Gehrman didn't mention his lack of a body to anyone except Neph. She wasn't able to give him an answer on what would happen due to his circumstances being very unique.
When she would Ascend, she would naturally wake up in her body which was still very intact.
Gehrman didn't have such a luxury.
So as he felt himself being woven into this new plane of reality, he was curious to see where he would end up.
The grotesque scene Gehrman had briefly spotted before fusing with Dorian's soul played in his mind. Two dead children around Dorian's age were brutally massacred, while he escaped to his First Nightmare before passing on himself.
Perhaps it was due to the nostalgia of that world, but Gehrman thought of them then.
A shy girl named Tokka. And an excitable boy named Aventine.
He couldn't quite remember how they had met, but those two and Dorian had been exceptionally close friends.
In all of his memories, he always could faintly hear the two in the background.
They all had very different personalities, but they talked constantly about random topics. Though they seldom agreed on anything, it felt comforting to have other opinions.
But that couldn't happen anymore.
The beast had killed them.
Gehrman's pupils dilated without him noticing. His bloodlust leaked as he considered the creature that took his friends and nearly killed him.
The round thing was a true horror. It had a pale bald head and a hairy back. It had leaned over him on that day, as it had countless nights before.
…Wait…I'm forgetting something. The beast lived with me. It was disguised as a man.
Images of an ugly face and hot, horrid breath involuntarily played in his mind.
He shuddered uncontrollably.
Putting his head in his hands he laughed and dearly hoped that the Spell tried to kill him again.
He needed some blood.
He needed to stop thinking about that thing.
Fortunately, the Spell obliged.
…
The first thing he saw was an off-pink color.
He felt a cold and heavy wind on his body. And it blew with enough strength that it might have forced a mundane man to take a stronger stance. Above, the sky was filled with impenetrable clouds, causing the entire sky to become grey and dreary.
He stood on the edge of a deep ravine. Below, this strange pink crept up the stone walls, turning the entire pit into an unnerving contrast to the surroundings.
There was no green foliage around. Only dead trees and dried dirt surrounded him.
He summoned his three new Transcendent Memories. His scythe, attire, and gun.
Then he summoned his newest Charm.
Unlike the other Sin Memories, the Charm wasn't cursed. Instead, the [Greedy Bloodstone Talisman] relied on the Sin to enhance its effects.
After summoning it, he looked to his left breast. Above his heart, a small red crystal was embedded in his garb.
It did not shine in the light, instead remaining opaque. The Charm was relatively understated, and that suited Gehrman just fine.
He started forward toward the ravine. Though it was ominous and a clear malice emanated from it, Gehrman was not scared.
His mind buzzed and his new eyes quickly tore apart what lay before him.
His new Awakened Ability was absolutely incredible. As he casually leaped down into the ravine, he was able to grasp what he was dealing with.
Below, he saw a number of fetid lights. Each of them represented a Corrupt soul, in other words, a Nightmare Creature.
Indeed, there were still Nightmare Creatures in the waking world. An anomaly called "Gates" occurred whenever an Awakened did not answer the call of a Nightmare Seed.
If those Seeds were left unattended for too long, a Gate would form, and a plethora of Nightmare Creatures would roll out.
Each Gate would have a "boss" of sorts. Though they were mostly Demons or Devils. Occasionally, a Tyrant could appear.
And in very rare cases, Terror's and Titans could come as well.
Of course, the thing he now fell towards was a Terror. Judging from the power emanating from the hundreds of Soul Cores below, he suspected that it was a Fallen Terror that had an astonishing amount of minions of the Awakened Rank.
It reminded Gehrman of the Forgotten Shore.
Though this Terror did not seem to be as developed as the Crimson Spire that terrorized that land, it had just as many minions.
After a few seconds of falling, Gehrman finally landed. As he did so, he brought his blood outward and unto the [Burial Blade]. On top of that, he sent a decent chunk of his own blood down to help enhance the impact.
His blood spread out, resembling a carpet that covered the many Nightmare Creatures.
The Awakened minions resembled massive worms. They seemed to release some sort of toxin from their and bodies.
I guess I won't be able to use my new Charm. Obviously I have one that is superior in this situation.
Gehrman replaced the [Greedy Bloodstone Talisman] with the [Red Messenger Ribbon] just before he hit the floor.
He figured that when he landed a great amount of poison would be released…but it never did.
That was because Gehrman's blow was a lot more powerful than he had expected.
As soon as his Transcendent Memory touched the ground, all of his momentum was halted; the weight of the blow was much larger than his own acceleration downwards.
The sound that rang out was a cacophony of destruction and horror.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Cell of Rotted Mother.]
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Cell of Rotted Mother.]
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Cell of Rotted Mother.]
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Cell of Rotted Mother.]
The spot where he landed became a large crater, a fourth of the entire ravine was split apart in the powerful explosion. For almost a hundred meters, the entire surface of the large area was cut with lines similar to those that would appear from an asteroid.
Gehrman blinked and paused for a moment.
He knew he would be strong, but this was unbelievable. He had very nearly caused the same level of destruction as Logarius had dealt with the finishing blow he had dealt to Gairm in the last Nightmare.
Though that particular Transcendent did not have an Aspect (and could thus not be put at the same level as the Saints of this world) he still possessed tremendous strength.
It felt wrong for Gehrman to wield such strength after only a single Nightmare.
But of course, there were several things that warranted this new power.
Gehrman drew tremendous strength due to his ability to compound several augmentations on each other.
In just a single blow he did several things to make it more lethal. He used the most efficient and effective form that he had honed from decades of experience, activating the right muscles at the right time to maximize momentum. He accelerated his blood flow, pumping more energy and power into the required tendons and increasing his power overall. He used his newly enhanced blood and augmented the Transcendent Weapon. He used his Aspect to build up pressure that would enhance the destructive force.
And the abundance of Essence that circled his body had (without Gehrman noticing) followed his blood and enhanced those muscles that he focused on.
The result was devastating and awe inspiring.
Perhaps too much so.
He could feel the cracks in the walls starting to loosen the integrity of the ravine. And with [Eyes on the Inside] he could see exactly where each weak spot lay.
Gehrman could not allow it to tumble down just yet though. Mere rocks could not kill Nightmare Creatures, and the collapsing of this Ravine would only make things more difficult for him.
Gehrman hummed to himself as he considered the situation.
Then, he hooked his weapon to his back and brought up both of his free hands.
Though moving his hands was by no means a requirement for [Blood Manipulation], it helped when first trying something new or doing something on a grand scale.
Both of these things were being done by Gehrman now.
From the corpses of the several dozen Awakened Monsters around him, a steady tide of blood came floating out of them.
All this blood converged over Gehrman's head, floating and rotating in a dense mass of red.
The sphere grew bigger and bigger, eventually dwarfing Gehrman's own figure.
…But it did not feel too heavy.
Though he sensed this technique was not very efficient, his new reserves of Essence were so monstrous that it felt like only an exceptionally small portion was leaving him.
Letting out a short laugh, Gehrman split the sphere into several pieces. Following the areas highlighted by his Arcane eyes, the blood acted as scaffolding, keeping the groaning stone in place.
Confident in his patch-work solution, Gehrman once again started stalking forward to the largest and most menacing Soul Cores.
As he did, he came across a few Awakened Demons and even a Devil.
Each of them exuded a rotten gas that made Gehrman's lip curl in disgust. It was very different from the poison that was born from Vermin. Instead of feeling like being burned, this poison weakened him and made his muscles spasm.
…At least, it would have if not for his Charm.
"I think the Spell actually feels bad for me," Gehrman muttered. While before he had terrible Nightmare Creatures thrown at him, now there was a simple Fallen Terror before him. It was much easier than any of his previous situations.
Eventually he found the Terror itself.
It was utterly massive. Towering over Gehrman several times over. He suspected it reached a height of three dozen meters.
What's more, most of it seemed to be underground.
But looking at it, Gehrman did not feel threatened at all.
The Fallen Terror was a heart. The beating organ had veins of the rotten gas pouring out of it. And the gas seemed to actually coil around the Terror.
Indeed, the thing could control the poison as if it was an extension of its own body.
Gehrman gave the thing a pitying look.
"Amatuer."
Behind him, a wall of blood rose to match the height of the towering heart. It split itself into several pieces, forming a myriad of weapons. Some resembled swords, others were hammers, still others were whips and spears.
"I don't really know what you are weak too, so you'll get a taste of everything."
Gehrman had created dozens of Trick Weapons in his time, and though he could not make these blood weapons as intricate, the design remained the same.
And that would be enough.
Each weapon broke the sound barrier as it flew forward. A series of explosions sounded as the assault began.
To the Terror's credit, it did not receive any damage from the assault.
The rot curled around it and then struck out to meet the weapons.
As this blood was of the Awakened creatures he had slaughtered, it did not benefit from the [Red Messenger Ribbon]. Gerhman had thought that since it came from similarly rotted creatures it would have some immunity.
But the blood weapons slowed in the air and then shattered to pieces before the thing.
They were quickly consumed by the surrounding creatures. These were the Terror's elites. Fallen Demons each of them.
Gehrman was surprised to see such terrifying creatures serving another.
Demons and Devils of the same Rank as a Tyrant, Terror, or even Titans usually did not follow their peers.
These ones did though.
They were more akin to lizards than worms. Though they lacked a face, these one's possessed legs and a tail. They also seemed to be made of the rotted gas, a cloud of it could be seen beneath clear scales.
They looked like phantoms.
But even if they were it wouldn't matter.
Gehrman coalesced his own blood onto his scythe once again. As he did, Nightmare Creatures seemed to tremble at the terrible aura of the weapon.
It was strong, exceptionally strong. But it was also insidious and cruel.
The monsters instantly sensed the most harrowing issue with this weapon, and that was its ability to cut into the very Souls of creatures.
Several more weaker abominations lunged for him.
But he was already swinging the [Burial Blade].
The force of his cut decapitated one of the Demons and injured the other.
Taking their blood, he spread out a truly massive target across the end of the ravine.
He gave it time to dig into the stone and build up pressure. All the while, more corpses and more blood were added to the floor.
Though the blood could not reach the Terror, Gehrman did not need it either.
His previous attack that had destroyed a decent chunk of the Ravine was accidental, but this time he was trying to inflict as much damage as possible.
He had more blood and he had more intent.
Gehrman pushed off the rocks he stood on, creating an explosion in his wake, the stones where he had stood were crushed and several more cracks spread across the ground.
He brought his scythe down with the finality of Hunter's arrow piercing its prey.
Most of the Terror was below the ground.
It seemed to have been reinforced, as the strange pink that afflicted this place seeped deep into the stone all around.
But all that did was make it as strong as Awakened Material.
In other words, Gehrman's attack would blow through the ground and reach the defenseless lower half of the heart without any issue.
Gehrman pushed his new strength to the absolute limit, and he willed a calamity into existence.
Dozens of kills were announced.
And then…
[You have slain a Fallen Terror, Fragment of Rotted Mother's Heart].
…
In a bright room filled with monitors and projectors, data all around the world was being collected.
Gates were being predicted and Awakened were being dispatched to deal with them. Though the Government could not compare to the Great Clans in terms of raw power, it's organization and intelligence was second to none.
That was why they were the first to notice something wrong.
One of the men in the room abruptly stood up and walked out the room.
This was not a terribly rare occurrence, but it did leave the others uncomfortable. That sort of reaction, after all, meant that something terrifying was showing up.
The man quickly knocked on a large metallic door before entering.
Inside, an exceptionally well kept office was maintained. And the owner of the office sat behind her desk, preparing routes for Government Ascended to take when clearing out nearby Gates.
"Boss!" The man said breathlessly. "The Terror of Yangtze Ravine has disappeared!"
The lady behind the desk quickly looked up.
That Terror had been one of the few that still troubled the Government. It was far enough away from any major settlement to not cause any issues, but it showed insidious powers that would give a couple of Ascended trouble.
Its rotting poison also made it exceptionally dangerous. Unless someone had a specific Memory or Aspect that countered poison, it would at the very least leave permanent damage.
Since it had not shown any recent outbursts, the Government simply quarantined the land that encircled the Ravine.
But there was an unease among all workers when addressing that particular thing.
But now…
"What do you mean it's 'disappeared'?" the lady asked.
"All of our sensors stopped showing signs of life in that area. Even all of its Beasts and Monsters are gone."
The executive narrowed her eyes. For them, the immediate concern was that it had evolved and was now moving onto new territory. The idea that someone had killed it was not even considered.
A coordinated effort would be needed when taking on any Terror.
It's death could not happen so spontaneously.
"Send out Awakened Mic's Cohort, I want a report on what they find by tomorrow morning."