A man was sitting at his throne, alone by himself. The hall that was once glorious was now gloomy. All the marble, jade, silk; all the color seemed to have been turned into cold and grey granite.
The vivid palace that was before so acclaimed was crumbling into ruins, dismantling. In there, there was small residence similarly in shambles, and inside it was the hall.
The time has finally come.
“So you are finally here.”
Before the man stood what could almost be described as darkness itself. Not wicked, not depraved, nor uncontrolled; only bottomless darkness. It was a vicious bottomless clump of void.
“Heh, no need for words, is it? Fine then. Now, let´s kill each other.”
Not even the world eater the man had once faced was such a meaningless, horrid and disgusting monster. It wasn´t an existence that simply defied heavens, but an existence that was the complete opposite of it.
Ever since the man absorbed the heavenly scriptures into himself, he came to know fate.
The fate of the living, the fate of the dead, the fate of worlds, the fate of lofty immortals.
After much struggle, many tribulations and countless experiences, he finally reached the top. He owned everything there was to own under and above heavens, and there was nobody that could dispute against him.
Such dull life. It is said once a man has everything, he becomes empty. So it would be normally be the case, but the man had never lost his fire.
He knew all but one thing. He knew only of its arrival; he knew it was strong.
Stronger than anything there could ever be.
That was all he knew of it; his guest he has eagerly awaited for millions of years.
The man didn´t hesitate. He drew all the power he could muster, concentrating it in his sword. Small cracks started to appear on the blade, but it was still holding firm. This much would have usually be much more than enough to completely annihilate the existence of any immortal, let alone hundreds of them at once, but the man knew he shouldn´t underestimate the being that stood in front of his eyes. Rather, he was so much eager to meet it because he knew he wouldn´t need to hold himself back.
In response to the high concentration of heavenly qi and the killing intent that was tinged with the madness of a cultivator that cheated death many times, the dark figure also started getting serious, becoming even more daunting.
It happened in an instant. Two blows were exchanged, generating wind pressure and blowing everything away in a chaotic manner. The whole palace was turned into dust. Half of the mountain the palace used to be located on top of was completely blown up, with the other half still crumbling down due to the immense pressure being constantly released by both.
The man pulled back. His sword had been broken into pieces. However, it wasn´t only that. Both his arms had nodes of darkness that were glowy at its edges. The man curiously looked at his tainted hands.
“It is consuming me? Hahahahaha, I have no fucking idea what this is!! But well, it is common sense that the first thing you need to try is to get rid of its origin in these cases!”
The man didn´t bother taking another sword. The sword he previously used was already one among the ones of highest grade. Perhaps he would have invested more of his time in creating even stronger weapons if he had known in better detail how strong he would have been at full power. Although he had knowledge of fate, it seemed his power was a bit off to what he had predicted, with it leaning to it being stronger than expected. On the other hand, he might have instead reached a higher realm once again after being able to get rid of all his mental barriers of self-restraint that had been tormenting him all these years and facing such a predicament head-on.
Heavenly qi started to gather in his hands. Countless strange signs started to appear around him as he mustered his power. The golden glint of his eyes possessed the qualities of a mad man. Wielding his fists as his weapons, he once again charged at the dark figure. The dark figure too made his move.
Both monstrosities clashed. Differently from the last time, which both energies were better concentrated into one point, and thus much better put in check, this time an explosion that engulfed the whole world happened. Just like this, one of the countless worlds was easily destroyed.
The many shards of the destroyed world were shining, glittering in many colours like a starry sky of countless stars in the dark void.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The body of the man was floating in the void still and unmoving. In a semi-conscious state, all he could do was to give a half-smile.
“”So that is how it ends? How boring.””
Without moving his body and only being able to move his eyes, he turned his gaze at what remained of the horrid darkness. He could clearly see the remains of the dark figure due to the illumination from the shards. With that said, he would still be able to sense it even without those lights.
It was a boring fight. It didn´t last even half a minute. Moreover, he didn´t even win.
This could only be considered a draw.
Even if only endless boredom was to come in his future life, he still refused to die. He would never accept death. Even when he faced hopeless situations in those days he still hadn´t reached the top, he would always come up with a way to overcome all and cheat death. There were also some of those times that he couldn´t come up with anything, and even at those times he would flare up spirit and face it with all he had. He was the most arrogant, selfish and shameless. There was no way someone like him could die in a place like this.
But even so, the corruption of empty darkness was eating away his soul. Despite his boastfulness, he couldn´t bring himself to move.
“”But…. maybe it wasn´t too bad.””
The image of his six wives went through his mind.
That monster was definitely a calamity to this world. Perhaps even the whole existence would have been wiped out and turned back into void if he hadn´t defeated it.
Perhaps it wasn´t too bad of an outcome.
Perhaps it wouldn´t be so bad to die here....
But it was then that he saw the darkness move. The dark figure reshaped its form back and stood up. And then, it sent the many parts of its body that had been scattered throughout the remains of the shattered world at the man. Despite the corruption that was eating away his soul, the glint in his eyes immediately came back. It was at that time that their eyes met.
One filled with disregard, coldness and desire; purple eyes.
The other one filled with arrogance, rebellion and madness; golden eyes.
Darkness engulfed the man, but he was still laughing, and his eyes had yet to yield. Cracks started to appear on his soul, and the darkness started to leak inside it. But even so, he could still act.
Before, he felt that it didn´t matter if he was to die anymore, but after he saw the darkness resurface, the will to live awoke inside him. Until the enemy was killed, there was no way he could die.
This wasn´t because he cared about the world, but because of his arrogance.
He wouldn´t allow himself to be defeated.
But it was impossible that he could defeat it in his state.
What the man did was something that came out of his intuition. Having accumulated so much knowledge through the years and having extensive awareness due to the strength of his soul, he had an incredible potential for innovation. Being met with danger and having his emotions awoken by the thrill, he was now once again gaining insights. Although it couldn´t be seen because of the darkness surrounding him, his body was glowing in a solemn golden light. Entering in a deep meditative state and giving in to the flow, the man smirked.
He needed to escape; that´s all he knew. But despite that, his eyes had a vicious and resolute glint to them. It was the feeling of facing an unbreakable wall. He was always proud and would give no regard to anything that stood his way, even at the times it would normally mean certain death. Having this sensation once again after the so many years he had been setting himself up was refreshing.
Beforehand, he was already knowledgeable about the heavenly daos that governed the world, and was more or less aware that there was something that went beyond this level.
Ever since he absorbed the heavenly scriptures, he started to faintly feel the existence of an even greater dao. This faint feeling was what lead his way through all his insights. With his indomitable will, his mind continued to work. Despite how his soul was being tormented and consumed, he was still able to come up with more or less what would be an escape technique.
Right when he finished formulating the technique, he immediately casted it, doing so almost reflexively.
The instant he did that, his soul exploded.
He had only recently acquired those insights about this new unknown dao, and his soul was being eaten away; there was no way he could complete a technique in only those few moments after all….