I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills

Chapter 206: Overcoming Again

Number 2, with its mane of blue flames and skeletal body, possessed a unique trait.

Whoosh!

As that trait manifested, Number 2’s mane shifted from blue flames to black flames, igniting with an intense energy.

“Neighhh!”

With the black flames blazing, a completely different aura radiated from Number 2.

These black flames were none other than Kraush’s own black flames.

The unique trait of Number 2.

It could perfectly share the power of its rider.

Which meant.

‘Accel.’

The figures of both Number 2 and Kraush blurred simultaneously.

At that moment, starlight fired by the Reverse Night Star streaked past where they had just been.

The starlight, a beam of destruction capable of erasing anything it touched with searing heat, missed its mark.

But with Accel shared between Kraush and Number 2, evasion was effortless.

Clatter—

The sound of hooves striking the ground echoed through the air.

Number 2, empowered by Kraush’s strength, neighed joyfully as it galloped.

“Number 2, I’ll leave all the evasion to you from now on.”

“Snort.”

Number 2 snorted in acknowledgment, its movements confident and poised.

With Kraush’s Accel and Annihilation Erosion shared, Number 2 could surely evade the Reverse Night Star’s attacks.

Trusting Number 2 entirely, Kraush let it take full responsibility for his survival.

Meanwhile, Kraush’s eyes slowly closed.

He was entering a state of intense focus.

‘Annihilation Heavenly Asura alone won’t be enough to defeat the Reverse Night Star.’

Back during the initial surprise attack, Kraush had used Annihilation Moonfire to destroy three of the Reverse Night Star’s wings.

That was undoubtedly a significant victory.

But it was also then that Kraush realized one thing for certain.

Annihilation Heavenly Asura wasn’t enough to bring down the Reverse Night Star.

To extract the Four Seasons from the creature, it had to be completely subdued.

For that, Annihilation Heavenly Asura alone was woefully insufficient.

Especially now, with the Reverse Night Star having become one with starlight, it was nearly immune to physical attacks.

Even the damage that did land would be significantly reduced.

‘Which means I need to push the output even further.’

White mist began to escape from Kraush’s mouth.

Under the influence of Nox, his hair gradually turned back to a pitch-black shade, like ink spreading through water.

Annihilation Heavenly Asura was a technique that forcibly broke through its limits by enhancing the Annihilation Asura state with instant enhancement elixirs.

If Kraush were to defeat the Reverse Night Star, he had to surpass those limits once more.

Whoosh—

Deep within Kraush’s core, the Ignis fueled by World Erosion burned fiercely, flaring into Annihilation Erosion.

The flames surged, spreading through Kraush’s body and igniting it from within.

These intense flames were no longer unfamiliar to Kraush.

Under the already dark and unending night sky, Kraush’s own night grew even deeper, cloaking everything in darkness.

A night so impenetrable that even a single step ahead couldn’t be seen.

But in that pitch-black sky, stars began to appear one by one.

The Heavenly Slaying Star had awakened.

When all seven stars had finally taken their place in the sky, they began to pour out starlight.

Thump!

With that, Kraush’s output surged once more.

The unique power of the Heavenly Slaying Star amplified the strength of World Erosion even further.

Cold sweat formed on Kraush’s brow as the blazing heat radiated outward, raising the surrounding temperature sharply.

The space around him distorted visibly from the intensity.

But even this was nowhere near enough.

As smoke escaped his mouth, Kraush clenched his teeth tightly.

At the same time, yet another force began to layer onto his body. 

Accel.

Accel, a skill that accelerated anything, was now applied to the Annihilation Erosion burning within Kraush.

Already fueled by the combined power of the Heavenly Slaying Star and World Erosion, the flames flared even hotter with the added acceleration.

The results were extraordinary, pushing the limits of reason.

Crunch!

Kraush bit down so hard his teeth felt like they might shatter.

The heat pounding through his body was growing ever more intense, battering his very flesh from within.

The flames of Annihilation Erosion were already circulating rapidly through Kraush’s body, igniting various parts of it.

The moment Accel was added to this circulation, the flames began to move through his body at an entirely different level of speed.

As the flames accelerated, they burned more intensely, heating Kraush’s body further.

Like countless rounds of tempering a piece of raw iron to forge it into the blade of a sword, Kraush’s body was undergoing constant refinement, driving his output to even greater heights.

The surrounding air currents began to shift.

The night itself started to distort.

At that moment, the Reverse Night Star sensed something was wrong.

It had been relentlessly firing beams of starlight at Kraush and Number 2 to kill them.

But now, the Reverse Night Star noticed something peculiar about its starlight.

The beams of starlight, which had been steadily flowing out of its hands, were gradually being pulled away, as if drawn toward something.

It was like the eye of a storm, sucking everything into its center.

Even the starlight emanating from the Reverse Night Star was slowly being drained away.

A strange sensation began to creep over the Reverse Night Star—a feeling it had never experienced before.

It felt as though the starlight that constituted its very being was disappearing, and that, in turn, its existence might eventually vanish altogether.

This unsettling sensation sparked a sense of crisis within the Reverse Night Star.

The starlight around it crackled with erratic sparks.

Its gaze landed on the boy who sat quietly with his eyes closed atop Number 2.

The intense heat emanating from Kraush was so powerful that it warped the space around him.

That heat was growing fiercer by the second, transforming into a singular, overwhelming light.

As the Reverse Night Star stared at that light, it suddenly recalled the reason it had always scattered starlight.

Under the unending night sky, it remembered something it had never witnessed before in its existence.

The Reverse Night Star had always scattered starlight to illuminate the night sky in the hopes of seeing it.

What it sought was morning.

The dawn that breaks the night.

The Reverse Night Star wanted to see the morning.

But now, there was someone bringing that dawn to life—a being emitting a fierce light that it could never produce itself.

Shudder!

The starlight around the Reverse Night Star flickered.

A terrible premonition surged within it, and its starlight began to intensify.

“―――――――――――!”

Lacking vocal cords, the Reverse Night Star let out a silent scream.

Its starlight, burning brighter than ever, surged violently toward Number 2.

The starlight fell like an unrelenting bombardment, splitting into thousands of rays that indiscriminately scorched the surroundings.

The night sky was painted with the overwhelming glow of the starlight’s ceaseless bombardment.

But there was one thing the Reverse Night Star didn’t realize.

As Kraush’s power increased, so did Number 2’s.

Number 2, now emitting far fiercer black flames than before, performed acrobatic feats in perfect unison with Accel.

Amid the downpour of radiant starlight, it deftly avoided every single beam, galloping with miraculous precision.

It was a movement so sublime, it bordered on the divine.

“――――――――!”

The Reverse Night Star, now even more enraged, unleashed a deluge of starlight upon Number 2.

But the more relentless the attack, the more determined Number 2 became, pushing its speed to even greater heights.

This dance of attack and evasion repeated endlessly.

Meanwhile, atop Number 2, Kraush’s body continued to push past its limits.

The heat of Annihilation Erosion was now so intense that it blurred Kraush’s consciousness.

It was a heat so overwhelming that a single misstep could obliterate his mind.

‘More.’

Despite this, Kraush continued to draw forth even greater power.

‘More!’

He surpassed his limits again and again.

The single thought filling Kraush’s mind was to break through every boundary.

To surpass that limit, Kraush had to employ the best strategy at his disposal.

At that moment, a chilling white frost enveloped Kraush’s body.

It was the curse, Frost Fang.

By borrowing Frost Fang’s power, Kraush forced his body to endure its limits, allowing him to suppress the extreme heat burning within.

This gave him the capacity to draw forth even greater levels of heat.

Soon, the night sky was filled entirely with black flames.

Amid the storm-like blaze, as if preparing for the final crescendo.

Crunch—

The instant enhancement elixir in Kraush’s mouth shattered.

Whoosh!

Flames erupted, engulfing his entire body in an instant.

Kraush’s physical form, having broken through yet another limit, reached an entirely new domain.

He had gone beyond Annihilation Heavenly Asura.

Within the raging black flames, his crimson eyes shone vividly.

Annihilation Heavenly Rakshasa (멸천나찰)

The new realm Kraush had reached after relentlessly breaking through his limits.

The sight of this struck an unprecedented sense of crisis into the mind of the Reverse Night Star.

Even as a 9-star Erosion Species, it was overwhelmed by the extraordinary aura of Kraush’s new form.

But as if to assert its dominance as a 9-star Erosion Species, the Reverse Night Star spread its arms wide.

If it couldn’t escape, it would kill its opponent.

To fulfill that simple truth, parts of its starlight-formed arms and body began to disintegrate.

The remaining starlight gathered into a singular point of light, coalescing in front of the Reverse Night Star.

Before it, a small orb of starlight was created.

However, this orb carried an entirely different level of power compared to anything it had unleashed before.

The starlight sphere, endlessly absorbing light as if devouring the surrounding space, looked dangerous at a glance.

Kraush’s Thunderstorm was already forming a scabbard made of lightning.

Within that scabbard was a power of black flame incomparable to anything seen before.

This was because even the black flame inside the scabbard was accelerating under the influence of Accel’s power.

In this state, Kraush lacked the confidence to reach the Reverse Night Star and unleash his sword.

He couldn’t even take a single step forward in his current condition.

“Number Two.”

But there was someone who could act in place of his legs.

Number Two, unafraid even upon seeing Reverse Night Star’s sphere of starlight, began to sprint, twisting his body.

His speed gradually increased, stirring the air as he closed the distance to Reverse Night Star.

Following this, Kraush gripped Thunderstorm tightly.

The muscles in his arms and entire body trembled.

The power of black flame contained in the lightning scabbard was heavier than ever, making it feel as though Thunderstorm would slip from his grasp at any moment.

Yet Kraush’s hands held on to Thunderstorm with unyielding determination.

“Send it with all your might.”

With those words, spoken through barely exhaled breaths, Accel enveloped Number Two’s body once again.

As black flames spewed forth, Number Two accelerated to the point where his figure was barely visible.

In this accelerated world, the Reverse Night Star’s sphere of light was finally complete.

In an instant, all the surrounding light condensed into Reverse Night Star.

And the condensed light exploded, akin to the final stage of a star’s life.

Even in the face of such an explosion of starlight, Number Two charged forward without hesitation.

He entrusted everything entirely to Kraush.

It was Kraush, trusted by Ebelasque.

A servant would never doubt someone trusted by their master.

In front of the exploding starlight.

For some reason, Kraush felt as if all sound had vanished, and even light seemed to move sluggishly.

The surrounding scenery appeared stark white.

This was the effect of Accel’s violent acceleration, pushing his mind to the brink of overload and accelerating his thoughts.

In this accelerated state of thought, atop a serene lake, a single droplet of water slowly fell.

As the droplet touched the surface of the lake in Kraush’s mind, ripples spread outward, encompassing the entire lake.

At the center of those ripples, the water began to boil and surge.

When the rising waters reached the edge of Kraush’s consciousness.

Crack!

The lightning scabbard that had imprisoned Kraush’s black flame finally cracked and shattered.

Whoosh—

The belated sound of the black flame filled the surroundings.

Witnessing this, the Reverse Night Star saw a crimson moon rise above Kraush’s head.

That crimson moon shone so brightly that, for a moment, the Reverse Night Star was reminded of the dawn that blooms in the night sky.

“――――!”

A soundless roar echoed from Reverse Night Star’s lips.

And with that roar, the black flame descended upon the world, devouring everything, including the explosion of starlight.

The spreading black flame tore through the explosion of starlight, and in the instant it reached Reverse Night Star.

Through the blazing black flames emerged Number Two and Kraush, reflected in Reverse Night Star’s eyes.

The despair of Reverse Night Star and the unyielding determination of Kraush to claim victory collided in that moment.

“Rest easy.”

With those simple words, a blazing sword was thrust forward, erupting with immense force.

Annihilation Erosion (滅火浸蝕)

Sixth Form (六式)

Annihilation Heavenly Rakshasa Flame (滅天羅火)

The black flames of the Rakshasa engulfed Reverse Night Star.

Translators note:

I just had a 15 minute trip on the internet trying to figure out an accurate translation for this move cause Annihilation Heavenly Rakshasa Flame sounded just too simple to be right, but nope, this is it.