One of Cedric's many headaches right now was the fact that he couldn't completely get rid of Yami. If Yami's body were to be killed, his soul could just jump to another vessel. And yet, the guy was capable of completely ending Cedric's life.

Now, with this property, it looks like the playing field has been leveled again. He now also held the power to completely erase that guy from existence.

Cedric grinned.

'I'm loving this development.'

At that moment, Aika who was watching him curiously finally spoke. "Come on, what are you waiting for? Put it on already. I'm curious."

Cedric stood up and spread his arms then asked, "How do I put it on?"

Aika tilted her head. "Same way you use your abilities, I think."

Cedric looked at himself, expelled a bit of mana, and summoned the Yoroi.

Wisps of the decay surrounded Cedric like green smoke, and in the next instant, the Yoroi began to take shape. At first, a black kimono appeared over his clothes, followed by black pants of the same material called the hakama.

A black conical shaped hat appeared over his head, and a black menpo mask appeared over his mouth. The mask was crafted into a permanent, snarling grimace, featuring a row of lacquered teeth and two exaggerated canines rose from the lower jaw like ivory tusks. It was crafted from a dark, reinforced metal that looked like it had been pulled straight from a nightmare, covering his lower face and leaving only his eyes visible.

Cedric, thought that this was all.

He touched the kimono and it was indeed of really good quality. But then, he wondered if this really protected his body.

Until Aika spoke. "That's not the full Yoroi, you know? I think that's just the under-armor. Summon the entire thing."

'There's more?' Cedric thought, his hand still resting on the dark fabric.

He noticed that this under-armor he was currently wearing did not use any mana to sustain it. It was almost as if this was the dormant state of the gear. Yet, he could clearly feel the aura of decay flowing out of him. So much so that the colors in the cave began to fade into a dull, sickly grey, and even the fire nearby began to flicker and die as if the very heat was being rotted away.

'Fascinating…'

Cedric then summoned the full Yoroi, and when he did, form-fitting armored plates appeared and began to lace themselves securely onto the kimono. And two horns that looked like blackened bone appeared on top of the conical shaped hat.

Now, he really did look like a wandering, but sovereign samurai.

Cedric was in awe.

Although at that moment, he noticed that the full Yoroi did eat a bit of his mana. It wasn't much that it would hinder him, but it was indeed noticeable.

'Not bad.'

A satisfactory smile crossed Cedric's lips behind the menpo mask.

At that moment, a notification popped up for him.

[This Regalia has an armament.]

Cedric's eyes widened.

'Huh? An armament?'

Armaments were weapons that came exclusive to the regalia. They were extremely rare, and in order to possess one, your bond had to be unique, like Aika who could manifest double weapons.

'Okay, okay now, where is it?'

Impatient, Cedric began to look for it, then saw that it was on his back.

He reached for it and his fingers closed around a hilt wrapped in tattered, black silk. Then he pulled it out, and that was when he found out that it was a nodachi. The two-handed greatsword was forged from the same dull, blackened steel as his katana and wakizashi.

Cedric was extremely excited because this meant that whenever Aika joined him on the battlefield, she would have a weapon too.

He began to test the nodachi, swinging a few times in the large cave.

"How do I look?" he asked.

Aika, who was looking at him with a bit of unfiltered reverence replied, "A deadly Cornish hen."

Cedric tilted his head, then looked away and shrugged. "I'll take the compliment this time."

After swinging his sword a few times to get a feel for it, he let the blade, together with his entire regalia, dissolve back into green mist.

Then, he dropped down beside Aika and took some of the tea that she had made.

As he sipped the tea, his attention returned back to his profile.

That was when he noticed that both his skills had leveled up quite a bit.

Exclusive Skill: [Flames of decay - Lv4], [One with the Ravens - Lv3]

He wasn't entirely surprised; after all, he had been purposefully putting in the work all this time to level them.

Still, he was extremely excited.

The flames of decay would now be more powerful than they were before and he hoped that the cost of mana to use them would go down too.

As for One with the Ravens, the screen confirmed that the countdown had reduced by two minutes. He now had to wait eight minutes before he could use the skill again.

This made Cedric realize that even if he leveled the skill all the way to level ten, he would still be left with a countdown of one minute.

It wouldn't ever be instant, but it was a hell of a lot better than waiting ten.

Cedric exhaled in satisfaction, but after a few seconds, all the exhaustion of earlier finally caught up to him. His limbs felt heavy and even keeping his eyes open was becoming a chore.

"I'm going to sleep, Aika. I'm so exhausted."

He took out a sleeping bag, kicked away a few stray pieces of rusted metal to clear a spot, and collapsed into it without even taking off his boots.

At the end, Cedric slept for two days straight.

***

…

..

.

The first time Cedric played Seraphim of Doom, there was a certain species that irritated him so much he ended up wiping their entire territory clean. Since there weren't many of them to begin with, it was a task he actually managed to pull off.

This species was located in the Babies' Cradle, right after the Yeti territory.

Now that Cedric was in this world, he had planned with Aika to do it all over again. He decided that he would commit mass destruction and completely wipe out that territory. He wouldn't stop until that entire territory was gone just for the sake of it.

And so, four days later, after Cedric had fully recovered his mana and strength, he set out with Aika for the babies cradle.

When they left the territory of the Yetis, they began to see piles of waste and rusted scraps of metal half-buried in the dirt. But what unnerved Cedric was the number of plastic dolls he could see. Some of them were as large as his entire frame, lying tangled in the grass with missing limbs and hollow stares.

The atmosphere felt thick and polluted, smelling faintly of poop and old trash. This did not stop them, and it took them two days to eventually arrive at the Cradle, after which they began to hear noises like children crying.

The duo stopped at the edge of the canyon. Below was a wasteland of absolute filth, filled with plastic dolls and the dead bodies of half-eaten creatures. Among the heaps of refuse, babies the size of houses were crawling on the ground. Some were playing with the dolls, some were devouring the already decaying bodies of creatures, and some which seemed older were clumsily stumbling on their feet.

"Do we really have to do this, Ced?" Aika asked. She was looking away, her face scrunched up as she caught glimpses of the things below. "And…" She stopped to gag, covering her nose. "My god, the smell. It's unbearable."

Cedric didn't look away. "Just look at them. I don't know what kind of deranged psychopath created these abominations, but they shouldn't exist. They don't deserve to live, don't you think?"

Aika's face was a pale shade of green as she held Cedric's arm for support. "I think I'm going to be sick after."

Cedric hit her back gently. "Just try to keep it together until we're done. I'd rather not have to carry you back through this smell."

Aika gagged again, then forced herself to straighten up and wiped her mouth. "You owe me for this."

Cedric smiled. "I'll make it up to you later."

"Really, you'll do anything I say?" Aika smiled in a way that Cedric thought was creepy.

'Did I say that I'll do anything you say?'

"Uh… I didn…"

Aika cut him off. "Great. Now, let's get this over with before the smell actually becomes permanent."

The moment she was done speaking, the dormant state of her Yoroi appeared on her body. Just like Cedric's, a black kimono formed first, followed by a conical hat and a menpo mask that hid her expression.

A katana floated up out of her shadow, and she caught the hilt mid-air. The second she unsheathed the blade, black feathers erupted from the steel, swirling around her before turning into a flock of ravens that took to the sky.

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