Chapter 868: Death, Vow, & Blazing Punishmentof Divine Blood

The increasingly dull sparkle in the girl's pretty dark-colored eyes seemed to flare up a little more strongly for a moment as she saw and recognized the young man standing no more than two meters ahead of her.

She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something but the wounds on her body were probably worse than she even knew.

"Cough! Cough!..."

The girl did not give up and tried again to speak several times as if what she wanted to say to Bai Zemin was even more important than her life that was quickly fading faster and faster with each of her coughs just like a dying flame being whipped by cruel ice-cold winds.

Seeing the girl coughing up blood with fragments of internal organs, Bai Zemin closed his eyes and sighed in his heart. The feeling of sadness that suddenly flooded him made him feel like tearing everything apart to drive away the weight that suddenly hung on his chest.

Bai Zemin walked over to the girl and lay down on the ground next to her.

She looked at him silently for one or two seconds before closing her eyes. A lone tear slid down her cheek as she realized that not only was she going to die but that she would not even be able to say or even move her hands to write on the dirt that extremely important message; the real reason why she was in her current condition.

In the end, she was simply able to lie in silence as she looked up into the dark sky with eyes brimming with sadness but most of all anger and remorse that unfortunately, no one but her could understand.

This girl was none other than the young and timid but talented assassin, Kat.

Although Bai Zemin and she had not exchanged more than two or three words during the entire time they had known each other, the two had been battle peers for better or worse. It was impossible for him not to feel sad to see a girl no more than 20 years old whose talent should take her to the pinnacle of glory fading fast.

Kat was very quiet due to her shyness and fear of the world in general, however, she was very, very fearless. Bai Zemin even remembered the time he saw her sharing the candy she had just bought with a little kid who was crying in the streets of the city after getting lost, it was thanks to Kat, who without a single word made the lost kid return to his family.

Bianca and Gu Lim finally arrived on the scene just a few seconds later.

At first, the two were startled to see Bai Zemin lying on the floor next to a wounded person, however, the two soon recognized the girl who had been by his side before they entered the dungeon.

The two exchanged glances and noticed the complicated expression on the other's face. Neither of them said anything, they simply remained silent several feet away not wanting to interrupt what they knew were the last moments the girl would be able to hear the voice of a living being and, perhaps fortunately for her, a being close to her.

"Don't worry, I will take revenge in your place no matter what. I don't know who it was, but I will find them. Whoever it is." Bai Zemin said in a serious voice as his eyes looked up at the dark sky covered in black clouds. "It's a promise I'm making to you... Although we can't be considered friends, we have shared the same battlefield against the same enemies.... I guess in its own way we're not that far from being friends."

Kat said nothing, even if she wanted to she wouldn't be able to. She could feel that these were the last seconds she had left, that's why she used them to breathe as much air as possible, to look as much as possible, and to feel... because soon it would all turn into absolutely nothing.

As Bai Zemin's eyes as black as the night itself focused on the darkness that covered perhaps the entire dungeon, he felt the life of the shy and kind girl next to him finally fade away completely.

Although Bai Zemin had the Blood Manipulation skill to stop Kat's internal bleeding, his skill was not at a level where he could make new internal organs grow before her life was turned off. There was nothing he could do, and for the first time in a long time, Bai Zemin realized how powerless he was in the face of death.

After several minutes, Bai Zemin slowly stood up and casually wiped away the dirt that had stuck to his head as he looked up at the sky.

He knelt down on one knee and with a hand slowly closed Kat's still open eyes.

Her body was still warm, but all life was gone from her. Although the body was still present, anyone could tell at a glance that the records that made up her existence had been taken away.

After several seconds, Bai Zemin asked seemingly out of nowhere, "Can you tell me who it was? sure you know who the culprit is."

Gu Lim exchanged glances with Princess Bianca before carefully asking, "Big brother, are you talking to us?"

Bai Zemin simply remained silent in wait for an answer to his previous question.

After a few seconds, he heard Lilith's sigh followed by the answer to his question.

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

After a slight silent pause, Bai Zemin nodded calmly and changed his question, "Could you tell me if the person involved with Kat's death is somehow related to me and my fate?"

After being together with Lilith for so long, Bai Zemin had learned a thing or two about her limits; limits that Lilith had been playing with very carefully, barely bordering on them but not really touching them. For example, she could not give him direct answers when the effect of her answer could be the cause for the alteration of the main destiny of a Lower Existence.

This meant that Lilith could help Bai Zemin know how, for example, X skill worked since he would learn it anyway. However, she was not able to tell him the name of someone who tried to assassinate him as it would affect his main destiny too much.

Indeed, Lilith's reply did not disappoint him at all.

"It's good that you're learning more of the limits I have, Zemin. It'll be easier for both of us that way." After a small pause, she said in a serious voice, "That's right, the murderer of this little girl is closely related to your fate, that's why I can't give you names."

Bai Zemin narrowed his eyes as he listened to Lilith's words. He noticed something about the final part of her sentence that caught his attention.

"You can't give me names... but...?"

Lilith was pleased and glad that the tactical understanding between the two was growing higher and higher every day.

"Remember, greed can cause an angel's white wings to turn black when it comes to power. Even the purest existence in the universe would probably be willing to commit the vilest acts if they were promised absolute power.... In the apocalypse, as you like to call it, sometimes we need to be warier of those who are near than those who are far away; those who are far away can't harm us without us not seeing it coming after all."

Bai Zemin lowered his head to look at the pretty face of the lifeless girl and nodded, "Don't worry, I will keep my promise to you at any cost.... Even if the answer to this riddle doesn't make me happy."

He kept Kat's body in his spatial storage ring, now that she had lost her life she was considered just another object by the Soul Record and the laws of the universe.

He walked over to Gu Lim and Bianca, passed them silently, and said in a calm voice, "Let's go, let's rest for a few hours before we continue moving."

The two exchanged glances, and although they had many questions, they both decided that this was not a good moment.

...

In the cave devoid of light, Bai Zemin's cold black eyes were like wolf eyes glowing in the midst of total darkness. While Gu Lim and Princess Bianca slept, he was sitting on the bare ground resting his back on the wall staring at a fixed point.

Three hours had passed, but he was far from being able to sleep.

However, those three hours were not a waste as Bai Zemin was now 60% sure who Kat's killer was after carefully studying her wounds and the dark energy that was hidden in her blood. Unfortunately, he couldn't move until he was 100% sure, and, honestly, Bai Zemin preferred to be wrong.

"Soon." He muttered to himself, his voice echoing in the silence.

"Soon?" Lilith's voice sounded beside him, letting him know that he was not alone in the dark, cold night.

"Soon I will crash against the Demon Lord, I can feel it. Every cell in my body is trembling with excitement and my desire for a battle is unbelievably high right now."

"... That's because of your job. Blood Berserker.... A berserker at the end of the day."

Bai Zemin turned his right hand and 20 tiny Third Order Soul Stones appeared on his palm as the spatial storage ring on his finger glowed briefly.... The twenty tiny stones of different colors faintly illuminated the interior of the cave and shone in his black pupils.

The total number of Third Order Soul Stones Bai Zemin had was 32, therefore, he basically had 2/3 of his largest wealth in the palm of his hand.

"Zemin, you... Don't tell me you're going to do what I'm thinking?" Lilith inquired in shock at the sight of his action.

Bai Zemin turned his left hand and over a hundred Second Order Soul Stones fell into his palm after a slight glow from his storage ring before most of them fell on the ground beside him due to the big number.

"Really, I wonder if anyone ever managed to evolve this skill before breaking into the Fourth Order."

"It's hard to believe that a Third Order existence would be lucky enough to fight dozens if not hundreds of battles against other existences of their level and still came out of all of them alive, however, who knows..." Lilith sighed, now completely sure of what Bai Zemin was going to do, "However, I can guarantee you with my life as a bet that no First Order existence that has had that skill, if other than you there is another one, has managed to evolve a Third Order skill to the Fourth Order... and even if there was he or she probably wouldn't be crazy enough to evolve it."

"Why?" Bai Zemin asked, and at the same time as a series of green letters began to flash in his retina, the entire cave was illuminated as countless Unclassified Soul Stones and First Order appeared on the ground.

"You ask me why? I think you know the answer very well, don't you?" Lilith rolled her eyes.

[Crimson Blood Judgment skill evolution requirements -]

[Kill Unclassified existence using Blood Manipulation: 1,000,000 / 1,000,000]

[Kill First Order existence using Blood Manipulation: 10.000 / 10.000]

[Kill Second Order existence using fire attacks: 100 / 100]

[Kill Third Order existence using fire attacks: 10/10]

[Upgrade Blood Manipulation to Third Order level 5: Complete]

[Unclassified Soul Stone: 200,000 / 200,000]

[First Order Soul Stone: 2,000 / 2,000]

[Second Order Soul Stone: 200 / 200]

[Third Order Soul Stone: 20 / 20]

[All requirements have been completed]

[Do you wish to evolve the skill Third Order Crimson Blood Judgment level 5 to the next stage?]

"Easy, my little succubus."

Bai Zemin slowly stood up and the Soul Record seemed to feel his will as all the Soul Stones around him began to glow brighter and brighter.

"Even if I destroy this artificial world.... it should be okay, shouldn't it?"

[Evolution process begins]

"Who knows... Maybe it won't be necessary... Or maybe it will."

[You have acquired the skill 'Blazing Punishment of Divine Blood']

That night, Bai Zemin evolved two more skills and spent almost completely all of his Third Order Soul Stones, leaving him with barely 5.