Chapter 552 The Keys
"I would feel a bit less Lonely if I were not ignored so!" I heard and looked up, the Fire Lord was rushing down two spears, one in each hand, and was aiming to rip me apart.
I backed off blocking the first swing then the second, and spat a green gout of poison forward to which the Fire Lord spat his own version but in flames and fire.
The two came in contact with each other and combusted creating an explosion of poisonous gas, to which any ounce or fraction of that reached the Fire Lord would simply evaporate. As for my side, I just willed and controlled to fuse into the poison cloud that was stopping the Creedless from acting.
"Why must you help these fools? I've seen what you're capable of, your weapons, trinkets, and tools as many call them, those are not just objects, but they hold the key to death and destruction like no other. I lived long enough to see many an ancient object cause devastation, but never seen something so simple so minimalistic, and so powerful able to easily compete with the most incredulous of ancient treasures. Join me, and I'll give you riches beyond your wildest dreams, women of which you may choose and discard, and power that you can never hope to exhaust, come and follow me under my banner, and ignore these foolish cultivators who have no sight or vision," the Fire Lord extended his hand.
"I told you before, I don't wanna, also all you just offered, I can obtain by myself, so why must I follow you?" I replied.
"Indeed with the Poison God's Heritage, your mind, and the way you use your tools, I can see that, but that would have happened only if I were to not exist, after all, I AM THE FIRE LORD!" he roared and the flames making his hair roared and inflated in size and heat.
He swirled both spears, creating a vortex of fire and flames that he swung forward like a massive whip.
I slammed both hands together creating a praying motion then, blew forward a poisonous cloud that was so great that it was able to match the size of the two whips.
I jerked my hip to the side causing Creeping Demise to jump out, and suddenly it spread its blade into nine hydra heads that all opened their respective mouths together and shot more flames and poison to contest against the Fire Lord's blowout.
The contact of the two spells made the whole of the Heavenly Academy feel as if it was about to be doused in infernal poison to become an eternal hell.
Clicking his mouth, the younger of the kings bit the tip of his finger and then blew on it, manifesting tens of thousands of ghost faces that shot toward me. The Older of the kings slapped both hands together loud enough that it felt as if the world was about to end, then he pulled his hands apart manifesting another sword, this one was made of pure white flames.
He then struck forward toward me sending a crescent-shaped wave of flame at me.
I being pinned down by the Fire Lord's flames was unable to react, I was thinking of calling upon Y to cover for me, but he would instantly melt upon contact, yet Master Rain came rushing, as he pulled out his weapon, a massive needle and hammer that he smacked into the fabric of space itself, the reverberations caused the air to shudder.
"Remember, you're not fighting alone!" he said, and suddenly as if an explosion of light happened right in front of us, the place where Master Ran ruptured released an endless looking wave of Inscriptions that shaped themselves into butterflies, the same ones he used to try and seal the Primordial Serpent God.
"Darkness Asunder!" I heard.
My divine sense was able to catch the source of this chant, and it was the Grand Elder who summoned a whip of dark matter that was rushing toward the endless hoard of ethereal ghosts.
The Creedless who was trapped in my poison cloud seemed enraged and against the sanity of the living, he bore through it corroding his body to almost inexistence, but it paid off for him as he was released and was able to almost instantly regenerate his decomposing body. At the same time, he was funneling more and more Qi into a dagger he wielded.
"Death Mark!" he called and stabbed himself in the abdomen with the dagger.
"Soul Link!" he said once again as he held two fingers up and then twisted his hand. I instantly felt my mind turn white for a second. Just as I regained consciousness I went to look at myself using my Divine Sense I noticed that I had a black X mark on top of my heart.
"STOP HIM!" shouted Master Rain. His words were aimed at the Queen, who immediately rushed forward.
I didn't know what this Death Mark entailed but looking at the Creedless pulling his black Dagger and going to pierce his own heart, I could figure out instantly what it meant.
"Soul Extraction!" The Queen called and instantly you could see the Creedless's own Soul exit his body stopping him from finishing the ritual.
But, the Fire Lord's mouth grew into a creepy smile as he pointed at the Creedless's body with one finger then swung his finger to the side.
The body, controlled by the Soul Sealing Shackles didn't need the soul of the Creedless to function, and that finger swing caused the Creedless's puppeteer body to finish the ritual stabbing itself in the chest.
Black blood spattered out of my mouth as everything turned dark
…
Or as it should have.
Suddenly the endless stream of black ghost faces seemed to disintegrate.
And the face of the younger king began distorting, shaking for a bit then morphing to be shaped into my own face. As for my body, it was transformed fully to that of the younger of the kings.
Unable to understand what happened, everyone was completely caught off guard, the one that was supposed to die was me, but why is the younger king perishing?
"Domain of Delusions, release!" I called and suddenly the world seemed to respond in a different hue of colors.
The thunder bull that didn't seem to exist is now calmly sitting next to me who was right next to the protective dome of the heavenly academy, the Queen was right next to the unresponsive Creedless, as for the Fire lord, he hastily raised his defenses up to block the incoming sword swing from his own grandfather.
"Illusions? How? I didn't sense anything. You! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" called the grandfather as he desperately tried to stop the sword swing, but since he failed to do so, and was considered to have attacked his own master, the Soul Sealing Shackles flared up causing his body to suddenly contort in incredible amounts of pain.
"Now Master Rain!"
"Don't need to ask me twice!" Master Rain flew forward as fast as he could with an extended hand, not aiming to attack, kill, or harm the Older King but to Grab the soul-sealing shackle.
"Fool!" groaned the older King as he realized that the moment someone unqualified was to touch the Soul Sealing Shackles, that they would also fall under its influence.
However, Master Rain easily grabbed it and ripped it out of the king's nap, giving him temporary control over his own body.
"Automaton! Now!" I called out and suddenly the Automaton pulled Master Rain into a portal that it manifested while the older king swatted at Master Rain's face missing him by a hair's breadth.
The Automaton opened another gate next to me and released Master Rain.
"You knew he was going to attack even after we released him? So why did you ask me to release him," asked Master Rain.
"To cause chaos, now the older king is probably considering reclaiming his old power, but at the same time he isn't willing to be ruled by the Fire Lord, nor will he think twice before killing those who fought against him, the arrogance of kings has no bounds."
The Queen slammed down her palm on the Creedless's body sealing it instantly and stopping his soul from returning to it, the corpse was useless and completely immovable.
"You killed my father, sealed my Servant, and unleashed my grandfather, thinking that I could have won against the Heavenly Academy with the corpses of Imperials was truly me being arrogant, still, it matters not, as long as I have these in my possession!"
The Fire Lord then pulled out three jewels. Which caused me to frown…
The Fire Key, The Earth Key, and the Metal Key, he had all three of them in hand… Did he kill the Earth Lord? I would have known, but I still sense his life signature high above the heavenly Academy, he is sealed and locked up… but how is he able to use these keys? Shouldn't he be chosen by them first? Or did I miss something?
"Grand Child, you have the Keys? Hand them over to me, and I shall forgive all transgressions!" The Grandfather spoke.
And in response, the Fire Lord pointed the Fire Key at him and said, "Disintegrate."
And that was all it took, for a ray of pure concentrated fire to shoot out of the key and instantly evaporate an emperor-level cultivator…
"Well… this turned south way too damn fast…" I muttered.
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