"Become your Harbinger? Consume worlds..in your name?" Lumian looked at Unsung with a suspicious expression
"Yes" Unsung replied flatly
"Consuming worlds sounds like something that is out of my league, as much as I'd like to indulge you. I am a powerless Villain who resorts to blackmail when caught; what am I supposed to do? Threaten the world?" Lumian scoffed
"I will bestow on you power that will aid you in carrying out my bidding,"
"Why do you need to consume the world? What happens after? To my knowledge, there's only one world, one universe,"
"You will come to know why I need the world, but not at this stage,"
"What if I say no?"
"Then I'll leave you be and you'll die at the hands of this third-rate hero,"
"Well shit, it isn't much of a choice then is it?" Lumian chuckled
Lumian extended his hand and shook Unsung's hand, "I accept. Give me power and I will tear down this world in your name," He declared
"Very good. It is done then," Unsung said
Lumian raised a suspicious brow, "Just like that?"He asked
Suddenly, Lumian's legs began to heal and within a few seconds, his legs that were once charred and burnt beyond recognition had become as good as new again, "What the fuck?! Seems I made the right choice, you're the real deal," He said, confusion written all over his face
Unsung straightened out his suit, and turned around, "Of course, it's not just like that, you've only just begun your transformation," He said as he faded into the shadows
"Wait, what about this guy?" Lumian asked, pointing to Voltstrike, but Unsung was already gone with the shadows
Lumian looked at his hands, "I don't feel any different; the only that changed is my healed legs.
If I couldn't walk now, I would think I was hallucinating," He said to himself, chuckling lightly as he stood up
He stood in front of Voltstrike's frozen form, avoiding the lightning bolts that would have obliterated him, "But then again, there is this; did Unsung stop time? Whatever it is that he did, I am grateful. Now I have the chance to beat the living daylights out of this crazy bastard," He said, and a mischievous grin appeared on his face
Lumian raised his fists, and pulled them back, ready to bash Voltstrike's head. With an audible grunt, he swung at the young hero, putting his entire weight behind the punch.
As his fist was about to make contact with Voltstrike's masked face, he saw Voltstrike's eyes turn to his direction, and in that same moment, Lumian vanished into thin air.
Time had resumed its flow again, and Voltstrike's powerful bolts of electricity mercilessly rained down on the spot Lumian once sat
"Huh? What was that?" Voltstrike turned around but he saw nothing, "I could swear I saw someone just now," He said
He turned back to look upon his work, as the dust cleared, Voltstrike was expecting to see Lumian's charred remains, but Voltstrike was surprised to see that there was nothing there.
"What the…? Where the hell did he go?" He looked around, asking no one in particular.
His gaze rested on the fabric of Lumian's clothes, "Did I overdo it? I really turned that evil bastard to dust…haha," He chuckled nervously
His laughter grew louder and louder until the alley echoed with the bellows of his laughter, and then suddenly everything went quiet.
Boom!!—A loud explosion ensued, covering the entire alley in smoke, debris, and dust.
*****
Lumian found himself floating in a strange place. He felt weightless and at the same time, heavy; he could see strange patterns everywhere; some he recognized to be shapes, and others were so complex that they made his head and eyes hurt as he gazed upon them.
The strange realm was an ever-shifting landscape of twisted, surreal forms and unnatural geometry. The sky was a churning, oily black, streaked with sickly colors that pulsed and shifted in impossible patterns.
The ground was a patchwork of shifting, amorphous shapes—sometimes solid, sometimes liquid, and always treacherous. Buildings, if they can be called that, are crooked, spiraling towers with impossible angles, defying all logic and reason.
In the distance, mountains rose and fell like waves, their peaks dripping with an eerie, greenish light. Rivers of black sludge snake through the land, carrying echoes of whispered madness to every corner of the realm. The air was thick with the scent of decay and the faint, unsettling hum of countless, unseen voices murmuring in tongues that Lumian struggled to understand
Creatures of unimaginable horror roamed the realm—beings that defy comprehension, with eyes that see too much and mouths that speak in riddles. Time and space twist and fold upon themselves in the realm, making it impossible to tell where one thing ends and another begins, it was pure chaos.
The very ambiance of the realm seemed to be alive, responding to the fears and thoughts of those who entered, reshaping itself to reflect their deepest nightmares, but Lumian saw no fear of his, for he didn't have one.
"What the hell is this place?" Lumian asked, and he could hear his voice from all angles
『Welcome Lumian. You have been chosen by the faceless God to enforce his will』A monotonous voice echoed
"Huh?"
『 Your body will now undergo reconstruction.』
"Reconstruction? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
『Reconstruction begins in 5…4…3…2…1』
Suddenly the entire realm was swallowed by darkness, and Lumian was the only thing that could be seen at the center.
Lumian felt a sharp, excruciating pain in his chest, then his spine, and then his torso. The pain was spreading and in a matter of seconds, it spread everywhere.
Following the pain came along the sound of his bone, muscle, and skin expanding; growing. His whole body was submerged in a state of mind-numbing pain.
He soon began squirming and lashing around; tears poured out his eyes as his screams permeated the darkness, they flowed until it wasn't tears anymore but blood; his ears soon followed suit, and all his orifices, too, began leaking blood.
Lumian let out a desperate scream that resonated throughout the entire building, and then everything suddenly went quiet as Lumian closed his eyes and fell unconscious