Chapter 2954: Nothing to Lose |
On the edge of the Ebony Island, Yutra was straining to stand up, the sound of his ragged breath drowning in the mist.
“Ah, damn it..."
His hands were shaking uncontrollably, so he couldn't quite pick himself up off the ground.
Suddenly, he saw the hem of a crimson dress sway in front of him, the red fabric obscuring his vision. He shuddered for some reason, as if reminded of something frightening, and then a strong hand helped him to stand up.
He found himself face-to-face with an exquisitely beautiful woman, and spent a moment before recognizing her as one of the Blood Sisters who followed Saint Seishan.
The woman helped him regain his balance and said in a somber tone:
"Stay close, soldier."
He nodded, looking around in search of Rit and Tegrot. Luckily, the two of them were nearby, looking as shaken as he was.
There were countless Awakened warriors around him, actually, all crowded around the banner of Lady Seishan.
'I'm still alive, at least.'
He used the brief lull in the battle to catch his breath and pour some water into his mouth, which was as dry as a desert.
Then, there was a stir up ahead, and a command to advance resounded in the mist.
The soldiers moved forward, Lady Seishan walking in the middle of their defensive formation.
The mist surrounded them from all sides, obscuring the world, and a cold sense of fear permeated their hearts.
“Stay alert! The vessels of the King of Nothing can attack at any moment!"
The command echoed in the mist, growing strange and distorted as it traveled further and further away.
Yutra gripped his sword tighter.
Somehow, he and his two friends found themselves at the front of the formation soon. Each step echoes in the swirling fog, making their hearts beat wildly. Sweat was rolling down their faces, making the hilts of their weapons slick.
"Up ahead!"
Yutra raised his shield, preparing to face whatever it was that revealed itself from the mist — an immense dark shape that made the blood run cold in his veins.
However... the dark shape remained motionless, not showing any sign of lunging at them.
The soldiers approached it cautiously and slowed down for a few moments, full of wary apprehension.
"What the hell..."
The enormous abomination resembled a tall hill of black hair, the shape of a grotesque ape-like body barely recognizable beneath the long fur. It looked tremendously strong —a Nightmare Creature of a Rank that Yutra could never hope to scratch, let alone kill.
And yet, it was motionless, devoid of life, and utterly dead.
Passing the dead monstrosity, they advanced forward. It wasn't long before they encountered another dead abomination, and then another, and another...
Soon, the abominable corpses surrounded them from all sides, looming in the mist like a forest of misshapen gravestones.
Nothing attacked them from the milky white fog.
“What... what did this?"
Tegrot sounded uncharacteristically subdued.
Had they been destroyed by the white mist? But the King of Nothing was its ruler... why would his own vessels be slain by the fog he had summoned?
"Forward!"
The command arrived from the back, forcing them to continue advancing into the mist among the motionless corpses.
Only, why did it seem...
Like something was moving in the mist? Something vague... colossal...
Alien.
Yutra felt a cold chill run down his spine as he sensed something gazing at him from the milky white expanse of swirling fog.
"Hey, Yutra... won't you look at that?"
Tegrot's friendly voice sounded like usual. However, something about it made Yutra feel cold — and that was before he realized that it had come from an entirely wrong direction, even.
Following an impulse, Yutra shut his eyes tightly.
He did not know it, but at the exact same moment, every human soldier on the Ebony Island closed their eyes, as well, acting in perfect synchronicity.
That was because Asterion commanded them to do so.
The Dreamspawn himself, however, kept his eyes open.
He peered into the mist, the relaxed smile slowly draining from his face.
Then, his gaze climbed higher, and higher, and higher still... as if he was looking at something that towered above him, looming vaguely in the mist.
His expression turned somber.
In the next moment...
That was when Cassie felt the Ebony Island quake.
She remained motionless for a second, then faced Mordret once more.
"The advance of the Hunger Domain was slowed down, but while the mortal soldiers might be thwarted by the mist, Asterion is not someone who can be stopped by nothing. You know that, so what is your plan?"
Mordret was breathing raggedly, his face slowly growing even paler than before. He stared into the distance for a while, as if not hearing her question, and then aimed the gaze of his mirror-like eyes at her.
“Stop him? Ah, no... I wasn't trying to stop him. Just slow him down. Didn't I say that I needed to buy myself some time?"
Cassie's frown deepened.
“Time for what? I am your ally, damn it. Shouldn't I know?"
Staring at her, Mordret smiled.
“Your usefulness as an ally has all but exhausted itself, Song of the Fallen. Still... I guess it has not run out yet."
He remained silent for a short while, then exhaled slowly and looked down.
After a few moments, he said in an even tone:
"This is all your fault, you know?"
Mordret looked at Cassie with a hint of dark, cold contempt in his eyes.
“You and your inept owners. I warned them! I warned over and over again, but no... Changing Star — and her shadow, as well — they just had to give in to their avarice. They wanted too much, valued too many things, and were determined to protect too many people. They weren't prepared to sacrifice anything at all, and where did we end up as a result? Here, at this moment, driven into a corner."
His lips twisted into a snarl.
“Asterion cannot be defeated. But I could have defeated that monster, still. I almost did! If only those fools had not prevented me from doing what had to be done. If only they had honestly admitted that sometimes, one has to become monstrous in order to fight monsters."
Mordret shook his head and laughed bitterly.
“Come to think of it, it has always been that way. Looking back... I've led quite an unfortunate life, haven't I? Something has always risen to stand between me and achieving my goals. In the Second Nightmare, in Antarctica, in Godgrave... everywhere, every time. It is almost as if fate itself conspired against me. As if I was fated to lose and end up with nothing.”
He sighed heavily.
As he spoke, Cassie felt pressed down to the floor. The pressure continued to build as Mordret's face grew paler, and at some point, she realized that she was being suffocated by his presence.
Mordret's presence was usually difficult to notice. In fact, he did not have a presence at all — he could be sensed by an eerie absence, instead.
But now, it was building and building, seemingly boundless. The air in the great hall of the Ebony Tower grew frigidly cold, and Cassie felt her hair stand on end. Mordret shook his head, his expression turning calm and steely.
“Well, it doesn't matter anymore. Even if that is the case... I still want to give it my all. Let's see this through to the end, shall we, Cassia?"
She tilted her head, caught by the fact that his presence seemed to be growing more powerful.
Then, a flash of understanding hit her like lightning.
Her expression changed subtly, and she turned to Mordret slowly.
“Your vessels..."
Cassie finally understood what was killing the myriad of his vessels outside the tower. Nothing... nothing was killing them. They weren't being killed.
Rather, Mordret was simply collecting the millions of fragments of his soul he had torn away to inhabit the legion of stolen bodies back.
He was assembling himself from those fragments, piecing his soul together like a puzzle.
But no, souls didn't work like that. Souls were alive, just like bodies were — when wounded, they healed, regrowing lost pieces of themselves, with scar tissue covering old wounds. So there was no place for these fragments Mordret had torn from himself in a cruel act of self-mutilation to go... but he was absorbing them nevertheless, forcing his soul to swell to a dreadful, impossible size.
Making it deeper than even a Supreme soul was ever meant to be.
Mordret smiled crookedly.
"Ah, I see you finally figured it out. It is a desperate gamble, I'll admit — but then again, I am quite desperate at the moment. And I have nothing to lose."
Cassie was taken aback.
She felt too rattled to fully fathom the implications of what he was doing, let alone express them with words.
The battle... the odd choices he had made regarding his Reflections... the timing of it all...
Her voice shook:
"...Apotheosis."
She took a step forward.
“You madman, you are attempting Apotheosis!"
Mordret studied her for a moment.
Then, he shrugged with a faint smile.
"Go big or go home, right? Since I can't beat the Dreamspawn in this game, the only choice is to flip the board. Well... attempt to flip it, at least."
His Reflections surrounded him, having assumed his own form.
Each of them had been created from his soul cores. But each of them had also grown since then. In this battle, as well, they absorbed enough soul fragments to evolve by a Class or two — in fact, Mordret had sent them to those areas of the battlefield where they would be able to reap the most bountiful harvest of soul fragments, not where they would be able to impact the battle the most.
And Mordret himself had not been idle after creating them, either. Even having sacrificed all those soul cores to create his Reflections, he still managed to elevate himself to a Supreme Titan once more.
Seven soul cores burned in the depths of Mordret's Supreme soul — as many as the soul of a living being could support and withstand.
The seven Reflections shared many more among themselves. Some of them were Monsters, some of them were Demons, some had reached an even higher Class. Looking at one of them, Mordret asked in a neutral tone:
“Do you know what separates gods from mortals, Song of the Fallen?"
She remained silent, not knowing what to say.
Not receiving an answer, he chuckled.
“Neither do I. But... I'm quite curious to find out."
With that, Mordret reached forward and shattered one of his Reflections, absorbing it — and the soul cores it bore — back into himself.
In Cassie's mind, the runes describing him shimmered and grew vague.
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