Sofia stood still.
Her mind was blank.
All the thoughts passing through her mind were jumbled.
Tossed and ripped apart by the shock that overwhelmed her.
She kept staring at that one space.
Nothing was there.
It was no different from the space around it.
She was thrown out of the strange zone, along with the rest of the team.
None of this registered to her mind which was still in shock.
She remained a statue.
Mia was able to get on her feet at last, having recovered from the blow that sent her flying.
She was quick to gather the rest of the team.
Her eyes darted to Sofia whose mind seemed to be a world away.
She looked at the young woman with worry.
She had also seen what happened.
How Neo and that strange creature had been burning.
Then as the ground had opened and swallowed them both.
It was as baffling as it was eerie.
Their luggage was also thrown out with them.
They were now back in the true outlands.
She, Derek and Lancelot gathered everything quick.
Derek brought a longsword to her.
It was Neo’s.
Derek looked at her as he handed the sword over.
The young man was in a subdued mood.
His eyes held a trace of worry.
All Mia could do was sigh.
That last technique Neo had used.
The one where his whole body lit on fire.
It was a self destruction technique.
His whole essence and body had burned up.
Although, it could be stopped before one fully burnt to ashes.
The damage done was brutal.
Almost irreversible.
One could end up not being able to cultivate essence again.
Now, Neo’s life or death could not be determined.
What had happened when he fell into that hole, no one knew for sure.
Sofia had turned their way at some point.
Now, she walked towards Mia.
“Let me have it.” She stretched her hand out.
How could Mia be blind to how the young woman felt.
“Alright.” Mia handed the sword to her.
“I will keep it safe.
He will be back for it.”
“He will.” Mia agreed.
Now wasn’t the time to lay her worries to the young woman.
Everything was gathered.
Nothing had been lost.
There was still one mission left, but they would rather pay the penalty.
It was high time they left this hellhole.
*
Neo.
When he used that self destruction technique.
He knew it was either that or let that damned creature kill him.
He needed no further proof to know that the strange creature was set on killing him.
That last punch said it all.
He just needed to operate the technique.
Long enough for it to burn the creature to cinders, and long before it would leave him useless or burnt to ashes.
He never expected what came next.
That feeling of having nothing beneath him, as he plummeted.
That loss of balance, it almost made him lose control of the technique.
He almost burned himself to nothingness.
The dive was swift.
He had no idea of what actually happened.
His senses picked up nothing.
All he felt was the strange creature he held onto, and the ever present pain.
A pain that almost consumed his whole being.
Self destruction wasn’t a joke.
It took him great focus and willpower to do this.
Then he felt his body smash into what felt at first like an underground reservoir of water.
There was no buoyancy.
The dive continued.
He didn’t notice it at first as the pain consumed him.
A greater pain almost fried his senses.
He stopped the technique, as now he had almost truly lost control.
He could feel the body of the strange creature he held slowly dissolving.
The same was true for his own body.
His burnt skin was slowly melting off, the flesh and muscles were slowly dissolving.
He was being devoured alive.
The rate at which his body dissolved increased with every depth they reached.
This pool of strange liquid seemed to have no depth.
The pain he was feeling now, should have made him unconscious.
No, he shouldn’t be able to feel anything again.
He was almost down to the bones now.
The strange creature made of rocks had finally dissolved.
He was the only one left.
All bones, when he reached the bottom of the pool.
His bones were slowly dissolving.
It seemed now, it would soon be over for him.
He had the urge to laugh, if he still could.
The whole thing was deeply humorous.
The Immortal World was already something he no longer had anything to do with.
Now, the mortal world he strived to reach the peak of.
It also no longer had anything to do with him.
He would die down here, in some unnamed part of the true outlands.
Unknown and forgotten in no time.
Just another pointless blip in the long history of this brutal world.
He had the will, but the heavens had denied him the way.
Even now as he was nothing more than brittle bones.
He wouldn’t die with his head bowed.
He wouldn’t give up as long as he still had a breath.
He wasn’t expecting anything.
It was just the last pride he would always hold within himself.
He had lost all capability to cultivate, he was overwhelmed by an all consuming pain.
But his mind had found the greatest tranquility now.
He was like a sage.
His mind unmoved by any adversity.
As he began to lose all consciousnes, about to be completely devoured.
A deep roar came from the depth of his very being.
It wasn’t one of defiance.
It was one of a king whose domain had just been intruded upon.
It was the true anger of a sovereign.
The roar deep and majestic wasn’t just for show.
Neo felt it with a clarity that he had never felt before.
This pool that seemed to be vast beyond any common sense.
Every drop of the blasted liquid in it.
Everything here came to total stillness.
Grabbed by an impossible power.
A power that devoured with no end.
It devoured the pool to its last drop.
It didn’t seem satiated.
Its anger which had been stoked didn’t seem to quench.
It had devoured this insignificant pool.
It wanted to devour everything related to it.
A roar reverberated in the now empty space.
The dignity of the sovereign was being asserted.
Devour.
The bane of all worlds had come to being once again.
Neo now carried the one thing that would make him the nightmare of every world in existence.
One they would do anything to rid themselves of.
(^o^)
Hi, This is a book you might really like.
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To your friends.
Your enemies.
Parents, children, uncles, aunts.
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Love you all.
(Love) (Love) (Love)
XO,
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