章節 106: Power

Subconsciously, Liam's eyes had started filling with pure white energy, gradually changing his perception. He could see the streets around him, his vision showing him many different people. He could see all of them, despite being so far away and there being heavy rain.

Liam watched them all, feeling the full weight of their pain and suffering. He saw the elderly couple embracing each other as they awaited their fate. Further up, he saw a desperate father who, despite the incoming landslide, was trying to dig up his children and wife from under a collapsed house. A loyal dog tugged at the lifeless hand of its fallen owner, trying to pull her from beneath the rubble.

Children cried at their father's upper body, the lower half of his body crushed by a massive stone support beam from a church building.

Scenes of agony and heartbreak flooded his mind—children weeping beside their father, whose lower body lay crushed under a massive stone beam from a collapsed church. Hundreds of such moments flashed before him like shards of glass, slowly creating a mirror within him. And when the reflection became complete, he finally saw himself.

The Heartmirror around his neck started glowing with a purple light. He closed his eyes and imagined what the scene would be like after the landslide hit.

When he did, he felt a deep sadness inside him. They were just ordinary people, caught up in something unlucky—something completely outside their influence.

Looking into the mirror created in his mind, he realized that all the people outside were exactly the same as him. What was happening now had once been his greatest fear. And in this very moment, it was their reality.

'And now,' he thought bitterly, 'they're all about to die. The elderly, middle-aged, teenagers, children, and even animals.'

Liam felt helpless. He knew he couldn't stop the landslide. He didn't have enough energy. Even if he did, his domain wasn't tall enough, wide enough, and just not strong enough.

He couldn't stop it from reaching this city, let alone the other cities around the mountain. Despite knowing this, he wanted to at least try to save these people.

'I have to do something,' Liam thought, walking toward the incoming landslide. He didn't fear it; he knew Incursio would protect him from something like that.

He walked through the streets toward the oncoming landslide. He kept observing the people around him, acknowledging their fear, suffering, and despair.

'My own suffering is nothing compared to all these people combined,' he thought. 'The pain I endure doesn't matter. As long as I can stay alive, why wouldn't I try?'

He continued walking outside the city, his mind silent. All he could hear was the rumbling of the landslide growing closer. At a certain distance from the city, he stopped and looked at the massive landslide approaching.

He stabbed the Incursio sword into the ground in front of him, taking one last glance at the city's people, with water from the heavy rain streaming down his helmet, before he turned back around.

Liam screamed out Incursio's name as loud as possible, hoping to get its attention.

A giant phantom appeared behind his back, its arms crossed and its cape fluttering in the wind.

'Hey, Incursio,' Liam thought, closing his eyes while focusing on the sword. 'I got the feeling you're still alive in there.'

The countless times he had felt someone else's instincts, feelings, and the changes in his body… He wasn't certain about everything, but he wasn't foolish enough to believe everything happening to him was normal.

'I don't care how much I suffer,' Liam thought, feeling a sharp pain all over his body. 'Or how much it hurts.'

Steam started to rise from Liam's body as he started to feel the urge to scream from the pain he was feeling.

The phantom's eyes, which had always been looking in front of it, suddenly moved down. It looked at Liam with great interest and surprise.

'Let me use your powers…' Liam continued, every nerve in his body burning up. 'To their limits.'

'These people have already suffered enough from the earthquakes. Thousands died from the aftermath of MY fight,' he thought, gritting his teeth as the pain got worse.¹

'I'm not about to let this entire island die because of that as well' His eyes started leaking blood from the sides.

'That's why,' he thought, veins of blood bursting all over his body, spilling out through tiny slashes as he grabbed Incursio even tighter. 'I need incredible amounts of power…'

'To protect these people.'

The phantom figure behind him revealed a large grin as the ground cracked and sets of chains spiraled into the air around Liam. The phantom leaned down, opening its mouth as it roared loudly, tightly wrapping its arms around Liam.

White energy spread around him, blowing away all the terrain within 100 feet, creating a massive crater where he stood. The white energy formed a cocoon around Liam and started shining brightly until nothing of Liam's figure was left visible.

Inside the white light, Liam regained feeling in the arm he had lost as something grew out of his body in its place. Liam screamed; the pain of regrowing a limb in seconds was far worse than losing it.

That wasn't the only painful thing. On his head, he felt a tearing pain as horns grew out. The horns were curved backward and looked exactly like those on his armor.

As his body transformed, so did Incursio. He felt a new connection on his back. A large set of wings was being created, slowly spreading out behind his back, and a second pair of eyes appeared on his helmet. Meanwhile, the armor's color had changed to a pure white color.

The pain remained agonizing, but the inside of Incursio's armor felt more comfortable. It felt as if the armor was no longer a foreign object, instead, it felt like it had become an extension of his own body.

Most importantly, he felt something else he could use. His attention turned to the large set of pure white wings on his back. He flapped them a few times before turning his attention back to the incoming landslide.

Liam saw how close it already was, the shadow of the landslide almost reaching him. With that, he spread out both wings and flapped them downwards. Liam shot up into the sky toward the landslide, the energy from his evolution still lingering around him.

At a height of 500 feet, Liam stopped.

Raising both his hands, he summoned a gigantic white rift behind him. The massive storm in the area parted as a mix of pure gold and white light shone through the clouds, landing on Liam and his surroundings as his domain took place.

The white rift closed as the ground far beneath Liam started to change, turning from mud to solid, cracked rocks. All trees in the area withered, and the grass disappeared.

Suddenly, the ground started shaking wildly. A thick golden light appeared on the ground. From the light, massive walls began to rise, starting right in front of Liam and spreading outwards to both sides. The walls grew so tall that the landslide behind them could no longer be seen.

'It's not done yet,' Liam thought as he flew straight for Mount Ida, now a volcano.

Behind him, he heard a deafening crash as the landslide collided with the wall.

The people from the nearby city all looked at the massive wall in front of their city in pure shock. Some started kneeling, screaming God's name, thanking him for the miracle. Others cried in relief, hugging their loved ones or continuing their search for them under the rubble.

Liam quickly reached the top of the volcano and floated in the air. He concentrated, closing his eyes as he imagined what he wanted to happen. Instead of spreading his domain in a sphere, he created a ring-like shape around the mountain in his mind.

He sent his energy to the wall he had already created, letting sections rise beside it one by one. These were the highest, thickest, and strongest walls he had ever created. The energy consumption was massive, and Liam began doubting if he had enough.

He pushed himself to his absolute limit, sending as much energy as possible to the walls. But everyone has a limit. As he created three-quarters of the walls, he began to slow down.

He felt himself weakening. His eyes started leaking blood again. He lowered his head, gritted his teeth, and kept pushing energy into the walls. Slowly, he approached his breaking point.

Only a few more miles remained, but Liam felt utterly drained. He looked at the surroundings with blurry eyes as his arm weakened.

At that moment, he felt presences behind him. The pressure lessened as he felt more energy entering his body. Liam slowly turned around, and what he saw made him smile weakly.

Behind him stood multiple white figures—some old, some young—all of whom he recognized. These were the same figures from the statues inside the Incursio dimension.

Bulat stood with his arms crossed, nodding in approval. Tatsumi had his fist raised, a wide grin on his face. Many others stood alongside them in their spirit forms, each of them with different expressions and habits. Despite their differences, one thing became very clear: they were all more than satisfied with Liam's character.

Liam turned his head back and refocused on finishing the massive wall.

創作者的想法
Donnuuu

[1600 words again today, hope you all liked it.]

Liam is finally moving to answers instead of more questions!!

Making these kind of chapters is definitely what I like most haha.

I have some crazy stuff planned for future chapters. As for this evolution being so close to the last one and the white figures? It will all make sense.

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章節 107: Not Alone

Liam focused his new energy on the last few sections of the wall, completing the circle around the mountain. He had succesfully isolated the landslide, preventing it from going further towards any of the nearby cities.

He worried he had been too late to save some towns and villages, as a portion of the landslide had managed to spill past the barriers before the walls were fully raised. But when he looked into the distance, he realized he was not alone in this.

Relieved, he turned to the simpler task. In areas where no cities or towns lay, he began lowering the walls gradually. This allowed the landslide to flow out slowly and stabilize much faster.

'There's no way I'm keeping up my domain for hours,' Liam thought, fully concentrating on making sure he didn't mess this up.

A few minutes ago, at another massive city on the complete opposite side of the mountain, several yellow-colored portals appeared.

Out of the portals walked familiar figures wearing the traditional robes of high-ranking mages. They spread out across the city, making hand signals and raising their arms. Large yellow shields manifested at their palms, covering entire sides of the city.

One person stood at the front of the city, preparing to take the full force of the landslide.

The landslide heading toward this city was far smaller since it was much farther from the mountain than others. But even so, the people in this city wouldn't survive if left alone. And since the landslide was caused by a creature from a different dimension, such a massive loss of life could greatly disturb the natural order.

The Ancient One raised her hand towards the oncoming landslide, the Time Stone glowing as green, magical constructs formed and shot forward. They struck the landslide, slowing it to a snail's pace.

With a calm motion, she created a massive yellow shield. The landslide struck it, splitting and flowing harmlessly to the sides, where other Masters of the Mystic Arts held firm with their own shields.

The Ancient One looked up at the sky above the volcano. Shortly after, she sensed the use of dimensional energy far ahead as golden beams shot a hundred feet into the air near them. A smile briefly crossed her face before her expression turned serious again.

The other masters also looked at the phenomenon, sensing the unfamiliar energy forming above the volcano and spreading. They had never encountered anything like this before, but since the Ancient One did not order them, they trusted that the situation was under control.

Then, massive walls rose a couple hundred feet away from them.

'Fascinating,' the Ancient One mused. 'In all my centuries of existence and the countless futures I've seen through the Time Stone, his magic is unlike anything I've seen before.'

'And it is strong,' she acknowledged. 'It's a pity I can no longer see his future after today's events.'

Her gaze softened. 'The role I was meant to play is nearing its end.'

The landslide around the city thinned out quickly, as the walls blocked more than three-quarters of its original length.

The mages and the Ancient One regrouped, seeing that the landslide in their area had completely dispersed. The land surrounding the city had now been raised several feet higher than before.

In the distance, they could see the walls carefully dispersing the landslide to ensure it wouldn't bury any nearby towns or cities.

Meanwhile, as Liam stabilized the landslide, he turned around, wanting to thank the previous users of Incursio. But they were nowhere to be found.

'This wasn't planned at all,' Liam thought. 'I need to visit Incursio's dimension again after this.'

Nearly half an hour passed before the last walls sank into the ground. The landslide was stabilized for now; all that remained was for rescue workers to save the civilians on the island.

'Even though it's fine for now, if another earthquake hits, all the debris could start moving again,' Liam thought as he flew away from the mountain's peak.

As he reached the bottom of the mountain, he unsummoned Incursio.

Taking a few steps forward, Liam collapsed onto one knee. His entire body ached immensely from the evolution and the constant draining of his energy.

Liam closed his eyes, coughing violently and spitting blood into his right hand. As he opened his eyes again, he finally noticed something was off about his arm.

Horrified, he stared at the white scales covering his right arm, reaching up to the point where the stone giant had torn it off. His fingers had transformed into bone-like structures, ending on extremely sharp claws.

"What the fuck is this?" Liam cursed.

Suddenly, intense chest pains struck him, as if his heart were exploding. The pain spread throughout his entire body, like an army of ants eating away on his flesh all at the same time.

Liam fell to both knees, clutching his chest as he coughed up more blood.

After a few agonizing minutes, the extreme pain slowly began to fade, leaving behind a dull, barely manageable ache from the exhaustion.

'What is this all about?' Liam thought, still feeling stabs of pain every few seconds.

The sound of sizzling magic and approaching footsteps made him turn. A yellow portal opened behind him, and through it stepped the Ancient One, Mordo, Wong, and two other mages he didn't recognize.

Mordo's gaze fell on Liam. He wanting to greet him but froze upon noticing Liam's changed appearance and unfamiliar energy. His expression hardened as he raised his weapon instinctively, the two mages beside him following after him did the same.

The Ancient One raised a hand to stop them. "There's no need for this."

"Why not?" Mordo's voice was clear. "His energy signature and appearance are completely different. How do we know he's the same Liam? How do we know he isn't an enemy now? Is he even the same Liam we once knew?" His weapon lowered slightly, but his body remained tense. "We can't take that risk. It isn't safe."

"Not all that is unfamiliar is dangerous," the Ancient One replied calmly. "You witnessed his intentions yourself. His appearance and power may have changed, but his heart has not."

Mordo's jaw tightened. All his life he had followed by rules and order, beliefs that left no room for exceptions. He could not easily put those principles aside, even for someone who used to be a friend.

"You expect us to trust someone who looks like that?" Mordo gestured at Liam. "Rules exist for a reason. They must be followed. What if you're wrong?"

"Then it will be my mistake to bear, not yours," the Ancient One said gently. "Go. There are other matters that need your attention."

Mordo hesitated before bowing slightly. "As you wish." He stepped through the portal with the others, though their wary glances lingered on Liam as they disappeared.

When they were gone, Wong turned to the Ancient One. "Are you sure about this?" he asked quietly.

She nodded, revealing a soft smile.

Liam looked up at her, his voice hoarse. "What's happening to me?"

"Power comes at a cost, young Liam," she said. "And it seems you've found what that cost is."

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