A Novel Concept - A death a day, MC will live anyway!-Chapter 330: Spreading one’s wings

As a child, Priam had imagined clouds as cotton candy—soft, sweet, and delicious. The cold, wet truth had been far less enchanting. It had taken him a while to grasp that fact, given that the first few kilometers of the cumulonimbus had been obliterated by the flames that trailed his rapid reentry into the atmosphere.

Now, droplets and snowflakes desperately clung to his body, trying in vain to slow him down. With his recent gains, the Juggernaut more than lived up to his title.

The pure white of the cloud darkened into a smoky gray and Priam decelerated, allowing the thunder to catch up to him. As he broke through the storm’s underbelly, his grin twisted into a grimace of dismay. Below, the city burned. Far from reflecting the untamed fury of nature, the fires screamed the anguish of a suffering people.

Priam cast his gaze over the battlefield, noting things had changed in his absence. Half the city was still illuminated by neon lights, while the rest was navigable only by the glow of the sun. Gunfire crackled across the streets, muzzle flashes punctuating the chaos as the citizens fought to defend their home.

One of the skyscrapers had been decapitated, its ruined summit now a nesting ground for dozens of necromantic abominations. The spawn of the Necromoon had spread like a plague with zombies infesting the streets while tens of thousands of airborne titans prowled the skies. One of them spotted Priam and let out a shriek. Instantly, a hundred corrupted birds turned their grisly gaze to him.

“I suppose I should get used to my new abilities before taking on my nemesis,” the Juggernaut muttered, locking onto the nearest winged titan.

The creature was the size of a small two-seater plane and must have weighed several tons. Four massive wings bore it aloft, each covered in soot-gray feathers. The rest of its body was bare, its thick, leathery skin riddled with scars and burns from Arkana’s defenses. Two crimson eyes gleamed above a reptilian maw lined with razor-sharp teeth. A pair of metallic talons completed the monstrosity.

[Identification]

[Changyuraptor mutant - Tier 0 - Corrupted (phase 1) - Viscount] - Distant cousin of the velociraptor, the changyuraptor was a flying predator from 125 million years ago. Revived by the System and resurrected by the Necromoon, this specimen regularly ingests metal to reinforce its lethal talons. The iron in your blood interests it almost as much as your soul.

Corruption progresses in phases. The first phase injects the corrupted with a primal, uncontrollable instinct. Reasoning with or resurrecting the original host is futile. Each phase brings the corrupted closer to becoming an avatar of the Necromoon, strengthening both its body and its will.

Beware of contamination.

“Nasty thing.”

[Kinetic Sovereignty].

Priam called upon the new power slumbering within him. The air around him stilled as the kinetic energy of the surrounding molecules was seized by his Domain and funneled into his meridians. Tamed by his legendary ability, the raw power trembled, awaiting a command to be unleashed.

Pointing his right index finger at the creature, Priam waited until it was less than fifteen meters away before compressing a sphere of air and firing it toward the monster.

The sound barrier shattered as the pressurized projectile struck the monster between the eyes. Its head detonated in a crimson burst, its lifeless body continuing forward before gravity reclaimed it. A meter below Priam, the corpse halted midair, as if grasped by the hand of an invisible giant.

Priam grinned, sensing the surge of kinetic energy he had just stolen—enough to create a dozen more compressed air bullets. With the cool confidence of a man in control of his abilities, he fired again and again, executing just as many abominations. [Kinetic Sovereignty] seized the corpses, suspending them in the sky, and within moments, a floating platform of bodies had formed three kilometers above the city.

Rage-filled screeches echoed as some undead collided with their fallen kin. A few splintered their wings on impact, their bodies plummeting toward a final end. The majority adapted, climbing higher to attack from above.

Skimming the underside of the clouds, the changyuraptors glared down at their prey, searching for an opening. Driven by necromantic madness, it wasn’t long before the first lost patience. The winged titan dove straight at Priam, talons outstretched like a falcon swooping in for the kill.

Priam waited until the claws were less than a meter from his skull before acting. [Kinetic Sovereignty] locked the monster’s lower body in place, stealing its movement—then returned it in the opposite direction. Its legs and torso shot backward at over three hundred kilometers per hour while its head continued forward.

The result was as gruesome as one might expect. The creature was torn apart, its body split like a condemned man drawn and quartered.

Not a single drop of tainted blood touched Priam, his kinetic mantle repelling the filth. Still, he grimaced. Overpowering the abomination had required pitting his Meta authority directly against its natural resistance. He had won, of course, but the mental and aetheric cost had not been trivial.

“Clearly, there are more efficient ways to wield this ability…”

Dozens of piercing shrieks rang out. Within a hundred-meter radius, every changyuraptor dived at once.

Standing atop his macabre platform, Priam drew forth a stream of blood from a nearby corpse as his heightened perception pinpointed the necromantic cores within each approaching foe. With inhuman speed, his high vivacity and addon locked onto the targets before channeling kinetic energy into the crimson droplets.[Kinetic Sovereignty]. Ꞧ𝓪ΝòΒΕṢ

The blood-beads transformed into bullets, piercing the corrupted dinosaurs at three times the speed of sound. A second later, bodies rained down on Arkana.

“An optimal application of my skill affects the environment rather than enemies,” Priam noted, stepping to the edge of his grotesque perch.

He peered down at the city below, frowning as he took in the tens of thousands of nightmares still rampaging unchecked. A movement to his right made him narrow his eyes. A raven was approaching. Priam was sure birds of that kind weren’t meant to fly this high. He was mistaken. The raven glided with effortless grace before banking sharply, coming to land on his shoulder.

“Let it be said that I do my best to spare as many people as possible,” the bird declared, its voice measured, almost regretful. “But fighting against their engineered instincts is difficult.”

Unperturbed by the idea that his adversary could manipulate the Necromoon’s hordes, Priam scanned the raven’s body with Domain. “Vocal cords? I expected a rune system—pressure or vibration-based—to generate speech.”

The raven fixed him with intelligent eyes. “Why so?”

“It’s what I would have done.”

“I am not you.”

Priam raised a brow, then grabbed his nemesis’s avatar and held it before him. “I suppose not. Where are you?”

The raven blinked in a distinctly human gesture before replying. “I am hidden.”

“Since when do Tribulations hide?”

“Since I realized a direct confrontation would be disadvantageous.”

Priam almost laughed in disbelief. “You fear me?”

A small, greedy part of him hoped the feat would grant him a Title—or at least an ideal prerequisite for [Intimidation].

“Not fear,” the bird corrected. “Respect.”

A dozen snarky responses lined up in Priam’s mind before he settled on bluntness.

“Why are you here?”

“I have a question for you.”

Priam narrowed his eyes before nodding. “A question for a question?” he asked while studying the animal, searching for an aetheric link—a mental bridge connecting it to his nemesis.

The raven inclined its head. “Agreed. Which is more important—love or magic?”

Priam’s childhood had been shaped by both, two noble and mysterious pursuits capable of inspiring any epic tale. Two concepts dear to his heart.

But one whisper was louder than the other.

“Magic,” he answered without hesitation or falsehood.

The raven sighed. “I see. Your turn.”

“What are you planning?”

Priam saw no point in asking where his opponent was hiding. If the enemy wasn’t an idiot, he would have preempted the question and would be ready to flee before the arrival of the Juggernaut. So instead, he asked a broad question, hoping to better understand his opponent’s game.

“To defeat humanity’s Champion.”

At those words, the bird collapsed in Priam’s hands; its heart had stopped.

“Oh no, you don’t.”

A kinetic impulse forced the organ back into motion, and the raven jolted awake, twisting its neck wildly, driven by unfiltered terror.

As the panicked bird struggled in his grip, Priam scanned it thoroughly before growling in frustration. No trace of his nemesis lingered within it.

“I fucking hate cowards,” Priam muttered, disgusted.

Freshly awakened, the warrior felt in peak condition, his body thrumming with newfound power. More than anything, he wanted to test his new abilities. Over the past few hours, his attributes had surged nearly nine percent, and the thought of using his nemesis as a punching bag had been tantalizing. Apparently, the Tribulation had other plans.

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Resigned to using his brain rather than his brawn, Priam replayed the conversation, scouring it for any useful insight. One detail stood out.

“He called me humanity’s Champion,” he mused, drawing a parallel to Kazuki’s Tribulations. In addition to defeating Taishi, the spearmaster had needed his people’s approval to triumph. “The System can tweak a Champion’s Tribulations to account for their status.”

It wasn’t a revelation, but it provided a clue to his nemesis’ strategy—perhaps victory didn’t hinge on defeating Priam in combat alone? He wasn’t naïve enough to take his enemy’s words at face value, but the possibility was worth considering.

Another issue gnawed at him: time. Soon, Elysium’s laws would pull him back, yet his nemesis didn’t seem in any rush to face him. The more Priam thought about it, the less he liked where his thoughts led.

“At best, he’s stalling to stack the odds in his favor. At worst, one of my Tribulations is a goddamn race against the clock. If I don’t kill him within the time limit… game over?”

Tribulations weren’t arbitrary, they targeted a candidate’s weaknesses the moment their attributes crossed a threshold. Priam reflected on the last three of his quintuple set. The first had triggered when he summoned that Tier 3 necro giant, and the next two had followed his victory over it a few days later. If he was honest with himself, Priam had struggled to finish that fight—the battle had dragged on far longer than it should have. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that time was working against him.

Pain jolted him as his nails dug into his palms from clenching his fists too hard. The ease with which Priam had crushed his first two Tribulations had made him overconfident. Now, a pathetic enemy thought he could win by hiding. Priam swore that his Nemesis's awakening would be brutal. He would ruin his adversary’s plans with the fury of an enraged god.

Snarling, the Juggernaut leapt from his perch atop a flying mountain of corpses, plunging toward the city below.

“Criiiiiiiiiiiick!”

His descent caught the attention of the Necromoon forces. A quarter of the nearly hundred thousand abominations turned toward him, eager to join the fray.

“Fuck off.”

With the improvement of [Chimera], Priam glimpsed the possibility of actively drawing upon his bloodline. His phoenix wings doubled in size before wrapping around him like a cocoon. Their light drew the corrupted masses like moths to a flame. In the half-minute that followed, thousands of abominations came close enough to burn.

As he plummeted past the first skyscrapers, Priam decided it was time to shake off his clingy followers. Connecting his soul to Pyro, he reached deep into the Concept, drawing upon flames that had once vied for the Eighth Throne. The power of Unity flooded his [Phoenix Wings], and at the last moment, instinct urged him to amplify the attack with the heat of [Kinetic Sovereignty].

For good measure, the Juggernaut emptied his reserves.

The phoenix wings unfurled, revealing an incandescent white. Each of the seventy-eight feathers bloomed like the petal of a fiery flower. Before the corrupted could react, a springof death descended upon the city center.

Phoenixes knew that death preceded resurrection.

First came the light, as blinding as lightning in the night. A wave of heat followed, vaporizing the blood of ten thousand necromantic titans, vitrifying stone, and boiling the asphalt across an area the size of Central Park. Then, a sea of flames flooded part of the sky and the cyberpunk labyrinth, sparing only the Arkanians. Fire devoured organic matter, and as the abominations turned to ash, a skyscraper began to collapse, its steel structure liquefied into molten slag.

The Juggernaut had descended upon Arkana like a herald of annihilation.

Title won!

[Mass Murderer - Bronze] - A single attack, a thousand Barons dead.

As expected of a Frenchman.

CHAR +10%

Title upgraded!

[Reign of Terror - Silver] - A single attack, ten thousand Viscounts dead.

Common folk fear Nobles. Nobles fear you.

CHAR +20%

Lvl Up: [Phoenix Wings] lvl 40

META(Focus) +2

META(Endurance) +1

[Phoenix Wings] has reached level 40, its maximum level as a rare skill.

A true tsunami of fire rolled toward him, and Prometheus closed his eyes just before impact. Abruptly severing a clairvoyance ability was dangerous, but Priam’s flames were worse. At Unity, a manifested Concept carried the essence of its wielder, and the Juggernaut’s resistance to divination was monstrous. Observing his battle through a bystander’s eyes was one thing—spying on his secrets was another.

As his skill shattered, Prometheus exerted his will to launch another lure. His bait had been cast, and soon, another mind answered. The king’s consciousness leaped five thousand kilometers, inhabiting the eyes of one of his scouts who was patrolling the border.

The horizon was black. Millions of creatures blotted out the sky, moving as one toward his kingdom. When he sought to identify the hand guiding them, the System’s presence pressed upon him. The warning made his blood run cold.

“My king?”

Prometheus opened his eyes. “Arkana is purged. However, the majority of the Necromoon’s forces are heading our way.”

“So soon? The Empyreans—”

“Have nothing to do with this. Someone else is pulling the strings—directly this time. We need to prepare. Sound the highest alert.”

As his ministers and advisors sprang into action, Prometheus entered meditation, reaching for the Talent that crowned him king, [King by Divine Right]. A vast constellation shimmered within his heart, each star a vassal.

“Defenders of humanity, lend me your strength in these dark hours.”

One by one, the astral bodies answered their sovereign’s call. Each was a promise pushing back despair. Surrounded by his knights, Prometheus knew he could hold back whatever horrors came their way.

The Shield of Humanity had never shone brighter than when it stood to protect its people.

The nova of flames dwindled a hundred meters above ground, revealing Priam. Garbed in fire, his hair as white as the heart of a star, the Juggernaut looked like a vengeful angel.

Scanning the street, he spotted a group of police officers struggling against a handful of zombies. A thought turned the animated corpses into torches faster than a crematorium.

“I want access to the city’s surveillance feeds,” he ordered, flexing his high charisma.

In a city as dystopian as Arkana, his nemesis would soon learn that there was no place to hide.

Status:

PHYSICAL:

Strength 915

Constitution 1 582

Agility 1 256

Vitality 1 468

Perception 877

MENTAL:

Vivacity (D) 631

Dexterity 784

Memory 961

Willpower 1 200

Charisma 882 (+88)

META:

Meta-affinity (O) 1 095

Meta-focus 633 (+3)

Meta-endurance 1 094 (+2)

Meta-perception 558

Meta-chance 667

Meta-authority 494

Potential: 27 199 (+2)

Tier 0

Sun points: 1 143 444

[He Who Eludes Death] charge: PRIMED.

Concepts:

Bloodlines:

Rewards standing:

[Tribulation]: Two Tribulations pending.

Future Tribulations delayed until:

Time: 29 days 23 hours 51 minutes 7 seconds.

Next thresholds: 12 attributes > 900 / 6 attributes > 1 200 / 1 attribute > 1 800

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