Child of Destiny

Chapter 1440: The Beginning (Part 14): Fall of a Dragon and Birth of the Demon

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Shin watched Bernardʼs back as Pablo was about to combust with his suicide technique. His eyes widened as he could see that Bernard ignited his remaining powers along with all of his life force.

Bernard spread his arms and expanded his Natural Force, controlling it skillfully. He formed a sphere that enfolded him and Pablo, who ballooned and was about to explode.

He then closed his arms as if he were about to embrace Pablo, confining the raging energy that the latter was about to ignite.

As he accepted his fate and embraced death, something came back to his memory. It was an event in the distant past when he and his friends were exploring an unknown land at the edge of the world, looking for clues to the said ʼParadiseʼ in the legends.

Memories of that time flooded inside his head. Their joy and excitement during their adventures came back to him one after another.

Then something unexpected happened in the end. It was a terrible event that put their lives at risk as they had committed a taboo.

They had been cursed for barging in the cursed land that they believed to be a promised place.

This curse did not only affect them as it was also starting to spread to the people close to them. Their fates had been affected as the curse was also about to corrupt those who would hear about this cursed land.

As all this was happening, a couple stood before everyone and blocked everything. One used her powers to absorb the curse and transferred it to a sacred object while the other turned to them with a smile.

”We have a fun time journeying together, but it seems like we are the only ones who will remember it and reminisce about our adventure.”

Bernard and the others stared at the cool figure in front of them as he joined his palms together and used a special technique in them.

Not long after, everyone had forgotten about that place and all the adventures that they had along the way.

Recalling these events, Benard could not help but smile bitterly as he cursed. ”D*mn you, Adam! Why do you always have to act cool at the most crucial times.”

Then Bernard experienced his entire life in front of them before turning to the familiar aura that was rushing toward this place.

He smiled as he said. ”Father, please forgive this unfilial son.”

BOOM!

Then Benardʼs figure was suddenly devoured by a blinding light as Pablo finally exploded.

But despite all the pain and torment that he was experiencing, he stubbornly stretched his arms and forcefully contained the explosion with the sphere that he had summoned.

Despite being confined inside that sphere of Natural Force, the explosion still produced shockwaves that shook the sphere and somewhat affected the surroundings.

There was even a brief earthquake that shook the entire place, making David and the others almost lose their footing.

In the distance, Samuel Springfield, who had seen everything from the distance, could not suppress his sorrow and shouted. ”No! Bernard!”

His shout shook the surrounding place, making the earth tremble and creating deep fissures where lava flew out toward the sky.

…

Evangeline was rushing toward the place where Shin and the others were located to the best of her abilities. She even pierced through the space with her special method to increase her speed and make sure that she would arrive in time.

But despite her efforts, she was still a couple of seconds too late to reach the place. She could already see through her ʼClairvoyanceʼ that she was already too late to prevent the worst-case scenario.

No matter how hard she tried to calculate the future and do her best to prevent it from happening, she was a step too late to change the outcome this time around.

She would not be able to change her destiny this time and the prophecy would still happen.

This only happened when her child was involved. He became a variable that she could not calculate just like his father.

Someone who was able to control his fate.

Someone capable of defying Heaven and becoming the king of his destiny.

Due to them, the strings of fate would always be entangled, and the flow of destiny would be hard to calculate. This made her unable to read the future whenever either of them was involved.

Looking ahead of her, she could not help but feel sorrow as she knew that she could not save this friend of hers.

She and Adam had saved those friends from the curse of that place before and changed their fates. But it seemed like it had come back biting them once again when chaos started to spread and those ʼpeopleʼ were getting involved.

She bit her lower and clenched her fists as she knew that it was already too late. ”Iʼm sorry.”

Amidst her sorrow, she suddenly felt an uncomfortable feeling inside her chest as she had sensed something from a great distance.

Thump!

The sound did not come from her, but from someone who was quite far from her. The powers that she had left inside that personʼs body seemed to be screaming for help, informing her that the ʼwallsʼ were about to collapse.

”No! This is bad!” she mumbled as she accelerated her flying speed.

She had to arrive there before everything was too late!

…

Back at the scene, the blinding light illuminating the entire place finally subdued.

Raising their heads, David and the others finally saw Bernard standing in the middle while maintaining his final position. He was like a statue or a pillar that refused to fall despite all the adversity.

The only regretful fact was that he no longer breathing.

His body was scorched black, signifying the burns that he had suffered while maintaining the barrier and containing the earlier explosion.

Everyone looked at him with regret, sorrow, and apologetic gazes.

If only they were only strong enough to eliminate such an opponent, who was already a step away from defeat.

If only they were fast enough to dispose of him before he could even have the chance to commit suicide.

If only-…

Swoosh!

Bang!

As they were lost in their thoughts, a tall and majestic figure fell from the sky and stood in front of Bernardʼs lifeless body.

Samuel stared at his son with full of emotion before closing his eyes and surpassing his feelings. As someone in their field, death was a common occurrence. As a soldier who would risk their lives for the operation, they had always been playing with death all their lives.

He knew that something like this would arrive sooner or later, especially with the current state that the world was in. But he did not expect that his son would go first when he was nothing but an old fossil himself.

”Parents are supposed to go first, you stupid brat. How come you come before me?” he mumbled as he raised his head, opened his eyes, and looked at the sky.

”How will I face your mother, your wife, and your children now?” he continued to talk to himself before lowering his head.

He then took a step forward, stretched his arms, and hugged his son. ”Forgive this pitiful father of yours. You can rest now.”

…

As all of this was happening, Shin, who was still within the barrier, felt like his mind went blank. He could not tell what kind of expression he was making, he felt that he had lost his soul.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Then the familiar beating inside his chest started once again.

He could hear that someone was calling him inside his head and sometimes cursing him, but he could not care about that.

His eyes were fixed on the scorched corpse of Bernard as his pupils were constantly alternating between three colors: grey, purple, and crimson.

Black energy was slowly leaking out from his body and flowing upwards while dissipating in the air.

The flow of this energy was gradually getting stronger as something was banging inside his chest.

Snap!

And as if something had cut the last string that was holding his rationality, he finally lost it.

Boom!

Right at the same time, a silent explosion erupted inside his head as if a ʼwallʼ had collapsed under the bombardment of something.

”D*mn this bastard! Now we are really in trouble!”

Unoʼs voice reverberated inside his head, but Shin could no longer hear it as his mind was already being seized by the final ʼSeed of Hatredʼ that finally broke free from its restraint.

Like a beast that had been starving for a very long time, it broke free from its cage and devoured its ʼmealʼ.

At that time, David flinched as he sensed something. Directing his gaze toward the source of the unpleasant feeling, he saw Shin undergoing a ʼDemonic Possessionʼ.

”Sh*t!” he cursed out loud, attracting the attention of the others.

But as they directed their gazes at him, another explosion erupted behind them.

Boom!

This time, it was not meant to harm anyone, but the shockwave that it produced was so strong that it pushed them away. They almost stumbled on the ground, failing to withstand the sudden repulsive force.

Aside from Samuel, who remained standing while holding the corpse of his son, everyone else was thrown in different directions.

Frowning deeply, Samuel stared at Shin as he saw the young man lost himself.

Roar!

With a deafening roar that sounded like different beasts howling together, ʼShinʼ raised his head while releasing an overwhelming power and destroying the barrier around him in the process.

There was also a black pillar of light that surrounded him and pierced through the sky. It was so tall and ʼbrightʼ that it could be seen even from thousands of miles away.

Samuel wore a grim expression as he knew that it was already too late to stop the possession as the seed had already seized the most vulnerable state of Shin. If he hastily made his move and forcefully tried to stop it, then he could not guarantee the safety of the young man.

What he needed to do was to beat that ʼseedʼ in submission and restrain it once again.

Boom!

But he had somewhat underestimated the demonic powers of this particular ʼSeed of Hatredʼ.

Aside from it being inherited from someone who was cursed by Heaven and a forbidden existence being rejected by the world itself, it had also been restrained within Shin for a very long time, which made its ʼhungerʼ and ʼhatredʼ reach an unimaginable level.

Boom!

As the possession was completed, Samuel could not help but frown deeply. Even himself, who was half-step to Transcendent Realm, was sensing an immense threat coming from Shin.

When the pillar of light finally receded, Shin stood at the center of a crater produced by it.

Lowering his head, his crimson, and eerie eyes were revealed along with the gentle glow surrounding them.

Out of instinct, this Demon was first to turn to Samuel. Attracted to the strongest person within the area, his first target was without a doubt this old monster.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

A dense Demonic Power was released from his body, forming a flame-like aura that was dancing along with the wind.

At the same time, a transparent black energy roared and revolved around him, forming a violent vortex.

As a Dual Practitioner, this demon had the same access to both the Internal Qi and Mental Energy of Shin, which also reached another level right after he took over the ʼvesselʼ.

Glaring at Samuel, the demon suddenly disappeared and reached the old man in an instant. He raised his fist while instinctively controlling the Demonic Powers and Mental Energy to revolve his entire arm before throwing a punch.

Samuel raised his brows as he saw the smoothness of the two types of energy merging as if it were something natural.

He casually raised his hand and blocked the punch in a relaxed manner.

Bang!

The power of that punch far surpassed anyone in Shinʼs current level. If anything, it was much stronger than the four geniuses present even in their strongest state.

That was when Samuel realized that this was much more serious than he originally expected, especially when he could sense that this demon was just starting to assimilate with the current vessel that it had.

He squinted his eyes while commenting. ”You will be a monster that we canʼt afford to have in this world.”

Roar!

As if it was provoked, the demon went berserk and started its rampage.

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