NOVEL NEXT Chapter 84 Sophia Part 6
Zero awoke and opened his eyes to see Valna surrounded by broken armor and souls. She released her fog to absorb the armor and soul before noticing that Zero’s eyes were open.
“Looks like you’re done. You know I’ve always wondered what happens when you devour souls.” said Valna
“Nothing too amazing I fall into a sleep state and wake up to notifications of new abilities.” answered Zero
“Notifications?” said a confused Valna
“You really need to interact with the modern world more.” said Zero with a chuckle
Zero stood up and dusted his pants for dirt. He looked at the door leading to the chaos entity and said, “Okay, we’ve wasted enough time here let go.”
Valna nodded and together they pushed the large stone doors open. Zero walked into the and as Valna attempted to follow something strange happened and she was repelled by a mysterious force. She put her on what seemed to be a barrier and saw that Zero could no longer exit the room.
Zero sighed and said, “While I had expected this possibility I’d hoped that it wouldn’t happen. Valna it looks like I can’t exit and you can’t enter so I’ll need to handle this by myself. You stay out here and focus on collecting souls and bodies.”
Valna nodded and Zero turned and walked down a hallway. Exiting the hallway Zero entered a magnificent room decorated. The floor is tiled and on the walls were murals of angelic beings. The room was lit by wall lamps and an enormous chandelier. The room is done in a nature theme in warm light colors and overall has a rustic look to it. Among the first things, one noticed when walking in was the angelic-themed paintings covering the walls. At the end of the room, there was a gigantic circular statue of a hideous creature surrounded by 3 bald angles holding orbs of different colors red, yellow, and blue.
Zero walked towards the hideous statue knowing that this was the initial form of the chaos entity. He remembered that first, it would launch a surprise attack when one’s back was turned. Zero had to be strategic and rather than wait to be attacked he would launch the first blow. Zero snapped his fingers and then activated his fireball and photokinesis skill Zero created hundreds of fireballs and light beams. The fireballs and light beams remained stationary due to Zero using time stop on his own attacks. As time passed the attacks kept increasing until there were over 300 fire and light projectiles ready to be launched.
Zero snapped his fingers yet again to deactivate the time-stop launching the 300 projectiles simultaneously the chaos entity. The attacks hit dead on and the statue’s eyes opened and it let out a painful shriek as it was bombarded by Zero attacks. When the attack ended and the dust settled the statue was partially destroyed and cracks spread throughout the uncracked parts.
Zero surprise attack had succeeded and dealt enough damage to defeat its first form now Zero wouldn’t have to waste too much time. The cracks on the statue spread and finally, it shattered to reveal a black sun. This had been the true form of chaos that Soma had fought in the game.
What happened next shocked Zero since he had no knowledge of it. An archon who had pale translucent skin that glowed blue and black emerged for the black sun. It stood on 2 legs and had a humanoid form but it had a face with no facial features. The creature then began to twist and turn as it morphed sickeningly until it took the form of what appeared to be a grotesque faceless jester.
NAME: Saklas
RACE: Archon
SOUL: %@#%^%(#^%
SOUL RANK: !@%&#
LEVEL: *^
ATTRIBUTES: */&#$*
STRENGTH: !%@&
SPEED: *%@#
MAGIC ENERGY: *#@%^$!
VITALITY: ^%*#!%
SKILLS: (Morality Manipulation, Soul Trapping, Order Manipulation) *!&@&^^%!^$#@&!^&^@*)(@)@*(&^*@&$^%!@&%^*@!&^*!@&*(!@&*^&*@%^$#@$@^&*^(&@!
PASSIVE SKILLS: *!@*&^@#^%$#^&@
‘Damn, it’s this annoying creature again. System is there any way for me to kill it.’
UNKNOWN
‘Just my luck.’
Zero wasted no time and fired fireball and light beams at the jester but to his surprise, the attacks fazed right through it and hit the wall. The jester seemed to phase out of existence and fade away. Zero looked around for the jester who disappeared and moved to a new area to avoid any sneak attacks. However, despite his measures, Zero felt a sharp sensation as he saw an arm pierced through his stomach.
Luckily Zero had gained the pain suppression skill so the pain was greatly reduced. He summoned shadow spikes to stab the archon, who phased to avoid the attack allowing Zero to distance himself from it. The wound began to close and luckily no black veins appeared meaning Zero wouldn’t have to worry about taking damage in this fight. The archon faded out of existence once again.
‘It must be hiding in a pocket dimension. How I get it to materialize.’
Zero activated his time-stop ability and noticed that something was moving through space as if it were water. Zero drew a sword out of his dimension and as soon as his dimensional portal closed Zero was able to briefly see the jester. Zero slashed at the jester as it began to fade but it jumped back to dodge the attack.
Zero was surprised that the archon dodged the attack since he had half expected the attack to simply pass through it. This meant that attacking it while time was stopped after closing his dimension could possibly harm it. Although he now had a way to attack it he wouldn’t let down his guard because jesters were supposed to be cunning.
He noticed the archon moving to attack him again so he opened his dimension and dropped 4 swords into the ground. When the dimension closed the archon became visible and Zero threw his blade at the archon who dodged but a second blade flew straight at it. The archon failed to dodge the attack and it was hit but rather than injure the creature the blade continued through it leaving no wounds. The jester tilted its head and a smiling theater mask-like face appeared as it clapped while moving closer to Zero.
Zero retreated as he fired a fireball at the archon but the attack simply phased through it. The archon walked slowly towards him as it kept clapping rhythmically. As Zero kept retreating he suddenly found his back to the wall and the archon was now standing in front of him. It had stopped clapping and brought its face mere centimeters away from Zero’s when the smiling face changed into a more sinister one.
It slowly reached for Zero’s face and its hand shifted into claws as it slowly traced its finger across Zero’s cheek causing it to bleed.
“My… such… a… pretty… face… I… almost… want… to… kiss it.” said the archon in a similar voice to the previous one although it sounded slightly feminine as strange as it was.
Zero shuddered at the prospect of the idea before replying, “I think I’ll pass.”
“You… shouldn’t… refuse… a… lady.” said the archon as it grabbed Zero by the neck and began to squeeze.
Zero tried to grab the arms of the archon but his hand phased through it. Zero was beginning to lose focus so his time-stop was dispelled and his consciousness started to fade.