Chapter 4
Location: Vabos Forest
"Kakarai. We should go now." Vabon stretched out his hand.
He! Kakarai's eyes widened with pure madness. He stretched his own hand back, and Vabon instantly retreated.
"You have the gall?!" Vabon's face twisted. "What is wrong with you?"
Condemnation.
Realization dawned upon him. Is it because he he knelt to that guy on his own accord? No, it can't be! He has been abandoned.
Vabon's gaze snapped back to Dax, and an immense, primal fear washed over him.
"Demon God," Vabon whispered, his eyes wide with terror. "This guy is a Demon God… there is no other explanation."
Before them, Dax's flesh and skin melted away, revealing the bones and organs beneath. The downpour from the sky intensified, the rain washing the blood and viscera from his skeleton to reveal bones of a deep, abyssal black.
The vitality bursting from them was not something the dead could possess.
It was a blasphemous scene: a skeleton with divine halos floating above its head, an image that mocked the very concept of the gods.
---
Dax stood in a strange space—a boundless ocean. "This place is oddly familiar." He looked up to the sky just to see two babies, facing opposite directions with their backs touching. One was black, the other silver, signifying his traits and the duality of his soul. They were the suns of this inner world.
Dax sat upon the ocean, entering a meditative state. Slowly, the water rippled beneath him, and he began to float upward, his form eclipsing the twin infants.
Suddenly, everything turned dark. The calm sea began to rage.
It was a battle—a battle for dominance. A rare and profound conflict where Dax's body fought his soul for supremacy.
---
In the outside world, Dax's body sucked greedily at the air, devouring everything it could grasp. The ground beneath him cracked and crumbled, the earth itself drawn into his bones.
The debris formed a jagged tower around him. Slowly, tendons and flesh began to knit together, blood splattering and moving like worms to form a new body.
"Ahhhh." Dax hummed with satisfaction. In that moment, the rain ceased, and the sky cleared.
Ding! System notifications began to chime.
---
Back in the strange space, the battle was over. Dax's position had changed; he was now beneath the babies, and the chaotic sea was still.
Trinity.
"Hahahahaha!" Dax laughed maniacally. "I remember. My body fought my soul for my mind." His form vibrated with power. "I would have loved it."
"The mind can have only one master: the body or the soul. I should have fallen into the path of the body long ago."
"In the past, I've only followed my desires… Yes, desire. That is the path of the body. My body should've been the master."
"I never controlled my urges. I lusted over the world; I was greedy, for it was my nature…."
"I gladly accept it."
Hahaha!
His laughter shattered the inner world, catapulting him back to reality.
He opened his eyes. The world had changed. Strings of energy now covered everything, from the sky down to the earth—a thick web of invisible threads.
This should be mana. Dax stretched out a hand to touch it, but his fingers passed through.
Slowly, he turned his gaze to the spot where the cultists had once been. They were nowhere to be seen.
Dax scanned his surroundings, his eyes locking onto a distant figure: Vabon. He didn't chase. Instead, he removed a black robe from his storage, covering his lower half.
Then, like lightning, he vanished, reappearing meters away, hidden. "They are fighting."
Dax watched calmly. In this fight, Vabon was manhandling Kakarai, but the priest was a total tank.
Book 2 of the Wretched Grimoire. "Tongue of the Damned." Vabon licked the bloodstains on his hand—Kakarai's blood. "You have been condemned by god, my friend. I shall put you out of your misery."
He commanded gently, "Kill yourself."
Vooooos! Kakarai's body grew stiff, his hand trembling. In one jerky motion, he raised his hand and stabbed it into his own chest.
Thud. He fell to his knees.
Dead. Or so Vabon thought. In a blink, Kakarai's body vanished.
Thum! He appeared behind Vabon.
Danger! In a flash, Vabon blocked with his sword. "I have to be serious."
Corrupt the earth and heed my call: Petrified Soul Weaver!
A massive pillar erupted from the ground before him, its surface etched with multiple faces frozen in pure terror. Three stone figures stepped out from the pillar, each possessing three faces. One held a bow, while the others held massive swords—perfect to counter the priest. A tangible connection linked Vabon to the pillar.
"Let's begin."
As they fought, Dax observed calmly, missing no detail. He watched how they controlled and wielded their mana down to their body movements.
My eyes… they are different. No. I am different.
I am beyond my own understanding now.