Void Cultivation : Outcast Architect of the Apocalypse

Chapter 11 : Swallowing the Void

"Han Ye, can you hear me? Please, look at me!" Mo Ran's voice was a thin thread in the screaming wind.

Han Ye looked at his hands. They were not hands anymore. They were shifting clouds of black ink. He felt the void pulling at his bones. The giant eye in the sky was staring directly into his soul. It was a cold, empty gaze that wanted to swallow the world.

"I am losing it, Mo Ran," Han Ye said. His voice sounded like rocks grinding together. "The Emperor is inside every cell. He is winning."

"No, he is not!" Mo Ran crawled toward him. Her jubah was torn. Blood was on her lips. She reached out and grabbed his face. Her hands were trembling. "Remember who you are. You are not his tool. You are not a monster."

"I am the one who brought him here," Han Ye whispered. A black tear rolled down his cheek. "Every relic I touched was a invitation. I killed those people, Mo Ran. I cleared the path for him."

"Then close the path!" Mo Ran shouted. She pressed her forehead against his. "Use the technique. The one we found in the archives. Purify the void."

"If I do that, I will lose everything," Han Ye said. "I will not be a cultivator anymore. I will be nobody. I will have no power to protect you from what is left."

"I do not want a protector," she said. Her eyes were fierce. "I want you. I want the man who felt guilty for a village he did not even know. I want Han Ye. Just Han Ye."

The sky above them groaned. A huge, pale limb reached through the clouds. It was enormous. The air smelled like rot and old dust. The pressure was so strong that the stone ground beneath them began to turn into powder.

Give it to me, child, the Emperor's voice boomed inside Han Ye's head. Stop fighting. You are my skin. You are my teeth. Let me in, and I will give you the universe.

"You gave me a lie," Han Ye said to the empty air. He felt the silver root in his chest pulsing. It was the only part of him that was not black. It was bright. It was stubborn. "I do not want your universe. I want to stop you."

You cannot do it alone! the Emperor roared. The sound made Han Ye's ears bleed. You are nothing without my power!

"He is not alone," Mo Ran said.

She closed her eyes. A bright, purple light started to leak from her chest. It was not a technique. She was not using Qi. She was tearing her own soul apart. The light was beautiful and terrible at the same time.

"Mo Ran, stop! What are you doing?" Han Ye tried to push her away, but he was too weak.

"I am giving you an anchor," she gasped. Her face was turning white. "Half of my soul for half of yours. Use it, Han Ye. Now!"

Han Ye felt a sudden, warm weight in his chest. The purple light mixed with his black energy. It gave him a second of perfect clarity. He saw the threads of fate. He saw the dark umbilical cord that connected his heart to the monster in the sky.

He realized then that he was not a genius. He was not a hero. He was just a man who had been very angry. And that anger had almost destroyed everything.

I accept it, Han Ye thought. I accept being nothing.

"Purification of Void," Han Ye whispered.

He did not aim the power at the monster. He aimed it at himself. He turned the void inward. He felt the energy of the Emperor being ripped out of his meridians. It was a physical pain. It felt like his skin was being removed while he was still awake. He felt his connection to the godhood snapping. One thread at a time.

"NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" the Emperor screamed. The monster in the sky convulsed. The pale limb started to shrivel.

Han Ye did not stop. He pushed harder. He let go of his pride. He let go of his desire for revenge against Lin Xue. He let go of his desire to be the strongest. He let go of everything that made him the Architect.

"It is over," he said.

A massive explosion of black light erupted from his body. It was not a destructive blast. The darkness hit the scorched ground and turned into green grass. It hit the ruined pillars and turned them into fresh, solid stone. The rot in the air turned into the scent of fresh rain.

The monster in the sky began to dissolve. Its pale flesh turned into white petals. They drifted down from the clouds like snow. The giant eye blinked once and then vanished into the blue.

Han Ye fell back onto the grass. He was gasping. He felt empty. Truly empty. The black markings on his skin were gone. The silver root was gone. He could not feel any Qi in his body. He was just a human. He was a human who could feel the wind on his face.

"Mo Ran?" he whispered.

She was lying next to him. Her eyes were open, but they were dull. Her aura was almost gone. She looked very weak. She had given away half of her life to hold him together.

"Did we do it?" she asked. Her voice was a tiny sound.

"Yes," Han Ye said. He reached for her hand. His fingers were shaking, but they felt real. They felt like flesh and bone again. "We did it. He is gone."

"I am so tired," she said. She tried to smile.

"Sleep," Han Ye said. "I have you. I am right here."

The silence of the afternoon was peaceful. The sun was warm. For a moment, it felt like the nightmare was truly finished. Han Ye closed his eyes, ready to let the exhaustion take him.

Then, he heard a sound. It was the sound of a footstep on the grass. It was slow. It was heavy.

Han Ye forced his eyes open. He looked toward the ruins of the main hall.

The Grandmaster was standing there. He was not a monster anymore. The parasite had been ripped out of him, leaving him as a small, withered old man. But he was alive. His jubah was in rags. In his hand, he held a jagged, glowing shard of the seventh relic.

His eyes were not purple anymore. They were a dark, hungry red.

"You destroyed my god," the Grandmaster whispered. He was shaking with rage. "You ruined five hundred years of my work."

"It is over, Grandmaster," Han Ye said. He tried to stand up, but his legs would not work. He had no power. Not even a drop. "Give it up."

"Over?" The Grandmaster laughed. It was a high, crazy sound. "I still have the shard. I still have the knowledge. And you? You are just a peasant now. You are a bug I can crush with my boot."

He raised the shard. The red light began to grow. It felt hot. It felt like malice.

"I will kill the girl first," the Grandmaster said. He looked at Mo Ran. "I want you to watch her disappear. Then I will take what is left of your soul to start again."

Han Ye looked at Mo Ran. She was unconscious. She could not defend herself. He looked at the Grandmaster, who was walking closer, his face twisted into a mask of pure hate.

Han Ye's heart hammered against his ribs. He was powerless. He was a nobody. But he was the only thing standing between Mo Ran and the shard.

"No," Han Ye said. He grabbed a jagged rock from the ground. He used it to pull himself up.

The Grandmaster laughed again. He raised the shard high. The air around the red stone began to crackle.

"Die, Architect," the Grandmaster shouted, and he lunged forward.