?A long, seemingly never-ending peep rang through his ears as he got up. He tried to press his left arm against the ground to jump up, only to notice that his left arm was missing.
He glanced down at his body and groaned in annoyance, “Seems like I have to make another trip to the Seraph. The leverage against them was worth the hassle.”
The Blaze Patriarch’s head ached worse than usual, but he ignored it and got up. His eyes moved left and right in an attempt to see if anyone else survived, but the only thing he could see was an endless expanse of…nothing. As a Tier-6 powerhouse, the Blaze Patriarch could see far, yet no matter how far he could see, nothing was like it used to be. Everything had been destroyed.
“Divine Lifeforms are so troublesome,” He snickered, retrieving a glass vial from his War Rune storage.
The Blaze Patriarch removed the cap of the glass vial with his teeth, spit the cap out, and swallowed the vial’s content.
A gasp escaped his lips when his body digested the viscous liquid. He was still wounded and missed a limb, but he wasn’t mortally wounded anymore. That was better than nothing.
The Blaze Patriarch tried circulating origin energy through his body and utilized his Soultrait to shoot high into the air. He wanted to get a better view of the situation, but he noticed quickly that the origin energy in the surroundings was no longer there.
Not only the origin energy in the surroundings but the energy in the Blaze Patriarch had also been cut off. He retrieved a few Energy Stones to replenish his energy, only to notice that the Energy Stones crumbled right away. The energy was drained instantly and pulled somewhere. It was pulled into the sky. No. The energy was pulled to the space.
The Blaze Patriarch’s eyes followed the energy traces he’d perceived, scowling at what he saw.
He was greeted by thousands of fissures in space, twinkling like streams of purple sparks. The origin energy within the Energy Stones was pulled to the closest fissure, stimulating it to mend and close.
The Blaze Patriarch stared at the scenery unfolding before him for a few seconds, his scowl slowly replaced by a vibrant smile.
Countless humans might have died today, but the Blaze Patriarch couldn’t care less. All he cared about was that the three Divine Lifeforms had killed each other.
The Blaze Patriarch burst into a vibrant smile. He chuckled, which evolved into a laugh, which resounded through the devastated lands that had once been entire provinces.
“Nobody can stop me now,” The Blaze Patriarch declared, laughing like a maniac, “My problems killed each other!!”
He continued laughing, but his eyes never left the fissures in the open space. It was almost like he was expecting to find signs that one of the Divine Lifeforms had survived.
But there was no sign of the Long household’s brothers’ survival. The last traces of their existence disintegrated.
**
Michael scrunched his nose while eying a bubbling pond…of impurities? It looked like impurities and smelled like impurities, but Michael could tell with a glance that the energy coursing through it wasn’t something impurities could contain.
“The Spring of Abundant Life,” Selena commented lightly, “Retrieve your Soul Grimoire and throw your brother’s Living Soul into that disgusting mess. As long as your brother isn’t a complete loser, he should be able to sense what he has to do to build a perfect vessel.
[I’m not a loser!] Danny declared, using Whispering Energy. 𝒻𝘦𝓌𝑜𝓋𝘦.𝘰
“Yes, yes. Of course, you are not a loser. I just told you about the possibility. If you’re a loser, you will fail. Your vessel will be shit, and you might end up dying at old age in a few decades. Mess up your energy veins and the Energy Pillar, and we can bring you to your lovely Tritan Alliance to live happily ever after as an Unawakened.”
Michael looked at Selena, who shrugged lightly before turning away. She installed and initiated a few portable runic arrays, ensuring that nobody would bother them in the next few weeks.
“I managed to secure this little pond of the Spring of Abundant Life for about two months. That is longer than it should take to rebuild your vessel,” Selena stared intently at Michael, “It’s also enough to bring you into shape and to learn the Curse Transformation Arts.”
Michael nodded slowly.
“You are more likely to fail than your brother. Your Curses are powerful, and you manifested more Curses than most Curse Users would have awakened before they started with partial Curse Transformation. Also, you are much younger and at a lower Tier. It will be fun, especially since my Curse told me that your Curses are a nuisance,” Selena said, still not serious. She smiled brightly at Michael and added, “This will be fun!”
Michael frowned deeply. The way Selena looked at him couldn’t mean anything good. If anything, it could only mean that the Nest Leader would hit him black and blue until he managed to succeed in the partial Curse Transformation.
“Don’t look at me like that. A partial transformation won’t be enough. You have two Major Seals already. I want more from you!” Selena declared, smiling from one ear to the other.
It was almost like she could read his mind. That was…great.
Putting aside the future beatings of the next eight weeks, Michael wasn’t too excited about this place. It was eerie, and his Curses didn’t like it either.
Michael didn’t remember much of their trip close to the center of the Origin. The bridge they took pulled them to a supergalaxy close to their destination. However, Michael was too busy observing the massive planets around him and the oppressive amount of energy permeating every inch of space around him.
It was no wonder that so many Higher Lifeforms existed near the Origin. That place was overflowing with energy. The energy was also incredibly pure. It was overwhelming.
Michael wondered if he could stay here for a year or two to reach Tier-5 without the need for additional resources, but that idea dissipated quickly when he and Selena passed by the first massive creature in space.
Michael had no idea how powerful that creature was, but he was certain it was stronger than the Primal Phoenix. In fact, Michael couldn’t be certain that Selena could deal with that creature. It was a Leviathan or something like that, yet Selena shook her head when he inquired about it. It was almost like the Nest Leader didn’t dare to speak about the creature.
After the Leviathan traveled past them, Michael held his breath. The creature wasn’t fast, but it didn’t move slowly either, yet it took several minutes before it passed them.
The Nest Leader and Michael continued silently traveling until they reached the rift. A purplish-azure fissure amidst the endless space around them.
Michael’s eyes widened in terror when Spirit Eyes saw what awaited them. Unfortunately, he couldn’t retreat. Selena pulled him inside the rift, bringing them to a small, ominous place. Everything was dark, yet Michael could see perfectly fine. Curse power permeated every corner of the place. Michael tried grasping it, but it escaped him.
The only thing he could do with the curse power was to use it to replenish his used-up curse power. It refilled his used-up curse power the instant it left him.
While that was great, Michael felt weird. The place wasn’t like Michael expected it to be. It was…alive.
‘Why does it feel like I’m inside something?’ He wondered, only for the World Serpent to respond, its entire being filled with anger and displeasure.
[Because that is precisely what is going on. You are inside a Curse.]