Chapter 81: Imprisoning Darkness

  I moved as fast as I could.

  Every step sent pain lancing through my leg, the wound bleeding freely.

  I gulped down another healing potion, but outside of raising my HP, it did nothing. Usually, the wounds would heal with the potion's magic, but that wasn’t the case with Darkness’ damage.

  A Coagulation Elixir was useless as well – it didn’t stop the bleeding. So I was still losing 1% HP every five seconds.

  I could still hear Goren’s last battle cry. Still feel the explosion at my back.

  I couldn’t believe he was dead. Despite everything that happened between us, I couldn’t believe he was gone.

  One thing was certain, though – he came through. And now I had to finish my part of the mission, so his sacrifice would not be in vain.

  The chamber before me stretched endlessly.

  It was vast, the walls fading into shadow, the far end swallowed by darkness so thick that my eye couldn’t see through it.

  Something felt wrong.

  I slowed down, and then the realization hit me.

  It wasn't darkness – it was THE Darkness.

  I could feel him all around me – this entire chamber. Pix didn’t exaggerate when she said he’d expand once the Core was close to him.

  My head trembled as I pulled the Eye of Axul from the second inventory – the first step of the instructions.

  I had tried using it before, but back then – nothing happened. Now? The moment I grasped it, something changed – it glowed. I closed my hand around it and a pulse of magic raced through my arm – a sensation like fire burning through my veins.

  My left eye ignited in searing pain. The item disappeared from my hand and instead embedded itself in my skull.

  But after everything I had been through – what was a little more pain?

  I gritted my teeth, inhaled sharply, and endured.

  [Eye of Axul - Active]

  Then, I saw.

  My vision shifted.

  Where before there was endless black, now everything was clear.

  Erebus was indeed everywhere. His form stretched across the ceiling, while his tendrils twisted around the stone pillars. His body melded with the walls, the floor, even the air itself seemed darker - tainted by him.

  And at the corner of it all, stood a pulsing core. A beating, twisting, writhing heart, covered by a layer of a living shadow.

  My System recognized the heart as Gaelith’s Darkness, level 249.

  Despite the high level, I felt relieved seeing its name was still Gaelith’s Darkness. It means that wherever Gaelith disappeared to, it wasn’t into the waiting arms of Erebus.

  I took a deep breath. I knew what I had to do now.

  But Erebus sensed my resolve as well.

  The tendrils from the pillars lashed at me, seeking to skewer me where I stood.

  I rolled left, narrowly dodging one, my leg burning from the motion. Another one shot from the right, ripping off my chest plate as I twisted mid-air, barely escaping uninjured.

  I landed awkwardly, but fought through the pain, remembering the next step of the instructions.

  I summoned the ice shard – Axul’s Ice.

  [Axul’s Ice - Active]

  I rolled to the side, dodging another tendril, and then, instinctively, as if knowing this was how it worked, I smashed the ice into the ground.

  The impact sent a wave of frost surging outward.

  It ignored me entirely – as if I wasn’t even there. Instead, it raced across the chamber, along the tendrils and Erebus’ entire body, freezing them mid-motion. Suddenly, his entire massive form was covered by ice.

  All except his heart.

  I wasted no time. I pushed myself to my feet, and with Silverfang in hand I used Enhanced Blade Rush to close the distance immediately.

  I stood before his exposed heart, and then the Déjà vu System reacted.

  [All components present: Darknessbound Core, Gemstone Key, Essence of Darkness]

  [Would you like to craft the Millennium Prison?]

  [YES/NO]

  I didn’t hesitate.

  HELL YES.

  The three relics materialized before me, floating in mid-air, humming as they merged together. The Core absorbed the Key, then the Essence.

  What remained looked mostly like the Darknessbound Core, but larger. Heavier. The dark gemstone was on top of it, pulsing as the Essence of Darkness seemed to move inside of it – like it was alive.

  [Millennium Prison - Active]

  I grabbed the Prison, holding it with both hands.

  This was it – the final step.

  I raised it, aiming it directly at Erebus’ heart, and then, suddenly, a beam of shadow erupted forth form the artifact, locking onto Erebus’ heart creating a tether.

  I felt the immediate recoil, my arms trembling under the weight of the action.

  But I held on.

  Despite my HP slowly plummeting due to the bleeding, I pushed forward.

  I thought about our world. About Goren’s sacrifice. About Yana.

  Then, everything around me twisted – Darkness shifted, bending space itself.

  In an instant, I found my entire surroundings as dark as the night’s sky, while I was still aiming the Prison at Erebus' heart, the dark tether humming.

  Then, a voice – deep, vast, consuming – followed.

  Why do you resist so much?

  My skin crawled as I felt his suffocating presence.

  That was Erebus.

  That was what he sounded like.

  I clenched my teeth. What kind of question was that?!

  “What do you mean?” I snapped, my voice trembling from pain, exhaustion, and fear. “Why shouldn’t I resist? My world – everyone I care about will die if I fail.”

  A mere moment in the tide of existence.

  Everything must cease. There is no exception.

  His voice wasn’t cruel, but it wasn’t kind either. It was just…absolute.

  My grip tightened around the Prison, my arms burning from the recoil of its power.

  “You just devour worlds.” I spat. “Consume them and move on. Killing billions to create sustenance for yourself and grow stronger.”

  You are influenced by chaotic concepts such as cruelty. There is no cruelty in my actions. No malice.

  I do not devour worlds at whim.

  Only those that have reached their conclusion.

  My mind reeled. “Conclusion?”

  Every world has a lifespan. A phase of birth, growth, decline. When a world reaches its limit, when it can expand no further, I come.

  Young worlds, those that still have unexplored horizons, are spared. I pass them by. Those who still have potential are not mine to take.

  But your world has no such future. It has nothing more to offer. It has no potential.

  It had lived a thousand years too long.

  I felt my breath hitch. This wasn’t what I expected. I thought Erebus was just a monster – a mindless, ravenous entity that devoured for the sake of destruction. But this – this was logic.

  A force of nature that believed in what it was doing.

  And still, I wasn’t about to agree with him.

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  “Bullshit.” I said through gritted teeth. “My world still has potential.”

  Potential.

  You speak of it but do not understand it.

  A dying world opens the possibility for new, better ones to be born.

  Chronos does not understand this, and that’s why he opposes me, denying life of those new worlds, betraying the purpose of his own existence.

  I have seen the cycle: the worlds he believes he had saved, living beyond their time, destroying themselves shortly after.

  His father – my brother – understood it to an extent. But it seems he did not pass on this knowledge to Chronos when he left him in charge.

  As for your world – it wouldn’t have even possessed its own magic if not for divine interference.

  You are fighting for a world that should have faded long ago.

  I clenched my teeth, struggling to hold the Prison, my hands growing tired.

  “I don’t care about new worlds, and I don’t care what you think my world is or isn't!” I snapped, my voice growing hoarse. “Maybe it’s stagnant. Maybe it’s dying. Or maybe you’re just lying. Either way, it’s mine! It’s where the people I care about live! That’s all the reason I need to fight for it!”

  Sentiment. An inefficient form of decision-making.

  You place a few above the endless many.

  Is your sense of the world so shallow?

  I adjusted my position, planting my feet firmer into the ground, forcing myself to stand tall despite my injuries.

  “Right now, in this moment with the Prison in my hands – I’m the one deciding what potential is.” I spat, ignoring his question. “And I say my world has all the potential it needs!”

  The Prison pulsed violently, the tether growing larger. The process was happening. I was winning.

  Then, my System popped up a message.

  [Health:29% - Reaching Critical Level - Please Consume a Healing Potion]

  Shit.

  Erebus seemed to be able to sense this as well.

  Which will happen first?

  My imprisonment…or your death?

  I tightened my grip, gritting my teeth. “I’ll finish this first. I’ll lock you away before I bleed out.”

  You will die first.

  My calculations are never wrong.

  But…

  I have no interest in witnessing your end so hollowly.

  Show me the worth of your claim.

  Show me what it means for you to live.

  Convince me that your world should be spared.

  If you do, I will submit willingly.

  The imprisonment will complete faster.

  You will survive.

  Disagree, and we shall never meet again. I will ensure that in future runs, you won’t descend a single level.

  You will find your death in the main antechamber in all remaining tries you have.

  I narrowed my eyes. “You’re offering me a way out?”

  Yes.

  I exhaled sharply, my heart racing. “I don’t believe you.”

  You choose to doubt, but I have no reason to lie.

  Either you die and lose your last opportunity to stop me, or you make me see your world in a new light.

  Choose.

  I felt another surge of pain course through me as the System sent another notification my way.

  [Health:24% - Reaching Critical Level - Please Consume a Healing Potion]

  I tightened the grip around the Prison as it continued its slow pull. It didn’t look like it'll end soon.

  Damn it.

  My head spun, my thoughts crashing into each other. I hated the idea of negotiating with this thing. I wanted to fight. To force him into submission.

  But that wasn’t working, and I was running out of time.

  I exhaled slowly.

  “Fine.” I muttered, forcing the words out.

  Show me why I should believe in your resistance.

  I forced myself to take a steadying breath and began.

  “First, our world is still growing. Our civilizations – our people - still have much more to achieve. There are still discoveries left to be made. How can you say we reached our peak when progress never truly stops?”

  Your world has circled around the same mountain for too long. If not for the gift of magic, you would’ve reached stagnation more than a thousand years ago.

  [Health:21% - Reaching Critical Level - Please Consume a Healing Potion]

  I shook my head and pushed forward. “And yet we have it now. Magic. It had already happened and cannot be reversed. And we are using it to become better – to achieve greater things. How can you deny our potential just because magic was gifted to us and not something we created on our own?”

  I do not blame you for receiving this gift. But you are responsible for not using it to its full potential.

  You were unprepared for it since you never deserved it.

  Since that’s the case, your potential is superficial.

  [Health:17% - Reaching Critical Level - Please Consume a Healing Potion]

  I exhaled, trying to think of other things that might convince him.

  “What about us? Humanity? If nothing else, our resilience, our ability to push through suffering and keep moving forward – does that mean nothing? We keep getting up. We keep breaking the glass ceiling. Time after time. Surely it means something!”

  What you call resilience, I call denying the inevitable. It is true that your species always fight, even when the odds are stacked against them. But even when they succeed, what do they earn in return? Just a tiny bit more time?

  Irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

  [Health:13% - Reaching Critical Level - Please Consume a Healing Potion]

  I staggered slightly. My body was growing weaker. But I gritted my teeth and kept speaking.

  “How can you call it irrelevant? What about all the previous Champions before me who had fought to stop you? Their victories had saved their worlds for years to come!” I snapped, thinking about Goren. Recalling Arabella. “Some had sacrificed themselves to stop you! Is their resolve not enough to show humanity’s potential? Are they not enough to make you stop this forever?”

  Arabella Smith.

  I remember her. Valiant. Kind. Strong. A worthy life.

  She had saved her world paying the ultimate price. Yes. But do you know what happened to it after her death? Centuries after her victory, great wars – one after the other – destroyed it.

  In the end, I was the only one left who could mourn her pointless sacrifice.

  I shook my head, in disbelief.

  [Health:8% - Reaching Critical Level - Please Consume a Healing Potion]

  Time was running out.

  “And still, she gifted her world centuries!”

  Irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

  Sacrifices have value only if there is something to build upon. If there is no more future, the sacrifices merely delay the inevitable.

  I had one last argument.

  “Then tell me this – what about love?”

  For the first time, there was silence.

  I swallowed hard and pushed forward. “Love. Isn’t it worth living for? Even if it’s just for one more day? Love pushes us humans to go beyond our limits. To reach new heights!" I shook my head, tears forming in my eyes as I thought about Yana. "You can't say humanity doesn't have potential when love exists!"

  You have regrets.

  I didn’t expect that answer of all things, but it felt like progress.

  “Yeah, I do.” I let out a weak, nervous laugh – my usual reaction in tense situations. “And that’s exactly why I won’t let you devour this world!”

  I can comprehend sympathy. I can understand you.

  But love is just an emotion.

  Irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

  On it's own it is not enough.

  [Health:4% - Reaching Critical Level - Please Consume a Healing Potion]

  I groaned. There was no convincing him, really. I staggered, my knees threatening to buckle. I felt my pulse slowing. My limbs trembled. My breath hitched. And the damn Prison was still not done!

  No.

  I can’t let it end like this!

  I remain unconvinced.

  "Oh, screw this!" I snapped. "I was never going to convince you anyway! You have your own set of beliefs - your own way of seeing the universe and existence. You were never going to change your mind because of a simple mortal like me." I shook my head. "But let me tell you something, Erebus. Just like you hold your own set of beliefs - humanity has theirs! And we'll continue fighting despite what you think of us! We'll continue to resist in every other world, in every other realm. You will always face a new human Champion to oppose your dogma!"

  I growled, ignoring all the pain and my plummeting HP. “I will imprison you before I die!”

  You won’t.

  I was honest when I said this conversation was meant to determine if I should spare your world.

  But there was never any threat to me.

  The Prison is broken.

  A cold shock shot through me. “You’re lying.”

  I never lie, Aidan Dar.

  If the Prison was functional, I would already be sealed. The process is always instant.

  Something was tampered with - likely one of the ingredients.

  And I suspect the same one who first brought magic to this world is to blame.

  [Health:2% - Reaching Critical Level - Please Consume a Healing Potion]

  I shook my head, refusing to accept it. This was a trick. Another deception. But before I could speak, the Prison exploded.

  The shards of dark stone tore through my hands and body like molten knives.

  The process was over. I had failed.

  My vision blurred as blood poured out from dozens of gaping wounds.

  No, no, no…

  The pain was unbearable.

  But in these fleeting moments, just before I died, a sound reached my ears.

  A laugh.

  Where…where have I heard this laugh before…?

  There’s a face…a name…in my mind…who was it…?

  The image of an old farmer appeared in my mind.

  Dolos.

  [Health: 0% - You Have Died]