The wail of the Banshee was the cry of death. Even before the supernatural was proven to exist on Earth, there were legends of Banshees. Ironically, they were considered as a type of fairy despite the fact they looked so ghostly. The wail –or cry- of a Banshee was synonymous with death. It was considered an omen, an omen of imminent death for the individual that heard it, or someone they were close to.

For the past few hundred years, the legends and mysteries of Earth were investigated. All the false information was eventually weeded out and what was left was the truth, which often was far different from the fairy tales people told to their children.

In regards to the Banshee, its legend was actually quite accurate. However, it was the people who heard the cry that were fated to die, not the people close to them who hadn’t heard it.

The Fairy of Death was what Keith described a Banshee as. When he released the scream it caused a soundwave -which had mana and the aura of death infused within it- in the direction of his voice.

Anyone who heard the Keith’s scream would be momentarily stunned if they weren’t strong enough to resist it. A pervasive ringing would be left behind in their ears. They would feel disoriented. The deathly aura that invaded their bodies would sap their stamina and cause feelings of nausea.

The shockwave disrupted the Kysansha’s ranks. Some fell to the ground vomiting. Others seemed to become living statues. Others clasped their hands to the sides of their heads, trying to stop the ringing inside their heads.

The first to snap out of the effect of Keith’s scream was the leader. He quickly began to restore order to the ranks. But it was too late. The one that Keith had his eyes on from the beginning was the main leader of this battalion.

The difference between the leader and a mere soldier was easily identifiable. His War Beast was nearly twice the size of the others. Also the seat on its back was lavishly adorned with gems. The Kysansha within it was not like the others, it was wearing far better equipment.

Keith’s scream had opened up a path. Without a moment’s hesitation he suddenly disappeared. His figure seemed to leave an afterimage as he burst forward. With every step he took, Keith seemed to phase out of the world as if he didn’t have a physical form. He appeared to flow like water through the Kysansha and their War Beasts. The reason he suddenly changed from being barbaric to moving gracefully was due to the Abyssal Step.

Abyssal Step, it was a movement ability that Elena told him to purchase. When used with the power of Law, his every step would truly phase from the dimension. He would step into the Abyss, which was the world where souls awaited their trials. It was place where it would be decided whether souls could reincarnate immediately or if they must undergo punishment first. But that wasn’t the worst fate. When a soul was labeled as unredeemable, they were to be annihilated. They would cease to exist, never to reincarnate.

This was the world in-between the realm of the dead and the realm of the living that Keith would eventually be able to step into. But since he didn’t have the power of Law, he couldn’t actually phase out of the physical world.

Instead, Keith used a far weaker version of the Abyssal Step. He instinctively knew the footwork and technique needed to seemingly flow through his enemies. However, he could choose to expend some mana to forcefully create an “imitation” of the true Abyssal Step when needed. When he did this he would suddenly burst forth with extreme speed in a straight line. He was unable to turn, but the speed was fast enough it created a small shockwave from where he was and it left an afterimage.

He couldn’t use it to travel extreme distances. The short burst of movement would hardly last a second. He had to be careful that it didn’t drain too much of his mana.

In the end Keith was still faithful to his original fighting style. Using the Abyssal Step’s ability for instantaneous movement, he suddenly appeared in front of the main leader of the battalion.

Raising his sword, there was a translucent white light upon it. Brutally swinging down the weapon, Keith nearly cleaved the Kysansha in two. It was utterly barbaric. With brute strength alone he cleaved through a hard armor made of scales and hide. A barbaric and primitive fighting style was Keith’s chosen method of fighting.

Even if he learned Anthrus’s abilities, he wasn’t his Grandfather. Even if he did learn abilities that were considered “graceful”, that wasn’t who he was. When it came down to it, he believed that only unbridled raw power and speed would never fail him. If he had to resort to petty tricks, it simply meant that he wasn’t strong enough. He wasn’t Anthrus, he would make the abilities his own and he would alter them to suit his fighting style someday.

Pulling his sword out of the Kysansha that he nearly cleaved in two, Keith looked at the blade edge. Another chip had formed along the blade. This was the strength that Elena was hinting to when she said she had a method to raise his chances of survival considerably. Right now, he was incomparable to his previous self. But it wouldn’t last forever.

Sweat was forming along Keith’s brows. He made only minimal movements to get to the leader and kill him, yet his breath was labored. A burning pain as if he was submerged in fire was beginning to assault his body the longer he stayed in this state. Contrarily, a cold stabbing pain like thousands of needles piercing him seemed to be coming from his soul. His eyes were under the most duress because they were also under the effects of the Yin Eyes.

So this was what Elena meant when she asked if he had a high pain tolerance. Not only was she not joking, she severely understated what she meant. This pain… this was not something a normal person should be able to withstand.

Suddenly Keith spat out a mouthful of blood. His vision became blurry. From the depths of his soul he heard Elena worriedly say, “Hurry! You do not have much time; you have to end this before your body breaks down… Three minutes, you have roughly three minutes at most. Thirty seconds have already passed!”

It wasn’t that Keith didn’t want to answer; instead he was incapable of answering. He couldn’t even scream in pain. He doubted that he could even release another Banshee Cry.

With a sudden time limit and the ever increasing pain, Keith spat out another mouthful of blood. His sword felt incredibly heavy in his hand.

Raising it, he turned to look at the Kysansha that didn’t know what to do. Their leader was strong enough that he was unrivalled among them. But he was killed instantly. The fear they felt was immeasurable now, especially because of Keith’s aura which penetrated their bodies and souls.

Slowly, Keith took one step after another. His eyes glazed over. He wanted a reprieve from the pain. The only way was to kill, the faster the better. For every soul he devoured, he would get less than a second of relief. Raising his sword, Keith slashed downwards. He cut down the Kysansha and the War Beasts in batches of two and three.

With brute strength alone, he cleaved them down. With every death, he felt a moment of numbness. The white light on his sword grew stronger. It grew more dreadful, and a suffocating power erupted from it. This was the second ability Elena told him to purchase. The Soul Blade, it was an active ability which would cause an aura to coat his blade.

For every enemy he slaughtered, it absorbed a portion of the remnant life force and death force, as well as tiny soul fragments that it could obtain before Keith devoured them. The aura would become sharper and sharper as it devoured its opponents. However, it had a limit.

The weapon had to be strong enough to endure the crushing of the aura’s ever increasing strength as it not only increased sharpness, but also weight. This ability Anthrus created represented the burden of his title as the Divine Monarch of Life and Death. He carried the weight and burden of both the lives and the deaths of anyone he killed. It represented his resolve to carry out judgement fairly, even if he was hated for it by both the living and the dead.

This ability suited Keith the best. Barbaric brute force and speed was what he preferred. With this ability, the faster he swung his blade and the harder he smashed it into his foes, the quicker they were killed. On the flip side of the coin, he was also sapped of strength faster. The stamina required to swing his weapon increased nearly as fast as the weight of it.

Nearly two minutes passed. With only a minute left, Keith slaughtered nearly all of the battalion. His unholy aura of life and death continued to grow. The power of the Soul Blade also grew so rapidly that Atraxia’s Wrath was cracking. It was unable to bear the pressure. But the aura released from his sword alone was enough to suppress the remaining Kysansha and their War Beasts. At this point he didn’t even need the power of Unholy Incarnation.

Unlike Unholy Incarnation which caused feeling of despair and fear, the aura from his sword was a physical suppression. It caused its victims to feel extreme weight on their bodies. They struggled to move and breath.

Some of the weaker Kysansha even kneeled against their will. Keith quickly obliterated them. His sword, despite its sharpness, it was so heavy now that it was akin to a hammer. Every swing required a massive amount of his stamina.

With ever increasing pain in his body and soul, Keith dispatched the remaining Kysansha and War Beasts. He dropped his sword, the moment he did so, it caused a crater upon contact with the ground and shattered into pieces. Just like that… a weapon made from remains of a B-Rank serpent shattered into hundreds of pieces. The power of a Divine Monarch, it was not a burden that any weapon could withstand. A monarch always needed a weapon that befitted them. Keith had not found his yet; hopefully someday he would find a weapon that stood at the pinnacle of all other weapons, if it was unrivalled could it be the weapon of a monarch.

As for Keith, he fell to his knees. Just as he was about to lose consciousness, he struggled with all his might to say, “Release Vessel”. Then he passed out. He didn’t have an ounce of energy left.