by Yuri Ajin
He wanted to find a quiet place to meditate, but he just couldn’t stay put. In order to avoid exerting himself, he decided to slow down the process of filling his Source. He wasn’t worried about being attacked since he couldn’t feel anyone, and since it was unlikely that there was anyone left in the city stronger than him. Except, maybe, Elize.
It’s good that the undead don’t reproduce... He chuckled. Last thing we need right now is a zombie apocalypse.
Walking down the ruined streets, he observed the aftermath of their battle, trying to sense Elize’s aura. Finally, he turned on the radio.
“This is Kai from Group C. Both Priests have been eliminated,” he reported, looking at the second Priest’s corpse, “but Elize has disappeared somewhere,” he added and then waited for an answer.
“Kai,” the radio crackled after a couple of moments of silence, “this is the HQ speaking. We hear you. Three to five enemy Exorcists have been identified, including the High Priest. Communication with Groups A and B has been lost. The rest of Group C has already gone up there. Group D is on their way too, but they’re too far. Please help them. Over.”
“Roger that. I’m on my way,” Kai replied, his face darkening, and immediately picked up his pace. There was no time to lose. “Over and out.”
Shacks and his guys were in Group A, so rushing to help them would be a reckless move. Who could possibly help the strongest people, stuck in the center of enemy territory? That was why the headquarters decided to rescue Group B first, whose members were two Russian Exorcists, as well as Diamond and his men.
Wanting to help his brother as soon as possible, Kai began to absorb prana from the air to maintain his maximum speed. Thirty miles of the snow-covered Siberian land passed by unnoticed. Not paying attention to his surroundings, Kai concentrated on only one thing — running. And although he could’ve moved faster than he was now, he didn’t. Cultivators used their maximum speed only in battles when the distances were short, as this eased the strain put on the body and the Source. No energy reserve would have enough juice to last that long, and the body couldn’t withstand such a load for a long time.
Having finally reached his destination, Kai witnessed the fallout of what could’ve only been a serious fight. He concentrated on detecting auras and then disappeared downtown.
On the road, he encountered crowds of cult members. And although they noticed him, they couldn’t do anything to stop the figure that ran at almost five times the speed of sound.
He came to an abrupt stop in front of a rather large building, which in the past probably belonged to the city administration. It was surrounded by a hundred cultists. On average, they were at the Sensory Organs Endurance level, but there were also those who had reached the peak of the Soul Stage. Their attempts at entering the building were thwarted by a powerful Royal-rank barrier.
Crashing into the crowd of fanatics like a meteorite falling from the sky, Kai turned several dozen people into minced meat. However, he didn’t stop there. Activating Sword Storm, he turned everyone around him to shreds. This technique was the best in Kai’s arsenal for fighting a large group of weak opponents.
Ignoring the screams of people being sliced apart by levitating swords, Kai approached the barrier and put his hand on it. Concentrating on the shimmering veil, he forcibly poured most of his ki into it.
His face contorted, his body shuddered, and capillaries burst in his eyes. A moment later, the barrier shook, and a small crack appeared on its surface, which allowed him to teleport inside.
Head buzzing and spinning, he almost fell to his knees. Already exhausted after the fight against Greenrow and Eria, he barely had enough strength to remain standing. Feeling weak and defenseless, he had to walk at a normal pace as his mind slowly returned to normal.
Fortunately, there was no danger inside the building, only blood and corpses. Dozens of cultists lay dead on the marble floor, dying the milky white a bright crimson. At some point, he walked past the dead RLA soldiers and their commanders. He only gave them a quick glance and continued on his way.
Further down the hall, he began to notice that the number of bodies was increasing. With each step, there were more and more of them, until he reached the place where the corpses were practically piled on top of one another. Wherever the cultists had been headed, they clearly never reached their goal.
Rounding the towering pile of corpses, Kai was surprised to find a section covered in blood, but free of bodies. In its center, with his back against the wall, lay a man who had never let go of his pistols.
Diamond looked terrible, to say the least. Every inch of his body was covered with wounds, and a pair of blades protruded from his chest. Head bowed and eyes closed, he just sat there motionless.
“You came,” he whispered, his voice as weak as he was.
Kai didn’t answer right away. It took him a few seconds to suppress the rising storm of emotions and force a smile.
“Of course I came, you idiot!” he said with fake cheerfulness in his voice. “Did you think I’d leave you? Please. Here, drink this, it tastes like shit, but it’ll help you.” He held out a bottle of bluish liquid.
“You know, if someone told me that we’d meet again, I would’ve laughed,” Diamond continued, ignoring the bottle. “But I’m glad... I’m really happy. The time I spent with you made me love life again. I’ll cherish these days forever. I’m so happy…”
“Diamond, are you even listening to me?” He pushed the bottle closer, hands and smile shaking. “C’mon, drink this. It’ll help you.”
However, Diamond again ignored his words, as if he hadn’t heard them at all.
“You’ll forgive me, won’t you...? I’m so sorry... I always wanted to be like you. I wanted to be strong. I wanted to win...” His voice grew weaker. “I love you, Kai... Don’t forget that... You’re the best brother in the universe, and... thank you for...” Sighing, he let his head fall to his chest.
“Diamond, hey…” Kai’s voice faltered. He clenched his fists. “Diamond?”
His legs buckled and he fell to his knees. His shoulders shook. His vision became blurry as he pressed his forehead to his brother’s head. “For what? What did you want to thank me for? Come on... Answer me... Please... Please...”
But no answer came.
“Tell me, do you really want to follow the path of cultivation? The path paved with blood and tears?” old Jongo once said.
A monstrous roar shook the place. Cracks covered the building’s walls, and its foundation sagged. Throughout the city, windows were smashed, and the people who remained near the barrier died instantly. An unknown power ripped their souls out of their bodies, killing them instantly.
Kai was overwhelmed with emotion. Unaware of what was happening, he couldn’t change anything. It took just a moment for his feelings to turn into a raging tsunami of soul energy.
“Stop!!!” Rune’Tan screamed and tried to calm down the madness, but failed. As soon as he tried to convey his thoughts to Kai, he suddenly felt a sharp pain. The same power that had killed the cultist hit him as soon as he tried to contact the young man. Fortunately, the blow wasn’t strong enough for the System to consider it as breaking the oath. Impossible! Rune’Tan thought. He hurt my soul! But mortals can’t feel such strong emotions! What’s going on here?! If he doesn’t stop now, he could hurt his own soul... I doubt that he’ll be as lucky as Eria. He’ll probably die! And to think that I can’t do anything but hope that he survives, and clean up the mess...
Emotions usually carried no threat. But the stronger the person became, the more powerful their emotions were. For example, by experiencing excessive rage, an ordinary cultivator could harm themselves. But if the person was an experienced cultivator, then their emotions would be so strong that they could even damage their own soul or act as a spirit attack if they were directed at someone. Those who had just embarked on the path of cultivation could only crack the Shell, but not pierce it, which happened to Eria. The same should have
happened with Kai, but for some reason, his emotions immediately became capable of hurting his soul.
However, instead of calming down, Kai became even more furious. His Shell began to crack under the pressure of the growing power of rage.
But at the moment when the irreparable was about to happen, something flashed in Kai’s soul. Rune’Tan was shocked. The final piece of the puzzle fell into place.
When Kai joined the Thunder Serpents, he attacked the aura of an Exorcist in a fit of anger. I remember being ready to protect his soul, but, for some reason, nothing happened to him, he recalled. The test he went through in the underwater temple was another opportunity for his soul to get damaged. But nothing happened then either. Nothing happened when he killed Shin Sei and was attacked by his father. Sure, Jiang Dao protected him, but I doubt that he did so because he noticed that Kai’s soul was in danger. There must be something in the boy’s soul that protects him. Perhaps it’s this power that allows him to control ki and prana. That must be it!
Fury overtook Kai’s soul, but the unknown force repelled the attack. The power of emotions went in the opposite direction, toward his Source. The walls of the ki’s vessel cracked under the pressure. For most cultivators, this would mean the end of their journey, but Kai was lucky.
Thanks to the Cold Void, to which the Source was now connected, icy particles instantly filled in all the cracks, and then completely covered the vessel.
Rune’Tan couldn’t believe his eyes. Why did the ice appear there? Why and how did they make the Source even bigger?
Usually, in order to reach the Exorcist Stage, one had to destroy their Source and meridians to recreate them in the form of an astral body. This process had several stages, the first of which was cracking the vessel in order to prepare it for further breaking. But this was done with the help of ki and according to the instructions and rules of the chosen meditation technique. It required a lot of resources, too. After cracking the vessel, the process had to continue, lest the cultivator risked their ki flowing out and the vessel never repairing itself. It was because of this that Rune’Tan thought what he was seeing was impossible.
Does his Source really have a unique connection with the Cold Void? Is such a thing even possible? he wondered.
While he pondered, Kai slowly came to his senses, but he was already a completely different person. The sudden destruction of the Source and then its restoration put out the fire that raged within him. The cold was slowly spreading through his soul, gradually extinguishing the last sparks of rage.
An emptiness began to settle within him, filled with nothing but cold and darkness.
Attention!
Critical damage detected.
Location: Source
Maximum energy reserve reduced by 84%.
Development halted.
...
Attention!
[Cold Void] slowly overtakes you...
No resistance detected.
Source restored.
Energy supply restored.
Skill unlocked: The True Source of the Cold Void
Maximum energy reserve has been increased by 10%.
The maximum number of summoned [Force Particles] has been increased by 10%.
The quality and number of [Cold Void Particles] depend only on your level of development.
[Cold Void] has penetrated your soul. Element connection increased.
Your understanding of [Cold Void] has reached the peak stage of the third layer.
You have reached the perfect understanding of [Cold Void].
Exorcist Stage limitations do not apply to [The True Source of the Cold Void].
Royal rank unlocked.
Attention! You will no longer be able to level [Cold Void] upon reaching the initial level of the Exorcist Stage.
Kai stared at the messages with empty eyes. What happened to his Source didn’t bother him. He was thinking about something else.
While he was in captivity of his own rage, Kai’s subconscious did its best to find a scapegoat. Wanting to protect itself from emotions, it looked for someone to aim them toward. That was why the cultist died so quickly and suddenly.
But they weren’t enough.
“You wanna play with the fates of others, huh?” Kai’s voice was cold, chilling to the bone. “You convert whole worlds, making their inhabitants dance to your tune? Entertain you? Do you create killers and resources out of them? What for? Why?! Are you having fun?! Huh?!” His eyes flashed. “System?! You hear me? Well, enjoy it while you still can. I don’t know who or what you are, but I’ll find you. One day, I’ll have my revenge... Mark my words! I swear upon my own life that I’ll become the best damn cultivator this, or any other world has ever seen! Nothing and no one, not even you, will stand in my way! You hear me?! Nothing!”
With a heavy heart, Kai got up and looked around. Everything was frozen. Even Diamond. Giving his brother a final hug, he bid him farewell, and shattered his ice-encased body. The snow dust sparkled in the faint light like a handful of scattered diamonds.
Despite the emptiness inside him, Kai still felt pain. With one last look at his brother’s final resting place, he left the building.
***
Approaching the barrier, Kai realized that it was Diamond who had put it there with the help of one of the Kaoh’s artifacts that the Union got after the first raid.
Looking at the people who had gathered on the opposite side of the barrier, Kai realized that this entire thing had been a trap. The High Priest must’ve somehow found out about the upcoming mission and decided to prepare. As a result, Group B was attacked by more opponents than they had expected. Diamond and the others managed to hide in this building, where he activated the artifact. The High Priest hadn’t been able to penetrate the Royal-rank barrier, so he used one of his strongest Soul techniques to attack everyone in the building at once and seriously weaken the group. The cult members didn’t become the victims of the attack since the leader’s mark was on their souls.
Kai touched the barrier with his finger. Nothing happened for a second, and then the translucent shield began to freeze over. Moments later, a small piece of it turned to ice, which Kai shattered with a single burst of ki.
Leaving the barrier still active, he stepped out of it through the hole and shuddered.
Four mid-level Exorcists attacked him, approaching with lightning speed. Their blades instantly pierced his body.
“Ha! And you were afraid of this brat!” One of the attackers grinned. “And why did you all attack together?”
“Shut up! Or I’ll kill you, too!” snapped the other Exorcist. “Did you not hear that roar and felt its power?”
“Nonsense! That roar came from someone else! This bastard probably found a weak spot in the barrier and walked through it. That’s all there is to it. Don’t tell me that you honestly think that this idiot is stronger than us.”
Too busy arguing with one another, they didn’t pay attention to the mentioned idiot.
“What the hell?!” one of them swore. “Where the hell did my sword go?!”
Turning around, he came face to face with a pair of glowing violet eyes. The Exorcist froze, struggling to breathe as fear appeared in his eyes.
“Hey… Guys... He’s... alive,” he barely said. Turning around he saw three ice statues.
Fear disappeared from his gaze and was replaced with horror.
Swallowing, he tried to jump back, but he couldn’t move. Everything below his neck had been turned into ice. A wave of pain shot through his body, and then his face turned blue.
The man who robbed, killed, raped, and forced others to do the same, who owned a considerable number of slaves, and his very own harem, who had long forgotten what morality was and prided himself in committing sin, was now crying. Only his tears never fell to the ground. They’d forever be frozen on his horror-stricken face.
Kai turned away and closed his eyes. Combining the True Source of the Cold Void with the elements of the Forces o
f Space, he created a new movement technique, based on the Displacement Step, which he called...
“Step Through the Snow.”
In an instant, his body turned white and then scattered in a whirl of snowflakes. His aura vanished, and the four ice statues shattered.
***
The High Priest was in a hurry to leave the city. He managed to block Shacks’s group with a special artifact, which bought him some time, and tried to slow down the RLA. Since he knew that they were being aided by unfamiliar people, he knew that attacking them directly would be a reckless idea. So he decided to weaken them before leaving.
He was in a hurry because he knew that the artifact’s effect wouldn’t last forever. He didn’t really care about the Cult. He didn’t strive for world domination, and this organization served only as a tool for collecting resources.
He had almost crossed the city border, when he felt a sudden wave of ki nearby, followed by a gust of wind that raised the snow, which then formed a figure of a young man.
Wasting no time talking, the High Priest attacked instantly. Unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough. It took only a moment for the young man to get close to him. Fingers of his right hand curled around the High Priest’s wrist. A second later, the snow under them turned scarlet.
The High Priest shouted and gripped his bleeding shoulder.
“Die!!!” he roared. His brown eyes flashed, striking his opponent. His spirit attack was successful.
Or so he thought.
Having peered into his soul world for a moment to attack, the High Priest was about to return to reality when he suddenly realized that he couldn’t. An unbearable cold invaded his soul world.
The attack had no effect on his opponent. What’s more, it allowed him to use the invisible bridge that the High Priest had formed between their souls to strike.
The High Priest was about to erase his soul from reality but suddenly realized that he couldn’t do anything. The young man’s willpower turned out to be much stronger than his, leaving him at his mercy.
