Chapter 703: The Darkness Enigma [Part 1]
The screech didn't stop-it intensified, a relentless wave of sound so fierce it felt like shards of glass ripping through his mind.
His vision blurred for a moment, and his Void wings faltered, sending him spiraling
downward before he stabilized and caught himself mid-air.
Gritting his teeth, Northern forced himself upright, the pressure bearing down on him like the weight of a collapsing world.
'What... is this thing?'
The crimson eyes gleamed from within the impenetrable darkness, glowing brighter as the entity stepped forward.
Slowly, it emerged from the void-like gloom, revealing a twisted, nightmarish form.
It was unlike any monster Northern had encountered before.
The creature was humanoid, yet grotesque in its construction. Its limbs were elongated and spindly, ending in jagged claws that dripped with a thick, black substance.
Crimson veins pulsed across its ashen skin, glowing faintly in sync with its eyes. Where its mouth should have been was a jagged slit, stretched unnaturally wide, revealing rows of needle-like teeth that gleamed ominously in the dim light of Northern's sun.
The darkness clung to its form like a living shroud, writhing and pulsing as if feeding off its presence.
Northern wiped the blood from his ears, his Chaos Eyes narrowing as he analyzed the creature. Its aura was unlike anything he had faced-dense, suffocating, and ancient, as though it had existed long before the world he knew had taken shape.
'It's not just primal darkness... It's alive.'
The realization sent a shiver through him, but he didn't allow fear to cloud his thoughts. He straightened, his hand moving to command the Sun of Flame.
With a swift gesture, the miniature sun flared to life, its surface erupting in tendrils of searing flame. The cavern brightened once more as Northern unleashed torrents of fire, several brilliant streams of molten energy that hurtled toward the creature.
The flames reached the entity in a heartbeat, engulfing it in a swirling inferno. The air rippled with heat, the very stone beneath the creature's feet glowing from the intensity of the attack.
For a moment, it seemed as though Northern's assault had succeeded. But then, from within the blaze, a dark silhouette emerged.
The creature stepped through the flames unscathed, the darkness around it absorbing the fire as though it were feeding on its energy. The glow of its crimson eyes intensified, and a low, guttural growl escaped its twisted maw.
'It devoured the flames?!'
Northern barely had time to react before the creature lunged at him, moving faster than anything its size should have been capable of.
He flapped his Void wings, propelling himself backward just in time to avoid the swipe of its claws.
A sharp gust of wind followed in the wake of its attack, the force enough to crack the stone walls around them.
Northern landed several meters away, his mind racing.
The flames were useless, and the creature's speed was formidable. He needed new approach --something it couldn't consume or evade.
'If fire won't work...'
Northern spread his hand over the air, and thin, grey flakes began to drift out of his body, like ash falling from a dying fire.
The sunlight behind him dimmed unnaturally, the warmth in the air swiftly replaced by an eerie chill. A freezing aura enveloped the sky, and the once-blazing sun trembled as if gripped by unseen hands.
Slowly, its brilliant flames dulled and crystallized, turning into a fractured sphere of frozen light, dark veins creeping outward across its surface like cracks in fragile glass.
The world below shivered beneath the shadow of something far more terrifying than darkness -a frozen sun.
'I didn't think it would work...'
His lips curled into a satisfied smile.
'I love DIY.'
Because DIY existed, there was no barrier between his talent abilities. Northern could blend any of them, exchanging one principle for another.
The only limit was his intelligence.
Northern raised both hands, his Void wings unfurling with a subtle, ominous grace. Thin patches of frost spread across their wide, shadowy length, shimmering faintly in the dim
light.
Each movement of the wings stirred the cold air, leaving a trail of frost particles suspended in the space around him. The very atmosphere seemed to bend to his presence, as if the void itself hungered to consume the lingering warmth.
As Northern lifted his hands, ice spears began to extend out of the frozen sun.
The ice spears gleamed with an unnatural, darkish hue, jagged and serrated, as though forged from the coldest depths of darkness. They hovered around the frozen sun, their razor-sharp tips aimed directly at the dark entity that loomed below Northern.
The creature growled lowly, its crimson eyes narrowing as it sensed the shift in power.
The frozen sun exuded an aura far more malevolent than the flames, chilling not just the air, but even the walls of the cave.
Northern's fingers twitched slightly, and in response, the ice spears shot forward with blistering speed, whistling through the air like frozen bolts of death.
Each spear left a thin trail of frost in its wake, the cavern walls groaning under the sudden drop in temperature.
The first spear pierced through the creature's shoulder with a sickening crunch, forcing it to stagger back. A surge of frost exploded outward, encasing part of its torso in jagged ice.
The creature screeched, its voice a discordant mix of fury and pain.
Northern's eyes glinted with cold satisfaction.
The frozen sun continued to churn behind him, spears forming and launching in rapid
succession.
Each strike drove the creature back, its dark shroud flickering and weakening under the relentless assault.
Northern grinned widely, enjoying the sadistic beauty in bombarding the entity.
With a wave of his hand, he directed the frozen sun to descend. It moved slowly, deliberately, as though the weight of its presence threatened to crush everything beneath it. The very ground trembled, frost spreading in intricate, fractal patterns across the stone floor. Despite being impaled by several ice spears, the creature lunged once more, desperate to break free from the barrage, but Northern had already anticipated the move.
He flapped his frost-tipped Void wings, propelling himself upward while conjuring a dense barrier of frozen air between himself and the creature.
"Shatter."
The single word carried the force of command, and in response, the frozen barrier splintered
outward in a devastating hailstorm of jagged shards.
Each shard sliced through the creature's defenses, embedding deep into its form and
spreading frost across its limbs.
The creature staggered, its movements growing sluggish as ice encased its joints. For the first
time since the battle began, it looked vulnerable... or so...