Hero of Darkness

Chapter 1217: The Greatest Sinner

Argos revealed that Lucian Varangis, the Last Descendant of Kravel Varangis, the War Deity, was renowned as the Champion of God among those who knew about his existence.

Now, what did he do to achieve such a great title in the Cult of Darkborne? That part was something left to be explored by Kahn in the future during the Great War.

”So that’s why you were so excited to see me that day.” said Kahn as he connected the dots.

”Yes, young lord... Oh, I must call you the Cult Leader now.” spoke Lucian as he got on his knees and respectfully bowed his head.

”I apologize for hiding my true identity. I had to keep you out of the loop for this very moment.” he spoke and got on his feet again.

”Because what lies ahead... had to be kept a secret from the rest of the world,” he spoke in an earnest tone.

Swoosh!

Lucian summoned an epic rank dagger out of nowhere and turned around, facing the 3-meter-tall statue.

”I am the only one who can open the path to a place where you must enter, since it has been tied down to the bloodline of the honourable great ancestor.

It was an arrangement made over 3000 years ago between the imperial family and the cult.

As fate would have it... I was born within the cult and also lived long enough to see your arrival. Serving you is serving our great God of Darkness.

And I am fortunate that my life has been one with purpose in the end,” he spoke vehemently and cut his palm as he placed his dripping blood on the feet of the statue behind him.

”The ritual has already been performed by me. This was the last remaining step.” said Lucian as his blood was now being soaked by the statue, painting it red.

BOOM!

Rumble!

Crack!

The entire statue suddenly burst, and a void crack emerged in its place.

The translucent void crack with a bluish hue was akin to a black hole that sucked in world energy at a drastic rate. But at the same time, the dreary aura it released was enough to even alert people like Kahn and Vildred, who were 7th-stage saints.

Whatever lay beyond... it was dangerous.

Both Lucian and Argos nodded at Kahn as the latter simply walked in without asking another question.

Whatever was inside... it must be very important for Argos and Lucian to keep it a secret all this time.

Kahn walked towards the 3-meter-tall void crack, his clothes fluttering while he looked back at his allies.

”I’ll be back.”

******************

A harrowing silence ensued, and the world turned into a pitch-black dimension with not a single ray of light.

Snap!

Kahn snapped his fingers to summon a few fireballs to light this secret world devoid of life.

However... it didn’t work.

”What?!” questioned Kahn to himself as he came to a realization.

”No way... I can’t use world energy or any of my powers. I can’t even feel my Dimensional Law, cosmic aether, or even my bloodline abilities.” he spoke with shock.

[The system detects an overwhelming law that is suppressing the host’s powers.

System is being forcefully shut down.] quickly warned the system.

BLIP!

And just like that, Kahn lost access to his system.

”Old man, can you hear me?” questioned Kahn as he no longer felt Rathnaar’s soul in his body as well.

”What the hell is happening? I feel like I’m back to being a normal human again.” he said with a tone filled with concern.

Kahn then extended his hand and tried to summon Lucifer.

Nothing... there was no response from the legendary greatsword. And before Kahn even reacted, he sensed that Muramasa had already disappeared from his waist as well.

”Dammit! All my powers, skills, laws of reality, and weapons are gone. I feel like walking into the pit of a volcano with no clothes.” he said with an incredulous tone.

The next thing he noticed was that the space ring he wore was also gone from his fingers.

”What the hell is this world? Not even my domain is accessible, or my blessings from Kravel are working.

I’m literally walking in blind.” he spoke and tried to discern the situation around him.

Shing!

Shing!

But before he made any move, a path suddenly started glowing forward in front of him, carrying a pattern of a road within a forest, glimmering and dimming consecutively with every passing moment.

And finally... a set of massive trees arose from both sides of the road. Their veiny trunks caught Kahn’s attention, and within a few seconds, both the trees bore s big bud of their own.

Before Kahn could absorb what was happening, that bud bloomed and turned into a big flower with six large glowing blue petals.

Shing!

Shing!

The flowers spread a bright light that further revealed the road ahead as if that was their main purpose.

But in mere seconds, Kahn felt a chilling cold emanate from these flowers, instantly dropping the temperature to -10 degrees celsius.

Kahn did not waste any more time and walked forward, his eyes sharp and alert as he readied himself to face any sudden attack.

In a way, they were acting like a beacon for Kahn, guiding him towards a path he had to traverse.

Step!

Step!

A few minutes passed, and as Kahn reached the end of the light, another set of trees rose from the ground and lit up a set of blue flowers on his right side.

Kahn then instinctively followed the path without uttering a word.

Minutes passed, and then a couple of hours as Kahn kept walking without a break. He even doubted if it was some kind of illusion.

But it was reality in every sense.

”It feels like something is testing me.” he said and kept walking.

And as he kept following the path, he realized that every time a new set of trees appeared, the massive flower on it would grow an extra petal.

So far, there were already 93 petals after he took the time to analyze one.

”Let’s be patient till I hit the century.” said Kahn and carried on.

After another hour, he finally made it to the one with 100 petals.

And just as the last set of flowers lit up... both the trees arched and joined together, creating a door.

The flowers lost their blue light, and soon, the door itself started glowing with the blue light similar to them.

Kahn, without hesitation, walked right into this interdimensional door.

BLIP!

Soon, the entire surroundings changed as Kahn now saw a grand hall with majestic decor around him.

He was transported somewhere completely new and different.

The chilling cold was still there, and all the furniture had a layer of thick frost spread across it as gusts of chilling breeze hit his face.

Kahn walked forward and saw a bunch of corpses other end of this hall.

Step!

Step!

Each of his steps made noise as Kahn saw a bunch of blackened corpses, adorned in legendary armors that still had some glimmer left.

What garnered his instant attention were the thrones that he previously thought of as mere furniture from afar.

A total of twelve bodies sitting on a throne of their own, six on each side.

And each one was a human, but they all looked distinct, whether in terms of the clothes and armor they wore or the aura of the element their corpses exuded, despite being rotten.

Even their legendary weapon, held by these corpses, carried a distinct and oppressive aura despite having lost all their powers and being close to crumbling due to the rot and passage of time.

Kahn could only make a silhouette of their faces as he watched from afar.

Creak!

Suddenly, there was a movement on the other dark end of the hall that Kahn hadn’t even felt before.

”So you’re finally here. Argos did find you at the right time in this timeline.” spoke the white skinned man with cold blue lips.

At the end, he finds a man, clad in pitch-black armor with many skulls as part of its design, sitting on a black throne. His white hair and orange iris were the first noticeable features as he held a greatsword in the middle of his hands.

Yes, this person was alive, unlike the others. And his sitting position was exactly similar to the statue in the temple that Kahn used as a gateway to enter this realm.

”Who are you?” asked Kahn, his mind alert and assessing any possible dangers around him.

Soon, he noticed that this man’s figure resembled exactly to the grand statue outside exactly.

”Do you know me? And how do you know about the changes in the timeline?” asked Kahn.

”I’m but a man repenting in this cold, barren realm. I am the greatest sinner in the outside world you call Vantrea.

But more importantly... I have committed a great sin against you, in both the original and this new timeline.” said this man in a hoarse but majestic tone.

Stunned!

Kahn was shocked, and his countenance turned extremely serious as he asked...

”Who, the hell, are you?!”

”The man they all once called as...” spoke the man as he stood up from his throne and finally revealed his real identity.

”Morpheus Constantine... the 8th Hero of Darkness.”