Chapter 377 A Monster [Part 2]
"You wanted to help them go home? This was all self-service and you knew it."
"Self-service how?" Raven paused, looking at him before she continued.
"Self-service or not, I am the only person in this Desolation doing what is right while you all are frolicking away with a fate that was handed to you by a man that should be rotting in hell."
Afkon frowned slightly.
"You think I don't hate Rughsbourgh? He used me and abandoned me. He promised me I was going to be a legend. But you, little bird, have no idea at all what it is you are getting into."
Raven shrugged, shaking her head slightly as she said,
"Have no idea what I am getting into? The fact that Luinngard Empire is allowing this disaster to happen? Or that the appearance of the four cardinal rifts was no coincidence..."
She paused and glared, her throat seemed to go dry as the next couple of words layered on the edge of her tongue, hesitant to jump out.
With enough temperament, she swallowed them back in, at least for now.
But Afkon was already long suspended in an air of stunning shock.
His expression was barren for a couple of heartbeats. But he regained himself with a frown and refocused his eyes at Raven with determination.
"You have no idea what you are talking about. It's nonsense, and as much as I value you, little bird, I think it's high time I show you the difference between the two of us."
He paused and somewhat pompously raised his chin.
"I can't continue to let you live, Raven."
A vicious and menacing grin laced Raven's face.
"I told you already before, Afkon, and I'll say it again. You can't kill me."
Afkon smiled equally, his a bit gentlemanly but fearsomely worrying.
"Let's see about that."
He spread his arms into the air.
The writhing inky tendrils that surrounded him began to plunge into his body, merging back with his skin.
He tore off his shirt with ease and used it as a bind to pack his hair into a ponytail, not caring however rugged and unsightly he looked.
Now, however, his broad, chiseled chest, sculpted as if by a divine hand, was fully exposed.
Blending seamlessly with the night, he projected the formidable visage of a Tyrant, a presence so powerful it seemed to rival the very darkness itself.
Raven, who stood on the far contrast side of this fact, did not waver the look of menace on her face... by the way, innocent... seemingly unharmful menace.
The air became heavy in that instant second. It was quite evident that something huge was about to drop.
Even the slight trembles in the earth made little stones shiver in fear.
"Let me give you a lecture today, Raven. There's something to the soul ranking that you never considered, nobody ever did, but it has always been known by those privileged to cross the Transient rank."
He slowly raised his right hand, looking at it with a small sadness reflecting in his eyes.
"There are some major ranks and there are minor ranks. As a walker, you are half-baked. When you become a drifter, however, you get to taste what true power feels like. Being a Nomad... ah, tsk."
He shook his head and smacked his teeth.
"It's just there, the soul still feels the same as it did as a drifter. But the moment you reach the Vagrant rank, you get a taste of what you felt as a drifter. But this time twice more. It feels raw, you feel a much greater connection to your soul than you have ever."
He went silent, tracing the markings on his dry olive skin with eyes—that had now gone from reflecting sadness to expressing maniacal awe.
"Then you become a Savant, hmm, there's a much closer connection. But you can't really compare it to what you felt as a Master, however it's impossible to understand now that you are a Savant. The moment you become a Sage, however."
He raised his face and closed his eyes, breathing in the crispy, seemingly burnt air of the night.
Then he looked at Raven.
"At that point, little bird. That is the true point you begin to understand the meaning of what FORCE is. What a Soul Force is... And I don't even expect you to understand or relate."
He exhaled and slowly straightened his expression, sternly looking at Raven.
"Raven. And all these visceral descriptions I give you have nothing to what you feel when your soul evolves to the Ephemeral rank and you become an ASCENDANT."
His voice grew loud and powerful.
"AND I WILL SHOW YOU, RAVEN, WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AN ASCENDANT!!!"
As he growled heavily, his surrounding vibrated with an evident tremor that broke apart the ground.
The air trembled even.
And the next moment, before Raven's mind could register anything that was going on.
Afkon rose from her shadows, he held his tendrils like a small knife in his hands, and drove it right towards her belly.
By bare warrior reflex alone, Raven twisted herself out of the way, using a huge burst of light at her feet to propel herself away from him.
But it was useless, she saw the man dissolve into the shadow, and drift towards her with a snakeish pattern, super fast as at that.
Before she could land from projecting herself, he was right beneath her again, rising from the shadow like a vicious snake.
Yet again, his attack came at her.
Raven frowned and threw her hands forward, just in time to materialize a glowing shield that orbited her. The moment Afkon's attacks collided with the golden shield, he was sent careening away.
Before seeing where he landed, he was already gone. Merged into the shadows.
It was at this point it probably registered to Raven that this dude... he was going to be a very tough opponent.
She narrowed her eyes, inspecting everything around her.
Within ten feet of her, it was easy to see through all, because the light was bright enough to cast its brilliance and make the darkness creep away.
But the time of the day she had chosen to fight this battle was at her disadvantage.
She had arrived in the evening and now, it had proceeded into night.
To toughen up her situation, the deeper into the night this went, the less advantageous it is for her.
Because her vision was terribly limited in the night.
Afkon would have leverage over her, the moment he discovers that her sight is limited. It was a battle where they constantly have to fight through.
And he wasn't dumb, it was only a matter of time.
And Raven needed to defeat Afkon within that matter of time. This was the only way she could narrowly sneak herself out of this situation. Whatever way this defeat had to be.
Or she could run away.
But her eyes didn't look like those of someone willing to let up.
She had fought so much to this point.
She wasn't going to give it up now because she was at great disadvantage.
When has the odds ever been in hers or Northern's favor.
'Damn it... I hate that I let him go...'
In this one deciding moment when it might be her last, Raven found herself stranded with the thoughts of only one person.