Echoes of the Abyssal Blade: Path to Free Will-Chapter 47: Pride Precedes the Plunge

The abomination ultimately finishing its opponents made it satisfied, it then moved back to the mountainous area where an altar was already present, almost reaching the altar its hand started forming some symbols, which evoked a reaction from the nondescript altar.

The altar glowed in crimson shadow, and its glyph of the broken eye was flickering continuously, at the same time on the battlefield where lay the corpses of the beasts, their leader, and ancestors as well as most of their members who were alive were shivering in fear, not daring to leave.

From below them, tiny tendrils of crimson shadow started to grow, all of them piercing the corpses as well as the living beast’s bodies all over the area, which started forming the same glyph of broken eyes on their bodies one by one.

None of them could feel such changes happening, meanwhile, Jonan and his cohort members, who were near the altar, didn’t dare to breathe, praying for the abomination to not notice them at all.

Unfortunately, their prayers were unanswered as after completing its ritual, the abomination shifted back, and with its creepy voice, it said, "Human mice, what’s the use of hiding, Hasn’t the demise of the bestial tribes made you understand my majesty?"

Elias flinched, "cursing everyone in his heart to be in such an embarrassing position, where he cannot even face the opponent."

The abomination smiled, and without uttering another word, it whipped its tail behind it, where Jonan and his cohort lay.

Edric grabbed Marla, and moved to the right side instantly, while Elias grabbed Jonan, and moved to the left, knowing they wouldn’t be able to move in time, they instantly made their decision.

Jonan was still frozen in shock from the abomination’s attack, before it was a bit far, so he was still able to calm himself down, but now facing the might of the abomination in its transformed state, he couldn’t even breathe properly.

Marla was in a similar situation, while she was stronger than Jonan, she didn’t have the life-and-death experience of someone like Edric and Elias.

Completely visible to the abomination, it reeled in laughter, "Hahaha, such pathetic beings all you humans are, and here I thought I would be facing someone formidable, haha, what made you garbages worthy of being in my presence."

"Well, you all just stay here obediently, I cannot have my meals fully ready and not eaten," grinned the abomination.

Confusion clouded Jonan and his cohort’s faces, they were not able to comprehend its meaning, and why was it leaving them alive, but they were sure, they could not leave now that they were in its sight.

The abomination in the meantime was rushing rapidly back towards the battlefield, opening its mouth in glee, it jumped on and started feasting on the corpses of the beasts, whereas the beasts who were alive couldn’t do anything, as it started feasting on the flesh and blood of its ancestor and leader, and it was also moving in devouring every single one of them.

The abomination crouched low, its fangs were gleaming jutting from a malformed maw, and drool was hissing against the blood-soaked earth as it lunged forward, tearing into the chest cavity of one of the ancestors of the beast, it was a sickening sight to see, as crunching voices echoed across the field as ribs and bones were shattering beneath its bite, and it feasted like a starved god.

It didn’t just eat, it savored, each morsel was deliberate, each swallow followed by guttural groans of pleasure, repelling steam rose from the bodies, as a nauseating mix of blood vapor and spiritual residue, as the abomination gorged itself on not just flesh, but the essence of these beasts, It was feeding on more than life, it was feasting on their emotions, will and their last act of defiance.

Wherever it passed, the earth warped, the grass beneath the corpses wilted into blackened husks, and crimson tendrils flickered and danced like flames across its back, flaring each time it swallowed a beast whole, it moved methodically across the battlefield, tearing torsos from limbs, cracking skulls between its jaws, and slurping marrow like soup from the remains of the ancestral beasts.

The living beasts, the pitiful few, just watched in horror, immobilized by shadowy glyphs of broken eye etched into their flesh, their muscles wouldn’t respond, and their lungs barely functioned, yet their eyes remained wide open as they witnessed their progenitors defiled before them.

The abomination grinned after each victim, and its form began to shift, the scale of it all changed, the thickness of its limbs, the sheen of its skin, the dark halos of shadow that hovered above its head like crowned serpents, with more it devoured, it pulsed with more energy, its aura started to stretch wider, darkening the sky itself, the glyph of the broken eye started to form on its chest, and a twisted growl sounding from its belly as it easily absorbed everything it ate.

Its tail grew longer, more segmented, like a serpent with no end, rimson cracks spiderwebbed across its body, glowing hotter with every meal, by the time it reached the leader of the beastial tribes, their body still intact but lifeless, it approached almost reverently.

It knelt.

For a breathless moment, there was silence, then, with slow precision, it drove a clawed hand into the leader’s chest and ripped free the heart, the organ was still faintly glowing with residual ancestral essence.

The abomination opened its mouth wide and consumed it in a single bite.

A blinding surge of dark crimson light erupted from its body, cascading like waves across the battlefield, the living beasts screamed silently, unable to move, as their own glyphs flared in response, the abomination turned toward them, smiling serenely.

And then it ate them too.

One by one.

Like cattle.

Their blood watered the already saturated field, and their deaths, like the rest, were slow, and ritualistic, with every bite, the glyph on its chest grew more solid, more defined, with every death, the air grew heavier, pressing in like a storm pregnant with malice.

By the time the last beast’s eyes dimmed, the abomination stood fully transformed, nearly twice its original height, it now towered above the ruined battlefield, its lower half had fully merged with a colossal serpentine body, rippling with obsidian scales, two draconic arms jutted from its torso, talons long enough to rake the sky, its head bore a crown of writhing hornlike shadows, and its eyes, once empty pits, now glowed with smoldering red light.

Jonan and his cohort had watched it all.

They hadn’t moved, not an inch, they didn’t dare to.

They were not hidden anymore, not truly, they were near the altar, their backs against the stone wall, barely breathing, their weapons remained sheathed, useless, Marla’s hands trembled at her sides, her eyes blank, Elias had a blade drawn, but it might as well have been a twig, Edric’s jaw was clenched so tight it bled.

Jonan couldn’t feel his limbs.

He had watched such powerful beings be devoured, watched ancestors reduced to meat for consumption, and what was this evil ritual, about which he had never heard of, while the beast race does have rituals, but it’s for making a contract with the spirits, he watched as every tribe that was thriving for who knows how long, simply vanish beneath the maw of this... this thing.

And now it was coming back.

The abomination slithered across the ruined valley, its enormous tail leaving burning trenches in its wake, its breath fogged the air, heavy with the scent of decay and power, the glowing glyphs on its body flickered in unison with the altar’s runes.

As it arrived, the altar itself awoke, its stone began to ripple as if alive, the glyph of the broken eye flared crimson, and then it began spinning, its runic rings unlocking one by one, floating in the air.

The abomination raised both hands and began to chant, using its soul essence to perform this ceremony.

Jonan and the others could only watch.

Its power began to condense, coalescing into its chest like a forge ready to explode, swirls of shadow converged around its body, absorbing the remnants of spiritual energy left across the battlefield, even the air itself seemed to fracture, breaking into shards of light and shadow as the abomination began ascending toward the next realm, evolving past even its monstrous form.

They were witnessing the birth of something new, something worse.

Yet right at that moment, when the abomination was filled with pride, feeling gleeful about its ascension, its inexperience once again proved to be his ruin.

A sudden sting in the air, a tremor that didn’t belong to the abomination’s power.

From nowhere, came slicing through the sky like a leaf cascading through wind, came a glint, it was a pitch black knife.

It was silent, yet deadly, and faster than anyone could comprehend.

It struck the abomination squarely in the head, the blade didn’t clang or bounce, it embedded itself in, and with a hiss and a flicker of unnatural energy, it buried itself deep into the center of the abomination’s skull, right between the glowing eyes.

The glyphs all around the altar spasmed.

The chant stopped.

The light disappeared.

The abomination reeled backward with a shriek, something between a dying rooster, it shrieked in agony.

"WHO DARES..." it bellowed, black ichor spilling from its mouth like blood.