Chapter 539: Myth Slayer

Vaelor and Azazel stood before the sealed chamber, the one where Luke was undergoing the fusion. The door didn’t move, didn’t breathe, but the air around it felt stretched thin, as if reality itself were holding its breath.

“That is my theory regarding Asmodeus’s blood,” Azazel murmured. “It will amplify the soul-fragment inside that eye. Turn a desert into an ocean. Or a withered plant into something violently alive again.”

Only the two of them remained in the corridor. The Primordial Asmodeus was off in another room, casually reading tarot cards for himself as if none of this mattered. Azazel held one of those cards in his own hand. Death. According to Asmodeus, it represented the outcome awaiting Luke Moon at the end of this ordeal. Death would come, one way or another.

“Sovereign Azazel,” Vaelor began carefully, “one of the reasons fusion rituals fell into disuse was because the risk far outweighs the gain. Trying to merge with a creature vastly stronger than oneself is suicide. And to risk the same procedure on a weak creature is… well, pointless.”

“I know.”

“Balance is required for the ritual to be viable. But you told me that eye belongs to something far beyond Luke Moon in power… and in understanding of the soul.” Vaelor hesitated, then spoke the truth anyway. “Is it not madness to let him attempt this? Even a mild soul-interference would be lethal for a mortal. Something like this… it is almost certainly his end.”

“Luke Moon enjoys challenges,” Azazel said quietly. “And he has already proven that, when the odds demand he die, he can still find a way to spit in death’s face.”

The Primordial might have been a great sage. But after everything Vaelor had learned about the implications of that eye, and considering that Luke Moon was still just a mere mortal who had barely reached E-Rank, he was certain the little demon wouldn’t survive.

A shame. There was talent in him, real talent.

***

Sariel’s arm was buried deep inside Luke Moon’s torso, pinning him like an insect on a spear. The ritual was underway. No turning back now. The end of the half-demon had begun.

“Now I understand,” Sariel whispered, delighted. “Now I see the full weight of your bloodline. Fascinating. I’m taking your memories. Your tricks. Your skills.”

Luke’s insides felt as if they were liquefying, his soul being siphoned away strand by strand. His existence thinned, frayed, dissolved.

“How is the pain, Luke Moon? Describe it to me,” Sariel crooned. “Scream if you want. Many have stood where you stand now. So determined. So stubborn. And all of them broke. The agony drove them mad before the ritual finished.”

Sariel’s power surged through him like a serrated blade. “Give in to the pain. Give in to the madness.”

Luke’s breath shook. His vision trembled. His very sense of self flickered. Then he laughed. A sharp, feral grin cut across his blood-streaked face, even as his soul was torn open again and again.

“I’m not afraid of madness,” he said. “I prefer it.”

Luke suddenly grabbed Sariel’s arm and pulled it deeper into his own body, ignoring the scream that tore out of him as the pain multiplied.

Sariel barked a laugh. “You truly are insane. You’re accelerating the ritual.”

“Let’s see which one of us is crazier,” Luke snarled. “Soul Infiltration!”

Suddenly something snapped into existence. Sariel sensed an invisible figure, though his eye saw it clearly: a cat perched on Luke Moon’s shoulder, leaping without warning and diving straight into Sariel.

“What did you do? What was that?”

“My Rank Skill.”

Rank Skill? What Rank Skill does he have?

Sariel hadn’t fully mastered Luke Moon’s soul. He had no access to his Rank Skill.

“It doesn’t matter. Nothing you do is going to stop me.”

Luke Moon yanked Sariel’s arm deeper into his body. “You really thought I spent all that time just running around?”

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Sariel’s arm slipped further inside, and in the next instant, Luke Moon grabbed the other one and pulled.

“W-wait, I didn’t order my other arm to do that. How did it pass through your soul?” Sariel’s voice cracked with panic. He tried to pull the second arm free, but it wouldn’t budge.

“I’ve been studying how the soul and the body work this whole time. Trying to decide something.”

“Deciding? Deciding what?” Sariel demanded, and Luke Moon dragged him closer until their eyes were almost touching. Luke Moon’s gaze burned with madness.

“Instead of just killing you, why shouldn’t I absorb you?” Luke Moon laughed, though nothing about it resembled joy. It was a laugh fractured by lunacy. “That’s what I’m going to do. Let’s see which of us is truly insane. Let’s see who wins.”

“No, no, no!” Sariel struggled to break free, but Luke Moon drove both thumbs into his eyes. The pain was blinding.

“This shouldn’t be possible!”

“You should’ve been suspicious when a demon agrees too easily,” Luke Moon said. “You’re absorbing my soul… even the fragment I planted in you. You’re absorbing yourself into me.”

Sariel screamed as his body was dragged into Luke Moon.

“It’s a paradox. You opened a door, and I’m stepping through it too,” Luke Moon said, pulling harder. “I told you. I’m not afraid of madness.”