The world around Snow changed as his body moved. He felt the zenshi flow from his second gate and into his body, as it made him more and more powerful. His calculated steps became more elusive, his swings deadlier and his determination more firm.

  Snow always saw himself as a powerful ascender. And he wasn’t wrong to think so. He might not have been a special blood like the rest of his companions. But his affinity for divinity was one of the highest to ever be recorded over the past years. At this level of power, he had gotten too comfortable and believed advancing to the next gates was something unnecessary for a person who was difficult to kill.

  But now, he had a reason why he needed to get stronger. Getting pushed to such lengths was something entirely new to him. And maybe even a wake-up call to remind him of how weak he was in a world like this one.

  Each strike from the cursed general was explosive in nature. Each block made the scythe tremble and his entire body quiver. The height difference between the two even made it harder because it was difficult to evade the swift deadly swings of the black tachi as they came from a much further distance.

  With Death Dealer active, Snow stepped to the side and evaded a downward slash from the enemy. Being this close to something with a foreign power made his skin crawl as he lunged at the cursed general.

  His face twisted into a grin and his brown eyes glowed as the war scythe flashed through the air and struck the undead king’s onyx armor.

  The armor didn’t crack in the slightest even after his incredible strike. But the necessary damage was done.

  Snow wasn’t aiming to destroy the armor. No. Instead, the ascender was aiming to destroy its life core with his Death Dealer ability.

  Although zenshi hindered the ability to sense life cores, Snow’s Aura was the opposite of life. The two concepts were two sides of the same coin so Snow could sense qi to a greater degree than most ascenders in the world. Also, Death Dealer needed two conditions to go active. One, he needed a weapon powerful enough to handle Death's power. And second, the user needed to first experience death before drawing its full strength.

  The weapon was the easy part. But dying always left a strange feeling that made Snow view his powers as a curse. Throughout his life, he had experienced six deaths--each one more disturbing than the one before.

  The cursed creature let out a pained roar as soon as Death Dealer came into contact with its life core. He dropped its dark tachi and stumbled back as its soul began to break down from Snow’s powerful ability.

  Meanwhile, Snow waited and watched in anticipation. If the ability failed, he would have to deliver the final blow.

  As he waited, something sudden happened…

  The undead king stopped moving and his green eyes landed on Snow. Though. This time, they flickered with an old and familiar presence.

  “Death…?”

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  His voice was deep and eerie like his presence. His mouth didn’t move but his voice reached Snow’s ears clearly…or mind.

  It was hard to tell where the voice was coming from because he heard come from every direction.

  “Telepathy?” Snow muttered through gritted teeth and prepared to attack. But halted when the Undead king continued.

  “What brings you to this place? Why have you stepped into this cursed place?”

  Before Snow could speak, The Wraith beat him to it by breaking into maniac laughter. “Is the traitor concerned about me? How disgusting of you, Laius.”

  “Traitor? Is that what you divine beings see us as? Traitors? We were just trying to look out for ourselves. The gods didn’t give a damn about us!”

  The Undead King responded in an angry tone.

  Death grinned and crossed her arms. “I can see the ones you followed didn’t either. I am here to bring your end, Laius. To destroy your immortal soul.”

  “I can see that. You even brought your little puppet with you. I guess they indeed destroyed your physical body seeing that you're depending on a human. The once mighty Servant of Death is now nothing but a floating apparition wearing a human face.”

  Death stayed silent as she listened to what the undead king had to say.

  On the other hand, Snow stood there with a confused expression on his face. Death and the Undead King seemed to be holding a conversation but it was only Death replying with her mouth.

  It seems he was only acting as a connection between the Wraith and the Undead king because Death was a part of him as an Aura.

  Just then, the undead king’s voice suddenly reached his mind again.

  “But I am glad it's you two to end me; an old friend and her puppet. You know, just of recent, a sorceress came up to me and told me that if I want vengeance for my people, I have to accept my end...that I have to let Lunaris Feng cross to the other side.”

  Both Death and Snow were surprised by this piece of information. Since when did Luna share a connection with all of this?

  Snow opened his mouth to ask why. But the Undead King’s moment of stability ended and his dim eyes were overtaken by the madness once again. He screeched at the pair and conjured a ball of black flames with the dark energy around him.

  Snow rushed to call upon his own flames. Although zenshi flames were nowhere near as powerful as real flames created by someone with fire as their Aura. They were less destructive despite being divine and capable of harming divine beings and those infected by corruption.

  However, if given purpose, the flames of zenshi were capable of delivering some form of destruction.

  The bright flames moved up to his blade. With visible strain, he slashed through the approaching flames and destroyed them with ease. He then ran toward his enemy, his eyes burning with fierce determination.

  Snow felt a powerful wave of power take over his body as his ability activated once again and waved his war weapon, aiming at the cursed creature’s lower body. But to his surprise, the undead king moved with fluidity, dodging Snow’s attack perfectly. But Snow wasn’t going to give the cursed general a chance to cast another attack.

  With another swing, he brought it back and severed his hand with incredible precision.

  The undead king reeled back after losing a hand and let out a hoarse broken laughter.

  Snow’s expression remained calm as he dashed at the enemy. His hands almost turned white as he tightly held onto the weapon’s handle. He didn’t flatter when he brandished the weapon. This time, it cut through the onyx armor and his flesh and dealt direct damage to the soul once again.

  The tower then trembled when Shin and Rita delivered a powerful blow at the dark figure that had emerged from the throne. Shin’s summon, a saber feline creature with red and golden fur that resembled a collection of threads all stitched together. They seemed to be putting up an incredible fight by twisting the very fabric of fate with its powers.

  Before he could finish off the Cursed General, Snow stormed the Undead king with questions, hoping that his sanity would resurface. “Who is the sorceress? Why does Luna have to go to the next floor?”

  Unfortunately, the undead bastard continued to laugh and attacked Snow with his good arm. But he was too slow this time around--because Snow released the war scythe and created a shortsword that he plunged through the Cursed creature’s chest the moment they were close enough. His ability was still active so the sword directly pierced its soul.

  At that moment, the madness in the undead king disappeared and their eyes met once again. He stared at Snow and started to rumble.

  “Our Vengeance...The sorceress promised us our Vengence. They trapped me here with my people to guard the corrupted deity. Yes...I remember now. Please…free him too.”

  After that request, the dim light in the undead king’s eyes was no more once his soul shattered completely. His grey flesh immediately dried up and crumbled into a heap of dust.

  Without wasting a second, the tired ascender turned his eyes to the throne. His companions were locked in a battle against a shadow-like being that had emerged from the throne.

  However, while he stared at it, a strange feeling dawned upon him. Out of nowhere, his Second Soul Gate had stopped feeding him with energy.

  The apparition near him suddenly vanished and Snow's eyes widened when he noticed he couldn't feel his Aura anymore.

  ...The Concept of Death no longer existed within the Tower.