The Villain's Story

Chapter 867: Valus, Supreme of Darkness.

[The abyssal conscience is a powerful foe only in the Abyss, and even there, I am capable of defeating it. It may be unkillable, but it has lost many, many times.]

Alan’s face was pushed deeper and deeper into the ground. Dust and rubble clogged his throat as Valus continued, enjoying this moment.

[Outside of the abyss, with no Aranus to fight its battles, it’s merely a lesser version of James. Both were scared of me, so tell me, why did you ever think this would work?]

Valus let go of Alan’s head, allowing the boy to raise his head from the ground. Coughing out dust and stone. Alan took a deep breath and used his hands to support his body.

”Are you going to tell me, or not?”

He turned to look at Valus, with not a shred of fear or hesitation in his eyes. Valus’s expression stiffened, and a tide of darkness came to block Alan’s mouth. A tendril rose, grabbing his leg and slamming him into the Light house once more.

This time, it didn’t stop once. It continued to slam him against the robust material. But Alan’s regeneration held steadfast.

[You really are an idiot, don’t you understand what situation you’re in?]

Valus approached him, his steps heavy and bold, filled with rage.

[A supreme stands before you, you, who hasn’t even touched the gate of transcendance. Do you think Lanesha or Mother will come here to save you? Insolence.]

The darkness stopped, but only for Valus to kick Alan’s head into the stone this time.

A sharp, brittle sound resounded. The stone of the Lighthouse began to crack. Valus raised his brows, somewhat surprised.

A chuckle escaped his lips as he looked at the boy in a pool of his own blood. His head had split open, brain matter and blood stained the stone of his lighthouse, but as soon as he had regenerated. He had the same face.

The same face he had seen many times, only this time, it wasn’t a hopelessly defeated expression. Rather, one of determination.

Valus placed his hand on Alan’s chest and applied a little force. Alan’s chest caved under the pressure, but only a little. Enough to fracture his ribs, but nothing more.

[How fragile you’ve made your Dragon Heart. I don’t even need to do anything but wait for it to crack.]

Alan couldn’t speak; his lungs refused to gather any air. A tide of darkness rose from the Black Sea and approached Alan, sliding on the black rock of the island. It imprisoned his feet, dragging them deep within the stone, and did the same with the rest of his body. It only left his neck above the stone.

Valus crouched down and sat upon the stone, looking at Alan with pity.

[Pitiful fool, you know, I was ready to tell you everything. Mother had opened my eyes, and I was... ready. But this foolish thing you did, it made me change my mind.]

Alan’s eyes widened, and he raised his head, only to see a furious Valus.

[But now?]

He pushed his head closer; the size of his head alone made Alan seem like a child.

[I’ll pick the second option. Use [Possession], and wake that bastard up. He’ll be the one to convince me.]

A moment of silence appeared, as Valus waited for Alan to use [Possession]. He could force the usage of the skill, but he didn’t want to. He wanted the boy to use it himself and realize what he did.

Had he not been an idiot, he would already have received his answers. But he had to go and threaten a supreme being. Worse, as much as Valus wanted to blame him, he really couldn’t.

In his position, he may have done the same. Nevertheless, it did feel good to beat him up. It was something that healed his wounded soul.

Meanwhile, Alan was drowning in regret and sadness. The Black Sea may have taken a toll on him, or perhaps it was just him. He had messed things up; regardless, he did trust Aranus to make something out of it.

’I fucked it up... But hopefully you don’t.’

He hadn’t thought Valus would be ready to give him the answers instead, and honestly, he wasn’t keen on the third scenario. Therefore, this was probably how he had expected it all to go. Although he had no idea why the Supreme being was so keen on beating the shit out of him.

Was it some sort of revenge for Aranus killing him so many times? If it was, then Alan couldn’t make sense of it. Sure, he had the same face and build, but he wasn’t Aranus... Why take it out on him?

Just because of the beating he took, he was planning to urge Aranus to beat the shit out of Valus as well, A sort of personal revenge.

’Here goes nothing.’

[Skill: Possession has been used.]

-----

In the realm of the Soul Sea, James sighed and looked up at the Black Star. The Soul Sea began to shake, and numerous threads of green escaped his fingertips. They formed a globe around the Blue Star with a Golden core.

The shaking became worse, and parts of Alan’s soul sea broke apart as the Black Star rumbled with power. After a while, it stopped, and the Black Star split open.

Aranus fell out of it, onto the cushion of green threads James had made for him. Dazed, he sluggishly opened his eyes, wondering what was happening.

”Good morning, you got work to do.”

He turned his head to James, who explained.

”The kid used [Possession], Valus is waiting for you.”

Aranus let out a groan and used his arms to support his stiff body. He stretched for a while and asked.

”Does this mean that?”

”Yes, it’s time.”

The response was immediate, Aranus sighed.

’Just like you.’

James sat down on a chair he made with his strings, and said.

”It’s finished, I just have to talk to her now. You sure you want me to do this?”

”Would you rather deal with Valus?”

James turned his head.

”Fair enough, just go already. I’ll promise I won’t do anything bad to her.”

Aranus remained silent for a while, shook his head with exhaustion, and descended on Alan’s body, at the same time, James went inside the Blue Star with a Golden core.