Run (1)
Ciemnosc Felt his vision change into a tiny tunnel. This tunnel consisted of just transparent, gray, and translucent white color, with beams of those colors surrounding him and everything around the corner of his eyes. Even what should've been the floor of the ship's captain's deck became part of that tunnel, with his dark Power Energy present all over and being consumed as moments went by.
His was hurting. The situation he was - was a first for himself, while his troops had tested this in their safety zones and seats. He was instead taking the brunt of this... 'force' of sorts. And it was powerful. Powerful like nothing else he could've imagined before, even after going through so many 'worlds' previously in his visions. Those travels were soft and safe. This one made him feel his skin cracking apart with that force destroying him slowly.
But he didn’t let go of the helm and kept it within his hands, still pouring it with his dark Power Energy. Utilizing his Spirit Sense to keep it going and fuel it with the former, even as he began oozing with blood from his nose, beside his eyes and ears like before. He could see pure energy shells nonstop from the sides as they tried to destroy him and the large ship on their way to the deepest waters where the enemy was too far into the south to catch up.
“... Keep shooting, and take him down. He is escaping! Don’t let him!” - “Defend it! Keep it up, and fiiiiire!!”
From one side, enemies were shouting and directing their ships to attack the flashing bolt of black that seemed to be impulsed by some array formation, set in between the left and right sides from the middle and connected from below the water's surface. Firing cannons sent those pure energy shells towards the massive shield protecting the middle and towards that middle, hoping that perhaps one of those pure energy shells would penetrate and land on the escaping large ship.
It was futile, however. As the entire line was seemingly defended by large ships while the rest of the small and medium-sized ones were left to engage the enemy directly, shafts were sent flying and hooking enemy ships. While the enemy’s protective barriers were destroyed one after another and were blown off once vulnerable. The large ships formed a line, moving forth at maximum speed yet firing off at those enemy ships that managed to elude the charging small and medium ships. Together, they were forming a kind of barrier— a shield —which required every single one of them to collaborate.
They had to sail at the same pace and synchronized, following the middle-line already elaborated before, though it was mostly imaginary. And had to be fundamentally stuck to the middle so that they could both ‘share’ their array formation and form a shield that extended for tens of thousands of kilometers, leading from the deep waters to the deepest waters of the Little Lake. Only in such a way would the entire thing be functional.
The large ship that was traveling 10 kilometers per second was barely seen. Only with guidance systems could the enemy more or less learn when to shoot at it to try and hit it. But even then, the light green shield protected the entirety of the large ship’s trajectory, even with a height of hundreds of meters. Basically impossible to go through nor best it.
As it shot through the water, down the line, and even increased its speed little by little, the enemy ships continued to try and fire at it until it went out of their range. But the enemy ships, and the troops were still engaged in a fight. And it was nowhere near finishing, possibly not even to be ended in the incoming few hours, as it was no longer a few dozen against many dozens… But hundreds against thousands even…
…On the other hand, the large ship continued on its way. It was expected to be a 2 hours journey. But Ciemnosc fueled it with his dark Power Energy and Spirit Sense doing most of the work, which was an impossible feat for any other cultivator in the world. Its speed was increasing, and the time of the journey was slowly reduced thanks to that.
It was only slightly reduced, however. And Ciemnosc’s pain had only just begun…
… Psshiiiift- peeeeeww… pppew, ppew- FUTOMP…
… After over half an hour, the large ship that had been a black streak going through the water, leaving ‘tunnels’ behind that craved deeply onto the water, finally stopped. But rather than ‘stopping’ - it hopped into the air. It found itself just a few tens of kilometers away from the shore, already having spent more than half of the journey in the deepest waters.
The most challenging moment had arrived. The large ship had to moor at the shore, not crash against it and make anyone on it become pulp. For that matter, it wasn’t well tested before, but Ciemnosc had a method he could employ and would hopefully work.
As soon as the array formation went off, pulling the large ship into the air, Ciemnosc let go of the helm as the ship, in change, continued to plane forwards and down towards the faraway shore. However, with its current inertia, it was more than capable of reaching the shore. Saving them from freezing to death in the midnight Little Lake.
At the same time, however, that speed would still kill them all, even as it had been ridiculously slowed down. It wasn’t a sudden pull. It was merely the conversion of the array formation at work, as it ‘took’ from the speed that the large ship had and impulsed it upwards. That was enough to decelerate such a fast-moving object. Of course, it could only be done as Ciemnosc had total control over the controls and knew perfectly well how it all worked.
“Cough, nom…” Ciemnosc took out a corpse of some random Obsidiafying realm 5th stage cultivator and began eating from its back, pulling its spine up while coughing up blood of his own and eating when feeling fine.
Minutes passed, and those tens of kilometers soon became half the distance. The crew of the ship no longer remained in their seats. And though seeing Ciemnosc eat away a corpse was incredibly nerve-wracking, they were already prepared to witness such a thing when they heard it before when the battle at the base had started.
They watched as Ciemnosc ate the whole corpse completely but cleaned the filth beforehand, such as saliva and many other things, with a rare-looking whip that simply came out from the palm of his hands. Meanwhile, under their eyes, concerned about crashing down onto their deaths, Ciemnosc’s wounds were ever so slightly healing.
Eating an Obsidiafying realm cultivator was still the best delicacy and dish he could ask for. Their Power Energy was still the most unique and mighty in the world. However, it wasn’t as helpful as it once was. Before, Ciemnosc was just beginning his cultivation path in the Spirit Gathering realm. But he was now at the peak of the 10th stage and soon getting ready to breakthrough.
Still, from the Supreme Powerful Stones he had, 10 remained, and he was still far from having fed his Natal Spirit enough to be fat and grow strong. Or just to breakthrough.
As he ate this Obsidiafying realm 5th stage corpse, Ciemnosc’s cultivation advanced not a single bit, let alone a percentage or a baby step, so to speak. But his Power Energy was being replenished by a lot. Every 3 bites granted him a tenth of his storage of Power Energy, and it also made his Spirit Sense much more awake, as it had been dull ever since escaping the academy.
“Sir, what should we do?!” One female sailor voiced out, her hair flung around by the height that they were falling from and the speed at which they were. Ciemnosc lifted his head in the next time to take a break as he coughed up blood to look at her, terrifying her a little before she recuperated.
“Get to the stern and form a bubble out of your Power Energy. You’ll have to spend a lot of it. Just send it into the array formation, and it should work. It will protect you from the fall.” After saying that, Ciemnosc stirred back to eating before his next round of coughing came up, his face already on the neck of another victim.
“Sir?!” Another crew member asked, worried sick for the safety of their leader. But Ciemnosc, this time, only waved his right hand at them and spoke with a mouthful, very rude of him. “I’ll be fine. I jush have to do mosh of the work. Get there and stop bothering me, or it’ll be too lashe.”
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“Y-yes, sir.” The crew members responded, slightly awkward at having this conversation and even feeling a bit insulted as someone spoke to them and ordered them with a mouth full of human flesh, blood, and so on. Hurrying to the back, the crew moved there, found the array formation Ciemnosc spoke of before, and started pouring Power Energy into its receptor.
“... slurp.” Ciemnosc finished eating and, with distaste, let the bones of his last victim— dish —fall on the floor as he looked at the front… or rather, up. With the inertia and the large ship flying through the air under the night sky, it had already spun enough so that its deck was facing the ground, almost wholly turned around.
His eyes were darkest, as always, and his slightly pale skin as slightly pale as always. With his medium-long hair length waving, the pitchest of blackest of his hair seemed like the father of all nights as some strands directly faced the sky. But it did not mingle with the heavens and overlapped them instead with such strands of pitch-black hair.
It was silent, but there was still a distinction of it as the crew way behind him at the stern felt it. A sound. One that did not exist but crept into their hearts like the terror of their most primitive memories. Ciemnosc took his Vocón Link out, his right palm expelling the black whip, 4 inches in diameter. And as he held it with his finger, his veins seemed to turn slightly black, and so did the veins of his eyes as he seriously looked at the ground, just several kilometers away.
Whiplash!
Dark Power Energy bathed the area as Ciemnosc’s Vocón Link was whipped in the air, in front of himself, but also where the large ship’s main direction, the perfect angle as it was falling and would continue to fall.
Pshiiiiiiiift, paku. Paku. Paku. Paku. Paku, paku, paku, paku.
The Vocón Link suddenly became stuck at one point in specific in the air, and it was as if it had found a hole in… in the air. The whip, which seemed ‘alive’ and opaqued anything around it, but was still somewhat translucent, extended as it became ‘stuck’ in those ‘holes’ in the air. But instead of it coming out of the hole and going to another one, or coming out from another ‘hole’ in the air, the Vocón Link separated itself from an earlier section of its body, barely a few inches away from Ciemnosc’s right hand.
“Gr…” The pain of creating ‘another’ head was immense, and it immediately made Ciemnosc’s body rigid, effectively paralyzing him. But he didn’t stop there. Ciemnosc kept introducing those Vocón Links, one after another, into the air and then separated the base of that Vocón Link, time and again. Each was no more than 8 meters long, also a total of 8 different bodies of Vocón Links. But Ciemnosc’s limit was 40 meters, and as he unmistakably surpassed that by almost double, his body’s wounds began opening again, so much he felt like he was becoming a wound himself and no longer a living person.
There were 3 Vocón Links to the left and another 3 to the right, and 2 above. Together, they were forming a kind of circle, one that also simulated an array formation, and that was when Ciemnosc’s right-handed veins in his wrists began losing their black color, and dark Power Energy was poured into the Vocón Links all at once as his face distorted enormously in pain.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Cre-aaaaaaaaaank~...
The world was becoming heavier to bear. The sounds of wind seeping through the sides of the large ship became incorrigibly more emphatic and more pronounced as they came closer to the ground. The large ship’s flying was already causing an upheaval in the vegetation below, shaded by darkness.
With the large ship’s cranking noises of its wooden material starting to lose its support, more natural than anything after having gone through that forced speed and then suddenly stopping, now even having its whole structure turning upside down, it could hold only so much.
“Grk… kahaaaah!!” Ciemnosc’s right arm was adjoined to his left arm. And as he placed his arms together, wrist to wrist, his left hand got a hold of the Vocón Link base. With both hands holding it now, Ciemnosc began pulling…
Wreeeeeeeeeeeennngggg~~... WHOOOOOOOOOOSH- whiiiiiiiiiistleeeee~...
The large ship began shifting position uncontrollably. Ciemnosc’s arms kept a tight hold and were still placed together as the wind that was coming from everywhere began trying to rip his clothes off, failing to do so as they were made of a much better material than ever before, let alone his ‘indestructible’ skin.
Ciemnosc kept his eyes open, and even as bursts of wind came onto them, they were left untouched as he looked at the front and the ground, his arms bleeding as the rest of his body was also. Gritting his teeth, his eyes wide open revealing madness from feeling injuries all over his body, mind, and ‘that something’ while blood seeped through the gap of his teeth!
“GRUWAAAH!” With a scream, Ciemnosc attracted the crew’s attention, who couldn’t see him because of being so far behind a structure, and their Spirit sense was just deplorable at their cultivation realms.
Back to Ciemnosc, he was barely holding on to where he stood. His feet were the only part of his body covered with his dark Power Energy. His Spirit Sense was occupied with not only the Vocón Links and its different bodies, but also as it was still connected to the large ship and keeping himself attached to it due to that.
His arms weren’t just bleeding. Veins were already popping out of his skin and exploding, part by part, out of his body, drawing even more blood as his whole arms began shakinguncontrollably. Bone was visible shortly after, and even flesh began falling from the shaking of his entire body.
WHOOOOOOOO WHOOOOOOOOO WHOOOOSSSSHHHH…
The large ship continued to fall, its masts about to reach the ground, already grazing on some top of trees and ripping its leaves and some branches off. Yet, with all that happening, the imminent fall, and the immense speed at which the large ship was still ongoing, his body hurt, bleeding and becoming even more injured. Ciemnosc’s eyes were but serene, ultimately cold, and would just make anyone and anything drown in them. Willingly.
“...” Way behind, at the stern, the crew members could hear the craziness of the world around them and how the large ship wasn’t slowing down one bit. Worried that all they had was a bubble to protect themselves, they could only sit down and wait to see if their leader would also join them. It would be best that nothing happened to him, even if it did to them.
‘Here we go.’ Ciemnosc thought, letting his eyelids close down at last. Taking deep breaths from his lungs, which were slightly filled up with blood once again, he felt the interior of his whole self and slowly called to ‘that’ something which gave him a headache of headaches earlier when he pulled up that ‘black sphere’ with 400 meters in diameter.
Pshift~. Shuaaaaaaahh…
‘Now.’ Entering his inner self, Ciemnosc saw the darkness of always. Besides that, however, he recognized his ‘that something’ as it emanated from somewhere and somehow, too. Without putting any thought into it anymore, however, Ciemnosc immediately grabbed at it with his mind before snapping his eyes open. He looked tranquil, profound, and serene all at the same time.
Crr- cra- cracc- crack~!
He pulled one last time, his bones breaking as he did, but he stopped not. Slightly lowering his stance, his shoulders did most the work as his arms could barely move anymore, with all things getting broken and even exploding from pressure and brutal, blatant force used to exert all of his potential. His vertebral column also helped, as it endured the brunt, while his arms kept together as he pulled!
PSHIFT PSHIFT PSHIFT PSHIFT PSHIFT PSHIFT PSHIFT PSHIFT- shuaaaaahh…
In an instant, all Vocón Links exited the ‘circle’ and were plunged off their ‘air holes’ all at once, which have always been moving along with the falling large ship. With them came a force that exploded allout of pure energy and Ciemnosc’s dark Power Energy. The only ‘dark’ Power Energy that exists.
FUTOOOMP!!
The moment the Vocón Links were pulled, the large ship became stranded in the air, halting out of nowhere and shifting the entire surroundings into unexpected, abrupt, and unbecoming silence. The large ship simply remained afloat in the sky, its bow 150 degrees aiming at the ground, the surroundings deathly still and noiseless without crickets preparing a tune for the moment.
“Huff! Haeh! Huff huff! Huff!...”
Only Ciemnosc’s rough, ragged breathing could be heard with all this stillness. Even the crew members a few dozen meters behind at the stern were hearing him breathe, barely and harshly. He was still on the captain’s deck, and like the rest of the world, he was also now stopped in motion, and even without his Power Energy and Spirit Sense, his feet remained stuck to the broken floor of the deck.
Whistle~...
Until his brain made his head shudder a few times in a moment, like having an electrifying seizure of sorts, and he began free-falling while the large ship remained afloat. However, the large ship seemed to lose all ‘law-defying, reality-collapsing’ capabilities as soon as Ciemnosc lost his balance and mind and accompanied Ciemnosc to fall from the air.
Creaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank~~...
“Aaaaaah!” - “Hold tight, hold tight… hold tight.” - “Keep pouring your Power Energy, don’t stop now! Leader has sacrificed so much, come on!” - “Where’s leader?!” - “Fuck!” - “AAAAAAAH!” - “Stop screaming, you dumb girls!” - “Kyaaaaaaaaah!” - “Bro…” - “Hold each other, this bubble will protect uuuuss~!!”
‘...’ Ciemnosc’s mind was completely empty. He felt as if his entire being was losing its life. But with the ‘brand new’ Power Energy that he consumed before, his mind remained intact and somewhat managed to hold on. However, it was feeble and like crystal now. Any more and Ciemnosc would find himself collapsing, dying not from his physical wounds or exhausting either or both his Power Energy and/or Spirit Sense. But from ‘that something’, which he didn’t even know up until now, which would be too tragically stupid if he did. He had to quiet down the use of such… powerful thing until he acquired some actual knowledge about it.
Whiiistlee~~... Creaaaaaankk~...
Ciemnosc’s body fell in a nosedive, powerless and almost lifeless. The large ship followed right after, deconstructing itself in the process; but falling right on top of Ciemnosc’s body.
…