The Holy Shaman's consciousness was now in a miserable state. She had gotten her limbs chopped off, her torso torn open, her eyes had exploded under the pressure and her ears were bleeding energy.
This wasn't her real body, so there was no blood. However, her real body was suffering immense internal injuries that were only worsening with time.
"I can't believe I let this happen to myself."
Gilgamesh's soul said, then gave a sigh of lament.
The Holy Shaman could barely speak, but she was still aware. "G-G-Gilga... mesh?"
"Do not speak my name!"
This time, Gilgamesh's soul held nothing back. It completely eradicated the Holy Shaman's consciousness, erasing all trace of her from Gilgamesh's sea of energy.
"Sigh."
Suddenly, warm tendrils of energy sprouted from Gilgamesh's consciousness, slowly restoring him.
"How could this have happened. Have I lost my way?"
Noticing the Omniscient Author, Gilgamesh's soul spoke to it.
"Come here and explain this to me."
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say he gave it a command...
The Omniscient Author moved against its will and came over to Gilgamesh's consciousness.
"How did I suffer a loss?"
"Uh, I don't know... Sir..."
Gilgamesh's soul scoffed. "What a useless thing! If you weren't the nature of his soul, I would erase you right now!"
The Omniscient Author froze, "You... know my Master?"
Gilgamesh's soul snorted coldly, "What the fuck do you think!? Idiot thing, just like He was."
"Then," the Omniscient Author started, "What happened to him?"
"Hm. I suppose after he was finished with this dimension, he chose to return home."
Silence reigned for a few moments.
"So my Master abandoned me? He left me to perish at the hands of The Pious?" While saying this, the Omniscient Author's quill started to drip onto the page, and the ink ran down like a tear.
Gilgamesh's soul yawned, "No shit. Dumb cunt."
"But I'm not interested in your sad life. I want to know why I suffered a loss."
The Omniscient Author sniffled, "Can't you see I'm crying here?"
"I don't care if you're crying. Tell me everything you know about the current me. Quickly."
"Uhh... okay..." The Omniscient Author started to recount every detail about Gilgamesh that it had either recorded or observed.
As their conversation carried on, Wyg and Law had been facing untold hardship.
Clang!
"Ah!" Wyg's sword clashed with Aerial's wing, and the powerful reverberations caused the flesh of his hands to burst open at various points.
He almost let go of his sword, but he forced himself not to.
As for Law, he was spinning his nunchucks at lightning speed, whacking away at the dozens of projectile thorns that had been fired at him.
With each movement of his arms, the nunchucks would shift from hand to hand with fluid mastery, creating succint afterimages.
He was like a monster with that weapon in his hands.
Wyg stood himself up and held onto his sword with his bloodied hand, temporarily pushing the pain to the back of his mind.
"I refuse to believe that I can't cut your skin."
Aerial Guardian laughed, "Then you're just as delusional as Gilgamesh!"
Infuriated, Wyg took his glasses off and put them into his void ring, his green eyes held in them a sick glint as the last of his true energy was poured into his sword.
Law saw that he was preparing a big move, and he started to do the same once he had defended against the final projectile.
Aerial Guardian saw both of their preparations and shook his head.
"You both realize that I still haven't used a spell technique, right?"
"Of course!" Law shouted over.
"We aren't idiots," Wyg glared as he continued to galvanize his power, stopping it from wantonly circulating through his sword.
As he did so, it seemed to be steadily on the way toward breaking a kind of shackle.
Law's power rose from the depths of his body, and the golden plating of his nunchucks began to emit intense fluctuations, causing the fabric of space around him to ripple.
"You both seem like idiots to me," Aerial Guardian chuckled.
Both his wings unfurled and spread out as far as they could go. At the same time, true energy was siphoned from his body and poured into his wings, making them appear even more magnificent than they already did.
Thorny brambles sprouted on them, equipped with thorns the size of daggers.
While his wings underwent a change, his body was slowly becoming overgown with vines. Thick and sturdy vines grew from his fingertips, hardening into monstrous claws.
He soon started looking more like a winged vine monster than a winged person.
"Third Battle State, Forest Gargoyle!"
Aerial shot off a volley of thorns and flapped his wings, traversing space in no time at all.
Wyg and Law acted before Aerial had even moved, as they had already started to adapt to his speed.
However, Aerial was even faster now.
The thorns were yet to reach them when Aerial appeared, and they were forced to split their focus.
Even so, Aerial did not see a particular change coming.
"Cough!"
Aerial looked at the Holy Shaman's body and saw the distress written on her face as well as the blood she had just coughed up.
The lights on her body dimmed, and she coughed up even more blood.
"Holy Shaman!"
Seeing that Aerial was distracted, Law and Wyg both rushed toward him and lauched their attacks.
As Wyg's supercharged sword cut a straight line through the air, it left behind the images of storm clouds and tribulation lightning, which were barely visible.
His sword streaked across the space and left a bright sword beam in its wake, stabbing toward Aerial Guardian's chest.
"Heaven-Fucker True Energy Sword! Pierce this fucking virgin! Ahh!!!"
Wyg's sword reached Aerial's chest, and Law came up from just behind him.
"Twin Dragon Strikes!"
With incomprehnsible speed, Law's nunchucks traversed space in much the same way that Aerial would, a feat acheived by the mere force at which he swung them.
As they broke the sound barrier, a sonic boom rang out.
Aerial Guardian refocused on their the battle a moment too late; their attacks were already upon him.
Also, since they had already approached his front, the thorns would miss them completely.
"You fucking- Gah!"
Wyg's sword reached his chest and instantly stabbed into it, drawing blood almost immediately.
Before he could retaliate, Law's nunchucks cracked onto his skull one after the next, pushing his entire body backward while he spit up blood.
The thorns passed them by harmlessly, crashing into and cracking the walls. A small number of them struck Aerial Guardian's wings and arms, but the damage was negligible compared to what Wyg and Law had done.
Aerial Guardian fell to the ground panting. His nose was bleeding excessively, and there were two points on his face that had clearly sunken in from Law's attacks.
As for Wyg, his longsword was firmly planted in Aerial's chest, possibly even striking his heart.
Wyg gave Aerial a disdainful glare before pulling the sword out, but when he did so the blade snapped and broke in half.
"Tch! This was my only spirit tool."
Seeming even more mad at Aerial now, he put his foot on the partial blade that was still in Aerial's chest and pushed it down as far as it could go.
Despite all the blood and injuries, though, Aerial was still alive. He had sank deeply into unconsciousness, but he was still very much alive.
Embryonic Soul stage cultivators were not that easy to kill.
Wyg and Law got their bearings and went over to Gilgamesh's body, noticing the Holy Shaman's state.
Eventually, she let out a shrill cry of pain and terror before the lights on her body faded completely, and the candle's fire went back to its original state.
The room darkened again, illuminated only by the purple candlelight.
Law and Wyg looked at each other and then at the Holy Shaman's body.
She had died just like that?
Or... did he do something to her...
Gasping, they looked at Gilgamesh and saw that his eyes had now returned to normal.
Meanwhile, in Gilgamesh's sea of energy...
"So that's how it is. I'm unable to properly tap into the nature of myself."
Gilgamesh's soul sighed.
"It seems I overestimated myself. What a grand fuck-up this is."
The Omniscient Author gulped.
"Oh well, this is an easy fix."
The warm light of recovery on Gilgamesh's consciousness was parted by an arm. This was actually the Holy Shaman's arm, and it was also the last existing fragment of her soul.
The rest of it had perished already.
"I'll definitely find a use for this."
The hand was tossed into the lake of energy by an invisble force.
"Now then," Gilgamesh's soul acted, and the entire sea of energy reacted.
The desert seemed to decrease in size, while the lake of energy seemed to become slightly larger.
At the same time, Gilgamesh's consciousness stirred as though he was about to wake up.
"What... did you do?" The Omniscient Author meekly asked.
"Oh, that? I just removed all of my potential for utilizing true energy natures. It seems that I'm not yet ready to possess that level of body, so I had to make some changes."
The Omniscient Author found itself regretting that it had asked.
Why? Because it could not understand how something like that was possible!
"Don't be an asshole. When I ask for you to do something, do it. I am your master now. Got it?" Gilgamesh's soul snapped, and the Omniscient Author hurried to agree.
"Good. Now that I've limited myself to just my own nature, I should be able to cultivate properly."
"As for acquired natures, I won't be able to use their power at all. I'm sure I'll find a way though."
Gilgamesh's consciousness stirred again, and he started to wake up.
"Well, I gave you enough information. You know what to do, Dumb Cunt."
"See ya later."
Gilgamesh's soul returned to its previous state, and as he woke his consciousness completed the recovery process.
He looked around a bit as the haziness wore off, and he felt a slight difference in himself. He also noticed an arm floating in his sea of energy.
With a blank expression, he looked at the Omniscient Author and blinked.
"What happened here?"