Volume 1: Path - [Mist Forest Arc]
Chapter 47: Motherless Child
The figure was stunned by what's happening here; the mind space, which should be in his control, has suddenly vanished from his control, and also the number of caterpillars, which are in a black and red color mix on each caterpillar, is more than a quadrillion.
"In my whole life, I didn't ever hear or witness something like this, though I don't know much about mind space since I am not from that domain of awakeners, but I for sure know there should be no other creature other than the host of the body's soul."
The caterpillars are trying to climb up onto him; one caterpillar reached and ate a little bit of the shadow green smoke rising from the feet back.
The figure immediately jumped up and reached the shadowy ball; as he stepped onto it and looked down, the whole ground had turned into caterpillars, and the barrier that was covered in shadows was eaten away by these caterpillars. It didn't take less than a minute for this to happen.
Those caterpillars that ate the Shadow around the Mind Barrier attached themselves to the mind barrier as they formed into pupae, and seeing this, and sensing danger from these.
The Figure roared, the sound sending tremors through the mind space, but it was still less than when the caterpillars came out of the ground of mind space.
The caterpillars attached to the mind barrier didn't even budge; even the caterpillars on the ground didn't die but instead flew up and fell back to the ground.
Seeing this, the figure felt angry; he then calmed down and then manifested a tachi in his hand. The tachi is all black and has a shadow-green aura around it; it's smoking out of the sword.
The figure slashed the tachi forward towards the direction of the mind barrier; a green-black energy flowed through the mind space and landed on the mind barrier. Cracks spread around the mind barrier; the pupae were destroyed in that slash. The whole area was destroyed, but the mind barrier was fixed back immediately with the help of the shadow energy that the figure released.
As soon as the repair was done, he immediately took back the shadow energy because the figure understood that these caterpillars feed on the energy it releases.
He immediately turned around and started slashing the whole mind barrier, but the speed at which these pupae started becoming butterflies was fast, and it caused a million butterflies to be born out of each million pupae.
The butterflies look so beautiful with a red and black mix on their wings and pure black on their bodies.
Just as he was about to slash those butterflies into bits, the butterflies started spreading around the space, each one spreading to each corner of the mind space as if searching for something. The butterflies are moving around; the figure didn't understand it, but the danger it is sensing is so intense.
The figure, seeing the situation, did a 360-degree rotation along with the black tachi in his hand, causing waves of slashes to go out of his tachi.
These slashes were dodged by the butterflies; they didn't fly fast but rather slowly up or down, causing the figure to get angry. He slashed in all directions: up, down, to the ground, and to the top.
In this process, the figure didn't notice what the butterflies were holding onto.
These butterflies collected white sprinkles, which are all over the mind space, and they gathered them in one of the corners, but from the way they are doing their job, it looks like they are intelligent; otherwise, they wouldn't have done what they did.
They put them one after another on the ground so that they don't group together and also so that they don't get found doing something like this.
In the process of slashing angrily everywhere, many butterflies died, but those butterflies had already sprinkled the white thing they held and put it in the place where all other butterflies put it, in one corner.
They died without resistance immediately; they didn't even dodge the slashes the figure was throwing at them. As if sacrificing themselves to stall for some time by getting themselves killed.
While the figure's anger is calming down, the figure notices something, and that something is how these butterflies are dying easily without any resistance. Unlike in the beginning, the caterpillars on the ground are eating these butterflies' corpses, and some are even forming pupae.
It looked all around the mind space and noticed in a corner, there is a sculpture of a human being carved by the butterflies, and the caterpillars are all around the human being.
The butterflies and caterpillars merged together, their wings and segmented bodies weaving into living flesh, sculpting a tall, lean figure standing at 5'10".The human they are forming by merging together is a male with his black hair falling in messy, layered strands, framing a face of sharp lines and high cheekbones. Eyes blaze a deep, crimson red. From his neck to his stomach, his skin is bare, revealing a flawlessly toned torso with broad shoulders tapering into a chiseled chest, every ridge of his abs etched with precision, like the work of a master sculptor.
Just below the waistline, caterpillars coil and interlock, their bodies twisting and weaving into a black jacket that fits closely to his body, high-collared and slightly open at the chest. The surface is smooth but faintly textured, with thin red lines running along some seams.
The pants are also black and fitted, made from the same material, and run straight down to the boots. The transition from jacket to pants is seamless, giving the outfit a uniform, streamlined look. The boots are sturdy, rising just above the ankle, and match the rest of the outfit in color and style.
The human looked just like Caelus but was overly handsome right now. He used to be pretty normal above, but right now he looks crazy handsome; the difference is huge in this.
Caelus opened his eyes slowly as he looked directly at the person who was standing above the giant shadow ball.
Caelus looked at the figure and said, "So, you are the one who is trying to break my mind after I awakened."
'How is this guy still alive? I stole and mimicked his soul completely, making his existence mine.'
"Stop, I know what you are thinking: 'How did I come back alive?' Is that your question?" Caelus said with a smirk on his face.
'How did this brat know what I am thinking? No... that is not important. How the hell did he come back alive? I have to know.' The figure thought to himself, as he spoke out, "Yes, brat, tell me how you came back alive, or I will kill you."
"Of course I can tell you; you don't need to worry about it, and even if you try to kill me, you can't win against me because you are weak as hell."
"What, you brat? I am going to kill you." Before the voice ended, Caelus interrupted and said, "Shh, don't shout; my ears are becoming numb. Didn't your mama teach you not to shout at others? Oh, wait, since you are shouting like this, that must mean that you don't have a mother, right?"
Hearing those words made the figure angry, so he used his Tachi and slashed at Caelus.
Caelus, seeing the slash, didn't get scared; he just smiled as he walked forward by a step, as a single tachi, the simple lacquered scabbard and handle, was formed to his left side. A faint black-and-red aura started to drift around him, thin tendrils curling off his form like smoke, giving a controlled yet dangerous presence without any wild display.
"Tch, tch, so it really is true that you don't have any mother. Did they abandon you because your behavior looks so bitchy? I feel pity for them for having a son like you. Hope they rest in peace." As he said, he removed the Tachi blade from the scabbard as he deflected the slash that was coming at him with a single block and sent it back to the owner of the person who slashed at him.
Right after that, another slash came—not only one but more than 10 coming at him. It was like a continuous series of slashes, but just like the previous ones, it was sent back to its owner, and those deflected slashes were, of course, blocked by him.
"Even your slashes look weak like you. Why don't you come down to the ground? Because I don't like being on the ground and you being on top; it hurts my pride." As Caelus said, he pumped his legs down as he jumped up; his height reached more height than the figure, and slowly wings started to form as butterflies merged together and attached themselves to Caelus.
"Now, it's better; now we can talk nicely, motherless child." Caelus said as he smirked, looking down on the figure.
[End Of Chapter 47]