A Pillar of Golden Light

"Your Crimson Nation surely went all out this time, it's such a pity that someone needs to pay the price for today's casualties."

Unlike the five people surrounding him, the Envoy of Storm levitated in the air, independent of lustrous wings as a heavy current of external force twisted around his body. His gaze was distant, cold, and ruthless.

It seemed as though despite being surrounded by five enemies, he was the one in control; trapping the other five in a situation of certain death.

One of the five chuckled. "Heh, who knew that the illustrious Voidseye would drop so low as to become a mere envoy, escorting a group of ducklings."

All five of them had ordinary faces, the kind you'd easily overlook once placed in a crowd of people. However, grotesque crimson inscriptions surfaced on their skin and twisted about like centipedes. As these runes pulsed, their eyes slowly embraced a crimson tinge, and the inscriptions extended from their bodies to their massive wings.

Immediately, the pressure exuded from their bodies amplified even as the wings shrank bit by bit, leaving them flying by relying on their external or internal forces much like Voidseye.

"Blood Ignition Metamorphosis?" Voidseye raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise in his voice. "Pitiful, your bodies can't handle the strain of this metamorphosis, it seems like you haven't had any plans of leaving this place alive after the ambush."

There was a hint of something other than surprise in Voidseye's voice— it was solemnity, something that hadn't been included in his tone of speech ever since the battle erupted.

One of the five laughed, shrugging as he proclaimed in a self-deprecating tone, "It can't be helped; how are we to deal with a monster with an innate control over space if we don't go all out?"

As he spoke, the metamorphosis finally finished, and the wriggling crimson inscriptions settled down, albeit they occasionally pulsed with flashes of radiant ruby. The five no longer looked human, they instead resembled puppets of combat with robust muscles and wooden expressions.

Voidseye clasped his hands behind his back, the formal attire on his body fluttering gently as the powerful currents of crimson energy washed over his body from all directions. His gray, dull eyes focused, and a ripple of invisible energy spread from his body and resonated with the region of space all around.

"You've been researching the war puppets from the First Epoch's Insightful Folk, and after all these years, you're finally starting these twisted experiments on living humans, is that right?" Voidseye stared down at the five people who no longer looked human, a trace of pity in his eyes.

The leader of the group grinned. "Your attempts at probing for information from me are pathetic, Voidseye. However, I can tell you this; the Insightful Folk's research had long hit a bottleneck because they weren't willing to take that one step forward! But my Crimson Nation doesn't have such naive shackles to inhibit us. I'm not afraid to tell you that our bodies are being destroyed not because we can't handle the power, but because we are failed experiments, to begin with. Haha, but we have found a breakthrough point in our research…"

Voidseye's pupils constricted as he muttered, "The Undying Otherworlders, right?"

The man threw his head back, laughing. "Bingo! Their bodies are quite a mystery with an unlimited evolution potential! Living, breathing, walking treasures waiting for us to exploit! Best part? They're absolutely willing to go through with it!"

Boom!

Voidseye attacked immediately, not bothering to waste time talking or probing for more information. He already got the answers he needed, and he didn't dare chit-chat since he had a bad premonition these people were after buying time.

As he pushed his palms together, the invisible energy released from his body took a solid shape around one of the five, catching the man off guard.

"Compress!"

Voidseye shouted, clapping his palms together with an audible thud.

Boom! Space around the man's immediate vicinity exploded, shards of wanton energy blasting in all directions. This energy wave crossed an unbelievable distance, and far below in the rain forest, the wind howled and trees quivered, and with a blast, Ye Qing found himself pressed hard into the scorched land.

"Ugh!"

Ye Qing grunted in pain, turning his head to find a protruding shard of metal just a few inches away from where his face landed. Sweat trickled down his forehead; that was close.

In this game, no matter how high one's health bar is, some injuries were certain death. For instance; decapitation and headshots. As for the heart, it depends on how severe the injury was upon registration. Ye Qing looked up to the sky, only to see flashes of white and crimson, like fireworks or a thunderstorm, brewing amidst the white clouds.

He gasped and mumbled, "What power…"

"Get off me, you filthy undying trash… !"

Ye Qing looked down, to find that his body pressed down on yet another heavily wounded native to this realm. With a grunt, Ye Qing reached for the metal shard, pulled it from the ground even as its sharp edges cut into his flesh, and under the horror-filled gaze of the native talent, he sailed the metallic piece into the latter's throat.

"You… you're with them…?"

This was the only thing on this young man's mind as the light faded from his eyes. In his opinion, this undying trash must be in cahoots with the Crimson Nation, why else would he go about killing people?

As for Ye Qing, he felt helpless. At first, he wanted to indiscriminately deliver peace to the mourning souls of these natives, only to discover that not all of them had red indicators for names. Some of them had purple indicators, while others had white indicators.

This goes to show that many of the natives were innocent and didn't really have the heart to discriminate against players like him, yet, they ended up caught in this mess nonetheless.

When encountering these people and their pleading gazes, Ye Qing was at a loss for words.

Ultimately, he donned the incognito clothes as he didn't want to face their pitiful eyes while he killed their friends and family one at a time; he couldn't handle the weight of their eyes.

Boom!

"Ugh!"

Ye Qing jumped in shock, turning his head in a certain direction to find that someone had just landed from the battle in the sky. Well, not like he landed, more like blasted into the ground. Ye Qing blinked, amazed that someone could survive the fall from such height with such severe injuries.

The man coughed, blazing hot blood splattering from his lips and splintering wounds all over his body.

"Haha, I… I… I got his right arm… Haha…"

This man laughed and spoke, even as his voice grew softer and softer.

Ye Qing inspected the body, and just as this person said, there was a right arm locked in the dying man's grip, still fresh with blood, and the luxurious formal sleeve was riddled with holes and smudged in blood. Ye Qing immediately recognized that arm to be the Envoy of Storm's right arm.

"I can't see the man's level of power, all I can see are red question marks…"

Ye Qing looked at the man who was on his last breaths and then looked at his experience bar, a hint of a smile on his face.

"Well, don't mind me a quick shortcut."

As he spoke, he pulled the remaining two fireball talismans he refrained from using, feeling glad he hadn't wasted them on defenseless natives as he killed the first one. He wouldn't dare approach this enemy even if he was on his last breath, landing two hits and waiting patiently until the man died was the best option.

High in the sky, Voidseye panted heavily as he wiped a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth, a silly grin on his face even as he inspected the hollow right shoulder on his body.

"What a suicidal madman, did he really think I need both my arms to compress and shatter space?" As Voidseye spoke, deep blue and purple veins surfaced around his eyes, stretching back to his cranium and the side of his head.

A terrifying spatial power caused visible ripples to surround his body, giving the illusion that space around Voidseye began to fold and twist.

From the original five, only three people remained.

One of them was caught off guard and torn to shreds by the collapsing space while the other tossed his life away in exchange for Voidseye's right arm. Now, the remaining three had forced the man to use the ultimate skill that granted him the name 'Voidseye'.

Suddenly, the expressions of the three stiffened, and quickly, they morphed into hideous, sinister smiles.

Voidseye's heart shook, a bad premonition welling up in his heart.

"Haha, you fell for it, pretty boy!"

A crisp voice resonated from all around, and from the folding, twisted space, tongues of nine elastic whips barbed with purple spikes tore through the void and pierced Voidseye's five major organs and spine.

Splurt!

Blood splashed from Voidseye's body as it quivered uncontrollably. The charming voice rippled once again with laughter, "Let's see if you can handle the metamorphosis, unlike that trash over there!"

Voidseye's heart shook. "This is bad!"

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Suddenly, flashes of golden light erupted from the rainforest, climbing into the high skies.