Pandora Unchained - B1C90: Embracing Violence

The stones lining the basement floor cracked as Sorin pushed himself forward with no technique, no deception, only raw and unadulterated Violence. Marcus summoned his snake staff to intercept him, but Sorin used his own arm to catch its bite, taking a small injury to land a Viper Strike into Marcus's side and unleash three times as much poison as was normally possible.

Sorin's swift hands followed up to land another hit, forcing Marcus to use a spiritual attack to try and paralyze him. But in Sorin's crazed state, the attack had no effect. Marcus suffered a second poison-filled wound and was unable to evade the follow-up Python Coil that violently gripped him.

"Arrogant!" said Marcus, activating his life mana full force. A life shield appeared and forced Sorin back. But Sorin caught himself with what appeared to be claws coming out of his hands and feet and crazily launched himself forward once again.

The aggressive offense was taxing on Sorin, but every time he reached his limit, something seemed to break inside him, filling him with an additional burst of energy. It caused his mana and blood to boil and seek out any outlet possible.

When Marcus finally had enough and used his two-star dagger to intercept Sorin's own dagger, cutting it in half, Sorin abandoned his weapon and launched himself at the bone-forging physician with his bare hands.

This isn't me, said a small voice inside of Sorin.

But Sorin didn't listen. He continued his assault even when Marcus used his dagger to stab him in the chest, puncturing his lung.

The wound hurt, but it didn't overly slow Sorin down; his regeneration was operating at several times the usual speed. The small wound closed seconds after Marcus caused it.

"You've lost all sense of reason," muttered Marcus, once again pushing Sorin back with a life shield. "You're little better than animal now, Sorin. Was it worth it? In the end, you saved no one, and have simply handed yourselves to the demons on silver platter."

Sorin ignored the question and once again launched himself at Marcus like a wild animal. He knew he was becoming predictable, but he didn't care.

Marcus, finally having enough of the ordeal, stabbed Sorin in the leg. Sorin managed to tear a gash into Marcus's chest with his claws, in exchange, but Marcus quickly purged his poisons and corruption, then used his life drain ability on Sorin's leg before tossing him back onto the ground.

Leg hobbled, Sorin was no longer able to ignore Marcus's dagger, and neither was he able to avoid the serpent staff's biting attacks. His leather armor had been reduced to rags, and bloody holes appeared on his bedevilled body, challenging its ability to regenerate.

I can't…

He couldn't think. He couldn't react properly. And now, he'd lost the initiative, and Marcus had him on the ropes.

If only I had an opening. If only I hadn't lost myself.

He braced himself as the snake pulled its head back and went for his throat.

"Reeeee!" A blazing rat shot past Sorin and collided with the snake staff, then wrestled it to the ground. Sorin wondered how Lorimer could have possibly recovered but noticed an open belt pouch near Stephan's unconscious body, with demon cores and coins spilling out of it.

On paper, the staff was vastly more powerful than the rat, but against the mutated rockgnaw rat's teeth, it soon suffered a crack. "Lorimer," muttered Sorin, regaining a bit of his lucidity. Violence's effect was indeed very potent and had completely overpowered Sorin's conscious mind.

Now able to think a little clearer, Sorin drew on his poisonous mana but discovered it to be unstable. Complex spells were no longer an option.

Simple then, thought Sorin, summoning a mass of violent poison mana into his hand and forming it into a six-foot-long spear. It was stable and tangible, and most importantly, he could use it to leverage his now-immense strength.

Sorin once again launched himself at Marcus despite his hobbled leg.

Having lost the protection of his staff, the physician summoned a life shield to repel Sorin. But he underestimated Sorin's new spear, which was filled with Sorin's poisons, including his pernicious manabane poison.

Sorin's first attack failed to penetrate the shield, but it managed to weaken it enough so that with the second strike, shield shattered, hitting Marcus with a heavy backlash. Sorin was also affected by the breaking shield, but once again, something broke inside Sorin, filling him with strength. Enough to push past the secondary shield Marcus summoned and force the battle into a melee brawl.

Reacting quickly, Marcus stepped in to prevent Sorin from using the spear effectively. Sorin drew the weapon back into his body and caught Marcus's dagger with his bare hands. He then used the only weapon he had remaining—his teeth—to attack him.

"Argh!" Marcus yelled as Sorin's unnaturally sharp teeth bit into his shoulder. "You monster!"

"Interesting words coming from a total psychopath," said Sorin, spitting out blood. "A person like you who has no regard for boundaries or basic principles is effectively a monster in human skin."

Marcus cackled madly. "Do you even know how you look, Sorin? If there's a monster here, it's you!" He then pulled back his dagger, severely lacerating Sorin's fingers. Fortunately, Sorin's hands were now covered in scales, negating over half of the damage, including that caused by the fire-based enchantment on the dagger.

This time, Marcus didn't let up. Sorin was forced to pull back and summon another spear. He threw the spear at Marcus, piercing yet another hole through his defenses. "You'll run out of energy if you keep going like this," said Marcus. "I, on the other hand, have energy for days." Sorin knew it was true, but also knew he had no choice but to fight on. If he didn't, Violence would consume him.

Crack.

Yet another sensation of breaking finally alerted Sorin that something was amiss. It wasn't his bones breaking, and neither was it his meridians. He quickly inspected his body but discovered nothing wrong. In fact, everything was better than it should be. His natural abilities and strength had improved, and his mana was thicker than ever.

"Enough of this," said Marcus. "You know the kinds of preparations our family makes when sending out members for important missions. Given that I was sent to this outpost in the middle of nowhere, these trinkets happen to counter you perfectly."

Sorin's eyes narrowed as Marcus summoned a medallion in his hands. "An anti-demon talisman?" said Sorin.

"Precisely," said Marcus. "Since you've embraced the darkness, then this medallion will consume it and you with it." The medallion shattered in Marcus's hands, filling the room with white flames. They weakened both Sorin and Lorimer, who'd gotten the upper hand with the staff, instantly turning the tides against them.

The staff, under the direction of Marcus, coiled around Lorimer and attempted to gobble down the rat. Fortunately, Sorin was ready – he used his powerful claws to grasp the snake staff just beneath the head and pulled it back, giving Lorimer just enough time to free himself.

"Go!" said Sorin, punting the rat away. "I probably won't survive this, so get the hell out of here!"

"I don't think I'll be letting any demons wander about this manor, thank you very much," said Marcus, summoning a bubble of life mana around Lorimer. The rat attempted to gnaw at the bubble, only to find that it was extremely flexible and not susceptible to sharp teeth.

Simultaneously, the staff attacked Sorin and attempted to coil around him. Being experienced with such attacks, Sorin was able to avoid the worst of it but found himself under constant pressure that once again caused something inside him to break.

A seal? thought Sorin, inspecting his body. That wasn't theoretically possible since he'd already fully unlocked his Conception Vessel.

Unless…

He turned his inner spiritual senses towards his last remaining blocked meridian: the Governing Vessel.

But it's impossible to unlock these seals. Even Sirius was forced to give up.

Unless… unless he was trying something Sirius hadn't tried? Something that had been impossible before now? Was corruption the hidden key?

Sorin's body was now rife with corruption thanks to the poison pill, to the point that his bones were unstable and on the verge of permanently mutating. This corruption had also wandered over to his meridians and was corrupting his blood and mana. Then, upon encountering his unopened meridian, it had found its nemesis in the form of divine seals blocking off the meridian's 28 acupoints and instinctively attacked them.

Six out of 28 seals are broken, resulting in a significant increase in strength, thought Sorin. But passively waiting for them to open won't work. Like the Conception Vessel, breaking them open requires a concerted effort in conjunction with high-level impacts.

Another thing Sorin realized was that with every seal that broke, a portion of the corruption in the Violent Awakening pill was eliminated. While it might not save his cultivation, eliminating corruption might allow him to regain his faculties after defeating Marcus, at least enough to save Gabriella.

He, therefore, threw himself at Marcus and continued his assault. Each exchange broke a seal, flooding him with another sudden surge of strength.

But Marcus clearly didn't see this. "You're losing this battle of attrition, Sorin," said Marcus. "But I can also see that you've not completely lost control. Give up, Sorin, and I'll pull some strings to preserve your life and have the Temple of Hope purify you. The Grand Elder holds you in high esteem, after all."

Mentioning the Grand Elder, the one person who shouldhave supported him when his parents died, only fueled Sorin's rage. He redoubled his attacks, shattering five more golden seals before once again pulling back. Such a speed was too slow, however, and breaking seals was becoming more difficult. He would need to commit if he was going to break through in this battle.

Sorin analyzed the corruption in his body and immediately discovered how to speed up the breaking of the golden seals. Currently, the corruption was a foreign entity, and was only passively attacking the seals. The quickest way to obtain its help would be to assimilate the corruption into his mana and blood and directly impact the seals.

There was no time to hesitate. Indecision was a cardinal sin for a physician. He directly activated Toxic Metabolism. The heroic ability wasn't made to handle corruption and, therefore, showed signs of sluggishness. But corruption, by nature, wished to contaminate. It therefore willingly fused Sorin's nine poisons and initiated a breakthrough.

"And here I thought that you could still be saved," said Marcus, shaking his head. He sighed as he pulled out another talisman – one made to trap demons instead of purifying them. "I will not kill you, as the Grand Elder has specifically requested it, but even so, I doubt he will be able to save one who has so thoroughly embraced corruption."

White fire appeared as Marcus broke the talisman and formed a wish-fire prison around Sorin. The prison suppressed him, and the suppression only grew stronger as Violence fused with his nine other poisons and propelled him to the tenth level of blood thickening.

Sorin grinned wickedly as his power rose. "If you hadn't messed with Gabriella, I wouldn't have committed to this path, Marcus. I would have never discovered the key. You can only blame yourself for what's about to happen."

"What are you talking about?" asked Marcus. "Is babbling nonsense all you corrupt cultivators do? I've heard of your deceptive ways and how you can influence the minds and hearts of others with only a few words. I refuse to listen."

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Marcus's eyes widened as he took a step back. "What's going on?"

Crack. Crack. Crack. CRACK!

"You can't possibly undergo another breakthrough so shortly after reaching the tenth stage of blood-thickening," continued Marcus.

Crack. Crack. Crack. CRACK. CRACK!

Sorin smiled toothily as one seal after another broke under the force of his corrupt mana until finally, the last seal broke, and a tarnished golden light flooded every cell in his body. Strength filled Sorin as holy energy coursed through his meridians and invigorated his blood.

But along with these positive changes came some extreme side effects. Violence, for one, had become an inseparable part of Sorin. It rampaged inside him, wanting to be let out. And rather than fight against it, Sorin pursued the most sensible option.

He embraced it.