R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 52

R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 52

(Expect Ch 53 tomorrow, released around the same time)

What happened to one’s Soul after they died?

The answer to that question was something even Micheal didn’t know.

However, the concept that most living beings possessed a Soul was a firmly established fact in the 7 Layers.

‘Even if Humanity didn’t know where our Souls go when we die, we knew they still existed, somewhere.’

The proof to that conclusion was found on none other than the 6th Layer.

‘The Well of Eternity.’

It was a mystical place on the 6th Layer that broke the laws of reality and did what was previously thought to be impossible.

‘Resurrection.’

The Well of Eternity was the once place in existence where the dead could be brought back to life.

‘Humanity didn’t truly realize the damage Sion had done until they discovered the Well of Eternity, and attempted to bring back Emmanuel Stone and Elmara Gaiden.’

Emmanuel Stone, the ‘Pioneer of Moorim,’ was the founder of the Moorim Association, a group of incredibly powerful Martial Artists that was formed on the Fifth Layer to give Humanity a fighting chance at survival.

Elmara Gaiden, the ‘Great Saintess,’ was the founder of the Alliance of Saints, a group of human geniuses who specialized in magical combat, research, and healing that came together on the Fifth Layer.

‘At least 40% of Humanity’s strongest members had close ties with or were members of the Alliance of Saints and the Moorim Association.’

The influence these two groups had on humanity was immense.

‘If it weren’t for those damned Titled Deities.’

By the time Micheal reached the 7th Layer, both groups had been annihilated.

‘The Titled Deity Navir destroyed the Alliance of Saints and the Moorim Association on the 6th Layer… but…’

Micheal thought, his eyes glinting.

‘Before either group even left the 5th Layer, they encountered Sion.’

Sion Swordsoul was a Toren. After he learned that Humanity had ascended from the Ancient World, the Titled Deity made it his job to challenge all of Humanity’s strongest warriors.

‘It was around the start of the 7th Wave that Sion began his ‘Human Hunt.’’

Both Emmanuel Stone and Elmara Gaiden were among the casualties of humans who died to him.

It was a disastrous loss for Humanity, not just because of their individual strength, but because of their incredible leadership, charisma, and influence. Sion’s actions left a devastating void that took precious years to recover from.

‘Sion didn’t just kill their bodies… he also killed their Souls.’

The Well of Eternity had the ability to bring the dead back to life… but it only worked for those who possessed a Soul.

Sion’s ability to kill a being’s Soul meant every single Human he killed could never return. If an afterlife existed, they would never go to it.

They were erased from existence as a whole.

As Micheal looked down at the Memory Crystals set on the table before him, he bowed his head quietly.

Then, after a few moments’ pause, he reached forward and rested his hands on one of the gray crystals, using the Ki within him to form a connection.

The space around Micheal seemed, ever so briefly, to flutter… before a wave of memories washed into Micheal’s mind.

.. .. .. .. .. ..

Micheal blinked as he abruptly found himself in a place he didn’t recognize.

‘...where in the world am I?’

Micheal found himself inside what appeared to be a truly enormous, transparent, grayish-black sphere. As he looked around, he saw the ruins of dozens of large, wooden buildings, huddled near the center of the sphere, bordering a pair of large mountains that reached up more than a 1,000 meters, about halfway to the ceiling of the massive sphere.

As Micheal looked around, he realized something rather strange.

‘The land around me… all the colors are wrong.’

He was viewing the world in a strange mix of black, white, and gray, with odd blips of a haze-like blue or yellow every once in a while. Despite the massive sphere covering up the sun above, the world around him wasn’t swarming with darkness, but well lit, despite there clearly being little to no visible light.

It was an entirely strange, alien way to view the world.

“Hah.”

Micheal froze as his body laughed.

“Hahahaha.”

‘Wait… that‘s not me laughing…’

“Hahahahahahahahaha…”

‘Right. I’m in a memory right now.’ His mind finished adjusting, remembering in that moment that right now, he was reliving the memories of someone else.

Kyrui, a Dark Wraith, and the Master of Space, laughed out loud, his shadowy hands trembling as he knelt on one knee. The Dark Wraith’s shadowy form looked similar to the Shadow Seekers that haunted the Dark Canyon, dark, shadowy humanoids, but with more distinct, gray skin that gave off faint black particles of darkness.

“Unforgivable.” Kyrui reached out with his right hand and then…

Clenched on the fabric of Space.

The world distorted and twisted around the Dark Wraith, a whirlpool of space forming around him.

Micheal’s Soul rocked as he felt waves of energy flow out from Kyrui’s body, forming a core at the center of his palm. Micheal didn’t miss a moment of the distinct movements, feeling the unique flow of energy, a Conceptual Power that he had never even remotely sensed before.

The Concept of Space.

A split second later, Micheal understood Kyrui’s actions as a blinding, white slash of Sword Energy ripped through the air, aimed directly at him.

That deadly white blade of Sword Energy slammed right into Kyrui and then… flowed through the distorted space around him, and slammed into the mountain directly behind the Dark Wraith.

The earth shuddered, sending up an enormous cloud of dust as the mountain behind Kryui split into half. A loud shockwave echoed out as stone shrapnel exploded, a gash more than a thousand meters high carved hundreds of meters deep into the earth.

“How DARE you.” Kyrui panted, the black energy that served as blood for Dark Wraiths dripping from his eyes.

The Master of Space raised his left and right hands out in front of him, and then clapped with all of his might, drawing on a huge portion of the Spatial Energy inside his body.

The world shuddered for a split second before the space in front of Kyrui split in half.

A harsh, rending noise echoed out as the ground directly before the Dark Wraith ripped apart, tearing forward faster than a bullet.

“You aren’t half bad… eh, better than the rest.” A sour, sardonic voice responded to the Dark Wraith.

The line of rent Space came to an abrupt halt as it collided with a golden-skinned man, the grinding Space clashing with a glowing white sword. The impact created a blast that shook the air, cracking the earth around the golden-skinned man for a dozen meters, and sending up a storm of wind.

“I’d give you a 6.5 out of 10.” Sion Swordsoul smiled as he waved his right hand, the simple motion killing the storm of wind in an instant, causing the air to grow still.

Sion had the same bronzed-gold skin all Torens possessed, but stood apart from all the other Torens Micheal had seen for a simple reason.

His appearance was nigh perfect.

His perfectly muscled body, a handsome, perfectly balanced face, his long, dark golden hair, his smooth, precise movements that showed immense mastery of his body and physique… everything about Sion Swordsoul looked perfect.

‘Bastard.’ Micheal thought.

“You monster.” Kyrui wheezed, his fists clenching the air before him once more.

The space around Kyrui’s hands distorted, weird, twisting lines of space curling in on itself, as he jerked backwards, pulling with all his might.

The world seemed to lurch forward as the space between Kyrui and Sion abruptly shortened.

A split second later… what Micheal could only describe as a broken shard of Space formed into existence, ripping forward off of Kyrui’s right fist. The distorted Space twisted the air as it shot forth, moving faster than the human eye could perceive.

Sion languidly swiped forward with his sword, a line of white energy splitting forth from it.

As soon as that line of white Sword Energy made contact with the ragged, it vanished.

‘No, it didn’t vanish.’ Micheal thought, his gaze hardening.

‘It died.’

Every Titled Deity was gifted with abilities that broke the laws of existence, powers that warped reality… and this was Sion’s power.

Title: The Infinite Edge

Humanity had determined that this Title granted Sion a deceptively simple ability:

The power to ‘kill’ anything he cut.

Anything.

Micheal’s mind raced as he thought back to just a few seconds ago, earlier in the fight.

Sion had waved his hand slightly, annoyed at the breeze caused by the shockwave of Kyrui’s Spatial Clap. That simple hand motion had stilled the breeze, returning the air to normal.

That simple hand motion killed that breeze, on a Conceptual level, warping reality to cause that breeze to ‘die.’ The energy present within the air that caused the wind to move was erased from existence.

“They were children, you monster! They bore no sin!” Kyrui spoke, drawing on his energy to create a wall of distorted Space between himself and Sion.

Sion immediately cut down the wall, a line of white energy cutting forward and nearly splitting Kyrui in twain, but not before Kyrui clenched his fist and distorted Space again, causing the brutal slash to wrap around him.

“Children? Mm?” Sion paused as he tilted his head, looking around at the destroyed buildings.

“Ah, right. A shame.” The Toren shook his head.

“The tragedy of the weak.”

“What do you mean, a tragedy?! You caused this!” Kyrui sputtered as he clapped his hands together again, sending a second wave of shredded Space at Sion.

Sion held out his right hand as the shuddering air slammed into him, his fingers drawing together in a smooth, sharp motion that instantly destroyed Kyrui’s attack.

“What honor is their in killing infants who cannot even resist?” As Kyrui yelled, the Dark Wraith’s eyes glanced off to the left and right, as if looking stalling for reinforcements.

Sion’s perfect face crinkled into a frown as he looked at Kyrui.

“Why did I kill them?” He muttered, his eyes shining as he looked at the Dark Wraith.

Sion smiled.

“Because I can.”

Sion raised his sword and did the same thing he had done, just a few minutes prior, when he first attacked the first of the four Dark Wraith Sanctuaries.

Sion cut the air in front of him.

And…

The air died.

Abruptly, within roughly a five mile radius of Sion, everything that constituted ‘air’ was erased from existence.

Kyrui’s lungs burned as he exhaled, the air ripping free from his lungs. Within the same second that the air vanished, the Master of Space drew upon his energy to form a protective, Spatial Cocoon. Before he finished, however, the water in his eyes began to boil as the world around him turned into a vacuum, blinding him.

Kyrui, as a Dark Wraith, faired far better than a human would at the abrupt change. The black energy in a Dark Wraith’s veins was not a true liquid, but they still required air to breathe, and had water and other bodily fluids running through them.

The instant transmission of air to nothingness caused those liquids within Kyrui to undergo ebullism, a process in which liquid water turns into vapor, spontaneously boiling due to the absence of atmospheric pressure. Kyrui managed to raise his Spatial Cocoon in time to avoid the worst effects, but not before his body was racked with agony, his very cells swelling and attempting to tear themselves apart.

A few seconds passed as Kyrui retreated, his body oddly twisted and distorted inside his Spatial Cocoon.

Sion stood still as he admired the world around him, his perfect body covered in a faint layer of white energy that protected him from the effects of his attack.

‘So he knew how to do this, even back then.’ Micheal thought to himself as he looked through Kyrui’s blurred eyes.

‘One of Sion’s favorite methods of attack…’ A method recorded and studied in the records of Dark Void.

‘Air Erasure.’

One more second passed, eerily silent, sound unable to transmit in the vacuum of space Sion had created.

In the next second, however…

An immense shockwave tore through space as air from the outside word rushed in, a backlash of pressure crashing into the world.

The rapid blast of air threw the rubble of the ruined buildings into the sky, an enormous windstorm whiplashing back and forth as huge chunks of wood and stone were flung around.

Sion, upon seeing this, frowned. His right hand transformed into a blur, a white slice of energy erupting as he cut forward.

Immediately, the trembling space settled, the storm of quaking air and shockwave vanishing as if it had never been.

“You… monster…” Kyrui wheezed, black liquid dripping from his eyes, ears, and nose as he emerged from his Spatial Cocoon. The Master of Space appeared unsteady, but stalwart on his feet nevertheless, his back straight and his shoulders strong.

“This is fun.” Sion muttered as he walked forward with a smile. As the Titled Deity did so, he glanced off to his right, where 3 figures emerged in the distance, rushing towards him.

Tallanoran, accompanied by the two other Masters of the Dark Wraith race.

Micheal mentally grit his teeth, his heart twisting as he watched four brave warriors march to their doom.

‘Kyrui… I won’t let your sacrifice go to waste.’

Micheal began to immerse himself in the unique sensation of Kyrui’s manipulation of Space, making a mental promise to himself.

He would learn everything he could here, and when he was done…

‘I swear upon my Soul...’

‘You will be avenged.’

.