章 20: Who knows?

Anon and Seth entered a vacant combat room.

It was a small 10-meter by 10-meter room with white walls, and attached to it were what appeared to be some type of cushioning material.

The floor was made of sturdy metal, unlike anything from the old world.

As soon as they entered the room, Seth stepped toward Anon and forcefully dug his elbow into Anon's back, sending him crashing into the wall.

When Anon's body hit the cushions, they absorbed the momentum of his impact.

Dropping to the ground for a short period, Anon was unable to move his body.

Seeing this, Seth smiled coldly.

"Compared to our first meeting, aren't my attacks more painful, powerful?" Seth chuckled.

What Anon extracted from his principle, Inevitable End, ensured that his attacks always landed on his opponents.

Seth's principle obviously countered this, allowing him to dodge, but even he couldn't dodge indefinitely.

However, what was important was the secondary effect of Inevitable End.

Once activated, any attack that landed on Anon would see its strength disperse by a percentage, with attacks capable of bringing Anon's demise being drastically weakened.

Even if an attack was deemed overly powerful for him to handle, bringing forth what appeared as his inevitable end, such an attack would see a much higher diffusion of its power from Anon's principle, than weaker attacks.

Naturally, there were many ways to kill Anon, and many attacks were simply too powerful for him to withstand, so much so that even if Inevitable End dispersed ninety-nine percent of their power, his death would still come.

However, his father, who could extract countless times more from this principle, was invulnerable and invincible in every sense, so much as to lead humanity out of the desolate age and establish the era of hope, the era of lasting.

Seth stooped in front of Anon, observing him intently. "Sneak attacks can still leave you stunned like this, so perhaps you should practice being more alert. It'll be horrible if you died on me prematurely."

But Anon shot up from the ground in a moment's notice, attacking Seth in one fluid motion, sending a right knee towards his adversary's chin.

An abrupt counter that sent Seth airborne and crashing into the cushioning on the walls.

However, before Anon could follow up, Seth had already reacted, retreating to a corner of the room while gripping his jaw.

For the most part, he reacted quickly enough, pushing off the floor with his legs and effectively dodging Anon's sneak attack, and still, the amber eyed boy's knee had grazed his chin, bruising it.

The atmosphere surrounding Anon became contorted as chaotic stellar cosmic energies churned above Anon's head.

Seth's eyes shone with a greyish-silver luster, shrouding his crimson orbs.

The two closed the distance between them as Anon unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks.

Unlike before, Seth didn't evade; instead, he parried each punch and kick.

As Anon rose an eyebrow, feeling surprised, Seth grinned whilst the greyish silvery color coating his eyes solidified before shattering.

His blood-red orbs shimmered as a drop of blood seeped from the bruise on his chin and fell to the floor.

On its descent, it suddenly transformed into a fine needle that rushed towards Anon.

They were already close, too close.

Anon couldn't move in time, left helpless and unable to dodge, it pierced his abdomen and exited his lower back.

When it exited, it was slightly longer and thicker than before, drifting through the room and leaving a trail of crimson particles in its wake, arching in the air before darting towards Anon once again.

He twisted his body to evade, successfully dodging the blood needle.

But he couldn't react in time to Seth's right fist, which was etched with demonic-looking, runic characters.

They contained a much greater force than any of his previous physical attacks.

Anon's chest caved in from the momentum of Seth's punch, causing him to throw up a mouthful of blood whilst being sent crashing into the walls of the combat room.

The demonic runic characters, once etched onto Seth's fist, now inscribed themselves onto Anon's upper body.

Weakly propped against the wall, Anon glanced at his caved-in thorax and winced in pain.

He was experiencing something unlike anything he felt before.

It felt as if some incomprehensible creature slithered through his insides, phasing through his organs whilst also heightening his sensitivity towards its existence.

"Since when could those characters etch themselves onto your skin, and on mine's? No, wait, just this morning you didn't have three different principles!"

Anon groaned with a mixture of pain and confusion in his voice.

"Shouldn't this be expected?" Seth smirked. "This is a two-week camp, and we won't be leaving until the end of the official camp, which lasts three months."

"Afterward, we'll be sent to the military academy. From beginning to end, our movements will be monitored, so naturally, I needed a slight powerup through some unorthodox methods."

Thinking of his pool session earlier, Seth grinned.

"I'm sure as that man's son, you're knowing of profound arts, magic rituals, or whatever you wish to call it. Well, I dabbled with one earlier, a demonic ritual that I can't use in the near future due to its inherent vileness."

Flexing his muscles, he cracked his neck and said, "Anyway, as you can feel, it's quite effective; my spirit has grown tremendously."

Anon frowned.

"No matter what kind of ritual or treasure it is, they'll never be capable of bestowing another principle. A principle doesn't just appear just so."

Saying this, he approached Seth whilst blood oozed from his busted chest.

"So what?"

Seth's expression turned strange.

Tilting his head, he questioned Anon, "Have I ever claimed to have only two principles?"

Seth's crimson orbs shone with a hypnotic brilliance.

"Heh… Hahahaha!"

He seemed possessed as he peered into those amber eyes.

"Do not constrain me to what is common to humans."

Anon was unimpressed.

He observed the crimson-eyed boy thoroughly.

The runic characters he felt moving inside his body operated on stellar cosmic energy; without a sufficient supply, their presence had weakened dramatically.

The same was with the blood needle hovering in the air, as the crimson particles that were left in its trail were akin to its fuel.

The needle's length and thickness had shrunk compared to the beginning.

'Even I only have two principles. Most humans have just one, and yet, he's subtly implying that he has more than three… Four or five? Does he expect me to believe that?'

Anon suddenly smirked.

'But if I do not, then what difference would there be between me and those who've been brainwashed by this society, having their thoughts limited by concepts titled as commonsense and whatnot.'

'Plus, a creature that would make dead mother refer to it as the devil, naturally, it would be incomprehensible for my current self.'

To him, his mother, when alive, seemed almost like an omniscient entity, knowing of his own thoughts, knowing of what he had yet to thought of, she had subtly prepared him for the sight of her death, or more accurately, she did not instill common human ideals in him.

To others, his disposition might seem peculiar, but his spirit, consciousness, and identity wasn't very, humanly per se.

"So, Seth, how many principles do you control?" Anon's voice was firm, observing even the most minute change of expression Seth might make.

The latter heard this and grinned.

He tilted his head and counted with his fingers, one, two, three…

Five…

Seven…

Ten…

Raising his eyebrows in surprise, Seth stared at his palms, realizing that he had run out of fingers.

Glancing at Anon, his grin widened.

Even his eyes smiled whilst staring at the boy who knitted his brows with a dark expression.

"Who knows?" Seth chuckled.