The Boosted Gear on Takumi's left arm still gleamed faintly, drawing in ambient mana like flowing water into his body. He exhaled slowly and looked at the women gathered before him.
"As for what comes next—there's only one path left: a direct assault!"
"Receive the power I grant you… and fight beside me!"
"[Diffusion Transfer]!"
Scarlet dragon scales manifested on the backs of their hands as Takumi shared the Boosted Gear's strength with them. The power each could wield was far weaker than his own—but even that was beyond their imagination.
"[Boost]! x5"
The synchronized voices rang out, and each woman's power multiplied again and again. Under Takumi's guidance, their energy surged until their bodies reached their absolute limit.
"Setsuna feels so much stronger than before!" Excitement lit her eyes as ultimate flames burst to life around her ice-clad claws.
Kureha's sword, too, burned with the same devastating blaze.
They could control the fire freely—it was now a weapon of their will.
"Move!"
At Takumi's command, the group charged forward, forcing their way through the palace defenses.
"[Balance Breaker]!"
Releasing the Gear's full power once again, Takumi's body became encased in crimson armor. With a single beat of his blazing dragon wings, he shot skyward.
"[Corrosive Bullets]!"
From above, he unleashed a storm of dark projectiles. Each bullet struck like falling meteors—
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Wherever they landed, solid walls melted into sludge, and hordes of undead soldiers crumbled into ash. Clearing the way for Kureha's team, Takumi then shattered the ceiling and plunged deep into the palace.
Boom!
Amid the sound of stone collapsing, he landed alone in the royal hall. The old king sat upon the throne, eyes heavy—but as the writhing tendrils under his skin pulsed, his grim expression twisted into manic delight.
"Kekekekeke! So we meet again, Hero of Healing! You stole away the daughters meant to serve as my tools! I'm furious! I'll make you and everyone else my puppets!"
Listening to his mad ravings, Takumi only sighed. Compared to the Demon Lord Hakuo, this old monster was far more disgusting.
"If Hakuo was merely corrupted by the Philosopher's Stone, then you—you've drowned in it completely."
Or maybe he was always trash. The immortality just stripped away any restraint, leaving only lust and madness.
"Demon Lord? Ha! Using this Mana Amplification Device—and the Philosopher's Stone gifted by It—I will become the world's invincible ruler! Conquering the world will be effortless!"
With a grotesque laugh, tentacles erupted from his body, devouring the amplifying machine whole. His form ballooned grotesquely, a flesh sphere splitting open to reveal rows of gnashing teeth. A massive crimson eye swallowed his face, tendrils whipping through the air like serpents.
Even though Takumi had expected this, seeing it made his stomach churn. At least Hakuo had some semblance of majesty—this was pure abomination, straight out of a Cthulhu myth.
"Hahaha! Taste my power!"
The old king lunged, shattering the platform beneath him as his colossal fist came crashing down.
Takumi's dragon wings flared, his arms cloaked in blazing mana as his body vanished from sight.
A heartbeat later—
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Their fists collided again and again, faster than thunder. The air itself detonated; the palace walls and floor cracked from the shockwaves. Within seconds, they had exchanged hundreds of blows.
When the two finally reappeared, Takumi stood untouched—while the old king's body exploded apart.
Boom!
Chunks of flesh splattered across the chamber, some no larger than fingernails. Yet every piece squirmed and rejoined, reforming his body in mere breaths.
Laughing through his half-regrown face, the king jeered, "I am immortal! You'll tire before I die! Hero of Healing—you'll become my greatest puppet! Your power… is magnificent! Hahaha!"
Takumi's gaze stayed cold. Having fully merged with the Philosopher's Stone, the old king no longer had Hakuo's weakness. Now he truly could regenerate infinitely.
"Killing you head-on would take forever," Takumi muttered. "Time to use something smarter."
He appeared before the king in a blur and seized his throat. The attacking tendrils disintegrated upon touching a faint light around Takumi's hand.
The king's eyes widened in shock. "That power… impossible!"
A smirk crept beneath Takumi's crimson helm. "This is the true essence of Healing Magic. That power doesn't belong to you. Now—be purified and reset!"
A sacred radiance engulfed the old king, piercing the darkness. The monstrous flesh melted away, revealing the frail human beneath. The Philosopher's Stone's corruption—purged.
The naked, emaciated king collapsed to the ground. "My… power?" he rasped, clawing at the air in desperation.
Takumi dismissed his armor with a wave, smiling faintly. "Not bad for a technique I'm still learning." He regarded the trembling man before him with disdain.
"[Purification Reset]" a skill that rewinds the target's status to its original state.
In gaming terms, it was a forced rollback.
If mastered completely, he could potentially reset a max-level opponent to level one. For now, it only reverted them to their natural state—but that alone was terrifyingly effective.
For parasites like this king, reliant on external power, it was instant death.
"You're worthless now. The only use you have left—" Takumi dragged the frail man by the collar toward the shattered gates. "—is to serve as the sacrificial offering for the birth of my empire."
...
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