Chapter 020 - Are You Proud of Me?
The air suddenly collapsed around him—an instant drop in pressure.
Vynelor’s legs buckled with no warning. One moment, he was standing tense. But the next, his knees crashed to the floor with a crack, as if his kneecaps dislodged themselves from the impact. His palms hit the earth. He gritted his teeth and tried pushing himself up, but even that felt too heavy. Gravity had tripled, maybe quadrupled.
He knew this was not normal. When he tried breathing, no air went in him. His eyes widened, hoping he could escape this. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
But then the worst came… They appeared.
Five of them. The Five Shadows.
No steps. No rustling leaves. No sound. They just appeared in the blink of an eye. The air couldn’t detect them, leaving no wind or a whisper behind. One second, Vynelor was alone. The next second, he was surrounded. They appeared without warning.
Dark figures, multiple times his height, emerged from the forest. Their edges leaked black smoke, trailing behind them like ash rising to thicken the air. They had no face or skin. Their eyes and every facial feature were concealed deep in their ominous cloaks. No colors could describe their black frame, only shape. Their presence was enough to weigh the child down. It was power, a kind of power Vynelor never imagined could exist.
One wore a full cloak with a hood so large it dipped over where its face was.
Another was armored with thick and ancient plates etched with mysterious markings
The third looked like the first, but atop its covered head was a crown. It wasn’t made of gold or bone, but something spiked and nameless.
The fourth stood with an elegant hourglass shape and a softness to the stance, womanly but still draped in the same shroud.
The last had thin, jagged armor and horns that jutted sideways from its helmet.
- SYSTEM ALERT ●
Something is coming.
WARNING
Lethal threat confirmed.
System functions may destabilize.
Survival Rate: < 2%
Run.
His system glitched, numbers flickering in and out. They flashed in his eyes, giving warnings back to back as if to tell death was a foot from him. But Vynelor couldn’t scream. His chest wouldn’t even move. A soft hum rang inside his skull, like pieces of data across time unraveling in this one moment. His system blinked lines he couldn’t understand. They were words and characters that were not meant for him to know.
O???v???e???r???r???i???d???e???.??? A???l?????l??? ???t????o????? ????b????i????n?????d???? ???u?????n????d???e????r???? ?????t????h?????e??? ????a???u?????t????h????o?????r?????i?????t???y???? ?????o????f???? X???????????????????????X???????????????????????????????X?????????????X???????????????????X????????????X?????????????????????????X???????????????????????????X????????????????????
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The five figures did not move closer. One of them spoke, and he couldn’t tell who it was. It wasn’t really a voice. Rather, it was a hollow sound, like a reversed scream or a howl that echoed from the abyss. It spoke eerily, piercing through him and into his bones.
“Who are you? Who can stop death? You must not exist.”
Another figure turned slightly, the gaping face hollowed out with black staring at the child.
“You are the child that should have been killed.”
“Di’Naut LaFor. We are not here to punish.”
“The world is not built to carry you. You are whom the Singularity feared.”
Then they raised their hands. They weren’t slow in their movements. It was an instant. Their palms were stretched outward, targeting the boy. A dark glow of magic began to surge from their palms. A deathly howl screeched until it rang through the field. Threads of magic came from their skin and grabbed the boy.
Telekinetic Magic ? Lv. 59
Telekinetic Magic ? Lv. 63
Telekinetic Magic ? Lv. 56
Telekinetic Magic ? Lv. 59
Telekinetic Magic ? Lv. 58
Vynelor began to break down. The skin on his arm started melting as if a torch were pressed onto it, and the skin would peel off. Smoke rose from his flesh, and blood beneath his skin seeped out. His clothes melted, and so did his body. His body became a fountain where blood pooled onto the mossy floor and stained it with his painful, gradual undoing.
HP: 94 / 129
Tendons and ligaments snapped and then melted alongside the rest. His muscles crumpled, squeezing out every blood from their cells. Bones cracked in the middle, then they cracked from one edge to the next. Nerves screamed, but the ends collapsed and crumpled before becoming mush.
HP: 65 / 129
His hair detached from his scalp. His teeth slid out of their gums. They melted and became white spots in the midst of red. His head and body lay flat. His torso melted along with the rest on the cold floor. His spine was shown, but the bones quickly sizzled out. Everything failed to work, breaking down piece by piece.
HP: 39 / 129
His system shattered into noise, screens bleeding static and null readings, constantly screaming danger and the desperation to survive. The light in his hands flickered, but then went out. His thoughts scattered, trying to grab hold of something. Anything…
Wallan.
The name barely formed in his mind before it cracked apart under the weight.
His HP bar drained by the second.
HP: 12 / 129
His chest wouldn’t rise to breathe or resist anymore. His fingers twitched, bones jerking in ways they shouldn’t—until everything stopped moving.
This is it.
HP: 4 / 129
I should’ve stayed. I should’ve listened.
He saw Wallan’s face, a face that was never angry or even disappointed. It was just there, staring at him as he always did. A father watching a beloved son. His beloved son.
Hi, Dad. Do you see me? I caught this hare just for you. Are you proud of me?
He wasn’t thinking clearly anymore. His mind ran through all the memories on its own will. It seemed to search through the past before its last moment. And all it could bring up was the man he grew up with, who raised him through every trial, healing, and discipline.
HP: 2 / 129
He couldn’t hear himself anymore. Couldn’t cry out loud. But in the last shards of his awareness, the boy wasn’t calling for power. He wasn’t asking for glory… Or even to be spared. He was crying. Are you proud of me?
HP: 0 / 129
End of Episode 6