Jay no longer dwelled within Yinad's consciousness and stepped out of the mental connection as he focused on the sixth-strongest Power Ranker.
Jay couldn't help but reflect on the brutal attack from Dante, and the sheer luck or resilience that had let Yinad come out alive from such an onslaught. Jay himself wondered if he could survive a hit from those meteor arrows, as Yinad had?
Then again, he reminded himself that he'd likely never be in that position. With his Inverse mode active, Dante's║FATE SHOWDOWN║wouldn't even work on him, preventing the kind of trap that had nearly taken Yinad down.
But for Yinad to withstand such an intense series of attacks was an impressive feat, and Jay couldn't help but feel a flicker of surprise. One of the two factors that had enabled Yinad to survive was something entirely unexpected to Jay.
The secret, he'd discovered, lay in a Subsidiary Fiend's Essence Crystal. Like Jay, nine other participants had managed to defeat Subsidiary Fiends invading their Trial Regions on Day One, fending them off alone before the Sentinels arrived.
Yinad had been one of those nine, and he'd seized the broken shards of the Essence Crystal left behind by his defeated Fiend. He stored them carefully, intending to use these rare remnants as material for enchantments.
On Day-7, Yinad received a Rare-grade Enchantment Stone as a reward for his accomplishments. This stone enabled him to imbue his chosen equipment with the abilities of specific materials, providing him with a crucial advantage in optimizing his gear's potential.
Though he never obtained another Enchantment Stone—since rewards were randomized for achievements that weren't at the Universe level—Yinad began stockpiling any rare materials he encountered.
He held onto the hope that, one day, he might find another Enchantment Stone to use on his Growth-type weapon, the Hailfire Bow, unlocking its latent potential and fortifying his power further.
The unconventional idea of using the Essence Crystal shards as enchantment material took root the instant Yinad first laid eyes on them. Yet, he knew he'd have to wait until he could acquire Enchantment Stones to bring the idea to life.
On Day-11, however, when he discovered they were available for purchase in the Achievement Point store, he acted without a second thought. Driven by curiosity, he bought the stones, eager to experiment with the Essence Crystal shards he had carefully preserved.
At first, his efforts were met with failure; he lost materials and precious Enchantment Stones in the process. But Yinad's persistence paid off. Eventually, his Growth-type Bow was successfully imbued with an incredible survival ability derived from the Fiend's Essence Crystal.
Now, as long as the bow remained intact, Yinad could survive otherwise fatal damage, regenerating back to full health, though not nearly as quickly as the Fiends could.
Even with his enchanted Hailfire Bow, Yinad would have fallen to Dante's ultimate attack if not for the precautionary measure he had put in place. It was this hidden safeguard that saved him in the face of overwhelming power.
Aware of his defensive shortcomings, Yinad had prepared in advance, using the last of his Achievement Points to purchase protective barrier charms from the store. He knew well that his Enchantment only granted regeneration, not the formidable defenses of the Fiends.
When he sensed the incoming threat of Dante's meteor arrows, Yinad activated every last Protection Charm he had. The charms did their job, shielding him from immediate death, but the assault was devastating.
Even with the barriers, he was left at death's edge, his body broken and barely holding together. Without the regeneration provided by the Hailfire Bow's enchantment, he would have been reduced to nothing more than chunks of flesh and bone.
However, the enchantment's regeneration effect was far weaker than that of the Subsidiary Fiends. Even ten minutes later, Yinad was still struggling to fully recover his limbs, a painstakingly slow process compared to the near-instantaneous healing abilities of the Fiends.
Jay observed him now, still marveling at the combination of luck and resourcefulness that had allowed him to survive. For someone other than Dante, Yinad was perhaps the luckiest person he'd ever encountered.
The odds, after all, had been stacked against Yinad from the start. The chances of successfully enchanting a weapon depended on the grade of both the weapon and the Enchantment Stone.
When the Enchantment Stone matched the weapon's grade, the success rate was a mere 10%, and it decreased by a factor of ten if the stone was of a lower grade.
In Yinad's case, his attempt to enchant an Epic-grade bow with a Rare-grade Enchantment Stone gave him only a 1% success rate per attempt. Miraculously, he'd succeeded within five tries—a streak of fortune that was nothing short of remarkable.
Although this didn't put him in the same league as Dante, Yinad's resilience and surprising luck had brought him a long way. Jay couldn't help but think that, for all Yinad's vulnerabilities, he was someone who knew how to turn slim odds into survival.
As Jay continued to stare silently, Yinad took a shaky breath and decided to plead, sensing he had no other way out.
"Great Warrior, I beg you," Yinad implored, his voice desperate. "Spare them and take my life instead. I alone am responsible; they had no part in this."
Jay's expression remained unreadable, but a glimmer of irony crossed his gaze. With a hint of wry amusement, he replied, "Aren't I supposed to be the Devil? Why would I spare my enemies, especially when it was you all who struck first?"
Yinad fell silent, his face paling at Jay's words. But in that moment, Jay sensed something off—a foreign presence lurking within Yinad's mind. Swiftly, he grasped Yinad's arm, his expression shifting to an icy resolve.
"Let's see how long a coward like you can hide," Jay muttered, his voice laced with menace. "You'd better pray you don't end up in my hands. I can promise a pain far worse than this."
Without further warning, Jay made use of SOUL EYES to obliterate Urzo's Possession Seed embedded within Yinad's consciousness.
With a fierce, controlled force, he destroyed the insidious link, inflicting a backlash of searing agony on Urzo. Though Yinad couldn't see what Jay had done, he sensed an ominous weight lift, replaced by an instinctual fear that his life could end at any second.
Suddenly, someone among the nearby ranks of local warriors dropped to his knees and cried out, "Take my life instead! Please, spare our Prince. I beg you, Great Warrior!"
Seeing this, others followed suit, each falling to their knees, pleading for Yinad's life and offering their own in exchange.
Jay blinked in surprise, momentarily speechless. He hadn't anticipated this response; his intent had been only to sever Urzo's control, yet it appeared the locals had misinterpreted his actions as a threat to execute Yinad.
Jay was used to dealing harshly with those influenced by Urzo, whether taking matters into his own hands or instructing MJ to do so. In his view, those possessed were willing tools of Urzo's schemes. But Yinad's case was unexpected.
Though Jay possessed the power to free the locals from Urzo's influence, he knew the limitations well. Releasing them required direct contact—a risk too great, as Urzo would rather self-destruct his puppets than allow Jay to free them.
For this reason, Jay had initially intended to eliminate Yinad and any others bound by Urzo's control. However, Yinad's resistance had caught him off guard; his high Spirit Attribute had allowed him to fend off the possession. With this, Jay no longer felt the need to eliminate him.
He sensed Urzo had already withdrawn his Possession Seeds from the few other locals in the army, retreating in haste to avoid further losses. Relieved of the threat, Jay simply sighed, and with a wave, he deactivated Arcane Vortex.
The sky cleared, returning to its natural state, and the oppressive aura lifted. Around him, everyone exhaled in relief, freed from the weight of imminent death.
Jay turned his gaze toward the towering Obelisk, untouched by the chaos, still standing steadfast amidst the recently altered landscape.
He addressed the members of his Raid Parties, his voice calm but commanding. "Set up camp here and rest for a few hours. Keep an eye on these locals. We'll head back to our Trial Region once I've cleared this Obelisk."
The members of all three Raid Parties nodded, unfazed by Jay's intention to tackle the Obelisk alone. They'd long since come to expect this from him. If Jay chose to clear the Obelisk himself, they knew better than to be surprised.
Then, in a move that caught Yinad completely off guard, Jay turned to him, his expression thoughtful. "Yinad," he asked, "do you want to witness what it takes to conquer an Obelisk?"
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Author Note:
Exclusive artwork for every free chapter is now available on my PATRE0N page! You can find the link in my Discord server.
I'm thrilled to share that I'm taking a big leap forward! Alongside Earth's Alpha Prime, I've launched the first sub-book for EAP.
ALTER REALITY: Online
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The first ten to comment for new chapter releases will get '1 ADVANCED CHAPTER' for free on Earth Alpha Prime's Discord server.
In the discord server, I opened a private channel for those Top 10 candidates, where I posted the respective Advanced Chapter.
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Discord Link for 'Earth's Alpha Prime' :
https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ
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