Chapter 2: Awakening
Seth felt a stinging cold on his back, he slowly opened his eyes with visible struggle. He only saw above him an endless void, a seemingly infinite dark space with no visual variation.
He tried moving his limbs with an arduous effort to no avail, goosebumps suddenly surged on his heavy body.
'Shit! Where did this cold come from?!"
Seth's teeth chattered in hope of warming his head, but it resulted in minimal success, he again hastily tried moving his limbs that were slowly getting frozen from the toes and fingers. A few minutes later, he managed to lift his right hand which felt similar to lifting a rock slab.
He moved his free hand to warm the other sections of his body, generating enough friction to melt off the frost that was spreading. One by one, his limbs regained enough functionality to finally stand up, although barely.
Seth felt his chest bobbing up and down, sweat dripped from his slightly wrinkly forehead, and fell down the endless void surrounding him. He smiled bitterly "Is this the so-called hell reserved for guys like me? Should have brought a coat then,"
Lifting his exhausted legs, Seth trudged aimlessly in this endless dark road. He used his hand to warm himself as much as he could, but this effort was the equivalent of emptying a lake with a bucket.
Walking...Walking...Walking….
He walked for what felt like forever, but only darkness greeted his face every time. The road before him didn't change the slightest at all.
Seth's usual smile faded off and he frowned slightly, his pace started picking up, from walking to a light jog.
Still, only darkness greeted him every time, the cold weather at this time decreased to an acceptable level and he stopped trying to warm himself, but the constant darkness made his stomach unconsciously form a knot, he didn't like where this was going.
"When will this damned prank stop.."
No amount of complaining stopped the growing knot in his stomach, his dried forehead saw cold sweat forming.
He picked up his pace again. This time, his clenched hands started swinging forward and his fully recovered legs burst with speed, he started running.
Only his short gasps of breath could be heard across the infinite dark, his pupils were frantically darting searching everywhere, the knot in his stomach was hard to ignore now. Hot beads of sweat drenched his clothes, his gray hair was disheveled and messy, he yelled out "Get me out of this fucking place! Fuck!".
Darkness…..
Seth's body drained its last remaining power and pushed against the concrete dark ground with full force, he started full-on sprinting right now. He grit his teeth, his eyes showing a mix of panic and desperation.
His constant running and screaming did not solicit any reaction from outside, it was as if a cruel joke was being played on him.
His increasingly exhausted feet suddenly tripped, he twisted his ankle before falling. His entire body crashed to the ground before rolling a few times.
"Aah!! My foot!"Seth grabbed his ankle, his body scrunched up with severe pain, he massaged his ankle trying to assuage his torment as much as he could. He felt it swell up and redden bit by bit.
Seth laid himself on the ground after calming down the pain to a bearable level and resting his exhaustion, he couldn't help but laugh dryly "Hehehe, from being framed to stuck in this endless prison, what a magnificent luck I have nowadays."
Seth's exhausted body finally caught up with him, he relaxed his body unconsciously, felt his eyes getting heavy, and slowly closed them…
Footsteps sounded across the void, they were quiet and subtle at first before they became more and more clear.
A shadowy figure calmly approached the sleeping Seth, as it came closer, its previously vague traits turned out apparent right now. It was a young man in what it seems to be his early twenties, he had short wavy black hair, two vertical black lines were etched in both of his pale brown eyes that exuded a cold feeling, these black lines then stretched further into his body which was covered by a loose black robe made of exquisite looking material.
This young man looked at Seth's miserable figure on the ground indifferently, he suddenly snapped his black line-filled fingers on his right hand.
Seth's sleepy body started trembling, it slowly started disintegrating into this strange red strand-shaped energy which flowed and gathered rapidly to the young man's hand. His mouth opened "You do not belong here,"
His left hand grabbed the space in front of him and did a ripping motion, the previously dark spot became red! Countless strands of red energy flowed in that small ripped space.
The young man inserted his right hand into that small hole and released the energy he was holding.
"May you wander peacefully," The young man patched the red hole then vanished silently.
........
A man was seen walking back and forth in a mysterious room filled with strange markings on its walls, his hair was ashen gray with a receding hairline, his wrinkly face revealed his old age, he was holding a deep purple colored rock tightly.
A sudden knock on the door startled him, he quickly put the purple rock in the pockets of the dusty lab coat he was wearing. He said "Yes! I'm coming right now!" While climbing the narrow wooden stairs with his rickety figure.
He opened the ground floor door above him, then headed straight to the door of his residence from where the knock was heard. The moment he opened it, he was greeted by the presence of a teenager wearing a delivery service outfit. He was carrying a one-meter-sized crate with his thin-looking body, then let it drop to the ground, which made a muffled sound and slightly dent the ground.
"Hello sir, is this Mr…...Denga Victoris?" Said the teenager while smiling amicably.
"Yes."
The old man, or Denga, unfazed by what happened, grabbed the crate from the ground with one hand, then closed the door without saying anything.
"Aah Mr. Denga…" the teenager's smile stiffened, he stood silently for a while before departing with a confused face.
Denga dragged the crate to his residence, he then opened it with his bare hands in one fell swoop. Shredded foam covered the entirety of the crate, he began removing it clump by clump until he felt something solid. His lips curled excitedly.
"Good, these white steel eel crystallized livers are in pristine condition!" He said. He took out two hand-sized white livers which had a glassy consistency to them.
He returned to the previous mysterious room with the two livers in his hand, this time he looked over to the back of the room in anticipation. He reached into one of his bulging lab pockets, took out a small gas mask, and wore it, then made his way in front.
Corpses, countless corpses.
Denga stepped on the many rotten corpses of people while walking, his feet mangled their mushy dirty flesh, they were practically unrecognizable at this point, only an amalgamation of blood, old rotten flesh, and the nauseating smell permeating through the back of the room.
He suddenly stopped after a while, he looked over to see an intact body of a young adult who doesn't look older than twenty years lying unconscious on the bed of corpses.
"I hope the number of Ranker corpses are enough for the ritual, I can't keep hiding from those stubborn guys in the Ha family," Denga said, his face was solemn.
He took the two livers in his hands, then exerted slight force which made them shatter into a powder-like consistency. He carefully spread the liver powder around the unconscious man until it formed a circle, then finally placed the purple rock on his chest close to the heart.
Denga stepped back a good distance, his eyes were extremely focused, he clenched his fist "The time has come to this moment. At last, I can finally have a chance at revenge for Master Lewan!"
He suddenly conjured a small Shinsu blade in his finger then flicked it towards the lying man, the blade broke through the sound barrier and sliced a thin line in the upper part of his chest, blood slowly trickled down until it touched the purple rock.
Bright!
Blinding purple light shined in the room covering every crevice possible, Denga covered his eyes with his forearm until the light went out, he suddenly noticed after regaining vision that red strands of energy escaped from the corpses nearby which in turn disintegrated them fully, these red strands of energy gathered towards the purple rock, making it more and more unstable
Denga slowly stepped out of the room, but he noticed that red strands were also escaping from him, his pupils shrunk.
"You damn rock, stop being so greedy!" He screamed.
He reached out to his chest, then suddenly ripped an object from it. It was a red, faintly glowing ruby filled with blood and small pieces of flesh, the red strand of energy escaped from it, he threw it away quickly.
The ruby lost its glow under the severe absorption it underwent by the purple rock then scattered as dust.
Moments passed, the purple rock finally stopped its absorption, it was now so unstable that it fluctuated between liquid, solid, and gas at all times.
Denga was found now in a kneeling position, he was gasping weakly for breath while still focusing on what was happening" Now…. the final step, Fusion!".
The purple matter compressed to a single drop, which was absorbed by the skin of the young man, his eyes suddenly opened.
"Aaaaaaaahhh!!!" He screamed while holding his head tightly. His mouth, frothing with bloody saliva, opened to the furthest extent as to vent his current agony, his fingers dug into the scalp and blood started trickling down from there, flowing down to his face which painted a horrifying picture before Denga.
"Noss! Patience is key! I didn't train you all this time for just a measly pain to affect you!" Denga said. He sat near the wall to support himself while frowning at the scene before him.
Noss didn't react to his father's words, he was still screaming.
Not far from the father and son, a minuscule, almost invisible, red strand of energy slowly drifted aimlessly in the streets without a particular direction, but as soon as it approached near Denga's residence, it changed trajectory abruptly. This red strand rushed to Denga's ritual room like a moth attracted to light.
It went through the walls with ease and sneaked to Noss that stopped screaming at this time and was instead twitching every few seconds. It inserted itself without any mishaps to his body, Denga seemed oblivious to this process.
Noss's body suddenly stopped all kinds of motion and maintained a still posture, Denga slowly approached the young man with difficulty, he kneeled and picked up his hands, then checked his palms where he found a black moon symbol with three stars beside it.
"Excellent! Simply Excellent! The Magatsuhi ritual is a success!" The old man clenched his fists, his face showed extreme ecstasy, his tired expression from earlier vanished completely!
"Noss, wake up now, you're destined to achieve greatness."
......….
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