CHAPTER 112: | DEATH
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In the depths of the abyss, no visible ray of sunlight could ever reach.
Within these abyssal depths, these unknown waters, only a suffocating darkness could be seen.
Two men were glaring at each other.
Both men were handsome in their own features, but one man stood above the other.
His freezing white hair and bone-chilling red pupils stood out compared to the other man, whose golden features were prominent in both his pupils and hair.
Then, in the next second, the stilled currents shook violently.
Their figures turned into a blur, then they vanished into streaks of light, flashing in and out of reality as they exchanged moves.
The man with the features of a noble vampire swung his sword in an upward strike.
The man with the divine features lifted a finger, and the moths of embers all around him rose to form a shield, intercepting his opponent's attack.
Light seemed to disappear in the already dark world as the sword I held in my hand, resembling the sword of an evil god, tore through the shield of embers containing the divine glory of Gods.
A concussive blast exploded outward from the clash.
CRASH!
Time moved in a slow motion.
I was already unleashing my next attack while Lumicor clenched his teeth.
He formed a handseal, and thousands of needle-like projectiles cut through the currents with ease.
He smirked with victory. He had already calculated this very moment, the moment when his biggest nemesis would let his guard down.
This was his last chance to incapacicate him with the greatsword floating behind his back.
I know how this will end.
He, too, knows the outcome of this situation.
But Lumicor smiled at this instead of frowning harder at what will happen next.
He knows that I wouldn't be able to dodge these thousands of needles unscathed.
He was expecting this situation.
He knows that I would be left with no option but to use that move, and in that moment, he would impale me with that greatsword floating behind him.
"I let my guard down last time... now taste the true power of the almighty god of the lake of dreadnought, MORTAL!"
With a swipe of his hand, the needles conjured with radiance stilled, then blurred slightly.
They vanished from sight, flickering in and out of reality, moving at the speed of sound to close the gap towards me.
Time seemed to come to a standstill.
The world around me was covered with a blinding radiance.
All I could see were the thousands of needles, inches away from me.
"..."
I sighed as the world came to a complete standstill.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Not from the power of time itself, since I am not a transcendent being who has molted from mortality, but from me pushing my mind beyond its limits, into an overdrive.
This wasn't the solution in this current predicament.
Time itself was still moving normally in the world, but from my perspective, it was in a complete standstill.
I turned my eyes towards Samantha.
She was now sheltered by my most trusted aides in this place, Tellus, who had formed a defensive line, Solia, who had drawn her sword, and Ishtar, who was still unripe, hiding in Samantha's skirt in fear.
I was dissatisfied with my current situation.
The only option to turn this around was for me to completely awaken my race, since using...
"THE FIRST ZEN OF DISTORTION: IRIECE STYLE: RIPPLE OF THE VAST MULTIVERSE."
...isn't a fix for this current situation.
Using the same trick twice on a perceptive person like Lumicor won't work.
It only worked earlier because he was caught by the element of surprise.
FWOOSH!
Time resumed its duty.
The strain I put my mind under couldn't bear the torture of those calculations anymore.
The sound of the thousands of projectiles surrounding me cut through the currents, then into my flesh.
Thinggggggg...
It was a sharp, metallic sound ringing in my ears, followed by pain shooting through my nerves.
My vision grew weary from the hellish pain that my pain receptors received. It was hell that I felt this time...
My body was falling apart from the strain I'd put it through in a single day.
It was a continuous battle with little to no rest at all.
I felt my muscles aching and screaming, a choir of hellish pain.
I'd fought Varuna for hours, then followed by Lumicor.
After defeating him in a hellish battle, I'd then fought the berserked Amara, whose strength paled her previous self.
Then I died, from a moment of carelessness.
But my spirit didn't pass through the passage of time.
It was pulled into my body again, thanks to Eleysian finally usurping back his body from his usurper.
Then I'd fought him after reconstructing my body, followed by Amara who just escaped, and now... into Lumicor, who had already recovered his wounds from the previous battle.
One word to describe this scenario was 'hell'.
It was hell itself, fighting figures tens of times stronger than me, again and again.
It was far worse than the battle that I fought in the first segment.
But I didn't recount this experience because I was whining like a woman.
It was because I was feeling something primal in those moments.
'That primality that lets me win, even if I've fought tooth and nail with those freaks. I was collapsing. My existence was dying itself. ''
But now wasn't the time to whine about my situation.
'I've made it this far. I walked this path of ruin, so how could I cower in fear? At the fear of death? At the fear of defeat?!'
"I AM ALISTER VON FAI! THE MAN WHO SHALL ACHIEVE ASCENDANCE EVEN AT THE COST OF LOSING EVERYTHING! I AM THE VILLAIN OF THE REALITIES! I AM THE MASTER OF DISTORTION ITSELF! I AM... I AM CORRUPTED TO MY BONES!"
I shouted these words out of my mouth.
I was angered at the fact that my body was feeling... fear?
It was my incompetence.
It was the incompetence of not fully integrating my mind with my body as one.
It was something that I hated, the mere fact that I am incompetent.
These feelings...
The rage that I felt in this moment was enough to burn the universe.
My body, which was trembling with fear, calmed down from the rage that I felt.
From the adrenaline flowing through my veins, I felt a calmness, despite my anger.
"Impressive. To think that you could still shout despite your body being riddled with holes, Alister Von Fai... I respect your drive, but... drive alone wouldn't get you anywhere without the strength to back it up."
His arrogant voice echoed clearly, despite my eardrums bleeding profusely.
Lumicor was right.
My drive alone wouldn't bring me anywhere, and I, too, could understand it.
I couldn't understand it... what was I missing to awaken it?
I've felt primality itself, but why did it only linger in my body without consuming my essence?
What was I missing to complete my awakening?
I watched Lumicor, who was forming a complicated mess of a handseal.
He was trying to mimic the 'Sword of the Fallen' that he observed earlier.
It was a mess, but it was admirable that he could now imitate it.
He was applying it to his signature spell, the greatsword that he always likes to throw around.
He was casting it with full concentration, and I was here, helplessly staring at my end.
I couldn't help but sigh at my situation.
If I couldn't successfully awaken my race, then forget about my survival.
The least I should worry about was my death... but at the failure to reach ascendance itself.
I looked at my body for the first time in a while.
Its state was worse than I expected.
It was to the point where it couldn't be salvaged, my limbs dangling and riddled with holes, my stomach blown away, my heart stopped its activities even with me assisting it with mana.
I felt cold... The coldness of death was coming for me...
"I wish that... I had been a bit kinder to them..."
The world came to a standstill as the master of distortion died from the loss of his blood, now drifting into the currents disgracefully.
It was the death of an emperor, tragic yet disgraceful until the end.
His aides stilled their movements as they felt their connections to their master ceasing.
Tellus was the first to crumble apart, his contract with his summoner undone at his death.
He was followed by Solia, who sheathed her sword then walked away from the scene, and Ishtar, whose presence grew weaker.
And Samantha... who watched in despair at the death of her beloved.
