D.I.O

Chapter 265

Woong!

In Merlin’s dantian region, his Golden Pill Immortal Technique’s inner core awakened, and 100 years of internal energy entered his inner world. This internal energy passed through Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars and was amplified to 200, 400, 800, and 1,600 years, respectively.

This amplification mechanism is what allowed Merlin to defeat a pseudo-transcendent in the New Continent, the Gold Dragon. This single bundle of internal energy, which was more than 26 cycles and just below 27 cycles, could shake the heavens and the earth.

However, in truth, even this level of internal energy wasn’t enough to penetrate Mary’s defensive strong qi barrier.

With the Gold Dragon, Merlin could place his hand inside its body after the monster had all its defenses destroyed. However, Mary was in a protected, fully defensive state.

[Roar!]

[Grr!]

At that moment, the two beings sleeping in Merlin’s body woke up.

After absorbing the Chintamani Marble’s energy, Merlin’s spirit creatures, Younghwi and Shining, fell into a deep sleep.

And, once they woke up….

Woong!

Merlin’s new planets, Jupiter and Saturn, opened and operated.

“Merlin, what are you planning to do?”

“Well, to be honest, the simplest solution is for me to reach the transcendent realm. Of course, there are numerous transcendents within the Noblesse rank and file, and the Union’s enemies are also comprised of many transcendents. Yet, home advantage can’t be ignored. If there’s one transcendent-level being on Earth- no, if there are at least two such people, we can block all external interference. After all, those who were [born] on Earth aren’t bound by any restrictions.”

Jupiter further amplified the 1,600 years of internal energy to become 3,200 years.

Then, those 3,200 years grew to 6,400 years after passing through Saturn.

The birth of these two planets, Jupiter and Saturn, had much greater meaning for Merlin than assimilating the powers within the Chintamani Marble into his character and increasing his spiritual power stats.

His decision to create two additional planets produced results far beyond anyone’s imagination; it could even be considered to be the pinnacle of irrationality. Six thousand four hundred years of internal energy….

The inexhaustible force of over 100 cycles of internal energy was not something containable in a single blow.

Transcendents who reached the peak of martial arts with their lofty realizations sometimes performed miracles beyond anyone’s imagination.

However, it was rare for even these beings to output 100 cycles of internal energy in one strike.

No, the entire universe could be turned upside down and shaken, and in all of history, not even a handful of such attacks had occurred.

Quiet Heaven had seen numerous expositions of supernatural powers while traveling throughout the cosmos, and he once said that Merlin’s power broke the framework of martial arts itself. Furthermore, Ellie had worked as a telekinesis professor for quite a long time before becoming a pet; she once commented that Merlin’s hand strike transcended the universe’s traditional physical or psychic foundation.

Rumble!

Of course, normally, Merlin couldn’t withstand 100 cycles of internal energy coursing through his body.

Even if he had strengthened his HP with an emergency buff, he would have exploded as soon as he fired the outrageous attack.

However, now, he had the non-destructive system setting placed on him.

In other words, he was now invulnerable to any bodily harm, so he could fully implement any technique, no matter how much stress it put on him.

“I hate the concept of waiting for development - it’s like gambling. Should people continue to train and wait patiently for enlightenment to come one day? That’s just stupid. It’s common for many practitioners to never obtain enlightenment, so we must forge a new path.”

“Merlin?”

Arc stared blankly at the golden light leaking out of Merlin’s body as if it were a halo.

Merlin looked like a holy, god-like character from a sci-fi story.

Obviously, Merlin had not intended for this situation to arise. In fact, he had tried to hide his energy and power as much as possible, but in the end, he failed.

Merlin tried to control his attacks, thinking he was better off hiding his true strength, but under the current situation, he couldn’t help but release his full powers. Moreover, he had already amplified his internal energy, so there was no turning back.

“Huh? Wait, this is….”

“In forging a new path, I’ve found the answer.”

Then, as she felt the tremendous amount of energy, Mary opened her eyes.

This was proof she hadn’t completely let her guard down, but it was already too late.

Merlin put his hand on the strong qi barrier, and the power of 6,400 years of internal energy exploded outward.

“And this… is the answer.”

Tap.

A sound akin to hitting clothes lightly with a palm rang out, but the noise didn’t match the monstrous power being outputted.

Mary hesitated before pulling up her t-shirt.

“This….”

As she did so, Mary revealed her slim waist and white jade-like skin.

However, what was more revealing was a set of dark palm prints under her chest, an area that looked incongruently voluptuous compared to her slender figure.

Mary looked at Merlin with an exasperated and dumbfounded expression. It was as though she couldn’t believe what she’d just witnessed.

“What the heck….”

Flash!

A flash of dazzling golden light burst out.

There was no sound, but an intangible wave swept through the surroundings, almost deafening everyone.

And when the golden light disappeared, the battle was already over.

“Oh, my god….”josei

“This is so absurd. While it’s always possible for a kid to defeat an expert every once in a while, does it make sense for a transcendent to fall at the hands of a non-transcendent?”

Sungmuk groaned.

This was because Merlin was such a thorough and calculating character; Merlin induced Mary’s carelessness and drove her into an inescapable corner. Although Merlin’s one-shot blow was undeniably powerful, unless Mary stood directly before it and bore the brunt of the attack, the skill wouldn’t have had much effect.

Since Merlin hadn’t transcended, if anyone put down their guard, they’d succumb to Merlin’s attack.

However, Merlin was completely silent, as he’d foreseen the entire situation, and he calmly approached Mary.

There were no major wounds visible on Mary’s body, but the higher one’s power level, the greater the severity of injury to one’s aura rather than their physical body.

In other words, Mary had suffered an irreparable blow.

“How… just how….”

As he watched Mary stutter in disbelief, Merlin took out his Editor Blade. Unfortunately for Mary, Merlin couldn’t allow her to live.

Since DIO’s system calibrated Mary to protect the system control room, she’d soon regenerate to take her post once again.

However, though Merlin had this brief thought, he couldn’t help but stop once he heard Mary’s next words.

“How are you… how are you able to use the Heavenly Sword Clan’s Qi Heaven?”

“What?”

Merlin’s No Living World didn’t purely originate from the Golden Pill Immortal Technique.

Though he created Mercury in the traditional way, the subsequent planets were formed utilizing Qi Heaven principles.

Qi Heaven materialized qi.

If he didn’t have the power of Qi Heaven, Merlin might not have been capable of creating Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, not to mention Venus and Earth.

“What are you talking about? If this is Qi Heaven, then the principles are readily available to anyone in DIO’s library….”

“Wrong. The DIO library does not have the Heavenly Sword Clan’s Qi Heaven. What’s available there has been adulterated, tampered with- ugh!”

Mary was struggling to raise her body when she vomited blood.

As her aura was destroyed, her body began to disintegrate in turn.

“In other words, the Qi Heaven you taught me was different than what’s available in the DIO library, right?”

“What… When did I ever teach you Qi Heaven?”

“You still don’t remember. You’re the one who inscribed this on me.”

Merlin didn’t know the exact reason why Mary didn’t remember him.

He had a few guesses, but since there was no factual basis to make any concrete judgment, Merlin had only hypothesized.

“Is that… is that Qi Heaven?”

Mary, finally discovering the Seal of Heaven on Merlin’s forehead, reached out.

And at that moment….

Whoosh!

Merlin felt a wave of pain.

In the past, the Seal of Heaven that Mary engraved on his forehead had caused a burning sensation.

Now, the power of Qi Heaven in the Seal of Heaven started to resonate with Mary’s Qi Heaven.

“Shoot! Data Drain!”

As he felt something ominous brewing, Merlin inserted the Editor Blade into Mary’s chest.

There was no hesitation in his actions. Merlin wasn’t sentimental enough to falter when something unknown or dangerous arose.

Ting!

Along with a strange resonant sound, steam-like qi emanated from Mary’s body and was soon sucked into the Editor Blade.

The process was the same as when the Gold Dragon’s qi was absorbed, but there was a slight difference this time around as some of the qi flowed into Merlin’s Seal of Heaven.

“What is this?”

Though he didn’t know what was happening, Merlin didn’t try blocking the incoming aura and qi.

Most of the qi and aura were entering the Editor Blade. Furthermore, Merlin thought it was an excellent opportunity to finally learn more about the Seal of Heaven, as its existence had always been a mystery to him.

Creak!

The Editor Blade grew rapidly.

Its speed of growth was incomparably faster than when the Gold Dragon’s qi was consumed.

The Editor Blade, which had been longer than a dagger but shorter than a longsword, grew to the size of the latter in an instant.

Then, almost immediately, it started emitting a transparent, brilliant light.

“I wondered if I’d be able to develop it, but it turned out well.”

To gain such a result, Data Drain was not a system feature that could be used on just any target.

Though one could use Data Drain on anyone, most people wouldn’t help the Editor Blade develop.

The Editor Blade only grew when it sucked in extremely compressed essences within DIO.

This was why transcendent beings, or those equivalent to transcendental beings or pseudo-transcendents, were needed.

“Merlin. Your forehead.”

“Ah, looks like the Seal of Heaven has also reached the end of its development.”

Merlin felt the Seal of Heaven disappear, with the seal having been on his forehead for nearly the entire time he’d played DIO up to this point.

All the data that made up Mary had been fully digested.

In addition, most of the qi energy was absorbed by the Editor Blade, so there was no further sense of danger.

The Seal of Heaven, which had disappeared from within Merlin and became its own independent entity outside his body, started to emanate a Qi Heaven aura.

Qi Heaven materialized qi.

The qi gathered in the external Seal of Heaven and soon materialized into a human form.

“Wow… Oh, my God….”

A white-haired girl descended in front of Merlin. It was Mary, who had been annihilated by Merlin’s hands just moments ago.

The only difference was the joyful expression clearly present on the young girl’s face.

“To think things worked out so well… I’m actually rather taken aback that everything ended up like this.”

As he saw Mary’s happy but slightly awkward expression, Merlin instantly thought of a hypothesis.

“Wait… no way… you….”