851 The Final Battle V
Outside a massive, half-shattered planet, Kyle's figure came to a halt as he sensed Nine's signal from a distant location.
'Good. I won't give him an easy death.'
He looked at the planet before him. It was enveloped in an aura of gloom. There was an eerie absence of life forms within it. Yet, it radiated an overwhelming concentration of spirituality, so dense that it banished any trace of dark energy from the air itself.
Kyle narrowed his eyes.
"Perhaps here?"
Azazeal watched his every move silently. His gaze traveled to the planet before him, and amusement flickered in his eyes. One of his bodies had checked this planet for the Celestial spirits before, but he hadn't found any here. It was one of the ancient planets he had destroyed a long time ago.
The very planet where he had opened his eyes after his entire race was annihilated. The very planet where he met those two. In the past, it was one of the largest planets in the universe and also the most prosperous. Yet, now it lay in ruins with nothing left.
"True strength decides who lives and who dies. And I am the one who has attained that strength."
Kyle didn't refute his words. Instead, he asked what he had asked him before.
"Then... let me say this. What if what happened never occurred? Would things have been different? Would you still be where you are now?"
Azazeal stared at his back.
"There's no 'what if'."
Kyle hummed. Right, there's no 'what if.' This man had come too far, farther than he could imagine. He had endured more than he had, faced greater pain. Perhaps what he went through was trivial in comparison. He unleashed his Celestial aura, enveloping the half-shattered planet in a radiant glow.
In the next moment, he entered the shattered remnants of the planet, landing amidst the colossal, jagged structures that drifted like ancient ruins in the vastness of space. The debris floated around him, each fragment telling a story of destruction. Kyle made his aura denser, so if a spirit was nearby, it would reveal itself.
Azazeal floated in a separate space he created to hide his presence outside the ancient planet, silently observing him.
There was an eerie silence, and both of them thought that perhaps this desolate, ancient planet didn't possess any celestial spirits within its remains. After all, it was shattered and lacked even a core.
Just as Kyle resolved to turn away and leave, a familiar presence surged behind him, sending a ripple through the stillness.
He sighed and shook his head. Why do these spirits want to consume his essence so badly? But when he glanced at the spirit, he paused in surprise; it was red, not white.
It was Azazeal's laughter that pierced through the haze clouding his mind, which he had fallen into without even realizing it, startling him back to reality. He blinked, a frown creasing his brows, as he watched Azazeal battle the red Celestial spirit.
"Why is it red?"
Kyle questioned but disappeared when the land he stood on shattered completely. He was stunned to see the spirit escape the dark net Azazeal created and fight back.
It emitted screeching noises that were horrifying, even for him, a stark contrast to the other spirits he had encountered until now, which didn't produce such unpleasant sounds, even when they cried out in fear.
His eyes narrowed as he expanded his senses to understand the reason. However, he took a deep breath when he sensed an aura of something profound surrounding the spirit's formless crimson figure.
Something that felt familiar to him, as if he had sensed it before somewhere, but was beyond his understanding. Azazeal's next words answered his question.
"A guardian spirit whose awareness has grown sinister after feeding on the law of death—that even I couldn't comprehend. I never thought one of the spirits in this universe could reach such a level."
It took even Azazeal a full ten minutes to ensnare the spirit and absorb its power.
He closed his eyes for a while and floated in the space because, unlike the previous spirits, this time his strength grew a lot.
Azazeal also gained some insight into the natural law of death, one of the greatest laws in existence, which he had not been able to understand, even when he tried. But when he attempted to delve deeper, his life force began to wane, so he had to stop.
When he stabilized his power and opened his dark eyes, with two glowing purple slits within them, the first thing he did was look for Kyle. However, he laughed as he realized the human had long disappeared.
"Well played. Very well played. I see, luck was on your side like always."
He covered the lower part of his face with his hand, desperately trying to suppress the raging storm of anger within him. Still, the dark energy spilled forth from his shaking shoulders like a malevolent shadow.
A familiar purple flower with many petals materialized between his collarbones.
It was already tainted with red and dark spots, but the darkness crept further like a ravenous beast, devouring the purple hue that tried its best to cling to its form.
Azazeal's eyes blazed with a sinister light as he sensed the future he had calculated shift again. All because of one person.
"I made a mistake..."
The time he spent capturing the Celestial spirit and stabilizing his power had granted Kyle enough time to do a lot, leaving a trail of devastation in his wake.
"I should have killed him when his cold essence ceased to interfere."
"I should have killed him..."
"I should have..."
The thought that perhaps, because of this mistake, he might never achieve his desires sent his mind spiraling into chaos. A primal scream erupted from his throat, unleashing a sinister power that surged like a tempest. Yet, this growth was fueled by the darkness he had merged with, a ravenous force that gnawed relentlessly at the edges of his sanity, threatening to consume him.
The whole universe trembled under his power, and he vanished. His target was only one individual, and it was unclear what he would do when his eyes had lost focus.