Kai's children - The gazes of the Deep Ones!
Rumbleee!!!
Dense Mana pulses rippled out of Kai, the entire world shuddering along with him.
The Reality Marble, Limitless Blood Firmament, was so large it seemed to cover an area larger than Port Royal's town, its boundaries indistinguishable from real to false. Nothing was alive in this region. All manners of life had already been killed and ceased to exist under the shadowy wrath of Shadow Lord before Kai had even returned to the island.
That's why it was an irreplaceable opportunity for Kai, its temptation irresistible.
This place, this town, this island… had already become the widest and greatest source of despair, depression, and hopelessness.
So what if it wasn't he who had caused these changes? As long as he could benefit from it, then there was no reason for him to not go for it.
Such a town-wide destruction, spreading from one corner of the island to another, wasn't something Kai was capable of. Not until he could defy the greatest strength in the Harry Potter World.
Then there was the fact that his Reality Marble was on the brink of collapse, making its boundary hang in between corporeal and incorporeal.
And all Reality Marbles were Bounded Fields, to begin with.
Kai wasn't sure when he could recast Reality Marble in the future. Much less needed to be said about him recreating these series of events.
This opportunity… couldn't be missed. So what if the Deep Ones' gazes would fall upon him?
As Ayin said, it wasn't like a few of the Deep Ones hadn't already marked him.
If someone wanted to watch him, then Kai would let them see the greatest show.
RUMBLEEE!!!!
Detestable rumbles echoed out of Kai, as Mana ripples exploded and imploded with him at the center, quaking the very fabric of Spacetime.
A gale arrived from the netherworld, and the wind howled.
Ghosts wept and devils cried, sensing the foul aura bubbling in the heart of this dead town.
Ma! Save me! Papa! The shrill cries of a child pierced through everything, echoing off the decimated walls of Port Royal.
Despair of innocence!
Rob! Where's my Rob?! Waaa! Give me… my son back!!! The wails of a woman shattered into the ghostly howl, seeping into the bones of devils.
Despair of mothers!
Don't leave me! You… promised! You… a young lady sobbed, her heart breaking in a thousand pieces as the man in her arms breathed his last breath.
Despair of lovers!
Haha! What a fucking fate! I was an accomplished pianist in my previous life… I had a good life! You forced me to kill! And… this… Haha! This life… is so sad! A young man mumbled, blaming the Systems for his shadowy death.
Despair of life!
Come! Who am I? The great sorcerer! Humph! You think these creatures can kill me, heh! I will fight my way out! I will hack my way through them… an old man roared, thin shadowy hands running through his body, his organs spilling out on the floor.
Despair of death!
'Power… Why didn't I've Power… Ha-ha-ha… Mother… I failed you… Maa… I… Heh… Cold… It's so cold… I am… so alone…'
Despair of hope!
BOOM!!!
Boundless Despair seeped out of the earth, air, and skies, and hurled itself toward Kai like a dark fog, guided by his own traumas.
The entire world had become cold. But it wasn't the cold of death. Nor was it the cold of loss. This cold had something repulsive about it; something filthy. This cold was the very embodiment of everything foul with the world and the living within it.
And this cold was the cold in Kai's heart as well.
Dark, ethereal fog swirled around Kai like a massive typhoon, the howling winds of which were devoid of all peace, hope, and happiness.
Suddenly, the entire typhoon collapsed as if it couldn't bear its weight, just like the death of a massive star. [GIF 1]
All the Despair gathered at a place in front of Dementor-Kai, becoming a cocoon that felt both real and unreal. It was emanating such a cold that the very air froze in its surroundings, and its color wasn't just black, but it was a hue darker than dark; a hue impure, sinister, and dreadful.
It was then a bar appeared over the cocoon, its dull gray color getting reflected in Kai's dazed eyes.
1000…
2700…
3000…
4200…
The D-Meter kept gaining the numbers, the cocoon of Despair feeding it constantly.
And just as the last wisp of Despair got sucked out of the dead town by Dementors Progenitor, the D-Meter hit the limit.
6000!
Kai absentmindedly looked at the cocoon, his mind reliving the old despairs, over and over, and then more. He felt as if he could divide this cocoon into more parts.
So he did.
Kai lifted his grayish, decayed right hand, the sleeves of his dark cloak pulling back. [Image 1]
Mana seeped out from his trembling fingers, a total of 1200 MP, and the cocoon got divided into 5 parts.
The 5th part was shockingly over twice as big as the other ones.
As Kai's Mana entered the first four cocoons, they throbbed hideously, letting out biting cold.
The 5th cocoon hovered a moment more, and then upon getting no Mana, collapsed, imploding with a hushed boom.
Kai's dazed gaze fell upon the disappeared cocoon, and an abrupt bout of sadness took over his heart, mind, and soul. It was as if someone had snatched the child from a mother even before it was born; the very possibility.
Despair of Belief!
A rattling breath escaped Kai's throat, as if he was sobbing, crying, wailing, and roaring, his gaze never leaving the place of the 5th cocoon's disappearance.
Crack!
It was then cracks began appearing over the four remaining dark cocoons. But they weren't actual cracks, either. They felt more like an evolution, the outer layer melting into itself.
A chilled fog seeped out of the cocoons, and surrounded them, along with Kai, blinding them out of others' gazes.
And then, under the biting coverage of this icy fog, the four cocoons exploded.
Boom!
The four cocoons became four masses of filthy blackness, and they were hungry. Called by a primal urge, these four masses lunged at Kai.
It was feeding time!
If this scene hadn't been so full of revulsion, one could have even compared this sight to a mother feeding her newborn.
Yet, there were no such emotions involved in it. Not even remotely.
The masses of blackness swirled around Kai, Cersei, and Ayin, sucking out all happiness, hope, feelings, and memories. Yet, none complained. Cersei was soulless, to begin with. Ayin was a Sword Spirit, her very existence transcending the definition of living and non-living.
Only Kai could feed them, the collection of hope and happiness within him low enough to be called malnourishment.
Screams shuddered his soul, the distant memories of his mother and early childhood days distancing themselves even further. His thoughts were already cold, and now, even his body gained a whiter touch, his eyes dying along with his feelings.
Every time the black masses sucked out more than air upon nearing Kai, they transformed, gaining a hideous shape.
The foggy mass kept becoming tattered dark cloaks, rippling noiselessly. Tiny hands and feet manifested within the fog as well, but couldn't gain life, no matter how much they fed upon Kai.
Eyes appeared over their faces under the hood, but exploded, melting back into the fog as if they were destined to remain estranged from the beauty of the world. And as they sucked deeper than deeper, it left their mouths taking the shape of a gaping hole, their breath rattling like the cries of newborns. [GIF 2]
"My children…" Kai mumbled, words arising from the very depth of his soul. "… my… creations!"
BOOM!!!
This boom had resounded nowhere near Kai. Nor had it occurred outside the Inheritance Land.
Hell, it even hadn't happened outside the planet.
This boom had originated from the falling of gazes, tearing through the dimensions.
The gazes of the Deep Ones!!!
Kai felt as if someone was stabbing his soul with a red-hot iron. Yet, there was something familiar about these sensations as well. He… seemed to have felt these gazes before, if not exactly similar ones.
Lethifold!
The name appeared in the back of Kai's mind like another explosion. When Lilith, the Familiar, had saved him, it had taken him to a strange dark dimension. Kai had then devised that the Systems-less place was nothing but Void itself.
There, too, he had felt countless gazes, eying him with plain mockery.
These gazes, stabbing into his soul, were similar, the existences behind them more shocking and mind-bending than the last.
Yet, there was no mockery within them.
[
The Deep One, DESPAIR…
…
]
The notification couldn't even completely appear when it suddenly vanished.
If Kai was in complete control of his urges and thoughts, this disappearance would have shocked the living breath out of him.
It wasn't just this disappearance that was mystifying and bewildering, though.
On Kai's decayed right arm, there were ten imprints of long, dark fingers. If someone didn't look carefully, they could mistook them as some odd tattoo or birthmark.
Only Kai knew what they truly were, and what they represented.
Just as the notification had appeared in front of Kai, all these ten marks gave out a blinding dark light, taking over the dull gray color of the words "DESPAIR."
[ERROR!]
[ERROR!]
[ERROR!]
Suddenly, a transparent image of a blue lizard-like creature appeared around Kai. It had a blood-colored mind gem on its forehead, and its tail was long and thick, ready to shatter a boulder at a mere flick.
Around Kai's head, a purplish creature's transparent image appeared as well, filthy and foul smoke coming out of its scabby protrusions.
And the notification reappeared.
However, this time, it was bound to show all the words.
[
The Deep One, ARCEUS THE ORIGINAL ONE, is watching you…
HE acknowledges your existence
]
The four masses of foul darknesses around Kai had already grown over 1 meter, gaining solid shapes.
Yet, their hunger seemed to know no bounds.
[
The Deep One, NEKRON OF THE DARKNESS, is watching you…
HE acknowledges your existence
]
The gazes that had come from afar, collapsing dimensions, shattering realms, seemed to have still the time, bringing a halt to the proceedings of events.
The breaking of Reality Marble had stopped, too, as if the very time dared not move under the might of those gazes.
Kai's filthy children kept feeding off him, uncaring and unknowing.
[
The Deep One, DEATH OF THE ENDLESS, is watching you…
SHE acknowledges your existence
]
This gaze seemed to have brought a laugh along with it, its nature mischievous.
[
The Deep One, SPECTER OF DEATH, is watching you…
SHE acknowledges your existence
]
The four foggy masses had already gained definite forms, some kind of sentience manifesting within them because of the nourishment.
But, it also felt like they hadn't had their fill of hope and happiness, as their size had encountered a limit, stopping at 2.3 meters.
Another notification appeared, marking the end of 30 seconds and putting a stop to the ten glowing finger imprints on Kai's right arm.
[
The Deep One, DEATH THE ARTIFICER, is watching you…
HE acknowledges your existence
]
Bang!
Kai's dazed mind and eyes, full of eternal cold, regained a touch of bloodlust.
Dementor-Kai opened his mouth, and his frozen breath rattled, four Dementors swirling around him, creating an icy fog of despair around their creator.
It was then that the sixth notification appeared.
Though Kai had sensed the appearance of the last five ones, only this one he saw clearly, the dull gray words gaining a touch of darkness in the reflection within his hazel eyes.
[
Congratulations Kai Stormborn…
You have gained acknowledgment of 5 DEATH-personifying Entities
You have achieved a Title
Title: Death's Scion
Specification: Gain acknowledgment of at least 5 DEATH-personifying Entities across the Multiverse
Status: (5/5)
Effect: ?
Note: Only 1 Title can be equipped at a time
Conditions to upgrade this Title…
Title: Prince of Death
Specification: Gain the acknowledgment of at least 3 VOID-personifying Entities across the Multiverse
Status: (0/3)
Effect: ?
]
-Keke!- Ayin cackled, her form flickering in and out of existence. -Things… have become quite interesting. Kekeke!-
**************
AN: I have no idea when I will publish next on WN. Thank you for being with the novel so far. I am not dropping it, but the publishing rate will drop to 2/3 chapters a week from now on. Sigh! ... I kept it going for 9 months. I really tried.