World Awakening: The Legendary Player-Chapter 129: Corrupted

Nox walked to the edge of the massive sinkhole, with Mela and Serian following a few steps behind him. The chasm was a deep, dark hole in the middle of the ruined city.

"So, how are we supposed to get down there?" Mela asked, her arms crossed. "do you have an even more idiotic plan this time?"

Nox looked over the edge at the sheer, rocky cliffs. ’It’s a long drop, jumping would be a bad idea, even for me.’ He looked at his hands and thought about his new skill. ’Wait a minute, chains.’

He turned to them, "I’ve got it, and this plan is foolproof."

"The last time you said that, you created a bouncing shield and nearly got us all killed."

"And it was awesome, you’re just jealous you didn’t think of it." he held out his hand and activated Chains of the Abyss.

A thick, black chain, forged from void energy, shot out from his palm, snaking through the air before the hook at its end embedded itself deep into a chunk of concrete at the bottom of the sinkhole.

"See? An elevator."

Serian looked at the single, dark chain dangling into the abyss, then back at him, "Nox, that is not an elevator, that is a very thin, very magical rope, are you certain it will hold our combined weight?"

"Only one way to find out." He grabbed the chain and gave it a solid yank. It felt very sturdy. "It’s fine, I’ll go first, you two follow, just try to keep up."

He started to climb down, his feet finding places to stand on the rocky cliff face. Serian followed him, her movements graceful and sure, while Mela came last, grumbling about reckless humans and untested magic.

They were about halfway down when the chain began to hum.

’What the hell is that sound?’

The solid void energy of the chain started to flicker, it became transparent for a second before solidifying again.

Mela, who was a few feet above him, yelled down, "Human! Your magic is unstable! What did you do?!"

"I didn’t do anything! It’s my first time using this skill!"

"You used an untested skill to rappel down a two-hundred-foot cliff?!"

The chain flickered again, more violently this time, and Nox felt his grip slip.

’Oh, crap.’

Serian, who was below him, planted her feet firmly against the cliff face, she drew her sword and slammed it deep into a crack in the rock, creating a solid place to hold. "Grab on!"

Before he could do anything, the chain broke.

They were in freefall.

The wind roared in their ears as the rocky chasm floor rushed up to meet them. Serian was too far above them, her sword a useless anchor as she watched them plummet.

"To think I ever found a reckless idiot like you handsome! This is the worst!" Mela screamed, her voice a mix of terror and pure, undiluted rage.

’Handsome? What is she talking about right now?’ he thought, completely ignoring their impending doom to focus on the more confusing issue. He reached out and grabbed the front of Mela’s tunic, pulling her close.

"Mela, get over here! Now!"

She did not hesitate, wrapping her arms around his torso in a desperate, clinging hug.

’Void Forging.’

His corrupted mana exploded outward from his body, weaving into a thick, hollow sphere of black metal that completely encased them.

The ground rushed up to meet them.

The metal sphere slammed into the rocky floor of the chasm. The impact was immense, the sound a deafening boom that echoed up the chasm walls. The hollow sphere crumpled like a tin can, the shockwave vibrating through their bones.

The forged metal shattered into a million motes of dark energy, leaving them in a heap on the ground. His head was pounding, his mana and stamina completely gone from the massive forging.

He pushed himself up, his entire body aching. Mela sat up beside him, pushing dust from her clothes.

"You reckless human! That was the most idiotic plan you have ever conceived!"

’What was that about handsome?’

"Are you okay? You hit your head pretty hard during the landing. You were screaming some weird stuff."

"I am perfectly fine! No thanks to you and your ’foolproof’ elevator!"

Serian’s voice called down from the top of the chasm. "Nox! Mela! Are you unharmed?"

"We’re fine!" Nox yelled back. He got to his feet and offered a hand to Mela. She slapped it away and stood on her own.

"Do not touch me."

Serian rappelled down the cliff face and landed beside them. "We must find the entrance to the mausoleum. We are exposed here."

"Right." He scanned the area, activating his skill. ’Void Gaze.’ He saw a faint shimmer around a section of the wall. ’There. That’s the door.’

"It’s over there."

They walked over to a large, seamless stone slab. Mela ran a hand over its surface. "It is sealed with ancient magic. The runes are dormant, but the power is immense. We will never get through this."

Nox just scoffed at her, taking a step forward. ’Ancient magic? It’s just a locked door.’ He looked at the heavy stone slab that was blocking their path. It was big, thick, and looked like it had not been moved in a thousand years.

"So what? It’s just a big rock, we can just break it down."

Mela looked at him like he was a complete idiot, her patience clearly worn thin. "You cannot ’break down’ a magically reinforced seal that is probably harder than diamond, you reckless human, your solution to everything is just to punch it."

"Hey, punching things works most of the time," he shot back, not even a little bit ashamed. He looked at the door again, a slow grin spreading across his face. "And this time, I’m gonna punch it really, really hard."

He did not wait for her to argue. He summoned the Brutalizer gauntlets. He took a deep breath, activating Primal Void. The dark, smoky energy poured from his lips, his muscles swelling with power as he pulled his fist back.

"Nox, wait!" Serian called out, but it was too late.

He punched the stone door.

The impact was a deafening, grinding roar that shook the entire chasm. The stone slab did not shatter, but a web of hairline cracks spread out from the point of impact, glowing with a faint, angry red light as the ancient runes fought back against the raw force of his blow.

The ground trembled, and he was thrown backward, his arm numb from the feedback of the magical energy.

"See?" Mela said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I told you it would not work, now you have probably just made it angry."

He just grinned, shaking his numb hand. "It cracked, didn’t it? That means it’s not unbreakable." He was about to punch it again, but Serian stepped in front of him, her hand held up.

"Wait, Nox, your way is too slow, and it will drain all of your energy before we even get inside." She turned to the door, her expression serious. "Mela is right, this is a magical seal, so we must use magic to open it."

He looked at her, then at the door. ’Magic?’

"This is a seal of the old magic, a sequence lock. My fist will do nothing." She looked at Mela. "Your mother taught you of these things, did she not?"

Mela nodded, her earlier annoyance replaced by the grim focus of a professional. "Yes. These seals are not just to keep people out. They are to keep something in. This is a prison."

’A prison?’

"It requires three distinct mana signatures to unlock," Serian continued, her fingers tracing the glowing, dormant runes. "Mine is pure. It will awaken the primary ward." She looked at Mela. "Yours is of the Ashen bloodline, it has an affinity for binding. It will release the shackle-ward."

They both turned to look at him.

"And what about me?" he asked, a little annoyed that he couldn’t just punch it.

"Your power," Serian said, her expression hesitant, "is chaos. It is a key forged from breaking things. It is the only thing that can shatter the final lock."

Mela looked worried. "His power is a corrupting force. It could overload the seal and cause it to explode."

"It is our only chance," Serian insisted, her gaze unwavering. "We do this together."

Nox just shrugged. "Fine. Just tell me where to press the ’win’ button."

Serian ignored his comment and placed her hand on a large, central rune. "Now," she commanded. She channeled her mana into the stone. The rune flared to life with a soft, golden light that spread through the cracks in the door.

"Mela, the rune to the left."

Mela placed her hand on the indicated rune. It pulsed with a smoky, deep purple light, and the sound of grinding chains echoed from within the stone.

"It is working," Mela said, a hint of surprise in her voice. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Nox, the final rune," Serian’s voice was tight with concentration. "Give it everything you’ve got."

He placed his hand on the largest rune at the top of the door. He didn’t hesitate. He unleashed a torrent of his Corrupted Mana.

The door did not open. It screamed.

It was a high-pitched, metallic shriek of magic being torn apart. The golden and purple light from the other runes flickered violently as Nox’s black energy spread across the stone like a plague, infecting the ancient wards. The cracks from his earlier punch began to glow with a furious, unstable light.

"It is overloading!" Mela yelled, trying to pull her hand away.

"Hold on!" Serian commanded, her own face pale with strain. "We are almost through!"

The stone slab did not swing open. It began to dissolve, the solid rock turning into black sand that poured away from the frame, revealing a dark, gaping doorway. But the raw, ancient magic of the seal, now twisted and corrupted by Nox’s power, had nowhere to go.

A violent backlash of chaotic energy erupted from the dissolving doorway. It was a bolt of black lightning, and it was drawn like a magnet straight toward the source of the corruption.

It slammed into Nox’s chest.

His eyes went wide. The world dissolved into a storm of error messages and screaming alarms that only he could see.

[WARNING: Unstable Ancient Magic Detected!]

[WARNING: Foreign Energy Signature Incompatible with Void-Touched Core!]

[ATTEMPTING ASSIMILATION... FAILURE!]

[CORE INTEGRITY COMPROMISED!]

[SYSTEM CORRUPTION DETECTED!]

[INITIATING EMERGENCY... SYST#M SHUTD0##.....]

[.....]

[.....r3b00t!ng.....]

The text in his vision glitched and dissolved into static. A pain unlike anything he had ever felt exploded from the inside out. It was not the pain of a wound, but the feeling of his very soul being torn apart and stitched back together with burning wire.

He screamed, a raw, agonized sound that was not human, and collapsed to his knees. Black, glitching energy, like corrupted data made real, erupted from his body in violent, uncontrolled bursts.

Serian and Mela could only watch in horror as the boy they knew was erased, replaced by a vessel of pure, screaming chaos.