Unchosen Champion
Chapter 390: Rage!

Coop completed another mistjump, sweeping through the world of mists to skip right up to the next level. Before his presence was noticed beyond the edge of the platform, he was already scanning for a golem near the center of the fused hexagonal platforms, all of their previous triumphs fueling his decisiveness. The target for his opening combo wouldn’t have any chance to prepare itself.

As they successfully conquered an individual section on each level, he was growing increasingly confident in their chances. Though it had been a while since the demons added a new variant to the mix, they had already found their way past ten different types of imp, hound, and golem, along with one kind of true demon. The lack of new variables meant they were picking up speed as they grew accustomed to the challenges, despite fighting higher quantities of monsters on each level. It was more or less exactly what he was hoping for. He was almost capable of clearing entire platforms himself in the time it took for them both to defeat just three weaker demons.

A Boxing Golem provided the necessary anchor point for his Depth Charge ability, becoming a ticking time bomb before being covered by a pile of hounds and imps as Sunken Grasp took effect. The golem’s chest exploded with abyssal energy that wiped out the weaker foes in a single blast. Coop smashed the fallen Boxing Golem one last time to finish it off, standing within the area of the explosion, knowing his own mana wouldn’t harm him.

The corporeal existence of the golem was extinguished in a shower of volcanic gravel as the dramatic splash receded and Coop turned his attention to a nearby Hellscreamer, recovering its balance on the edge of the danger zone. He rushed forward, emerging from the fading abyssal energies, and sent the massive hound flying with a homerun swing before it blasted him with superheated mana. His weapon caught the hound in the temple as he slid through the debris, trailing mists the whole way.

The monstrous body flew over a pair of lumbering golems before landing on top of a surviving Hellhound that was in the process of howling and igniting, ragdolling them both, but defeating neither. Coop rushed into the crowd, using the momentum granted by his devastating opening attacks to crush the armor of the nearest standing golem, then vaulting off its fallen form, over its partner, toward the next row with his weapon held high over his head to finish off the hounds.

Coop swapped to his ethereal greatsword, instacasting Retribution to switch weapon types as he crashed through the lines of enemies. Lyriel joined the fight when he was already neck deep in the melee.

A new demon variant had appeared on this level, flanked by two Horned Demons. The extra opponent wielded a blackened axe that smoldered with subtle flames. It was a head taller than its companions, even including their horns, its physical prominence enough to make it clear it was a powerful enemy. Coop saw the trio of Demons as the most threatening of the bunch and quickly worked his way into their vicinity.

He landed with a massive swing that cleared the area so that he could stomp forward, grinding his teeth as his heart hammered in his chest and his blood boiled. His mana was growing turbulent as he deliberately embraced his escalating battlelust. The Lucid Dream caught up with his intention as he defeated yet another hound, his mastery of the Path of Aloneness growing with every fight. This time, he was demonstrating the Principle of Rage as he sought to start a frenzy on the demonic supervisors.

Each time they climbed a level, the number of enemies remaining after Depth Charge exploded was growing higher and higher, leaving more for himself and his weapon. With the additional Demons, he felt like he couldn’t hold himself back, even if the standard of weaker enemies grew more comfortable. His progression wasn’t tied to the flashing lights of a level any longer, but instead in the execution of his skills. He was excited by the prospect of having plenty of room to grow and the tower was providing the opportunities to demonstrate his maturing proficiency.

The hefty greatsword’s slightly curved blade practically melted the stone golems that were in his way, easily sliced the hounds who sought to impede his progress, and when the edge threatened the rightmost Horned Demon, it wasn’t only Coop that was thrown backwards for once. The demon’s claw recoiled with the force of the clash while sparks showered the demon itself. The monster closed its mouth, erasing the amused expression as it was suddenly faced with a mightier opponent than anticipated. Rage was already empowering him.

Lyriel expended her mana and the air sizzled, her strikes matching the heat and fire that accompanied the demonic forces of mana, then turned it up a notch with raw power. The already broken and staggered remnants of the lesser demons fought on, doing everything they could to avoid being completely overwhelmed by the two aggressive interlopers, but with Lyriel awakening to her own abilities, they were a lost cause.

Coop tried to end his fight with the Horned Demon quickly, so that he could test the new variant on its own, but rather than wait for its turn, the Axe Demon joined in at the same time. Its hulking form was far more muscular compared to the Horned Demons, presenting an intimidating attitude with everything from its posture to the way it held its weapon. It was lined with deep shadows where its stone skin creased, outlining a chiseled form that seemed closer to muscular flesh than even the Hellhounds, despite being scorched rock.

Lyriel wrinkled her nose at the reeking scent of sulfur as the crowd was picked apart. She kited her Horned Demon away, paying more attention to the ancillary threats while Coop stepped up to the main event and let the Rage consume his mana, churning his internal energy like an engine.

Two proper demons tried to break the Revenant, the Axe Demon in particular looking at Coop like he was an insect that could be easily swatted away, though the Horned Demon was already strained, hiding its stone teeth within a clenched jaw. Each titanic blow from either demon was matched by the wild swings of his ethereal greatsword, wafting mists that turned to steam while Fog of War covered their feet and rose across the platform like the storm surge of a hurricane.

The monsters took turns trying to destroy him, leaving him no time to recover from any individual blow, but he yielded nothing. Superheated bits of claw and solidified mists scattered in the air as their weapons were shaved down, durability chipped away in enormous chunks. The shrapnel bounced on the hexagonal tiles as the contenders demonstrated their overwhelming strength.

Over time, Coop had mastered different forms of combat through the help of his Haunted title, and all of that training came in handy when he completely stopped thinking. More than any other, Rage caused him to rely on instinct and anger instead of strategy to guide his movements. He was preemptively desperate, not because of the immediate challenge but because of the overall situation. Every minor delay was adding up, further complicating an already impossibly long journey. He needed to be crushing the forces of mana like they were the most basic projections of Primal Constructs in order to reach the top, but each one of them saw him like he was an ant, their strength overpowering compared to an assimilating creature like him.

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He tasted blood as his Rage progressed, a red aura first surrounded his greatsword, after igniting within. But it didn’t stop at his weapon. It also flowed across his skin, expanding in depth as his actual aura condensed into the visible plane. Even his sweat-soaked hair became partially untethered by gravity, glowing with as much energy as his muscles in a way he had only seen during a handful of possessions from particularly powerful apparitions. He was pushing to a new level of mana mastery.

The weight of his ethereal weapon kept increasing with each swing, the Lucid Dream providing a boost to his attack power with a simple addition of mass that actually exceeded his rising strength. At this point in his experience, his weapons were usually an extension of his own body, his familiarity so extreme that wielding them was the same as opening and closing his fist, but the sword was deliberately transforming into a point of resistance, like a leaden weight designed to make him even angrier that it didn’t want to cooperate with its master.

He roared as he fully embraced the Rage, his blood genuinely hot, still tasting the copper blood in his mouth as the edges of his vision swam and he knocked the Horned Demon’s claws to the side. He had relied on skill, strategy, and outmaneuvering the Hellhounds, Boxing Golems, and the other variants of the weaker demons. With these opponents, the Rage led him to meet the force of raw power and brute strength that they demonstrated with his own.

It wasn’t a tactical decision, nor was it a calculated move. It was the pure fury of his inner savage being challenged by a foe. It was primal and a difficult instinct to consciously direct, but he had been entering the zone for countless battles. The Lucid Dream simply added mana to the entwining of body and mind that he believed every human was capable of. Anyone that had played a sport or experienced a runner’s high knew the state of mind that empowered him.

His grip on the greatsword hilt was so tight, it was like he was trying to strangle the life out of his own weapon. He unconsciously emitted guttural sounds that mirrored the demons’ own battle cries while they exchanged blows. His muscles bulged, feeling tight at the seams of his ethereal gladiator armor such that he ultimately dismissed his chest guard. His eyes were swallowed by an incandescent power, glowing red as his pupils became pinpricks of abyssal darkness and the Rage overflowed. Stretch marks threatened to split open as his mana swelled.

Compared to him, the Horned Demon was slow, as if it lost its crushing speed. But it wasn’t the demon that had changed, it was Coop that had been enhanced. It wasn’t skill or finesse that elevated him. It was pure, unadulterated fury channeled from every fiber of his being into his aura, and for the first time, it was a visible energy like Lyriel’s. His was a red smoke that lingered a few inches beyond his skin before the regular mists reclaimed the ambience rather than a cylinder of pure power.

The greatsword, previously becoming a point of resistance, was suddenly feeling weightless again, the gaseous aura on the verge of becoming liquid along the entirety of the blade. It was a conduit for the expansion of skills Coop was establishing, his control of his personal mana allowing him to go above and beyond what was previously limited by the system.

He moved with reckless abandon, each swing a brutal arc of reddened mists, dripping with mana. Every swing drew a wide streak of incandescent red. The demon, initially stepping up to the challenge was beaten back, recoiling under the pressure of the greatsword. There was a hint of surprise in its malicious eyes as the Axe Demon struggled to provide it with enough support to keep it from being destroyed. Coop was radiating power with each step, his footwork enabling every powerful strike, painting the Fog of War in their immediate proximity with the color of Rage.

Coop dominated the Horned Demon with wild, ferocious slashes that hammered against its raised claws, tearing down its protection with relentlessness. He had nearly gone berserk, becoming the barbarian version of his Revenant skirmisher. Where the Principle of Calm culminated in sweeping counter attacks that were built with patience, Rage was an intensification of raw power, and Coop had taken it a step further with his first synthesis of visible aura, practically inventing a new unrefined skill for himself.

The Horned Demon had no chance once Coop’s Strength appeared to naturally exceed its own. It only remained a real challenge with its superior perception. Unfortunately for the demon, It didn’t help to see the blows coming if there was nothing it could do about them. After it burned away, flickering out like a blown candle when the sword cleaved it in two, the Axe Demon was left alone with the enraged Revenant.

Sparks flew as solidified mists, glowing with red aura met the scorched axe head. The impact of each blow would have shattered his wrists had he fought the reverberation, but while fueled by the Rage, he was impervious to the pain. Flames bounced off his bare chest and he just laughed at the demon as it was forced backwards, trading position to land any attacks at all. Glancing blows that would have scarred Coop before couldn’t penetrate his aura, and he responded with savage swipes when solid attacks drew his blood.

The fight devolved from any kind of sophisticated dance to a contest of brute strength, thanks entirely to Coop’s domination. The physically stronger demon failed to match his ferocity, his Rage becoming an unpredictable wild card that had him welcoming the opportunity to trade blows, knowing that he would eventually come out ahead.

The Axe Demon roared in frustration as its axe broke in an effort to guard the aura enhanced greatsword, causing the blade to bite deep into its thick sculpted stone shoulder, drawing fire that was red enough to be mistaken for blood. Liquid flame steamed and hissed as it fell to the floor where Coop stomped it out, small waves of red energy still emerging from the soles of his feet with each step.

The wound shouldn’t have been so devastating, and it wouldn’t have been under normal circumstances, but the Principle of Rage ran amok within the demon, sending blasts of mana through its pathways. As a result, the de-Axed Demon was staggered, fully exposed.

Coop didn’t hesitate, the urge to claim momentum and win a fight so ingrained in his actions that it came without any thought. He roared as he buried his shoulder into the torso of the demon, shoving it backwards with a tackle while his greatsword reset onto his shoulder. The demon stumbled into the perfect range for an overhand execution. The greatsword found its mark, driven by the full force of his berserker rage. It cleaved through the final desperate defense of the demon, striking it from the top of its shoulder, all the way down to the core hidden deep in its stomach.

The demon gave one last sound of defiance, its solid form flickering and dissolving as the raw power of Coop’s aura overwhelmed its fiery energy. Even its dying explosion was repelled, as if Coop had a blast shield coating.

As the Lucid Dream faded and the nearly liquid aura of raging red energy left his sword, he hunched forward, the loss of strength making him feel absurdly weak. He panted, looking down, his entire body trembling like he had been possessed by an apparition, the fury fully receded. He was burned and bruised, bleeding down his ash-stained chest and abs, with vapors escaping roughly half the cuts, but once again he was still standing. The greatsword was stained with the demon’s fading fiery blood, and it felt absurdly heavy once again.

He shook his head at himself. “Why the heck did I dismiss my armor?” He muttered in disbelief, feeling like he had gone a bit crazy for a minute.

His overall state wasn’t too bad, but he was pretty sure that he had just taken a skill a step beyond what the system had ever intended. The Lucid Dream was usually more of an enhancement to the flow state he had already experienced many times before, almost like a reward for the meditative unification of mind and body when in the zone, adding mana to the mix. The expansion of his aura was something new.

He looked over at Lyriel, who had finished with her Horned Demon before Coop had defeated his opponent. She had taken care of the lingering hounds and golems, leaving Coop to his duel. Her eyebrows were halfway up her forehead, like she was surprised by what she was seeing, though she wasn’t looking at anything special. It was just him.