As Damien's body slowly healed on the 400th step, the blood that had pooled on the floor began behaving strangely.
It didn't freeze over in the cold. Instead, it wriggled around on the floor like it was alive. Slowly, it seeped into the cracks between the bricks in the floor and snaked through the ground, splitting into various strands and arriving under the floating torches lining the steps.
Whether it be the 400 torches that were already lit, or the 100 that had yet to be, they all had a drop of blood hovering below them.
Soon enough, Damien finished healing his torso as well and looked around. But by that time, the blood had already merged with the torches and disappeared.
'Hmm…' He frowned inwardly. He'd be an idiot not to notice that the pool of blood below his feet was gone, but he couldn't tell where it went. Even his All-Seeing Eyes could only feel that something dangerous had happened.
'I have to stay on my guard.'
The cold mana had already started invading his new skin and muscles again. And considering that he was on the 400th step already, it was much worse than it was in the beginning.
It was disadvantageous to waste time on a single step. Before anything, though, he quickly moved his Void Essence and expelled the frost that had invaded his spiritual world as well.
With his thought process and body back to normal, he rushed up the stairs with reckless abandon.
He didn't think about the freezing nor the consequences of expending energy in this environment, he just wanted to reach the top and get rid of this invading mana as soon as possible.
425…450…475…
He climbed up the steps rapidly. With his current pace, he was moving in equilibrium with the rate at which he froze.
480…490…498…
With only two steps left, the level of cold mana had exponentially increased. It felt like he was being barraged by a subzero blizzard on all sides. It wasn't just gradual freezing anymore, but brutal and violent gusts of mana that attempted to kill him instantly.
'But that won't work a second time.'
He already knew this trick. From the start, he had been prepared for it.
Boom!
A torrent of Void Essence burst forth from his body, forming a miniature tornado around him. The pitch black tornado sucked the cold mana into it and devoured it, turning it into pure essence for Damien's benefit.
499…500!
With the Void Essence fending off the cold, he was finally able to climb all the steps. And at that moment, all 500 torches erupted in splendor.
Voom!
Bloody red light mixed with icy blue mana formed clouds atop the shrine. It all coagulated into a mass of energy that Damien felt immense danger from.
'That's…my blood?!'
He immediately felt the connection to his blood, but the fact that it was his didn't change anything. The blood and mana continued to coalesce to form a massive construct that was hidden in a blizzard veil.
A frightening aura began to radiate.
It was bloodthirsty and mad, while also being cool and indifferent. This strange aura permeated the entire shrine as if trying to blaspheme the presence within.
"The hell is that?" Damien muttered. But just as he planned to spread his awareness, he felt a piercing gaze scan his body.
Shiver!
It was an uncontrollable reaction. Blood reacting to blood, and danger causing his hair to stand up on end.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Curt rumbling footsteps rang out. The being that had been formed inside that blizzard veil began moving. And of course, it was heading towards Damien.
But sensing what was about to come, Damien only grinned. "Good! It's been a while since I've had a good fight. Let's see what this thing can do."
His eyes gleamed with blood-red light. His aura flared wildly.
Something had changed within him after the Trial of Self. It wasn't a huge change, but it was noticeable enough for people who knew him well.
His fighting spirit which had calmed as he matured was raging again. But it was different from before.
It was just as valiant and direct as before, but also contained an air of cautiousness within. He was no longer the kid who was fighting just for the sake of stimulation.
Without even waiting for the unknown being to arrive, Damien shot into the air like a rocket and charged into the blizzard veil. Unexpectedly, there was no obstruction from the veil itself.
He was soon able to see the form of the beast. It was a 20-meter tall giant made entirely of ice. It looked like a suit of armor, but was a translucent red in color.
"Taking my blood to make a golem. How vile of you." Damien muttered.
His charge didn't stop. Flames erupted from the balms of his feet and propelled him with heightened speed.
The concept of distance was twisted by his spatial mana. Within a single second, he had traveled hundreds of meters.
Boom!
His fist shot forward and heavily impacted the helmet of the golem. Its massive body was forced to rock back from the immense force contained in the punch.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
But he didn't stop there. Nor did he give the golem any opportunity to retaliate. He teleported from place to place, striking every inch of the golem with a flurry of fists. Although it wasn't injured, its balance was heavily disrupted, forcing it on the defensive.
But Damien's goal had never been to injure it in the first place.
"Come. Let's see if you're worthy of the name you've been given. Mirage!"
An almost transparent sword appeared in his hand, vibrating in excitement for its first battle. If it wasn't for the bending of light after it passed through the sword, it would've been invisible.
"Hahaha! I see you're excited. Well, you see that big punching bag over there? I'll use it as a dummy to let you witness your master's greatness."
Damien grinned wildly and shot forward again.
'Void Sword Art First Step: Bladeless'
It wasn't just a single iteration of bladeless. Tens of massive gashes were formed in space, taking chunks of the golem into the void while also forcing its movements to be limited to a specific area.
'Void Sword Art Second Step: Dance Of The Void'
His figure flashed into the array of space cracks and flickered in and out of existence. Even when compared to normal teleportation, his movements were faster.
The golem didn't have of its own, but bloody gashes still began appearing on its surface. The blood it stole from Damien was being forced out of its body by the spatial light of Damien's sword dance. With every slash, spatial mana invaded the golem's body. wreaking havoc within.
Damien flashed away, appearing a hundred meters away from the golem.
'Void Sword Art Third Step: Horizon Break'
It was a killing move. His body bent like a bow and his sword was angled parallel to the ground. The kinetic energy he built up was transferred into the blade along with torrents of mana.
He struck out. Slow and smooth, but faster than the eye could see.
BOOM!
The impact wasn't in front of him. Even the air in his surroundings was untouched by the momentum of the blade.
Instead, that momentum ignored distance and arrived in the middle of the golem's forehead. A massive explosion rang out as even the extremely thick ice the golem was made from wasn't able to sustain itself.
A massive hole opened in the golem's forehead. Within the span of a few seconds, it had been barraged so much that its body looked no different from a heap of ice.
Crash!
The ice slowly began to collapse.
As an earthling, Damien was well aware of the weakness of most golems. That is, their forehead. Of course, this wasn't an end-all-be-all weakness, but it was something to try regardless.
In reality, a golem's weakness was the same as a formation's. Their core. They weren't living beings, after all. They needed a source of energy to draw from.
It was just that the forehead or the center of the chest were the best places to put the core for equal energy distribution throughout the golem's body.
As Damien watched the ice collapse, he still didn't feel right. It would be too stupid for the weakness of a golem to be its forehead even when that weakness was widespread knowledge even on an underdeveloped world like Earth.
'There must be a trick. A second form or something. Even if there isn't, it's better to be safe.'
With a wide grin on his face, Damien primed Mirage above his head. Gravity increased dozenfold through vector control, spatial mana raged in the atmosphere and caused small space cracks to fill the air.
"Watch this one. This is your master's crowning achievement." Damien said lightly.
And in the next instant, he concentrated all the power in his body on his sword and swung down.
'Void Sword Art Fourth Step: Spatial Collapse'
