Chapter 158: B2: C58: Controlled Darkness 1
A few notifications appeared for the inhabitants of Corma and for many other concerned parties. Zarian cared little for the notifications while filled with nearly blinding anger. But many who thought themselves affluent and powerful cared deeply.
Once again, they found themselves at the mercy of the Darkruns.
<A World Boss was unleashed! A World Boss was unleashed! A World Boss was unleashed in the center of the Chimera Tyrant Lair, inside the Blood Prairies Region on the Walled Continent.>
<This is an Ancient World Event. Ogrul, the Last Orc Shaman (Chimera Tyrant, Level 119 Transfusion Warper Master), gave his body to Evil God Sinfeast, becoming a Greater Boon Avatar. The Evil God will aim to consume Dark Lord Zarian Darkrun. If this comes to pass, Evil God Sinfeast may gain power over an apocalyptic darkness that’ll decide the fate of the Infinita Star System!>
<Hopefully, the Dark Lord won’t lose!>
<Other major events are still on pause.>
<Defeat the Greater Boon Avatar of Evil God Sinfeast and earn high-yielding rewards plus extra!>
There was one powerful being in this Lesser World who could step in and make a difference, and that being was Ruvaria.
She gave the global notifications a curious glance. Then she ignored them in favor of terrorizing the human children left in her care.
She was now in the middle of establishing some psychological games by using her aura to nudge them around at night and disturb them when they tried to rest, keeping them tense. She smirked as the children raged and nearly fought among themselves because of fear and confusion.As for the Ancient World Event, she supposed it was a good thing she left that one last orc alive. Facing this event could serve as a decent measuring tool for her dear student.
***
High Rune Mindframe, Para’s intelligent reassurances, and Naomi’s Tranquil Mind +2 saved Zarian from going past the tipping point and being blinded by rage. Or he would’ve unraveled too much and given Sinfeast what he wanted, a Madness Wizard who lost all sense of strategy.
Then the Evil God would’ve toyed with him. Or worse.
Instead, Zarian delved deeper into his free evil +4 for all the cunning he could muster. Then he bolted down the bridge and went straight at the deplorable god, as if he was tossing all strategy aside.
Zarian cocked his fist back and enshrouded it in heavy aura and darkness. He pumped his physical power up with multiple abilities. He moved in close to Sinfeast’s revolting menagerie of an avatar body.
Then, at the last split second, Zarian bailed out of the running punch and dodged Sinfeast’s many limbs before they snatched him. He flipped up into the air and expanded his Aura Mastery as far as it could go.
Sparks of concentrated starlight darted amid curving dark streams as Zarian’s aura moved to his behest. His deep black eyes shone with flickering shards of tiny aura lights.
He kept flipping and twisting up through the air like an acrobat who could disregard gravity. Para flapped gracefully from behind him as Zarian cast two spells, Void Authority and Void Waltz.
Sinfeast blasted out a timely pulse of warp energy from his grotesque body. The warp pulse enveloped Zarian, deteriorating his link to the void, closing out any chances of him slipping away if he wanted to escape. ŗ
With a collective and nasty smile on his many bestial faces, Sinfeast flapped his great wings and launched up after the Madness Wizard. He swung around multiple limbs that ended with claws, talons, and snake fangs.
Worst yet, each monster limb lit up with an eerie and disgusting force. The force was milky white and had a sticky touch when it brushed over Zarian’s expanded aura.
The god reached desperately for Zarian like he was the greatest treasure anyone could have. If Sinfeast could catch the wizard, then he would probably make Zarian merge with his chimera body. Or make him a part of his sinful divinity.
“Don’t be a tease, baby! Stop running!” Sinfeast screamed, sounding like a coked-up maniac.
“Who’s running?” Zarian asked before hitting Sinfeast with an entire castle.
Zarian’s link to the void wasn’t entirely gone while under the warp pulse. Not when he could double up on his spells with Para’s help.
Instead of slipping into the void and getting away from the revolting god, Zarian transported an entire black castle from somewhere on the surface.
That wasn’t much of a problem for an Evil God while wearing a world boss as a meat suit. Sinfeast could crash straight through a castle like it was made of sand.
To prevent that, Zarian used his Dark Affinity and Void Layer on the entire castle as it exited the void and struck. It was like bringing down a twenty-pound hammer on a very hardy ant.
Sinfeast and the castle flew down at an angle and crushed the citadel’s dome roof and half the ancient building under their bulk. Zarian dropped the spells as the castle blew apart and hurtled rubble everywhere.
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He turned his attention to himself and looked inward.
Overwhelming Darkness wanted to come out, and Zarian wanted more power.
Zarian began the unsealing process for One Percent Power. His arms moved in sync with the chant.
As he went through the process, Para removed all parasite armoring from around him. She assumed her battle kilt form, leaving his muscular upper body bare.
The inky dark geometries and runic whorls covering his arms dripped away and faded. The webbed gravity enchantment on his back lost its purple luster and disappeared.
The darkness around the sunken citadel roiled and trembled. Then the darkness made haunting sounds that no darkness should ever make, like a collective groan of something vast that was awakening.
“Wow, this is the angriest I’ve seen him,” Naomi said, still standing at the beginning of the bridge with Ezda. “I got all these goosebumps all over me. Hot damn.”
“The Blood Prairie Savages are all your faithful servants, oh alpha, our One True God of Absolutely Killing! Let us worship you!” Ezda lowered down to prostrate.
Zarian paid them little mind and kept going until Sinfeast ripped in and out of reality using a warp ability. He interrupted Zarian on the last part of the unsealing process and cast a volley of attacks and spells.
The Evil God was pretty much panic-spamming. It was a somewhat effective move.
Sinfeast unleashed a bloody sick energy that permeated the air like a putrid and crimson fog. Spreading as far as the edges of the sunken citadel, the cursed energy forced Naomi and Ezda to retreat into a hole with blood streaming out.
Sinfeast also conjured burning red artillery shots similar to the attacks of the godless watchers, but at a much greater volume. He surrounded himself with a dozen and sent them flying at rapid speeds while creating more.
Every artillery shot left hellish burn trails and noxious fumes behind them. They could burst apart midair with an awful and thunderous blast. It would take more effort to dodge them and avoid being in their proximity.
Sinfeast also summoned a grimoire that looked like patches of beast and human flesh fused together to make the covers and pages. The deplorable god used the grimoire to conjure a crimson tornado that was filled with wild and carnivorous beasts in its roaring funnel.
Many of those creatures were demonic sharks that gnashed their teeth at just about anything that drew too close. The suction from the monster tornado was mystically powerful, and when the tornado moved, it prowled like a predator.
If all of that wasn’t enough already, Sinfeast kept warping in and out of reality. He formed many dimensional breaks and cracks that the Star System had to fix.
The Star System couldn’t outright stop wild magic from leaking and funneling out from the breaks before they sealed up completely. Green and toxic lightning bolts. Hissing tongues of orange hell flames. Sparkling mist that froze anything upon contact.
Many eerie and powerful elements escaped from the warped reality breaks. Sinfeast created more breaks as he maneuvered around like a chaotic portal maniac to keep Zarian boxed in.
The unfair part was how each of these warping maneuvers blasted out more warp energy that would mess with Zarian’s void spells. That would make it nearly impossible for him to teleport along with Sinfeast.
This was all while Sinfeast kept up that milky white and sticky force around his body. The deplorable god wanted nothing more than to cling onto Zarian’s flesh and have them merge.
There was even an additional hint of something far more disgusting inside of that white and sticky force. It was as if Sinfeast’s entire avatar body gave off an additional aphrodisiac element.
The aphrodisiac wanted to allure Zarian and keep him compliant. Then Sinfeast would delight himself in their unholy union.
In summary, the Evil God was throwing everything and the kitchen sink at Zarian to get to him.
Sinfeast used more tactics and abilities in concert than Zarian had ever seen from an enemy before. The coordination of these many abilities and other little nuanced moves and techniques was masterful, in fact.
If Zarian wasn’t so angry and focused, he would’ve been shocked, maybe even impressed.
Instead, he committed to the best winning strategy – he let Para takeover most of his body and a large portion of Aura Mastery. That allowed Zarian to focus on another tactic.
Para did her best to protect her host against the malefic onslaught.
Surrounded by the bloody sick energy, Para pushed her version of Aura Mastery, which she also dubbed hunger aura. She ate up the most dangerous parts of the surrounding energy and its foul crimson fog, keeping Zarian mostly intact, but not perfectly untouched.
Some strands of the putrid red fog touched him, sapping some of his life energy and sickening his vitality in equal measure. Still, Para did her best against that problem.
With her controlled takeover of Zarian’s body, Para became far more creative than ever before. She extended spiny bones from his fingers. She created flaps of leathery skin that stretched out from between his sides and the tips of his lengthened finger bones.
Para even combined the layers of the battle kilt into a single tail with a fin for better control and balance. Then, with some powerful flaps like a human-turned wyvern, Zarian’s body propelled faster through the air using aerial locomotion and Aura Mastery.
Para piloted him like an aircraft fighter. She guided his body into quick, tight, and fluid spirals and corkscrews.
She dodged multiple artillery shots, even when the artillery shots exploded midair. Para dampened the blasts using her hungry Aura Mastery and Dark Affinity for shielding.
Still, the flight around was a rocky one, especially with Sinfeast warping close and snatching at Zarian’s body at every chance the god could get.
Between the air-bursting artillery shots, Sinfeast’s warp grab tactics, and the roaring and gnashing monster tornado trying to suck Zarian close, Para’s defensive maneuvers were exemplary. She piloted Zarian’s body like a thread going through the eyes of many moving needles, using the tiniest windows of opportunity she could find to stay out of reach.
But this couldn’t last.
Sinfeast was closing the noose tighter and tighter.
A few mistakes from Para quickened the inevitable conclusion. Some of the artillery blasts knocked Zarian’s body off course from where Para intended. Strands from the bloody sick energy slowed him down significantly.
Then a vicious wind torrent blew out from a warp crack before the Star System sealed it. The warped wind shoved Zarian’s body even further off course while the monster tornado’s suction yanked from the other side.
Para overcorrected and drove Zarian straight toward where Sinfeast reappeared from another warp break.
The Evil God spread all of his avatar’s limbs for a big hug. The milky white force turned the middle of the avatar’s body soft like clay, ready to accept and transmute Zarian.
“I have you now!” Sinfeast shrilled.
“You have what now?” Zarian asked, while ending up behind Sinfeast.
There was a wrinkle in the air in front of the deplorable god where Zarian had used Void Waltz. Using that spell hadn’t been possible because of the god’s heavy warp interference … until now.