Requiem Of A Failed Hero

With the energy that flowed around him, Raith recovered his vigor. His wounds still hurt, the pains around his muscles and some wrecked bone still persisted. Ultimately, he was feeling better than he was a second ago.

To top it all, his cosmic energy and aura was recovering at a tremendous rate. He didn't know what factor to attribute this to but it was not a new thing. It happened regularly when the abyss was in him.

Raith took steady steps, walking one step after the other. The monk stayed where it was, eyes fixated on its target. Its arms trembled and palms were moist. But it didn't bat an eye away from Raith.

Even though. It still lost him.

Raith narrowed the distance before a second counted and fixated a punch into the monk's gut. It responded with the flow: coughing out a mouthful of blood and hurled away the next instant, tumbling a long roll away before finally bringing himself to a stop - dragging his hand on the ground.

The monk rose to its feet to launch itself but Raith's feet ferociously licked his face sending him on another journey. Raith wasted no time and moved almost immediately, bringing out a blood sword.

He plunged it into the monster while it was on a free flight through the air. The monster changed caused and got slammed into the ground, pouring down a puddle of gore.

Raith landed in front.

"I feel stronger... I have not used any skill."

[Your assimilation with GREED has reached an abnormal state]

[Also the GREED domain is still up]

"Wow..." Raith smirked.

He pulled back his arm and began to plant punches into the monk's face. Grabbing his bald head, Raith continually stamped the monster's face with a brutal show of his fist, splattering trickles of blood in all directions.

"Ahhh..." He pulled his hand away and shook it.

Punching the monk was like punching a rock. Despite its stoney facade being done away with. Raith couldn't believe its skin was this hard.

"Damn bro..."

He tried to clench his hand but freed it. His knuckles were pulled, the monk's face was also roughened up, blood stained all over.

Slowly, the monk rose to its feet.

"You are not giving up. I like that"

[Don't be cocky]

'Please, let me have my moment. Right now, I feel like I can conquer the world'

[Hm...]

The monk suddenly took of breaking the ground. It stopped middair above Raith. Its eyes began to let out a white radiance. The monk raised both hand, curved down two arcs from both side and brought his palms together to a praying gesture.

WHOOM

The air began to vibrate, purple aura extended from the monk creating a vicious extension of him. Overshadowing the monk owas a gigantic aura of himself, in the same position and gesture.

Raith watched from the ground. The monk now was hundred times bigger, colossal. But he wasn't far from reach. In the middle of the aura extension, he floated. Controlling the extension from that area.

It smashed its hand to the ground, destroying everything ‐ the ground screamed and shook in a fiery scare of wreckage. Rocks were shattered into splinters with that strike. But Raith was unscathed.

He flew out of the cloud of rumbles and landed. The monk raised its leg and smashed into that point again. Raith did not quaver and shot into the sky as the monk's colossal leg came upon him.

But as he dodged the leg, the monk swiftly lunged a fist into him, creating a humongous tear in the sound barrier. Raith was sent reeling through the air snd cashing into a far mountain. One that had suffered from the impact of the monk's fight with Li Mingwu, having been torn into two.

[Criteria have been met to use skill 'COPY']

Raith grinned.

"Okay then..."

He shot up and into the sky.

As he did, his wicked aura burst out, threatening to tear the atmosphere and shrouding it with a more vicious and intimidating presence.

The monk's eyes widened as it began to witness what was happening.

Raith's aura began to draw delicate lines, forming an extension of Raith himself, while Raith stayed in the center of this extension with a nasty smirk at his enemy.

Lines of stress could be seen beneath the monk's widened eyes. Its eyeballs shook with terror as it realized Raith had stolen its skill.

Its eyebrows drew together, forming a deep furrow on its forehead. The monk grounded its teeth and shot at Raith with the colossal form of himself. Raith responded with the same move and the two colossal extensions were locked in a gigantic tug of war that their environment suffered for.

The colossal extensions grappled with earth-shattering force, their limbs intertwined as they pushed against each other. Shockwaves pulsed outwards from their clash, obliterating the landscape around them. Jagged fissures split the ground, sending huge chunks of rock hurtling through the air.

Raith grit his teeth, the veins on his temple bulging from exertion. He could feel the monk's power pushing against his own. Their auras flickered and flared wildly, tendrils of energy lashing out as they vied for dominance.

With a roar, Raith dug deep and poured more power into his extension. Its limbs bulged with new mass, muscles rippling. He slowly gained ground, forcing the monk's extension backwards inch by inch. The monk's eyes widened in disbelief as it found itself being overpowered.

In desperation, the monk swung its colossal fist at Raith's head. Raith barely managed to block the blow with his forearm. The impact resounded like a thunderclap, momentarily deafening him. His arm went numb from the vibration.

Capitalizing on Raith's distraction, the monk twisted and delivered a spinning heel kick to his torso. Raith cried out as he was sent flying backwards, his extension dissipating around him. He crashed into a mountainside, pulverizing the rock face.

The monk pursued relentlessly, its enormous fist descending like a meteor towards Raith's prone form. At the last instant, Raith rolled aside, the monk's fist smashing a crater where he had just been. The ground shuddered violently, nearly throwing Raith off his feet.

Seeing the monk rear back for another punch, Raith sprang upwards. Shrouded by black and red aura Raith easily pierced into the monk's colossal form - his aura absorbing the purple extension of the monk as he delivered a rising uppercut to its jaw.

The monk's head snapped back with the force of the blow. Raith followed up with a barrage of punches to its torso, his fists little more than blurs as they hammered the monk's body.

Recovering quickly, the monk blocked the last punch and countered with a knee strike to Raith's midsection.

Spit flew from Raith's mouth as the air was driven from his lungs. The monk then grabbed him in a chokehold, attempting to squeeze the life from him.

Raith clawed desperately at the monk's arms, his vision dimming around the edges. In a last ditch effort, he focused his power and released a point-blank energy blast as the monk's extension was completely absorbed by his aura. The monk howled as it was engulfed in the fiery detonation, its grip loosening enough for Raith to break free.

Both combatants dropped to the ravaged earth, chests heaving. The ground around them was a disaster zone, scattered with smoking craters and mountains reduced to rubble. The air hung thick with dust, reducing visibility to just a few meters.

As the dust settled, Raith spotted the monk getting unsteadily to its feet. Grimacing in pain, Raith pushed himself up as well. They stared at each other across the devastation.

Mustering the last of his strength, Raith launched himself at the monk in a headlong charge. The monk rushed to meet him, howling with bloodlust. They collided with earth-shattering force, the ground cracking beneath their feet.

Locked in a grapple, they smashed through mountains and uprooted forests as they battled for position. Hills were pulverized to dust in their wake. The monk managed to get Raith in a headlock again, but he broke the hold with a back elbow to its face.

Spinning rapidly, Raith delivered a spinning heel kick that caught the monk right in its torso wound from earlier. The monk crumpled from the agony, clutching its injury. Sensing his opportunity, Raith began pummeling the monk with punches and knees, targeting its wound mercilessly.

The monk tried to mount some defense, but was clearly on its last legs. Raith battered it relentlessly, his fists slick with the monk's blood and ichor. With a final burst of power, he seized the monk's head in his hands. The monk's eyes widened in dawning horror and realization but it was too late.

[Using GREED subskill 'Lacerous Grasp']

[All valuables and lifeforms belonging to the target will be transfered to you]

"Ahhh!"

Raith felt a sharp pain seep into his muscles as he began to absorb the monk's life force. It didn't come with ease like he did with the assassins. Every vein hurt like his blood was flowing backwards.

His veins blackened and formed rigid all over his body. The monk tried to resist but Raith's grip on it was hard. The longer this persisted the weaker it began to feel.

It's dark skin began to give out color and became grey. It's body thinned till only his bone was evident. Every organ had writhe, sucked of life.

Raith detested the view of using LACEROUS GRASP. But he had no other choice. This was the only way to go about it. This was what he had been aiming for since the very beginning. Wear the monk out and absorb its life.

[You have stolen the life force and valuable of a stronger target]

[The gate is a valuable of the target, it and everything in it shall be merged with your dark sea]

[You have killed a monster THE STONE monk]

[You have gained 12,340 experience]

[You have gained five levels]

Raith suddenly felt a sharp pain throughout his body. His eyes glinted with red hunger and reddened.

[GREED is hungry]

[GREED has stolen all your experience]

[GREED has labeled up three times]

[You have gained +30 Stat points]

[You will gain +10 Stat points every time GREED levels up]

[All GREED related subskills have gained one level]

[The stronger GREED becomes the stronger the subskills become]

[A new GREED subskill has been unlocked]

[Skill Steal lv.1]

> When skill is activated, you can steal target skill, however high level skills or skills engraved into the soul core cannot be stolen at this level of the skill.

[Due to a specific function of the SOURCE two likely skills have been detected]

[Using the SOURCE power, skills can be merged to create a better skill]

[Do you want to merge class skill 'Copy' with Ruler skill 'Skill Steal']

[I advise you proceed with caution]