Born In Ashes: The Enigma

During their last training session, Ashara had told Azrael about Intent.

She had even shown her intent to him for a brief second— an experience that still made him shudder whenever he recalled it.

Later, he had asked Ashara what kind of intent it was, and she had told him that her intent was related to killing.

If she used her intent, all of her attacks would carry her Will, her Desire to kill the target, greatly increasing the lethality of her strikes.

It was because of the nature of her intent that, the moment she demonstrated it to Azrael, his body cells had begun to die as her intent was simply to kill everything and everyone that came into contact with it.

Since that moment, Azrael had been pondering what kind of intent he should comprehend— or rather, what kind of intent he wanted.

The intent Ashara had shown him was undeniably powerful— so powerful that if someone's strength was significantly weaker than hers, they would begin to lose their life even without being attacked directly, simply by coming into contact with her intent.

But Azrael didn't want something like that.

He wanted something more—something dominating, something unstoppable, a force that crushed and destroyed everything and everyone that stood in his path.

No matter who or what they were, the moment they stood before his intent, they would be overwhelmed by an unstoppable force—a force that desired to stand at the top of the world.

A tyrannical force that didn't know the meaning of sparing its target.

Azrael recalled what Ashara had explained to him about intent and took a deep breath.

> 'Absolute confidence and a very strong Will, a very strong desire…'

He thought about the most important things needed to bring one's intent into reality.

> 'You could try to cultivate an intent that increases the cutting power of your sword. For that, you would need absolute confidence in your attack—confidence that you can cut through anything that stands in your way. Let that confident thought resonate with your Will—a Will, a Desire to cut through everything. Merge that resonating Will and Desire with your spiritual power and let the world bring that intent into reality for you.'

The example Ashara had given echoed in his mind, and his thoughts began to clear.

Infinite Comprehension and Cold Blooded made his mind absolutely calm, devoid of any distracting thoughts.

He didn't even pay attention to the ongoing fight between Alex and Harris and focused solely on the intent he wanted.

'An unstoppable intent. An intent that will stop at nothing but to crush my enemy…'

The irritation he had felt earlier—when he couldn't do anything to Harris, even though the other party hadn't even tried to defend himself—surged in his heart.

'I want to... No! I will crush that bastard and complete my trial.'

Turning that surging irritation into desire—the desire to crush and destroy everything that stood before his path—Azrael let this desire, this confident thought, resonate with his Will—his Will to comprehend an unstoppable intent that no one could defy.

Perhaps it was because Azrael's desire for power that has always been very strong since the moment he opened his eyes in this world—his longing to comprehend an unstoppable intent—was so intense that his Will responded immediately.

Through his trait Infinite Comprehension, Azrael felt something changing around him.

A strange power began to resonate with him.

> 'Merge that resonating Will and Desire with your spiritual power and let the world bring that intent into reality for you.'

Ashara's final words echoed once again in Azrael's mind. However, he didn't immediately proceed to take the final step.

Instead, he slowly walked toward the place where Alex and Harris were fighting, doing his best not to lose the strange feeling he now held.

There was a reason Ashara had said that normally only people who were level 51 and above could comprehend and use intent effectively.

To bring one's desired intent into reality, one must consume an enormous amount of spiritual power.

The spiritual reserves of those below the Legend level wouldn't be sufficient to sustain the consumption of intent—they would run out of power very quickly.

Although the most difficult part of comprehending intent was understanding one's own heart—realizing what kind of intent one truly desired and allowing it to resonate with their Will—having enough spiritual power to manifest that intent was equally crucial.

With his current meager spiritual power, Azrael knew that the moment he took the final step of merging his spiritual power with his resonating Will to bring his intent into reality, he would run out of spiritual energy within a second or two.

If he wanted to take down Harris, it had to be within those few seconds.

Soon, Azrael was just 20 meters away from the place where Alex and Harris were fighting.

From such close range, he could feel just how strong Harris really was.

'If I attack and it fails, it'll be game over for me…'

Azrael thought inwardly, yet his expression remained completely indifferent—even at the notion of doing something so dangerous.

If Azrael wanted, he could simply let Alex continue to fight Harris.

However, once Alex died, his chances of killing Harris would drop to nearly zero.

After knowing that Harris had killed Alex, there was no way Claudia would dare to confront him.

In that case, Azrael would have no choice but to try and kill Harris on his own—a task just as dangerous as the one he was currently planning.

What's more, even if he didn't fight Harris and chose to hide for the remainder of the trial, he had a very strong feeling that he would still die.

In Eonrift, if you die during the Easy, Medium, or Hard difficulty trials, you wouldn't truly die—you would simply be expelled from Eonrift. For the Nightmare and Hell level trials, however, if you die during the trial, you would truly die.

But instead of dying, if you failed to complete the trial during the Hell or Nightmare level difficulty—such as running out of time before completing the trial—you wouldn't die and would simply be expelled from Eonrift, receiving rewards based on your performance during the trial.

However, Azrael had a very strong feeling that since he was in a Despair Level trial, if he failed to complete it, he wouldn't be expelled from Eonrift—he would die.

For Azrael, it was a do-or-die situation, and—

'I have no plan of dying early in this life…'

Azrael's cold eyes gleamed with unmasked confidence as he held Fallen Star in his hand.

He waited for the right opportunity, and after a few seconds—when he saw Alex successfully block one of Harris's attacks and push him back slightly—he exploded with power.

Boom!

Cosmic Energy surged into his legs, granting him a burst of speed, and he crossed the remaining twenty meters in an instant.

Fallen Star gleamed with cosmic energy as he swung it while activating The World ability.

At the same moment—just as he closed the gap and appeared behind Harris—Azrael finally allowed his spiritual power to flow out and merge with his resonating Will.

It was the first time he was trying to bring his intent into reality, so he wasn't sure it would work.

However, the moment his spiritual power merged with his resonating Will and Desire—

(You have comprehended an Intent)

(Your unique intent is resonating with the World)

(The World itself is bestowing a name upon your Intent)

(Your Intent shall be called... The Tyrant's Intent)