Chapter 10 : The Incarnation of the False God
1455 Words
"Let go of me!" Han Ye snarled, his voice hoarse as his own shadow gripped his neck. He elbowed the empty air behind him, but his arm only passed through the darkness as if hitting smoke.
"Your shadow is much smarter than you, Han Ye," Mu Chen laughed. He stood a few steps in front, leaning casually on his golden spear. "He knows who the real master is. You're just a courier who brought us the keys."
Han Ye struggled to breathe. Every time he tried to circulate energy to fight back, the shadow strangled him tighter. He glanced at the Grandmaster, who stood motionless behind Mu Chen. His golden robe shimmered, but the aura radiating from the old man's body felt rotten.
"Why are you just standing there?" Han Ye asked, his voice strained. "You're the leader of the Light Sect. You're supposed to protect this world from falling apart."
The Grandmaster slowly removed his helmet. His face did not look holy. His skin was pale, almost transparent, and Han Ye could see black liquid moving wildly inside the blood vessels beneath his cheeks.
"Protect the world?" The Grandmaster smiled thinly. "I protect a field, Han Ye. A farmer doesn't protect the wheat because he loves it. He protects it so the wheat is healthy enough when it's time to be harvested."
"You harvest human lives?" Han Ye coughed, black blood dripping down his chin.
"I prepare them," the Grandmaster replied. "For five hundred years, I have sculpted every inch of my soul. I destroyed my humanity bit by bit, only so I could have the perfect form for the Emperor. And you? You are the tool that made everything easier."
"Han Ye! Don't listen to him!"
Mo Ran landed beside Han Ye. A flash of purple light from her hand hit the shadow strangling Han Ye, forcing it back for a moment. Mo Ran gasped, her face pale from exhaustion after their previous long battle.
"Mo Ran, get out of here," Han Ye whispered.
"No way," Mo Ran answered firmly. She stood in front of Han Ye, drawing her dagger toward the Grandmaster. "You said you were a bridge? A bridge can be destroyed, old man."
The Grandmaster laughed, a sound like grinding rusted metal. "Little girl from the Demon Sect. You think your petty soul technique can stop what the stars have destined?"
"Destiny can be changed," Han Ye said. He stood tall, even though his legs were trembling. His hand gripped the hilt of his black sword tightly. “I can't let him win. If he becomes that vessel, everything will end.”
"Mu Chen, finish them," the Grandmaster commanded without turning around.
Mu Chen gave a mad grin. He jumped forward, his golden spear splitting the air with impossible speed. "This is for all the years you were always above me, Han Ye! Die like trash!"
Han Ye parried the attack with his sword. The clash of their energies created a shockwave that cracked the ground beneath their feet. "Are you still obsessed with me, Mu Chen? Even after you stole everything, you still feel small?"
"Shut up! I am much stronger than you now!" shouted Mu Chen. He spun his spear, sending out dozens of light attacks that destroyed the structures around them.
Mo Ran tried to help, but the Grandmaster simply snapped his fingers. A wall of white light appeared out of nowhere, slamming Mo Ran into a large stone pillar. Mo Ran fell limp, no longer moving.
"Mo Ran!" Han Ye screamed. His heart felt squeezed. The guilt returned, sharper than before. “Everyone close to me always suffers. I am truly bad luck.”
“Don't fight me, Han Ye,” the voice of the Sky Emperor echoed in his head, so loud he almost went deaf. “Give me control. I will destroy that old man for you. I will erase your pain.”
"No!" Han Ye yelled at the empty air. "I will not become your vessel!"
"You don't have a choice!" Mu Chen stabbed his spear, the tip grazing Han Ye's shoulder. "Look around you! The Sky Capital is already beginning to collapse!"
Han Ye looked into the distance. It was true. The magnificent buildings in the Capital of Light began to float into the sky, crumbling into dust that was sucked toward the black cloud vortex growing larger above them. Millions of people screamed, their voices merging into one deafening wail.
"This is your masterpiece, Han Ye," said the Grandmaster. He stretched his hands toward the sky. "The relics you collected are the seasonings. And now, it's time to serve the main course."
Han Ye closed his eyes. He felt the energy of nothingness inside him struggling, demanding to be released. All this time he had tried to hold it back, trying to build walls so he wouldn't lose his consciousness.
“If I can't be a cage for this monster, then I will become the monster itself to destroy them.”
"Emperor," whispered Han Ye. "You want to come out? Fine. But you'll come out my way."
Han Ye stopped fighting the voice in his head. He opened every door in his soul that he had kept tightly locked all this time. He allowed the darkness to flow through all his veins, filling every gap in his brain.
Han Ye's body began to change. The black lines on his skin no longer just pulsed, they glowed with a dark purple color. His eyes lost all their white parts, changing into black holes that sucked in the light around him.
"What are you doing?" Mu Chen took a step back, his hand holding the spear starting to tremble. "Your face... you look like..."
Han Ye didn't answer. He moved faster than Mu Chen's eyes could catch. In an instant, he was already in front of Mu Chen, his hand gripping the neck of his old friend.
"You wanted my power, right?" Han Ye asked. His voice was no longer human. It was a chorus of thousands of overlapping whispers.
"Let go! It hurts!" Mu Chen struggled, but every time his skin touched Han Ye's hand, his flesh started to fade, turning into ash blown away by the wind.
"Take everything," Han Ye said coldly.
In one second, Mu Chen completely disappeared. There was no blood. No corpse. Only dust remained of the man who had destroyed Han Ye's life.
Han Ye turned toward the Grandmaster.
His steps felt heavy, yet each footprint shattered the earth beneath him.
The Grandmaster showed no fear. Instead, he looked ecstatic. "Yes! That's it! Pure hatred! The perfect energy of nothingness! You've just thrown the gates wide open for me!"
The Grandmaster plunged his hand into his own chest, tearing through his ribs without a trace of pain. He pulled out a crystal heart that pulsed with the same purple light as Han Ye's energy.
"The seventh relic," the Grandmaster whispered.
Suddenly, the storage pouch at Han Ye's waist exploded. The six relics he had collected over months flew out, circling the crystal heart in the air.
"Stop!" Han Ye tried to charge forward, but an immense gravitational force held him rooted to the spot.
The relics began to merge with the Grandmaster's body. One by one, the ancient objects sank into his flesh. The Grandmaster's body swelled, his skin cracking open to release black tentacles that writhed with hunger.
"I am the perfect incarnation!" the Grandmaster screamed as his head split in two, revealing a massive mouth full of jagged teeth.
"You're just a pawn, you fool!" Han Ye shouted, trying to rally his fading consciousness for an attack.
But the sky above them suddenly split wide open. A massive, pupil-less eye stared down from another dimension. An arm larger than mountains descended from the sky, its fingertip touching the head of the Grandmaster, who had transformed into a giant monster.
Han Ye fell to his knees. He felt his soul being forcefully ripped from his body. He looked toward Mo Ran, who was beginning to stir, the girl crying as she watched Han Ye’s form gradually disappear, consumed by the surrounding darkness.
"Han Ye, don't leave me!" Mo Ran screamed.
Han Ye tried to answer, but his mouth could no longer form words. He watched the monster before him begin to drain all energy from the capital city, sucking away every remaining life to complete its ritual.
Just as the monster prepared to devour Han Ye, something strange happened to his new spiritual root, which had remained hidden all this time. The root glowed with an alien silver color, struggling against the pull of nothingness.
"I'm not finished," Han Ye thought from within the void.
- Writer
