Grief, Anger, and a decision

As Light opened his eyes, he once more gazed upon the arm that belonged to the one he held so dear to his heart. He slowly took off the sapphire ring, holding it to his chest and putting it into his chest pocket.

"Wait for me."

He slowly got up, still holding onto the arm with both hands. The castle formed a mountain of rubble. Walking down, each foot step crushed the debris as he continued to walk to the bottom. Eventually he reached the grassy field situated at the bottom of a once majestic castle. Turning around, he took one last glance at what was his home, where he spent his entire life, where he was born, where he learned what familial love was, where he first found true love, and now where he lost everything. 

Slowly he walked towards a forest, seemingly untouched by the disaster except a few burnt trees. As he walked deeper and deeper into the forest the slight sound of water flowing got louder and louder.

Soon in his line of sight was a beautiful waterfall, peaceful and undisturbed compared to the current state of the world. Though he could fly, he slowly climbed up beside the waterfall, one hand holding onto Amelia's.

As he reached the top there was a small apricot tree. Looking at it, tender memories flashed through his eyes. This was where he had proposed to her that very day. As he got down on his knees he began to dig. Then he softly placed the arm into the hole, burying it and with it all his emotions.

He created two smaller graves, one for his mother and one for his father, though he didn't have a close relationship with either parent, they did raise him so he should show his respects. With that, there were three small mounds of dirt representing three graves.

He took a deep breath to steady his shaking heart and his turbulent emotions. It was not easy accepting what happened or even understanding it all, but he was the prince of the world, he had seen violent scenes, he had lost many friends on his path to cultivation.

"As long as I live I will try to find a way to bring you back, if I cannot, then I will join you one day."

His will was shaken. He wanted to die, to join his loved ones in peace. Yet he also could not accept the fate bestowed upon him. Was he just supposed to accept this tragedy? Could he truly do nothing about it?

His anger and grievance won out in the end. Though he had wanted to die before, now that he learned the world wouldn't let him die, he could only push forward. He didn't have it in him to kill himself after passing down the seal to his firstborn child. Neither did he agree with the idea of continuing to live his life like nothing happened, acting out the play someone had orchestrated for him.

The grief in his eyes slowly faded away, replaced by an indifference and rage. There would be a day he would make them all pay, and even if he couldn't he would die trying.

He got up and dusted off his clothes, as he closed his eyes peering into his sea of consciousness. There was a large white sword hoving in the center of it. Though he had sensed it before, because of the circumstances, why would he even care what this new development was.

He sent his consciousness into the sword. A stream of information flew into his mind. The sword was the Heaven sword pavilions 7th sword, the Radiant Virtue sword. An incredible treasure from a far, far away world. Seeking a sword carrier that was fated with it, it had found him through the crack in the atmosphere. But this was not quite a heavenly chance falling into his lap, like all things it came with its own consequences.

His soul was bound to the sword, not the other way around. He would live the rest of his life breaking through all 9 seals on the sword to gain its approval, and the inheritance that came with it. Each layer had a certain amount of time dedicated to how long he had to unseal it. Should he fail to do so, the sword would consume his soul, unable to enter the realm of reincarnation forever becoming part of the sword itself.

Another play I am to be part of? Where was my choice? One after another huh. He let out a dry chuckle, once again clenching his fists in frustration, his newly healed wounds opening up again.

"What an ungrateful brat you are."

"?" A voice spoke to him in his head, shocking him.

"So you are a weapon spirit or something?" Light quickly regained his clam.

"At least you have some brains. You were chosen with this heaven seeking opportunity to become one the fated seven sword holders, and here you ungratefully look down on the chance given to you?"

Light could no longer contain his anger. What great chance, he would be robbed of his ability to reincarnate should he fail. "Go fuck yourself. You chain my soul to this sword telling me if I don't succeed that my life and any reincarnations belong to this sword? You call this kindness? An opportunity?"

"You don't understand the power you could wield if the sword accepted you. The armies you could command at the flick of your fingers, the strength of a single slash of the sword. Strength far beyond the heights of what this little realm is capable of."

"What a great pavilion to pick a mortal like me to enslave."

"The 7th sword is bound only to fated mortals across the three thousand lower realms. If not, someone of your position wouldn't have a chance with even a thousand lifetimes of luck. You have one month to reach the demands or you lose your soul, I won't bother speaking to you anymore until you unlock the first seal."

The voice cut out. Light grit his teeth. From the information he received he understood the assignment given to him. To reach the realm above qi condensation, which he now learned was called foundation establishment, above that was the golden core realm and beyond that nascent soul realm.

He hated this feeling of living one's entire life according to the schemes and plays of another. It was only today he realized the entire world he lived in was a lie, a mere ploy by someone to farm some sort of energy. Now he was selected for another plot?

'Fine then, I'll find a way to pass your tests, all of them, and then after I get my revenge, I'll bring out the sword and destroy your Sword heaven pavilion.' As he thought this the sword shook, shaking his sea of consciousness as he fell to one knee and coughed up heaves of blood.

"Fuck…you…" He spoke weekly. The pain didn't give him more fear. He lost everything already, he had nothing more to lose. He got up. The dark light in his eyes grew darker with every moment.

"Don't like my disrespect, sword spirit? I know you can hear me. I'll pass all your 'heavenly' trials. And then I'll leave a nice bloody path on your beloved sword pavilion." His mind started to shake more but this time he stood still with shaking legs.

"You said I was fated. Then let's see what I can do." He closed his eyes, creating a figure inside the sea of consciousness, a mirror image of himself. He walked towards the Radiant Virtue sword which was suspended upside down. Looking at it closer it was a beautiful, translucent white sword with a single colorless gem embedded in its hilt. It was three feet three inches long and crafted with what could only be described as a divine craftsman ship.

Yet seeing its soft and prestigious image, he only felt more hate in his heart. He held the sword as it hummed as if rejecting him but it never left his grasp. "So I can hold it inside my consciousness."

As he held onto it, it enhanced his vision, giving him a clearer view of his consciousness. It was in tatters with tears everywhere from the vibrations of the sword after his 'disrespectful' words. With the sword in his hand he could also sense an oddity, a foreign entity present. Hidden away in a far corner was a dark seal in the shape of the eye that brought upon his greatest pain, only now it was closed as if in a state of sleeping.

Tightly gripping the sword he slashed at the eye.Though he didn't speak, the rage in his eyes said enough.

A scarlet wave of energy flew out towards the eye, his sea of consciousness tearing wherever it slashed, his mind shook but his bloodshot eyes stayed staring at that seal. The object that represented his greatest rage.

The eye opened as if sensing the danger, runes flowing all over the pupil. Yet before it could react or do anything it was simply sliced in half. What followed was an explosion of dark energy, entering in and melding with every crack in his sea of consciousness, and throughout every cell in his body.

Outside his body his eyes opened. He opened his mouth as if to scream in pain but no sound came out. Collapsing onto the ground he lay there with black pulsating veins covering his entire body, his body swelling as if it was about to explode.

Back inside his mind the black energy was exploding out, expanding the size of his sea of consciousness by every moment, stretching it as if it was a balloon inflating. It was the greatest pain he had ever felt, but the figure that held the sword had a cryptic smile on his face, he could feel the seal be destroyed, that was all he needed to know that he put a wrench in the plans of the one who plotted against his lineage and this world.

The black energy flew everywhere as if trying to find a way outside his mind. Then the Radiant Virtue sword shook, healing the cracks in his consciousness and restraining the black energy. His original white consciousness slowly became pitch black as the pain became restrained, leaving only a 2 meter square area around the sword which was pure white in his thousands of meter wide sea of consciousness, as if the darkness feared to get any closer.

Outside his body the tattoo of a black flame appeared all over his right forearm.

"How could someone tethered to such evil energy be the fated one for this holy sword?" Inside the sword in a voice that Light could not hear, the spirit of the sword spoke. 

As the damage in his sea of consciousness had healed, and the energy reached a stable state. He left his inner mind and got up off the ground. Looking at the black tattoo on his right hand he had an urge to destroy it but held back. He could feel that it had fused with him, becoming a part of him that was inseparable, but at the very least he destroyed the seal accomplishing his objective.

Somewhere far beyond the 3000 lower realms. There was a large black castle in the shape of a skull. It seemed to be the skull of some avian mythical creature, thousands of meters in size. In the hundreds of meters large right eye inside the skull, was a majestic room filled with thousands of marbles inside of hourglasses lined up one after another on four shelves covering the walls of this square room. In the middle was an attendant with a pair of half cut glasses reading an ancient book as he rested on a soft chair. Suddenly a marble that looked like the Jossflame planet shattered, breaking the hourglass as well.

"Hm? Interesting, a seal broke? Let's see how." The figure waves his hands as if trying to divinate what happened but then his divination suddenly shattered like the glass.

"Blocked? Was it one of the five lords? Whatever, it is not my position to determine what to do, I will relay it to the lord." The figure spoke to himself.

Back on the Jossflame planet, with the emergence of the tattoo Light could see that the connection blocking his ascension disappeared.

Whoever created this seal must know it was destroyed. I don't know how long I should have before they come but it shouldn't be much.

Closing his eyes before opening them again he ripped a string off the sleeve of his robe creating a string, attaching the sapphire ring on it before placing it on his neck.

He slowly got up and floated to the height of the world reaching the barrier of the atmosphere. The wind crackled around him as he began his breakthrough, dark clouds covering the sky. Many mortals looked up in the sky with fear and trepidation. He had long reached the peak of the qi condensation realm, needing only a thought to break through.

From the information he learned that the tribulation that would follow, would be to temper one's qi, forming a specific element of qi. The five elements of fire, water, earth, wind, and metal. With The three special elements of lightning, dark and light.

One would need to form one to ascend to the next level. The key lasted in passing the tribulation within an hour, any more time and one would fail losing half their lifespan each failure. Lifting his arms he could now feel the difference in the energy. He could feel all forms of the elements, and a lot of lightning showing he had an affinity with all of them, particularly the lightning element. Though the most prominent was the Dark and light elements. 

Five large runes representing each element formed in his sea of consciousness forming red, blue, brown, green and silver runes a few hundred meters wide. Then came the sixth rune, the rune of lightning, reaching a thousand meters, showing he had a higher affinity with it. The process of forming runes was very quick for Light, but that only went to show his talent. He was the youngest peak qi condensation cultivator in the recorded history of this planet. His talent, at least here, was undeniable.

Then came the darkness and light runes. He could understand where the affinity for these came from. The darkness was from the seal he destroyed, merging with him as a result and the light was from the Radiant Virtue sword in his consciousness. Two large runes each 9999 meters in size formed in his sea of consciousness taking up 40% of the total space each. Where the dark rune formed the darkness grew darker like vanta black, and where the white rune formed the darkness was all but erased, forming a pure white area. Now there was a small area representing 20% that housed all the basic elements as well as lightning, the center area comprising 40% with the white sword and the white rune and the rest of the area filled with darkness forming the last 40%.

As this finished the dark clouds and thunder rumbling dissipated completing his ascension. He could feel power flowing through his veins, but his eyes only showed grief as gazed at the sun which had now fully risen.

"I couldn't fulfill my promise."

A gate opened up before him. From the information he received he knew this was the gate of ascension in a lower realm. It would lead to a random place in the 1000 upper realms giving the person who ascended a fair chance from the heavens. It was the heavens way of not allowing the upper realms to easily control those fated to ascend.

The grief in Light's eyes slowly faded, replaced by a cold indifference.

"Let's see if the pawn can flip the board."

As he said this he walked through the gate with it disappearing behind him. Just as he did a crack opened up in the sky with the eye from the great destruction appearing once more though this time it seemed a little different, more lifelike.

"...Gone.." It softly spoke, but its voice would bring great pain to any who were unlucky enough to hear it. The mortals below once again grew fearful, each person who looked at the sky exploding into a cloud of blood. However, the eye didn't stay for long and soon disappeared. Just like how the legends of this day would be erased by the flow of time.