Chapter 994: The Last Records
When Evangeline stood next to Bai Zemin and the rest, both of her hands were trembling and there was a continuous trail of blood coming from her left shoulder.
Bai Zemin didn't even have a chance to ask questions when she said in a low voice, "I'm sorry."
"... You don't need to apologize." Bai Zemin sighed, understanding that the plan had failed. He looked at Thao Zhi whose aura had suddenly begun to rise abruptly and said in a voice filled with regret, "The one who needs to apologize there is me... It is probable that none of you will get out of here alive because of me."
Bai Zemin's plan was simple but at the same time easy to accomplish; there was only one possible obstacle, and apparently Lady Luck was not with them today.
He with the help of other members of his faction had searched for Third Order soul evolvers throughout Inner Mongolia and a small part of China without success. This was completely normal considering that the human-led Transcendent faction was the ruler of the country so of course there weren't many Third Order enemies and those that were alive certainly wouldn't be seen so easily.
Going to hunt in Russia was absolute nonsense. Where would Bai Zemin go to hunt Russians? He didn't even know where the enemy bases were and Russia was one of the largest countries in the world even before the planet expanded; he could as well run for months without finding anything but Unclassified, First Order, or Second Order enemies... but he preferred to leave that task to those who had little analytical ability and couldn't reason on something as simple as that.
Therefore, only the sea was a valid option within the time limit.
Bai Zemin wanted to lure some sea city guards by causing a ruckus, luring some Third Order power under the power of some prince or princess and then killing them. He could do so without worrying about anything since in the eyes of others he was part of the faction led by Xian Mei'er.
But there was a big obstacle; the King of the East Sea.
If Xian Mei'er's father intervened and decided to order his troops not to move or take part in the war that was going on outside the city a few kilometers above then there was little to do unless Bai Zemin himself showed up there, which was impossible since he needed to stop Thao Zhi.
"Really, I should have killed one of the Seventh Princess' bodyguards after all." Bai Zemin expressed regret.
Frustrating... Extremely frustrating... And extremely furious.
Bai Zemin was frustrated by his powerlessness and furious with himself for his own weakness.
He was frustrated because he knew the chances of winning were slim, which meant he was about to lose.
He was furious that people who were important to him could die right before his eyes without him being able to do anything to prevent it!
[The safety of your loved ones has been threatened in front of you.]
[The 1st level of your skill 'Blood Berserker's Wrath' has been triggered. All the body's pain receptors have been turned off.]
[Strength +400 and Agility +400.]
[The side effect of the 1st level, loss of rationality equal to 10%, is weakened by the effect of your title 'Brilliant Mind' by 10%.]
[The rationality loss is weakened by half thanks to the passive effect of your UNIQUE skill of Fourth Order 'Immovable Heart']
[The path you walk has been challenged.]
[The 2nd level of your 'Blood Berserker's Wrath' skill has been triggered.]
[Merging benefits of the two activated levels.]
[Strength +1000, Agility +1000, Magic +1000, Stamina +1000, Health +1000.]
[For the next 120 seconds, the cooldown times of all your skills will reset to 0 immediately.]
[The side effect of the 2nd level, loss of rationality equivalent to 15%, is weakened by the effect of your title 'Brilliant Mind' by 10%.]
[The rationality loss is weakened by half thanks to the passive effect of your UNIQUE skill of Fourth Order 'Immovable Heart']
Despite the huge power boost he had just received... it was still not enough.
He needed the third trigger added to the two already active, only then would he be able to overcome the severity of his wounds. Even if he no longer felt pain and could now move freely at the cost of rapidly worsening his condition even more, the fact that he couldn't even draw 70% of his full strength even before the first and second triggers fired was his cruel reality.
"I don't care about anything anymore... You all will be buried here and now!" Thao Zhi roared. Everything in his surroundings suddenly began to glow brightly to the point where his silhouette was barely visible and his aura exploded towards the sky along with his voice: "Soul Corruption!"
Soul Corruption was a skill learned by Thao Zhi after more than 4000 years of study. This skill allowed him to recover 100% of his Mana and multiply his magical power and Magic stat by 2 for 60 minutes at the cost of losing his life.
If Thao Zhi was in his right mind he may not have activated Soul Corruption, but after suffering consecutive defeats at the hands of soul evolvers weaker than him, something finally broke inside him.
"Let's give everything we have. Not everything is lost, and this could be our last race." Bai Zemin took a deep breath and tightened his grip on Annihilation of the Falling Sky: "I'll go first."
BOOM!!!
He didn't wait for anyone's response and immediately dashed towards his enemy.
The flesh and muscles of his arms were torn to pieces, but Bai Zemin had surrendered to using Blood Manipulation to stop the bleeding and improve his condition. The improvement would be negligible in a short period of time, and time was precisely what he lacked.
Legs, arms, torso, and even from his face and neck; Bai Zemin's skin began to explode and the water to turn red. Feeling no pain, he continued.
Shangguan Bing Xue followed him a few meters behind, Evangeline vanished, and Shangguan Xinyue together with Wu Yijun began to do their best to provide support.
RUMBLE!!!!!
The battle went on for another four to five minutes, and although this amount of time was not long, the danger of each second was colossal considering that all of them could attack at least 100 to 300 times per second.
Wu Yijun was the first to be out of the battle after consuming all her Mana.
Shangguan Xinyue tried her best, but her skills were not meant to be used under the sea. She was seriously injured after being hit by more than a dozen of Thao Zhi's magical attacks and lost consciousness not long after. Her fate was unknown.
Evangeline had managed to pierce Thao Zhi's heart after Bai Zemin destroyed her thoracic cavity thanks to Shangguan Bing Xue and her Charm, but the cost to pay was a large wound in her abdomen that left her mortally wounded and knocked out on the spot.
Unfortunately, neither Shangguan Xinyue nor Evangeline was particularly close to Bai Zemin. The third trigger was never triggered.
...
Shangguan Bing Xue was gasping for air.
Her two arms hung on either side of her body and although she had suffered several bloody wounds none of them were fatal. The problem was that she didn't have a skill like Overlap Regeneration to replenish her Mana dozens of times, and after spending all her Mana and using Mana Drive from the Rank 4 earring Bai Zemin had gifted her... she finally ran out of fuel.
Broken arms and no Mana... No more melee combat and no more magic.
Her beautiful blue eyes were bloodshot as she looked at the scene in front of her, and although her beautiful face was distorted by hatred, the tears falling uncontrollably gave her an extremely fragile and pitiful appearance.
"Never in my life did I think I could hate someone this much... Not for a First Order soul evolver!" Thao Zhi hissed through his teeth.
His magic staff hovered at his side, and he was currently using his one hand to cling tightly to the neck of the being he hated most in the entire cosmos; he had come to hate this human so strongly in such a short time that it was hard to believe!
Bai Zemin felt no pain, and with his half-consciousness dulled he could barely feel the sharp claws of his enemy digging into his neck.
His left arm was nowhere to be seen and the same applied to his left leg; both limbs had exploded in bloody mist after failing to break two lightning snakes launched by Thao Zhi. His eyes were barely open, and the only thing keeping him awake was the fact that he knew that if he closed his eyes, it would mean the true end not only for him but for those with him.
If I had only chosen an easier class... If I hadn't been greedy I wouldn't have had to face such absurd requirements to evolve... A special Second Order class would have been more than enough for me to be able to kill this bastard...
Although Bai Zemin's consciousness was semi-dulled, his thoughts were clearer than ever.
He thought of his family; sister, mother, father... They would surely be sad... What was to become of Meng Qi? She was waiting for him in the royal city of the sea kingdom together with Xian Mei'er...
He thought of Shangguan Bing Xue, and admitted that if it weren't for Lilith's existence he would consider her as a possible life partner now that her feelings for him seemed to be at least a little more than mere friendship.
He thought of Wu Yijun.... she was an excellent woman in every possible way, but somehow he just couldn't accept her feelings for different reasons. Bai Zemin felt that he had been a little unfair, and he hoped that he would ever be able to repay her... if there was a next life at least.
Bai Zemin also thought of Feng Tian Wu. He felt some regret since she would probably die soon. Would it have changed anything if he had not made that request to her more than half a month ago? Bai Zemin did not know and still did not understand why she did what she did.
How many seconds had it been since Thao Zhi had captured him? Probably no more than 10. But those seconds were like an eternity for Bai Zemin.
At some point and as Thao Zhi continued to inflict wounds on his broken body, Bai Zemin's thoughts shifted to Lilith.
It was a pity... He had finally found true love and was one big step closer to fulfilling his greatest dream of all, but now everything seemed so distant and impossible to achieve...
Bai Zemin apologized in his heart, as he wasn't going to be able to return the favor for everything she had done for him ever since day 1 of the apocalypse. He believed that she would forgive him for not keeping his promise, but surely she would not forgive him for dying.
Bai Zemin hoped that Lilith could move on in her own way, as he knew that she had lost too much in her life and hoped that losing him would not become the cause of her fall.
Finally, Bai Zemin thought of his daughter. Although she was not conceived by normal methods, daughter after all since a small part of her soul was composed of records born from him.
He really was a terrible father... His daughter had barely been born and needed the paternal warmth that only he could offer her but a month or two later she was left behind while he went to another world. Even if Bai Zemin had no options back then, the reality was undeniable.
After six long months, he had returned to Bai Shilin's side, but only three months later he was about to leave her again... and probably permanently.
Really, what a bad father he was...
But, Bai Shilin was powerful and talented... plus, she was very young so maybe she could get over it easier than the adults who had a greater understanding of what death represented.
Bai Shilin... Shilin... Shi... Lin....
It was then that by pure coincidence or things of fate, Bai Zemin's thoughts moved to the object Kong Jun had given him before diving into deep water.
Although Bai Zemin's memory was a bit dull given his current bad condition, he could remember Kong Jun telling him that the item was something he would be needing today in the words of the former Queen of the weaver ants.
But... How was a Soul Stone supposed to help him with his current situation? Unless a new golden spear appeared out of nowhere and killed Thao Zhi, there was no way to get out of this alive.
But even then, Bai Zemin had nothing to lose.
He felt a little grateful to Thao Zhi, who while causing more and more holes in his body had at least left his right arm for him to connect with his spatial storage ring on the index finger of his right hand.
A faint and almost indistinguishable purple flash shone on the bottom of the sea and a second later a small cracked stone appeared on Bai Zemin's right hand.
It was the same cracked Third Order Soul Stone from before.
Cracked... Bai Zemin had never seen a cracked Soul Stone before.
Out of pure natural instinct, he sent some of his Mana through that crack.
"Still struggling? Hahahaha! Fight, fight more! The more you fight the more satisfied I will be!" Thao Zhi conjured a water spear and with a thought pierced Bai Zemin's stomach, "I have 54 minutes left to live and I will make sure to unleash all my hatred on you for at least 50 before finally killing them all!"
Bai Zemin was not listening to him. Not only because he could no longer hear anything because even if he could he certainly wouldn't pay attention to Thao Zhi's words.
This was because he finally understood something while learning a big secret.
Bai Zemin did not know if it was a figment of his imagination but, for an instant, he saw himself back in the command room of the Sky Destroyer, back to that fateful day when he and she met for the first and last time.
He didn't know if it was his imagination or not but, somehow, Bai Zemin could once again see that milk-white, naked, exotic beauty with long, silky-smooth black hair tantalizingly covering part of her feminine charms.
It was as if he could see that enchanting mysterious smile as she looked at him with her completely black eyes and said for the second time: "I have decided to bet everything, until the last of my records on you... and I believe you will not disappoint me."
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(A/N: I recommend you read chapter 700 again, you'll understand how much ahead I have thought this story through. You just have to follow me and stop trying to look for "holes"... you might be ashamed of your comments hundreds of chapters later)