Chapter 100: His Broken Chrysalis

Raziel mentally selected Option B, even if that could destroy him.

The black screen vanished then the pain hit.

It was absolute destruction happening inside his chest.

The golden light of the Paragon and the black sludge of the Shadow Parasite crashed into each other right in the center of his spiritual core like they wanted to kill each other.

The holy energy tried to burn the corruption away but the parasite tried to swallow the light.

The conflict overloaded his physical body.

His skin cracked open with deep fissures appearing on his arms, his neck, and his face.

Golden light and black smoke poured from the cracks in his flesh as they twisted together in the air.

The power radiated from his body and blasted in the space.

Celestine stopped the Soul Drain and she took a step back.

For the first time in thirty years, the Mother Superior retreated.

The Chalice of Oblivion trembled in her hands, the violet runes flickered and died under the pressure of Raziel’s new aura.

Raziel fell forward and Inside his head, the System went completely crazy.

Red warning windows popped up and broke apart, it seemed like the interface struggled to categorize the impossible fusion of holy and abyss.

[SYSTEM REBOOT COMPLETE]

[EVOLUTION COMPLETE]

[NEW CLASS ACQUIRED: UMBRAL PARAGON — LEVEL 1]

[DESCRIPTION: Forced fusion of Pure Light and Parasitic Darkness. You have subjugated the anomaly and corrupted the holy. You are a walking contradiction.]

[PREVIOUS SKILLS: MODIFIED.]

[USAGE COST: Empathy / Humanity.]

[WARNING: Each use of Umbral Paragon skills permanently reduces the user’s capacity to feel human emotions. Prolonged use will result in total apathy.]

Raziel read the warning but he didn’t care, he would deal with his humanity later.

He stood up and his fractured ribs didn’t hurt anymore.

He opened his eyes and the world looked sharper, his eyes were no longer just blue.

The irises were solid gold while black veins crossed it.

Celestine raised her free hand and she formed a barrier of holy mana.

“Heresy,” she hissed.

Raziel didn’t say a word.

He just raised his right hand.

Gold and black energy swirled around his fingers. It formed a dense, heavy aura that distorted the air around it.

He swung his arm horizontally.

WHOOSH!

A wave of umbral energy shot forward.

It hit Celestine’s barrier.

CRASH!

The Saint-Level shield shattered into a million pieces of useless mana.

The shockwave hit Celestine in the chest.

She flew backward and slammed into the far wall of the cell.

THUD!

She dropped the Chalice of Oblivion, then the artifact clattered on the floor.

Raziel extended his left hand and the Chalice flew through the air and landed perfectly in his grip.

He crushed the black metal.

CRUNCH!

The repaired relic warped under his fingers.

The liquid gold filling the cracks burst out and dripped onto the floor, he tossed the ruined cup aside.

Celestine slid down the wall and hit the dirt.

She coughed and spat a mouthful of red blood, her immaculate gray robe was torn, her hair was a mess and the veil had fallen off her head.

She looked up at Raziel from the ground.

The control she always had was gone, just pure shock replaced it.

She was defeated.

Raziel looked down at his hands as gold and black energy pulsed together under his skin and they moved in perfect synchronization.

Celestine wiped the blood from her mouth with a shaking hand.

“What… are you?” she asked.

Raziel looked at her. “Something new.”

“RAAAAH!”

A scream ripped through the cell and Raziel spun around, it was Mirael awake.

She hung from the chains, but her body thrashed violently.

Her blindfold caught fire, it burned away and revealed her eyes.

They were glowing with a blinding, terrifying white light.

It was an involuntary prophetic vision, the power of the Oracle was overloading her brain.

Raziel rushed to her side. “Mirael!”

He reached out to hold her steady.

She lunged forward and grabbed his arms, her fingernails dug deep into his skin and they drew blood, but in the moment she touched him, the white light shot from her eyes and entered his mind.

VMMMM!

The physical cell disappeared.

Raziel felt a violent pull, like a heavy hook in his gut dragging him out of his own body.

He was pulled into the vision with her.

They stood on an invisible floor.

Beneath their feet, there was just empty gray space but ahead of them was a landscape Raziel recognized instantly.

The Ruins of the Radiant Empire.

The sky was a shade of purple that looked dead and unnatural.

Zion sat right in the middle of it, her massive throne was made of melted Inquisition armor with breastplates and helmets twisted together.

She had her black sword resting on her lap as she looked at the horizon.

She tapped her finger against the hilt of the sword slowly, she just looked completely bored, just waiting for her next target.

Raziel felt anger at seeing her, he wanted to unleash his new power and blast her off that chair.

But Mirael didn’t look at Zion.

Mirael’s glowing white eyes stared at the space behind the throne, so Raziel followed her gaze.

There was a third figure standing right behind Zion.

It was a huge formless shadow made of void, that didn’t have a face or normal limbs, It had long, thin appendages extending from where its hands should be.

They were black strings.

The strings went down and attached directly to Zion, they dug into her back, wrapped tightly around her arms, and plugged straight into the back of her head.

Zion didn’t know it was there.

The all-powerful Player, the girl who treated his entire world like her personal video game, was just a puppet.

She sat on her throne, unaware of the massive puppeteer standing right behind her, manipulating her every move.

Then, the formless shadow stopped moving its hands and it slowly turned its head.

It didn’t have eyes, but Raziel felt its gaze, looked past Zion, It looked past the ruins and It looked directly at Raziel through the vision.

The entity knew they were watching, it could see them across the dimensional barrier and saw Raziel looking back.

The shadow formed a wide smile.

A spike of terror went through Raziel’s mind, then the vision broke.

CRASH!

Raziel was thrown back, he fell backward into the dirt of the cell and he gasped for air.

His interface exploded in his eyes.

The text became corrupted, it bled across his vision in a chaotic mess of unreadable symbols and broken red letters.

[̸̻̽E̵̩R̵̰̽R̸̹̉O̴̤̎R̶̨̛:̴̣̈́ ̵̪̂U̸N̷̨R̷E̷G̵I̵S̸T̷E̵R̴E̸D̶ ̵E̴N̸T̴I̸T̴Y̵.̴ ̸L̶E̵V̴E̸L̴:̸ ̶?̷?̷?̶.̸ ̷N̸A̷M̶E̶:̶ ̷T̴H̵E̵ ̷A̶R̵C̸H̸I̶T̸E̶C̷T̵]̵

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