The Last Paragon in the Apocalypse

The Hivemind is like a network of minds linked together, resembling a vast neural network system. Neurons fire electrical pulses every millionth of a second.

Klaus is currently housing twenty minds. These twenty minds are all interconnected to form the Hivemind.

The battle had already drained him, but he had to win. When the Senior spoke at such a critical moment, Klaus paused and recalled all his spirit weapons, including the Demon-Cutting Discs.

The only thing left was his wings, which he used to fly at terrifying speeds, evading every attack. He devoted just one mind to controlling his flight while the remaining nineteen were engaged in something he never thought he would attempt.

As the Senior had said, he had the Hivemind, so he had to use it to think.

The words were simple, yet Klaus understood what he needed to do. At that moment, his nineteen minds fired in unison—electricity surging through neurons and channels as he pushed his mind to its utmost capacity.

At that moment, Klaus was like Brainiac 3.0.

Ten seconds later, he was done, but he didn’t look happy. He had done what needed to be done. Using his superior mental capacity, he played the battle out 6,578 times in his mind.

He analyzed 6,578 different scenarios in which he might emerge victorious. He factored in every detail—the events, the powers and abilities displayed by both him and the monstrous snakes, their movement patterns, the heads that had perished, the ones blinded, those still attacking, his own battered state, the remaining skills at his disposal, and, finally, the Overdrive and Shared skill.

After calculating all these variables and exploring every possibility, the conclusion was the same each time. In order to kill the eight-headed Hydra snake, he had to die.

The only way forward… was death.

[You had your answer, kid. Now it’s up to you to figure out what to do next.]

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The senior seemed to have changed somehow. It was as if the moment they entered the Trial after he had been disconnected for a few weeks, he came back different. But, at the moment, everything he said was true.

Klaus must choose how to proceed.

He had all the variables, but in the end, he had to make a bold decision.

“6,000 scenarios will be easy, but my death will be painful. But 577 will be difficult with an easy death,” Klaus sighed as he dodged a flame spear and a stabbing vine.

“As for the last scenario, how I will die is unclear.” Klaus moved through the air like lightning. He had just created scenarios of how he would die—a very messed-up thing, but his mind allowed him to make those decisions.

Of course, it would depend on how he acted, but no matter what he did, in the end, one of the 6,578 scenarios he envisioned would come to pass.

Even if he switched between scenarios, he would arrive at one of the endings he had created. Of course, there was one where he knew he would die, but he just didn’t know how.

“Dad once said, ‘If you are scared of the unknown, you must embrace it. Who knows, you might die screaming.’” Klaus laughed, and a spear appeared in his hand. His entire body was bathed in lightning.

The Lightning Source Diagram appeared.

He paused for a moment and looked at the dragon tattoo.

He moved, and the sky turned into a storm of lightning and thunder. Klaus’s speed increased as he used [Shared], taking his stats to the next level.

His speed was now several times faster.

All his spirit weapons appeared and attacked. Seven illusion clones materialized—one was a bodybuilder, another a doctor, the third a soldier, the fourth a samurai, the fifth an archer, the sixth a Stormtrooper, and the last a Jedi.

“That is a messed-up scenario, Klaus, but I do crazy sometimes,” he laughed at his own imagination.

He moved, and a twisted smile spread across his face as he activated a technique he had used before.

“Runic Spellblade… Falling into Despair,” he said, activating the skill he knew would leave him passed out for days—if he didn’t die first. Somehow, that was a strangely comforting scenario.

“I looked danger in the face and laughed,” he muttered the incantation, a white runic circle glowing around his arm, amplifying his strength.

“I looked in the face of torment and laughed…” Another runic circle appeared.

“I looked in the face of Death and laughed…” Yet another appeared, further increasing his strength.

Klaus used the third form of the [Astra Phantom Step] movement technique for the first time since becoming a Sage.

“Void Step.”

He moved and vanished. The next second, he appeared in front of the flame-type head of the snake and stabbed the spear through it. A moment later, he was 200 meters away, coughing blood.

“Void Step.” Another second later, he used it again, appearing in front of the wood-type head of the snake, stabbing the spear through it, and finally blinding the remaining heads.

But blood was flowing from both his mouth, nose, ears and eyes. His body is still not strong enough for the [Void Step]

The Lightning, Darkness, Wood, and Fire heads were now blinded. But this was where the problem he had predicted began.

The moment all its eyes were blinded, the snake began activating all its skills and attacking randomly. Klaus looked at his arm and saw that all three runic circles were working.

He glanced at the dragon tattoo once more and smiled.

“I hope this works, buddy… or else I’ll KO myself.”

The spear vanished, replaced by a sabre in his hand. Klaus moved in for his final attack, the one that would determine his fate.

“Weapon Enhancement Art…” He brandished both weapons, one in each hand. The illusionary clones he had created moved in, and when they were a meter from the four heads, they self-destructed, creating a poisonous mist.

“Soul and Weapon As One.” Klaus stood in the air like a samurai. He fixed his gaze on the four heads and moved.

“Void Step.”

He vanished and appeared in front of the snake. Then suddenly, the sabre elongated, becoming a 150-meter-long blade.

Klaus wasted no time and attacked, cleaving from right to left. The long sabre cut through the air, and like slicing through tofu, it severed all four heads…well, he spiritually severed the heads.

The speed of the cut pulled Klaus away, but as he was being pulled, the variable he had envisioned appeared.

The Lightning-type head fired one last bolt just before the sabre passed through it, causing Klaus to move directly into its trajectory.

He was struck and sent flying, landing deep beneath the sea, where he immediately passed out with a large hole in his chest. He was submerged underwater with no sign of life in him.

After Klaus used his soul to enhance the sabre, it cut through the snake’s soul, killing it instantly. Its colossal body fell backward and crashed into the sea, sending water splashing everywhere.

That was the scenario Klaus envisioned, using his powerful soul strength to augment the sabre. It was the only way he could kill the bastards.

However, he never saw how it ended because he hadn’t anticipated that final attack. In his mind, since everything was unclear, he believed he would die because of the soul attack he used and the Void Step he performed in rapid succession.

But he never saw that attack coming, and thus, the Paragon of the Nine Stars is now lying under the sea with a gaping wound in his chest.

“_”

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