Infinity, The Arcade Age
Chapter 523: Will of the Killing Intent

Chapter 523: Chapter 523: Will of the Killing Intent

Thick smoke billowed across the ruins of the city.

Qin Ming and Akuma stood several dozen meters apart, panting heavily as they stared each other down without moving.

Glancing around at the devastated landscape, then back at the still-seething Akuma across from him, Qin Ming couldn’t help but grin wryly.

"Come on, Akuma! We’re from the same school, can’t break through each other’s moves! How about we call it a day?"

Akuma bared his fangs in a grim snarl, saying nothing—but that expression was answer enough.

Seeing this, Qin Ming rolled his eyes and suddenly roared as he lunged forward.

"Fine, then! I’ll fight you with something outside the Assassination Sect’s techniques!"

Qin Ming unleashed his signature move—

The number one technique in all street thug brawling: the no-technique Bull Rush!

BOOM! He slammed straight into Akuma’s chest, head down, locking him in place as he charged forward like a madman, smashing through anything in his path.

Akuma, now hoisted up, pounded on Qin Ming’s head and back with everything he had—but it was completely useless.

After barreling forward for several hundred meters, Qin Ming let out a furious roar and body-slammed Akuma into the ground, then straddled him and began choking him with both hands.

Akuma howled in rage, clawing madly at Qin Ming’s face and trying to rip his features off.

Two martial arts grandmasters had somehow turned their life-and-death duel into a full-on back-alley brawl, entangled in a primal, no-holds-barred mess.

You couldn’t even blame them for the lack of technique at this point—they’d already used every move they had. But the problem was... it hadn’t worked!

Now that Akuma had fused with the Will of the Killing Intent, he was basically immortal.

And Qin Ming? Also immortal.

Two unkillable guys facing off—of course, once the moves were all used up and their nerves were fried, they defaulted to throwing stupid haymakers.

Still strangling Akuma by the throat, Qin Ming hammered punches into his face again and again.

Akuma, after taking a few hits, roared back and threw Qin Ming to the ground, grabbing his hair and smashing his head into the pavement.

Anyone watching this fight with no context would never believe these two savage street punks were actually martial arts grandmasters—let alone the ones who’d just destroyed a city.

One gouged at the other’s eyes, the other jammed fingers up his nose—both wore twisted grimaces, veins bulging on their foreheads and arms, neither willing to back down.

Qin Ming, stuck to Akuma like glue, just wouldn’t die no matter what. Any injury he took healed up the next second.

Akuma was actually getting furious. Even though his mind was foggy from the Killing Intent’s control, he wasn’t an idiot—his basic instincts were intact.

Anyone would go berserk being pounded nonstop by a lunatic who just wouldn’t die, especially when the Killing Intent’s will thrived on slaughter.

Realizing there was no way to finish Qin Ming with brute force alone, Akuma suddenly let out a guttural roar. He grabbed Qin Ming’s face and jammed his thumbs into his eyes.

In that moment, a surge of thick, black aura poured from Akuma’s arms—

Killing Intent Transmission!

Akuma was actually trying to inject killing intent into Qin Ming’s body—to forcefully overwhelm and detonate him from the inside!

In his Oni (狂鬼) state, Akuma had long since become the vessel of the Will of Killing Intent. After decades of training, his body had mutated to endure such an overwhelming force.

But Qin Ming’s body wasn’t built like that. If Akuma kept injecting this raging energy, Qin Ming could very well explode on the spot if he couldn’t withstand it!

As the killing intent poured into him, black veins instantly bulged across Qin Ming’s face, his expression twisted in agony.

The same scene from the cave—when his body was washed in countless waves of killing intent—played out again.

But this time, the energy was even more violent, more terrifying, and far greater in scale.

Qin Ming couldn’t help but let out a scream of pain—but right after, his face suddenly broke into a twisted grin.

Staring at the Akuma driven entirely by instinct, he bared his white teeth.

"You wanna try that on me? You picked the wrong guy to mess with, Akuma! Let’s see whose power wins out—your Will of Killing Intent... or the Blood Buddha Golden Body of the Tathāgata!"

With a roar, blinding golden light burst from his body, illuminating him like a sun, and crimson runes emerged across his golden skin.

Blood Buddha bloodline—activated! Killing intent, refine!

One man becomes a demon—to save all beings.

This unique bloodline, forged from the fusion of his own blood and the Buddha’s sacred arm, possessed an eerie effect—the power to absorb and integrate all things.

Like the legendary Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva who vowed, "Not until the hells are empty will I attain Buddhahood."

Of course, Qin Ming wasn’t nearly so noble—he was simply absorbing foreign power and converting it into his own.

He had already forcefully absorbed a massive amount of killing aura once, helping him evolve and comprehend the ultimate technique of Killing Intent.

And now that Akuma dared to inject more into him, it was basically throwing fuel into a furnace.

Qin Ming, already well-practiced in this, began devouring the killing intent without restraint.

This was no longer a battle between him and Akuma—but a clash between the Will of Killing Intent and the power of the Buddha.

Sure, the Will of Killing Intent had a lofty aura, being a composite of countless negative emotions—practically a man-made deity. It was akin to the Gaia’s Will (Orochi) from the King of Fighters universe.

But then again, Qin Ming’s bloodline wasn’t low-tier either.

It came from the flesh of the Buddha himself, a power so beyond comprehension that even space itself couldn’t measure it.

If the forces were to clash directly, who would win? That was still unclear.

But between the vessels—Akuma and Qin Ming—there would absolutely be a winner.

Akuma, in this analogy, was like a thin pipe—even if he was connected to a vast ocean, there was a limit to how much water he could release at once.

Qin Ming, on the other hand, was like a container. Maybe the container wasn’t big at first, but he could gradually expand by absorbing more.

Trying to burst Qin Ming was technically possible—but only if you overloaded him instantly. If you went too slowly, it would only increase his tolerance.

In other words, the moment Akuma used this move and failed to immediately destroy Qin Ming, the outcome was already decided. There was no suspense left.

The more killing intent Akuma poured in now, the stronger Qin Ming’s resistance became—and the less chance there was of killing him!

One minute... five minutes... ten minutes... one hour... five hours...

As the killing aura surged within him, black markings multiplied across Qin Ming’s skin, and the killing intent he emitted grew more and more immense.

At last, with a painful, sky-shaking howl, Akuma’s energy was completely absorbed into Qin Ming.

Even the Will of Killing Intent itself—that formless amalgamation of negative emotions without a mind—shifted its link to Qin Ming, recognizing him as the new, more stable vessel.

(End of Chapter)