nycdaug Chapter 16 Let the dark flames of fury ignite!
Chapter 16 Let the dark flames of fury ignite!
"Ughh ...
As Ming forcibly inserted the crimson [Spirit Crystal] into his body, a violent and scorching power surged through his entire body, as if it could ignite him at any moment. Ming also began to scream in pain due to the sudden surge of overwhelming emotions within him.
"Oh~ it seems it failed. Well, that's good, it saves me the trouble of finding another young girl to refine."
Mio stood quietly behind Ming, talking to herself with great interest.
The next second, the space on the rooftop was instantly covered by a purple barrier that emerged from under Mio's feet. Then, Mio jumped back slightly to move aside, waiting for the moment when Ming would be completely transformed into a "monster" by the [Spirit Crystal].
"Ah ah ah ah..."
Ming gritted his teeth and screamed, clutching his head. Then, red flames ignited on the boy's body, and a fiery red energy armor completely covered his body, transforming him into a runaway "monster".
"Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!"
The creature that had just transformed into a "monster" roared loudly, like a pure wild beast, with almost no human-like features other than its human form.
"Alright, let's go then."
As Mio slowly walked towards Ming, she smiled and said, "In Ming's eyes, when he was still conscious, she was like..."
She can be heartless, yet she understands your pain; she can be compassionate, yet she can be absolutely rational in taking the insignificant life of another. She is contradictory, yet she exists like a sacred "god."
"Aaaaaaah!" Ming, who had already lost control and transformed into a "monster," roared in instinctive rage as he sensed Mio walking slowly toward him, and then pounced on her like a wild beast.
Faced with Ming's attack, Mio calmly stopped and extended a finger, flicking it lightly.
Then an invisible pressure pressed down on Ming again, rendering him unable to move and leaving him helplessly lying on the ground.
Mio walked up to Ming, knelt down, and gently stroked Ming's unusually hot head, as if treating a pet, and sighed:
"What a pitiful child. I gave you a chance not long ago, but alas... it seems you don't cherish it. But at least because of this [Spirit Crystal], one less person needs to refine it."
A hint of pity flickered in Mio's eyes, but more so indifference. White light gathered in her hand, like a blade of light ready to be unleashed at any moment.
Perhaps because his life was coming to an end, Ming's thoughts, which had become chaotic due to the immense emotions he felt towards the [Spirit Crystal], miraculously returned to clarity.
Just as the deadly blade of light was about to mercilessly strike, his gaze pierced through the crowd and locked onto the figure of Sawa lying in a pool of blood behind Mio.
At that moment, Ming's feelings were incredibly complex. He gazed at Sawa, as if trying to imprint every detail of her into his mind.
A surge of indescribable emotions welled up within him, encompassing worry for her safety, an unspoken attachment and regret, and a touch of anger at not having protected her.
'...Ah, was this the same pain you felt when you became a "monster," Sawa...? It's alright, I'll come down to be with you right away. Please...please...forgive my incompetence. Because of my incompetence, I couldn't protect you...I was too weak. I wanted to use this power to avenge you back then, but...I didn't have the ability to control it...'
Ming's thoughts gradually blurred, and he felt his consciousness slowly fading away. However, when he recalled the love letter Sawa had written to him, Sawa's shy yet happy smile appeared in his mind. This image brought Ming back a sliver of clarity, and he struggled to stay awake.
Ming's gaze gradually focused on Mio in front of him, who was preparing to cut him in half. Looking at Mio's cold eyes, the anger in Ming's heart was completely ignited.
He couldn't bear this happening. He decided he couldn't die like this. 'I want power! I want the power to avenge her here! Even if... my body is burned to ashes!'
Ming's inner voice echoed endlessly within him. This intense anger towards Mio, reaching its peak, seemed to be responding to the boy's plea, merging with the emotions brought by the [Spirit Crystal] deep within his consciousness.
As if something was being nurtured, the emotions within the [Spirit Crystal] gradually turned black, and the emotions between Ming and the crystal slowly transformed into a multi-pointed star-shaped crystal, which quickly merged into Ming's [soul] as he was about to close his eyes.
Using a voice that Ming had never heard before, a mixture of male and female tones, she asked Ming:
"Merge with me, or await death, choose! My awakener!"
"what?!"
Meanwhile, on the real side, Mio's light blade swiftly slashed down, instantly cleaving the monster's body in two vertically. The crimson spirit crystal, now fully refined, was held in Mio's hand.
"What's going on? The negative effects within this [Spirit Crystal] are almost gone. Wait a minute... I've only refined this [Spirit Crystal] less than 20 times!"
Mio looked at the [Spirit Crystal] floating in her hand with some doubt, but she didn't take it to heart. She stood up, put the [Spirit Crystal] into her body, and then retracted the purple barrier.
Mio turned to deal with Sawa's body, crouching down and slowly placing her hand on her abdomen. As a door constructed of energy appeared below, it slowly swallowed her up.
An unbelievable, majestic voice came from behind Mio, coming from the direction of the broken Ming.
"Get your filthy hands off her!"
"Ok!"
Mio turned her head in astonishment, her eyes wide with disbelief. She looked in the direction where Ming had fallen, but his body was still lying on the ground.
However, the surrounding temperature also began to rise, as if an invisible flame was burning. The air was filled with scorching heat, and even the surrounding space was distorted by the high temperature.
Seeing this, Mio was at a loss for what to do. Not understanding what had happened, she could only place her hand on Sawa's body and look in confusion at the place where Mei had fallen.
“I said, take your filthy hands off me! Didn’t you hear me?”
The voice echoed from the void once more. Seeing this, the previously composed Mio frowned and said:
"Come out! Stop playing tricks!"
As the words fell, Ming's body, which had originally split into two parts, twisted and rejoined, transforming into a black, polygonal crystal that floated in mid-air, radiating extremely high spiritual energy.
Seeing this, Mio looked at the black object warily. She could sense that it contained the excess energy that she had lost during her "refinement" and some emotions that did not belong to her.
Mio stared intently at the dark, polygonal crystal, trying to find a clue within it.
Suddenly, the jet-black polygonal crystal sank into the rooftop, and immediately afterward, a huge black magic circle appeared on the ground, surrounded by a dense array of strange characters that spun rapidly.
Suddenly, a pillar of extremely hot black flame shot out from the center of the magic circle and shot straight into the sky. Seeing this, Mio quickly tried to cover it with a purple barrier.
"This is bad! Even I don't know what's going on, but if we let it go, this spiritual energy will attract the AST. There's no benefit in provoking them now. We have to completely seal off this area with a barrier!"
After saying that, Mio focused her attention on the dark pillar of fire. Then, one after another, twisted skeletons emerged from the pillar of fire, turned their heads forward, and knelt down in devout worship.
Once the flames had completely subsided, slowly emerging from the center was the king of black flames—Gangfeng Ming!
At this moment, his left eye was covered by black flames, and his scarlet left eye, which resembled that of a goat, could be vaguely seen. His right eye, covered by a monocle, was originally a deep black eye. He was wearing a black and gray military uniform, with a golden cross around his neck and a domineering military coat draped over his back. The most eye-catching feature was his jet-black goat horn growing next to his left eye and military cap.
"What's going on!" Mio asked Ming in confusion.
“Who knows?” Ming said with a twisted expression. “But that’s not important. I’m just here to avenge her, nothing more!”