Chapter 576 Vulcan
"Be careful." Helion warned as he flexed his finger. Suddenly, a foreign magic circle could be seen on the surface of the blade.
Turning clockwise, each of the layers started to break apart as the pressure that was being emanated by the blade started to increase.
Looking up at each of the ghosts, she could see their valiant figures warped by resentment.
Taking a deep breath, she watched as the layers scattered into light. Soon, there was only one layer left.
Narrowing her eyes, she activated extraction as her arms turned dark with red circuit patterns stretching across the entire arm.
Furrowing her brows from a bit of the pain, she could see the circuits trying to reach the rest of her body but something seemed to stop it.
Shaking her head, she glanced towards the final layer.
*PING!!
Shattering into light particles, the sword was now fully unlocked.
Countless ghostly howls could be heard as Helion quickly took cover. Despite his protection thanks to his god, this was still something that was out of his league.
Forcing a smile on her face, she watched as a figure slowly emerged from the ghostly mist.
It was a familiar figure, one that she saw when she first picked up the sword in the dungeon. A man dressed in demonic armour stood in front of her with a surprised face.
Vulcan the god slayer.
"Hmm seems like you figured out my plan." He smiled as his dark eyes bore into her's.
"Not exactly me but rather a friend of mine. I have to say though, you're quite the annoying person huh? Trying to take my body from me." Shiro laughed as the pain from her arm increased. The longer she has this skill activated, the harder the circuits tried to take over her body but so far, it was still within her control.
"It's not like you can kill the god's like I did. Your soul, however, will make a fine addition to the collection in this sword. It's only annoying that the god souls that I've collected will now go to waste. No matter though, I can collect more. From the state of the mana in the world, it seems like the age is near, a perfect harvesting ground." Vulcan laughed.
"You sound like victory is guaranteed for you. What if I defeat you and take your power for myself." Shiro smiled.
"Pft, you? Defeat me? Girl, you seemed to be underestimating me." He narrowed his eyes as killing intent surged out.
Crashing against her body, she felt as though she was about to throw up a mouthful of blood.
Gritting her teeth, Shiro took a deep breath and glared back without fear.
The snow storm around her started to intensify as she countered his killing intent with her own.
Summoning Athera, she charged towards him. Despite him being a god killer, she wasn't too afraid since the danger she felt from him was slightly weaker than the guardian's. Plus, she found him in a low level raid so it shouldn't be too difficult.
However, despite her charge, Vulcan only smiled.
As she swung her blade, Shiro noticed the lack of a material body for her to cut.
"I'm just a soul, how do you expect to injure me like this. Even magic designed to harm souls will have hardly any effect on me. However, while you cannot harm me, I can harm you." Vulcan grinned as black chains appeared around her.
Little did he know, he had basically given Shiro all the answers she needed and the current situation was perfect for her. Extraction was specifically used against the soul of the target so the fact that he had no physical defence allowed her Extraction skill to have a 100% success rate!
"So you're just a soul right now? Perfect. Because I was aiming for that to begin with." Shiro grinned as she activated her Celestial Raiment.
Creating a nanotech dagger, she threw it towards him before diving into the rift.
Deflecting the dagger, Vulcan had a casual smile on his face as he was completely looking down on Shiro. After all, a girl that wasn't even Tier 5 held no danger to him. Even if her killing intent was a little powerful, it didn't equate to strength.
Reappearing behind him, she was about to slash him with her sword when a chain tried to pierce her from behind. However, she had already planned for this.
Suddenly, her body switched with the dagger that Vulcan had deflected.
Twisting her body, she stabbed towards his chest with her arm that was affected with Extraction.
Feeling a foreign sense of danger overwhelm his mind, Vulcan widened his eyes in surprise. It was a similar feeling to what he had felt at the time of his death and he knew that should he be hit, death was unavoidable.
"HAA!!!" Pushing out his hands, a shockwave of mana exploded out as Shiro was pushed back by a few feet.
Furrowing her brows in frustration, Shiro glared at Vulcan with wariness.
"I don't know what you're planning but it's something that can deal with me huh? Let me end this quickly then." Vulcan narrowed his eyes and charged towards her.
Black chains erupted out from every part of the warehouse as Shiro kept a smile on her face.
"You know, it's funny how you arrive at your fate despite doing everything to dodge it." Shiro laughed. Summoning her soul sword, she quickly parried the closest chains before activating Kietoma.
Suddenly, Vulcan's body froze up for a second as Shiro arrived before him.
Since Extraction only took a portion of their soul, she could harvest the rest of him with her Soul Sword.
Before he could even protest, her arm dug deep into his chest.
*KRRRRR!!!
As if it had discovered a banquet, the blood like circuits thrummed with excitement and started to spread itself all over Vulcan's body.
"What is this!?" Vulcan cried out in shock as his face twisted with pain.
Wrapping around his entire body, the circuits started to consume him little by little while Shiro swung her soul sword across his neck, decapitating him.
"Nothing personal, I just need your skills to kill a few gods in the new age." She said coldly.
Due to her soul sword's unique skills, it was able to affect Vulcan despite him not having a physical body.
As the circuits finished consuming Vulcan's body, a familiar orb of light could be seen floating above her palm.
Understanding that this was his source code, she quickly absorbed it.
Just as the orb disappeared, Shiro felt a wave of fatigue hit her mind as her vision blurred.
"Ah f*ck it's this sh*t again." She muttered since she remembered what had happened the last time she used this skill. She obtained a vision of what had happened to Aekari.
"Estrella!" She managed to call out before losing consciousness.
###
Finding herself in a foreign house, Shiro looked to her side and saw Vulcan sitting on a chair with a serene expression on his face. It was nothing like the face he had shown that was filled with killing intent. If not for the fact that he looked identical, she wouldn't have even though they were the same person.
Looking up at the window, she could see a woman coming back with a child in her arms.
"Welcome back honey." Vulcan called out with a smile.
"I'm back." The woman smiled.
"So why did the teacher ask for your presence?" Vulcan asked as he helped carry the child in his arms.
"Nothing much. Just a small dispute between Annie and another kid. They kept calling you a pushover and Annie got annoyed." The woman laughed as Vulcan scratched his head in embarrassment.
"Well I don't like violence so it would be natural. Thank you for sticking up for me Annie." He smiled and hugged his daughter.
Suddenly, the world seemed to pause as all sound was erased. The sky turned to an ominous shade of red as large pillars of light could be seen erupting out of the ground.
Recognising a few of them to be anchors, Shiro understood that this was the start of the new age in Vulcan's original world.
Just as the anchors finished forming, time seemed to skip as everything was in fast motion.
Days blurred into weeks, weeks into months and months into years.
The 'pushover' version of Vulcan was no longer seen as he was now trying his best to keep his family safe. He decided to align himself with a god to receive their benefits.
Due to his undiscovered talent, he was then crowned as that god's champion, leading the troops from battlefield to battlefield, bringing glory to his faction and safety for his family.
Unfortunately for him, even though the enemy couldn't deal with him, the same didn't go for his family.
During one of his expeditions, he returned to a destroyed anchor point where everyone was slaughtered.
His wife and child were hung on a stake high above the castle with their body bare and wounded. A cavity could be seen on their chest as their hearts were ripped out.
*Clang!
Dropping his sword on the ground, Vulcan collapsed on the ground before shouting to the heavens. Tears of blood streamed down his face as he grabbed his face in despair.
Blast mist swirled around him as his name was dyed in a void black.