NOVPUB
Chapter 299: 299
They were coming. They were coming for him.
He fell to his knees, clutching his head as the whispers grew louder, more insistent. He could almost make out the words now, though they were distorted, twisted, like something speaking through water.
The dreams had shown him glimpses of them—figures with too many eyes, too many mouths, limbs bending in impossible angles, their voices a chorus of suffering and madness. And now they were here, standing just beyond the veil, watching him, whispering to him, waiting for the right moment to break through.
Suddenly, the whispers stopped. The silence was deafening.
Mahlon looked up, his breath coming in ragged gasps. The room was still again, but different—darker, the corners filled with shadows that moved on their own.
And then he saw it. Standing in the center of the room again, a figure, tall and grotesque. Its body was an amalgamation of flesh and shadow, constantly shifting, its features warping and distorting as if trying to take on form but never quite succeeding. Where its face should have been, there was only a void, a deep, hollow blackness that seemed to pull at the edges of reality.
Mahlon couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. He felt the weight of its presence, pressing down on him, suffocating him. The void where its face should have been seemed to reach out to him, pulling him in, and for a moment, he felt himself slipping, his mind unraveling.
The whispers returned, louder than ever. This time, he could understand them.
"You are ours."
This human mage wasn’t the only one experiencing such a phenomenon. Others marked by the counterpart were also plagued by nightmares as the hole widened, their presence becoming more apparent.
Mahu, despite her differences with Björn, had the presence of mind to pay him a visit to ask for help. However, she was stunned when she saw his current state.
Mahu was allowed into Björn’s realm, and the growth in his power was evident. The sky bled red, broken war weapons littered the landscape, and a blood mist seeped from the sea of blood surrounding the area. Compared to when he first ascended, his realm had expanded significantly.
As Mahu looked around, she was startled by a scream of pain. Turning toward the sound, she saw Björn sitting on his throne. In one of his hands was a gauntlet, steaming and eroding his skin, with light leaking from it.
Mahu could hear the sizzling sound from the gauntlet, but Björn seemed unfazed by the pain. Instead, he clutched his head, roaring like a madman.
It seemed Mahu’s presence caught his attention. He looked toward her with blood-red eyes, and the oppressive weight of being in another god’s realm descended upon her.
With a growl, Björn shot up from his throne and descended toward Mahu. Frowning, Mahu summoned a pillar of ice from the ground, lifting Björn into the sky. At the same time, behind her, a replica of the moon appeared, bearing the weight of the realm on her behalf.
Björn roared, punching at the ice pillar, but it did nothing as it carried him upward before stopping. A hand sprouted from Björn’s back as a spear flew into his grasp.
The weapon, covered in thick red energy, spun like a drill, cracking the ice. Björn punched with his other hand, shattering the pillar.
As the ice broke, it dissolved into a cold mist. Björn, uncaring, fell from the sky with his fists clenched. Mahu raised her hand, summoning a brilliant barrier of lunar light. Björn’s gauntleted fist smashed into the barrier, sending shockwaves across the landscape.
The barrier rippled but held firm. Mahu raised an eyebrow, feeling something grab her ankle. She looked down to see a corpse climbing out of the sea of blood beneath her.
Distracted, the barrier shielding her broke. Mahu’s eyes widened as the corpse’s cold, decayed fingers tightened around her ankle, dragging her toward the blood. She barely had time to react before Björn’s overwhelming force sent her flying backward, crashing into a jagged rock formation that jutted out like twisted metal.
Snarling, Björn landed on the blood-soaked ground, his body radiating raw, chaotic energy. The blood mist pulsed in sync with his breaths, thick with violence and madness. The gauntlet on his hand hissed and steamed, but he paid it no mind. His focus was solely on Mahu, who struggled to free herself from the corpse’s grip.
Mahu gritted her teeth, her lunar magic flaring as her body shimmered with a soft, silvery glow. The moon replica behind her grew brighter, its light cutting through the bloody haze. She waved her hand, and a crescent arc of light sliced cleanly through the corpse’s arm, freeing her leg. Rising to her feet, her expression fierce, she conjured a swarm of ice shards that whirled like a storm, each sharp enough to cleave through stone.
"Björn, you’re not yourself!" Mahu shouted, her voice cutting through the oppressive weight of the realm. "You must fight it!"
But Björn’s blood-red eyes showed no recognition, his mind consumed by the chaotic energy coursing through him. He charged at her again, the gauntlet leaving a fiery trail in its wake. The spear in his other hand crackled with malevolent energy, its tip aimed straight at her heart. 𝔫𝖔𝔳𝔭𝔲𝔟.𝖈𝔬𝔪
Mahu reacted instantly. The ground beneath her froze as she summoned a vast, mirror-like surface of ice. With a flick of her wrist, the ice reflected the blinding light of her moon, creating a dazzling explosion that temporarily blinded Björn. He growled in frustration, swinging his spear wildly, narrowly missing her as she darted away, leaving glowing afterimages in her wake.
"You’re letting it consume you," Mahu murmured, her voice soft but sorrowful as she stood at a distance. Among her siblings, she was the only one who had ever felt the threat of being overwhelmed by one’s own divinity.
Mahu’s lips curled into a sad smile as she gazed at Björn’s tormented form, the raw divinity coursing through him stirring something deep within her. Memories of her own struggle, when her siblings had pulled her back from the brink of being consumed by her divinity, resurfaced. But unlike her, Björn had no one to save him.
"Poor Björn," Mahu said mockingly, her eyes gleaming with malicious intent as she stepped forward, ice spreading in her wake. "You’re nothing but a puppet now, thrashing in your chains. No one’s here to help you."
Her voice softened, almost taunting. "But lucky for you, I’ve been in a bad mood lately."
She raised her hand, and the moonlight behind her intensified, casting long shadows across the blood-drenched battlefield. Her serious expression betrayed the cold calculation behind her smile. Mahu didn’t truly care about Björn’s well-being. His pain was a boon, a way to vent her frustration while dealing with a problem that could ultimately work to her advantage. If she could break him, she might pull him from Murmur’s grasp—or at least beat him into submission long enough to make him useful.
"Two birds with one stone," she mused, her tone dripping with cruel delight. "I get to beat you senseless and help you crawl out of your misery, all at once."
Björn roared again, the light from the gauntlet glowing as his body convulsed. The twisted spirits around him screamed louder, their forms distorting as if feeding off his agony. His spear ignited with dark red energy, and he lunged at Mahu with terrifying speed, his eyes filled with nothing but madness.
Mahu’s expression hardened. With a snap of her fingers, towering pillars of ice erupted from the ground, forming a labyrinth around them. Each pillar reflected the cold light of her moon, trapping Björn in a maze of shimmering ice. As he slashed wildly at the walls, Mahu moved gracefully, her figure gliding through the maze as if dancing, always staying one step ahead.
"You’re not even worth a challenge like this," she taunted, her voice echoing through the icy walls. "But I suppose it’ll be fun to watch you try."
Björn’s spear finally shattered one of the ice pillars, and he charged forward, his body radiating chaotic energy. But Mahu was already prepared. With a wave of her hand, the moon above her flared with brilliance, and beams of concentrated lunar energy shot down from the sky, each one aimed precisely at the cracks in his armor.
The beams slammed into Björn, forcing him to his knees, the ground beneath him shaking as his power clashed with Mahu’s lunar energy. He roared in defiance, trying to rise, but the weight of Mahu’s energy bore down on him like the weight of the heavens.
Mahu’s sadistic smile returned as she approached, her eyes glinting with cold amusement. "Look at you. The great Björn, brought to his knees." She crouched down, her face inches from his as she whispered, "If you want to survive this, you’d better start listening."
Björn’s chest heaved, his breath ragged, but his blood-red eyes locked onto hers with fury. The gauntlet on his hand pulsed violently, but Mahu was no longer concerned with the pain it caused him.
