Transmigrated with my corruption system

Chapter 181: Chapter 180: Seraphiel Ruinweaver

"Om... Om... Om... The flame fades, yet the will endures."

"Ash returns to the earth, darkness to the void, yet the path continues forward."

"Temper the body, temper the mind, temper the soul. When the path divides, continue forward."

"When fate resists, continue forward. When heaven itself bars the way, continue forward."

"For all roads shall one day converge, and upon that convergence, the fate of countless lives shall rest. Whether the path leads to salvation or ruin, none may know. Om..."

***

"A chant?" Ulric breathed, confusion flickering across his face as the sound continued to echo in his ears.

At first, he had assumed it was the hidden activation of a high-level technique. But the longer he listened, the more doubt began to creep in.

There was something deeper to it, he could feel that much, but he had no particular desire to uncover it. Nothing around him made sense anyway.

After scanning the surroundings repeatedly, he realized he was standing within a temple of sorts.

Initially, everything had been shrouded in darkness so dense even he could not pierce it. But as he moved forward, intricate structures gradually emerged from the void, confirming his suspicions. It was indeed a temple.

And not just that, there were people.

Figures in ancient garbs, resembling monks. Men, women, even children.

Yet all of them spoke as one, repeating the same chant over and over again.

They showed no reaction to his presence, or to Elira standing beside him. Not that he had expected any response. Even back in the white room, their existence had been purely observational.

They could not interact with what they saw.

It was as though they existed only to watch, bound to an arrangement that prevented them from interfering with the threads of fate itself.

"What is this place?" Ulric asked, his head tilting slowly toward the figure beside him.

"I don’t know," Elira muttered, an equally confused expression on her face.

Normally, seers peered through the threads of fate from afar, with no need for contact to see someone’s destiny.

It was only on special occasions, when they attempted to peer into the fate of powerhouses, that they would need to infiltrate their mental spaces, white rooms just like that of the dark-robed youth.

But never anything like this before. If she didn’t know better, she would have assumed they were witnessing events play out in real time along one of the strings of his fate.

Which ought to have been impossible. Moments like this were heavily barricaded by walls of fate, keeping even stronger and more skilled seers out.

Unless the energy the youth had injected into her was enough to shatter some of the walls obstructing this moment.

If so, then how overwhelming would that energy need to be? The sheer thought alone made her take a sharp breath, despite being in her spirit form, as she struggled to process the magnitude of it all.

How many more secrets did he keep hidden behind that devilish smile he occasionally flashed?

She almost wanted to pry his mind open to find out. But she didn’t get the chance, as the ground and temple around them suddenly trembled violently. A giant rift cut across the sky.

A massive eye appeared above, bearing down with overwhelming pressure, locking onto their frames.

His gaze sweeping across the surroundings once more, the furrows across Ulric’s face deepened.

The temple was collapsing, and he doubted it would end well for them if it fully collapsed while they were still inside.

Even stranger, the monks seated across the temple remained locked in meditation, as if this were of no consequence to them.

But above all of this, what truly caught his attention was the giant eye staring down from above. He could sense the same eerie aura he had felt from the figure within the darkness emanating from it.

Was it the same entity? His thoughts were cut short as a deafening voice echoed from the sky, almost giving the illusion it was laced with divine authority.

All those who heard it felt an overwhelming urge to fall to their knees and bow.

It tried to crush down on Ulric, but he suppressed it, barely. All the attribute points he had allocated to willpower coming in handy.

But not everyone possessed thousands of points reinforcing their mental fortitude.

Elira barely resisted for a few seconds before she was forced to her knees, confusion deepening across her face.

They were only supposed to observe visions, not be affected by them, or be inside them.

She wanted to scream "impossible," but the words froze in her throat.

All she knew was that they had crossed a boundary they were never meant to pass. All she could do now was wait and see how it unfolded.

***

"Still meddling with power you don’t understand. I see you have yet to change."

"Huh?" Ulric breathed, narrowing his eyes slightly in confusion. The figure spoke as if they knew him.

"Who are you?" he asked, trying to clear the confusion. None of this made sense.

"Have you forgotten me so soon, Seraphiel Ruinweaver?"

Ulric opened his mouth to speak. The figure seemed to have mistaken him for someone else. But as the name echoed, he suddenly froze.

It felt foreign. He was certain he had never heard it before. And yet... it resonated with him.

He didn’t have time to dwell on it as the voice continued, the playful tone vanishing into something colder...something absolute.

"This time, you will not elude my grasp. Just as you took everything from me, I will take from you... and more."

"Stand ready for my arrival. The day of reckoning is coming. Sooner than you expect."

As the final words echoed, the large eye suddenly vanished. Fractures spread across the temple, sucking everything they touched into an endless void.

Just as one opened before them, ready to swallow them whole, their figures burst into particles of light, vanishing from the temple completely as they were anchored back to reality.

"That..." Ulric muttered, his thoughts still raging with unanswered questions. He had thought another descent into the river of fate would clarify things. It had, but only added more questions.

His fists clenched tightly as frustration welled up inside him, before he sank deeper into thought.

He only snapped out of it when Astra’s cries reached his ears.

His eyes regaining clarity, he turned toward Elira’s frame.

Now visibly worse. Her chest rose and fell faintly, each breath seeming as though it might be her last.

Cracks shimmered across her skin with a golden hue. If this continued, it wouldn’t be long before the power of fate fully consumed her.

Reacting quickly, Ulric raised a hand over her chest as the temperature around them dropped sharply.

Soon, a layer of ethereal purple ice formed, spreading across her body until it fully encapsulated her.

The cracks and deterioration in her body immediately halted, as if she had been sealed within a moment of time.

At the side, Astra stared blankly, struggling to process what had just happened.

One moment, her master had been on the verge of death.

The next, everything had frozen in place.

It wasn’t healing, she could tell that much, but it was undeniably a step in the right direction.

The steady decline of Elira’s life force had ceased, trapped within a state that seemed suspended between life and death.

"W-what did you do to her?" Astra asked, curiosity and concern burning within her eyes as she traced trembling fingers across the thick slab of ethereal ice encasing her master.

The ice was neither cold nor warm. It felt strangely unreal, as though it didn’t entirely belong in this world.

Looking closer, Astra’s heart eased ever so slightly.

Elira’s expression was peaceful. Far more peaceful than it had been moments ago.

Rather than someone standing at death’s doorstep, she looked as though she had simply drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

"I kept my end of the deal," Ulric muttered, a quiet sigh escaping his lips.

His gaze lingered on the frozen figure for a moment.

This was the first time he had used Cryonic Preservation on a living being. Fortunately, the results were more or less what he had anticipated.

Time itself had been slowed to an almost imperceptible crawl within the ice.

Her body would remain preserved until he acquired the power necessary to challenge fate itself and undo the damage she had suffered.

And for some reason he couldn’t quite explain, he had a feeling Elira would play an important role in the future that awaited him.

At his words, Astra blinked rapidly, still far from satisfied with the explanation.

Questions swirled through her mind. Yet none of them left her lips.

She could sense something different about him.

The casual, unbothered look that so often lingered on his face was gone.

In its place stood a far more serious figure, one carrying a weight she couldn’t quite understand.

What had he seen in that vision? What had shaken him so deeply?

The questions gnawed at her, but she doubted he would answer even if she asked.

Silence descended between them.

Standing near the edge of the building, Ulric gazed out across the city below. Countless lights flickered in the distance as people carried on with their lives, blissfully unaware of the events unfolding around them.

For several moments, he simply watched. Then his eyes narrowed slightly, as though arriving at a decision.

Without another word, he stepped forward and grabbed the massive shard of ice containing Elira’s body as effortlessly as if it weighed nothing at all.

Before Astra could react, his free hand settled on her shoulder.

The world blurred. Space twisted around them.

And in the next instant, their figures vanished, reappearing within the Greyson Residence moments later.