Although Change was right in front of his face, staring at his neck as though she wanted to kiss him... or drain him dry...
Stark made no move to retreat. His body was practically frozen solid and honestly, he was too tired to care.
If she could kill him, if she wanted to kill him—then she would have done so already.
Change had another objective.
’But really, what were the chances I would run into a demon??’
Stark had heard little about them, only that many years ago, a ti in the distant past, demons were a notable problem.
But the prevalence of demons had dropped heavily in modern tis, so much so that most people didn’t even know what a demon was.
’Was the old age martial arts techniques the cause of demon issue back then? If that was the case, what does she want?’
He sighed. "You are breathing in my face."
The woman gave him a deadpan look and drew back, an innocent smile on her face. "Forgive my manners," she said in Vee’s voice.
Stark looked to the side and exhaled. Watching her brought mories he wanted buried, happy mories that only now brought him pain.
anwhile, Change smiled, as though sensing his inner thoughts. "You want revenge, don’t you? You want to get back at all those who did this to you, to the people that took her away."
He did not answer.
"You said you stopped believing in fantasies, yet here you are living one yourself."
Stark scoffed then stared at her, his eyes darkening. "Careful," he said, the tone of his voice bearing a calm warning.
She brought her hand to her chest in fake concern. "I apologize, it looks like I struck a nerve..."
Her voice then dropped to a cooler, more composed tone:
"Am I wrong though? Do you really think you can plough through the nine paragons? Warriors fabled to be terrible in various unspoken ways?
She sat down on the water surface and crossed her legs, after which she glanced at him. Her eyes narrowed, overflowing with a cold logic unbefitting of Vee’s delicate face.
"And even if you manage to get through them, can you beat the king? The Arcane Lord of Death?"
Change stopped speaking, a devious smile on her face as she let her poison settle in.
Her words cut through Stark like a hot knife through butter. Normally, he expected to easily wave off her words since he already knew her agenda, yet—
They ca with much more weight than he had expected. Each word, each fact, was like an added load on his shoulders, weighing him down.
It was the burden of knowledge.
She was right, the paragons were beasts. The king was a threat all on his own, and that was without considering the army he had behind him.
To any sane person, his plans were nothing more than babblings of a fool.
Yet, Stark had chosen to ignore the truth, he had chosen to ignore logic.
What did he have left? What else could he look up to but his revenge?
"Fuck logic." He spat, his tired eyes staring daggers at the imposter. "And fuck you too."
Change stared at him wide-eyed for a long second, and then she burst into laughter. She laughed so much that she began coughing and kicking her feet.
Then she smiled. "I love that fire in you! You see, I wasn’t trying to say it was impossible, all you need is a little change..."
"...Why don’t you let make you an offer? As you know, demons are spirits too."
"Corrupted spirits," Stark said blankly.
"Spirits nonetheless... as a spirit dium, you could, you know... accept into your soul." She said the last part as though it was of no significance. "In return, I will grant you power!"
Her eyes glistened and the world seed to freeze. The blood from the waterfall hung in the air, the ripples froze, and the air hung still.
"Overwhelming power to crush your enemies! All you have to do is let in."
Stark smiled darkly and lifted his hands, causing Change to smile wide. She hurried over to where he sat and took his hands in hers, her smile turning into a wide grin.
Then Stark looked up to et her gaze. "You know, maybe I would have believed you... if you were not slowly stealing my life force."
The smile vanished from her face.
"You think I wouldn’t notice? From the very mont this work appeared I have been slowly getting weaker, is this not your doing?"
If she really wanted to help him, then she would not go through all the effort to weaken him. Stark could more or less figure her plans...
Use him to get into the two worlds, then kill him while he was at his weakest.
He could still rember Jade’s warning about letting corrupted spirits inside of him.
"Too bad..." Stark chuckled. "You are too late. I’ve figured the damn thing out!"
Change snarled like a rabid beast and closed her fingers at his face, but at the sa ti, Stark yanked her arm, pulling her head towards him.
Boom!
His knees crushed against her nose, bouncing her head backwards.
"That is for impersonating Vee, you parasite!"
And then—
FWOOOOSH!!
A light blue aura tore through his body, blasting away the blood that surrounded him and engulfing the entire world.
Change rose up, her face now half Vee’s and half of sothing he could not describe in words.
She let out an inhuman screech and lunged, but just before she could reach him, Stark drew his hand back and delivered a resounding blow to her gut, one fueled by the full power of his internal energy.
Bang!
His aura engulfed her and she scread as the energy seared her flesh, her skin bubbling like heated butter just before she burst into a million particles.
But as the particles dissipated into the air, Stark could hear her amused laughter all around him.
"We will et again, Half-elf..." Ca her voice in a still gentle tone, but undeniably filled with malice, and a promise for vengeance.
Outside the strange world...
Jade paced around the riverbank, glancing at Stark every five minutes to see if there was any change.
But there was nothing. He had been the sa way for several minutes, unconscious yet focused.
But finally, after she felt she could no longer bear the thought of waiting, sothing happened.
It started small at first, imperceivable to them, a small wisp of steamy aura that emanated down his skin.
And then it grew, until it beca turbulent.
The surging wave of the waterfall was pushed back by just his aura alone, the water suspended in the air as the energy kept pouring out in unending waves.
"THAT IS MY BOY!!!" Alaric scread, jumping high up into the air.
Jade took a deep breath then sighed, a small smile appearing on her face as she began floating across the river towards him.
’Welco back...’
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