Volume 1: Path - [Mist Forest Arc]
Chapter 46: Dead
"Wh—" Caelus tried to speak, but before he could, he was lifted up in the air by mist, his trembling eyes looking at Aiv as he tried to speak but couldn't as his voice got stuck in his throat.
Aiv didn't talk too much and just said, "Die, Caelus, die for this world; if you die, the world will get peace."
Those words struck Caelus like a heart attack because words like these, coming from anyone who is close to you, are going to make you feel more pain than the words coming from others.
In Caelus's mind, Aiv was like a supportive figure to him, a brother-like figure, a person who helps others when they are in need, and a best friend. Despite meeting Aiv only for a day and a half, for Caelus, this person was his second friend, and the same person told him to die. Caelus knew he had to die to let others live a lucky life, but he didn't think his own friend would say, "Go and die."
Right now, Caelus is absolutely broken down; his mind, which has formed cracks, is starting to form more and more cracks, causing his mental strength to not be able to hold and repair the mind.
Caelus doesn't even care about it, or rather, he is not able to right now; his situation is bad right now, like super bad.
Caelus, whose mind is breaking down, heard Aiv say in his ear, "Caelus, if you have a second life, remember to not trust others easily and to not let anyone know your weakness, which is, of course, your emotions. Even though it was only 2 days, I felt super tired by trying to leash you, and you got leashed in pretty easily; it didn't even take that much time. If you weren't that emotional, my plan would have failed, but lucky me and unlucky you, you are emotionally sensitive to emotions. A being who is emotional cannot survive in this harsh world, so die and rest in peace so that you can live a life of peace as a normal person once you are dead and reborn. Goodbye, Caelus."
As Aiv finished speaking, he guided the surrounding mist with precise movements of his hands, shaping it into a force that hurled Caelus toward a massive grey-white crystalline sphere, its surface swirling faintly with mist. The impact was brutal as Caelus' body slammed into the sphere with a sickening thud, the force tearing all his insides. His already fragile body broke down; Caelus's whole body couldn't work anymore for his whole life, even if he were to escape right now, and his, which was cracked and almost broken, has completely gotten shattered, stripped of the last remnants of its protective barrier.
The crimson glow of Caelus' eyes faded as unconsciousness claimed him. Blood poured from his mouth in alarming streams, quickly staining the crystalline surface beneath him. The sphere was soon streaked and spattered with his lifeblood. Without pause, Aiv seized Caelus' limp legs and twisted them sharply in opposite directions, the joints snapping with a wet crack. He wrenched the arms until the bones broke, the shattered limbs collapsing to the mist-shrouded ground below.
Beneath the sphere, there was no solid earth, only a dense, swirling pool of mist.
---
The place where Caelus's mind got broken, a hand reached out to both sides of the broken barrier.
The hand was dark in color with long fingers stretched outward, each unnaturally slender and ending in fine, tapered points that seemed too precise for flesh. A faint, sickly green glow pulsed beneath the surface in thin, jagged lines, like cracks in obsidian struggling to contain something burning inside. Wisps of darkness drifted lazily from its edges, dissolving into the air before they could touch the broken barrier.
"Finally, this boy's mind is broken; this brat's mind has huge mental strength that is on par with a rank 5 awakener. If it weren't for that, he would have already been dissolved by me." As the voice sounded through the mind space, which is in the mind, where all thoughts and thinking work.
The voice sounded cold with a masculine voice.
"For a half-awakened—no, for a normal human, he had that much mental strength, which is surprising to me even now. Well, anyway, who cares about it? Since the plan succeeded, I just need to revive in this body."
The mind space, which was filled with a sun-like ball in the middle of the mind space, started to be surrounded by shadows.
"If I get this brat's soul, I could become stronger than my previous self. This boy has so much more potential than I, so let's devour this brat's soul." The voice owner stepped his elongated feet into the mind space; the feet ended in five clawed, talon-like toes, each tipped with a serrated point. Parts of the heels and toes appear to be eroding into thin tendrils that coil upward before breaking apart into drifting green fragments.
His legs are long and powerful, sheathed in the same black, liquid-like armor that twists and stretches around the muscles in sharp, organic patterns. Green cracks snake up from the feet to the thighs, glowing faintly like veins carrying volatile energy. The armor around the calves splinters into jagged ridges.
Slowly, the figure's whole body is visible. The figure's entire body is coated in a black, liquid-like armor that clings to its frame yet frays at the edges into tendrils, as if constantly dissolving into the air. The surface is slick and jagged in places, with deep cracks running along the torso, arms, and legs where a vivid green light seeps through. The hands are long-fingered, claw-like, and partially deformed by the same shifting black substance, giving them a predatory look.
From the shoulders and back, the black material peels away into floating shards and strands that drift upward, disintegrating into glowing green fragments before fading. The texture across the chest and abdomen is ridged and almost organic, resembling hardened muscle fused with alien growth. Small flecks of green light scatter from the body's edges.
There are no mouth, eyes, nose, or ears on his face and head.
But somehow, a voice could be heard from this figure. The figure stepped in and started walking slowly towards the giant sun-like ball, which was covered in dark shadows.
"Hehehe, how enviable to have such a good soul. I wish I could enjoy torturing your soul a little, but I have an important mission to do, so I am going to let you die in peace. Good luck to you." "The figure said as he moved his hands to catch the giant ball. Despite the ball being too big, the figure manipulated the shadows surrounding the giant ball of light. The giant ball of light immediately got covered in shadows, and on the other side, the figure used his left hand to make a giant ball of shadows, which is the opposite of light.
"Now, I just need to mimic his soul, and his potential can be mine, hehehe." The figure laughed as he started mimicking the giant ball of light, which is right now covered in shadows.
The ball started expanding little by little, and just as this was increasing in size, the size of the giant ball of light was also decreasing in size.
In a few minutes, the size was reduced to that of a marble.
"If it weren't for the soul of every living being being in their mind space, my work would have already been finished, and breaking others' minds is easy, mainly normal humans, but unfortunately, this guy's not. The amount of memories and potential I am getting from mimicking this brat is so much. Ahhhh, how amazing! Is that why even Pride uses this guy for the plans...? Well, whatever, I will know about it more clearly after reviving myself." The figure pushed away his questions as he continued to mimic the ball.
Soon, there was nothing left; the whole giant ball of light was gone, replaced by a giant shadow ball in the center.
He then snapped his fingers, and a shadow energy flowed through from his body as it started repairing the Mind Barrier.
"After conquering the mind space by replacing my soul with brats, I could now fully control the mind space as I wished. hehehe." The figure laughed a bit as he watched the barrier being repaired with his shadowy color energy.
In a few minutes, the mind barrier is fully finished, and with this, he could now revive in Caelus's body.
"And with this, Caelus is dead."
Just then, a huge tremor started as the whole mind space started to shake as if an earthquake of the highest magnitude possible had happened.
The figure suddenly looked around; there was nothing, but just then, when he looked down at the ground, he saw caterpillars coming out of the ground. First it was one, then two, three, four,... as it went on to a trillion, a quadrillion, and more caterpillars.
"What the hell is this?"
[End Of Chapter 46]