The Jester of Apocalypse

Neave was handed a dimension ring that held not money but around a billion platinum coins in treasures, cores, materials, and equipment.

At a certain point, using money for trade became wildly unpractical. While it would be possible to use certain precious metals to make coins of value far higher than platinum coins, it was better to just use those metals to forge equipment.

Thus, the default for doing trade at the highest level was barter.

There was no debate about who won the dance battle. Maecy gave him a dimension ring holding all of the precious loot, and they shook hands. She was rather salty and promised that they would meet again.

Neave had accomplished his goal of improving his reputation without revealing too much of his capabilities. Granted, it was apparent that he was a competent cultivator now, but there was still a shroud of uncertainty.

Just because one was an exceptional performer didn’t mean one was an outstanding warrior. These were the thoughts Neave had as he strolled out of the library.

He was horribly wrong about basically all of his assumptions. True strikes didn’t have much meaning to Neave, but to anyone else, it was among the most significant achievements a martial artist could pull off before the golden path.

So in the eyes of the dazed disciples he had left behind, Neave was either a realm-shattering prodigy that had reached the golden path very young or a realm-shattering prodigy that had pulled off a true strike before reaching the golden path.

It was still true that nobody had seen him in action, as far as combat was concerned, but that was barely relevant. Anyone who watched that fight with their eyes open knew Neave was a warrior of the highest order.

Now all that was left was for him to prove them right by showing his skills off directly.

Neave walked out of the library, casually striding down the street, utterly oblivious to the chaos he had just created. The other disciples rushed back to their sects to alert anyone they could find of the existence of this new monster among the younger generation.

Their rush back to their sect was interrupted as the sky lit up in violet.

***

Xondir ran out of the sect and toward the rift opening in the air. His body partially turned to shadow, but he struggled to maintain this form as the intense light interfered with his spirit power.

He floated up into the air and tried entering the opening rift.

But it was useless.

The intense wave of energy that blasted out from this crack in space kept him from approaching it. He was hoping he could get in there and manually prevent the outpouring before it could happen, but that was sadly not going to be possible.

Xondir rushed back to the surface and faced the highest-ranking elder of the Onyx Scorpion sect.

“Listen carefully because I won’t repeat myself. Mystical realms such as this are likely to have opened elsewhere once already. If even a single slime had made its way inside, it would be flooded with monsters that had no competition as they grew in power and evolved. Tell everyone you see to run as far as they can from the rift.”

Then he vanished into the shadows and returned to the capital's center. This was news that had to reach the emperor as soon as possible.

***

Ilkivir hid nearby as he watched the crack spread. People ran everywhere and evacuated the area as quickly as they could.

He carefully observed Marven’s group argue from afar.

***

“Listen to me, Harel! This is a crisis that not even I am qualified to handle! We have to get out of here as quickly as we can! Otherwise, we are going to be in grave danger!”

“But… But–”

“There is no time! If you so desire, we will help evacuate as many people as possible, but we, and by that, I mean especially you, are unqualified to face this!”

Harel shook as she watched the hordes of people push through the streets and rush away from the rift.

There was no way all of them would get away with their lives. And those weakest among them were by far the most likely to die.

She knew Marven would drag her away if necessary, so debating him was pointless.

But she couldn’t help it.

As she pondered what to do, a black-haired young boy appeared beside them. It took her a second to realize that it was Neave, just disguised.

Hunter spluttered and took a step back.

“You!? What the hell are you doing here!?”

“Ah, shut the fuck up, Hunter. This isn’t the time. Dad, I have no idea what’s happening, but I’m sure it will be dangerous, right?”

“Dad!?” Hunter screamed as he stared at the bald man he had assumed to be some random elder.

“Hunter, can you please–?”

Neave turned to face hunter. He blinked at what he saw. Hunter squirmed as a man wearing red armor pressed a sizeable golden sword to his neck.

“Well, well, well… Looks like I may have interrupted a heartwarming family reunion. I do dearly apologize for my transgression.”

Marven froze. He had no idea who this man was or what he wanted, yet he felt a strange connection with him. The spirit oath that restrained Marven resonated strongly with this stranger. His eyes shot open as he realized who stood before them.

 

“Ilkivir.”

“Yes, it is yours truly, Marven. I can not believe you would go back on your word like that.”

Marven gritted his teeth.

“The spirit oath stands unviolated. Unfortunately for you, your little bet didn’t pay off.”

“So what? Your little boy over here will be a head shorter if you do not restrain that child and hand it to me anyway.”

Marven frowned as his mind whirled. This was the absolute worst timing for something like this to happen.

“Filth.”

Neave suddenly disappeared. Everyone gaped as he appeared again, impaling his body on the sword Ilkivir held in his hands.

“What the–!?” Before Ilkivir could pull the sword out, Neave’s arm elongated and wrapped around the hilt. His spirit screamed as the platinum rank metal in his body assaulted it.

Neave pushed through it and pulled his fist back. Ilkivir tried pulling his sword out, but all he achieved was dragging Neave around. He didn’t consider Neave a proper threat as he was unaware of how powerful Neave was. This was his first mistake.

Neave’s fist shot out, wrapped in red flame, and smashed into Ilkivir’s helmet. Before Neave’s fist reached the helmet, the red metal formed aggressive spikes that impaled his fist. Neave ignored these spikes and drove the punch as far as he could.

Ilkivir wasn’t knocked back too far, but his head did snap in recoil. He watched in shock as Neave’s bloody fist regenerated in moments.

Neave glowed as he triggered ignite, and his body crackled with lightning. He pushed his thunder nerves as far as they could go by burning loads of life force. The lightning turned pink as it traveled down the sword into Ilkivirs body.

Ilkivir, for the first time in his history as a warrior, dropped his weapon in combat.

Neave cackled as he watched Ilkvir step back. The part of the blade that violated the sanctity of his body was slowly disassembled by integrate and purged by sacred blood. The sword split in two. The upper half clattered on the ground behind Neave, and Neave threw the lower half away.

He would have used it as a weapon, but the platinum-rank metal was disgustingly heavy for his spirit.

Ilkivir watched, not in terror but in awe.

So this was why master needed him dead. What a shame.

He is so beautiful.

Neave’s body positively screamed as his sacred blood struggled to purge the horginium traveling through his body. He completely ignored the agony he was experiencing and rushed at Ilkivir.

At this moment, Marven appeared out of nowhere and drove a thrust to Ilkivir’s side.

Ilkivir blocked the attack, barely even struggling to contain the technique. There was only so much someone on the first step of the platinum path could do to someone on the third. 

He cackled, and the red armor formed blades extending from his hands. With one hand, he attacked Marven and prepared the other to block Neave’s strike.

He focused on Marven. This was his second mistake.

Neave threw a fist at Ilkvirs side, and the armor grew spikes to face it. This time, he utterly shattered them with his fist. As his body purged the horginium, his spirit powers kicked in full force. The red armor bent and caved in a little under the sway of Neave’s punch, and Ilkivir flew into the distance.

Before he could land, Neave was once again upon him. Punch after punch sent cracks and explosions through the soil as Ilkivir desperately struggled to regain his bearings.

“That’s enough!” Ilkivir screamed, and a bloody aura surrounded his body. It formed a shield that blocked Neave’s attacks.

Neave took a deep breath, and his body lit up in crimson flame. This time, his fist came crashing down on Ilkivir like a meteorite. The intense aura burst like a bubble and blew away like smoke in the wind as his fist descended on Ilkivirs chest.

The spikes once again rose to meet Neave’s fist, but before he even touched them, the sheer intensity of the lifeforce Neave was burning made them bend and wilt. As fist met armor, the armor gave, and Ilkivirs blood seeped out of every slit in his armor.

How could this be possible!? This level of power…! Don’t tell me! Could he possibly already be on the third step of the platinum path? Higher!?

It was at this very moment that Neave’s veil crumbled. Ilkivir stared in shock.

The beginning of the foundation realm.

Every bit of life force in Neave’s body focused on another punch. This time, Ilkvir reacted in time.

He pulled an amulet out of his dimension ring and crushed it. His body was temporarily suspended, then flew back like a ragdoll, dodging Neave’s attack.

Ilkivir flew out of the courtyard and into the mass of people running from the rift in the sky. Suddenly, thin red spikes extended from his armor and pierced through hundreds of people.

Harel screamed as she watched the innocent drop one after another. Marven winced and prepared to rush at Ilkivir again. 

Neave stared, eyes shot wide open.

Ilkivir activated a spirit power as the countless corpses piled and the blood gathered into his body. He rapidly healed and felt his strength recover, even above his maximum capacity.

As the blood finished seeping into his body, Ilkivir’s armor bent and regained its pristine shape. He got up and rushed toward Neave, pulling another sword, this time black, out of his dimension ring.

As he approached within meters of Neave, he frowned as he watched him suddenly disappear. Neave appeared behind him, mouth open wide like that of a snake. He bit down on Ilkivirs head.

Ilkivir was momentarily taken off guard but gloated as he realized what a mistake Neave had just made. The helmet shot spikes, embedding into Neave’s head and piercing his skin.

However, something was off. The spikes struggled to pierce Neave’s brain or anything vital. Then, Ilkivir received a punch to the back. It was overbearing, and he felt his armor cave in yet again, but he didn’t buckle or go flying away.

Neave hung behind his body, which made it difficult to get a decent swing at him with the sword. Ilkivir swung the blade back and struck Neave’s neck. He felt the sword embed itself a few inches into the skin. Then it was pushed out as Neave’s flesh rapidly rehealed.

Ilkivir was shocked. He was about to swing again, but Marven appeared out of nowhere and attacked him.

Ilkivir blocked the strike, surprised at how hard Marven could hit. Defending from Marven’s attacks was challenging with Neave repeatedly pummeling his back.

Marven was struggling to do any damage. He couldn’t use any massive techniques out of fear that he would injure or even kill Neave. His swordsmanship, however, was not to be trifled with.

The armor Ilkivir wore was insanely powerful and exceptionally good at blocking bladed weapons. Whenever Marven’s attacks were about to impact the armor, the spikes would shoot out and redirect his sword, messing with his edge alignment and neutralizing the attack.

The qi techniques still pushed through and left deep gouges in Ilkivir’s armor.

Just because Marven struggled to deliver decisive blows didn’t mean he was out of tricks. One of the most important days in his life, when he stopped barely pushing through and started excelling, was when he acquired his second spirit power.

Ilkivir struggled but could still deal with Marven while slashing at Neave. The problem was that he wasn’t progressing on either front, while his blood sacrifice spirit power was already beginning to run out.

It was at this moment that Marven struck again. A small chip of Ilkivir’s armor was broken off. To Ilkivir’s surprise, Marven dashed forward and pushed his finger toward the small hole in the armor. The spikes shot out and mangled his hand, but he pushed through and touched Ilkvirs skin.

Ba-thump.

Ilkvir froze. Marven suddenly shivered and bled aggressively from every orifice in his body. Whatever he just did came with some backlash, and this would be the perfect time for Ilkivir to strike. But he couldn’t move. 

He felt his muscles grow stiff as strange energy poured from Marven’s finger into his body.

Shit! Paralysis!

While Marven couldn’t do much, as he had suffered recoil to his spirit by using his spirit power on someone two steps above him, Neave was perfectly capable of capitalizing on this moment of weakness.

Neave charged his fist up again to the highest capacity he could manage and struck at Ilkivirs back. He delivered quite a bit of damage, even pushing Marven back with the aftershock. Ilkvir stood paralyzed for a second, and his shoulders drooped.

But he didn’t drop to the ground.

Suddenly, a black mist surrounded him. The ghastly substance echoed with countless screams, many of which were that of young boys. The energy wrapped around his body, and he moved again. Ilkivir swung his sword at Neave’s neck, this time managing to cleave it clean off.

“Neave!”

Marven was still stunned by the backlash from using his spirit power, so all he could do was helplessly watch Neave’s body drop to the ground, head still biting down on Ilkivirs helmet.

Suddenly, Neave’s neck elongated and reattached back to his body. A small crimson flame lit up where Ilkivir cut his neck, and his body bounced right back up in the air as he continued hammering Ilkivirs back.

Ilkivir and Marven could agree that that was fucking ridiculous.

Neave couldn’t quite push his attacks through the shroud of black mist. He released his bite and took a step back to assess the situation.

Ilkivir stood still as the black mist seeped into the cracks in his armor and absorbed into his body.

“You… You made me…” He sounded furious. “You worms. Countless years of progress. All lost in seconds. You fucking bastards!”

The air around Ilkivir darkened as intense pressure enveloped a hundred-meter radius. Hunter and Harel fainted under pressure, and even Neave struggled to remain awake.

Ilkivir grabbed his sword and thrust it at Marven.

Marven could barely use a defensive qi technique in time to block the attack. As the sword enveloped in dark energy struck his guard, Marven was knocked back, flying across the courtyard and through a wall on the other side.

Ilkivir turned around and faced Neave.

To his immense surprise, Neave opened the dimension ring above his head. He spread his mouth wide open, and a torrent of qi treasures poured into it.

Ilkivir wasn’t sure what was happening, but the sheer absurdity of Neave’s actions left him stunned for just a second.

Neave stopped the outpouring of treasures and burped so hard his entire body vibrated.

Ilkivir couldn’t believe it. The chaotic mess of energies swirling in his body was so intense that Neave could not survive whatever he had done.

Did he just commit suicide out of insanity?

Ilkivir stared in awe as he felt the energies separate and rapidly settle in Neave’s body.

Neave grinned at him and pulled a large sword out of the dimension ring.

At this very moment, the rift split, and everything was again washed in purple. The entrance to the mystical realm had finally opened. What could only be described as a river of purple snakes poured out of the violet abyss.