The Shadow brought Locux back to the present and returned to the book. He decided to let Locux process all of the previous events that occurred.
Locux looked drained. He wanted to cry and scream but he couldn’t find the strength to. He didn’t know what to cry about or who to blame. Should he cry for the lost of his home, his parents, or Holland? Should he blame Mark for being a cruel asshole or should he blame himself for being weak? Would any of this have happened if he had the power to protect those he valued?
He felt as though he was nothing before he was just an ant trying to go against an elephant. His only fate was to be played with and squashed underneath the legs of this behemoth. Locux rethought his actions over and thought up millions of alternative actions he could have taken. But alas, each of the scenarios he thought of ended in the same fashion. In front of absolute power, his schemes meant nothing.
After thinking of all these things, he came to the conclusion of the world being unfair. This world let the strong do whatever they please without any consequences while the weak had to simply accept whatever was done to them. No matter what civilized image society tried to present it wouldn’t change anything. The world was a jungle and only the strongest had the right to speak so he would never have that right. He was a weakling that had no talent for deity force.
He couldn’t do anything at all, he was truly powerless.
His fate was not in his control.
Locux just thought about these things while staying in the same spot for three days. On the fourth day, he came to the conclusion that life wasn’t worth living if he was below everyone.
“What if I could give you a chance to change your faith and maybe regain all that you lost?” The voice of the shadow sounded out when Locux was lost in the depths of despair.
“If I could treat that noble scum to a life worst than hell then I would be satisfied immensely,” Locux replied with a voice that lacked any bit of emotion.
“How will you regain what I lost? Can you bring my family, Holland, and the villagers?” Locux thought this was impossible to do but he did just come back from the past so he was a bit more open to the absurd at that particular moment.
“Not only will I help you get revenge on that puny little ant but I’ll show the way to bring those people back.” The Shadow responded as if these tasks were laughably simple.
“Anything good has a price. What’s the price for this.” Locux asked the Shadow about the price but he would even use his soul as a bargaining chip if it meant that he could make Mark suffer and bring back the people he loved.
“I only require two things. A suitable body and complete chaos.” The Shadow responded.
Locux thought that this was a strange request.
“A suitable body?” Locux questioned.
“Yes, I tire of being one with this book and seek a suitable vessel to contain my eternal soul.” The Shadow replied.
“ I can agree to that but what do you mean by chaos?” Locux didn’t know what this request meant.
“ This world is too peaceful. The power balance is too stable. I want to see everything turned upside down. Your job will be to cause war and death wherever you go. You shall be the harbinger of chaos.” The Shadow explained his unusual request.
“Harbinger of Chaos!” Locux thought of this evil title for a while before replying to the shadow.
“Yes, I’ll do it. This world shall mirror my torn and dark heart. I will cleanse this world before I remake it!” This world took away the ones he loved the most so he felt no attachment to it any longer. All beings meant nothing to him at this moment. He only had his goal in his sight.
“ I have agreed to your conditions.How will you give me power?” Locux calmly asked.
“Ingest this” The shadow retrieved a small black bead from the book.
The bead was black but that description was lacking. The bead seemed to be void of color as though it were a black hole that would not allow light to exist in its domain.It radiated a sense of evil and darkness that originated from the deepest level of hell. It gave one a heart-chilling feeling.
Locux looked at the bead in shock. It took all his effort to remain standing in the presence of this bead.
“What….what is this?” Locux said as he was kneeling on the floor of the cave.
“This is a one of a kind object. An object capable of making the Gods feel fear! An object that shouldn’t exist. An object that can bring about the destruction of not only this world but also every other world! Be thankful that I don’t have a physical form that can use this or you wouldn’t have this privilege.” The Shadow sounded excited and fearful while talking about this bead. This was strange because the Shadow always seemed to be cocky and unbearably proud as though nothing could possibly catch its eye but this bead caused fear to appear in the Shadow’s voice.
“It’s that powerful?! What will happen if I ingest it? “ Locux didn’t think anything good could come from this bead.
“You will take either gain ultimate power or you will die and be assimilated with it but at this point do you really want to live as a nobody? “ The Shadow knew that Locux had no choice anymore. Locux was just like all other humans and couldn’t live without any hope.
“Fine, let’s do this!” Locux grabbed the bead and immediately swallowed it.
As soon as he swallowed it everything turned pitch black. He felt as if he was transported into another space. He could feel control of his body but each step he took was meaningless. It was if he was in a space of nothingness. It was cold and silent in this space too so he had no level of comfort whatsoever.
“ YOU WISH TO CONTROL MY POWER?” A powerful, evil, and sinister voice appeared out of nowhere. This voice didn’t originate from a single direction instead it came from everywhere.
“AH” Locux felt a huge shockwave impact his body as the voice sounded out.
“Who is this? Where am I?” Locux asked the surrounding darkness around him.
“You are in the testing area, foolish human. If you can withstand the trials laid out by the Evil Sovereign you will gain Supreme evil force,” The voice responded out from nowhere.
“What happens if I fail?” Locux asked.
“HAHAHA!” The voices booming laughter echoed out and then it said in a chilly voice.
“You don’t want to fail.”
Locux could feel that the failing was not an option he had and neither was surrender.
“What’s the first test?” Locux wanted to know what he would be getting himself into.
“Let’s not spoil the surprise, human.” The voice replied.
SHWACK
Locux lost consciousness all of a sudden.
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……
“What happened?” Locux said as he slowly opened his eyes
“Welcome to the playground” The same voice from earlier responded.
Locux tried to get up but he found himself bound to a wooden table. He gave up struggling and decided to look around. All around him were blades of various sharpness and sizes. These blades seemed to have already be soaked in blood.
“Let us begin!” The voice sounded out then a kind old man appeared out of nowhere.
“Hey, do you know where I am and who are you?” Locux asked the middle-aged man.
“Don’t you recognize my voice?” This was the voice from the darkness. It seemed to have taken form.
After the man addressed Locux, he slowly walked to the blade closest to him. This blade was not sharp at all and seemed very used. It also had white bits slowly falling from it. The man took the blade than walked towards Locux.
“What are you doing?! What do you...AHHHH” Locux couldn’t finish what he was saying before a blade came down and started to cut his fingers off one by one.
“AHHHH STOP, STOP” Locux screamed and begged but the man wouldn’t stop.
This continued to happen until Locux had his entire right arm mutilated. His right arm was dyed in his own blood. Veins were protruding out in many places and bone was cut deeply into.
“You didn’t lose your will to live.” The man said.
“What’s keeping you going and how long can it keep you going? HAHAHA.” The man seemed to take a great amount of pleasure in this.
“ That was blade 1 out of 666. Let’s keep going.” The man walked back to the collection of blades and but down the first blade and then he picked up another one which seemed a lot sharper. This blade seemed like a normal blade in appearance but this only served to make Locux more worried.
The man walked up to Locux and started to mutilate his left arm. This time as he stabbed and cut Locux, small little insects emerged from the blade. These insects bit and devoured his arm. The insects exploded when they ate their fill but they still kept at it even with the risk of death.
Some insects didn’t get to feed on his arms so they made their way to other places on his body such as his legs. Some insects made their way to his eyes and started feasting on his eyeballs. Locux let out an inhuman wail from the bottom of his soul but he still held on to hope and his resolution.
He closed his eyes in order to get rid of the insects but they seemed to have enjoyed the taste of eyes and they continued to bother him. They ate the skin that covered the eyeballs and then proceeded to feed on his eyeballs. Locux had to endure this torture for hours until the final insect ate its fill and exploded.
“Well done! Getting master’s power is very costly. It’ll probably cost you an arm and a leg. HAHAHAHA.” The man seemed to be getting a kick out of this since he could even make jokes about the situation Locux was in.
“2 out of 666”
“3 out of 666”
“12”
“30”
Locux persisted and held on to his will even throughout this horrible process. As he went on to the 31st blade he only had a head remaining and yet he was still alive.
“Mhh. You’ll need more than that.” The man then pointed at Locux and muttered a few words. In that instant, Locux felt all of his limbs regrow even his damaged and missing eyes grew back.
He was astonished and horrified at the same time. If this man can heal him and torture him without fear of his subject dying than could this possibly go on for all of the eternity?
“HAHAHA as good as new! Let’s go on!” The man then walked to the next blade.