novelraw Chapter 1479 - 1478 - True Monster
Chapter 1479 - 1478 - True Monster
Voices. He remembered hearing voices at first long ago. His creator's voice was the most common one. He was not sure when the world came to him but at some point, he learned to expand his senses and saw the world for the first time.
It was a dreary place. Fires burned in various furnaces as chains or other tools clanked along the walls. The sound of metal hitting metal also drew his attention.
He saw his creator making a terrifying sword. It was black and seemed to thirst for death and destruction. Yet, the wrinkled brow of the creator looked disappointed.
"Failure. You are just a tool of death. There is no artistry in that." He felt odd at those words but then the creator shattered the blade. The scream of the nascent spirit seemed to scare the other items that had spirits in the room.
He, however, felt nothing. He knew that was wrong. He should be feeling something. Fear, confusion, maybe even enjoyment, but there was only calm. He looked at his body and found he was on a rack.
He was a curved piece of material with slots for crystals or gems yet to be filled. He was not complete yet but he was aware!
His body was made of something that looked like metal but was bent like wood. The knowledge of his existence flowed into him at that thought.
There was a tree harder than most metals but flexible under the right conditions. It grew deep in the misty valleys of the Ichor Ravines. The beasts there were powerful and for any plant to survive, it had to be extraordinary.
Celestial Adamantium Trees were a peak grade 8 material. They were also infamous for slicing up their prey before they even knew they were dead!
He had no idea how his creator had obtained his materials but he was suddenly lifted from the rack. The creator's eyes were strange. They were like dark gold but shifted to pure black at times.
They were also full of madness.
The death of the spirit had not moved him but the creator's eyes terrified him.
"Hmm? Odd, I have not finished you but a spirit is here? Interesting." A force invaded him that he could not stop. New knowledge flowed into him.
Master Tier! His creator was a Divine Realm in the Master Tier! Such a being was the apex of the cultivation world.
He awaited destruction but something much worse happened. He was refined!
Pain unlike anything he had ever felt seared his spiritual body. He thought at times he would be obliterated, but he endured.
Gems, crystals, and inscriptions were inlaid into his body. More knowledge poured into him but it dwarfed the horrific image in his creator's mind.
Creatures of disgusting and impossible size. Beings that could snuff out existence on a whim but only a few fragile boundaries kept them at bay. He saw a small sphere of a world swallowed nearly whole by one of the beasts when it was sent back into the bottomless abyss.
The visions fused with him and he found them interesting as the pain was reduced. His form had not been chosen but he saw no reason to limit himself.
He could become more! He could have that power!
Cackling laughter suddenly snapped him out of his reverie as he was held up in the now sweaty hands of his creator!
"FINALLY! FINALLY I DID IT! You are my greatest creation!" As the man spoke the words all the tools, weapons, and incomplete items were wiped from existence! It had been so casual but bright light now slammed into his senses.
He saw the living world for the first time! Green, blue, white, and so many other colors but he found them disgusting. He wished to return to the dark and crimson world he had first awoken in.
Eldritch was the name given to him. He understood the beasts in the vision were that name. He was a bow but he was so much more!
His creator never used him, for reasons he never learned, but he had many try to. Some succeeded and the results made his creator very happy.
Yet, there was a problem. The vast majority of cultivators could not withstand him. Their minds were too weak to understand his glory. They became husks after only a few millennia of using him.
The very madness he inflicted on their foes eventually claimed them. His creator was not displeased but it left Eldritch dissatisfied.
Were all cultivators that weak? Could they not withstand even a simple vision? His creator was the source but he was not a bowman. Even with the aids he built into Eldritch, he could not hit the broadside of a barn.
Something about his path was already set and could not be changed further.
Billions of years passed and Eldritch became a legendary horror to the wider world. Even Fiends feared his existence. Madness was not something they could simply outlive.
The record was 15 arrows. No one had gone above that since his creation. Once struck, the seeds of madness would be sown and begin to grow.
Their fate was sealed.
Eventually, his creator made an Inheritance and he was placed inside. The man looked very thin at that time but his eyes still burned as they always had. The spirit was willing but the body was giving out.
Eldritch understood that something was coming for his creator and the man knew his time was coming to an end. The knowledge did not fully come to him at that time. It was something purely for cultivators and not his concern.
Many billions more years would pass before the Inheritance began to collapse. Eldritch had sensed many auras but none ever reached him. The Inheritance was his creator's final testament.
It was the abyss made manifest.
He assumed he would fade into oblivion when the Ruin finally collapsed around him but then she came. A demoness, bloody and barely alive, crawled into his chamber. The fact she got in meant she had persevered.
Yet, he expected her mind to be destroyed. His creator was not willing to compromise even when Ruin came. He had ensured the surviving parts would actually get worse than when it was a full Inheritance!
"Beautiful." The voice made his senses zero in on her. She was smiling up at him and her amethyst eyes were clear! She was untouched by the madness?! How?!
She collapsed after that but his interest was piqued. He wanted to know! Could she be strong?
He used his powers to heal her. It was easy as she was only a Radiant Tier. Based on her vitality, she was close to 20 million years old. Very young for an Immortal.
Strangely, he saw only serenity in her mind. There was no ripple, no instability, not even a flicker of darkness as he had seen in so many.
She awoke and they began the journey. She wielded him with pride and danced in the shadows of madness for millions of years.
Satisfaction filled Eldritch. A true master had come! All those Divine Realm cultivators had tried to tame him but a Radiant Tier had succeeded!
The demoness had a name but she shed it once they were together. She became just a wanderer. Sects and other powers tried to recruit her but they did not survive exposure to him long.
She never turned on them, but his presence alone destroyed them from within. The Madness Immortal became her title.
She laughed at it.
In all that time Eldritch helped as he could to guide her and help her to become a Divine Demon. He did not have all the answers but she was far too compatible with him not to benefit from it.
The new tournament would allow them to fight at full strength and she was so close to advancing! He could feel it!
They now faced the owner of the tournament. He was doing better than most. He had taken 4 arrows and his eyes were clear.
He also quickly grasped the true danger of Eldritch's arrows. Still, it only meant he would die wise, but he would still die.
At least, that was what he thought. Then, the world shifted.
A shadow began to grow behind the dragon. His emerald hair, once so bright was swallowed by it and 2 white orbs looked down at them.
For the first time in his existence, Eldritch knew absolute terror. He was looking at the true end of all things! He had always presumed he was unrivaled since no one else could withstand him but his current master.
He had assumed he would rise up and together they would achieve the dream of his creator to bring madness to all of the realms.
Now, however, he understood. He was just a weapon. He held the Dao of Madness but it meant nothing in front of the current monster!
It would take them all! They would not die but be fuel for its existence!
[Your creator indulged in fantasy. It is powerful and can inspire, but it cannot withstand the true madness of the world. A Dao can be consumed like everything else.] The words were calm but shattered the foundation of Eldritch.
A scream suddenly shook him back to the present and he found his master wailing on the ground like a child.
"NOOOOOOOO! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP! NOO–" She was covered in snot and tears as she wailed. The emerald dragon man emerged and looked exhausted.
He stood over them and looked regretful but resolute.
"If you cannot face a memory of my enemy, you cannot face me." Eldritch looked into those reptilian emerald eyes and knew at that moment, he was only an imitation of the true monsters in the realms.
[WINNER: LIND FREY!]