"Adam" maintained a smile, touched his right hand to the center of his forehead, and assumed the posture of a praying believer.

Then, he pinched a piece of flesh and peeled off the skin of his face like cling film.

...So that's what this is!

I channeled mana, rushed in front of "Adam," and swung my sword down in a slash. The ice-forged blade was unstoppable, cleaving from the skull all the way down to the groin, splitting him in two.

No blood sprayed out, no entrails spilled. The severed cross-section was smooth and flawless, showing no blood vessels or bones, as white and rosy as a baby's skin.

At the same time, both the left and right halves of "Adam" simultaneously extended over ten arms, attempting to embrace me.

So you want close-quarters combat? Hilarious. And stop harassing me with Adam's physique.

I tightened my grip on the hilt, spun, and swung my sword. The lethal, freezing light illuminated my side, turning "Adam's" body into a mist of blood.

However, this bloody mist didn't scatter with the wind or drift away. Instead, as if possessing its own consciousness, it shot straight for my seven orifices. Moreover, the ground beneath my feet abruptly cracked open, trying to swallow me.

I forcefully stomped on the air to leap aside while spinning my blade to forcefully disperse the blood mist. Then, I invoked Illusion Mastery runes, constructing invisible mana hands that slammed all the blood mist against the wall.

Even after being cut and pulverized to this extent, the flesh stuck to the wall coalesced into a lump at an astonishing speed. I forged two ice spears and threw them, but several wall lamps suddenly bent and elongated. They were shattered by the ice spears but also caused the spears' trajectories to shift slightly, missing the flesh lump.

The attacks were completely ineffective. Not only that, inanimate objects like wall lamps and the floor began working against me.

It seemed Nekros had blurred the boundary between life and death for them, bringing them to life as extensions of her own body.

I forged several ice swords, grasped them with Illusion Mastery runes, and was about to launch the next assault when Gray's shout came from behind.

"Get back!"

I had no choice but to retreat for the moment, leaping back to Gray's side.

Needless to say, this guy was as unoriginal as ever.

"Flame Spear!"

Blindingly bright firelight illuminated the corridor, instantly scorching the air. Several wildly burning flame spears smashed into the wall simultaneously, explosions ringing out incessantly. As the smoke cleared, the wall was charred and shattered.

Gray muttered, "Got her?"

Did you have to say that line? Sure enough, beneath the wall, a flesh-colored sphere wobbled as it stood up, growing eyes and arms, gradually taking human form.

Seeing Flame Spear was ineffective, Gray immediately froze up. The ball of mana in his hand kept changing color and shape—probably hesitating over which spell to use for an organized attack.

I might as well take this chance to assess the situation.

The contract within me still existed; my mana wasn't depleted.

Although I didn't know why Nekros was holding back, Adam was undoubtedly still alive, probably knocked unconscious and embedded in the floor or wall. Finding him after the fight wouldn't be too late.

And judging by the proficiency of the magic and the feel of the fight, the enemy was definitely Nekros. Her contractor didn't seem to be with her; otherwise, they would have counterattacked together already.

The last remaining problem was dealing with this indestructible lump of putty.

Although she could assimilate surrounding living and non-living things as her body, limited by mana and Gray's barrier, the assimilation range shouldn't exceed this church.

Furthermore, Nekros's magic couldn't manipulate the form of the soul. As long as I found where she stored her soul and destroyed it before she transferred it, I could truly kill her.

With Gray here, who knew all sorts of annoying little spells, it shouldn't be too troublesome.

I confirmed the strategy I had already formulated and said, "Gray, use—"
"I know! Greater Flame Spear!"

My voice was drowned out by the roaring explosion, and my vision was overwhelmed by dazzling light. Gray launched an enormous Flame Spear, turning half the church into charcoal.

You know your spells!

To conserve mana, I only enhanced necessary organs when needed. Caught off guard, the explosion left me temporarily blinded and deafened. It took several breaths to barely recover.

I quickly looked at Gray. Though still standing, his neck had been twisted, revealing stark white bone. His head was completely flipped backward against his spine, his eyes looking behind him.

He swayed a few times before collapsing to the ground.

This... this idiot!

Light footsteps approached from behind.

Without turning my head, I pushed off the ground with both feet, leaping to the side of Marie, who stood dazed, her ears and eyes bleeding from the Greater Flame Spear's blast. Only then did I turn to face the direction I came from.

A "person" stood there. Her skin was wrinkled yet smooth, her muscles strong yet soft. She was both aged and young, simultaneously exuding the decay of the grave and the fresh blood scent of new birth.

These contradictory descriptions weren't about my "feelings" but simply an objective account of her appearance.

She had taken a small piece each from the bodies of countless individuals—infants, the elderly, men, women, the weak, the strong, commoners, nobles—stitched them together, given them life, and created this monstrous abomination.

She didn't attack immediately. Instead, she grew over a dozen eyes on her skin, staring at my entire body like an X-ray machine.

A bit disgusting. But I wanted to wait for Gray to revive and also prepare a Plan B, so look all you want. Tell me if you need me to pose.

After a few seconds, she seemed satisfied and closed most of her eyes.

Then, her skin changed shape and color, her muscles swelled, her hair shortened. Within a few breaths, the incongruous parts of her body harmonized, becoming "one" person.

This wasn't a separate shape-shifting ability from "blurring life and death." She stored the massive number of humans she had slaughtered over centuries in something like Doraemon's pocket dimension, then took out suitable parts to assemble her form.

This was a young man with white hair and blue eyes, slightly taller than me, his face very similar to Adam's, with a gentle smile at the corner of his mouth.

If I had to say, this is what Sylvia might look like if she had an older brother. Although spirits don't have families.

Nekros coughed a few times, her voice changing with each cough, finally settling on a rich, magnetic male voice.

She picked up a mage robe and put it on.
"I referenced you and your contractor to construct this form.
"From my observation, people tend to feel close to images similar yet different from themselves. Adding elements of a lover is even more effective... What do you think? It shouldn't make you tense now, right?"

Huh, asking me?

After just killing a church full of people, hiding Adam, and breaking Gray's neck, she acted very affably, like chatting with a neighbor on the way to buy groceries.

"Quite nice. Let me ask: you are Nekros herself, not her contractor, right?"
"Yes. My name is Nekros, the Spirit of Life and Death. And yours?"

She seemed to want to chat. Good.

Even without needing to stall for time, I actually quite enjoy talking with enemies.

Fighting and killing are, in the end, just a rougher, more direct form of communication, not fundamentally different from words.

"My name is Sylvia, the Spirit of Frost. You are far stronger than me. Why attack the weak in the church?"
"To corrupt the Star God's holy water, of course. I am indeed much stronger than you, but I am still just a fragile being.
"If the former hero came at me with holy water, I wouldn't be confident in smoothly advancing the ritual. Would you like some tea?"
"The ritual... you mean the Three-Eyes Ritual to obtain a perfect body?"
"Yes. For hundreds of years since gaining consciousness, I have helped many people complete the ritual time and again. However, the bodies obtained in the end always fell short. Where do you think the reason lies?"

Seriously? Gray hasn't revived yet? He wasn't like this when fighting me.

"Because not enough people were sacrificed?"
"No. Sacrifice is merely a means to show determination to the deity. The reason the ritual never achieves perfection is because the people I choose lack a purely focused will to live; their desires are mixed with other thoughts.
"Some still harbored love, so they died after love withered. Some were blinded by hatred, so they crumbled after slaying their enemies.
"I gradually understood. To obtain an eternal, indestructible body, I must find someone single-mindedly focused on survival itself, living solely to live."
"So, you've gone through all this trouble just to live a bit longer?"
"Exactly. Sylvia, I can see that although you haven't lived many years, your end is already near. In less than a year... no, ten months, your senses will dull, your body will disintegrate, and you will die in a disgraceful state after completely losing your mind.
"However, if you work with me—"

I raised my sword toward her.

"Let me be clear: I have little interest in immortality. I'm more drawn to the fame of a hero. I will absolutely not cooperate with you.
"Abandoning all other desires just for survival seems completely backward to me."

After staring at me in silence for a moment, Nekros smiled, a fanatical blush spreading across her face.

"I quite like people like you."

Don't say that. Only otaku about to demonstrate their craft smile like that.