novelraw Chapter 612: Beginning of Annihilation (Two-in-One)
Chapter 612: Beginning of Annihilation (Two-in-One)
Upon returning from the deep layers of consciousness, Fisher's soul could only simply consider two things.
The former was pain, almost boundless pain.
Because the essence of that black mud was actually a certain Chaos forming the Base of a certain existence using his body, guiding a terrifying power towards the outside of the Spirit World's Ultimate. Therefore, it represented the most absolute Chaos, desiring to smash everything else on Fisher's body, body and soul...
And the latter was purely the conviction to save Raphaela.
Using this as the entirety of his thoughts right now, disregarding gains and losses, risking everything just to achieve this goal. Only in this way could he maintain basic movement amidst the pain. Otherwise, if the goal wasn't clear, the moment he felt that endless agony, Fisher would likely flinch and even give up in the end.
Therefore, Fisher was actually completely unaware of Helaire's hesitating to speak on the outside right now, nor did he even have time to ponder how Raphaela arrived here. He could only think about saving Raphaela and his child in her womb right now.
But currently, no matter how he wanted to fish up Raphaela in the dark amidst the endless pain, it was all to no avail. Because the black mud trapping Raphaela right now was himself. Every time he wanted to extend a "hand" to fish her out, he would unwillingly discover his hands dissolved within it, utterly unable to save her...
What could be done about this?!
Even if a second of time passed right now, Fisher's heart would be extremely anxious, because it also meant Raphaela had to endure such suffering below for another second. At the thought of this point, Fisher could even ignore the pain he himself was currently enduring, wanting to exchange this for a method to save Raphaela.
"Do you know you are very special?"It was right at this moment that such a phrase, said to him by others more than once, suddenly surfed his mind, pointing out a possible path for him like an inspiration.
Then, where was his uniqueness?
He could read more than one Completion Handbook, and could even directly face the authority of Destiny to change everything and return to the past. Even when Renee's power directly erupted at his chest, he didn't die?
Wait, if even when Renee's power erupted inside his body he didn't die, then by analogy, shrinking a Chaos of the same nature and rank into his own body, and then letting it erupt within his body, could transfer its outward effect from Raphaela's body onto his own body!
The moment this idea sprouted, Fisher immediately wanted to put it into practice. Because time couldn't be delayed even a little; staying inside any longer, Raphaela and her unborn child might both be in trouble...
But when it truly came down to doing it, he realized just how difficult and painful it actually was.
Right now, this black mud spreading outward approximately a hundred meters also to some extent spread outward the pain he could feel. However, once he retracted it by one meter, the pain multiplied exponentially. Just when initially doing so, he couldn't help but roar hoarsely, and his originally unclear consciousness became even more unclear.
"Huff, huff... huff..."
He collapsed fiercely onto the ground, yet still unceasingly retracted the black mud, containing it within his own body.
"So, this is your punishment for me, right? I still owed you a punishment, and this is how you are claiming it back, right, Fisher?"
Despite professing to be strong and having reached the age of thirty, under such torture Fisher was fragile as a baby in swaddling clothes. He merely wanted to cry, and even wanted to find a weapon to kill himself on the spot. But he suddenly remembered the words Raphaela spoke to him back then while holding back tears.
He indeed felt guilty, he indeed caused all this due to his greed, he indeed was insatiable, and needed to repay all this.
Even now, when he recalled that just moments ago he even harbored the thought of "would it be better if there wasn't the Demi-Human Completion Handbook", he felt even more guilty. Because if he didn't do so, she would have died in Pherone City back then, and everyone else would die as well, while he remained completely oblivious to it...
He didn't dare speak recklessly that his feelings for her were love, because this word was truly far too noble, making his acceptance of another's actions seem so unworthy of virtue. So he could only frequently harbor a sense of indebted owing.
Owing her, owing her mother...
That intense pain distanced bit by bit, as if dispelled by the scorching heat in his heart. Within the increasingly persevering black mud, a "human figure" kneeling on the ground grew increasingly obvious, just like Fisher's soul—a human.
Within the black mud, the waves were turbulent, while he acted like a whirlpool, desperately contending against it regardless of everything.
"Splash, splash... splash..."
From all directions, the rhythmic and measured sound of sea waves crashing against the shore layered upon one another, much like an enemy yet also like a lover gazing at the existence contending against It.
However, Fisher was truly in too much pain. He was truly suffering too much. That painstakingly formed "human figure" uncontrollably crawled on the ground, hollering with a crying tone. Yet he didn't dare stop the process of accommodating the black mud, only able to chew and swallow down this feeling...
"Wuuuu..."
He reached out and grasped the ground, his head a stretch of Chaos, yet he suddenly couldn't think of how to awaken his consciousness...
Right, if Raphaela and I would have a child, then it must definitely be a Dragon-kin... Hmm, although human blood flows in the body, cross-species reproduction generally takes after the mother's species more. Fisher had done considerable research on this.
Then, if it were his own child, what name should he give it?
Unlike humans, Dragon-kin could have different colored scales. Would it inherit its mother's unique crimson scales, or would it become extremely plain, no different from ordinary Dragon-kin?
Hmm, this was fine too. If it was a little boy, giving him the name Goncalo might not be bad either. This was the name of the human philosopher Fisher favored most during his childhood; a little girl would be called Anaïs, which was also the name of a philosopher...
In Nazarene tradition, the more one revered a person, then naming a child after them might gain all their virtues.
However, according to Dragon-kin traditions, his or her name should have an 'el' at the end...
Moreover, according to Dragon-kin traditions, their names should be designated by the elder of the Myriad Flower Court, namely Yali'er.
This was too unfair. Did his own child not even have the right to be given a name?
"Huff... wuuuu..."
Fisher's figure grew increasingly distorted and trembled. His train of thought was once again interrupted by such pain. Following another contraction of that spreading black mud, his consciousness also seemingly felt the gaze of a certain existence, seemingly far away as if from beyond the Ultimate of the Spirit World, yet also seemingly close at hand.
"..."
Fisher recognized [It], because It had appeared when he advanced to the Mythic Rank. Its appearance was always accompanied by an indescribable song that seemed to originate from the Great Void. But right now those songs came to an abrupt end, seemingly indicating It was in a bad mood at this moment.
Did gods also experience moods?
Fisher didn't know either. Or rather, because he couldn't come in contact, his knowledge of everything about the gods could only be conjecture. Just like he conjectured Ramastia was an old grandma who loved losing her temper, after all It once transformed into a water snake and sprayed water at him...
But that existence was genuine [Chaos], an Outer God glaring like a tiger from beyond the Ultimate. Furthermore, according to the authority division of the Soul Completion Handbook, It should be...
Ocean.
"Uhrrrrghhh!!"
Yet even so, Fisher still consecutively carried out the actions with his hands, desiring to release Raphaela from the black mud.
His human figure became increasingly obvious. Even the blurry yet incredibly ferocious facial features had transformed into a discernible appearance. Right at his chest, a gap resembling a black hole was continuously drawing in the surrounding Chaos.
Hurry... all inside my body...
Like this...
"Buzz buzz buzz!!"
Amidst countless tinnitus sounds, Fisher's vision was already close to turning white, even generating the illusion of Teresa coming from Heaven to fetch him.
The Ocean just quietly looked at him, not making a move to snatch this black mud Base from him. It simply let him swallow that Base into his own body bit by bit. And Raphaela, who had already sunk into the bottom of the black mud, finally saw the light of day at this moment, revealing her pale face that seemed to have completely lost its body temperature...
Before joy could even arise in Fisher's heart, upon her body, the flame that had been suppressed by the black mud intending to destroy it finally tore into the sky uncontrollably, rushing straight towards the nothingness above.
"Rumble!"
The Portal above was instantly completely destroyed, but the distance from the underground to the sky was as if non-existent to that flame. It just continued to ascend like this. Wherever it went began to burn, as if wanting to burn everything outside the space to ashes...
What was burning right now was precisely Dagon's domain sheltering this world outside reality: the Crevice.
"Boom!!"
That illusory flame tearing into the sky quickly spread beyond the upper airspace, slowly and continuously expanding above the Southern Continent. The Flame of the Soul finally ignited at this moment, scorching all the dark clouds that originally filled the sky. But what was revealed wasn't a clear sky, but rather a scarlet mist that seemed to drift outside the universe...
"Kononinnihamugasmujin s, mu shuj smu hisashi mono s gaarimasu"
Below, the people who were already driven by the gale of that Mythic Rank were terrified that the flame would burn them, or they thought this was some bizarre natural disaster. But after that flame passed through them and transformed into a ring of fire on the firmament, slowly expanding outwards, they didn't feel any pain. It merely seemed a void ravings descending from the sky echoed in their hearts, making them all shiver with fear, craning their necks staring at the scarlet mist seemingly outside the universe and gulping down a mouthful of saliva...
"What on earth... is that?"
"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"
Within the dense haze of the scarlet mist, countless specks of starlight were flashing with dangerous light, as if a certain existence light-years away also noticed the anomaly here and commenced movement...
But at this moment, the living creatures below remained completely unaware of this. Even the very center where the disaster occurred knew nothing about the specific situation above.
Because, trailing the release of that blessing and Raphaela by Fisher, he hadn't fully contained the Base within his body when he watched helplessly as the burning blessing tore Raphaela's soul apart. Then the Flame of the Soul still continuously burned Raphaela's soul, bringing her to the brink of death.
"No... no... Raphaela..."
Fisher, whose entire body was still mutating consecutively, looked at the Raphaela before him whose Dragon Horns were vanishing and whose blood gradually began to turn blue. The panic of losing her resurged in his heart again, making the incompletely contained Chaos within his body grow even more restless.
He helplessly extended his hand, wanting to prevent that Flame of the Soul from burning Raphaela's soul. But upon extending his hand, his own hands were still filled with that terrifying black mud, making him no longer dare to move forward in fear of adding frost to snow.
"Fisher, focus on yourself, I will help her."
But at this moment, right beside him, a holy figure clad in white robes with bare feet abruptly spoke softly. This instantly calmed the chaotic Fisher down. Turning his head, passing the black mud still surging on his face, he saw the somewhat complex-looking Helaire.
"Helaire, you... Urg!!"
Before he could finish his words, he felt the black mud still continuously surging out from his seven orifices. He also knew Helaire was right and could only choose to trust her, dedicating all his attention to the Chaos currently in his body.
Meanwhile, Helaire raised her brow, lowering her head evaluating Raphaela whose soul grew increasingly weak, yet acting extremely slow to make a move.
From under the long golden eyelashes, her aloof condescending gaze was like a deity judging everything, determining the destiny of every soul...
"Sizzle... sizzle..."
"Uhrrrrghhh!"
Her fingers continuously tapped, watching that Flame of the Soul move toward its end bit by bit like the burning fuse of a bomb. However, Fisher's intense furious roar of tearing against the Chaos in his body coming from behind made the movements in her hands come to an abrupt end.
The next moment, she fiercely raised her right hand and aimed it at the Raphaela below her.
For some unknown reason, a portion of a golden soul originating from nowhere serendipitously appeared in her hand. It was smoothly extracted by her utilizing terrifying mighty power from a certain individual sharing the same bloodline as Raphaela.
Also within the palm of her hand at this moment, the traces belonging to "Yali'er" were being erased bit by bit, very quickly surprisingly transforming into soul power with a shape similar to Fafnir and Raphaela's souls.
Immediately after, Helaire coldly waved her hand with a cold face, and the soul flame burning on Raphaela's body vanished instantly. Subsequently, with another tap of her finger, that pure soul power filled Raphaela's body. Allowing her, whose blood had originally turned blue, to gradually revert to its normal color, and causing her to violently start panting heavily, alleviating the pain of the soul burning within her body.
Raphaela, whose soul already possessed Fafnir's blood, also grew even stronger at this moment. Her body trembled slightly, as if faintly sensing some sort of契机 (opportunity). Countless powers matching the rules of this world burst forth from her body, impelling her precarious soul to link with her physical body until it finally merged into one...
This was the omen of a Mythic phenomenon occurring.
"..."
But Helaire completely lost the desire to look at Raphaela anymore. She merely turned around to look at the Fisher gritting his teeth tightly hugging his own body, retracting that black mud tighter and tighter.
Strangely, at this very moment, that Chaos which was incompatible with all the rules of the world and other authorities surprisingly merged with him bit by bit while he underwent life-and-death extreme torment, as if becoming a part of his body and slowly vanishing in a state where it couldn't be detected...
"Uhrrrrghhh!!"
He could no longer control himself and roared aloud, sinking absolutely everything into his own body until it was compressed into Fisher himself. A formless soul fluctuation violently erupted from his body, transmitting over ten thousand miles.
At this moment, far away on the West Continent, within the borders of Kadu, inside an unknown deep space... a place outlined with countless golden ropes and hung full with countless bells seemingly also sensed this formless fluctuation. Suddenly, all the bells in the hall shook violently, emitting a highly ear-piercing sound that simultaneously awakened the consciousness resting in this location.
"Ding ding ding ding ding!!"
The faint blue Cardinal light lit up. A grotesque cylindrical machine raised its round head, appraising its surroundings for a moment before speaking in an emotionless mechanical voice,
"Miss Ashley, David No. 2 reminds you, the bells you set up have detected a fluctuation, specific location: Southern Cont..."
"Shut up..."
"Okay, Miss Ashley."
"..."
Looking closely along the direction of the voice, at the end of the countless golden long ropes, a woman wearing a white long robe stood in place, quietly feeling the sway of those bells behind her head...
Yes, those golden long ropes were all her extended long hair.
Standing in front of this mysterious female was an extremely antique giant stone stele engraved with six different languages. The topmost, largest ones were two stone steles, while beneath them were still four pieces.
The content of the two pieces above was sequentially: [Sea of Souls], [Scarlet Dream Illusion].
And the four pieces below consecutively contents were: [Usurped Vessel], [Chaotic Guidance], [End of Impurity], [Spreading Non-Self].
A crystal-clear luster flickered on every stone stele. Yet at this moment, under the chaotic sway of myriad bells, the piece [Sea of Souls] on the top left suddenly became dim.
The woman sitting before the stone stele froze slightly, subsequently lowering her head, as if her facial features hidden under the golden long hair all began to tremble.
Before this extremely empty stone stele with roughly several specks of golden light flickering, she softly said,
"Asuka... have you seen..."
"... Miss Ashley, the President definitely cannot see it. Reasons are as follows: her status of life or death is still unknown. She's highly probably alive, but also possibly dead. If dead, she definitely cannot see it; and if she's alive, she's not here, also definitely cannot see it. To summarize..."
"Noisy!"
"... Do you need David No. 2 to not speak?"
"..."
Inside the Dynasty's Gate of Expression at this very moment, Fisher, who had ultimately integrated the black mud into his body bit by bit, felt the Chaos that eventually silenced inside his body. Only after repeatedly confirming it wouldn't overflow again did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Yet the sensation brought by those injuries still lingered on his body, but he hurriedly lowered his head disregarding everything to look at the Raphaela below him. Sensing that her current aura was healthy and seemed to be undergoing transformation bit by bit, he finally put his mind somewhat at ease.
But this was not over yet. He hurriedly turned his head to look at Helaire beside him who still looked at himself expressionlessly. It was she who rescued Raphaela's burning soul.
Looking at her at this moment, Fisher's throat surged slightly, and his voice also grew extremely husky. Just as he was about to speak...
"Helaire, I..."
"Rumble!"
Right then, inside the Dynasty suddenly shook fiercely again. Both Fisher and Helaire's expressions changed at the same time. No other reason, because Fisher right now felt an extremely familiar feeling again.
Death...
And it was an erupting Death!!
It was practically identical to that time in the Ideal State, and was even more manic!
Just what exactly was going on?
Helaire frowned and looked up, and Fisher also followed her gaze upwards, violently seeing a void door wide open for some unknown reason, seemingly representing the loosening of a certain seal.
It was the door leaf of the Gate of Expression!
"Hahahaha, I succeeded!! I can die!! Hahahaha!!"
And within that illusory door, a haggard figure wrapped in bandages all over with a crazed expression was stepping out of the door with an excited face, looking at his own masterpiece with satisfaction.
"Solomon..."
"Not good, that foolish fellow shockingly opened all ten doors!! Death is going to awaken!"
"No... I..."
Hearing Helaire's extremely serious voice, Fisher just wanted to get up to stop it. But before standing up, he felt his strength drained. His eyes rolled back and his body went limp, falling into unconsciousness and collapsing to the side.
Helaire also smoothly reached out and gently caught his limp body, catching him into her embrace, tightly embracing him.
However on the surface, her initially "totally unexpected" expression in front of Fisher also vanished instantly, transforming into a somewhat complexly meaningful calm.
"Rumble!"
The entire Demon Dynasty trembled before the imminent awakening Death. Helaire princess-carried the completely unconscious Fisher, simultaneously accompanied by illusory morning light shining behind her as she dragged the Raphaela advancing to Mythical Rank toward the edge of the Gate of Expression.
The next moment, all the magma in the Dynasty boiled over, indicating the terror that had slumbered beneath them for ten thousand years was awakening.
"Cough, cough... Baimon..."
Helaire hugged Fisher expressionlessly, dragging the levitating Raphaela beside her while walking, completely failing to notice the Demon God Agreas lying heavily injured by black mud on the ground.
Right now she clutched her ruined body, slowly sitting up from the ground. She first glared resentfully at the Raphaela behind her, saying while gnashing her teeth,
"You lied to us. That blessing on this Dragon-kin's body... couldn't help us obtain freedom... conversely, it actually even... burned the Crevice!! Right now the outer Crevice is slowly collapsing... what on earth do you want to do, Baimon?! Cough, cough, cough..."
The Helaire carrying Fisher prevented Agreas from seeing her expression clearly for a while. Not until several seconds later did she smile, looking at Agreas like a holy angel and saying,
"Yeah, I lied to you."
"... You animal..."
Agreas clutched her own body, cursed like so, then gritted her teeth looking at her and continued,
"You took it upon yourself to open the ten gates and let Death reappear... You... earlier... used another Dragon-kin's soul to repair this Red Dragon-kin's soul... and you even used... a power beneath a True God... to dispel the soul fire of the blessing combustion on her body... these things... even a Demigod couldn't accomplish easily... your mastery over souls... is even greater than Dagon... Just what kind of thing are you?!"
"You misjudged, Agreas."
"Hehe, hope so..."
Agreas sneered coldly, subsequently glaring coldly at the smiling Helaire and continuing relentlessly, "Then what about Fisher? You doing all this was for him? But the result was helplessly watching him give everything for this Dragon-kin who isn't even at Mythical rank? He was even willing to die for her than conform to your will! The two of us were only utilized by you for four and a half years, but what about you? What you awaited and prepared for during these thousands of years... has now entirely turned into an illusion... how ironic, cough cough..."
"..."
Helaire looked at her with a fake smile, while Agreas got angry and was about to continue speaking. Yet the next second, her figure disintegrated instantly, chopped apart in an instant from neck, four limbs, to lower abdomen.
Her hesitating to speak head instantly fell onto the ground, rolling countless turns before maintaining a highly shocked and horrified expression while being dragged by illusory morning light and flying back in front of Helaire.
"You..."
With Agreas' fame of "bizarre-seeking", she stunningly had absolutely no idea what attacked her, causing her current injuries. She was only furiously dragged by morning light to Helaire's front, hearing Helaire speak softly,
"... Still thinking about your true nature at this point? Thought infuriating me meant I would demonstrate the power you've never seen before to you?"
Agreas froze slightly. Afterwards, the anger on her face also dissipated bit by bit, changing into a calm appearance. She sneered, saying sarcastically,
"What else then? Suppressing the Chaos unfurling from his body to bloom that blessing meant I already knew it was meaningless. Only, back then Barbatos and I... no, there probably wasn't a single person in this world who could anticipate you would be this kind of thing. Or rather... no one could survive after knowing it, right? Rather than this, it would be better to satisfy my own nature one last time before dying..."
Helaire pondered for a bit, shaking her head and saying,
"Not necessarily. One person had previously escaped from my hands. Even though I let her leave, it was also falling into her open scheme with no other choice..."
"Oh, I'm truly somewhat curious as to who that is?"
"Is this also within the realm of your bizarre-seeking?"
Helaire looked at her with a beaming smile, didn't answer her directly, only continuing,
"To me, there is no death, souls merely reincarnate, and it is the same for you... However, you also indeed won't 'die', because I still need you bunch to help me suppress Chaos, even if nominally..."
Agreas said no more, because at this moment, her destiny originally no longer belonged to her own control. She gave a fiendish laugh lastly, "blessing" Helaire,
"You scum..."
Helaire waved her hand at her, as if saying goodbye. Subsequently, countless morning light poured down, throwing all her limbs and head—partitioned by an unknown power into countless pieces—into that magma, transforming anew into a pillar of fire of the Dynasty.
But this was drinking poison to quench thirst in the end. Right now, even if all the Demon Gods took their places, it couldn't suppress back the Death that was oppressed for so long anymore.
The shaking of the entire Dynasty grew increasingly violent, until a fire pillar soaring to the sky shot out from that magma, entirely breaking through the ground above the Dynasty, allowing the aura of Death to gradually spread out.
Looking at that soon-to-awaken authority of Death, Helaire still appeared unhurried. Perhaps in her eyes, a disaster like this right now already didn't count for much.
Because annihilation had already begun.
Above, on the outer side of the Crevice that was burned apart bit by bit, that dense scarlet aura continuously surged, from which countless gazes seemingly aimed towards a certain spot in the Dynasty below.
And beyond the Ultimate, that obscure song once again drifted across the Ultimate.
"Lala... lalala..."
Only this time, its meaning became exceptionally obvious, letting all existences within the Spirit World hear that familiar pulsation. That was a curse that had lingered around this world since ten thousand years ago, yet wasn't finally staged until today...
That song glorified,
"The Flame of the Soul will ignite first, incinerating everything in the world with the flames of war."