Title: Undead King
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Time, space, reality....it's more than a linear path. It's a prism of endless possibility, where a single choice or the result of a... unexpected situation can branch out into infinite realities, creating alternate worlds from the ones you know—The Heavenly Eyed Douluo world was a great example.
In this timeline, however, Huo Yuhao's childhood remained the same: the illegitimate son of the White Tiger Duke, terrible childhood, his mother died, etc.
However, the branching point came when the one million year old, Iceworm Skydream, was fusing with Huo Yuhao and someone had arrived at that moment...
The sky darkened, numerous lightning strikes flashed across the sky, each bolt illuminating the surroundings with an unnatural, otherworldly glow. An immense pressure settled over the forest as if the heavens themselves were watching this pivotal moment.
The powerful, one-million-year-old Iceworm Skydream had nearly completed its fusion with the young Huo Yuhao when an unexpected presence disrupted the process.
"Who dares to fight with this brother!?" The Skydream Iceworm flew into a rage. Its huge spiritual undulations instantly surged forth.
However, the moment its spiritual power made contact with the strange dark energy—Skydream let out a blood curdling scream, powerful undulations of spiritual power and....something else, surged out of Huo Yuhao's body like a tsunami, affecting anyone or anything in a thousand mile radius.
Soul beasts below ten thousand years old immediately had their minds overwhelmed and were destroyed, and those ten thousand years old and above similarly felt overwhelmed but could barely manage to shield themselves from complete annihilation.
These beasts, who had cultivated for millennia, felt their minds bending under the crushing weight of terror, struggling to remain sane as the dark energy pulsed through the land. Some fell to the ground, convulsing, their eyes wide and bloodshot as they fought the primal urge to flee, an instinct buried deep even within their ancient souls.
The presence that emanated from Huo Yuhao felt like the embodiment of death itself—a force neither spirit beast nor human was meant to endure.
There were two unfortunate humans that got caught by the surge of spiritual power and died without letting out a scream, their minds crushed seemingly in an instant.
"Aaaaaahhh!!!"
Meanwhile, Huo Yuhao's consciousness wavered between reality and a nightmarish vision. Shadows clawed at the edges of his vision, faces formed from darkness, twisted and snarling, whispering in a language that felt like cold fingers trailing down his spine.
"A-Aaah..."
His body was not his own; he could feel the dark energy forcing its way into his mind, pushing him closer to the edge of something terrifying, an abyss from which there would be no return.
"M-Mom...! Mom...!" Tears streamed down his face.
The Skydream Iceworm struggled within him, its spirit flaring desperately as it tried to protect both itself and its host from the invading darkness. "Stop this!" it screeched, its voice echoing within Yuhao's mind, frantic and trembling. "You're killing us all....!"
"Hahahahaha!" A mad cackle echoed through the darkness, reverberating in Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea like a thousand shards of glass scraping against each other.
The laughter was cold, mocking, and devoid of any humanity, a sound so sinister it twisted the hearts of Huo Yuhao and Skydream's with terror.
In the original timeline, a great being from another world would arrive in the midst of Skydream fusing with Huo Yuhao and would silently take residency in the latter's spiritual sea—that person was called Electrolux, the former Scion of Light, the Calamity Necromancer.
He was going to be a great teacher to Huo Yuhao...
But in this timeline, Electrolux did not arrive.
Instead, something darker, older, and far more malevolent slipped into the void left by Electrolux's absence. This being was no guide, no mentor; it was a devourer of light, a force that thrived in the shadows cast by broken souls and shattered hopes.
Its true name was lost to history, buried under countless aeons of history or simply out of fear—a memory that even the oldest beings dared not recall.
However, in its previous world, it was known by one title—
Undead King
Unlike Electrolux, who used the power of the Light element in order to use his undead magic, the Undead King drew power from the darkest depths of the concept "undeath" itself—a force that corrupted, decayed, and consumed all it touched.
The Undead King was at the level of a God King, which is why it was known as a "King" rather than just a God.
It was no man or God, but a King of the Undead that plagued multiple worlds throughout the vast universe.
But like all beings, even Gods, the Undead King inevitably met its end—a death shrouded in mystery, as though the universe itself had erased the details from history, wiping away any trace of how such a terrifying being had finally been killed.
Some ancient texts whispered of a coalition of gods, a force of light and life gathered from countless realms, who had banded together to banish him. Others claimed the King had died due to the universe enacting divine punishment upon it as a sort of revenge for disrupting the balance in the universe.
But beings such as the Undead King...
Does not die that easily.
And right now, its remnant will had found its way into the Douluo Planet at the moment of when Skydream was becoming Huo Yuhao's soul ring.
"N-Noo! I can't die here! My God Plan! My revenge! Bing'er!"
Skydream cried out hysterically, summoning out all of his power, regardless of the survival of Huo Yuhao, he tried fighting back against the Undead King.
The Undead King, its remnant will actually, looked like a terrifying dark smoke with red eyes that burned with a malevolent intensity, as if they were the embers of worlds he had once consumed.
The smoke coiled and writhed like a living thing, its form shifting and contorting, and as Skydream retaliated against it—a pair of skeletal claws came out of the smoke and grasped the 'air'.
"Gah!" Skydream gasped, an unseen pressure started crushing his body—twisting and bending him as though invisible hands were pressing him tighter and tighter.
Skydream could feel its origin power being depleted and his soul on the verge of destruction.
The first million year old soul beast, was going to die in this matter...
"....If I'm dying here, I'm taking you with me!" Skydream screamed valiantly.
The ten golden orbs that contained his remaining power, which he intended to seal within Huo Yuhao, burst forth and exploded in a blinding flash of golden light, each orb releasing torrents of energy that surged through Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea like a storm.
The sheer force was cataclysmic, a desperate gambit that Skydream unleashed with a fierce, unyielding resolve.
The golden orbs, once intended as a blessing for Huo Yuhao, were now a weapon of last resort—a final stand that Skydream hoped would be enough to shatter the remnant of the Undead King, or at least banish it from Yuhao's soul.
"If I am to die," Skydream's voice rang out defiantly, echoing through the spiritual sea, "then I'll ensure you're dragged down with me, fiend!"
The Undead King's red eyes narrowed, although it was once a great evil being it currently held a small fraction of its former power—a mere shadow of the terror it once inspired across countless worlds.
And as of right now, using all of his power, Skydream has the capability to erase the Undead King from Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea, so it quickly fought back.
Both powerful beings of their own class—the first million year old soul beast in the Douluo world after the Divine War, and the remnant will of the Undead King—clashed within Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea.
The battle raged fiercely, each combatant pouring their essence into a struggle for dominance. Their battle did untold effects in the spiritual sea.
What was once a blank, empty space in Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea had transformed into a war-torn battlefield, torn apart by the clash between light and darkness.
Golden light from Skydream radiated like a beacon, illuminating the dark expanse with a fierce, almost blinding intensity. Streams of energy arced out in every direction, illuminating the vast emptiness with searing waves of radiance, each one pushing back the shadows inch by inch.
The Undead King's essence, dark and insidious, retaliated in turn. Shadows twisted and clawed at the golden light, spreading like a plague across the spiritual sea, devouring everything in its path.
"A-Ah..." All the while, Huo Yuhao's soul watched on helplessly while still being tortured by the Undead King's dark influence. He could feel icy tendrils of the Undead King's malevolent energy creeping through his spirit, suffocating him, warping his memories, and dredging up every buried fear and sorrow.
His body trembled as the dark energy invaded his soul, filling his mind with whispers of despair, of anger, and of promises of power.
"I can feel your pain, your misery, your....vengeance," the Undead King's voice hissed, dark and venomous, echoing through his spirit. "Your suffering....your anger…...they can be your strength! Let me in, and I will grant you power beyond your wildest so you can fulfill your revenge—!"
But before the Undead King could continue, Skydream's bellowing cry interrupted him, resonating through the spiritual sea like a thunderclap.
"You! Shall! Not! Pass!!"
Skydream's voice was filled with a raw, defiant energy that reverberated through every corner of Yuhao's mind, forcing back the creeping darkness, if only for a moment.
Their battle raged on for a few more minutes, which felt like hours for Yuhao, and the conclusion came quickly.
Skydream won, at the cost of its remaining life energy.
With one final, blinding surge of golden light, Skydream's power overwhelmed the remnants of the Undead King, shattering the dark presence that had tried to consume Huo Yuhao's soul.
The shadows writhed and dissipated, the red eyes of the Undead King fading into nothingness, consumed entirely by the Iceworm's sacrifice.
As the last echoes of the battle faded, Yuhao's spiritual sea returned to a state of calm, though it was no longer empty. Flecks of Skydream's golden light lingered in the air, a faint glow that symbolized his spirit's final gift.
However, the Undead King also left behind a little "gift" for Huo Yuhao.
Though it was a monster that thrived in the suffering of others, it was also once someone who devoted everything for the sake of their craft and ability.
It refused to let everything it had gained, created and more in the last millennia...vanished into thin air.
If it can't be resurrected once more...no matter.
One way or another, there will be another Undead King.
Some time passed, and the sky turned dark with the full moon out.
"Hng. I....Ah!" Huo Yuhao slowly opened his eyes, only to abruptly close them, groaning in pain.
For the moment he opened his eyes, he saw lines of red everywhere: the ground, the trees, the leaves, etc. They were....
Lines of Death.
"Haaa....Haaa...." Huo Yuhao gasped, his breathing shallow and uneven as he tried to process what he had just seen.
The lines glowed an eerie crimson, snaking through everything around him as though every living thing bore invisible scars that only he could see.
Something inside of Huo Yuhao told him, if he cut that red line...it would kill them.
"Kakakakakaka!"
"Hng! G-Get out! Get out of my head!" Huo Yuhao cried out.
Not unexpectedly, after suffering from literal torment to his soul; experiencing every pain.... witnessing every horrific atrocities committed by the Undead King, Huo Yuhao's mind was close to breaking.
The trauma will still linger in his thoughts, a dark presence whispering in twisted amusement, taunting him with the power he now possessed.
A power to take a life, with a simple cut.
After a few moments, Huo Yuhao stood up from his spot and looked around him—his once deep blue eyes were now mesmerizing to see, as if it were marbled jewels of icy blue intertwined with streaks of crimson, like veins of molten fire frozen within gemstone.
He looked around and saw only death surrounding him—soul beast corpses, dead trees, dried up soil and....
"Big brother Bei Bei....Big sister Tang Ya...." Huo Yuhao looked down at the pair of familiar bodies before him. He gazed at them with a sense of....indifference.
What he felt right now, as he looked at the only people that showed him a sense of kindness and sincerity aside from his late mother....was simply morbid curiosity.
Huo Yuhao had one of the most toughest wills, however, he was still but a child and he was subjugated to torture from one of the most deprived beings in the universe! He was already quite lucky enough to still be alive.
Huo Yuhao outstretched his hand out, and coldly commanded,
"Arise, my subjects!"
The Undead King shall be reborn.
...
(AN: Extra chapter! It's late, I know, but just roll with it. I wrote this last year, a month after Halloween, and decided to post it the next(current) Halloween. Although, I'm a couple days late...)
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