Reincarnated into a Doomed Novel as an Unknown Extra-Chapter 68: Tier 3

[00:00]

*Ting! Ting! Ting!*

The hanging timer in the sky rang, announcing the end of the wave.

Surprisingly, in the middle of the island, a portal materialized, waiting for the survivor of the challenge to enter.

Maybe because of the green moon, there were no more waves.

"...."

But the survivor didn’t move.

Yami kept staring at the sky with a broken indifferent face, not caring about the challenge.

I watched him for seconds, minutes and hours standing in his place motionlessly.

However, maybe because he was the only challenger, the show seemed to be very patient with him. They didn’t give him limited time to enter, leaving him to do whatever he wanted.

I started recalling what happened earlier.

Tens of knights appeared on each side, but unlike the other waves, they weren’t coming endlessly.

However, they were significantly stronger.

In the end, the challengers won, but only 4 survived.

They were Celestina, Gilbert, Long Wei, and Jaxon.

Maybe Kaito could have survived, but he chose to protect Yami even though the others told him not to.

And why didn’t they heal Yami? It was because Celestina had to use the elixir to save Long Wei that was getting corrupted by the knight’s flames.

Celestina’s holy light wasn’t enough to save him after he fought tens of knights alone.

The choice was between a man on the verge of death or corruption, and a headless boy that wasn’t known if he was dead or not.

She chose the one with a higher chance to survive.

After ending everything, they found a way to leave.

Gilbert tried to shatter a corruption crystal desperately, and even though the green moon was already there, it worked. Then they all did the same.

They left the show without knowing that Yami was half alive. If they had waited 5 more minutes they would have met him.

And unfortunately — or suspiciously — there were no more corruption crystals.

It was truly a tragedy.

After another hour of waiting, Yami finally made a move.

He summoned a Katana. It had pitch black grip and blade with blackish blue lines and runes spreading across it.

With light steps, he moved to the nearest corpses.

Braham’s dead body was above Nora’s. He tried to protect her, and even gave her elixir, but he failed miserably.

*Tak! Tak! Tak!*

Yami’s sword fell to the ground again and again, pushing the snow, making a hole.

"He is digging a grave..."

A few moments later, it became big enough to fit them both.

With shaking hands, he put them together inside, then started to gather their lost parts.

Severed hand, an ear, some flash, pieces of skin.

He took everything out of the ground and put them in the grave, then used his sword as a shovel to close it.

One by one, he dug a grave for each one without a change in his pitch black face.

In the end, he reached his master’s corpse. The one who protected his core until the end.

His blackish blue eyes stared at him for a long time before finally putting him in a grave.

He sat on the ground, hugging his sword as if it was all that was left for him.

He stayed like this for hours.

He didn’t move. He didn’t sleep — no, he couldn’t even sleep.

As the hours kept passing, and when I started to lose hope — he stood up.

A pitch black sheath appeared in his hand which he used to cover Yamato.

And with steady steps, he moved to a knight’s corpse, and took the aura core out of its head.

He then started to absorb it, but...

Surprisingly, it was slow, too slow unlike the usual. It would take days to absorb it with that speed.

"Maybe it’s because he is a ghost now? I have never seen ghosts so I’m not sure about their absorbing speed."

Suddenly, he clenched his fist, and with a loud crack, the core shattered into fragments.

He was holding something I couldn’t see in his hand, then a mist that was a mix of blue and black leaked out of his fingers before returning.

His body froze for a moment before moving again.

He took a mana core this time, but didn’t even try to absorb it.

He crushed it immediately and did the same thing. He froze for a moment before moving to the next corpse.

••••

*CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!*

’I need to get stronger.’

*CRACK! CRACK!*

’More power, more wills, more souls. I need everything. I’ll take everything.’

I couldn’t absorb the aura cores as before. My aura changed — if I could still call it aura.

So I started to devour the wills directly. The effect was significantly weaker than absorbing a core, but it was better than nothing.

*CRACK!*

I held another will in my hand and devoured it.

A surge of memories filled my head, but I was getting used to them.

A rookie knight that wanted to become rich.

*Crack!*

A captain that was respected by his subordinates.

*Crack!*

A maid that was taking care of her crippled husband.

*Crack!*

The so-called traitors that just wanted freedom, justice, and democracy.

*Crack!*

The so-called loyalists that knew about the kingdom’s corruption and ignored it.

*Crack!*

And the countless innocents that were just trying to live normally and do their jobs.

I felt their sorrow, struggles, sadness, grief, anger, regret, hatred, happiness, joy, relief, pain, and death.

Yet, I didn’t lose myself. I wouldn’t allow such memories to make me forget myself. I wouldn’t let their lives replace mine. I had a name and memories that I’d never forget. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

My soul and will grew stronger with each devoured will.

From time to time, green lines would start to spread over my soul, but I would always resist them.

After devouring all the other wills, a screen materialized in front of me.

[Your reward is ready! Click for more details]

’It’s... ready.’

Without hesitation, I clicked on it immediately.

════════

[Abyssal Heartstone]

Description: A shard of condensed coldness and darkness, contains the power to fuse with a half abyssal core and complete it.

════════

’Did my core turn into... half abyssal core?’

I didn’t know what an abyssal core was, and didn’t care about knowing it. I just...

’Need more power.’

A glowing black stone with the shape of a heart. It was smooth on touch and leaked a faint dark aura.

’How to... fuse it...?’

I tried to channel my pure aura to it, and immediately, it entered through my hand to my aura core.

A chilling coldness spread across my entire soul. I froze in my place as the pain filled my entire being.

But I endured it, because my soul was getting stronger with each passing second.

Eventually, the pain stopped. I was filled with dark power that was getting more stable with each passing second.

However, I felt like... I lost something...

But that didn’t stop me. I needed more power. So I wouldn’t be useless or pathetic again.

’Not enough.’

Then I decided to do something I didn’t do for a long time.

I sent my consciousness into my abyssal pocket.

•••

I was met with tens of souls floating around the place.

But there was something else that took my attention.

There were small trees, a mix of black and blue, coming out of the ground.

Hanging on their branches were small fruits that looked like they were still growing.

’Soul... fruits...?’

Beside the trees were 2 souls. One was a mix of brown and green and the other was deep blue like the ocean.

’They are... taking care of the trees?’

Even after their death, they were still trying to help?

They turned their heads once they noticed me, raised their hands, and... waved to me.

Slowly, I raised a hand and waved back to them, then tried to force a smile before remembering that I had no mouth and turning my head.

I was ashamed of facing them like this, as the only survivor in this place.

’I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again...’

I looked at all the souls I captured earlier. Some of them were just beasts, and some were corrupted humans, but this didn’t mean anything to me.

Most of them were going to get devoured today.

The devouring mist began to appear again.

I looked at them with an indifferent face.

Then the massacre began.

•••

*CRACK!*

Suddenly, I heard the sound of something cracking, but it was coming from inside me.

My abyssal core began to shatter, but I didn’t panic.

I devoured another soul, then the cracks spiderwebbed over the core even more.

And when I took another—

*BAM!*

The core was shattered completely, revealing a new refined one.

A chilling coldness spread over my soul, refining it and strengthening my will.

When the coldness vanished, I felt my entire being surging with power, with the information of a new ability in Yamato entering my mind.

It could now devour the other soul-bound artifacts to grow stronger separately. It was useless currently but had potential.

I was officially Tier 3 now, though I didn’t know if I could call myself a cultivator anymore.

I returned my consciousness to the real world and looked at the portal.

I was alone, with no one to help me finish the fourth challenge.

I had to rely on only myself to win. But that was better, because I wouldn’t need to see anyone else dying.

’I’m ready.’

Taking steady steps, I moved to the portal, seeing the graves of the people who saved me, taught me, and fought with me for one last time.