บท 27: Counterpart; True Self

Standing there, breathing heavily, Shi Tian releasing a light sigh, looked to the sky above, as around him thousands of men and women charged with their spears, torches, and rocks in hand. Moving closer and closer, but Shi Tian did not falter, looking only to the sky, with a smile upon his face, even though he was weak, even though he was tired, and even though he was without energy, Shi Tian would take them down, even if it meant his death, for revenge.

But as Shi Tian stood in this world alone, as Jiao Long once had, the flow of time ceased, and a voice rang out within his hear, "Ahh... I can't let you wither away sacrificing yourself, you... You're familiar, and this name your speak of it's mine, I don't know how you acquired it, but to all that use that void, to all that have taken advantage of its demonic strength, borrowing power from something exceeding even the devil, for each inch it gives you, upon your death, a meter is taken."

The voice disappears, but a few minutes pass and it continues once more, "Exceptions to even the impossible, as time passes, and you're reborn back into this world anew, it lets you free, but it keeps something, something you kept near, never letting it go, splitting your entire entity apart, it seems here... You are or rather we are, I don't know when, or how, but at some point, I was your other half, the half it chose to keep."

From this being, a sigh, "Ahhh..." Disheartened he had failed himself, a laugh crazed, "HAGH-A-HAH-AHY-AHA-HA-HA-A," a cough, "Just how did you become like this? A lifeless mess, a fool. How did a God fall so low," tears, "I'm sorry but you can't exist any longer, from now on I'll be taking back reign."

Control with just a though was his, taking over his body, Shi Tian drifted away, extinguished from this world of the living, and from this, speaking out the true him emerges, "Boy I don't know who you are, but your legacy I will carry it, to train only strength whether it was on a whim or by some godforsaken notion you chose strength I don't care, this legacy I will carry it out to the end."

Sighing once more, he continued, "I'm sorry, however after drifting the nothingness of chaos for an eternity, only to watch you struggle in pain, I can't, I just can't, I couldn't take it, and although I don't know why I was drawn out from the void. On your body, I feel myself on you, so I refuse your life as nothing, I refuse to watch you struggle in the seas of change. Pershing before mere humans, I can't stand it."

With a laugh he muttered to a Shi Tian long gone, "These mere Humans will crumble before this Ant Kong Yufang."

"Kong Yufang?" A smile rose, this name it was not his, but what came out of his mouth was indeed it, laughing, he understood, talking to himself, he said, "I see so that's how it is, you've already accepted this new identity, very well since I've already decided to walk the path you set I will at least follow along with this charade."

Time resets, resuming as normal, from the sky above, his line of sight changed, Kong Yufang now with a smile demonic looked at these savages moving in. At this moment this boy before them he changed, and around them the winds they grew everso familiar too, warm yet chilly, blew estranged, growing blood-curdling, and chaotic, upon these unruly savages, a sudden gain of weight, the pressure of one thousand from just a single boys smile, they were rendered frozen.

Oozing out from this smile wicked, a deep, unruly bloodlust pours out, like the ocean cascading, swelling, and rising to crash down claiming all under, unfathomable... A lust for blood so deep it grew unfathomable, and a smile so chaotic, it grew beyond reckoning. Scared, terrified, these tribal men and women scream, they yell, but nothing but jibberish runs out, "הפעיל, הפעי, הפעיל!" Their faces darken, dropping their spears, and nets, they run, but they cannot, they can't escape this demon.

Kong Yufang, powerless, yet his very soul consumed, suffocating all, and stood above all without an equal, the top, yet where Yufang truly stands was the very bottom, to reign among the trash, and dead. An oddity, Kong Yufang, was able to control bloodlust to such an exponential extent, to let it bend, and mold, to have such power...

To have such power Kong Yufang had to understand everything, his very soul had to transcend the mere realm of mortality, and be forged, evolving into something new. The soul however, was limited, a power which he couldn't rely on, a mere party trick among Gods.

He had to cultivate, but his body refuses, to train strength although he said he would his face darkens, yet hidden behind a face ashen, a smile ever-rising, without even a single trace of regret in a voice of sadness, Kong Yufang muttered, "To rise only using strength, ha-hah-aha, truly you're chaotic, but I like it, let this whole world grow chaotic, as I rise."

Laughing lightly, "Aha-ha..." Followed once more by a sigh dragged out, "Ahhhhhhhh..." Truly it was saddening, to see his other self fail, depressed he smiled, "To think my counterpart couldn't even deal with these inept savages, a mere group of entrance stage cultivators, but this body... Truly it's too weak, just what was... Just what was I thinking?"

Glancing upon the flesh of those dead, upon Kong Yufang's face a wicked smile crawled up, and he spoke in a light manner, "We ain't no cannibal, but I'm an Ant so does it matter? HAHA-HA-HA-HA, no, no okay I'll just purify and devour their soul, since I'm a human I should at least live as a human would."

"The path of destruction, yes the path of the glass cannon, it isn't one easy, and without hardship, to walk this path covered in blood, I'll need the courage of one thousand, to just be entitled to a path treacherous, I'll need to die one hundred times for strength."

To those that walked insanity, each hated life, wishing to die, but they lived on because while they wanted to die, they kept on to appreciate the beauty of this world, Yufang, however, was different, yet in a way, he was the same. Yufang was merely someone that survived even when burnt to death, he tried to escape yet he was reborn, something wishing to live but forced to die, a cursed being entangled within the deceitfulness of time destined to never escape.

Kong Yufang... He was something that was never supposed to have been born, but somehow, relentless he was born, he grew wings, and he flew beyond all, surviving just to destroy, he was a creature tired and fueled by anger. This body, it was tired, Yufang couldn't do anything, so he fell asleep, and within his dreams, he met something.

Standing before a flame concocted of nothingness, a being shrouded in darkness, he spoke, "How long has it been? It has been far too long this time, my old friend. You should remember, what to do, devour, devour everything, for from now on this world is ours, you don't need to hold back anymore, go ahead and eat as much as you want."

Darkness a twisted remnant of a time long passed, today returns upon this world, flames of chaos, those flames of darkness; the flames of nothingness. Something that was born from the very beginning, it had no start, and it had no end, null in time, it burns the chaos of time, made from nothing itself this flame appeared living yet remained dead, no one knew of it, none knew the truth, but all across time, this flame has existed, standing at the very peak without exception.

At the base of the mountain, entering upon this world forgotten, something dead awakens once more to feed. A flame of arrogance, soaring high, it just sat there in the sky smiling down upon the world, and in a mere second, before these beings caught beneath Yufang's aura, this flame devours, it devours everything in sight, however with the exception of one Jiao Long.

Nothingness, yet from it, a feeling blood-curdling, and insane, devouring this flame smiled, blood covering its mouth a look of ecstasy is presented to this world from a being emotionless, true excitement, for he had returned, Shi Tian had returned, the one that had brought him to the very peak countless times before, overjoyed, as if speaking in a hymn seemingly it said, "Just how high will we rise this time?"

A few hours pass, and awakening upon this world once a haven, Kong Yufang. Looking out to see an idiotic crab displaying a fearful look upon its face, "HAA-HAHA," truly it was laughable, but before his brother Jiao Long, Yufang moved back, and cursed, "What the fuck are you?!" This crab he had seen it many times before in the eyes of another, however, he had never truly looked closely, this crab...

Befuddled, as Yufang moved back this crab moved forward with stride, but with each step, Yufang moved back, stopping he answered with a look of confusion in a voice proud, "This one is your brother Jiao Long!"

Retorting quickly Kong Yufang said, "No, no, no, no! I never made friends with no subspecies," Jiao Long's heart was torn, "I'm not a crab?" He had his doubts before, but was he truly not a crab?

Sighing and looking to the sky, Kong Yufang spoke without remorse, "Fucking old man, to think your species still exists to this day, and to think he doesn't even know what he is, it's laughable, and from some bird shit luck he ended up making friends with my counterpart, truly your calculations are frighteningly impeccable, but I refuse it! I refuse to follow that prophesy you wrote about us ruling together, I refuse it from the bottom of my heart!"

Directed at Jiao Long but not, confused, "Just who was he talking to?" Jiao Long could only ponder, as he thought, however, Yufang cut off his train of thought because he realized something, his location, in the middle of nowhere he couldn't escape without help, to leave he needed a boat or some kind of transportation and so putting on a bright smile, a complete change of mood, Kong Yufang spoke, "My good brother, the seas are not good, nor are the islands, the salty air, the treacherous weather, and the unceasing bloodshed, the ocean in itself is pure insanity, how about it? How about we leave here for a mass of land without borders, stretching out for meters countless, doesn't that sound wonderful?"

Confused, before him, this was his brother, he had questions but now was not the time, and so with a smile, he replied, "Of course, of course, I too have always dreamed to see this land that manages to escape from the sea," however Jiao Long too wasn't being completely honest, he too was scheming, this mass of land his brother spoke of he knew of it, a horrid place with warm weathers, and unfriendly individuals, he had been before to such a place he would never go, but he wouldn't tell Yufang that.

Both smiling inside, taking each other for a ride, abandoning this civilization reigning above the mountain tops, after laying rest for all that time, they decided to gather some food, and leave for something greater.