Chapter 34: Illusions

 A Few Minutes Back - 

While Kofi was busy with his battle, Morningstar was also hard at work. As he was surrounded by a lot of beasts. With a quick movement and precise jab, he drove his claws into the zombie's jaw and through the top of its skull.

Still holding the stunned zombie by its head, he yanked it toward him and cocked his other fist, delivering a powerful punch which was coated with qi to its midsection. Bang! With a sickening crack, the zombie's head exploded in a shower of dark purplish blood, leaving Morningstar's claws covered in gore. Not having time to think, he pulled the limp body of the 3-meter zombie toward one of the crocodiles which was close to him, he slammed it into the creature's jaws just as it was about to unleash a storm roar. 

The force of the impact caused the crocodile to experience a small stunt, its roar cut short by a choking sound.Morningstar didn't give the crocodile a chance to recover. He rushed forward, lashing out with a flurry of punches and kicks. 

Morningstar was in a state of pure adrenaline, driven by his desire to survive. He had no time to think, only to react. The skills he learned took over, and he moved with lightning speed, slamming his fist into the crocodile's body but he discovered something which made his face darken.

 _My claws are still level one and it's hard to use it and penetrate this crocodile's skin._

He thought after seeing his fist bounce back from repulsion. Right at that moment when he didn't even get the chance to catch a breather, a cat jumped out of the shadow and struck him but thankfully he blocked it.

He couldn't explain but anything that had to do with darkness he could feel it, even though it was faint. The shadowy cats hiding felt him and he knew where all of them were, he didn't know if it was a power he got from the dark realm. While the cat was still in shock, Morningstar with qi flowing intensely in his body lifted his fist and retracted his claws, with a hammer strike, his fist landed on the cat's head but the cat was faster as it had already merged with the shadows. Right when he didn't expect it, an ugly vulture-like beast swooped down from the sky at a fast speed. Morningstar didn't expect it, he saw the talon coming towards his eyes and there was no time to dodge or deflect the attack, instinctively, he raised his arm to protect his eyes and the vulture's talons sank deep, tearing through flesh and cracking his bone. A searing pain shot through Morningstar's arm, unlike anything he had ever experienced. He gritted his teeth, refusing to cry out. The enraged crocodile whose mouth was broken spun around, its thick tail lashing out with the force of a whip.

It struck Morningstar right on his chest, sending him flying backwards with a cry of pain. Even as he soared through the air the beasts still attacked, a shadow shot out of the darkness, its purplish claws slicing across his neck. But something happens right at that moment. The necklace which was dormant even when Morningstar tried activating one of the abilities did something out of expectations. 

As soon as the claws landed on Morningstar's neck where the necklace was, a strong suction force erupted from it, it was strange as if it wasn't dragging the cat's body but rather the dark energy and its soul. The cat couldn't even put up a fight before having all its energy being sucked away and its soul. 

Chain Rune:** >>>LVL ???<<< This rune chain has seven effects. Strength, regenerative, speed, elemental, spatial, illusions and ??? To use it, the user must always sacrifice a soul before activating it. ( Illusions Deactivated: low-level souls have been used to activate low-level illusions - Warning this can only deceive the less intelligent beings.) 

As soon as those words show up, something fascinating happened. The fighting, the zombie that he already killed, the crocodile with its broken mouth, the wind cats, shadow cats and vultures that were attacking him all vanished, even Morningstar. What replaced the surroundings was a dead crocodile with confusion in its remaining eye with a zombie fist impaled into its brain through the other eyes. Lying on the ground around the giant crocodile were the bodies of four other creatures. There was a vulture, its feathers ruffled and its body cut to pieces by powerful winds. Nearby, three other cats lay still, their bodies bloodied with claws from their kinds and their dark energy dimmed.

It was as if they had been battling each other and not Morningstar. Meanwhile, a few meters away stood Morningstar in a perfectly fine shape, beneath him was a mummified four-eyed shadow cat. Right after the battle started, Morningstar who had control over Qi, had already transcended normal humans and the dark energy flowing in his body mysteriously awakened an ability which allowed him to faintly feel souls around him. With that, he was able to operate the hidden mechanic in the Chain Runes. At first, he wanted to use spatial power but after thinking about it, he felt more curious about the illusion and didn't hesitate to use it. Watching the cats attacking each other or slashing at the air and the vulture swooping down only to be smack flying by the crocodile's tail or the zombie smashing the crocodile to death and all that left him in awe.

 _This is fun, I didn't even have to make a move by myself and all of them have already been handled._

He watched all of the mutant's souls being absorbed into his necklace and then moved to pick up some runes that dropped. Right then, he heard a sound, turning around he saw Kofi on his last leg. With all creatures attacking him. Kofi was someone he considered as a friend. 

When fighting, Kofi could have stayed in the hall but he chose to come to help him, how could he let him die? 

(Spatial mode activated.: low-level souls have been used, and can only move within 15 meters.) 

In an instant, his surroundings seemed to warp and shift, as if he had been transported to another dimension. There was no time to take in the details of this new place, but had he been able to look around, he would have seen a single, blood-red eye covered in runes, the size of a planet, staring back at him with cold intensity. 

Reaching out, he grabbed hold of Kofi's collar, pulling him away from the bloodied crocodile. The spatial shift had felt like it lasted an eternity, but it had only been a moment.

 As Morningstar moved through the spatial dimension, the eye seemed to flash with a hum. Suddenly, the space around him shifted again, and he found himself in a completely different location, far from the battlefield where he had started. He was now standing in a nightmarish place, filled with mountains of twisted and rotten corpses.

 The air was thick with the smell of decay and the sound of flies buzzing around and feasting on the putrid corpses. Morningstar trembled from shock as he looked at the piles of human corpses in shock. Suddenly, his necklace starts glowing and following that, ghostly howls echo throughout the place. Kofi was jolted awake by that sound too. 

**** 

Millions of light-years away from Earth a being's voice echoes, causing stars to tremble. "Mmmm, Lucifer The Fallen Angel is ... Back?"

(⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)