Transmigrated with my corruption system

If the insight wouldn’t come on its own, then he would force it out.

Ulric mused, a maniacal smile stretching across his face.

At the side, Thunderblade yelled out in frustration.

"Aaargh!"

Even with all the raw strength brimming within his body and mana reinforcing his attacks, he could feel the youth was dominating the battle. Streaks of red flashed across his eyes.

Back when the youth was weaker, he had dominated. Even when on the losing side, he was still dominating. The thought fueled his rage, making him feel utterly useless.

He formed another lightning bolt in a last desperate attempt to strike the youth. But his figure suddenly paused.

"It finally struck true," he muttered, eyes widening in surprise.

A sight that would have made any bystander second-guess themselves. A C-rank being happy he managed to hit an E-rank? It was unheard of!

But as he launched another series of thunderbolts and watched them all pierce into the dark-robed figure’s frame, the joy welling inside him became uncontainable.

Then he suddenly paused.

Something didn’t make sense. He had seen the youth easily dodge far more complex attacks. Why had he let these hit? Had he finally noticed the massive strength gap and decided to give up?

It was the only feasible explanation as Thunderblade streaked forward, appearing before the dark-robed youth.

He punched him as hard as he could in the torso, sending him flying like a rag doll. A boisterous laughter tore from his throat.

For once in his long life, the thrill of total control in battle exhilarated him.

Ulric didn’t share the same sentiment. The world blurred into streaks of grey as his body tore through stone like paper repeatedly.

He could feel his chest caving in. His breath grew heavier with every inhale. Lightning burned across his flesh, the horrendous pain searing through his body.

But he ignored it all, choosing instead to chase that fleeting sensation. If anyone saw what he was doing, they would have called him a madman. Staking his life on something he didn’t even fully understand.

Perhaps he might have agreed with them. But he pushed those thoughts aside, sinking deeper and deeper into his trance, trying to recreate that sensation.

Thunderblade streaked through the buildings and appeared before Ulric’s collapsed frame. The smile on his face widened.

He rushed forward, jumping on top of him and curling his fingers before smashing them down onto his face repeatedly.

He was repeatedly surprised by the durability of the youth’s physique with every blow. Each cracking sound and groan filled his eyes with bloodlust as his pace increased.

He rained blows on the dark-robed figure. The force of the attacks dug holes into the ground, pressing them deeper and deeper into a pit of their own making.

Feeling the blood trailing down his face, the crazed smile on Thunderblade’s face, and the pain coursing through his veins, Ulric could feel himself growing closer and closer. Adrenaline pumped wildly through his body.

As he traced where that sensation emanated from, studying other people’s battle styles, he could see their weaknesses and use them against them. Thunderblade was no different from the rest.

But with C-rank power and the natural mana barrier formed after his breakthrough, Ulric couldn’t exploit those weaknesses effectively. He was simply too weak to cause any grave damage.

He needed something else. Something that would cause debilitating damage with little to no force.

As theories and thoughts swirled in the back of his mind, Thunderblade smashed across his face for the umpteenth time.

In that moment, everything suddenly clicked.

For a brief instant, the world around him seemed to still.

The crimson glint in his eyes vanished as darkness filled them in response to his will. For an instant, he saw beyond the physical.

When he looked at Thunderblade, he saw golden threads stretching across his body, twisting into knots in multiple places.

But that wasn’t what drew his full attention. Somewhere below his chest, he saw a gleaming core, where all the golden threads and knots converged.

And when he looked deeper, he could sense it. This was what linked the man’s physical body to that abstract construct.

Was this the answer to his question? Ulric breathed heavily. What would happen if he shattered that core?

He raised his hand weakly between blows. He could see the same energy that coated his eyes now stretching to his fingers.

As he brushed them against Thunderblade’s chest. Right where the golden orb, his core, sat. His fingers were obstructed by the shimmering wall of mana around the man. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

But that didn’t matter as a faint smile stretched across Ulric’s face.

"I see."

In that instant, Thunderblade suddenly froze. An eerie feeling of uncertainty washed over him. Something was wrong, and this time he didn’t disregard it.

His thoughts were confirmed as the soulless look on Ulric’s face was replaced by a faint smile that bordered on maniacal.

The words he dreaded echoed out. The last time the youth had muttered them, the course of the battle had changed drastically.

"What?" Thunderblade snapped, unable to suppress his twitching lips any longer. Were flashes of insight so easy to grasp just by being punched repeatedly?

He would have believed that if it weren’t for the decades he had spent just to gain the flash of insight that pushed his breakthrough.

Before his thoughts could spiral further, Ulric’s voice echoed once more.

"I see a path."

"Huh?" Thunderblade paused. What was that supposed to mean?

He didn’t have to wonder for long. The next words almost made him spit a mouthful of blood.

"I see a path that leads to your death."

Before he could react, Ulric raised his arms weakly, using the last of his strength.

"Abyssal Chains."

Instantly, the ground rumbled violently. Multiple crimson chains shot out, wrapping around Thunderblade in an instant. They pulsed in an eerie manner.

"W-what is this?" Thunderblade sputtered. The recent events were happening too fast. He watched the chains coil around him.

He was about to snap them away when the chains pulsed. A soul-rending pain tore through him, literally.

The pain emerged from his soul rather than his body, as if it was being drained. A few more pulses and he would be sucked dry!

The thought caused his eyes to widen in terror. He screamed inwardly. What kind of power was this?! He moved frantically to tear the chains away.

Before he could finish, Ulric walked up to him. A wave of energy rushed into Ulric, instantly making his thoughts clearer as clarity washed over him.

"Look," he growled.

Tearing what remained of his robe from his chest.

The words caused Thunderblade to raise his head instinctively. His eyes widened as he saw the muscles around Ulric’s chest constrict violently before parting to reveal a massive eye, swirling with crimson darkness.

"Asura’s Gaze," Ulric muttered beneath his breath, smiling evilly as he watched Thunderblade stare at it, before tearing his gaze away almost instantly.

But it was already too late.

Mad screeches echoed in his ears, interlaced with whispers. Visions of his worst nightmares flooded his eyes, threatening to drive him mad.

While he struggled to overcome the two innate skills, Ulric summoned an abominable spectral blade of darkness, shimmering with runes and sigils.

He slashed with all the remaining might he could summon, tearing a hole through the natural mana barrier.

When Thunderblade finally snapped out of it, he looked a little disarrayed. A lingering panic glinted in his eyes.

But he dismissed it as he looked at the torn barrier with no mark on his body and smirked.

"All this struggle for nothing..." he muttered, assuming this was the last death throes of the dark-robed figure.

But before the words could fully slip from his lips, Ulric’s fingers shot forward, laced with spectral dark energy, and poked directly at Thunderblade’s chest. Right where the golden core sat.

Unlike last time, it shattered with a single poke.

A few seconds passed with nothing unexpected happening.

Just as Thunderblade was about to second-guess it and burst into another fit of boisterous laughter, his face suddenly paled.

The color drained from his face. His power vanished, and his strength went with it, sending him to his knees.

"W-what... what have you done to me?" Thunderblade muttered in terror, watching as his skin cracked and slowly unraveled while his bones shattered on their own accord.

His body was breaking down!

"I... I don’t know," Ulric muttered, watching the spectral dark energy fade from his eyes and fingers while he coughed out black blood repeatedly.

His answer only heightened the fear of the unknown. Thunderblade screeched in pain as agony unlike anything he had ever known assaulted him.

And for the first time in a long time, a shard of genuine fear glinted in his eyes.

In that moment, Elira’s voice echoed repeatedly at the back of his head.

"You will learn fear."

As the screeches tearing from his throat grew louder and the pain became unmanageable. His body exploded into bits of flesh, splattering Ulric’s frame with blood.

Staring at the sight, Ulric took in a sharp breath of cold air. But he didn’t get the chance to tremble at the power he had just unleashed. A wave of fatigue and weakness washed over him.

His body weakly collapsed to the ground. But this time, a faint smile stretched across his face.

Before his vision could sink into darkness, he reached out his hand toward what remained of Thunderblade. A faint breath slipped from his mouth as his eyes snapped shut.

"Arise."