Jin groaned in pain, barely conscious. These were his final moments, and unfortunately, they were not as heroic as he had hoped... He did not achieve freedom together with those he loved; things did not go as he wanted at all.
This was their end, the end of all their foolish dreams...
A happy ending? What nonsense! They were just a handful of rank A kids, daring to face an enemy far above their rank.
He hadn't realized that before... No, he did, but he continued deceiving himself with that false conviction. He placed all his trust in someone else, and this was the result.
If he had gathered some courage and gotten rid of his cursed pride and arrogance, he might have used that skill, and the outcome would have been very different.
"If only..."
There's no use in regretting now... Jin opened his eyes for what he thought was the last time.
He saw Gilbert sacrificing himself and Cassian about to have all his bones broken.
Although he was strong, his opponent was resistant to all mental effects and had terrifying experience. Vantos and Sebastian were at least a hundred years old, maybe more.
Seeing everyone continuing to fight despite their terrible situations made Jin feel ashamed.
Gilbert sacrificed himself for their cause, sacrificed his legend, his goals, his values... He threw everything away for this cause, things far more valuable than anything Jin had.
"I'm pathetically miserable!" Jin gritted his teeth as he crawled towards the puppet.
There was only one meter between them, and he was about to reach it when his body was suddenly crushed.
He anticipated an attack and used all his defensive abilities and mana, but he was still crushed...
Blood flowed from Killian's face, and his eyes turned terrifyingly red, with blood coming out of his ear.
Cassian might become crippled after this fight, but he kept fighting... Despite his young age, he bore the pain!
These thoughts overwhelmed Jin's mind. He summoned unknown strength and managed to stand on his feet; it was a miracle!
He grabbed the cylinder he took from Gilbert earlier and drove it with all his might into the back of the puppet's neck.
The strength he gathered now was weaker than that of an ordinary old man, and mana no longer entered his body. he was now crippled. If he lived, it would be a miracle. If he returned to rank F, it would be an even bigger miracle.
But despite that, he kept hugging the puppet. Even though it electrocuted his body repeatedly. Tears of pain flowed from his eyes, but he was determined to keep holding on and not let go.
Jin opened his eyes suddenly and noticed that the puppet, which had previously been asleep, had awakened.
Two eyes, red as blood, glowed in his face, exuding unimaginable terror.
An ancient and wise presence looked at Jin with awareness for a second, enough to carve fear into his mind. His white hair floated up due to the overflowing mana around him, creating a majestic scene.
He looked like an enhanced version of Sebastian and Vantos but appeared young despite his white hair.
"Huh?!"
Jin's perspective changed strangely, and he could see the entire hall as if he had eyes in the back of his head. He even felt unparalleled strength in his body, feeling much stronger than before.
And most importantly... his status screen had changed.
Before he could notice it, he heard a distant scream.
"Damn you all!"
Vantos shouted from afar. Cassian had pushed him out of the five-meter circle at the cost of his body.
The integration with the puppet had already reached a high percentage. The cylinder that Jin used caused the puppet to merge with him instead of Vantos, and it also sped up the process significantly.
"So that's it! You had it with you!"
Vantos's mouth widened as he spoke. He grabbed Cassian by the neck like a bag of flesh and bones and threw him aside. He was done for.
Vantos charged back to attack Jin. The integration had stopped, so his strength began to return to its normal levels.
Despite the loss of his arm having a significant impact on him, he was still within the rank S- limits, posing a threat not to be underestimated. Jin's strength also began to rise, from rank A+ to the limits of rank S-, but slightly lower.
Jin's body moved much lighter, and his form returned to a fully human one, without any mechanical arms or similar nonsense. His old body was long gone, fully integrated with this puppet form, becoming one in flesh.
There was no way to transfer the soul from one body to another, so this was the only way—fusion of flesh with flesh, energy with energy. Jin retreated slightly, avoiding a face-to-face confrontation with Vantos due to his lack of a weapon.
Vantos grew strange claws and charged at an unreasonable speed, appearing in front of Jin as if teleporting.
"Get out of the father's body; you don't have his blood!" His tone was extremely stern, and the anger in his eyes was undeniable.
"Shut up, you've reached a new level of mental illness!" Jin tried to resist the anger in his mind, avoiding making any irrational decisions.
He couldn't waste everyone's sacrifices now, just for a stupid outburst of anger.
When Vantos's hand was about to pierce Jin's body and kill him completely, he strangely managed to block it with the mist. Oddly, his mist moved faster than usual! It was as if his energy had reached a completely new level of quality!
Vantos immediately retreated, moving around Jin at an incredible speed. Since there were no weapons in this place, Jin needed to find the change in his status screen at least; maybe he would find something useful.
[
Name: Jin Marsh / Virile Valoris
Age: 29
Title: Pride Representative.
Class: Assassin / Sorcerer
Legacy Skill: Personal Assassin / Puppet Master
Status: Unstable
Level: A+
Statistics:
Strength: A-
Speed: S
Endurance: B+
Intelligence: A+
Senses: S-
Wisdom: S
Luck: G
Charisma: S+
(Note: Charisma and Luck statistics are not considered in the level evaluation)
Skills:
Ghost Movement: A-
Fog Explosion: A+
Vital Strike: B-
Blood Rush: B+
Crafting: S
manipulation: S
Transformation: S
]
As he expected, he had gained three new skills, each at rank S! What a turn of events! The information about the skills flowed into Jin's mind in an instant, and he didn't hesitate to activate one immediately.
{Stop}
This was the manipulation skill, the same skill Sebastian had used earlier to control Gilbert.
Vantos, who was just a meter away from Jin, froze in place, veins bulging on his body from the intense effort. No matter what he did, he couldn't move.
The skills engraved in their bodies were just cheap copies of what their father possessed; the skills Jin now had were much stronger.
Jin felt almost all of his mana leaving his body because he had used the skill on a target much stronger than himself.
But in return...
Jin struck Vantos's head with both hands and all his strength, resulting in it exploding completely.
And thus, an S- rank entity died simply, just after causing a massacre. In the midst of the euphoria of killing the person who had caused the suffering of hundreds of thousands, Jin let his guard down for a moment.
The result was a bloody red hand piercing through his heart.
"I-I've got to admit! What you all did is truly remarkable!"
Sebastian gasped, holding Jin's heart. The latter opened his eyes in disbelief, a hiss escaping his mouth.
"I'm going to die, but of course, I won't go without cleaning up behind me..." Sebastian said, panting. Just looking at his injuries and burns was enough to give anyone countless nightmares.
Jin and Sebastian's bodies fell at the same time, both glaring at each other with anger and sorrow.
"You achieved your goal in the end! Without the father's body, this will be the end of our society! Haha—" Sebastian coughed up blood as he started to laugh.
"We always imagined we'd die at the hands of an SS rank or perhaps be discovered by the Pride Clan! Who would have thought it would be at the hands of a silly group of A-rank kids!" Sebastian laughed in frustration, his voice growing weaker and weaker.
"At least it was fun..."
In the end, he closed his eyes in pain, dying a miserable death. His body was completely burned, with his right half entirely missing. Returning to finish off Jin was indeed a miracle.
Although it seemed like it was about to end, it wasn't over yet... Almost everyone had given up, but not Jin.
His story wouldn't end here!