Awakening to a Special-Grade Explorer
Vol. 5 - Ch. 235

The white flames of karma burned with dazzling radiance, immediately driving away the creeping darkness as the time reached dusk.

"Hiihii... now that looks crazy. I would be dead with a single hit."

Hai let out a feeble whine at the sudden, high-intensity flames.

It was only up to him what he found amusing about the situation or something else, as he curled his lips into twisted grin. He cracked his knuckles out of habit and stowed the fluid-like sword he held back into his body.

His face had been displaying an uncanny smile.

"<Dark Cocoon>!""

Fwloosh.

Like a muddy stream, the shadow beneath Hai transformed into black water. Then, following a spherical pattern---like the magnetic lines, stretching from one pole to another in a curved path---the black water extends from beneath his feet to the top of his head gradually.

"Now I am impervious---....ahh?"

"<Beheading Demon>."

The same instant Hai had started deploying his barrier, a torrent of flames spewed out of Demon Executioner Sword, dying Hai's vision completely in white.

By bursting forth with firepower, Tenji had used the momentum from recoil to pull up a simple move. Even if he had realised at the later moment, Tenji had already swung his sword at Hai's face.

Hai could only gape, unable to utter a sound.

He didn't even blink. Yes, he didn't at all, yet Tenji was somehow already there.

And then he witnessed the Demon Executioner Sword approaching him from up close.

Before Hai's absolute defence could have been deployed, the sword struck his shoulder. Splash, a liquid splattered. It wasn't red, it was a black liquid.

"I see. I have the full picture now."

Feeling no resistance, Tenji calmly murmured, landing gracefully and immediately spinning around. He sharply shook off the unsettling, squirming black water clinging to the Demon Executioner Sword.

From there, he gazed at Hai, who had put up with an uncanny smile.

He had used some sort of instantaneous movement again. What a troublesome ability.

But---

(I have finally found how to deal with him.)

Tenji from last year perhaps wouldn't have been able to takedown Hai. His ability was just that bothersome. Though right now, it was no match for him.

"Hiihii! You're not giving your best if you can't read your opponent's moves and have some countermeasures ready after all."

"You sure have become good at using that power huh. Hai-san from the past was never this good."

"And I am asking what the hell is that person?"

"Right now, you’re much like me."

"......Ah, yeah, that's right. That's how it is."

A brief silence settled between them.

Tenji had faintly noticed amidst all this. After his death five years ago from using <Compensation>---words were that he turned into a lump of flesh.

But Tenji couldn't have been any more familiar with this topic.

He knew what awaited beyond completely overcoming <Compensation>. He himself had witnessed it so he was clear.

Perhaps Hai Ukai had been once swallowed into darkness, and had become more assimilated with it.

Tenji had the same experience. He had experienced <Compensation> twice, and twice he had conquered it. Though, he was also now more of a 'Oni' than 'human.'

The fact that his horns never completely disappeared, his growing inability to control his appetite, and his improved control over flames—all were because Tenji's very existence was beginning to assimilate with that of a demon.

Yes, his body was starting to adapt more to the world of hell.

"I'm done with holding back now. It seems impossible to break your skill with normal attacks."

Then, without care for anything, Tenji unleashed the white flames from the Demon Execution Sword. The flames and the accompanying heat wave spread in a circular pattern, turning everything to charcoal in a calamitous blaze.

It burnt everything that wasn't unprotected---Trees, hidden cameras, drones and everything, freeing Tenji from the prying eyes of others. He could now had a no-barred duel.

Yeah, nothing had changed how he was going to fight.

"Hiihii... I would have been burnt to a crisp without the darkness protection. With skin burnt and charred, throat inflamed to the point no voice could have been made out. Exciting, I can't wait for more. But it's bitter. It's terrifying as well."

Hai chuckled off, seemingly feeling the terrifying heat even through his darkness woven clothes. At this moment, he was raring to slit Tenji's throat, tear off his neck and teeth, took his raw heart into his hands, and toy with death. The urge to kill was whispering non-stop in his ears.

But the intense heat had been blocking him from doing what he wanted.

A single step forward would inflict him with serious damage. Moreso, a lapse in his guard would scorch him instantly, thus preventing his footsteps.

Watch and wait---that's all he could have done and have flames died out first. But on the other side, Hai was looking at Tenji with sparkling eyes.

The young man standing at the epicentre of the hottest spot---it fascinates him.

Tenji was the one who was supposedly being assailed by the wild flames more than anyone.

The flames overflowing from Demon Executioner Sword burnt Tenji's skin, exposing bundles of muscles in places. One side of his cheek was already burned away, revealing his white teeth. The heat had seared his throat, making it difficult to even speak.

But Tenji stood there as unfazed as if it was a breezy day. If not for the visual impact, no one could have figured that out from his expression alone.

Did he not feel pain? Hai was dying to ask the question.

"I knew it. You have stopped being humaaannn."

Maybe it was due to a scorched throat, the word coming out from Tenji were bleary, unlike his usual calm tone.

"<Turn Oni>. Activate!"

Following the Book of Enma, Hell Beast Summon, it was his third inherent ability from this calling---<Turn Oni>.

It was the power of hell, throwing away the humanity. The skill turns his upper half body into something fitting for hell, turning him into its demon. It was the trigger spell to become half-oni.

"Arg......"

Tenji held his forehead, seemingly in pain.

It wasn't long after that. A demon's horn slowly grew out from Tenji's head. It wasn't a straight one; but had formed a slight spiral curve. Subsequently, his hair grew longer, extending past his shoulders. His claws were elongated and sharp, comparable to the talons of birds.

Tenji removed his hand from his eyes, which he had been pressing on due to pain, and raised his face. That eye had transformed into something that resembled those monsters.

Plain as day, he was no longer a human.

Somehow suppressing the raging fury inside him, along with an impulse for torture, Tenji shook the sword in his hand as if he was cleaving the air. And surprisingly, the heat that had been dominating just a while ago just disappeared like an illusion, replaced by a silence.

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