The Jester of Apocalypse

When Neave spotted his body moving independently, he swapped his consciousness back.

Or so he tried. But it didn’t work.

A tentacle extended from the slime, and Neave picked up his own body, smashing it dozens of times into the floor and the ceiling. He wasn’t doing any damage whatsoever, and whatever stopped him from returning to his body wasn’t gone.

Suddenly, the arm of his body shot out and severed the tentacle, and he saw it try to turn around to run away.

Oh, hell no, you don’t!

Hopping at immense speed, he latched onto his body, spreading tentacles to try to invade it from the inside. Whatever controlled his body was muttering something, but Neave didn’t have the time or desire to listen to it speak.

The moment a bit of the slime was inside the body, he severed it and detonated it, which caused it to inflate a bit, but it didn’t do any real damage. Neave manifested a giant arm out of slime and slapped the soul, or whatever the hell was in his body, out of it.

The combination of the two attacks gave him an opening, and he grasped it to switch back to his body. Once inside, he immediately burned a ton of life force, partially in a desperate attempt to flush whatever was inside it and partially out of panic.

His entire body lit up with a crimson flame, and the whole cave around him shook, but whatever he was trying to achieve seemingly worked as he instantly felt his grip on his body return to full force.

Coughing thick smoke, his charred body dropped to the ground. With a bit of deliberation on his part and with the insanely powerful regenerative capabilities of his body, his charred skin was regrown in seconds, and he got up again.

“Well, that woke me the fuck up!”

What was that?

Examining his body, mind, and spirit alike, he found nothing unusual about them.

“Wait a minute…!”

The steel nerves spirit power! Was… Was that it? The memorization aspect of that ability certainly worked even when unconscious, but…

Something like this had never happened before, none of the times he used his ability.

“Was it because I let the body fall asleep?”

If so, what was the muttering about?

“...Neave!? Are you alright!?”

Neave turned around, coming face to face with his father, “Oh, what’s up? I’m fine, just had a minor mishap with one of my abilities.”

Marven looked around the cave, witnessing the intense destruction, “This was from a… Minor mishap?”

“Why are you here, old man?”

“Well, I… I felt powerful energy here just a moment ago and rushed to see what was happening…”

“Is that all? If so, then you can leave, its fine.”

“No, I… I have something else to talk to you about.”

Neave turned around to face his father, “Speak.”

“About that assassin… I… To be honest, I think we should have killed him. Leaving him alive was far too reckless. I do not want to sound cruel or unnecessary, but… If he returns again, we shouldn’t simply let him go."

“I agree.” Neave said casually.

“Oh… You do?”

“Yeah. Diamond path too, tsk, I should have eaten the body, it would have given me so much.”

Marven stared at Neave in shock, “Eaten!? What are you talking about!?”

“Oh? No, I mean, even when eating human flesh, you still benefit from it. Didn’t you know that?”

“That… That’s not the problem here!”

“What’s the problem then?” Neave raised an eyebrow at his father.

“I…” Marven frowned and stepped closer, “Are you being sarcastic?”

Neave opened his mouth to speak, and judging by his expression, he was about to confirm that. Yet, he paused.

His breath sped up, and Marven seemed concerned, “Hey, Neave… Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m…” Suddenly, a tremendous headache entered his mind, and countless whispers invaded his consciousness.

“Neave!” Marven yelled, rushing to help him out.

However, when he was about to touch Neave, his arm shot out and struck Marven in the chest, blowing him away directly into a wall.

The old cultivator spewed blood and brought his hand over to his collapsed lung, feeling it filling up with liquid as his broken ribs punctured it.

By the time he raised his eyes again, Neave was already gone.

***

ҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾ

The constant, high-pitched whispers echoed endlessly in his mind as he ran through the caves. Every shadow, every turn in the endless maze of the underground felt like it hid horrors beyond his comprehension.

Neave didn’t understand what was happening but knew he had to escape.

He had to find a way to…

ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ

“Aaargh!” He gripped his head as he collapsed on the floor, writhing in agony, “Stay out of my fucking head!”

His grip on his skull tightened, and he felt it crack beneath his fingers, yet this somehow eased the headache instead of making it worse.

He coughed red phlegm, and his pores oozed with blood, boiled by the energies roiling inside his body.

This was bad. Every bit of foreign presence in his body thrashed maniacally, looking for anything to grip on. Luckily, his spirit was safe, but his body was being torn apart from the inside.

Neave gritted his teeth so hard that the pressure caused some of them to explode, popping loudly and sending echoes through the cave.

As he focused on the chaos unfolding inside his body, something in his spirit caught his attention.

Instantly, Neave moved into his spirit realm, and what he found was…

ҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾ

There was nothing. Yet, he could sense it. He could sense slithering at the very edges of his spirit realm, and all of them at that. Coiling. There was a vast number of ҾҾҾҾҾҾ

A sharp pain went through his spiritual manifestation, and he found shadowy tendrils of darkness coiling around him.

He turned around, only to spot ҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾ

***

Neave opened his eyes, back in reality, and hurriedly, he rushed into the spirit realm again. What the hell had happened?

Back inside, he looked around, and what he spotted left him… Confused. There were golems.

“... Huh!? What the fuck!?”

A collection of earth golems was running around, pummeling one another to bits as Neave watched in consternation.

No… There was something else. The air was moving too!

“Air golems!?”

Unsure what to do, Neave swiftly killed all the golems off, dispersing the air and smashing the rock.

The moment he was sure none were left, he focused, finding nothing unusual in his spirit. No… There was one thing.

Something had changed. Off in the far edges of his spirit realm, the strange presence that had once felt so distant and unreachable, now felt as if it were a bit closer to the border.

However, as he observed, it was clear that it was rapidly receding, and soon enough, it once again disappeared into the outside of his spirit realm. And the slithering that he had felt before was nowhere to be seen.

Quickly, Neave went back to reality to make sure everything was alright. Finding nothing around him besides his mangled body and a large puddle of blood, he returned back to the spirit realm.

He wouldn’t rest until he made absolutely sure everything was okay.

***

After an unknown time, Neave finally sat down on the soil. He had checked every corner, stepped over every inch of the spirit realm, which was quite massive, and yet found nothing.

As he sat down, he breathed a sigh of cautious relief and returned to reality. His body was healing rapidly, so he ignored the injuries and got up.

As he tried walking, however, he realized that his body wasn’t just a little messed up. Every part of it was shredded, burned, or otherwise damaged, to the point where he could barely move.

A quick fix with some life force later, he could move his body by manipulating it with shapeshifting.

For a moment, he thought about using the slime to transport his body, but he didn’t dare do that.

Slowly but surely, following the path of destruction he had left in his wake, he made it back to the place where he had injured Marven. Before he could get there, and way before he could come up with excuses or justifications, he spotted his father running toward him.

Neave’s mind exploded with possibilities, and he braced himself for a fight. He would restrain his father, then carefully explain all that had happened. Maybe with all of that, he would…

Before he could blink, Marven chained several movement techniques together and reached him, grabbing for his body and…

Hugged him firmly while crying his damn eyes out, “Son! Oh dear heavens, are you all right!?”

Neave froze, and felt his body relax a bit, as he meekly lifted an arm to pat Marven on the back, “Yeah… I’m… I’m fine.”

***

It didn’t take long for Neave’s body to heal back to perfect health. He had to rather harshly tell Marven to back the hell away at some point, and now, they stared one another down.

Marven’s lung was already healed, which was unsurprising, given how insane his regeneration must be by this point. It wasn’t even close to Neave’s level, but his injury hadn’t been nearly as bad either.

They both tried to start the subject of what had happened several times, but it wasn’t easy to bring up.

Marven didn’t want to pry, and Neave didn’t know where to start. For Neave, this was a complicated subject to bring up. If the others knew that something was trying to take his damn mind over, apparently… What would they think of him?

Would they ever feel safe in his presence again?

Marven spotted the slight frown on Neave’s face, so he started another subject instead, “I’ve seen your strength in the spirit realm, where you don’t have any powers… But…” He carefully touched his chest, where he could still feel the punch Neave had delivered, “That was far more powerful than I expected. It wasn’t even a true strike.”

Neave snickered a bit, “It’s rather complicated.” He got up, raised his arm, and threw a punch into empty air, emitting a sharp crack, “That was an ordinary punch without any active use of powers or boosts. My muscles are quite powerful, and my troll physique boosts my strength considerably. On top of that, I have the willpower of might spirit power that boosts my strength even without any interference.”

He lowered his arm and then punched again.

It looked almost the same, but it was considerably weaker this time, “Did you notice anything unusual?”

Marven raised an eyebrow, “Yes, I did. That felt… Off.”

Neave nodded, “That’s because I didn’t actually move at all.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I didn’t use any of my muscles. I can use my shapeshifting spirit power to stimulate movement… And I can do it simultaneously with real movement.”

This time, he threw another punch, which was considerably faster than both previous ones, causing another sharp crack to emit through the air.

“... That must be quite hard to time together.”

“It is. Now, you got hit by a life-force-empowered punch coupled with shapeshifting manipulation, nerves primed for movement, and willpower of might at a rather high capacity as I reacted violently.”

“You know, when you put it like that… I say I’m lucky to be alive.”

That got both of them to laugh a bit.

Marven got up, brushed some dust off his colorful robes, and started walking away.

“Where are you going, old man!?”

His father turned around with a soft smile on his face, “Am I not allowed to leave?”

“Yeah… But…”

“I know. Be careful, son.”

Neave nodded, “I will. And don’t come rushing at me like that next time.” With a sly grin, he added, “You might not be as lucky as you were this time.”

Marven laughed merrily at that and shook his head, “Even at the cost of my life, son, be it this fake or the real one… I won’t stand aside when you’re in trouble.”

Neave paused a bit and nodded, and Marven waved at him as he left the cave.

“... Well, now.”

Sitting on the ground, Neave reentered the spirit realm.

“Why the hell were there golems in my spirit realm?”