Demon Lord's Reincarnation

Chapter 564 – Melancholy Of Battle

Ren continued to swing Snertal at Khalos who had now been torn apart several times. Khalos had received numerous fatal injuries, yet the same thing happens every time, no matter what damage he receives, no matter what skills Ren uses, Khalos could not be killed. The only positive thing was that the corruption could not affect Ren despite the ominous aura that kept on trying to latch onto him. 

It has now been several days since the start of the battle. Ren was not only being depleted of his spiritual energy but he was also thirsty and hungry. All throughout the fight, Ren tried to find anything he could eat or drink, yet despite them moving for hundreds of miles he could not find a single thing. It didn't so much as drizzle as the sun stared down from above.  All there was in this place was scorching heat and the sand, nothing but sand.

…

Ren could no longer tell how many days he has been in battle, but despite his spiritual energy continuously being drained, his stamina already depleted, as well as being hungry and thirsty, Ren was still able to enjoy the battle before him. It was at this moment the original incarnation stopped telling stories and spoke to him seriously. 

"Hmm, I guess it's about time to end this. Listen up Ren, the way to defeat a person with a branch of the ORIGIN with your current weak strength is to locate the area of corruption. There should be a single spot in his body that has the most corruption, once you purify that area his regenerative properties will greatly diminish, or if you were lucky he would regain his sanity." 

Ren who went into a defensive posture listened to what the original incarnation said. It didn't take him too long to locate the area in Khalos's body where the corruption was spreading. 

"I found it, so how do I purify it?"

The original incarnation started to explain the details of the purification technique after a few minutes Loki had grasped how to do it. Ren needed to restrain Khalos for several seconds to be able to pull this off. If he did this a few days ago it would have been easy, but in his current state just one mistake and it would be extremely difficult to do one more time. Still, Ren relished the challenge as he licked his lips. 

Now that he knew how to win, Ren's battle intent rose and his shadow then expanded. Numerous chains created from his shadow came out and tried to restrain Khalos, but it wasn't enough. Ren then summoned almost all of the weapons hidden within his shadow and used them to pierce Khalos's body into the ground. Khalos was finally restrained, the moment Ren saw that he quickly made various hand gestures while reciting an ancient spell. Ren then rushed towards Khalos and touched the corrupted area activating the spell. 

At first, Ren noticed that the corruption holding Khalos was fading, but then the purification stopped as the corruption once again took hold of Khalos. 

"The purification spell cannot penetrate deep enough!"

The moment Ren heard the original incarnation say those words, he quickly used a knife-hand to pierce Khalos's body and once again activated the purification spell. This time the spell quickly spread throughout Khalos's body and the ominous aura disappeared. 

…

After Khalos gained the so called power the ORIGIN promised him, his consciousness went into a dark area where he could only feel nothing but anger. In that dark place as he was slowly being consumed by madness, for a single moment, he felt a tinge of regret. This wasn't the way he wanted to win, this wasn't the way he visioned this battle to head into. 

As the darkness was about to swallow him whole, he saw a single light shine upon him. That light flickered for a moment giving him hope but then it disappeared within the darkness. The hope that came so suddenly left without warning and was replaced by despair. It was then the light returned and this time it wasn't just a flicker it was so dazzling as it fought the darkness destroying it. 

Khalos's consciousness returned to him, the anger he felt, the insanity that took over, all of those had vanished and was replaced by a sense of clarity. He opened his eyes and saw the clear blue sky. He was laying on the ground while Ren was standing beside him. 

"Oh, I see… So I lost…"

Khalos chuckled and started coughing out blood. Despite losing he felt happy more so than he felt in all the centuries he was alive.

"Thank you, O' Strongest Mortal Soul. Thank you for freeing me from the darkness." 

"… This wasn't how I wanted to end this battle." Seeing the disappointment in Ren's face as he said those words made Khalos smile. 

"I apologize if I wasn't a fitting opponent." 

"No, that's not it, you were the best opponent I've ever had. If I could I would've kept that battle going, as I never wanted that battle to end, but this kind of ending… I just wanted to fight the New God Khalos." 

"… Is that so… I am honored that you felt that way." As those words left Khalos's mouth he felt his body and soul fading away. He knew the end was near, but he did not feel any fear. 

"Hey, can you tell me your name?" 

"… It's Ren."

"… Ren, I hope that with your strength you may save the all-father." 

"I will try my best." 

"That's all I wanted to hear… So this is it… To die by the hands of the Strongest Mortal Soul, what a glorious death this turned out to be… I only regret that I cannot reincarnate so that I could have… another… battle… with… you…"

After Khalos spoke those words with a gentle smile on his face his body and soul faded from existence. It was at that moment, the sunny skies darkened and for the first time since Ren arrived on this higher plane, it started to rain. Ren looked up to the sky letting the pouring rain, fall upon him, the expression on his face indescribable. 

"… It was truly fun…. Khalos."