Chương 28: Curses (Part IV)

Three mistakes, Lucian thought, standing in a dark space. He was surrounded by six massive pits, two of which were filled with crimson liquid. From the remaining four, one glowed crimson as fresh blood surged from nothing to fill it, and the remaining three stretched like endless abysses, deeper than the darkness itself. I should not have attacked those elders. He groaned, his form within this space mirroring his physical body.

Assuming the Village Head would fear me enough to avoid a fight, or that he would not care about those mortals, was my first mistake. Lucian's gaze lingered on one of the half-filled pits. Even if he were not a cripple and had his cultivator's powers, I should have guessed he still valued those mortals, whether as entertainment or for their knowledge. His eyes shifted to the next pit. The second mistake was fighting him without understanding his strength.

Lucian shook his head slowly, reflecting over his last moves. In which scenario would I imagine that a Sword Master would be hiding in such a place? A Sword Master, someone who, in Lucian's opinion, was capable of contending with mages, mutants, and magical creatures through blade mastery alone, should not be found in a village with a hundred odd people. I must adjust my expectations, he thought. This world is a constructed domain created by the Human Sage.

I do not know how long I have been in slumber, nor what methods were used to shape this place. That mountain range, those stars, and now a Sword Master appearing here, all of it combined, suggests something far greater than a prison ground. He exhaled as another pit neared completion, shining a deeper crimson light. Raising his hand, he commanded the blood to move. Then, one of the remaining dark pits flickered red as it began to fill. But why do all of this to trap me?

Killing me should be easier, he thought with furrowed brows. Creating Qi, an energy similar to Blood Essence yet unusable by my kind. Sending me here, alive but powerless. Why? Why do it all for me? Do the others— Lucian's mind froze for a moment. Were the other three brought here as well? Such an assumption made a chill run through his spine. Lucian did not fear those as strong as him, but he felt troubled when thinking about meeting them here.

Together with himself and the Human Sage, they were considered the five most powerful beings in existence, as far as he knew. That's why the implication of the previous line of thought troubled him greatly. No, that cannot be, he forced himself to think. That deranged lizard is immune to spatial magic, and awakening it would endanger humanity. Arthur would never risk his own kind. He cast the thought aside, refusing to dwell on the others.

Instead, he brought his mind back to his mistakes during the battle with Xu Hua. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. This body is a disgrace, he thought. Missing limbs were enough to trigger the Curse of Wrath. Shameful. Inside the darkness, his gaze moved on to another pit. Losing control, acting like a beast driven by violence and hunger, while locked here in my Sea of Consciousness. I hate this curse.

Yet, he knew there was a faint silver lining. At least, after this activation, it will take time before the Curse of Wrath manifests again. Besides, this body is too weak to sustain it for long. I don't think I'll move beyond this forsaken village. As his thoughts settled, a pull stirred within his mind, and a vision formed before him. It showed him just as he was about to crush Xu Hua's skull. Is that mortal still alive? A flicker of satisfaction passed through him. I cannot let him die yet!

Spreading his arms, Lucian guided the blood from the three filled pits, pushing it toward the vision as if casting it forward. Forming a connection to the outside world, he imposed a single thought into his physical body, spreading it through the darkness he called the Sea of Consciousness. This person does not exist! Next, he lowered his arms within the darkness, breathing heavily. Around him, five of the abyssal pits were empty, and only one remained filled with blood. A wave of weakness swept through him.

Falling to his knees, he braced himself with both hands to avoid collapsing completely. At least I had enough strength to intervene once. Experienced enough to know what would follow, he gestured toward the pits, and a red light flared within all of them shortly before Lucian closed his eyes and lay on the ground. One pit was filled with crimson blood, but the other five progressed slowly.

Too exhausted to organize his thoughts, he let his eyes shut as his body dissolved into crimson fragments, merging with the light and accelerating the process. He had surrendered control to the curse in exchange to make it not last much longer. A time later, outside, Lucian's body stood before dozens of corpse puppets, most of them partially transformed into wood. Clenching his fists, his muscles tore unnaturally, while blood seeped through his pores.

Then, he kicked the ground, sending dirt and splinters exploding with a single move. To his left, four legless puppets slammed their arms into the ground, attempting to lunge at him. Twisting his waist and spinning, he kicked one of them, using the creature's body as leverage to turn and strike another one! The remaining two were swept aside by the black hands that moved in tandem with him. As the puppets cracked and broke apart, blood flowed from them into the shadow behind Lucian, feeding the forming limbs.

Glancing at his broken enemies, he did not pause. Lucian grabbed another puppet with his remaining hand, and he slammed it into the ground repeatedly in frantic succession before hurling it at three other corpses. Some were hopping on a single leg, others dragging themselves forward, so all were affected by the incoming human-sized projectile. Following up with more attacks, Lucian did not allow a single puppet to harm him. He punched, kicked, gave headbutts, and bit some of them!

Because of how he acted, the one who inflicted the most damage upon Lucian was himself! After dozens of corpses had been shattered and their remaining blood absorbed, a torso formed behind him alongside the black arms. Behind that torso, six immense silhouettes of bat wings shimmered in dark light, waiting for more blood to be fully formed. They were so vast that their true size could not be measured, and their phantom nature obscured part of their form.

Next, just as Lucian prepared to crush another puppet, he froze. The six massive wings flickered, and the dark figure behind him began to shift, while the viscous black liquid that formed the hands, arms, and torso evaporated into a black fog. This fog soon was infected by a crimson light and was refined into Blood Essence that flowed back to Lucian's body. Even so, the amount recovered was far less than the energy consumed to maintain the Curse of Wrath in the first place.

After a few seconds, the six dots on his back turned crimson too. Then, they faded away, and the darkness within his eyes receded. Clarity returned to his eyes. He had recovered from the curse, and found himself staring at a wooden head. Mostly broken, it was biting into his remaining hand, drawing blood. Flicking the wooden head away, he looked around at the ruined village. Scattered flesh and wood accompanied shattered organs and broken limbs wherever he could see.

Lucian let out a low sigh and shook his head, muttering under his breath, "What a mess. I can only hope I didn't end up killing Wang Chen and Bai Xiaomeng. I may need to use them."