CHAPTER:6 [Corrupt Celestial]
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
Bang… Clack… Crack!
Kai slammed into solid ground at bone-shattering speed. The force of the fall exploded through his ribs like glass under a hammer. He blacked out instantly.
Hours later, Kai woke up in complete darkness. He rubbed his eyes and clutched his broken ribs, struggling to stand. Every breath felt like knives in his lungs. He summoned Nia with a desperate thought.
A white glitchy screen appeared before him.
(What is this place?!)
He was in the worst possible shape. His sword was gone, his armor was torn to shreds, and his mask had vanished somewhere in the fall.
Nia answered.
(I know that much, but we should be floating! There's a surface here!)
Darkness stretched as far as the eye could see. Kai struggled forward, but the damage from the fall wasn't limited to his ribs — his legs felt shattered. Desperate for relief, he forced his Shapeless Shield inside his body and tried to piece the crushed bones back together. Surprisingly, the strange gene in his blood began repairing the damage. It wasn't much, but it was enough for him to limp forward.
He wandered aimlessly through the eternal darkness, forgetting even the spot where he had fallen. Instead of waiting for rescue, he decided to carve his own path in this endless void.
After hours of painful searching, he finally heard a screeching sound — metal grinding against stone. Kai moved cautiously toward the noise. In the distance, he saw the silhouette of a humanoid figure polishing a blade that was already on its last leg, barely deserving to be called a sword.
He approached and called out,
"Hello… excu—"
The creature suddenly whipped its head toward him. Blood-red pupils, maddened by pure frenzy, glowed in the deep shadows. Kai instinctively jumped back and entered a battle stance, conjuring a sword made of mana.
The creature stood up from its resting position and violently scraped the blade it had been polishing.
(Nia, identify it!)
Click… click… click… click…
Kai clicked his tongue, cursing his rotten fate. The Celestial suddenly lunged at him with impossible speed. It was already pitch black, but now it was a blur of pure violence. The creature came like thunder and punched Kai so hard it sent him flying through the void.
Baaanggg!
Kai crashed into the ground in a disarray of pain. Before he could even figure out which part of his body hurt the most, the blood-red eyes appeared directly above him. The Celestial punched straight at his face. Kai flinched on instinct and countered with a desperate punch of his own, barely dodging the blow.
He scrambled to his feet and created some distance, entering a battle stance again as he conjured a sword. The Celestial tilted its head and spoke with a hoarse, monstrous voice that sent chills down his spine.
"Kkkk… iiiii… dddd… yo… u… a… re… r… ea… l… l… y… s… om… e… thi… ng…"
The distorted words distracted Kai for a split second. That was all the Celestial needed. It closed the gap in an instant. Kai saw the blood-red eyes vanish and reappear right in front of him.
The Celestial grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground with monstrous strength, cutting off all airflow. Kai's eyes bulged, veins popping across his face as it turned crimson.
He gasped out in a strangled voice,
"Ceh… les… tial… mah… de… ha… pha… ctt… whi… thh… hooo… manss… whh… y… arh… e… yoo… h… doh… ing… ts… ss… (Celestials made a pact with humans… why are you doing this?)"
The Celestial tilted its head and answered with that same monster-like voice,
"Be… c… au… se… I… caaa… nn…"
With that, it ripped Kai's armor apart like wet paper. It straightened a finger and drove it straight into Kai's chest. Kai couldn't breathe, couldn't scream properly — he could only quiver like a hanged man.
Gurgle… fssshhh… Aaaaaaaaaaa!
Kai screamed with the last bit of air left in his lungs as a fountain of blood erupted from his mouth. The Celestial held his still-beating heart in its hand inside his body.
Gurgle… gurgle… gurgle…
Fsssh… fsssh… fsssh…
Kai could only open his mouth in silent agony as blood poured out like a broken faucet.
Nia's alarms blared nonstop, but she could do nothing.
The Celestial punctured the heart with its thumb and stared into Kai's eyes as the light slowly faded. It pulled its hand out of his chest and casually threw his lifeless body aside.
Kai's corpse rolled across the ground like a broken doll.
END OF CHAPTER:6