Sam arrived in front of Levi’s body, the sa body he had split cleanly in half not long ago.
He stood there in silence for a mont, the still air heavy with the aftermath of battle.
Then he took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling as if bracing himself for what he knew he had to do next.
Without hesitation, Sam extended his arm.
With a powerful thrust, he drove it straight through Levi’s chest.
Snap!
The sound echoed across the barren ground as his fingers pierced through bone.
A mont later, he pulled his arm back, clutching sothing in his hand, Levi’s heart.
He stared at it, his expression a strange mix of disgust and surprise.
It wasn’t beating anymore, Levi had been dead for a while now, but the heart still pulsed with a faint glow, radiating a strange energy as if begging him to absorb it.
"I’m not eating that thing," Sam muttered under his breath, grimacing. "So do I...?"
[Just absorb it =)]
Sam frowned but nodded. "Hm."
He brought the heart closer to his mouth.
Instinctively, his lips parted, and he focused on the energy that dwelled inside it.
Almost imdiately, the heart began to disintegrate into shimring particles of light.
They drifted toward him like mist, seeping into his mouth and vanishing into his body.
It only took a few seconds, but in that brief mont, Sam could feel his power surge.
And then—
Ding!
[You have retrieved the "Primordial Sword"]
Sam turned to his side, and in an instant, the sword appeared beside him, its blade gleaming with familiar energy.
He grasped it, a wide grin forming on his face.
’I guess I can get back my powers like this,’ he thought, his grin widening. ’Expected.’
Now that he had the [Primordial Sword] again, he wouldn’t need to absorb the others directly.
The sword would do the work for him, making everything easier.
But even then, he hesitated for a mont.
Sam looked at the sword, its energy humming faintly, then shook his head and unsummoned it.
There was no ti to waste admiring it.
He moved toward the next body, his eyes glowing faintly with anticipation.
One by one, he went through them, Maeva, Damon, Seris, absorbing each of their "cores", reclaiming the fragnts of strength that had been stripped away from him.
With every heart he absorbed, more of his power returned.
More of himself returned.
But soon, a thought struck him.
’Grok and Oblivia were fully erased... does that an I’m losing so of my abilities forever?’
The idea made his expression darken, but before he could dwell on it—
[Go back to their location.]
The command appeared before him, and Sam obeyed without hesitation.
When he reached the spot where their bodies had disintegrated, he was surprised.
Right beneath where they had been killed lay their hearts, untouched, perfectly intact, pulsing faintly with power.
It didn’t make sense.
They had been obliterated, erased completely.
And yet, here they were.
Sam stared at them for a mont, then simply shrugged.
If the realm wanted to give him their power back, he wasn’t going to question it.
He absorbed them both.
And then, finally, he made his way to the last one, Lucien.
Sam stopped before Lucien’s body, his expression empty.
There was no anger left in him. No sympathy either.
He truly felt nothing as he looked down at the fallen celestial.
They had tried to kill him, every single one of them.
All he had done was defend himself and keep moving forward.
They had chosen this end. It was their fault.
Without hesitation, Sam extended his hand again.
He pierced Lucien’s chest clean through, the sa as the others, and pulled out the heart that still crackled with faint sparks of lightning.
Just like before, it turned to glowing particles that seeped into him, feeding his strength.
And when he was done absorbing them all—
Ding!
[You have retrieved all of your skills and abilities.]
"Finally."
Sam exhaled slowly, grinning as the familiar rush of power flooded through his veins.
He clenched his fists, feeling that weightless pressure return to his limbs, that overwhelming sense of control.
Then he looked ahead.
[Proceed.]
The command flickered before him again.
Sam hesitated for a mont, thinking about Belle and Seraphine.
He wanted to check on them, to make sure they were safe after everything that had happened.
But he knew there was no real need.
They were strong, stronger than most, and his earlier warning should have been enough to keep everyone away from them.
That ant one thing.
[Our main goal is to complete the "Seventh Mission". All other matters will wait.]
Sam nodded.
Without another word, he dashed forward.
He didn’t bother using [Primordial Rush] anymore.
There was no point in hiding now.
Everyone had already seen his face.
So instead of stealth, he focused purely on speed.
Primordial Wings!
With a flash of light, his wings burst open behind him.
He flapped them once, sending a shockwave through the air, and propelled himself forward at trendous speed.
The wind roared past him as he flew toward his next destination, the [Seventh Zone].
There was no turning back now.
[Special Mission #7: Slaughter the last two =)]
It was clear what that ant.
The last two monarchs still awaited him, and Sam wasn’t about to hesitate.
His blood pumped with adrenaline, his focus sharpened to a knife’s edge.
This was it. The final stretch.
The [King] and the [Colossals] were surely watching, observing every move, waiting to see whether he would heed their "warning" to stop or defy them once again.
He would give them their answer soon enough.
For nearly fifteen minutes, Sam soared through the skies, passing through each zone one after another.
He avoided awakeners, monsters, and traps with ease, his speed too great for anything to catch him.
Below him, he could hear fragnts of conversation from the ground as he passed.
"H-Holy shit, that was him, right?"
"Yeah..."
"God damn!"
It seed the footage panel that had displayed his previous battle had disappeared the mont he killed Lucien.
No one could see what he was doing now.
But that didn’t matter.
Sam didn’t fight for an audience.
He fought because he had to.
Zone after zone blurred past him until finally, he reached the end, the [Sixth Barrier].
Before him stood a colossal wall of erald fire.
The green flas danced and shifted like a living thing, flickering softly as if beckoning him forward.
Sam took a deep breath and stepped closer.
The flas didn’t resist him.
Instead, they parted gently, allowing him to pass through.
Ding!
[You have entered the "Seventh Zone."]
[This is the last one in the realm. Good luck.]
[Hell and Heaven await for you.]
Sam raised an eyebrow at the ssage but didn’t stop moving.
The scenery around him looked strangely ordinary, gray grass, a dim sky, an eerie stillness that hung over everything.
Nothing about it looked particularly "heavenly" or "hellish."
But he knew better than to trust appearances.
This was the final zone. It wouldn’t be simple.
He tightened his grip on the [Primordial Sword] and pressed forward, his steps deliberate and cautious.
The mission was clear: find the two remaining monarchs and kill them.
There was no alternative this ti. He needed to end them both.
He walked in silence for a few minutes before the ground beneath him suddenly began to shake.
RUMBLE!
The earth quaked violently, and Sam imdiately spread his wings, lifting himself into the air.
He had learned from experience that these sudden tremors often preceded traps.
He stayed aloft, scanning the area below as the shaking grew stronger.
Then he saw it.
In the distance, the clouds split open, and a blinding golden light poured down from above.
From within that light, a massive gate of gold began to materialize.
Monts later, a staircase of radiant golden steps extended downward from it, touching the ground below.
At the sa ti, the earth next to it split apart, and a colossal hole opened in the ground, not beneath him, but beside the staircase.
The darkness within that pit glowed with a sinister crimson hue, and from within, another massive gate erged, this one engraved with demonic symbols, burning with a blood-red fla.
When the rumbling finally stopped, Sam hovered in place, observing the two structures.
The scene was clear now.
One led upward, toward the heavens.
The other, downward, into the depths of hell.
’Well...’ Sam thought, his eyes narrowing as he took in the sight before him, ’Now I understand what they ant by [Hell] and [Heaven].’
Reviews
All reviews (0)