As Lin Jie came into contact with the cold sword hilt, fragmented images of Candela's life hit him.
His birth, adolescence, youth... a great and magnificent king gradually emerging.
A glorious kingdom, spectacular constructs, beautiful elves clad in white clothes, massive sacred trees, majestic griffins, the respect and adoration of his people, and then fires raging and the endless darkness.
Perhaps because Candela didn't want to reveal the details of him personally destroying his kingdom or due to having already lost his sanity then, the scenes that followed were very fuzzy.
Within his constantly whirling field of view, some strange snippets materialized randomly, as if it were the resentment of people slain by his hand entwined with his soul that Candela had mentioned about.
And when the world stopped spinning, a brilliant flame suddenly erupted in front of Lin Jie.
All of this had flashed by in a mere instance.
Lin Jie blinked and his vision returned to normal.
In his hand was the 'sacred sword' that Candela had pulled out from his chest. The smooth and flat sword blade was like a white flame, illuminating all around it and forming a halo.
Illumination?
Lin Jie looked around him. This was no longer the ruined terrace he had been on.
His surroundings were covered by a roiling, thick gray fog. The moving fog lit by the glowing halo of the sword made it seem as if there was something alive within it.
And deeper into the fog which wasn't illuminated was an expanse of pitch-black darkness.
In the sky above was a massive fracture and forks of red lightning rippled within the dark clouds.
As if something would appear at any moment.
Lin Jie's eyes followed the sword up towards his hands and finally noticed a difference. These hands were wrapped in some sort of glimmering metallic gauntlets followed by a pair of bracers.
From the look of things, Lin Jie felt that these hands weren't his.
His eyes went further downwards and he noticed the armor on his body was the same one that Candela had been wearing, just that it was even more resplendent, as if it was some sort of illusion.
And when he saw a glimpse of gold from the corner of his eyes as well as a sharp black beak, Lin Jie knew at once that there was a vigilant griffin walking slightly behind him.
At this moment, Lin Jie knew.
Passing through these fragmented scenes, he had arrived in Candela's memories and then became him.
Is this... some sort of alternate dream within a dream?
Fine, it still seems rather reasonable from the dream's angle.
After all, everything that happens in a dream has a possibility of happening, right? At the very least, the storyline up to this point had still been logical.
Since Candela said that he wanted to protect his people once more, perhaps this is the battlefield or a duplicate of a past scene?
And the atmosphere before him seemed like the moment before a big BOSS appeared.
Lin Jie glanced at the sword in his hand and recalled Candela's words. This elf king possessed great power, yet feared facing the god. Thus, he had beseeched Lin Jie for guidance so as to not make the same mistake and to use this sacred sword to slay another newly appearing god.
Therefore, Lin Jie needed to become Candela's reason and guide. Simply taking control, or putting it in a different way, to steer his soul.
Was this what he meant by 'becoming my steed'?
"Candela?"
Lin Jie suddenly recalled that this elf king was probably serving as some sort of sword spirit within this blade.
"Yes."
Candela's mellow yet graceful voice echoed respectfully.
"Is that the god you were talking about?"
Lin Jie pointed the sword towards the sky as Candela's memory was beginning to stir. The sword tip streaked across the sky, creating an earth-shattering boom.
Rumble...
Ominous rumbling of thunder echoed as lightning instantly lit up the sky full of dark clouds.
From within that massive fracture, an axe extended outwards, held by a scaly hand.
——
"Haa... Haa..." Ji Zhixiu was panting.
Flowing aether evaporated the rainwater that came close. Ji Zhixiu's silver fur was fluttering in the wind, making her seem extra menacing.
She maintained her Sky Wolf state, glaring intently at Heris as she bared her fangs.
The rain intensified continuously, drowning out all background noise.
A large portion of the district all around was completely destroyed. Most buildings had collapsed and the previous crater had gotten even larger. A sewer had probably exploded as murky water filled with corpses flowed out rapidly.
As she bled continuously, Ji Zhixiu's vision had already started to become blurry.
She still wasn't strong enough indeed.
Hunter corpses strewn all around but they no longer had any semblance to a human. Squirming fur, eyes, and sarcoma had grown all over their bodies.
These were no longer humans but dream beasts.
White Wolf's last hurrah was astoundingly frenzied. Even Heris, in his massive beast form, had eyes filled with bloodthirst and no longer showed any trace of human consciousness.
They simply didn't intend to go on living. At this point of no return, they were going all out for revenge.
"Howl!"
Heris howled towards the sky before slamming the ground with his fists and causing the ground surface to crumble.
Smiling maniacally, he casually swept his hand, sending a bunch of hunter corpses into the streaming water below.
Splash!
Ji Zhixiu couldn't help looking down upon hearing the corpses hitting the water. At that moment, she saw a faint whirlpool forming within the turbid water.
An ominous foreboding flitted across her mind.
She shut her eyes and recalled that during the process of this entire battle, Heris hadn't wandered away from this crater all this time. Moreover, during the fight, he had been constantly chucking the corpses of deceased hunters into the hole.
Something's not right! He's doing it on purpose!
They've been intentionally guarding this spot to make us think that it's the incubation ground. But it isn't!
Ji Zhixiu opened her eyes abruptly as a fork of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating Heris' face.
A satisfied grin showed on that beastly face. "Sufficient offerings at last…"
Heris spread out his arms as a blood-red glow lit up from beneath the flowing water. This light took the shape of an array before becoming a straight beam that shot in a certain direction.
Similar beams of light emerged from four other spots and eventually descended on where the actual incubator was located.
Krrackk… Krrackk...
The incubator gradually fractured and the crystal flower within fully blossomed. A scarlet spot appeared in the glossy mirror-like center before smudging. Following that, the mirror cracked like a shell breaking, revealing a mysterious abyss within.
Boom!
Streams of red lightning blazed up from the ground, splitting the dark, rainy sky in two.
Ji Zhixiu immediately looked up as every single hair on her body stood on end.
Within the dark clouds, a gargantuan humanoid figure stood up slowly as lightning crackled all around its body.
Its giant body the size of a mountain was covered with rubbery scales. Numerous long noses squirmed constantly from the distorted head that wasn't anything human. The sound of its breathing was like thunderclaps through the rows of jagged teeth from its mouth.
Rain falling on its body flowed down like a gushing waterfall.
Heris had a look of feverish zealotry in his eyes as he laughed maniacally and shouted out loud, "Oh god!
"Mighty rain god!
"Rejoice, for he has been born! HAHAHAHA!"