BOOK 5: CHAPTER 47

I didn’t know if this was Hun Wu 2.0, Hin Wu 3.0 or I’xol’ukz Prime, but in either case I was in for a serious fight now. Hun Wu’s body had just melded with the god of Dark Frenzy and the [Odds had to be Against me]. The thought spiked my Frenzy and I channeled it into my defensive techniques as I doubled gripped my Phalanx Glaive to go all out, monster hunting style.

The aura of Dark Frenzy emanating from her was enough to send my [Sacred Soul Shield] into overdrive, depleting my core like I was back on the Hell Worlds again. But I had no liquid aetherite to replenish myself this time. I was facing I’xol’ukz in the flesh and I needed to kill it before it’s Dark Frenzy overwhelmed my soul.

That meant pulling out all the stops.

And fast.

“[Mark of the Giant]…”

My height grew, putting me eye to eye with the tentacle ridden monstrosity.

There was only the barest semblance of Hun Wu left now. Her body dangled lifeless like a rag doll as the mass of tentacles shooting from her back held her aloft. Her contorted face stared back at me, a mockery of her former self, while the true being now controlling her body undulated out of the side of her neck like a giant snake.

“Sorry, Hun Wu,” I said, my soul filled with genuine remorse for her. “I tried.”

Her face spread its lips in a mocking leer, reacting to my words.

“Apologize not, Husk,” it said. “The thrall is united with its purpose. And now it shall fulfill it once more.”

I’xol’ukz suddenly leapt forward at terrifying speed.

I braced myself with a deflective swipe of my Glaive but to my surprise, it hadn’t leapt at me. It flew instead towards the scattered bones of the chainmaiden’s remains and one of its tentacles reared back to strike, aiming at the glowing purple orb on the ground.

The chainmaiden’s core?

Hun Wu’s words flashed back to me.

That artifact was I’xol’ukz’s prison, and she was trying to get me to destroy it before. If it was destroyed, then could I’xol’ukz truly be freed and leave the planet? The thought caused me to trigger [Mark of the Savage] and my reflexes spiked a thousand-fold as my limbs elongated and beastly fangs ripped from my jaw.

The world shifted into slow motion as the tentacle poised to strike, sharpened into a needle-like point and fired towards the core like a javelin. I charged forward with a burst of Frenzy and deflected the tentacle with a quick upward swipe of my Glaive.

Clang!

It felt like I was hitting steel, but I managed to knock it off course, sending the tentacle shattering through a remnant of the foundation instead. In the brief reprieve, I reached for the core to secure it but as I stretched my hand towards it, a numbing cold shot through my arm, going straight to my heart. My skin instantly withered and blackened, like a case of frostbite, but it wasn’t just cold I felt.

This was a sensation I knew intimately.

This was death.

I withdrew my hand, and the effects began to dissipate, accelerated by a huge amount of Frenzy I cycled through my meridians to heal myself. I sensed a ‘killing intent’ from the side and immediately reacted with a somersault that sent the tentacle aiming at me, shooting underneath. But I couldn’t dodge the three that followed up behind it.

Pain that I hadn’t felt in ages jolted through my body as the force of the hit caused even my Frenzy hardened bones to quake. I was flung through the air but righted myself with [Lightning Walk]. I quickly cultivated the [Pain] adding to my Frenzy reserves that were steadily being drained by my [Sacred Soul Shield].

The [Odds shifted Against Me] once more.

Even as strong as I was now, on the cusp of becoming a lesser god, this thing was a god already and it packed the punch to prove it. The thought made me grin. RÂΝỔ𝖇ΕŞ

“Finally, an opponent that can give me some gains.”

I wasn’t sure if I’xol’ukz understood what I’d said, but I didn’t give it a chance to respond either. I flew at it with [Lightning Drill of Fury], blasting through its tentacles and tearing them apart as I aimed for the giant slug stemming from Hun Wu’s neck. Black blood and screeches filled the air as I gave the creature a taste of its own medicine.

Inflicting pure pain.

I struck the slug and my Glaive bounced off its skin, leaving behind a deep wound, but nowhere near as much damage as I’d hoped. I followed up with a skillful extraction from its flaying tentacles as they quickly reformed with the purplish light of the Chainmainden’s powers.

“Thou are but a gnat… thy might is not thine own. The traitors power wanes in thee.”

It was resorting to shit talking now, but it wasn’t wrong.

My Dantian was down below half even with [Odds Against me] pumping.

“[Vortex of the First Flame]!”

As the words were uttered from Hun Wu’s throat, patches of green flames ignited in a circle about me.

Shit!

Could it now use her martial techniques as well?

But I’d seen this movie before. As the vortex formed about me, I fought fire with fire, bursting through the technique with [Wrath of a Thousand Slain Souls]. Green fire and white lightning collided with a massive boom! resulting in a shock wave that sent I’xol’ukz spiraling backwards through the air.

I poured on the frenzy to chase after it, cutting its thrashing tentacles with [Lightning One Chop Cleaves]. Even with my [Mark of the Giant] they were tough, but I managed to slice through several of them. I’xol’ukz screeched with pain and then went for a new tactic, assaulting me with a flash of its tentacle-ridden eyes.

Each one turned red and focused on me with a sharp shrill cry that penetrated to my very soul. My [Sacred Soul Shield] flickered on the brink of collapse and my Flame wavered with thick black smoke as the intense Dark Frenzy sought to undo me from within.

As I froze from the assault, the tentacles latched onto me, adding physical pain to the spiritual. My mind and soul screamed in blaring agony and for a second I wondered if this is what Hun Wu felt as I’xol’ukz was violating her soul.

“Spare not your false concern, brother,” Hun Wu spoke, her voice still tainted but definitely containing more of her own now. “You were a traitor from the start. And a traitor true revealed. A traitor to the Greater Will and the Cleansing Flames. Perish now in thy folly. I shewed thee kindness as a brethren. But now shalt thou feel the wrath of mine vengeance!”

I cried out as the pain increased, my mind curdling.

The [Marks] were burning through my Frenzy, but I couldn’t win this fight by strength and speed alone. I was too close to the brink to risk all three, but something had to give. I released [Mark of the Giant] and my form shrank, instantly loosening I’xol’ukz’s grip on my body. As I slipped free, I channeled my meridians to tap into [Mark of the Arch Demon].

My skin turned red and my features sharpened, my head growing bull’s horns. A newfound surge of power filled me as my Frenzied techniques were heightened and their efficiency more than tripled. My [Sacred Soul Shield] pushed back against the assault and in that moment, I heightened it by manifesting the spectral image of my [Sacred Soul].

As the red-hued Struggler emerged over my body, I flexed with [Wrath of a Thousand Slain Souls] and blew I’xol’ukz away from me. It reeled and screeched, and I sensed I had gained a quick advantage that I now needed to drive home.

But as it had shown me, this wasn’t a purely physical confrontation.

And I had a whole arsenal of spiritual techniques I still hadn’t tested out yet.

But test them I would.

As I’xol’ukz’s flailing body crashed into the ground, I [Trudged] towards it with the cold hard determination of my [Struggler’s Resolve].

“Sorry you had to find out the truth this way, Hun Wu.” I laced my words with [Torment of the Frenzied Flame] as my eyes burned with [Focused Fury]. “Nothing personal, like I said, but you just happen to be batting for the wrong team.”

She let out a cat-like hiss, reeling backwards. “Vial traitor! You betray both your own sect and your master.”

I imbued my Glaive with lightning, preparing for my next strike. “My master is not your master. I am a follower of the [Frenzied Flame], a soul filled with [Fury] yet tempered by [Struggle] and [Pain].”

She screeched with each word, the spiritual attacks proving more potent than even my physical strikes.

“Know now what I am fully, Hun Wu. Your sister knew it as soon as she saw me. I am the Demon that Struggles. The bane of both your wretched master and the One True Flame. The one that will defy annihilation at all cost. For I am…a Berserker.”

Fear spiked within it as I leapt with my Glaive held high overhead.

“[Lightning Splits the Towering Oak]!”

Stolen story; please report.

A column of lightning flashed from the sky and struck in unison with my blade as I cleaved the monstrous tentacle from the side of Hun Wu’s neck. The blade traveled, cutting her arm and half her torso as well and what was left of her body quickly collapsed to the ground as the tentacles evaporated into black smoke.

Sharp screeches from the decapitated slug mixed with the very human screams from Hun Wu and my stomach curdled a little as she seemed to come back to her true self somewhat. My Frenzy surged with [Bloodlust] and I used my anger to target the black slug withering on the ground.

“Die, you vile piece of shit!”

I hacked it with my glaive, eliciting screeches of pain with each one until the Dark Frenzy ceased once more. The whispering patter of drizzle filled the void as I approached what was left of Hun Wu. Her body was still mangled and contorted, her right arm and torso gone. As sickly black blood poured from her side, her head swiveled towards me and her eyes focused.

“So…much…truth…”

Her words were stunted—cosmic revelation trying to be pieced together by a shattered mind.

Her head rocked back and forth and she let out a sudden laugh.

“Not over... traitor.”

Before she even said the words, I knew what she meant. A purplish glow was already surrounding the pieces of hacked up slug, pulling it together. Anger and hatred filled me.

“I said die!” I charged my meridians, converting my frenzy to liquid fuel before spewing it out of my palm. “[Zh’urong’s Wrath]!”

Blue-tinted lava fell onto the squealing slug, burning it to a char as screeches of pain filled the air. After a moment all was silent again. But then, just like before, the purplish glow caused the very ashes to reform. I looked back to Hun Wu, who had expired by now, but then she gasped with new breath, returning to life again.

“You… will never… kill us,” she said.

The bitch was right.

I looked back to the purple core glowing on the ground. As long as its influence existed, this monster would keep reforming and coming back alive. But destroying it was out of the question as well. That’s exactly what it wanted.

So what the hell could I do then?

I turned my back to I’xol’ukz with [Indifference] as I focused on the core.

I had to dispose of this thing somehow.

But without destroying it.

That was the only way to make sure I’xol’ukz stayed dead for good.

As I approached the core, I sensed the sickly death aura radiating from it.

There was one thing I could try.

But what the hell would it mean for me if I did?

I cleared my mind of the violence and fury, focusing on my five years of serenity within the hidden forest village of Ri Ben instead. I knew the technique to transmute awakened cores into the reality of my Inner World. But this was a core that reeked of undeath.

What would ingesting it do to my soul?

I glanced over my shoulder to see Hun Wu’s body nearly reformed and the sickening black slug that was I’Xol’ukz creeping towards her to reattach itself to her neck. My Flame stirred as I looked again to the core.

This thing could more than just kill me.

It could curse me with death itself.

A death that might even trap my soul forever.

I thought of Fia.

Of my son.

Nothing came without struggle and sacrifice.

Even one as great as this.

That was the Berserker’s way.

And if killing I’xol’ukz meant me taking on death itself.

“Then so be it...”

As I said the words, my [Death Wish] became clear.

I reached for the core again and endured the chill of death as my arm blackened and twisted with decay. I grabbed hold of it and an image of the Chainmaiden flashed into my mind. But it was not as I commonly remembered her. She was blue skinned but not the harpy-winged, succubus chained within the crystal domain.

I saw instead a normal woman.

A sullied like Threja, but with deep blue skin and hair.

The chill of death accelerated through my body and I fought against it by cycling my Frenzy. I engaged the meridian sequence to transmute the core and like melting ice it vanished from my hand and internally I manifested it within my Hell World domain. My Flame flared with the sudden inhabitation of the core as new revelations made themselves known to my unconscious mind.

Something opened up inside of me and I cried out as the very core of my being was transformed. My mind shifted, gaining clarity and insight like never before. My meridians opened up and my Frenzy condensed by a hundred-fold.

As I reopened my eyes the world around me transformed in an instant.

A thunderclap rang out and the dark sky above split apart, revealing a vibrant blue sky beyond. The gloom vanished and the drizzle in the sky ceased leaving a pristine rainbow overhead as bright sunlight streamed into the once pitch-black valley. The thunderclap echoed like a gong, chasing away the darkness that was lifted like a curse.

And perhaps that was exactly what it was.

Inside me, I could sense the core radiating its dark energy within my inner Hell World, adding to the litany of devastating artifacts there, but within that sphere it remained. This world here now was finally free of its undead curse.

The transformation was so startling that I almost expected I’xol’ukz to have disappeared with it. But as the gloom cleared, a strong radiance of Dark Frenzy came from behind me. I turned about slowly to see I’xol’ukz had managed to completely reform, having reattached itself to Hun Wu’s neck. Alien-like screeches came from the slug-like body as I [Trudged] back towards it.

“No more coming back this time,” I said.

It screeched louder as Hun-Wu spoke again. “Wait, brother… the curse is lifted. Think carefully about what thou doeth.”

Fresh anger and hatred filled me. “That’s the last time you’ll use her as a damn sock puppet you frigging monster. I’ll free the both of you from your pitiful existence now.”

My Frenzy surged with the resonance of my Twin Dao.

It was time to free the galaxy of this threat from the Cursed Stars forever.

I lifted my glaive and charged at the creature, vengeance raging within my soul.

For all it had done, for all the people it had slain.

The worlds it had enslaved.

For threatening our very existence.

For threatening my son.

“You will end now!” I cried.

I ignited with [Frenzied Lightning] as I flew into a whirlwind of precision strikes with my Glaive. Five years of martial training and righteous anger combined, unleashing an unstoppable turmoil of death and pain. It fought back, screeching with every spiritual attack it could muster, but I didn’t care. I absorbed it all, pushing my Dantian into the red zone to end this unholy creature once and for all.

I cut through the tentacles as their eyes tore into both my skin and my soul. Blood flew along with sinew and bone, but eventually I cut off enough tentacles to cripple the beast. Without the Chainmaiden’s powers, it wasn’t regenerating anymore and the monster sensed it, fear emanating from its dark soul.

It finally fell to the ground, shaking and cowering while trying to flee.

Hun Wu raised a hand to me, as if pleading for me to stop.

“Brother, think!” It used her voice against me again. “We are still kin. We can co-exist.”

I could almost laugh at its last-ditch attempt at self-preservation.

“Not in my world.”

I said the words with stone cold [Struggler’s Resolve] as I lifted my Glaive for the last time.

“Goodbye, you piece of shit.”

I cleaved the slug from her body again and in an instant the Dark Frenzy ceased.

The thing evaporated into black smoke as did the tentacles from about Hun Wu’s body. I almost expected her to come through unscathed, freed from the curse, but as the smoke cleared, it was clear the damage was already done. Her body was the twisted wreckage of the alien god’s inhabitance and my efforts to take it down. She choked on blood as her mind broke with laughing fits.

I looked down at her and grimaced.

This was always the outcome, I knew.

Still, I felt bad for her.

“Sorry, Hun Wu… I pray that whatever is left of your soul may find peace somewhere.”

She continued to laugh oblivious of me, cackling and sobbing as she died.

Then suddenly she pointed at me. “You have no idea…what you truly are.”

As she fell into another laughing fit, I couldn’t help but feel the chill of her words.

They continued to linger well after Hun Wu had finally breathed her last and even after I had buried her broken body in the damp soil beneath what was left of the Chainmaiden’s throne.

I retrieved my axe, along with a remnant of the broken chains and gave a final glance at the now transformed domain. The trees were still dead, but the sounds of wildlife seemed to be returning now. Insects and birds basking in the sunshine.

As I stowed my weapons and prepared to head home an uneasy sense of fulfilment hit me. I’d done it. I’d ventured to a forbidden world and liberated it from an ancient curse. I’d earn my royal title. But most of all, I’d rid the world of a curse much greater.

I’xol’ukz…the god of Dark Frenzy…was no more.

* * *

I blasted across the ancient forest with [Ride the Lightning] eager to get back to my team. Below me, piles of skeletons finally were laid to rest, destined to roam no more. The revenants had all disappeared as well.

I said a silent prayer for all of them, wishing them to find some path home.

I arrived at the beach and, as expected, saw it littered with motionless bones. What I didn’t expect was to see what was left of my team, fighting for their lives at the edge of the beach, not against undead, but monsters pouring out of the sea.

It took my mind a second to understand what I was seeing, but the ocean had transformed from an inky darkness to a deep blue that was filled with swarming shadows. It roiled like a boiling pot, with creatures that looked like thirty-foot-long sharks jumping out of the water and slithering across the sand like snakes.

Mal’Kira and Blue Rose were at the front, fending off the brunt of them, while Sergeant Xu and his men protected the flanks at the sides. Most importantly our ride home still looked intact.

For now.

I jetted overhead, and out into the center of the ocean where thousands of the sharklike things had to be swarming now. My Frenzy was depleted but I had enough to muster at least one last blow. I outstretched my hand and formed a ball of frenzied lightning right atop the surface of the water. I focused it and poured on the Frenzy with increasing speed.

“[Lightning Kiln of Fury]!”

I released the technique and it went off like an atom bomb, shooting a jet of water hundreds of feet into the air. The sea flash evaporated, cooking the creatures instantly as the sea boiled. When it all settled, nothing moved, save the hundreds of sharks either floating to the surface or sinking to the ocean floor below.

I [Lightning Walked] back to my crew and received a huge dose of cheers and lemonade. I was happy to see them, especially Mal’Kira, who looked pretty bruised and battered, but none the worse for wear otherwise. She greeted me with a huge hug and a ruffle of my hair.

“Welcome back, boss!”

Blue Rose however, merely gave me her typical smirk. “I see you lifted the curse. We all done here now then?”

I looked out at the transformed world.

“I guess so.”

“So where’s Hun Wu?” she asked.

I merely shook my head.

It was the answer I had expected to give from even before we left the core worlds, but now, it came with far more remorse than I ever would have thought possible. But besides that, something else was missing from all of this as well.

I’d definitely ascended to some extent, reaching a new level of [Death Mastery] for sure, but as I flexed my meridians to physically manifest my Sacred Soul, the outcome still eluded me.

No breakthrough yet, I thought.

Still, I was a huge step closer now.

As the drop skiff finally returned, we packed onboard to depart. A few more soldiers had sadly lost their lives, but at least they were at peace now and being taken home for a proper burial, which was more than I could say for Hun Wu.

As we took off and headed for the stars, the uneasiness of her haunting last words returned to me. Was there some meaning there or just the ramblings of a star-shattered mind? I pushed the question aside as Mal’Kira slapped me on the back with a victory cheer.

“To the great Iron Marshal!” she cried. “Liberator of Planet Dokumu and soon to be crowned Royal Duke of the Imperial Throne!”

The crew all cheered with her and I couldn’t help but smile as she lightened the mood and set my thoughts correctly on what now lay ahead. I’d done it. I’d accomplished a huge goal, but was only halfway there.

There was still my battle with Rhe Su Long to come and the huge stunt I would have to pull off afterwards with Fia and the Princess. I may have just slain a god on a world full of death, but the task ahead seemed even trickier.

Especially as I hadn’t ascended like I had hoped, but the Flame was still guiding my path.

I was one step ahead and that’s all that mattered.

One step closer to saving my family and freeing my world.

* * *

In the darkness, It stirred.

Visions of violence and pain.

Then, like a veil being lifted, the darkness receded.

And It awoke.

Eons of slumber melted from its consciousness like a long-forgotten dream.

The shackles of its mortal prison.

The glimpses of the firmament through the apertures.

Its traversing of the cosmos through the chains.

All of it mundane instruments born of necessity through the walls of its confinement.

But no more.

It could finally see again.

The cosmos stretched out before it like a divine tapestry, its limits to venture throughout knowing no bounds. Yet, even in the confinement of Its slumber, It had remembered Its purpose and had pursued it still.

But now, Its purpose was ever so clear.

For It not only remember Its purpose but Its true self.

It remembered Its name.

It was I’Xol’Ukz…and It was the Herald of the Cursed Stars.