I Can Copy And Evolve Talents

Chapter 1425: Hopelessness

For a moment, Revant was silent. Of course, he wasn’t surprised that the Prince recognized him. It was no secret that certain individuals possessed deeper knowledge about the twisted nature of the world.

After all, if Northern could discover so much, how much more would those who had lived in a world far more chaotic and devastating than his know? The Reimgardians were certainly forged by the most brutal battlefields.

There was nothing surprising about this at all.

The real problem, however, was the Prince’s Talent.

Revant chuckled lightly, making the Prince frown.

"You really shouldn’t be doing that. It’s giving me the chills," Prince Rigel said with a strangely eerie smile on his face.

Revant, meanwhile, stood upright. He was overwhelmed by despair; his own power had somehow been turned against him with far greater weight.

And even though he was a Tyrant who governed despair, he was not spared from its brutal influence. The Prince possessed a very dangerous ability, and Revant barely suppressed his bloodlust because of Northern’s command.

He inhaled deeply.

"If I hadn’t gained my strength, dealing with you would certainly have been a problem."

Revant stood unaffected by the immense despair pressing down on him. This caused Prince Rigel to stagger back, his eyes widening in shock.

"Oh, oh... I told you, right? It’s terrifying when someone overcomes their own power like that..." He sounded fascinated... barely.

Revant looked at his hand with a forlorn expression.

’I really have become far more powerful than I was...’

When he was mechanized, Revant became a beneficiary of the endlessness and formlessness of Northern’s power — even gaining the capacity for endless growth. Yet all that growth had been compressed into a single self instead of spreading into countless variations.

One of those variations he had merged back into himself was the Hollow King, who possessed an ability called [Absolute Nullification Aura]. This ability allowed Revant to completely nullify any effect on his body, even Tyrant-level effects.

He had also gained several very interesting abilities, along with becoming the prime vessel of Despair.

Standing there, an eerie dark-purple fog began to swirl around him, slowly filling the surroundings. The Prince staggered back, staring with growing apprehension.

He chuckled lightly.

"What a macabre ability. Are you going to dull my senses and catch me? How lame..."

Revant did not answer. His figure slowly faded until even his silhouette vanished.

For a few seconds, the Prince stood in the silent fog. Nothing happened to him. And he sensed no malicious intent within the mist.

His brows furrowed as several thoughts surfaced in his mind. He cautiously stepped back, looking around keenly before retreating farther and farther.

"You’d be very stupid not to stop me now."

Prince Rigel chuckled and immediately quickened his pace, dashing back toward the wall.

’I will have to enlist elder brother’s help... I can’t deal with a Tyrant alone!’

He had hoped that his Talent’s vagrant ability would work against it, but it didn’t, and he did not want to take further gambles. He simply wanted to use this opportunity to return to the wall and inform his brothers of the development.

’It’s quite stupid of you to let me go, Tyrant. I have a very keen sense of direction. Even in this strange fog, I can sense my destination.’

The wall was only a few hundred meters away from him. Even though he couldn’t see it, he could sense it clearly. So the Prince pushed more speed into his legs, knowing that Revant would most likely be chasing him or stalking him through the fog.

He also possessed the ability to analyze abilities, because he copied them. He had already analyzed this fog. For him to reverse an ability onto its owner, the ability had to carry intent to kill him. But the problem with this fog was that it carried no intent whatsoever.

And that was why Prince Rigel was certain that Revant had created the fog to control his escape routes and hunt him.

But Revant had made a fatal mistake, failing to account for the nature of an Imperial Bloodline. Rigel possessed an extremely keen nose, capable of smelling things such as buildings and people, and navigating vast distances simply by following their scent. He didn’t even need to open his eyes to move.

His sense of smell functioned like a second set of eyes.

However, at the same time...

’Something is wrong...’

It was a subtle sensation. He couldn’t define it at first, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.

His throat went dry, and a cold chill crept beneath his skin. Refusing to dwell on the fear rising inside him, he pressed forward even more furiously, running through the fog with vicious speed.

By now, he should have covered enough distance to reach the wall. All that should remain was scaling it.

But Prince Rigel’s eyes widened, his face paling as he focused on his senses and realized something.

The wall was still just as far away as he had perceived it before.

He paused for a moment, looking around him, almost wondering if he had not moved at all. But he had indeed moved; his legs still burned slightly from the short yet intense sprint.

Because the fog looked identical in every direction, he couldn’t tell how far he had gone. But he knew he had moved.

By all standards, he should have been closer now.

Yet he was still just as far from the wall.

The Prince frowned stubbornly. He dashed forward again, running even faster than before, focusing sharply on his sense of smell as he followed the scent of the wall.

But herein lay the problem.

He could clearly smell the wall a few hundred meters away. He kept running toward it and was certain that he was moving—yet something was terribly wrong.

’It’s not moving... the distance isn’t changing...’

His face paled as the realization struck him.

Was he trapped in a time loop? Was he frozen within a fog of time?

’No... that can’t be. He should only have power over despair...’

As he thought about it, the truth suddenly dawned on him.

This was a fog of pure despair.

This... this was the meaning of despair itself.

Hopelessness.