My ribs snapped like brittle twigs as I slammed into the ground, a sharp, wet crack echoing through my body.
Air wheezed from my lungs in a strangled gasp, my vision fracturing at the edges.
I tasted it—thick, metallic taste—pooling in my mouth.
My tongue ran over the jagged edges of a broken tooth, sharp as splintered glass.
My tongue ran over the jagged edges of a broken tooth.
I barely had time to lift my head before I saw him.
Reyn loomed over Bane, his fingers curling with sickening slowness around its body that was phasing in and out of existence.
'Move damn it! Use that teleportation technique! Goddamn it! MOVE!'
But, it seemed like Bane could not hear me anymore. He had hurt Bane. In a way that it could no longer use anything, evident from how lifelessly its tiny body was sagging down.
Reyn's mouth stretched open, jagged teeth gleaming as his breath curled out in steaming tendrils. Bane let out a weak, shuddering noise, its body twisting as if trying to burrow into itself.
Something in me snapped.
************************************************
NOTIFICATION:
Negative emotions have completely taken over.
i. Rage has taken over.
ii. Contempt has taken over.
All stats will now receive a 500% boost.
************************************************
I shoved the notification aside, but the pure surge of emotions flooded my veins like molten lead. It felt unnatural. Alien. Like I was being devoured from the inside out.
************************************************
–ATTRIBUTES: Lucian de Luca–
Vitality: 23→115 (D-)
Strength: 26→130 (D-)
Dexterity: 21→105 (D-)
Arcana: 21→105 (D-)
Resolve: 19→95 (D-)
Corruption: 12.5%
************************************************
The Agony of Burning Wrath is flooding your body with searing strength.
The Agony of Hungering Dread is sharpening your instincts and movements.
The Agony of Boundless Ruin is reinforcing your body beyond its limits.
************************************************
There they were…those damned sadistic agonies. It had not striked me before, but I can remember now.
The agonies were primordial entities who influenced the different tragedies in the world. These agonies are also the fragments of the "creator.
But a mortal mind wasn't meant to withstand them.
And yet… I was still sane. Still in control.
…Wasn't I?
I will think about it later!
Maybe it was because of the boost in my stats but when I moved—the world shattered beneath me.
The ground split apart under my feet, sending a spray of stone and sediment into the air.
One step and I was already on Reyn.
His mouth was gaping, moments from devouring Bane whole.
He wasn't human.
None of the denizens behind the Divine Gates were. They only wore the skin of men.
I seemed to be forgetting this again and again. But now that I know…there's no need to hold back!
Reyn's eyes snapped wide. He sensed me and twisted his body to react, but it was too late.
I had already swung.
My fist connected with his ribs—and his entire torso caved inward like crumpling steel.
Bones shattered and flesh ruptured, giving way to a wet shockwave that tore through his body before the force sent him flying.
He wasn't just knocked back—he was FUCKING obliterated.
Reyn blasted through the first wall. Then the second. The third. His body didn't stop, hurtling like a ragdoll through stone, brick, and flesh-ripping debris.
And then—
BOOM.
The sonic boom followed a second later, rippling through the temple like the delayed roar of an earthquake. The sheer force of my own punch made me stumble.
Bane slipped from Reyn's shattered fingers, plummeting toward the ground—
I reached beneath him just in time and caught him, cradling his frail body against my chest. My knees hit the dirt, the world narrowing into nothing but the small, broken creature in my arms.
************************************************
Your emotions have stabilised. Stats will be reverted back to
normal.
************************************************
The surge of power vanished.
My body felt… hollow. As if something had been wrenched away, leaving behind an echoing void.
But there was no time for that.
Panic overtook me and I picked a stone from beside me and stood up, holding Bane close to myself. In the distance, I saw Reyn laying between a pile of rubble, completely unmoving.
A cold, eerie silence settled over the air.
Wait.
Did I just… one-shot him?
…Nah, that's crazy.
The boost from Unlit Flame was something else!
************************************************
CAUTION:
Corruption: 12.5% → 13%
************************************************
Hmmm. It increased the last time I heard Will of the Universe, and now again, when the agonies reacted to me. Does that mean the more these negative forces of this world interact with me, the more my corruption will increase?
What will happen if it reaches 100%?
Anyhow, it can't be any good. Corruption doesn't sound good in any sense of the word, and I don't think I want to take the risk of letting it reach 100%. That said…
I looked down at Bane who seemed almost incorporeal and was huddled close to me in a wispy ball.
A strange protectiveness curled around me. It made no sense, yet it felt… natural.
Like an instinct ingrained deep in my bones.
I can't control it, so I need to keep Bane out of harm's way. This feeling of being so attached and emotional when it comes to Bane, it's weird but it is something I have to deal with. It's not even outlandish, given this is how it usually happens. Those who give birth are super protective about their newborns…minus a few cases.
I cradled Bane closer, my eyes scanning the rubble where Reyn was.
It is impossible that I killed him by just a punch…even if my stats were boosted.
The silence was eerily unnerving, which was broken only by the occasional soft whimpers of the small creature in my arms. I couldn't risk staying here any longer.
Running away from there, I quickly grabbed one of the men that had been a slave before having his head bitten off by Bane when he was alive, and I tore his shirt. Making a makeshift babysling, I put Bane into it and ran.
Running towards one of our dead captors, whose lower half wasn't fully charred, I quickly took his boots off and ran towards the exit.
The moment I stepped outside, the world greeted me with the bitter stench of ash and decay.
The cold, musty air rushed into my lungs, each breath burning with the ever-present dust hanging thick in the air.
However, I didn't pay it any mind.
I can exit here. The entrance to divine gates will spawn…wait…where will it spawn again…?!
I do not remember…
THINK! THINK!
Nothing. The memories of this body—this life—were an incomplete mess. I had no idea where this party had first entered the gate.
That meant…
I came to a dead stop.
I'm trapped here.
Panic set in, creeping like a slow poison through my veins.
I had already cleared the Unlit Flame trial—the Divine Gate wouldn't stay open forever.
If I didn't find it soon, I'd be stuck here. For eternity.
My breath hitched. My grip on Bane tightened. His red-tinged fur crackled with tiny static sparks as he looked up at me, those molten eyes unreadable.
And then—
I heard a groan.
My body jerked at the sound, my head snapping toward it.
Someone was still alive.
Logic screamed at me to stay cautious, but desperation overrode it. If there was even the slightest chance they knew where the exit was—I had to take it.
Bane chirped excitedly as I bolted back toward the temple.
Just before I stepped inside, I heard another groan.
This time, from the right.
I turned sharply. My pulse was thundering in my ears.
And then—
"What… you…?"