Youngho’s face was contorted in genuine shock and surprise.
“What the hell is that?”
The bandages he had wrapped his hand in were crusted with dried blood, but underneath, his hand was black. As if the skin had been dyed or dipped in dark ink. He flexed his hand while simultaneously removing the wrappings around his wrist and forearm.
The cut from the dagger was healed over with barely a scar remaining, but the discoloration covered the entirety of his hand and stretched up his forearm, past the elbow.
Willow’s eyes were wide. She knew she’d never seen anything like this, but it looked almost familiar. Almost instinctively, she reached out to examine the man’s arm but Jinyoung grabbed her hands and held firm.
“Don’t touch it,” he said.
[SIN detected.]
Jinyoung’s eyes were wide trying to focus on all the information the system was feeding him. The system was flashing multiple warnings along with errors. It was similar to the glitches he saw in the system when a sin monster was near, but one hundred times worse.
On the surface, Youngho’s arm looked otherwise unharmed. Almost as if the coloring was a cosmetic change, but [scan] showed something absolutely different. It reminded Jinyoung of Willow’s mana swirl during the Seorak Outbreak. There was an intense flux of power churning in Youngho’s hand. Compared to this, the mana that Willow generated when she cast spells looked like a candle. This was the sun.
Youngho noticed his son’s silent stare. “What do you see?”
“It’s hard to explain.” Jinyoung’s eyes squinted as he tried to make sense of it. “It’s almost like your arm is producing mana, but that doesn’t make sense.”
“Yes, it does,” Willow interjected.
Willow didn’t have the same perception skills that Jinyoung had, but drawing power from the Fire Stone in the battle with the sin wraith had changed her. Almost as if she were capable of channeling more power than before. But more importantly, she could sense mana in large quantities. And right now, the power she sensed was greater than what she had drawn out of the Fire Stones.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
“I don’t know what this is, but it’s producing too much power to be natural,” she continued. “It feels… wrong.”
A voice rang through the air, loud and angry. “Khesta is Volux.”
[Dialect loaded: Crey Achtek.]
Jinyoung turned to look at the spearman behind them. It towered over all of them, but it made no move to strike. It watched, spear in hand. As if it were waiting to see what they were doing.
“Did that thing just speak?” Youngho muttered.
A small wave of relief washed over Jinyoung when he realized he wasn’t imagining things.
“Your arm,” it said. “Khesta is Volux.”
There was that word again. Volux.
The armored figure didn’t move to strike, but Jinyoung wasn’t buying into the act. The thing had defended itself easily against himself and Youngho without breaking a sweat. Yes, they were able to get a few hits in with Willow’s assistance, but it was definitely holding back.
“Horensi, are you with Volux?”
He took a breath and spoke slowly, “What is Volux?”
His voice took on a tinny tone. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw both Youngho and Willow wince. It sounded like feedback from a microphone or speaker.
The figure hesitated, but eventually it dropped the spear it held on the ground. It clattered once before shattering into a thousands bright shards and fading away.
It lifted a finger and pointed at Youngho’s blackened arm. “That is Volux. Kevenchi. Death.”
Youngho chuckled. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
A burst of fire shot through his shoulder. At first, it had only been his hand, but now he could feel it in his biceps. Like pressure building slowly in his arm and spreading upward.
“Agh…!” The grunt escaped his lips unbidden. The pain was more intense followed by more burning, but it was more intense with the promise of getting worse.
“Whatever this is, it’s getting worse,” he hissed through his teeth.
Jinyoung carefully unwrapped the monk’s arm and removed his jacket. In minutes, the black discoloration had gone from his forearm up, past his elbow. It was spreading.
[SIN detected.]
Sin.
The realization hit Jinyoung hard.
He looked the armored face in its eyes and wondered what kind of creature was inside the metal shell.
“Volux is sin?” he asked.
Slowly, the cool metal face nodded in affirmation.
“Volux is sin.”