Chapter 29: Is It Over?

  Iris and Votaria were no longer near the scene of the fight, yet Darek could still see them through his Vision ability — through Iris’ eye.

  The cave salamander hissed as it watched Ursula crash down at the far end of the forest. In the next second, it turned its gaze toward Darek and Seraphis and lowered its head aggressively in their direction.

  “Seraphis, its posture just relaxed. Looks like it’s not taking us nearly as seriously as Ursula. It’s insulting us.”

  “Hissss.”

  Darek leapt toward its head, trying to land on it, but managed only to grab hold of its lower jaw.

  “Seraphis, grab one of its legs!”

  Seraphis coiled around the salamander’s left foreleg and tightened with all his strength. In the next instant, a faint crack could be heard.

  The crack was too clean for something living. A dry splintering — like bone giving way under excessive strain.

  Seraphis hissed sharply as he tightened his grip further. Watching his friend — uh, his rival — get sent flying had clearly not left him unaffected, unlike Ursula.

  Yet the cave salamander showed nothing.

  It was as if it couldn’t even feel the pain from its fractured limb.

  No twitch.

  No recoil.

  Not even a change in breathing.

  As though the broken leg were nothing more than a pebble lodged beneath its skin.

  “Sleep!” Darek shouted.

  By now, he was hanging on to the salamander’s lower jaw with only his right hand. His left hand aimed directly at its face as red dust manifested in his palm.

  The red dust struck its target.

  The cave salamander shook its head slightly, as though about to sneeze.

  Shit. Doesn’t look like I can do anything to it. My abilities are useless here. Damn it.

  The salamander snapped its head upward with force, catapulting Darek into the air. He soared several meters high, flailing helplessly.

  Shit, Iris. Everything’s going wrong. Fuck.

  Before he could even reconnect with Iris, the salamander wound up. It swung its head to the right and slightly raised itself, as though overextending its neck to gather momentum.

  As Darek dropped back down to its level, the salamander lunged forward.

  Its head shot toward him with a reflexive thrust — as fast as a handgun round.

  The impact felt like a battering ram driven through his chest. The air was forced from his lungs before pain even had time to register.

  The blow connected.

  The force with which he was hurled backward rivaled the strike Ursula had endured. He too was flung away — and at the moment of impact, there was a crack, a break, and a rasping sound.

  Wushh.

  Darek flew several meters back. But unlike Ursula’s trajectory, Darek’s flight path led directly toward Votaria’s dwelling cave.

  BOOOM.

  A tremendous crash echoed, and the entire cave shook. Cracks tore through the rock. Dust rained down from the ceiling like gray ash. Part of the wall collapsed, burying the impact crater beneath falling debris. Where Darek had struck, there was now only a cloud of dust.

  Seraphis released the now-broken leg and slithered toward Darek with supernatural speed.

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  The salamander stepped forward, still focused on Darek, though it now limped slightly.

  I—I’m way too weak. What is this shit? I can only hurt people who are weaker than me — or at least in my league. Against anything stronger, I’m nothing but a punching bag. The impact even severed my connection to Iris’ Vision. Fine. They should be okay. I have to deal with this lizard first.

  Darek, still at the mountain impact site and barely holding himself upright, looked miserable.

  Blood dripped from his mouth. Each breath sounded wet. Something cracked in his ribcage with every inhale. A metallic taste spread across his tongue.

  His ribs were broken. The rest of his bones felt like chalk. Every movement caused them to crack and grind.

  He slipped from the impact crater and landed in front of the cave.

  The pain barely registered anymore.

  After everything he had already endured, it was the lack of strength that weighed on him.

  His Soulbound pillow absorbed every injury, fracture, and wound.

  Broken ribs slid back into place with grinding resistance. Bent bones straightened with dull internal cracks. Skin sealed over ruptured vessels.

  Darek felt strength returning to his body.

  He stood.

  Seraphis coiled once around him, as if checking whether he was truly alright — and perhaps offering a trace of comfort — before positioning himself protectively in front of him.

  Now they stood there.

  Darek — restored.

  Seraphis before him, as though shielding him. Fury burned in his eyes.

  And the massive cave salamander no more than five meters away.

  What am I supposed to do? I have nothing left. Iris is too far away now — I doubt the connection is strong enough for her to lend me anything beyond Vision. Seraphis is still too young. And my pillow only grants me the ability to suffer endlessly.

  Wait.

  Darek focused his energy into the compass.

  His expression hardened. A trace of vengeance flickered in his eyes.

  Cave salamander’s weak point.

  In the next moment, dozens of illusory red lines traced themselves across the creature’s body.

  Two led to its feelers.

  The rest spread across multiple parts of its form.

  Most glowed only faintly.

  The line to its right leg shone clearly — the one Seraphis had broken.

  And another.

  It led to its left side — roughly where its ribcage should be.

  Priceless, Darek thought, silently praising the compass once more.

  Since Seraphis and Darek’s souls were one and the same, he saw the lines as well.

  They understood each other instantly.

  I’ll distract it. You hit the spot. Do as much damage as you can.

  Seraphis had already launched forward before Darek finished speaking.

  Darek locked eyes with the salamander.

  He was about to say something — to provoke it —

  when he looked down at his own body.

  It felt warm.

  His breathing grew heavy.

  The salamander’s tail tip had already pierced his chest.

  It emerged bloodied from the other side.

  For a moment, he hung impaled in midair, his body unnaturally tense.

  Darek coughed up a surge of blood.

  What remained of his clothing was soaked and heavy.

  Quick, fuck. Can you even call this a distraction? This is more like a sacrifice. Next time I’ll say I’m sacrificing myself instead of distracting it.

  The tail withdrew from his body.

  Red dust radiated outward from him, and the wound sealed shut in the next instant.

  “Sleep!” Darek shouted again, hurling the dust at it once more.

  The salamander’s tail shot forward again — piercing his chest a second time.

  This time deeper.

  The tip entered at an angle, tearing tissue apart and dragging a dark spray of blood with it.

  “AH, fuck.”

  It lifted its tail — with Darek still skewered upon it — raising him above its open jaws, as if preparing to drop him inside.

  Seraphis saw Darek suspended in the air. He knew this was far from a fatal wound for him — but something inside him ignited.

  The only thing he had ever truly hated in his life was that tyrant of a monolith — and everything connected to it. He did not even know why. It was instinctive hatred.

  And that very hatred now began to take root toward this cave salamander.

  His gaze darkened with fury. His pupils narrowed into thin slits. His breathing came in sharp bursts. Every scale tightened as though charged with electricity. He coiled his body like a compressed hydraulic spring.

  Then he launched.

  Straight toward the weak point along the salamander’s ribs.

  At that location, traces of past battles were visible. Several poorly healed scars and patches of faded skin hinted at a severe previous injury.

  In the next instant, a horrifying scream tore from the cave salamander. The entire forest seemed to tremble; everything vibrated.

  It released Darek.

  Seraphis pierced the salamander’s body with the strike. Flesh split open. A surge of warm blood sprayed outward in a dark arc, and Seraphis burst out through the other side.

  “Clean. Well done, Seraphis.”

  The cave salamander lost the composure it had maintained until now and, for the first time, showed signs of taking something seriously.

  Its feelers twitched frantically, and its massive body trembled.

  Then its right foreleg snapped back into place.

  And slowly, the gaping hole in its torso began to close.

  Fibers crawled over one another like living threads. Tissue pulled together as though stitching itself shut. The wound shrank, drawing inward, until only a dark, pulsing scar remained.

  Darek stared in stunned disbelief.

  “You can do that too?”

  The salamander flew into a rage and fixed Darek with a stare that made him swallow hard.

  Its skin darkened instantly, as if its entire body were tightening under immense internal pressure.

  “Intelligent as ever, these two-eyes. I told you we should’ve left.”

  “Iris. You’re back.” Darek startled. “Wait — what about Ursula?”

  In the next moment, he heard Votaria’s voice.

  Whispering. Serious.

  “Breakthrough.”

  And a heartbeat later, a massive shadow shot straight through the cave salamander’s neck.

  A dull, crushing impact followed.

  Bone splintered audibly.

  The salamander’s head was ripped violently to the side, as though struck by a living battering ram.

  Not even its reinforced hide could withstand that force.

  Once, I was the Shepherd of Souls. Now, I am forced to rule them.

  I was the Silent Hunter. A Reaper who guided the lost to the other side. I had no name. No emotions. No mercy. I was a necessity. Void of self. A tool of the Cycle. Until the Emperor pulled me from the void and stuffed me into the body of his son.

  Now, I am Voss Truechild. A Prince of the Empire. A Manaborn noble expected to wield the light of civilization. I have a name, a title, and a fragile mortal shell. But my soul is still that of a Reaper.

  And the Empire is rotting. The Damned are rising, twisting the laws of life and death for their own ambition. They think they are predators. They think the Empire is their hunting ground.

  They are wrong. The Reaper has returned. And I will set the balance right.