บท 8: Awakening

[ Void Fortress - Medical Facility ]

[ 10 hours and Multiple Strikes of Lightning Later ]

The room was shrouded in an oppressive atmosphere of grief and despair.

Geoffrey knelt on the floor, tears streaming as he reached out to the lifeless body before him, his cries echoing in the void of the room.

"I've failed you, Master and Mistress, young master..."

Geoffrey's voice cracked, choked with guilt and sorrow. Memories, like spectral daggers, pierced his heart.

"He... he..."

Beside him, Baal's usually unwavering demeanor wavered.

He knelt beside Brandon's motionless form, his heart a roaring sea of grief.

His once determined eyes now reflected emptiness, lines of loss marking his face.

His mouth hung open, but no words escaped, for the pain in his heart was too overwhelming, rendering him speechless.

"Boss can't be gone," Baph's voice cracked as he shook Baal, his hand firm on his shoulder.

"Captain, tell me this is all an act,"

Baph pleaded, his voice laced with desperation.

"I don't know why or for what... but tell me this is one of the boss's elaborate plans..."

Asmo was sat huddled in a corner of the room, his sanity teetering on the edge.

Rocking back and forth, he muttered to himself, his words

"Noo... Boss can't be... impossible... he's the strongest... impossible... he can't be... no... no... no... nooo..."

His words, fragments of a shattered reality, repeated a denial mantra.

Lili, who had always exuded sensuality and seduction, lay sprawled over Brandon's charred and lifeless body on the medical table.

Her cries were raw with anguish, her voice pleading and broken.

"Wake up, Boss..."

Lili's words were choked with tears.

"You can't leave me like this... you're the only person I ever truly ... Please... please... don't leave me behind..."

Levi stood a distance away, her eyes welled with tears as she fought to keep herself from falling apart.

Her eyes, hidden behind frameless glasses, focused on the fractal-patterned scars that covered Brandon's charred body.

Blood dripped from her clenched fists…

Just as the despair threatened to consume them, a faint pulse of energy surged through the room.

*Ohmmm…* *Ohmmm…* *Ohmmmmm…*

It started small, barely perceptible, but soon grew stronger, pulsating with a renewed vigor.

"Wait," Geoffrey's head jerked up, his voice barely a whisper. "Do you feel that?"

Baal, snapped out of his state of desolation, turned his attention to the source of the growing energy.

A glimmer of hope ignited in his eyes.

"It can't be... is Boss...?"

In the corner, Asmo and Baph froze, their breath hitched in their throats as they felt the change in the room's atmosphere.

Their sorrow, for a moment, was replaced by a flicker of hope.

At the center, Lili's hand jerked as she felt the energy surge under her fingertips.

Her sobs quieted, replaced by sharp intakes of breath.

"Boss…."

Levi's grip loosened, the drop of blood falling from her knuckles to the floor echoed through the room.

The intensity building in the room made her heart pound against her ribs.

Every fiber of her being was drawn to the radiant pulse emanating from Brandon's body.

Suddenly, a burst of energy erupted from Brandon's body, sending shockwaves through the air and launching everyone present backward.

*Boooooooom*

Brandon's body floated above the medical table…

The innumerable fractal-patterned scars on Brandon's body started glowing with a regal gold, bathing the room in an ethereal radiance.

The once lifeless form now emanated a palpable power, as if the surface of volcanic rock on the precipice of explosion.

In the midst of the radiant glow, an otherworldly scene unfolded.

Jet-black energy, like tendrils of pure darkness, began to writhe and coil over the golden fractal-patterned scars that adorned Brandon's chest.

The darkness danced and swirled, intertwining with the shimmering gold, creating a mesmerizing spectacle.

The converging mass of energy formed a swirling vortex above the center of his chest, pulsating with an otherworldly power.

Within the vortex, glimpses of distant galaxies, celestial bodies, and cosmic phenomena flickered and merged, as if the very essence of the universe had been captured and encapsulated.

The room trembled as the energy around them intensified.

Reality seemed to warp and distort around them as the once lifeless body started to transform.

Geoffrey, Baal, Baph, Asmo, Lili, and Levi watched in awe and disbelief as the spectacle unfolded before them.

One by one, they picked themselves up, their eyes wide in shock.

Fear and grief gave way to awe.

Whispers of ancient prophecies and forgotten legends danced in the corners of their minds, as if the very fabric of reality was being rewritten at that moment.

The air grew heavy with anticipation, a collective breath held in unison, as they waited for what would come next.

Then, an ethereal abyss crept forth from the depths of the vortex.

It slithered like a serpent, its inky tendrils reaching out with a sinister hunger.

Slowly, deliberately, it began to coat Brandon's once lifeless body with an ominous darkness.

The darkness, like a malicious fog, consumed his form inch by inch, suffocating the remnants of light that clung to his being.

It clung to him with a tenacious grip, entwining around his limbs, his torso, and his very soul.

Everyone's eyes widened with terror as the encroaching darkness engulfed their fallen leader, stealing away his essence and replacing it with something altogether different.

The once familiar figure became a specter of the abyss, a vessel of malevolence cloaked in the depths of night.

And yet, amidst the encroaching darkness, glimmers of the golden fractal-patterned scars pulsated with an eerie light like pulsing veins.

Then, in a moment of blinding revelation, the scars erupted in a magnificent display.

A brilliant flash of light pierced through the shroud of darkness…

The room was consumed by a dazzling radiance, pure and overwhelming.

It was like a celestial flame that sought to illuminate the darkest corners of their souls, the fragility of their own existence became starkly apparent.

Just then, an ominous jet-black mist of energy flooded out of the vortex above Brandon and cascaded into the golden fractal-patterned scars.

As quickly as the light erupted, it was swallowed by the abyss.

In the silence that followed, a new form emerged.

And there, standing before them, was the resurrected Brandon.

Clad in an intricate ethereal full-body armor of ominous black with 10 small black vortexes hovering behind him in a circle, he exuded an aura of commanding power.

His form, once familiar, now appeared otherworldly, an embodiment of the shadows that had claimed him.

His eyes, once warm and alive, held a glint of enigmatic malevolence that sent shivers down their spines.

He stood as a symbol of the terror that lurked in the human psyche, the embodiment of the dark recesses that dwelled within their own souls.

Suddenly in Brandon's mind, a panel materialized…

===========

[ Brandon Void | Eclipse Phase ]

— Divine Awakening Progress : 10% ( Reach 20% to Upgrade )

— Divinity Aspect : Cosmic Devourer ( Tier 1 )

— Divine Skill :

Devour ( Tier 1 ) : Unleashes a consuming force that absorbs the essence of defeated enemies, replenishing the user and granting a temporary boost in power.

Void Manifestation ( Tier 1 ) : Manipulates the very fabric of the void, allowing the user to manifest ethereal constructs and unleash devastating attacks on adversaries.

— Pantheon Rank : Supreme Deity

— Cosmic Vortexes : 10

— Innate Potential : 10,000

— God Artifact : Not Unlocked

===========

Baal took a shaky step forward, eyes wide,

"Boss?"

His voice, usually firm, was filled with uncertainty.

Lili, still close to the epicenter, whispered with disbelief,

"Is that really you, boss?"