Trash in the Apocalypse

Jun opened his eyes and yet he couldn't see anything. He could feel his forehead sweating due to panic. 

"Am I dead?"

He relaxed his mind and cycled energy through his body.

Breathe in, breathe out.

So what was I doing before this?

Right.

I was fighting Yetu. That piece of sh"t. He jumped from the ceiling and did something to me. I don't know if he was fast or I was just slow, but he appeared right in front of me, then...

Am I really dead?

He gasped and got scared of the thought.

Due to fear, his survival instincts rampaged for a second. He started channeling, reinforcing, and gathering energy in his surrounding. At one point, he felt the shackles that bounded his body disappear.

His eyes that could only see darkness finally saw light and his surroundings started to brighten. He looked around and to his surprise, found himself inside a familiar place; his inner self.

The void was still peaceful and the orb of life still shines brightly. The rune skills continued circling around the orb harmoniously on equal distances. However, he noticed something worrying about the orb.

The usual small speck of black orb was slowly getting bigger while taking more space from the white orb. It was as if the black orb was getting nourished by leeching off the white orb.

If there was one thing Jun knows off, it was that the white orb is something inside him. If he let the black orb continue devouring the white orb, something bad would surely happen to him.

Although he knew what to do. he doesn't know how to do it...

In the first place, he was the white orb and just spirited out, so he could move around and get a different perspective.

Should he go back to the white orb from where he came from?

"I didn't expect that you'll break free from those shackles. This body is so weak that it could barely store a portion of my energy."

Jun was startled and looked around the area. There was nothing except for the white orb, the black orb that was enveloping a quarter of the white orb, and the rune skills he learned, circling the white orb.

While struggling to search for the voice, he noticed a familiar in front of him. To be precise, the black orb slowly consuming the white orb.

"Yetu?"

"It took some time to recognize me? I thought you hate me to the bone. Hahaha!"

There were no movements, no influx of energy or aura. Jun could just hear the voice coming from the black orb in front of him.

"How did you get in here?" Jun asked in confusion.

As far as he knows, this void space was his inner self. How could other people enter this place?

"Why are you asking stupid questions? I guess that's what humans do. You could have just enjoyed your new life. You know, just like everyone else. Happily toiling themselves to survive. You could have been someone strong in this world, but you just have to be curious and poke around. Unfortunately, you have to die now. Such a waste of a good vessel."

Even though Yetu had no face, Jun could see the expression he was probably making. A condescending face, mocking him for going against the flow. He thinks that for disobeying and questioning him, it justifies giving a proper punishment.

It was like when parents punish their children when they did something wrong.

Jun laughed. "You can't kill me, isn't that right? At least directly, that is. If you want to kill me, you have to use indirect methods like possessing something or by doing that. By the way, if you don't, would you like to explain what you're doing?" he asked, then followed with sarcasm. "I'm sure you don't mind since you're someone really strong."

Yetu scoffed and shook his head. However, he currently doesn't have a head, so Jun couldn't see it. "Humans have really progressed in terms of slyness, however, they're still petty tricks that can only fool those who are foolish. But since this is taking too much time, let me entertain your stupidity."

"This place is your spiritual realm. A place where your spirit resides, together with your soul. Your spirit is weak that's why this place is easy to invade, your soul is weak that's why it's getting devoured. No matter what you do, you can't change anything. You're destined to die here!" Yetu said.

"Is that all? I figured up to that much already, but I appreciate your confirmation." Jun breathed deeply, then smiled. "That makes everything convenient then."

Jun looked around and found two small cracks in the void above him. If he takes a guess as to what they were, they should be the two fangs that sunk into his neck when the vampire leader bit him.

"This is my spiritual realm, right? So I should be able to do this much."

While raising his hand and pointing at the cracks in the void, he channeled energy on his hands wanting to repair the holes.

And of course, it didn't work.

"What are you trying to do?" Yetu asked in puzzlement. If the black orb had a face, it would surely be frowning. However, it doesn't have one, so Jun could only hear the bewilderment in his voice.

Jun explained. "I'm trying to seal the cracks, so you won't be able to escape here. Do you know why there are people who become leaders? It's because they think a lot than needed and they read between the lines. I've thought a lot of things while chatting with you and I found a way to kill you."

"Ohh," Yetu replied in amusement. "Would you be kind as to tell me of this plan? I'm quite interested in how you think you can kill me! Hahaha!"

"I can do that if you tell me how to repair that crack."

"So your plan involves fixing those holes? Well, I can't tell you directly how, but energy isn't going to work for you. Energy is just a source. You need something else when controlling things inside here."

So I need something else? If it isn't energy, then...

I got it!

A smile formed on Jun's face, followed by an invisible force forming around him. Red specks of light gathered and formed an outline of his body.

Spiritual energy!

Maybe he should be thankful for attending Sunday masses when he was a child? At least he had some spiritual energy inside him!

"How!? I didn't teach you anything!" Yetu shouted.

"I'm not stupid." Jun smirked, "But your hints helped me, so I must thank you. As a gift, let me tell you about my plan while foiling your plan."

Jun started repairing the broken void by feeding it spiritual energy. However, the recovery speed was slower than he thought.

"We are currently inside my spiritual realm, so that means I probably have control over anything spiritual here. Instead of killing my spirit after invading my spiritual realm, you chose to shackle me and "corrupt" my soul. That proves that you can't do anything to my spirit, but my soul was of a different matter.

"However, I woke up and my soul resisted your invasion, which is why you're trying to demoralize me by saying a bunch of things. Currently, we're at a stalemate. You can't touch me, and you can't corrupt my soul."

"I know that I can't beat you with my current strength, however, if I repair the void cracks, then I can trap you here with me. You're not omniscient Yetu. You can't be everywhere. That's already a proven fact since you have to deal with thousands of strong people in this world on your own."

"As long as I'm able to fix the broken void, my spiritual realm can serve as your prison. In a sense, I might not be truly killing you, however, by keeping you here, no one from the outside would have to deal with your bullsh*t"

Yetu, "..."

"Why are you so quiet now? Cat got your tongue?" Jun mocked continuing to pour spiritual energy into the holes.

After a few seconds of eerie silence, Yetu sniggered, then laughed maniacally. "You wouldn't do it! You'll be trapped here with me! You will die!"

"Isn't that a good thing for here? I'm actually not dead yet? That figures since we're inside my spiritual realm. Even then, that doesn't sound so bad? At least, you won't get to possess other people when we're stuck together."

"Arrgh! This is stupid! I'll make sure to kill you next time!" Yetu shouted and a shadow flickered out from the black orb and dashed out of the holes in the void.

The black orb that was continuously expanding earlier became lifeless. It took almost half of the white orb before slowly turning stationary.

The broken void above his spiritual realm got fixed and a jolt of warm energy entered his senses. It was Sheila's healing skills taking effect.

Jun looked around and spread his spiritual energy to make sure that Yetu wasn't inside his spiritual realm anymore before heading back outside to the material world.

���——

Back at the dungeon...

Jun dropped down together with the vampire leader.

Adrian and Edward rushed to slaughter the enemies while Sheila continued defending while trying to heal Jun.

After killing all the enemies. Adrian hurriedly picked Jun up and ran towards the exit. Edward led the way striking wild bats with his energy bat swatter. 

By the time they reached the cave's exit, Adrian could feel movements coming from Jun.

"He's awake!" he shouted.