Awakening: Reincarnating With the SSS-Level Extraction Talent

Fwish! Crash!

The sound echoed through the shattered battlefield as Alex's final strike toward the Hatred Demon's heart was intercepted.

Just as his claws were about to land the fatal blow, the heart, buried within the demon's monstrous chest, reacted violently.

From its core, hundreds of writhing crimson tendrils surged outward like living spears, erupting through the air with a sound that was part screech, part thunder.

They struck Alex all at once, crushing his body in a grotesque, grinding collapse of flesh and bone.

And just like that, he died.

But death wasn't the end of it.

While his shattered body hit the ground, the rest of those crimson tendrils kept moving, shifting their focus.

Half of them coiled around the Hatred Demon's decapitated head, lifting it off the broken terrain and dragging it upward.

The other half buried themselves into the cracked earth beneath, pushing and bracing to raise the demon's vast body back onto its feet.

'What the actual fuck... it's going crazy...' Alex's thoughts echoed, sharp and fast despite his corpse being reduced to little more than pulp.

Somehow, through sheer will or perhaps the last function of a still-active skill, his eyes still worked, granting him a front-row seat to the demon's resurrection.

The truth was simple yet terrifying, the heart, the essence of the Hatred Demon, had sensed its host was in critical danger.

And in response, it had unleashed its defensive protocols without hesitation.

The result was horrifyingly effective.

Yet this wasn't the end of the story.

[Destiny Shift.]

With a blinding pulse of reversed time and twisted fate, his death was undone.

In the blink of an eye, Alex's body reverted to what it was five seconds ago, back before he had made his fatal lunge.

His position shifted as well, returning him to solid ground, alive again, gasping, but standing.

But in that same moment, the crimson tendrils had already completed their work.

The Hatred Demon's head was once again affixed to its neck, bound by ropes of glowing red flesh.

More tendrils wrapped around the seams like threads of demonic silk, knitting together muscle, bone, and void.

Then, with a twitch, its hollow, abyss-like face returned, eyes glowing with cruel light, jagged mouths stretching wide.

"It looks like the angel was wrong," the Hatred Demon said with a smile far too pleased, "Too bad. There will be no more second chances now."

But Alex didn't respond.

He didn't flinch, didn't curse, didn't even blink.

His eyes, calm and determined, remained fixed ahead.

Because despite everything, he had already decided, this fight would end with the arrival of [World Cleaver].

And that moment was nearly upon them.

In fact, neither he nor the Hatred Demon would even get the chance to clash again.

Because… Ding!

[Target has survived. Activating "Destiny Shackles."]

Suddenly, without warning, golden chains erupted from the ground like divine serpents of light, coiling themselves tightly around the Hatred Demon's massive body.

They wrapped around its limbs, torso, neck, every part bound, held still by overwhelming force.

"You still cannot harm me, child," the demon chuckled, even now unbothered, "My heart will protect me."

And it wasn't lying.

The crimson tendrils, those defensive extensions of its heart, remained active, slithering and twitching even beneath the shackles.

They weren't physical constructs.

They were soul-born, existing within a different layer of reality.

[Destiny Shackles] couldn't suppress them.

[10 seconds.]

That was how long the Hatred Demon would remain restrained.

And Alex understood the implications all too well.

If he failed to kill it within that window, those tendrils would rise again and end him for good.

He spent the first five seconds testing the impossible, lunging again and again toward the demon's chest, only to be slapped away or killed by the reactive tendrils.

The heart's defense was absolute.

It wasn't going to work.

[5 seconds.]

To anyone watching, it looked hopeless.

"What are you gonna do, partner?" Alphox shouted, his tone heavy with panic.

"Shit…" Astolf muttered, unable to hide the dread in his voice.

Even the Hatred Demon began to laugh louder, watching the seconds slip away with smug satisfaction.

It knew. Everyone knew.

[World Cleaver] had appeared and failed, and as far as they were all aware, it was Alex's final trump card.

Except… they were wrong.

There was still one last secret.

One item Alex hadn't used yet.

An item that was absolutely perfect in this exact situation, when the enemy couldn't move, couldn't regenerate, and couldn't dodge.

[Do it, host,] a voice echoed in his mind, the Crown of Calamity, perfectly synced with his thoughts, aware of what he intended.

[Crown of Calamity (Forbidden Item)]

[Can absorb items and directly transfer their powers to the user with a boost]

[Current stored items: Ring of Eternity, Staff of Pure Hatred, Grand Mage Hat, Annihilation Crucifix]

Among those items, one stood out.

The [Annihilation Crucifix].

[Annihilation Crucifix (Corrupted)]

[The ultimate item of the angels. Can be wielded by undead, elves, and a select few chosen.]

[Primary Function: Remove all darkness from your surroundings. Cleanse all impurities. Sever the immortality of any undead.]

The word "corrupted" simply referred to its absorption by the Crown, but its power remained intact.

And more importantly…

[The Crucifix has a unique skill, host :)]

Alex nodded.

That was exactly what he had been waiting for.

[4 seconds.]

The tension in the air was unbearable.

His allies watched silently, unaware of what he was about to unleash.

He quickly read over the Crown's updated data on the crucifix's ability.

[Unique Skill: Holy Blast]

[Allows the user to concentrate their aura into a radiant shockwave that damages all undead or impure entities in the area. Damage is scaled based on the target's impurity.]

[3 seconds.]

"Be ready, CHILD!" the Hatred Demon bellowed, trying to scare him one final time, "There's nothing left for you now!"

But it didn't matter.

[It is time to end it, host. Focus,] the Crown whispered.

Alex lowered his gaze and brought his hands together in front of him.

He could feel his aura gathering, slowly at first, then faster, shifting inward, condensing like a swirling storm being forced into a bottle.

His golden and crimson energy danced and crackled in the air, merging, spinning, forming a glowing orb between his palms.

This was [Holy Blast].

He had waited the entire battle for this exact moment.

The Hatred Demon had simply been too fast before, too chaotic.

But now, frozen in place, vulnerable, this was the only time he could use it without missing.

And it was perfect.

Because if there was a single being in the entire game of [Universal Descent] more impure than anything else, it was this.

[2 seconds.]

"You can't kill me!" the Hatred Demon shouted louder, trying one last time to shake his focus.

"I will regenerate, no matter what!"

But Alex didn't waver.

Eyes closed, hands joined, he centered all of his power into that singular orb.

His aura trembled with raw force.

The pressure in the air grew heavier.

And then, with one second left, he opened his eyes.

They blazed with fury and light.

"Goodbye," he whispered.

And then...

HOLY BLAST!

With a single, fluid motion, Alex thrust his hands forward.

The orb launched like a bullet of divine wrath.

At first it was only the size of his chest, but as it flew, it grew, swelling to the size of the Hatred Demon's massive torso, radiant with golden-red energy, trailing streaks of light.

FWISHHHHH, BOOOOOOOM!

[Destiny Shackles removed.]

But it was far too late for the demon to move.

The Holy Blast collided with its chest, no, it engulfed its chest, and in that instant, even the Hatred Demon's smug expression vanished.

Its eyes widened. The pain was instant. Agonizing.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH—" it screamed, howling as the blast burned through its flesh.

Every single crimson tendril shriveled and disintegrated as the wave of purifying energy tore into its essence, leaving a gaping hole where its chest once was.

It had barely been touched, yet it already knew it had lost.

Because this wasn't just some regular attack. This was judgment.

The pain, the unbearable torment, was a result of its own existence.

It was too impure, too corrupted, too evil. The attack had hit its very soul.

And Alex didn't wait.

He launched himself forward using his four wings, shooting through the air with unrelenting speed, arriving in front of the still-twitching demon.

Its body was breaking apart, but its heart, the true source, was still intact.

"AAAAAAAAAAHH, MAKE IT STOPPPPPP—!"

But Alex ignored the screams.

He raised his claws, eyes focused. Then, struck.

A brutal, direct hit to the heart.

BOOM! Ding!

[You have hit the Hatred Demon's heart for the third and final time.]

[0/3 Strikes Left. Its heart will now break. Permanent death initiated.]

Alex smiled as he felt the heart beneath his claws begin to crack, deep fissures forming instantly.

Beams of light spilled out from within, blindingly bright.

[It is about to break. You should get out of here, host,] the Crown warned.

He backed off immediately.

The Hatred Demon had gone quiet.

Its body stood frozen, hands clutching its chest.

"Y-You…" it whispered, eyes trembling, voice low and weak, "You… win."

Those were its final words.

Then, just like the heart, cracks began to spread across its entire body.

Light shone from within.

And after a tense fifteen seconds, without warning, a burst of divine light exploded from the center of the battlefield.

The Hatred Demon's body crumbled to dust. Its heart shattered. And the nightmare finally ended.

Ding!

[You have defeated the 'Hatred Demon.']

...

A/N

Sorry that this fight lasted so long, but so much happened in it that it was difficult to decide what could enter and what couldn't, so the pacing got terrible.

As always, the following fights will be normal-sized as always, and I did say it was the longest battle in the ENTIRE novel.