Chapter 520: The Clock of Energy Adaptation

Thorian’s right arm felt numb from the sheer force of the attack; it was like the same repetition of what happened at the beginning of his clash against his brother, Nox. So, he didn’t mind and only grinned.

The bones on his right arm had almost cracked, but he held on. Pain was his oldest friend and a necessity for him; only by being exposed to an attack would his adaptation begin to work, and right then, he heard an ethereal, otherworldly sound ringing in his ears.

Tick!! Tick!!

The sound of a gear shifting in a mechanical clock, the thinnest hand of the clock moved twice. The sound came from behind him, as if a conceptual clock of adaptation had been placed on the back of his shoulder.

Instantly, his arms went back to normal, which signified the first tick. The second tick signified his slight adaptation to the Masked Woman’s movement techniques.

Standing back up in haste, he stated coldly, "Arcane Magic, Combat Mind."

Thorian’s mind sharpened to the extreme. Using the method that he used against his brother in battle, he actively began to adapt his ever-changing form of mana to become a form of power that could heal and supercharge the power of his mind, on top of the Arcane magic he just performed.

Upon re-entering the manually engineered enhanced flow state, his Technique adaptation skill began to work with even greater might. All of this happened only within a few seconds for Thorian.

The masked woman from afar looked at him with a vicious grin. She had already arched her hand backward, which was holding the runic spear. And....

BAAAAANGGG

The spear shot through the air like a missile; its speed instantly broke the sound barrier in multiple successive bursts. It sent a shockwave rippling outward along its path, heading straight towards Thorian’s chest.

WHHOOSSHH

In its path, a wind storm followed as if pulled by the sheer force of that throw of the weapon.

Thorian’s eyes widened in disbelief. With all the power of his sharpened mind, he deduced only one single result: if that spear hit him straight, he would instantly die; no amount of his skills, adaptation, or artifacts would be able to save him.

He was barely able to move out of the spear’s incoming trajectory in the last millisecond, even though the spear did not hit him directly. The sheer wind and mana force carried by the rune spear was enough to fling him away, injuring him in the process.

CRUCNCH!!!!

But to his horror, the wild women appeared right in front of him in a flash, punching right into his gut, which broke nearly all the bones in his ribcage.

"ARRRRGHHHH"

"Cough..."

"Grahhhh...."

Thorian vomited blood; bright, fresh blood came out from all of his orifices. He was unable to stand, now on the ground in all four limbs. Fear filled his entire being; he was not merely outmatched, he was totally eclipsed in terms of power by a terrifying degree.

He could not help but mumble in his mind, in panic,

’This can’t be possible.’

’There should not be such a large gap between us.’

’With my attribute of Energy Adaptation, and all the skills that I have now activated.’

’I should easily be able to defeat or kill a mid-third-phase seeker.’

’So, how can this be????’

The masked woman circled him, her face laced with disgust at the pathetic, privileged bastard of a prince, who wielded such a broken power as that of Adaptation. And yet, he was brought down to his knees, drowning in despair, with this little effort.

She put her boot on top of Thorian’s head once more and stated, her tone dripping with venom, "Seriously?? That’s it??"

"I haven’t even used a single one of my abilities yet, not even one. But look at you, pathetic piece of royal trash!!!" She shook her head; the disappointment in her tone was immeasurable.

BANG!!!!

With no warning whatsoever, she kicked Thorian, with 80% of her total physical strength, and instantly, a loud bang reverberated through the area. The prince of Blackvale was shot hundreds of meters away. His one arm was completely broken. Perhaps his spine as well.

Thorian kept rolling and bashing onto the ground, but his speed did not decrease, nor could he stop himself; every part of his body felt as if it had shattered. There were internal injuries, and perhaps the true extent of his pathetic state was something he could not even fathom, in the face of an overwhelming might such as this.

Bang!!!

Eventually, his body was hit with something that stopped his rolling; it was the headless body of his killed brother, Nox. He landed in a pool of blood of his very brother.

His back drenched in that bright red liquid, not too far away was the decapitated head of Nox. His eyes were still open, a hint of the last moments of his fury and pain still etched on his lifeless face. Mixed feelings spanned through Thorian’s mind.

He had planned for this day for so long. To kill his brother, he was even willing to sacrifice his own mother, but look at him now. He couldn’t even kill Nox with his own hands. Now looking his brother’s dead skull in the eye. He would turn out the same....

If he did not live....

He would become the same. It wouldn’t matter if he were the prince of Blackvale, or some street thug, or a mundane person. Once you lose in the game of life, you lose by death—all of his existence, his hopes, thoughts, aspirations, and dreams. Nothing of him would remain.

Then what would have been the point of any of it if he just died by the hands of a no-name woman from the Minor Kingdoms, just like that, in such a pathetic manner?

No, he could not die; he had to live.

But to live, he had to stand back up.

He had to get up and fight.

And he had to win, even if it was impossible.

He had to win, for he had to live, he had to adapt.

Because to live is to adapt.

As if sparked by his indomitable will to live and adapt, the very world responded to his wishes. The sound of the mechanical clocks ticking resounded in his ears. It started slowly, until the ticking sound became a humming buzz.

Tick!!

Tick!! Tick!!

Tick!! Tick!! Tick!!

Tick!! Tick!! Tick!! Tick!! Tick!! Tick!! Tick!! Tick!! Tick!!

With each tick of the clock of Adaptation, one after another loud snap could be heard; all the cracked or dislocated bones in his body began to snap back. All the internal and external injuries of his also began to heal and adapt.

Within a few breaths, Thorian Blackvale stood back up. Though blood and dirt clung to his whole body, he was completely healed.

The masked women did not chase to attack him after that last gruesome attack. She was sitting on a rock, still in that spot where she had attacked Thorian. Only observing him with disdain.

Thorian’s gaze turned cold, and a strange glint appeared in his eyes. The first thing he did was to put his brother’s dead body inside his storage space.

He then dashed forward and began to think in his mind. The masked woman had multiple chances to kill him.

But for some reason, she was not doing so, from the looks of it. At least not yet. It was as if she wanted to see the true extent of his adaptation.

Thorian’s gaze burned with hatred, ’Fine, you bitch!! I’ll show you the true might of endless Energy adaptation.’

They clashed once more; this time, he could fight longer, hold on much better. The woman could no longer overpower him with that effortless ease. But again, the masked woman still ended up breaking every single bone in his body, plunging him again into a half-dead state.

Thorian adapted again; the clock’s second hand ticked this time. He was again brutally beaten, but by the third time of his adaptation, the third hand of the clock shifted its position for the first time.

TICKKK!!!!

The power of the very world itself rushed into him, changing and redefining every facet of his energy into the perfect counter to the masked woman’s physical might.

With this massive change, Thorian finally began to overpower the masked woman, but his adversary’s expression only became stranger. Thorian still felt that something wasn’t right, with every injury she suffered, and cut she received in her body.

The prince of Blackvale, to his shock, discovered that she was in fact a Berserker. One of the key facts that had been bothering Thorian from the start was that he could not sense which aspects the woman possessed, most likely because of the mask she wore.

It was only when her power began to increase with her injuries that he realized that she was a berserker aspect holder. But his energy adaptation attribute, as well as his willpower, had reached an unprecedented crescendo.

TICKKK!!!!

In the clock of Adaptation, the third hand of the clock spun for the second time. For some strange reason, despite the duration of the ’Adaptive Overhaul’ being over, the attribute buff did not run out; it continued to linger.

This time, the sound of the mechanical gears shifting for the clock’s movement was the loudest ever; in fact, it was powerful enough that even the Masked woman heard it.

Thorian suddenly grinned viciously, his strength and speed increased to such a degree that in an instant, with that one swift swing of his blade.

Squelch.....

Shin!!!

The right hand of the Masked Woman, which held the rune spear, was severed neatly on the shoulders by a single slash.