that have fled, Su Xiao feels Death Omen is the quickest, maybe even faster than Bennie when she’s hostile. Seeing that long trail of afterimages she left, he doesn’t even feel like chasing...

Bang, bang, bang...

Su Xiao held D·Assassin level and fired several shots. Two blood blossoms burst from Death Omen’s thigh and lower back as she fled. Su Xiao really hadn’t expected that the Death Omen who just now would rather die than retreat would suddenly bolt without a word. Zero integrity—this is straight-up lunatic behavior.

After five continuous shots, Su Xiao put away D·Assassin, and Duke of Extinction appeared in his hand. Up ahead, Death Omen’s cheek twitched as she ran. Being locked onto by Duke of Extinction felt way too "refreshing."

Su Xiao pulled the bolt on Duke of Extinction. After adjusting his somewhat ragged breathing, the crosshair immediately stabilized.

Boom!

A streak of blue lightning flared from Duke of Extinction’s muzzle. The thunder attribute elemental bullet left the barrel and shot straight toward Death Omen’s back heart.

Death Omen, charging forward at high speed, clenched her teeth and actually leapt up. Sayanod shifted into shield form, blocking behind her.

A deafening boom blasted out. The pitch-black shield caved in a huge chunk. Behind the shield, Death Omen was shaken into coughing blood and slammed to the ground.

She had just landed when she braced a hand on the ground, then vanished from Su Xiao’s sight in several bounding leaps, ultimately disappearing at the edge of the barrier.

Su Xiao put away Duke of Extinction and sheathed the Dragon Slash that was stabbed into the ground. Though he hadn’t managed to take down the violator this fight, he’d confirmed one thing: Death Omen is very hard to deal with. From just one slash, about 20% of the blood in his body had been absorbed. And that was only for an instant.

Death Omen in dual stinger sword form should be her strongest form. As long as she pierces you once, she can absorb a huge amount of blood.

From this battle, Su Xiao felt the power of Sword Grandmaster. Remember, this is only Sword Grandmaster at Level 1. With the resources he controls, increasing his Sword Grandmaster Level wouldn’t be difficult.

Before entering the Bleach World, Su Xiao had actually been able to level up his Sword Grandmaster, but he didn’t do it. He wasn’t familiar enough with Sword Grandmaster. If he’d massively increased it back then, it would likely have made his already mastered sword techniques feel raw and unfamiliar. In the short term, his swordsmanship in actual combat wouldn’t improve, it would actually drop.

Su Xiao looked in the direction Death Omen had escaped. The wound on his shoulder split open again.

"Troublesome ability."

Su Xiao took out some medical supplies, stitched the wound, and wrapped it with bandages.

Compared to the violator Death Omen, Su Xiao was more interested in that special weapon "Sayanod." The other party seemed to know the Shadow of Annihilation Law very well, and even saw that he was a Soul Shadow.

The so-called Soul Shadow is one of the outsider names for Shadow of Annihilation Law. It’s not the correct name. Within Shadow of Annihilation Law, not all Blue Steel Shadow abilities are the same, so different branches emerged. The proper name for Soul Shadow should actually be Soul-Cutting Shadow.

Soul-Cutting Shadow, Space-breaking Shadow, and even the more extreme Devil-eating Shadow—these are internal classifications within Shadow of Annihilation Law.

The Void’s evaluation of Soul Shadow is fairly decent. Of course, that’s relative to other Shadows of Annihilation Law: basically, they’re "still somewhat reasonable lunatics."

Seeing Death Omen appear had actually put Su Xiao much more at ease. Although Death Omen was stronger than he’d expected, she wasn’t the kind of cunning old fox who hides in the dark all the time. That’s the type that gives Su Xiao the biggest headache. In contrast, Death Omen is a clown.

After tending his wound, Su Xiao clasped the ring shackles used to suppress Blood Energy onto his forearms. These things weren’t heavy and didn’t affect his normal movement at all.

By the time Su Xiao had finished getting dressed, cracks covered the barrier around him, ready to shatter at any moment.

With a click, the clock overhead stopped.

[Hint: Clock of Death is settling...]

[Settlement complete, Hunter wins! You may randomly draw one item from violator No.10073’s storage space. Determining violator’s injury status...]

[Judgment complete. Minimum rating of drawn item: Golden Quality.]

...

Seeing the prompts from Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao was mildly surprised. The violator title really lives up to its name—even their abilities are this bizarre.

Su Xiao chose to draw. In his hand, with a weight, a metal collar appeared. Judging from its appearance, this was some kind of high-tech product.

"Endless Darkness"

Origin: Original world (Third tier)

Quality: Gold

Category: Special Equipment

Durability: 63/80 (cannot be repaired)

Equipment Requirements: Charm Attributes below 70 points, Intelligence Attributes above 70 points.

Equipment Effect: Black Prison (Active). If an enemy has already lost the ability to resist, you can equip this collar around their neck. After activation, the enemy’s consciousness will be shrouded in darkness, causing their sense of time to become chaotic.

Note: Each use of "Black Prison (Active)" will consume 1 point of this equipment’s Durability.

Note: The Black Prison (Active) effect will last 3–6 seconds. Once the enemy’s consciousness is shrouded in darkness, every second that the darkness lasts will be massively extended. The extension time depends on the enemy’s Willpower. Each second will be extended to at least 20 natural days (this is the time flow speed endured by the enemy’s consciousness).

Rating: 400 points

Brief: Death is not terrifying. What’s terrifying is endless darkness. Anyone who can endure 2 seconds is a tough bastard. As for someone who endures 6 seconds—forget torture. No interrogation methods work on that kind of person.

Price: 158000 Paradise coins.

...

Su Xiao had actually drawn a piece of Special Equipment from Death Omen’s storage space—his luck was through the roof. Special Equipment is generally kept in storage space; Su Xiao did the same.

Among Su Xiao’s Special Equipment, the only exception is Fate Redemption. That thing occupies his Special Equipment slot and is immovable.

Five kilometers away, Death Omen, who had been sprinting at high speed, suddenly stopped.

"Sayanod, we’ve got a huge problem!"

Death Omen was baring her teeth and waving her claws, as if she’d lost something precious.

"What did he draw? Only an idiot like you would use that crappy barrier."

"I am in a very un-beautiful mood right now. Believe it or not, I’ll dunk you in a latrine pit."

"..."

"Endless Darkness got drawn away. Uuuh~"

Death Omen’s nose stung. She really looked like she was about to cry.

"Huh? Hahahaha, that’s great. That perverted thing should’ve been tossed ages ago. You’re a girl, you should be elegant. Instead you’re always..."

Sayanod’s voice grew quieter and quieter because it realized the way Death Omen was looking at it was wrong.

"Death Omen, you’re not seriously going to..."

As Sayanod spoke, Death Omen’s gaze was already sweeping the surroundings, seemingly looking for a latrine pit.

"Death Omen, calm down. We’re partners, remember? Life and death together, right? Hey! Say something, damn it. If you actually dare do that, I’ll suck you dry right now."

"Really?"

Death Omen raised her arm.

"Of course I was... lying. Death Omen, think carefully. Why did you lose this time? I’ve warned you many times—don’t be too obsessed with a powerful body. Technique is just as important."

"Mm, you’re right."

Hearing that, Sayanod secretly let out a breath of relief. The latrine pit matter was finally smoothed over.

...

Inside the barrier, Su Xiao was studying the "Endless Darkness" in his hand. He planned to personally test this thing. As the equipment’s owner, he could dispel the darkness at any time.

He locked on the "Endless Darkness" collar and activated it. Su Xiao’s vision went pitch black, and in less than 0.01 seconds, he canceled the effect of "Infinite Darkness."

Su Xiao took a deep breath. He had felt what it was like to have his consciousness sealed. That feeling was awful—utter darkness, nothing but darkness. Even worse, his consciousness was perfectly clear, yet he couldn’t do anything.

After just 0.01 seconds of experiencing it, Su Xiao already had no desire to ever put "Endless Darkness" around his own neck again. As for putting it on an enemy for 6 seconds, that required careful consideration. It wasn’t that he was soft-hearted; he was worried the enemy would go insane before they spilled any information. That wasn’t exaggeration—it could really happen.

Most Fourth-tier Contractors probably wouldn’t last 4 seconds before their minds collapsed. Having your consciousness imprisoned in pitch-black darkness for nearly three months is something that makes your skin crawl.

This thing is somewhat similar to Uchiha Itachi’s Tsukuyomi ability. Tsukuyomi torments enemies inside an Illusion Technique, whereas "Endless Darkness" is even harsher. Compared to pain with "sound," soundless darkness is actually more terrifying—more clean and brutal.

Putting away "Endless Darkness," Su Xiao waited two minutes. The barrier around him exploded into fragments, and a pulling force appeared. He reappeared back in the Soul Society.

As soon as Su Xiao manifested, the old man Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto, holding his Withered Wood Staff, appeared right in front of him. Moments later, Uzohara Retsu and Sosuke Aizen rushed to the vicinity.

"I was ambushed."

Su Xiao spoke with a relaxed smile, resuming that casual, lazy disguise from before.