I am the Only Son of Nyx

Chapter 180: Immaculate Visualization

Completing the Reckless Ruin Ending Fragment is harder.

Not that it was hard for Kaelmorath, but he’s not blind enough to say that forming the ability to hallucinate so vividly that it spiked a reaction from the body is something easy to achieve— especially when one would need to do it under extreme situations and manually.

In comparison to the training to complete the Retribution Ending Fragment, this was harder.

No doubt about it.

As long as Kai put his body in the way to protect the blob, then he would make progress.

Eventually, he would complete the Retribution Ending Fragment.

But it was completely different for this one, as he might spend countless days, months, or even years meditating to train his mind to hallucinate without seeing any progress. Kai couldn’t really feel it.

Fortunately, Kaelmorath gave him the dark blob that would help him gauge his ability.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t be given the dark blob. And without it, the training to complete the Reckless Ruin Ending Fragment would be almost impossible. Despite the aid, it’s still the hardest training.

"Meditate," Kaelmorath said. "Imagine the person you cared about the most as clearly as you could possibly imagine. Once you’re happy with the image of this person, then you can focus and visualize it on the dark blob."

After saying that, Kaelmorath headed back to the broken cathedral.

It would take a long time before Kai could complete this training.

’Let’s see if he’s really what he said he was,’ Kaelmorath thought inside, recalling the outburst Kai had earlier. He said that he knew what it felt like to sacrifice everything for someone else— and this would test that. ’Imagining someone you cared about should be easy if what he said was true.’

Just as Kaelmorath was at the entrance of the broken cathedral, he stopped.

He heard the sound of wobbling goo from behind.

Considering that Kai had only begun meditating, it was surprising to hear that he was already tampering with the dark blob. But then again, he might be testing his current visualization to make it easier to gauge his growth later.

But that wasn’t the case at all.

"Is that good enough?" Kai’s voice rang from behind.

Kaelmorath’s brows furrowed together, thinking that Kai must’ve been really arrogant to act like he already finished the visualization training. Yet the moment he turned around to look, his eyes widened completely.

Standing where the dark blob should’ve been was a woman.

She was short by their standards; perhaps tall for an ordinary human, but petite among Kai’s kind and Nightborns. And yet her presence commanded the bleak domain as if it had always been shaped for her alone.

Her hair blazed gold; a cascade of liquid sunlight from Apollo himself.

One that defied the muted, dark-colored expanse of the House of Night.

Everything here was grey, black, or the spectrum of dark colors, but her hair burned with the radiance that looked out of place. It moved too, stirred by a breeze invisible and intangible for Kaelmoraath to see or feel.

Her skin was dewy, pale white like a porcelain doll.

Smooth and luminous against the darkness that pressed in from all sides.

Not the dark hue of the blob she had been moments ago.

She looked angelic, especially with her smile and her glowing eyes that held the evergreen of a forest untouched by winter. Despite Kaelmorath’s presence, her eyes remained fixed on Kai, as if he were the only thing in her world.

Kaelmorath had shown Kai the minimum of visualization that he would need to achieve.

Just a defined figure. A rough silhouette.

One that shows the length of the hair, the height, the basic geography of the eyes, nose, and ears. Even visualizing that would’ve been a monumental effort; a feat that most couldn’t begin to replicate, as the image in the mind needs to be incredibly detailed.

And yet, Kai achieved it in a matter of seconds.

The woman before Kai wasn’t a rough visualization; she was refined to the point of obsession.

Every eyelash was distinct. The subtle bow of her upper lip and the gentle curve of her lower, both shaped with precision. Her pores were visible if one looked close enough. There were no misshapes. No rough edges. No compromises.

From the crown of her blazing golden hair to the delicate shape of her ankles.

She was utterly, impossibly perfect.

And Kai hadn’t stopped at form. He had also visualized color in the House of Night, where color, the brighter ones, didn’t exist. Where the very concept of vibrancy was devoured by the night’s darkness.

Kai had forced gold and evergreen to materialize.

As if the darkness had no authority over her memory.

’Incredible...’ Kaelmorath sucked in a cold breath. ’He didn’t lie. Not one bit.’

...

After visiting Noxian and Perion, making sure that he stopped by them whenever he entered the House of Night, Kai returned to the real world. He opened his eyes and stared at the same, familiar ceiling.

Not too long ago, it was filled with spiderwebs and dust.

It was clean now, and he had Talitha to thank for that.

"Eughh..." Kai groaned in fatigue as he sat up and dragged his body to the edge of the bed.

As usual—training inside the House of Night made what supposed to be a good sleep that he would have had to a draining one. Kai made sure to wake up only an hour after, knowing that he would be in this state.

Best for him to wake up and rest until morning comes, so that he’ll have energy for classes.

In the silence, Kai thought back to what had happened earlier.

Surprisingly enough, he completed the Reckless Ruin Ending Fragment in seconds.

He could see the shock on Kaelmorath’s face clearly at the vividness with which he’d shaped Bella from the dark blob. For others, learning to hallucinate might be a gruelling—and would take them a long time to achieve, but Kai had already been hallucinating.

Most of it happened when he wasn’t fully conscious, but he knew.

He knew Bella’s voice.

Her face.

None of them was real.

And yet they came to him anyway.

After all, how hard was it to hallucinate when one already has post-traumatic stress disorder?

Completing the Reckless Ruin Ending Fragment granted Kai the Night Mutation. From what he gathered of Kaelmorath’s explanation, the wounds that he suffered would yield more than only blood.

The night would also mend it and infuse power into that power.

Depending on the damage, the power would vary.

Kai still didn’t understand it really well, but he believed the night would somehow help him in battle through the wound, which he was excited to see. And he could see the effect with his own two eyes when the hunt for Star Beasts started.

It was true that he intended to hunt Star Beasts after he could summon Kaelmorath.

But he reckoned he could at least try fighting one.

"I could try with only Perion—and against the same Star Beast as that skeleton deer," Kai said aloud as he deliberated his next moves. "If things escalated, the others could help. Maybe I’d go and fight it with Bree first before the others help if needed."

Fighting with Bree sounded really safe.

Recalling how her defensive imprint could even block his overcharged attack, she should be able to defend a few attacks from a Star Beast without a problem. Bree is sought after by many people, and now he understands the reason.

Understood how important someone like Bree was in a battle.

"But that being said, how do I deal with this?"

...

[Kaelmorath Quest]

In order for you to learn the Reckless Fray Ending and see into Kaelmorath’s past, you’ll need to make an offering. Not through blood, but through life. Protect someone weaker than you— or someone dear to you for the Reckless Fray Ending with your own life once. Earn gratitude from the person to complete this quest.

...

Kai still couldn’t summon Kaelmorath until he completed this quest.

He would need to protect someone by putting his life on the line.

Protecting someone weaker or dear should be easy to do; it was the same as triggering the Retribution Ending Fragment. But since the quest stated that he would need to use his life to protect this person, Kai assumed that the threat should be something that could kill him.

Not to mention, there’s also the fact that he needed to receive gratitude to complete the quest.

He would need to pick who he protected carefully.

"How can I even do that?" Kai scratched the back of his head in contemplation. "Should I camp the Dead Range or the Fire Swamp? Some students from other smaller groups are now allowed in, so some might encounter a Star Beast and get into trouble.

"But for them to thank me after being saved...? I doubt any of them would do that."

Once again, the status as a Lesser Angel got in the way.

If Kai saved any of them from certain death, they would probably curse him the moment they realized who he was. Gratitude was too much to hope for from the other students. Annoying, but predictable. "Whatever," He muttered, shaking his head. "I’m sure the opportunity would come."

Moments later.

Kai and the other students finished their morning exercises as usual.

After last night and the training with Kaelmorath, Kai was feeling better than ever.

He achieved what he set out to achieve, and now he should be able to fare better against the Star Beasts in the Dead Range. Once the sparring session started, Kai took a seat beside Dorian, and the others were also grouped up.

Ever since the Ambrosia Pact was formed, they no longer need to keep their distance.

And Kai noticed something.

His gaze drifted to Matilda, seated to the front-left of him—and then to Bree, right beside him. Something hung in the air between them—tighter than usual. A tension he couldn’t name but felt in his bones.

Dorian and Byran also seemed to feel it too, as they also stole glances at the two.

Did something happen between them?

Just then, his thoughts blurred when Dorian poked him with an elbow.

"I thought you said you’ve dealt with her," He said, nudging his chin at a group of students who were sitting down on the far right. And his eyes were fixated on a particular figure among this group. "Did you lie to me?"

"Dealt with who?" Kai followed Dorian’s gaze, and then his body froze.

Both of his eyes widened at the sight of the person on the other side.

And for a second, their eyes met—the tension was so high that it was palpable to the others.

How in the world did she survive?