Chapter 1883. Fallen Apostle’s Longsword
The fire whip form Jack was using for his Flame Strike was not something he had used before. It was a form he thought up on the spot. He needed practice for form manipulation, but the difficulty was lesser when using it on basic skills like Flame Strike. Hence, he was able to come up with a new form for his Flame Strike even when he had never done it before. With the fire whip form, he gained an advantage over Demon Jack who couldn't perform the same feat.
Since both Jack and Demon Jack had exhausted their big skills earlier, they could only rely on standard attacks and basic and advanced skills to best each other.
Sword of Light was another skill he manipulated into a new form. He shaped the light into a boomerang and made it twirled. While the light didn't rely on air friction like the real boomerang did to fly back, it helped Jack visualize the process. It allowed him better control of its flight path.
Demon Jack was unaware of this. He only realized when his mana sense informed him about the sword of light making a U-turn behind him. That opened him up to Jack who attacked from the opposite direction.
Jack's swordplay was also different. He tried to push himself to come up with a different fighting style. This further confused Demon Jack.
Flame Strike was a short cooldown skill. As Jack repeatedly used the skill, he was getting better and better at manipulating the whip form. He now manipulated it by combining the two forms he had learned. He formed a condensed flame at the end of the fire whip. It now looked more like a flail.
The fire whip was shorter when he used this flail form, but it still caught Demon Jack off guard since he was unaware Jack could do that. When the condensed flame at the end of the flail struck Demon Jack, the flame exploded. The strike caused higher damage than when Demon Jack was struck by the whip version.
Jack also modified Drilling Thrust and caused its drilling energy to extend outward into a thin line. It was weaker and caused less damage, but it became a ranged skill. This new form again caught Demon Jack by surprise.
With a combination of newly modified basic and advanced skills as well as new swordplay, Jack ground Demon Jack's HP.
Demon Jack used Life Elevating Art to recover his lost HP. Jack didn't mind. It was only delaying Demon Jack's defeat. Without improving, Demon Jack would remain inferior to Jack, who improved during the course of the battle. Jack even continued to improve as the battle dragged on. Jack considered this battle a training. Fighting against himself allowed him to see the flaws he didn't notice before. He took this chance to remove these flaws or at least diminish them.
Demon Jack ended up defeated before any of their big skills completed their cooldowns. It didn't matter even if they did. Jack knew he would still come out on top. He had the confidence to win over himself.
Everything became dark when Demon Jack fell. Jack saw the light again after opening his eyes. Around him were others who were either lying on the ground or sitting cross-legged with their eyes closed. During his time fighting against his demon version, Chris had finished distributing the fallen apostle's weapons to everyone.
"Welcome back," Peniel said to Jack when Jack opened his eyes. "What's going on in there? I can't see. I just sensed that you are having an internal struggle."
Before Jack could answer Peniel, he heard Chris' voice. "You are again the first, even when you are not the first to go into a coma. That is surprising. Then again, scratch that. It's not surprising. It's still impressive, though."
"I will tell you later," Jack said to Peniel while Chris sat next to him.
"You are the one who designed the tests for these weapons?" Jack asked Chris.
"Hehe," Chris grinned. "I figure by the time anyone can get their hands on these weapons, they should have conquered most challenges the game has to offer. Who else can trouble them but themselves?"
"How do you think the others will do?" Jack asked.
"I don't worry about Wilted. She never gives up. She always has the passion to learn and improve. With that determination, she will exorcise the demon with no problem. I also believe that everyone you two brought here has the same spirit, do they not? If they do, then there is nothing to worry about."
Jack nodded. If the key was not giving up, then he did not need to worry. All the players here were veterans who had defied many odds.
"Still, I must say again. I'm impressed you completed the test so fast. Not giving up is an endurance test. It is meant to be a slow process. How do you beat yours so fast?"
"Maybe because of my form manipulation," Jack answered.
"Form manipulation?" Chris asked.
"It's the third phase of mana manipulation, where you can modify a skill to your will," Jack said. He stood up and summoned his Storm Breaker. He then performed the whip version of Flame Strike.
"Fascinating," Chris remarked. "I did hire a martial artist for his input to apply chi manipulation into the game. I didn't expect it to develop to this extent. Well, I think we should consider it lucky that you are the ones who get the Void Sword Saint and Time Sage trials."
"Why is that?" Jack asked.
"It's because those two are the trials where I apply the requirement of chi manipulation from that martial artist. The others mostly rely on one's intellect and the no-give-up attitude."
"The hell, man? Do you have something against Blade Dancer and Archmage?"
"I believe you have asked me that before. Well, as I've mentioned. Those two embodied the space and time aspects that I consider profound. I need to spice them up a little."
"With that perspective, I can consider my two classes to be the most powerful among the twenty-four pinnacle classes then, hehe," Jack chuckled.
Chris shook his head. "Not really. I designed them all to be equally powerful."
"The hell? Then why the increased difficulties on mine?" Jack complained.
Chris shrugged. "I just chose on a whim. If you want to, then consider yourself unlucky to have chosen the two classes with the hardest trials."
"Hm… No, I consider them lucky occurrences. Look at it this way. If it wasn't me who took those trials, the others might have failed. Then, we will be in a quandary of trying to find a replacement."
"That is both an arrogant and positive way of thinking. I like that," Chris uttered.
"I'm sure you do," Jack returned.
"Now, are you going to pick up your prize or not?" Chris asked. He was pointing at the longsword that was still on the ground.
"Hey! Its color changes," Jack said after looking at the longsword again. Before, it was mostly black with streaks of red. Now, it was crimson with streaks of golden lines.
"Yes. That is the weapon's true appearance after someone defeated the demon possessing it," Chris explained.
Jack picked up the longsword and used Inspect.
*
Fallen Apostle's Longsword, level 99/99 (Legendary one-handed sword)
Physical damage: 2000
Attack speed: 3
Indestructible. Bound to: Storm Wind
All stat except Luck +20
Demon Spirit (Response skill): Every successful hit grants the wielder a demonic aura that increases overall damage and defense by 5% (up to 100%). Every slain opponent heals the wielder by 50% HP. The aura lasts 3 minutes. Every successful hit refreshes the duration.
Scourge of the Demon Swords: Marks an area with a radius of 150 meters. 100 demon swords assail the marked area. Each hit from the demon swords dealt 200% chaos damage. When this skill ends, all enemies still within the marked area receive 1000% chaos damage. Duration: 30 seconds. Cooldown: 6 hours
Demonize Weapon (active skill): Weapon's damage +1,000. Damage changes to Chaos damage. Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 3 hours.
Devilize (Active skill): Transforms into a devil. Duration: 1 hour. Cooldown: 1 day.
*
"Level 99. Wow!" Jack exclaimed.
"Level 99? Wait… This weapon…," Peniel, who was also observing the weapon, showed a surprised expression.
"Yeah. It is awesome! This is a pinnacle weapon," Jack said.
"That is not what I meant. This weapon is supposed to be a heritage weapon," Peniel said. "But it is not. That's weird…"
"It's not?" Jack asked. A heritage weapon followed the wielder's level. Jack's level was still 97 while the Fallen Apostle's Longsword was level 99, so it couldn't be a heritage weapon.
"Hehe…"
They heard a chuckle. They turned to Chris, who was the one chuckling.
"Is this your doing?" Jack asked.
Chris nodded. "It was a last-minute modification. I think I did the modification only a few days before I died."
"Why did you make the change?" Peniel asked.
"Why? So, the champion who passed my tests can gain the strongest weapon there is," Chris answered.