Chapter 794


    <em>Zing… Roar!!!</em>


    With a tremendous high-pitched sound—like a lightsaber swinging—the breath attack turned the ground into a hellscape and even set the sky on fire. Eclipse, rampaging obscured in the chaos, was the literal embodiment of destruction.


    However, she wasn’t impossible to defeat considering her power was currently being suppressed. Even though they had limited her output to a lower percentage, if this was the Ares training method Davey knew, he figured the difficulty would rise sharply the moment he surpassed the current level.


    So, even if he did have the means to win at the moment, he knew it’d put him in trouble if he defeated Eclipsed right away. He needed to use every trick and method at his disposal to prepare himself for the next challenge.


    The current situation was like a game he knew from a long time ago, where one couldn’t move on to the next vige until they obtained all the best equipment from the previous one. He wasn’t a huge fan of this kind of method, but he had to admit it was best for effective power development.


    “Ares didn’t juste up with this all by himself,” Davey muttered, feeling a sudden confidence.


    “<em>Huh</em>?” Illyna looked at him, confused.


    “Sword God Ares has never met Eclipse.”


    “So?”Davey figured there was no reason not to tell her the reason.


    “The heroes of the hall,” Davey continued “they can only recreate beings they’ve personally met and fought with. That means the conditions are very strict.”


    Yet, Eclipse clearly maintained her entity. So it was pretty obvious that quite a number of heroes were involved in creating this space to embody Eclipse.


    Davey could draw one conclusion from Eclipse’s implementation here: Hercules’s spirit was still alive. He figured that the only hero duo capable of creating a space this vast—something resembling the spirit world’s implementation—had to be a wizard and the Spirit Queen Yuriana, suggesting she might have also survived.


    And there was only one person who could lift the ban engraved on Davey’s soul: Death Lord Rho Aias, also confirmed to be alive.


    “Hello? Earth to Davey! She’s getting closer!”


    Davey snapped out of his thoughts as Illyna shouted, frowning when he saw Eclipse instantly fire another breath attack at him.


    “<em>Ugh!</em>”


    <em>Thud!!</em>


    Illyna reflexively leaped out and swung Caldeiras to block the breath. Her Continuum-Severing de was impressive, but unfortunately, there was still an insurmountable gap in power between Illyna and Eclipse. Seeing her being instantly swept away by the breath, Davey pulled her back without hesitation before reaching out toward the breath.


    Davey knew that for his new power, he first had to understand how to use it, along with its advantages, disadvantages, and limitations. This part was much much easier for him as it was covered by his Predatory Assimtion.


    He remembered that during his sparring with Illyna, he had identally unleashed this power and absorbed her sword energy. He figured he could do the same with Eclipse’s breath.


    <em>‘Eat as much as you want,’ </em>Daveymanded.


    In response to his will, the power that had been subtly moving suddenly erupted, creating a huge curtain in front of him. It collided head-on with the breath that was trying to engulf both him and Illyna.


    <em>Ssss!!!</em>


    The earth burned and twisted, but his insane power began devouring Eclipse’s breath left and right. Davey realized that it was definitely effective as a form of defense.


    As he was thinking this to himself, he suddenly noticed the curtain starting to crack. The moment he saw this, he lifted Illyna and flew away.


    <em>Riiip!!</em>


    Apanied by a sound like leather being torn, the breath swept across the ground, setting the sky on fire and stretching beyond the horizon.


    “Oh my goodness… And that’s not even her full power?” Illyna gasped.


    Davey silently stared at the giant dragon, narrowing his eyes as he saw the power gathering at his fingertips before disappearing. He figured it wouldn’t just eat up power and cancel them out—he had a hunch that there was surely anotheryer to it, something he had yet to figure out.


    He knew all too well that it would take a few days of testing to uncover what that ‘something’ was.


    ***


    Two months passed by.


    During that time, Davey focused on understanding the characteristics of his unique power Predatory Assimtion. He had discovered that his power didn’t just cancel out the opponent''s attack; it consumed it entirely. It devoured every type of ability, whether it was simple attack magic, auxiliary magic, or even recovery magic.


    Without relying on any magic, Davey concentrated solely on blocking Eclipse''s attacks using his characteristic. Of course, since he wasn’t yet used to handling his rediscovered power, even the slightest mistake resulted in big scars and led to him brushing with death countless times.


    “Try some of this!” Davey shouted. He was quite entric with the odd experimental ways he tried to use his power.


    He figured if he could defend himself with Predatory Assimtion, he could eat away the opponent’s strength or destroy their body with it as well.


    As he approached Eclipse while consuming her breath with his power, she swung her massive front paw down on him like a mallet trying to whack a mole.


    At first, Davey had been rendered helpless against her. With only his current physical ability and without using any mana, achieving speeds that could be considered useful had been impossible. It took him almost a month and a half just to get close to her, and he had only seeded after using every method and means at his disposal.


    Now, he had to invest a lot of time into avoiding counterattacks andnding strikes of his own. After closely studying Eclipse''s habits and attack patterns for about half a month, Davey finally decided on the sacrifice a pawn to take the queen.


    Eclipse''s ws mercilessly tore through Davey’s waist, but he pressed forward instead of retreating, using her strength against her to strike back. Without hesitation, he then unleashed Predatory Assimtion.


    <em>Crack!!</em>


    As the unique power created a shock wave, Eclipse seemed to sense something unusual,unching her massive body backward to increase the distance between them. He figured it was probably her first time experiencing something as bizarre as Predatory Assimtion.


    This was the first significant result he had achieved after nearly two months of experimentation. The cost was arge tear on his side.


    “<em>Ugh…</em>”


    “Davey?!”


    Illyna rushed over, grabbing him and lunging to the side to avoid further attacks.


    “Be more careful with yourself! You said you’d really die if you died here!”


    “Did you really believe that?” Davey said while feeling the pain of his torn back. He wiped away cold sweat as he tried to stop the bleeding.


    “<em>Huh?</em> You’re not going to die?”


    “I won’t die, no. Instead, I’ll have a pain worse than death to wee me.”


    He knew it’d be better to die in that case. He figured the conditions would also be the same if this space was the same as the hall.


    “Didn’t I tell you before?”


    <em>- So, who’s the strongest? </em>


    This single question had triggered an apocalyptic hell. The fight between heroes grew so intense that the death of heroes became inevitable. Yet, instead of vanishing, they restored their souls and rose again—though only after enduring the same horrific process Davey had experienced. Many of them couldugh and endure even the most excruciating torture, but even the most resilient among them would eventually universally agree that there was only so much pain one could bear.


    “How bad was it?”


    “Even if heroes have a deathmatch, they never take lives,” Davey replied. “Simply because everyone knows how terrible it is.”


    <em>GRRR!!!</em>


    “Shit!”


    As if she had been waiting, Illyna shed the air with her Continuum-Severing de and ran away with Davey. She was the only one who could quickly escape with Davey since his mana was sealed. Eclipse, losing her mind from her suppressed power, was unable to pursue them.


    Blood dripped and stained Illyna’s ck suit. Ignoring her wardrobe, she made Davey sit on a rock, then rushed over with the medical supplies she had packed in a cave and took his shirt off without hesitation.


    “<em>Ouch… Ouch!</em> Be gentle!”


    Davey figured he was lucky to only suffer this much damage after being struck by a massive dragon. He knew he had been inches away from getting his body cut in half or getting a hole pierced through his body.


    Her attacks spread a unique power like poison, impeding healing and interfering with mana cirction. Although Davey wasn’t using mana, he was annoyed by his healing being disturbed.


    As he had suppressed the power of taboo, he was left defenseless against her power in his body until the power of predation consumed it. Its devouring speed was still very slow because he wasn’t used to handling the power yet. This was only natural as, unlike the power of taboo that was perfected by another being, his power was still in its infancy.


    “Oh my goodness… Your body’s a mess. Just use recovery magic,” Illyna pleaded.


    “There’s something I’m testing out right now. If this works out, the results will be worth it. So what if I get hurt a little?”


    He wasn’t going to let nearly two months of hard work end with simply getting closer and a single counterattack. This too, was just a step in the process to confirm his hypothesis.


    The reason he was doing all this wasn’t just to beat Eclipse—it was to understand the inner workings of his characteristics. And through the ‘sacrifice a pawn to take the queen’ method he had chosen this time, Davey eventually seeded in uncovering a few facets of his power’s operation.


    When he consumed the power with characteristic A, Fenrir—a demonic beast with simr power—harnessed the exact same power. And just as Davey couldn’t reuse his divine power, Fenrir couldn’t use any additional power either. To put it simply, it was like forcefully getting rid of what it had consumed.


    But Davey’s Predatory Assimtion was different. The range was ridiculously diverse, but what was more surprising was the transformation.


    When he consumed the opponent’s characteristic and turned it into his power, it was altered to suit him best, like recing parts on a machine for optimal performance. In other words, it would absorb and modify it into a form that worked best for him.


    It was as if a vampire that had nopatibility toward divine power could suddenly use holy magic without any drawbacks—this was no different from ignoring the original rules. And not just as a temporary boost, but as a permanently avable power.


    In other words, his Predatory Assimtion was the creation of newws, rules, and power. It was absolutely insane in this sense. Davey had also secured the basis to make such judgment.


    Predatory Assimtion didn’t enhance his physical abilities. If a certain trigger wasn’t activated, it would simply absorb the iing force. However, after blocking Eclipse’s breath several times and identally activating the trigger, Eclipse’s mana began to linger in his body in a slightly altered form. It was such that the overload of her mana didn’t inflict any damage on him.


    In other words, if he consumed enough of her breath… he figured he’d be able to use Absolute Dragontongue, an ability unique to ancient dragons.


    Common sense and reason told him that there was no way such an unbnced, overpowering strength could exist in the world, but the results of his experiment were too clear to deny.


    Hercules''s characteristic of endlessly evolving and Odin''s Infinite Mana were incredible, but they also came with their own drawbacks. Although Hercules never spoke about it, he had his own corresponding issues, and Odin suffered from a constitution that prevented her body from ever growing.


    Because of that, if anyone mentioned her short stature or t chest, she’d go on a rampage. These were just themonly known ones—heroes used their powers while carefully managing drawbacks that they never revealed to others.


    Predatory Assimtion seemed to perform gic maniption and bypass such negative aspects, making it seem like the perfect power. But it didn’t make sense for Davey to be the only one to have such strong characteristics without a significant drawback. Of course, the authority of Predatory Assimtion also had its fundamental limitations.


    The first drawback was the prerequisite for characteristic manifestation. The second drawback was that he had no foundational characteristic to build off of.


    When he absorbed a given power, he would break it down and reintegrate its benefits into his own final power of Predatory Assimtion. However, this transformation could only ur if Davey absorbed the suitable additional powers with his Predatory Assimtion—the range of possibilities ultimately depended on the powers he consumed.


    This was the first limitation. In order to adequatelybine and reform the powers he consumed, Davey ultimately needed to absorb a significant number of other beings’ powers.


    The second condition was that, unlike other high-level characteristics like evolution or Infinite Mana, Predatory Assimtion had no inherent power of its own. It was a characteristic of his own that specialized in copying and stealing others’ powers, modifying them for himself.


    When he consumed something with Predatory Assimtion, Davey had two choices: either give it up or modify it. If he chose to hold onto it as-is instead of choosing one of the two, the power he consumed would lead him toplete madness—a madness so intense it could easily consume even demigods.


    Davey had already consumed the powers of two heroes in the hall and had spent hundreds of years unable to throw them away or modify them.


    He knew he should’ve discarded the powers when he didn’t have the necessary means to modify consumed powers. But since he couldn’t control his own power, he couldn’t even purposely choose to discard them. It was almost miraculous that he hadn’t immediately gone insane and be demonic from the madness that had umted over the years.


    Now, however, his power had seeded in the process of remodeling after consuming Eclipse''s power and Illyna''s Continuum-Severing de. It had overwhelming potential, but it was a double-edged sword.


    Davey knew what he had to do from now on—he had to increase the quantity of parts by consuming as much power as possible. He also needed topletely control this power to prevent madness from taking over whenever he used it again, at least until he was able to consume the powers of Eclipse and Thanatos and immediately make them his own.


    Without saying a word, Davey unleashed the unique dragon mana, that of Eclipse, at his fingertips. If he could do this, he figured he could consume the Death Lord''s power and use it as he pleased.


    As these thoughts swirled in his mind, he closed his eyes, lost in contemtion.


    There remained a question, more significant than all the others he had pondered before: if he could consume the power of god… If that was truly possible… Then what exactly were his origins to possess such power?