"Seriously? Am I actually cooked?"
Cold sweat began to trickle down his temples.
As previously explained, unlike Magicians, Warriors were born without 'Magic Circuits' and were required to extract Mana into Aura.
The law was absolute: Aura must be channeled into a medium possessing high Aura affinity, like Obsidian Orichalcum, to prevent the body from self-destructing. That was why a Warrior needed a physical weapon acting as a conductor or a 'grounding cable.'
However, there was always an exception that shattered logic for those who had stepped into the realm of a Master.
At that level, a Warrior no longer needed a physical medium.
They were capable of visualizing Aura into a solid weapon, condensing the Extracted Aura into a tangible form capable of slashing through anything.
And the figure performing that anomaly was now standing right before Revan's eyes.
A man who might have just entered his forties, yet radiated an intimidation strong enough to stop one's heart. The muscles on his body appeared so massive they threatened to tear the green military uniform he wore.
His hair, long past his shoulders, moved wildly in rhythm with the fluctuations of golden Aura blazing around his entire body.
Vargos.
A true Warrior of the Sword path—or more accurately, a Swordsman—who had reached the pinnacle where a weapon was no longer something to be held, but something created from his very soul.
"Alright then... out of pity for the young, I'll let you make the first move," Vargos said casually.
Revan gulped.
'This is probably going to hurt like hell, isn't it?'
A flicker of regret crossed his mind as he stared at the empty Elixir bottle in his mind's eye. He had consumed the Elixir of Vitality. In other words, he would be an "immortal" being for the next three minutes—but that also meant he had to endure the pain of every slash, broken bone, and wound that should have killed him instantly. He was forced to live only to feel that suffering repeatedly.
[Time Remaining: 03:28]
Revan closed his eyes for a moment, dispelling the remaining doubt.
'Well, no point in regretting it, Revan...'
'It is what it is.'
He took one last deep breath, letting oxygen fill his lungs before the storm began. When his eyes opened again, there was no hesitation left. Only a cold, flat gaze remained.
"Please, go easy on me.," Revan said in an emotionless tone.
Whoosh!
In an instant, Revan's figure vanished from sight. It was as if he had never stood there. He didn't just move fast; he disappeared.
In a split second, the distance separating them was erased. Revan appeared right in front of Vargos, his sword coated in dark aura swinging in a deadly arc.
CLANG!
The sound of metal coated in black aura clashing against pure energy exploded inside the VIP carriage.
Sparks and flashes of golden aura scattered in all directions, scorching the velvet carpet and shattering the remains of the luxurious decorations.
As if refusing to let Vargos counterattack, Revan immediately vanished again, assaulting him from every angle. Appearing behind. Appearing above. Striking from the blind spots, such as the gap beneath the armpit.
His movements were like a raging storm, flickering in the blink of an eye, creating black afterimages that besieged Vargos from all sides.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
But instead of struggling against Revan who kept disappearing, Vargos stood firm.
The man didn't take a single step. His feet remained planted in their original position, as if he were a pillar locked into the bedrock of the earth.
He simply moved his wrists to parry every single barrage of attacks, as if he knew exactly where Revan would appear.
"Hooo... quite good, Young Man. You are at least better than all the assassins I have ever met. It seems the nickname 'The Silent Sin' isn't just bullshit With speed like this, it is natural for people to give you such a title."
Vargos grinned, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
"But... that will not be enough to even scratch me, kid!"
Suddenly, Vargos released the Aura pressure from his body explosively. Like a bomb detonating, he unleashed a massive swing of his aura sword in a wide circle.
"Ugh—!"
'You bastard monster!'
BOOOOOOM!
In a mere heartbeat, everything around Vargos was blown away without a trace. The luxurious passenger seats, the wooden tables, even the velvet carpets were shredded into pieces. It didn't stop there; the walls of the mahogany carriage were sliced perfectly in two, blown wide open to the dark night sky.
Revan himself was tossed like trash, slamming hard against the end of the carriage.
Violent wind immediately rushed in wildly through the gaps of the carriage that had now lost its shape.
Revan slumped at the edge of the wreckage, but when he tried to get up, a hollow coldness hit his consciousness faster than the pain.
He looked to his left side.
Gone.
His left arm was missing, severed neatly from the shoulder by Vargos' logic-defying aura slash earlier. Blood sprayed profusely, soaking the floor of the shaking train.
"Fuck!"
Revan instinctively grabbed his left shoulder, which now only had a gaping wound remaining.
"What the hell was that? I knew he was a Master, but isn't this too much?"
Luckily, just before the attack hit, Revan had channeled a significant amount of aura into his sword and blocked the impact with both hands. Even though he knew he couldn't fully withstand it, it at least minimized the fatal damage.
Revan stared at Vargos in disbelief. Logically, it would take at least 30 years of insane training with this body to match this monster. And that wasn't even counting the other threat in the corner of the room.
His gaze shifted to the old mage sitting casually nearby.
'And look at that old geezer... he's completely unharmed. He doesn't even care. Even when half of this carriage is gone and the storm wind is blowing everything away, he can still leisurely sip his tea as if nothing happened.'
Revan glanced back at his empty left shoulder.
'Fuck this game.'
It would take about 20 seconds for the Elixir to fully regenerate this arm. Revan gritted his teeth, counting every second that felt like an eternity.
'Isn't the developer of this game too cruel? How is it possible that with an effect lasting only 3 minutes, I still have to waste 20 precious seconds just waiting for this hand to grow back?'
[Time Remaining: 02:45]
While Revan was still drowning in his internal rant—
Whoosh!
In a fraction of a second, Vargos vanished and reappeared right in front of Revan.
The distance separating them was erased as if it never existed. Revan didn't even have time to react.
Vargos' large hand, cloaked in golden aura, gripped Revan's collar tightly.
"Let's change the scenery,"
Vargos voice boomed amidst the roaring wind.
His eyes smirked coldly. "It's too cramped in here for the two of us."
And with one rough jerk, Revan was lifted into the air.
BAM!
Without mercy, Vargos threw Revan out of the destroyed carriage. Revan's body shot through the gaping hole in the train wall, hurled into the darkness of the forest they were passing through at high speed.
[Time Remaining: 02:43]
"Dammit...!"
While floating in mid-air, Revan's brain spun at lightning speed. He knew if he hit the ground passively, his body would shatter into pieces before his arm could regenerate. At the very least, he couldn't just fall like a ragdoll.
Revan forcibly drew raw mana from within his body, concentrating and extracting it at a single core point before spreading it throughout his body to reinforce his skin. He twisted his body violently in mid-air, fighting against the momentum of Vargos' throw.
Srak! Srak!
Now shrouded in a jagged black aura, his body crashed through the thick tree branches. Protected by that dark energy, the dense wood posed no obstacle, snapping like brittle twigs the moment they touched him
BOOM!
Revan's feet slammed into the earth hard enough to crack the ground beneath him, sinking ankle-deep into the soil.
To withstand the remaining momentum still pushing him back, Revan immediately stabbed his sword into the ground.
Sreeeeeet!
The forest floor was plowed, creating a long trench as Revan was dragged several meters backward. He held on until his movement finally came to a complete halt.
Revan knelt on one knee, his breath escaping as hot steam in the cold night forest. His right hand still gripped the sword hilt stuck in the ground tightly, while his left shoulder began to emit cold steam.
a sign that the regeneration process was working hard in this extreme situation.
[Time Remaining: 02:30]
"Shit... what should I do?" Revan hissed.
His eyes scanned the darkness of the forest, his ears alert to any sound. If things continued like this, the Elixir wouldn't save him; it would become a curse. He would only be an immortal punching bag that couldn't die.
'Come on, keep thinking, Revan! Think of anything! Dirty tricks, Weakness, exploits! Anything!'
Amidst the chaos of his mind, between the ragged breaths and the countdown to death, Revan suddenly stopped breathing for a second. At least—at least one bright spot appeared in his memory.
A crooked smile, looking more like a desperate smirk, appeared on his blood-stained face.
What would Revan do next?