Chapter 164 - Muda! Muda! Muda!
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CLASH!
Merlin suddenly felt something hit the vessel he was taking over, as an enormous black and red blade greeted his sight.
Its intricate design, the beautifulness of the blade, the amazing talent that it could have been needed to create it, a sword that was born from the wishes of all humanity, created by the world itself long in the past.
However, its radiance was long gone, and it now exuded a shadowy and ghastly essence, covered in crimson red energy and unleashing an aura of complete death and bloodthirst.
The former beautiful holy light it exuded was replaced by this eternal and abyssal darkness, alongside this crimson red energy which exuded the scent of blood everywhere…
"E-Excalibur?! W-Wait… No! This… can\'t be!"
Merlin could not believe what his cybernetic eyes were seeing, the holy blade, Excalibur, which was once wielded by King Arthur, used as a tool to unify the Kingdoms and many people all around Britain was now… different.
Unlike its former yellow gold radiance, this Excalibur was completely black and red!
Merlin began to feel the inner circuits within Sakura\'s body beginning to break apart, as he lost part of the strength he had over the vessel.
Nonetheless, he quickly manipulated ice and threw the blade away with an enormous blast of crystalized ice, managing to get away ad quickly using the robot\'s ability to self-repair itself through mana.
Excalibur fell over the floor, however, it quickly began to hover once more, shrouded in shadows and crimson energy.
"N-no… This cannot… be! This is impossible! This can\'t be true!" said Merlin, beginning to not even believe what his mind was already assuming had happened!
Somehow, Noah\'s soul… defeated the Lady of the Lake and took over Excalibur!
But how could a mortal soul defeat a pseudo divine holy soul such as the soul fragment from the Lady of the Lake that existed within Excalibur?!
Such thought was completely and utterly ridiculous!
Yet… in front of his very cybernetic eyes and his phantasmal presence, it was the truth!
Iris and everyone else glanced with surprise and awe at the floating Excalibur, as the laughter they were very accustomed to hearing began to resonate through the hall, coming right from Excalibur itself!
"Haha… HAHAHAHA! Merlin! Did you missed me?!"
"Noah-sama!" cried Arthur while beginning to cry.
"Noah…!" said Iris, as she suddenly fell unconscious due to the amount of energy she spent. Although with a smile.
"Iris! Hang in there…!" said Timassa, grabbing Iris and letting her rest over her arms as Holy began to use her ability to calm the pain of her soul.
Noah glanced at Iris with his ethereal senses, feeling relieved that she and everyone else seemed to be alive…
"Y-You…! How did you defeat the Lady of the Lake?! You were a mere mortal soul, no matter if you were a VAMPIRE! This… What kind of underhanded method did you use?!" asked Merlin.
"Why would I even tell you, you cunning pile of bones? Everything that you throw at me is useless!" laughed Noah, as he suddenly moved with his new vessel, Excalibur itself, as he flashed like an arrow right towards Merlin!
"NNNGHAAGGH..!"
CLASH!
Noah\'s Excalibur body hit Merlin with immense strength, slicing him in half as his upper torso fell over the ground, many of his circuits failing and sparking with electricity.
"Y-You… are you not afraid of destroying the body of your ally?!" asked Merlin, cunningly trying to convince Noah to not hurt him because it was Sugar\'s body!
"Robots can always be repaired," said Noah\'s voice within Excalibur, as he began to pierce through Sakura\'s torso several times in a row while unleashing all the power of his soul and of the Corrupted Excalibur itself!
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
"Ngh…! W-Wait, why does it hurts?!"
Merlin suddenly realized something alongside his inability to cast the ice magic that Sakura had, every piercing attack made by Noah hurt him!
But how? He was wielding a vessel…
No, this pain… was on his very soul!
Before this, he felt like his soul was being weakened by the constant attacks of Noire, Sugar, and Sakura, but his soul did not really hurt as much as now!
It was as if each of those attacks were just damaging his skin, but Noah\'s attacks were… piercing right inside of his chest, destroying his heart, lungs, and stomach. That was the difference in the pain levels he felt compared to both incidents!
Feeling hopeless, Merlin quickly left the almost destroyed body of Sakura, as Noah stopped piercing her body with his Excalibur body.
Sakura quickly took control of her own body as she began to groan.
"Ugh… GYAAH! I am in pieces!" she said.
"Sorry about that, I will make sure to compensate it later," said Noah, startling Sakura, as he was a giant dark blade floating in midair!
"EH?! N-Noah-sama?!" she asked in surprise, as she saw Noah fly away, chasing the phantom soul of the old and cunning mage.
"G-Get away from me!" cried Merlin, trying to evade Noah\'s piercing attack, but failing miserably, as Noah\'s blade began to slice through his entire soul!
"Hahaha! You are hopeless now, old mage! And just like the Lady that was in here, I am going to eat you!" laughed Noah, vicious like a starving mad wolf, he pierced Merlin\'s entire soul hundreds of times in less than ten seconds, showering him with utmost agony!
"Nnnghgaagghh…! Stop! Gaaaagggghhhh…!" cried Merlin, as he tried to resist, but without proper vessel or magic circles, he seemed completely useless!
"Hahaha! You have a lot of Mana, don\'t you? What a pity that your flawed soul cannot use it without proper equipment. Don\'t worry, I will make it all my own power!" roared Noah, piercing Merlin\'s soul which struggled and agonized, trying to run away as much as it could but always being caught by Noah!
He began to feel his entire existence fade away as if he were fragmenting into pieces!
Merlin began to recall the memories of his past, of how he grew and became interested in magic due to many accidents that led to others, discovering magic, practicing it, and delving into the mysteries of the world…
All of it only to end up pathetically having his soul eaten by a Vampire possessing the legendary Excalibur!
What kind of ridiculous end was this?!
"Nooo…! I had… I had to fulfill the promise… King… Arthur…! Nnngggh…!"
CLASH!
The Excalibur pierced Merlin\'s soul\'s depths, reaching his Primordial Essence and absorbing it all as if it were a delicious elixir!
Noah laughed maliciously and monstrously, as he devoured Merlin\'s soul while the old mage that had lived for hundreds of years screamed in agony!
"Nooo! I do not… want to disappear! NOO! NOOOOOO! KING… ARTHUUUUUUUUUUUR…!"
Crack, crack…!
CRASH!
"This era doesn\'t belong to an annoying old man like you anymore. It is mine, begone, useless ghost! Muda! Muda! Mudaaa!" roared Noah, ruthlessly shattering Merlin\'s soul into glass-like pieces, which began to be instantly devoured by his soul one by one, filling him with even more power!
Flash!
Noah\'s soul began to flow with even more power, as he quickly decided to fly near his body and go back to it, he had left his body for a few minutes now, his body was probably dead!
However, was he not already dead, to begin with?
Clash!
Excalibur hit the ground directly near Noah, as an enormous spectral mass flew out of it and inserted itself inside of Noah\'s soul!
Boom!
An explosion of enormous amounts of energy was unfolded, as Noah\'s crimson eyes finally opened once more!
"Hmph, easy pickings…"
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