Chapter 85. Necrotize Vs Xath’rael
Necrotize looked down at Elizabeth. Blood still ran from her nose and mouth, several parts of her body were burned, and there was no light left in her eyes. And yet, in that state, something strange had settled over her face, the corners of her mouth curved faintly upward. A smile. A smile of relief.
Then Necrotize turned his gaze to Lyra, lying beside her. Wounds covered her body in countless places, and below her left elbow, her arm was simply gone, blood still pouring steadily from the stump. Her whole body had gone pale from blood loss. Even in that state, she looked up at him, tears welling in her eyes, and spoke.
"Necrotize, you’re finally back."
That was all. The moment she finished speaking, her head fell back against the ground. She’d lost consciousness. He looked at the two of them for a long moment before turning his gaze out over the clearing. Bodies of students lay scattered across every part of it, dismembered torsos, spilled organs, severed heads littering the entire area. The ground beneath it all was soaked entirely in blood, a river of it cutting through the dirt. Then his eyes fell on one particular severed head. A girl’s head, black hair, green eyes. He’d spent the entire day with this girl. They’d hunted together. And now, all that remained of her was this severed head, lying in the dirt, no light left in her eyes at all. That girl was Hana.
A short distance away, he spotted another body. Alana’s. She, too, lay lifeless on the ground. Along with her, he recognized the bodies of several other students he’d come to know over the past week. As he took in the scene, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching quickly from his right. He turned his head toward the sound.
A blond-haired boy was running toward him. He arrived, breathless, and came to a stop beside him.
"Lord Necrotize, you’re finally here."
Dominic felt relieved after seeing him. But suddenly his expression become grim.
"Lord, nearly everyone here is dead. None of us were able to stand against it."
Dominic’s gaze drifted briefly to Hana and Alana’s bodies. He’d held himself together this entire time, but now, in Necrotize’s presence, he could no longer contain it. Tears welled up and spilled from his eyes.
"I... I wasn’t able to save them. Any of them. They died... they died right in front of me, and I couldn’t do anything. It’s all my fault. If... if I’d just been a little stronger, maybe then..."
Dominic said this through his tears.
"You did well, Dominic. Don’t take it all onto yourself. I know you did everything you could to save them. So don’t blame yourself."
After saying this, Necrotize turned his gaze to the monster standing before him. His eyes remained completely calm, fixed on Xath’rael with a sharp, steady focus. Then he turned to Dominic, standing beside him.
"How much time has passed since I left?"
The question caught Dominic off guard, but he thought it over and answered as best he could.
"I’m not entirely sure, my lord. It felt like an eternity had passed. This monster cast some kind of spell over all of us, so I can’t say for certain how much time has actually gone by since you left. But if I had to guess, I’d say around ten minutes."
Hearing this, Necrotize felt something settle firmly in his mind. Then he asked one last question.
"How long ago did the first death here occur?"
Dominic didn’t understand why he was asking such a specific question, but he did his best to answer.
"That would have been about seven minutes ago, I think."
Hearing this, Necrotize felt a quiet sense of reassurance settle over him.
I still have time.
"Thank you, Dominic. You may rest now. You’ve been through a great deal. Leave the rest to me."
Necrotize slid his hands into his pockets and began walking slowly toward Xath’rael. Watching him approach, Xath’rael tightened its grip on its remaining blades and asked.
"What... what are you?"
A faint sheen of red sweat had begun beading across Xath’rael’s body. It was experiencing a sensation it had never felt in its entire existence. Fear.
Necrotize heard the question, and answered it.
"What am I, you ask? I am Destruction."
Xath’rael couldn’t quite process what it had just heard. Before it could, it heard another question directed at it.
"Now tell me, who are you?"
Hearing this, Xath’rael swallowed hard. It didn’t want to answer. But something inside it compelled the words out of its mouth regardless.
"I am Xath’rael. Beast of the Crimson Void."
Necrotize kept walking, hands still in his pockets. But the moment he heard the answer, he came to a stop. He lifted his head and looked directly into Xath’rael’s eyes.
"Xath’rael. I believe I’ve heard that name somewhere before."
Standing there, he turned the name over in his mind, and then it came to him.
"Oh, right. You’re the insect that wreaked havoc on this planet thirty thousand years ago. But if I recall correctly, you were killed by that brat Luna. Why are you still here?"
He pieced together a few missing details in his mind, and the answer came to him.
"Death’s followers, so their grand plan, after teleporting me outside the universe, was simply to revive an insect. And here I was, assuming Death would send something more challenging to face me. Guess I was wrong."
Then something shifted in Necrotize’s gaze. His brilliant violet eyes, which had been calm only moments before, now carried something far more terrifying within them. The instant Xath’rael saw that change reflected in those violet eyes, a chill swept through its entire body. It still had no idea who, or what stood before it, this being that dared call Goddess Luna a "brat." But as it stared into those brilliant violet eyes a moment longer, something suddenly clicked into place in its mind.
It remembered an old legend from its home region, one it had heard long ago. The being with otherworldly violet eyes. An aura so intimidating it could stop reality itself. A being whose will was strong enough to unmake reality entirely. A being before whom even the gods themselves prostrates. The embodiment of destruction.
Necrotize.
The instant Xath’rael recognized who stood before it, its entire body began to shake. It couldn’t understand why a being like this would be here at all, what he was doing among these students, or why he’d come to this place. There was no reason an ancient origin should ever set foot here. So what was he doing in this forest? Question after question spun through Xath’rael’s mind, and it couldn’t find an answer to a single one of them.
Yes, it had heard once, long ago, that The Ancient Origin of Destruction lived somewhere in this world. But it had never truly believed it. There had never been any reason for such a being to live here, it had never once encountered him anywhere on this planet, not even thirty thousand years ago. So it had dismissed the notion entirely, pushing it out of its mind.
And yet here he stood, right in front of it now, dressed in the same uniform as the rest of the students. But as Xath’rael continued staring at him, it felt a strange surge of power flooding into its own body, a surge so overwhelming that warmth spread through every inch of it. In its shock at Necrotize’s presence, it had entirely forgotten one important fact.
It had just killed someone with an immeasurable fate. In its entire existence, it had never killed anyone whose fate carried that kind of weight before. But now that it had, the power flooding through its body was growing at an unimaginable rate, a sensation it had never experienced before in its life. Not even thirty thousand years ago, when it had claimed nearly a hundred and fifty million lives, had it ever felt anything like this. It was as though its strength had multiplied hundreds of times over in an instant. It now felt so powerful that it believed it could level the entire world in mere moments, if it wished.
As that power surged through it, the fear that had gripped it moments before began to fade away. Its dread of the being standing before it started to dissolve. It no longer regarded him as any real threat. Its strength had grown so immense that it now believed it could kill the very being standing in front of it. And with that thought came another, if it could kill him, it could become an ancient origin itself. It could stand as an equal to Death. And then, it could truly pledge its loyalty, could become his servant in the truest sense.
Xath’rael turned these thoughts over and over in its mind, and a twisted smile spread across its face, its mandibles twitching with anticipation. The moment Necrotize noticed the surge in Xath’rael’s power, he immediately stepped backward, positioning himself in front of Elizabeth and Lyra’s bodies. He stood there, watching Xath’rael, his eyes narrowing slightly at what he saw.
Studying it for a moment, one thing became certain in his mind. Whatever was happening now, it didn’t look good. Things were starting to look, at the very least, somewhat uncertain.