Hero of Darkness

The red wolfkin gave Kahn a forewarning about the dangers of the Harnessing technique to raise his strength. 

"Summon some world energy around you like I did." spoke Romulus. 

Kahn followed the instructions and stood, a green smoke-like world energy was gathered over his palm. 

"Now try to move it like it's trapped inside a rectangular box. It shouldn't cross that imaginary boundary while increasing the speed of the flow." he instructed again. 

Under his command, Kahn tried to move this amount of world energy as he tried to condense this rampantly running smoke. 

And after a great effort, it sped up so fast that it resembled photon particles revolving at light speed inside a reactor.

"Now flatten and condense it just like this." said the peak 7th stage saint and gave a demo. 

However this time, Kahn could barely move them at will despite being an intermediate magician himself. 

Huff! 

Huff! 

After 10 minutes of consistent effort, he finally managed to form a thin film like a white sheet of paper. 

"Now form a layer of it on your fist." said Romulus. 

"This is just 0.5% of this technique's full potential. 

But if you hit an enemy with it…" 

Bang!! 

Suddenly, the thin film of world energy touched Kahn's skin and his entire forearms exploded.

"Arrrggghhh!!" groaned Kahn aka Atreus in great pain as his flesh and shattered bones spread on the floor. 

He patiently waited for the intense pain to subside while his Instant Regeneration skill healed him fully. 

Even after recovering, he had an ugly expression. 

"You could barely move them slowly and yet the result was your forearm getting exploded to bits with this just thin layer of world energy. 

Imagine what would happen if you were touched by my fist." spoke Romulus.

Kahn was stupefied and rooted on the spot. 

Because Kahn's demo was like him wearing surgical gloves while Romulus' condensed world energy was like him wearing a boxing glove. 

As he watched and tried to fathom the aftermath, Rathnaar spoke in Kahn's mind. 

[Not even ashes of your body will be left.

Also, the nearby 5 kilometers of space would be destroyed just from the explosion alone.] explained the peak saint how powerful this skill was. 

He then requested to switch bodies with him. 

As Rathnaar took control, his majestic aura changed. 

"Aren't you going overboard? The kid isn't even a 6th stage saint yet. 

His body can't withstand it. The more layer he forms and harnesses world energy, the more volatile it will be. 

He could even die if he is neglectful even for a second." he spoke with Romulus. 

The latter quickly recognized the presence of this aura and understood it was the Peak Saint speaking. 

"Well, if he doesn't do this… will his chances of becoming strong rise just because he is a chosen Hero with divine abilities? 

You've killed 9 Heroes back in your time. You know that even divine abilities can't always guarantee your safety." spoke the wolfkin somberly. 

"If someone seals the Space, this kid can't even escape to save his life. 

With this, he will be able to at least fight someone 3 ranks above him or stall for time once he masters it." he iterated in an affirming tone. 

"We're basically changing his entire foundation as a warrior and as a saint itself. 

Without it… He won't be different than all the other heroes of this generation. 

And let me tell you something… 

The current Hero of Nature is already a 5th stage saint. If Kahn was to fight someone like him one day, there's no way he'd win." declared the heavenly king. 

"Why do you say that?" asked Rathnaar in a curious tone. 

"Although I can't reveal what his Divine abilities are because of the pact we have. 

He once killed a mythical rank monster that was comparable to a 3rd stage saint while he was only a 1st stage saint… All by himself. 

He had no help, there was no suppression formation on the monster and all his party members did was watch. 

As things stand… He too can fight 3 ranks above him because of his Domain." revealed the peak 7th stage saint. 

"He isn't the type to admit defeat even in the face of the impossible. 

If we want Kahn to stand against people like him or at least have the strength to protect himself… he has to learn it." explained the fenrirborne again. 

"Dammit! 

Why aren't the empires working together? Should that Demon God be the biggest threat to the entire world? 

Is there no Peak Saint in the current Era?" asked Rathnaar with a visibly incredulous expression. 

Romulus shook his head in response and spoke in a stern voice. 

"The situation would be salvageable at some point... 

Had Kahn not killed the Hero of Fire." he explained with a helpless countenance. 

"The precedent set by the 8th Hero of Darkness was already so impactful on all the empires. 

And now this Kahn also followed his footsteps… He is already following the same path according to them. 

That is why I must teach him these extremely dangerous techniques." he gave his reasoning. 

"He will keep making mistakes. Sometimes, he might get severely injured, and lose an arm or even his head if he doesn't practice it to perfection. 

But unless he learns the 'Harnessing' perfectly, I can't teach him the next techniques and combat skills. 

His foundation needs to be discarded and reconstructed from scratch. 

Because there is no other way left for him if he wishes to survive." said Romulus in a tone filled with both worry and resignation. 

Kahn who was in the backseat of his mind also realized that he had no other choice. 

This extremely painful method where his entire body would explode, mutilated, sometimes resulting in him getting blown up to death was by far the most dangerously horrifying method of training. 

And like Rathnaar said… He was way too weak to even start practicing it now. 

But he also understood why Romulus wanted to teach him this technique. Because he simply had no other way to make Kahn strong in a short time. 

However, no matter how one looked at it… This type of training was self-harming, would probably destroy his body every time he made the smallest mistake and then there would always be a possibility of him dying. 

And the con was that he couldn't leave this to any of his doppelgangers either. 

It'd be his real body going through all that pain and suffering by himself. 

Now he also understood why Romulus said Kahn would want to kill himself. This type of mental and physical torture… People would rather kill themselves than suffer from something so painful day and night. 

As the saying went, 'There are no free things in the world'. 

One must follow the Law of Equivalent Exchange. 

To attain great power… Kahn had to sacrifice his own body and live through the dreadful and mortifying pain again and again akin to killing himself knowingly. 

Kahn then took back control and declared with a determined experience. 

"I'll do it… Master."