Overlimit.
It didn't almost break me, but was supposed to. This ability, once used, causes me injury, and in return, greatly magnifies my stats for a very short time.
And while I get torn apart inside, the [Viridian Sword of Crystal] does its job of healing me, making this a powerful and practical ability.
It was one of the trump cards my current self could use.
"You are quite the idiot to have returned my memories. I know it, the weakness of that Overlimit of yours."
"… … …"
Yes, just as Yumis said, this power had a very obvious downside.
Since I was constantly healing myself, there was the vast usage of MP on that front. And since the[Viridian Sword of Crystal] works by simply accelerating the body's natural healing process, I also lose a ton of calories. That was the reason I got intense pangs of hunger after using this trump card.
As my level increased, I'd have more place to store extra calories, and could even gain a skill like Stockpile to aid the process. Eating too much now would only make me fat.
In other words, this move won't last long.
I'd used it against the army of monsters in a more subdued way and that still made me exhausted in 7 minutes or so.
If I went full throttle, I'd last 3 minutes max.
There was also the fact that a lot of my mana was drained from that Tenebris Ignis Giant.
I had only 30% MP remaining. The signs of an MP high had started showing. I stopped using overlimit.
"Hah! Right back at you, Yumis."
But Yumis was not much better off.
Demon's Fire cost little MP compared to the strength of the golems it bore.
But if the core of one of the golems is destroyed, a feedback curse is set on the spellcaster which causes a massive drop in their MP followed by intense pain.
Minnalis' poison that silently drained mana while preventing spells, the high cost spells Tri Lightning and Multiple Lightning.
And finally, one Tenebris Ignis Giant's core: destroyed.
This rate of expenditure was too high for the level she was at now. So I wasn't the only one putting on a tough front.
"And yet, I still have 40% of my mana left over, your Overlimit has run out, and finally, I have one more Tenebris Ignis Giant under my command."
"… … …"
"You are and will be always the fool. If you simply hadn't given me these memories, I might've been wary of that power of yours, maybe even giving you the time to recover."
Because I need to constantly keep healing when I'm in overlimit mode, there would be a faint green glow around me for the duration of it. When she saw that the glow had snuffed out, she gained assurance of victory and smiled in confidence.
"End him with all your might, o golem."
"RUBOOOOHH"
At Yumis' command, the sword golem flared up in its violet fire like the other one did just recently.
If I used any ordinary soulblade on that, it'd disappear having all the mana inside sucked away.
And seeing as I hadn't moved, Yumis began readying a spell. She wasn't voicing any chant, but I could see water and wind mana gathering around her.
I had a good idea what spell she'd choose in a situation like this.
"You really never change, do you."
My low mutter was drowned out completely by the earth shaking thumps the golem made as it ran over.
"I was a fool, but you're much more of a fool in your own right."
All of this was still within my expectations.
So of course, I had prepared ways to counter and destroy her every move fully.
"Come, [Absorber's Edge]."
I instantiated a soulblade I'd unlocked for this specific battle.
It was as big as an ordinary longsword, with the blade being split in red and blue cleanly along the middle.
It had the power to aggregate anything I designate around me.
Yumis showed surprise seeing me holding this. She of course knew about the [Absorber's Edge] and I could tell that she was thinking, What is he planning now?
But the fact that she hadn't caught on instantly, led her to my checkmate.
I turned towards the approaching golem, and at the right timing, thrust the soulblade into the ground.
"! What's!?"
"BLRBLAAAHH!"
I made it look like I activated the trap with my sword and collapsed the ground from under the golem.
The bone monster made a dumb roar as it descended into the 7 meter deep pit, landing in the water which splashed up all the way to the surface.
"A pitfall!? And, water…?"
I pulled out the Absorber's Edge and dashed towards the golem to deal the finishing blow.
"!? You, imbecile. Did you think you could extinguish the golem's hellfires with simple water!?"
"Once again, right back at you."
Once the splash of water settled again, the golem in the hole looked to have most of its flames put out.
"I knew you'd use Demon's Fire."
"What, no, holy water!?"
Normal water would do nothing to the curse inducing hellfires of the golem, but holy water, water that'd been blessed by the church, was a different matter entirely.
This golem, by the nature of its creation, had many undead traits. Thus, its accursed flames would undoubtedly be doused when exposed to holy water.
I jumped down in the pit, and pierced the slow, only slightly flame-coated golem, in its core.
"GAHHH, urgh, ahh, I, can still!!"
Even under the extreme pain from her MP being drained away after the destruction of the core, Yumis didn't stop gathering the mana. And even as the golem returned to dust, it obeyed Yumis' commands and prevented my escape for an instant.
"DIE, DAMNED HEROOO!!"
Yumis released her spell squeezing out the last of her strength.
"You're making me repeat myself, Yumis."
This too was one of the possibilities I kept in mind.
I filled[Absorber's Edge] with mana and threw it to the wall opposite to me.
At the same time, A ceiling of wind that Yumis had created, blocked the exit to the pit.
"I knew from the start that you'd use Demon's Fire, and,"
I snickered and then held my breath.
The moment [Absorber's Edge] hit, all the water in the pit decomposed, creating huge volumes of oxygen and hydrogen. If all this exploded, I'd be fucked sideways.
"Since your old memories are there, you'd also use the low cost Trinity Blast to finish me off ―――― O Water, amass into my sword. "
"TRINITY BLAST!!"
A tiny surge of electricity, and then, flames erupted. But this was no explosion of the three elements, water, wind and fire. Simply flames.
And those flames also instantly ended, ending the spell unclimactically.
"Fuhaah!? No, the fire, but why…!?"
"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Paaathetic Yuuumisss, your knowledge, your power, none of those were earned, all stolen. That's why you'll always be third rate, you monkey faced bitch!"
Yumis had learned that decomposing water into oxygen and hydrogen gas and setting fire to it would cause a massive explosion. But she didn't at all know why this happened.
She just knew that there were two things called oxygen and hydrogen that came out of the water and were easy to explode.
She had no clue as to how the explosion was caused by the simultaneous combustion of the two elements. She didn't understand why I had separated the mixed atoms of oxygen and hydrogen into oxygen gas and hydrogen gas using [Absorber's Edge].
If she set fire to that, the only part that'd explode would be the thin, top layer where the two gasses were still mixed. Since the gasses were split, the rest of it would quickly burn away without exploding.
I jumped out of the pit,[Soulblade of Origin]in hand, and rushed towards Yumis.
"Kh, I haven't-!"
"No, you have, you lost!!"
I took out a pair of mana sealing hand shackles they make slaves wear.
I bound her hands in those shackles faster than she could notice, and after tripping her with a sweep of my leg, I stabbed my soulblade into the now fallen Yumis' hands from the back.
"Ghaa!! Ghh, aahhhh!!!"
I twisted and tilted the soulblade to spice up the pain.
"Kuhaha!! Take that, and that, and some more, hurts doesn't it? I'm pretty good at this aren't I? It's all thanks to you, every one of you. I'm so damn HAPPY I can see that distorted expression on you. Everything, everything I LEARNED, it's all for you, you people who betrayed me, heey, do you FEEL it? ALL the emotions I'm feeling right now?"
"Guh, uhu, a-ahhh!!"
Her palms, her heels, her elbows, her knees, I carefully put cuts on Yumis' body so as to keep her bleeding to a minimum.
"It was a fun fight, really. You were so damn predictable, I almost messed up trying to hold back the giggles you know? I knew you'd make that golem as soon as I turned your troops into garbage. Hurt's right? I recall you're the type that doesn't get happy MP drunk, but grumpy MP drunk. It hurt when I broke those cores didn't it? You can't hide it from me."
"Guh, uuhhh, haaah, haah."
"Oops, my bad. They'll get mad if I start snacking without them. Okay Yumis, be strong now, alright?"
"Uguahh!! gu, u, ahh."
Many of her tendons now cut, Yumis could only lay limply on the dirt as I crushed her hands underfoot. I think I broke a few bones, let me do this little bit, please? Just a bit, a little tiny bit. My feet were grinding on their own.
And please, please don't break, don't you break yet, alright?
"That should be it for setting the table. Get ready for the main event. Yumis. I'm begging you. Don't be easy to break."
"Urgghh!"
I grip hard on Yumis' head from under the chin.
"It's high time we piss on and set fire to that pride of yours. We'll do this in order, one by one, we'll destroy each and every one of your dreams."
The corners of my lips rose crookedly under all the unbearable emotions.