Chapter 127 ‒ Beneath the Sands, Beyond the Self
Chapter 127 ‒ Beneath the Sands, Beyond the Self
A low, guttural sound ripped from Tyler’s throat. His limbs twitched violently against the sand. Red sparks slithered beneath his skin like serpents, pulsing brighter and brighter until they exploded into a furious crimson aura. His back arched, fingers clawing at the ground as if grasping for something unseen.
Then — his eyes snapped open. Twin pools of savage, unearthly red, gleaming with a hunger that was no longer human.
He drew in a single, shuddering breath — sharp, jagged, like a predator catching the scent of blood. Sand and dust spiralled around him in a chaotic vortex, repelled by the raw force now radiating from his body. The hall quaked in eerie silence, as though the entire labyrinth was holding its breath.
[Activated Skill: Berserk]
With a thunderous snarl, Tyler lunged forward. The first wave of Thamutekh’s clones had no time to react. His blades swung in feral arcs, tearing through the first clone’s head and shoulders in a blur of motion. The sand that made up its body didn’t even have time to fall before Tyler pivoted on his heel, slicing through the second clone’s waist, bisecting it cleanly.
The third clone raised its sceptre in futile defence. Tyler slammed into it, shoulder-first, driving it backward, then thrust both blades through its core. The clone collapsed into a pile of sand, vanishing beneath Tyler’s monstrous footsteps.
He did not pause to breathe. His body moved with a nightmarish rhythm — a puppet guided by a single, bloodthirsty string. Sparks danced along his armour’s cracks, illuminating his contorted, feral grin.
Thamutekh’s molten eyes gleamed with an unsettling fascination. “Spectacular… show me more!”
He slammed his sceptre into the ground. Three more clones arose, slightly larger and emanating an even more menacing aura.
Tyler charged, each footstep pounding like a war drum. His blades moved in a frenzy, slicing into the first clone’s throat and twisting violently to shatter its entire head. A torrent of sand burst outward as he spun toward the second.
The second clone barely managed to raise its sceptre before Tyler was on it, shoving it backward with a savage roar. He slammed the hilt of his sword into its jaw, then leaped above and brought both blades down in an X-shaped slash. The clone split apart, its sand body disintegrating midair.
The third clone lunged at him from behind. Tyler didn’t even look. He swung his sword backward, cutting into its chest, then whipped around and kicked it square in the head. The clone flew back, crashing into a pillar, exploding into a sandstorm.
---
Suddenly — darkness.
Tyler’s consciousness snapped open. He found himself floating in a vast, silent void. A black sea stretched endlessly below him, shimmering faintly as if reflecting stars that weren’t there. Above, a churning sky of dark mist coiled and folded into itself, forever shifting yet always silent.
He looked down at himself — no armour, no weapons, only his raw self. His hands trembled.
“Where… am I?”
Through a thin, shimmering film in the void, he saw flashes — glimpses of his own body tearing through the clones. Movements that were once precise now twisted, each strike a wild, beast-like swing. He watched in horror as his own body fought, snarling and roaring like an enraged animal.
Around him, the darkness seemed to breathe. It pulsed in and out like a colossal lung, each inhale drawing him deeper into its suffocating embrace. The silence gnawed at his ears, a dreadful hush that made every heartbeat echo like a war drum.
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“Stop… please stop… that’s not me!”
He pressed his palms against the shimmering barrier, but it felt like cold glass — solid, unyielding. His voice echoed in the darkness, but the body on the other side did not slow. It hunted, slashed, and tore with an ecstasy that made his stomach churn.
“Please… no… that’s not me. That can’t be me…” His mind screamed, but no sound passed the barrier. A crushing guilt coiled around his ribs, each breath a dagger to his lungs.
A hush blanketed the void. Even his breaths felt swallowed by it, like the world itself refused to acknowledge his cries. His fingers scraped at the barrier, leaving no mark.
“I can’t… I can’t reach it…”
The void seemed to pulse, as if mocking his weakness. He pounded on the unseen wall until his knuckles felt raw, but there was no pain here — only a hollow echo that vanished into the infinite black.
---
Thamutekh’s sceptre thudded against the ground once more.
[Enemies Identified: Thamutekh Clone, Level 250 x3]
Three towering mounds of sand rose, dwarfing even the previous clones. They solidified into colossal forms — each a monstrous replica of Thamutekh, their sceptres longer than pillars, their eyes ablaze with molten malice.
Tyler’s eyes locked onto them, his mouth twisting into a savage, almost delighted grin.
[Activated Skill: Gigantify]
A violent pulse surged through him. His bones cracked, armour plates split and warped to accommodate his rapidly expanding frame. He rose upward until his head met the towering clones eye to eye. Sparks showered around him as the metal plates fused into new, jagged patterns.
The first clone swung. Tyler met it head-on, grabbing the sceptre with one hand. He roared and pulled, snapping it in half like a twig, before plunging his blade into the clone’s face. The sand monster exploded backward, chunks of its form shattering across the chamber.
The second clone lunged from the side. Tyler twisted and landed a titanic punch to its chest, caving it inward. A shockwave rippled outward, crushing the monster into a crater of swirling dust.
The third clone charged, but Tyler’s rage-fuelled eyes locked on it. He spun, delivering a crushing elbow to its jaw, then seized it by the throat and hurled it across the hall. It smashed into a wall, collapsing in an avalanche of sand.
[Activated Skill: Firestorm]
An inferno erupted around him, a swirling tornado of flames devouring every lingering sand fragment. The hall turned into a furnace, orange and red reflections glinting off every scorched surface. Clones shrieked as they burned into ash, leaving only smouldering embers drifting downward.
[+810 XP]
[Level Up! Tyler Level 163 → 180]
[Attribute Points: +17]
Thamutekh stumbled backward, his molten eyes wide, sceptre trembling in his hands. He raised it weakly, as if to shield himself.
Tyler’s gaze snapped to it. In an instant, he lunged forward, his massive hand smashing into Thamutekh’s chest. The sceptre flew into the air, spinning.
Tyler dashed past him, catching the sceptre mid-air, twisting around in a single fluid, monstrous motion. With a thunderous cry, he slammed it onto the floor. The sceptre shattered, fragments scattering like shards of a broken star.
Thamutekh fell to his knees, his claws scraping against the stone floor. The hall fell deathly silent.
He looked up at Tyler with fading, molten eyes. “You hunt keys and conquer sands, yet your greatest labyrinth is not these shifting halls — it lies within. When you face the blood-soaked shadow in your mirror, do not flee. Look deep. For only then will you glimpse who truly wields the blade.”
Tyler stood above him, hand raised, fingers curled like a blade ready to strike. Sparks crawled across his palm, casting red shadows over Thamutekh’s defeated face.
---
The void shivered again. Tyler’s consciousness shifted, and he found himself still inside that darkness — but now, something was different.
A faint, rhythmic echo surrounded him, like a heartbeat deep underground. He turned — and froze.
Emerging from the black mist was another figure: his exact form, but wrong. Its eyes burned a violent, pulsating red. Its skin was torn and gashed in countless places, dark steam rising from each wound as if his body were a furnace of malice.
“No… stay back… what… what are you…?”
The other Tyler grinned, mouth splitting wider than seemed possible, revealing serrated teeth dripping with black ichor.
Tyler stepped back, his voice shaking. “Stop… give me back my body… please…”
The other Tyler tilted his head, grin widening further. He took one deliberate step forward, the mist parting around his feet.
Then, with a voice like broken glass scraping over stone, he spoke: “Go away.”
As the other Tyler approached, the void seemed to darken, each footstep leaving ripples of red in the black mist. Tyler felt an invisible weight on his chest, as if the space itself wanted to crush him. A part of him yearned to reach out, to reclaim that power — and yet, another part recoiled, terrified at the abyss glaring back through those burning eyes.
He reached out and slammed a massive black iron door between them. The thunderous echo of its impact rang through the darkness, rattling Tyler’s very soul.
Tyler fell backward, hands outstretched, eyes wide in horror. Beyond the door, he saw one last glimpse: his own hand, still raised above Thamutekh, trembling with savage anticipation.
Then — everything went black.