Sirius felt it before he saw it. That oppressive sensation behind him, that horrid sensation creeping up his spine like a maggot. And then there was that soft crackling, that gentle and subdued sound of space burning away. His lord was moving with conviction, he had already decided on his opponent's fate.
But then he felt the sensation of the earth beneath him dying. The nutrients within it, the Qi lurking beneath the surface, everything that sustained the planet was getting sucked away. It was something quite unlike his lord so he couldn't help but take his eyes off of Zhuan Yu and turn his head slightly.
A beautiful rose stretched towards the sky behind him, its roots twisting as they burrowed through the planet. What looked like dewdrops was gathering on the rose, each one a condensed and crystallized mass of power, the energy that was being stolen from the planets and the two armies that covered the land.
And then there was his lord's shadow, twisting and shifting, each curve resembling a maw searching for prey, more alive than dead. And he understood, it wasn't conviction that fueled his lord's movements. No, it was despair and fear, those dark emotions that drove him forwards oh so often, something had made them creep up again. After all, it was only when he was in such a state that he called out his treasured companions to fight alongside him.
"Oy. Focus here. He sent you here so he can handle things on his own, you should know that."
Zhuan Yi's voice cut through Sirius' thoughts, dragging him back to reality just as she blocked a crimson spear that pierced towards his head. Several more spears arrived a beat behind the first one, probably hoping to take advantage of the opening caused by Zhuan Yi's defensive action. But her body morphed and twisted to block them all, limbs distorting or multiplying so that Sirius remained unharmed. She cast a single sideways glance at him after defending him, she never even turned to look at the chaos Yao Jun was causing.
"If you call him lord then you need to do your part as the subject. Trust the one you chose to follow. He didn't come all this way just to crumble."
Zhuan Yi stomped the dying earth as she spoke, her foot sinking into it. The earth all around them then rose up as if it was responding to her call, tossing like waves as it surrounded Shao Ze and descended on him, sharp outcroppings arising as the waves became a circular maw. Shao Ze clicked his tongue and jumped up to dodge, but the air above him solidified into a reflective wall as he did, bouncing him back down.
"It seems like I am quite the failure of a subject, needing to get advice from the newest follower."
Sirius wore a somewhat bitter expression as he spoke. Truthfully, he had been a bit on edge ever since his lord's God Gate shattered. Was he worried about his connection with his lord or about his lord's state? He couldn't honestly answer that question for he didn't have an answer himself, all he knew was that he was constantly worried. Zhuan Yu snorted lightly when she heard what Sirius called her, but he simply deflected her denial, not denying the statement that followed.
"I'm not one of his followers."
"Maybe not yet. But you can't escape his grasp, not as long as you're a Demonic beast. And lo and behold, you thought he was curious and decided to tag along 'for now'. That's how it starts, that's just the kind of being he is."
"You're a fanatic."
"Yes, very much so."
--
Yao Jun's gaze was locked on Song Yau, the carnage around him didn't matter at all. His shattered skull was still in the process of reforming so blood poured down his face, he looked about as far from the victor as possible. But Song Yau still felt a chill, everyone on the planet felt a chill. The air was cold, far colder than something caused by the law of ice. No, this was a chill that came from the soul, an icy dread that spoke of eradication.
"Show me what you're made of, traitor."
Yao Jun's gaze dropped down to the weapon he was holding, the pure white glaive whose head was slowly getting tainted by the red of blood. The weapon formed using the grand traitor, the one who killed it and gave it to him had placed three seals on it to lock away the excessive bloodlust that this weapon of slaughter had gathered over time. The weapon was somewhat safer as a result, but simultaneously weaker, a necessary price if you will.
And now Yao Jun touched upon that first seal. He wanted to finish this fast, he wanted to gather as much energy as quickly as possible so that he could force open that fragment.
The seal was practically vibrating as his mind touched upon it, its silver lines pulsating with an eerie red light that tried to escape. He could feel it when he touched the seal, the bloodlust locked away within. It was like an ocean, all-encompassing and crushing, suffocating. It wriggled into his head and dyed his vision red, screamed at him.
Let me kill. Let me end them. I haven't fought enough, we still haven't won! I have yet to lose!
It roared. The owner of this bloodlust had died countless years ago, but the will to fight, to kill, was still ingrained within it. But right now, it was in Yao Jun's hands. It wanted to kill? Fine, he would let it kill. It wanted to drink blood? Fine, he would let it drink the blood of entire worlds.
"But I am the one in control here, not you."
It could scream and roar all it wanted, but Yao Jun would not falter. He would let it drink its fill of blood and death, but only the blood and death that he allowed. He decided who died, he decided where the blood would be spilt. Him, not the weapon.
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The bloodlust poured out from the weapon and mixed with the bloodlust that was already dyeing the skies crimson. The bloodlust behind the first seal was vast, far vaster than Yao Jun's own. But while the weapon had quantity, Yao Jun had quality. So he crushed the encroaching bloodlust, the vision that had been dyed red, he made it clear that he was the one in charge.
The head of the glaive that was already starting to get tainted by the crimson of spilt life now became fully scarlet, a deep and gorgeous scarlet that felt unnatural. The curved spikes that lined the ridge of the blade almost seemed to grow a bit longer, sharp teeth just waiting to tear into prey.
Yao Jun strode forward after his weapon was fully tainted, the black flames that poured out from the cracked space dancing around him with every step he took. Song Yau's eyes narrowed dangerously, she didn't like the feeling of losing the initiative. As such, she grasped her weapon and decided to make the first move.
Her feet rolled forward slightly and then she vanished, only a soft tremble running through space to signify her passing. She had been graced with the law of space thanks to her bloodline, it was her greatest pride and her greatest weapon. But in this one instance, it was the wrong thing to rely on.
She appeared slightly to the left of Yao Jun, a handful of metres away, much further away than she was supposed to be. And the black flames had completely latched onto her, they clung to her like maggots gnawing on a festering corpse. It hurt. The flames burned differently from any fire she had ever experienced, it was as if they were trying to swallow the entire space she was residing in.
And with that thought, she actually wasn't entirely wrong. Yao Jun's black flames weren't just a stronger version of fire, they were a fused law. Space, darkness, fire, and a bit of dissolving, these four laws had been merged into one to form this attack, that was why they could burn space itself. And Song Yau had tried to move through just that burning space, she had plunged straight into the fire that now clung to every shred of darkness on her, every shadow that flickered across her skin.
Yao Jun was not one to miss a chance like this and immediately moved in, his glaive descending like the executioner's blade. Song Yau grit her teeth to the point that it felt like they would crack. She had miscalculated, she hadn't properly observed the opponent's attack before she made her move.
Her feet moved to dodge backwards, but the crimson-veined grass growing around them suddenly rose up and twined themselves around her feet to halt her progress. And when that wasn't enough, roots also burst through the ground and launched themselves at her, determined to keep her in place. Her eyes flashed darkly at the scene, a sideways glance directing her gaze towards the towering rose.
"You may be an Origin beast, but an infant should know its place!"
Yes, Song Yau was well aware of what this rose was. The ruler of her race was an Origin Beast, his blood flowed in her veins so there was no way she could mistake it. Yao Jun had brought out an Origin beast to fight her. But luckily, it was nothing more than an infant so she wasn't too worried about it.
Her spear swept out, space around the spearhead splitting apart into smaller fragments that danced around the weapon like flaming butterflies. Yao Jun wanted to light space on fire to fight her? Fine, she would take advantage of that fire to empower her own attacks.
But just as she was about to finish the arc of her spear and launch the fiery fragments, the black fire changed. It turned into muddy water, thick like glue as it clung to the fragmented space, as well as Song Yau's body. But it smelled sweet, like apples, the scent making Song Yau feel light-headed.
"This...What did you do?!"
Her sweep was thrown off balance and she stumbled slightly, partly due to the roots, partly due to the lightheadedness, and partly due to the heavy sensation of the muddy water. Fire had instantly become water, the opposite element, it was something that shouldn't really be possible, at least not so quickly and effortlessly as this. It was unnatural, wrong. Yao Jun didn't answer, his glaive continuing to descend towards Song Yau's head.
Samsara. That was the thing that Yao Jun had slowly started to understand after becoming a universe. A small life was born and became nourishment for a bigger life, and in turn that bigger life would return to the earth and become nourishment to birth a small life. The cycle repeated eternally in all things, it was the constant without end or start.
Fire pushed hot air into the sky, and as it rose the warm air would cool and the moisture would condense into tiny droplets of water centered around the ash carried by the updraft. The rain would fall to the earth and nourish new vegetation that would fuel future fires, even these two opposing elements could not escape Samsara.
Yao Jun simply took that concept and tweaked it slightly, added a few new components while removing some of the steps. The earth that was nourished by the rain became part of it, the poisonous plants that would grow from the earth also became part of it, forming a liquid that could move like water, but was as heavy as earth and as poisonous as some plants. That was Yao Jun's strength, the versatility born from his excess of laws and the uniqueness born from his various fusions.
Song Yau grit her teeth further, now it was already no longer a matter of dodging, she could only block. She burst forth with her law of space, her spear shifting away from its sweep and arriving in front of the descending glaive. She could at least move her spear freely through space still, the flames that lingered within the dark shadows on her body made it hard for her to move her own body through space.
She braced herself but found that Yao Jun's glaive contained far more power than she expected. It crushed down on her like a massive hammer, her feet sinking into the earth as the bones in her arm felt like they were cracking. She was luckily using her law of vibrations to offset some of the power, the vibrations caused by the collision reversing and flowing back into the glaive to weaken it.
But she still wasn't content and tilted her spear slightly, deflecting it like this would save her a good bit of power. But just as her spear tilted and the glaive started to slide along the shaft, she felt the force contained within the attack lighten dramatically. Yao Jun had slid his grasp forward, practically touching the head of the glaive. The attack lost a good bit of power due to it, but it also allowed him to step directly into Song Yau's bosom.
"You!"
Yao Jun's fist ignored Song Yau's grunt and came smashing forward. He once wielded a sword in battle so he knew how important range was to longer weapons like this. Getting closer heavily limited the number of moves you could use so when people like them, those who used long weapons, fought they would rarely get this close since it would limit their own moves.
She tried to quickly step back, the roots around her legs getting crushed by the strong vibrations she unleashed. But new ones simply rose to take their place, a few of the dewdrops on the rose fading whenever it grew a new root. It wasn't strong enough to fully halt her, but just impeding her was enough, just slowing her down a bit was enough.
And indeed, thanks to Yama's effort, Yao Jun's fist crashed into Song Yau's mouth, the sound of teeth breaking reaching his ears. Her upper body bent backwards thanks to the punch, her grip on her spear loosening before she fully deflected the glaive. The heavy weapon came down a bit too early as a result, carving away a layer of skin and flesh from her left arm before it smashed into the ground.
Be it unintentional or not, the punch made her feet lose contact with the ground, temporarily freeing her from the annoying roots that kept pestering her. She immediately unleashed a burst of Qi and launched herself away, using the explosion of energy to push away Yao Jun as well so that she could reclaim some distance.
She spun around in the air and landed on her feet, leaving some marks in the earth as she redirected the force that remained in her body into the earth. Her face hurt and the familiar taste of copper and iron filled her mouth. A bit of her blood dripped down her chin, but the crimson-veined grass caught them all before they could hit the ground, it clearly wasn't willing to waste her blood.
"This... Your weapon is nasty."
She glanced down at her arm as she spoke, her expression twisting. She carried the blood of an Origin beast, losing a bit of skin and flesh was nothing to her. But the wound on her arm wasn't healing, or rather, it was healing so slowly that it wasn't worth mentioning. This was the first time she had experienced something like this, it was eerie. Was this what mortals felt?
She gripped her weapon tightly and readied herself. But just as she put some strength into her legs, her body moved against her will. The arm that wasn't grasping the spear twisted unnaturally, her elbow snapping as her forearm spun like it was being twisted. Her eyes shot open and she hurriedly tried to reclaim her arm.
But it felt foreign, her veins felt like they were filled with worms so her Qi was barely able to slog through them. Her arm continued to spin, the eerie sensation of something filling her insides slowly making its way up along the rest of her arm. She instantly understood it. That punch, he had inserted something into her with that punch. But the moment she opened her mouth, she was greeted by a rising glaive, its scarlet blade trying to swallow the crimson sky.
"You...!"
"Few places are as dark as our own insides."