A Tale of Forgotten Gods

Chapter 82: Overtaken Insanity

Within a blink, Mo Fei came in front of Kurogane. It stumbled back by the sudden appearance. It noticed his face, the flesh almost dripping and then reforming his face. A part of his skin from his cheek began to peel away, showing the flesh inside, and it quickly pulled out a blade and swung it, aiming directly toward his chest.

Mo Fei flew his hand up. His hand caught the sharp edge of the blade. Blood dripped from his palm, but there was no hint of pain in his expression.

He pulled the blade out from its grip and kicked its guts, sending him crashing down on the house behind. Before it could hit, Mo Fei appeared behind it, slowly moving his Glaive, and pointing it forward. The blade went through the demon’s back.

With another swift motion, he slashed down its body. Seconds later, it regenerated again.

Kiyori watched silently, her expression slightly tensed as she looked at his worsening situation.

The demon roared and threw the poisoned acid, but Mo Fei slashed down the liquid in the air before it could reach him. Slowly, he took one step forward, and then within the next blink, he slammed the demon into the ground with a high jump kick. The ground trembled, dust rising toward the sky.

The villagers hidden behind the houses watched in silent fear.

As the dust cleared and revealed Lord Kurogane pinned to the shattered cobblestones. A low steam hissed wildly from the vents along the demon’s neck, a desperate spray of acid boiling off the ruined stones on the ground.

​”What are you, a Daiyōkai?!” Kurogane shrieked, his split insectoid jaw clicked frantically as he tried to push himself up. His compound eyes bulged in pure terror—at the unnatural thing wearing Mo Fei’s skin.

​He didn’t answer the question as if he could interpret anything the demon said. ​His face shifted violently again, the grotesque, painted grin of a wicked jester melting seamlessly into the hollow, sunken cheeks of a weeping middle-aged man, then into a faceless blur of shifting flesh.

The grey light in his eyes flickered with coldness as he raised his Glaive high.

​”Die—!” Kurogane lashed out, throwing a wave of poison straight toward Mo Fei’s face.

He swung the Glaive in a circular arc; the wind force alone cleaved the stream of poison in two, splashing it onto the ground.

​Kiyori stepped forward; she knew if she let the madness consume him further, he’d go after everyone around here. ”Mo Fei! Move back!”

​The sanity lost body of Mo Fei tilted his head slowly, thousands of spirits consuming the corruption drunk the darkness madly. He glanced sideways at her, the Glaive trembling in his grip as the skin of his arm began to peel away too.

​Taking advantage of the split-second distraction, Kurogane screeched as it lunged straight for Mo Fei’s throat...

But it couldn’t act before he disappeared and appeared behind him. He stabbed the second blade of the Glaive on its back. The Shikon shard pushed out of its ripped abdomen. Its healing instantly slowed down, and just in that moment, Mo Fei turned toward it. With a fatal strike of both of his weapon’s blades, he spun and chopped its body in three, then a vertical slash.

Kurogane found its body being mutilated and fell on the ground without another second.

The black shard rolled across the bloodsoaked cobblestone. Kurogane’s body slowly dissolved into dark Miasma.

Mo Fei’s gaze fell on the guards; as he looked at them, their pupils dilated in pure fear. The lord they had been taking orders from was a demon, and now that hit them back with a more terrifying reality.

They quickly turned and ran as fast as they could, but Mo Fei didn’t let them run. He rushed, appearing right in front of one of them, with one single slash. The guard fell, then he moved toward another, killing him with another strike of his Glaive.

Blood dropped on the ground from the Glaive.

Instantly, he appeared right in front of the others. All of them went on their knees and begged for mercy. Their faces were etched with undefined fear.

One of them cried out in desperation. ”Let us go; we were following orders.”

Another one bowed down on the ground, his head touching the surface. ”We beg you, we won’t do anything ever. Please let us go.”

”We have a family; please show mercy!!” Another screamed.

Mo Fei raised his Glaive, toward them. A part of his skin on his neck peeled, showing the crimson flesh beneath.

Kiyori quickly moved, but her gaze fell on the shard. She saw a demonic wasp, flying toward the shard and gripping it in its hands. Her gaze lingered between the shard and Mo Fei. ”I could find it again.”

She let go of the arrow; it pierced through the air before stabbing Mo Fei’s hand. The Glaive fell with a clatter on the ground. She yelled at the guards. ”Run away, and do not stop!”

That was what they would want to hear; without wasting a second, they stood and ran. Their figures disappeared in the fields.

Mo Fei gripped the arrow with his other hand, then pulled it out slowly before moving toward the Glaive again.

Kiyori quickly turned toward the villagers and pointed toward a house. ”I’ll put up a barrier, get inside!” She hurriedly rushed toward the house and traced the edges.

The men and women ran inside, and the women holding their kids entered the house.

But one of the pairs was a little slow, and a woman with her kid fell. Mo Fei was upon them, his Glaive launched toward them. The woman’s eyes went terrified, and the kid flinched and began crying.

Mo Fei’s hand slowed down at the kid’s crying, as if he had remembered something. Kiyori jumped in between them; her bow came in defense.

An air-crushing shockwave came as the Glaive collided with her barrier. The overwhelming strength slightly pushed back her legs. ”Be yourself, you will kill innocents. Mo Fei, listen, at least once.”

Suddenly, a loud hissing voice echoed in the village. Above them, the clouds covered the sky; lightning roared.

Rain slowly fell as the woman and kid quickly ran inside the house. The boy didn’t stop crying, traumatized by the fear.

From the air, the hissing increased as the surrounding space shattered. A large head of the Serpent appeared out of nowhere. Slowly, its whole body formed and curled around Mo Fei’s whole figure, then with a crushing force it pulled him backward toward a large tree. Its body tightened around Mo Fei. ”Great Master, don’t lose it.”

Mo Fei tried to get away but couldn’t. His mind screamed; blood came out of his mouth as the headache increased beyond the limit of what a human could withstand. The peeled skin flowed with crimson blood as the Serpent kept him in one place.

The raindrops fell, taking away the blood of the dead guards and Mo Fei’s own blood mixed with them.

”Lord Lightless, be aware, spirits would soon eat it. I can’t let you go yet; you are Lightless, and Lightless without light is not worthy of heart.” The Serpent’s tail closed around his body.

Kiyori watched it silently, her gaze falling on the dead bodies, then on her own hands, which were trembling. She tried to keep her composure, to not lose against fear. His face was different; the wicked jester’s face still shook her soul.

Silence returned to the villager, only broken by the pitter-patter of rain and the faint whimpering of the child inside the house.

She stood unmoving in the downpour. Rain dropped from her bangs, pooling at her chin. She lowered her bow and looked at Mo Fei in the Serpent’s grip. Walking through the mud, she approached his limp body. The wound on his stomach had healed slightly. Her gaze landed on his palm, which her arrow had pierced, but he hadn’t even flinched. He was so far gone that pain meant nothing, or maybe the pain was overtaken by a greater one.

The Serpent stared down at her. ”My apologies for my lord’s corruption. By tomorrow, the spirits would maintain the corruption, and there wouldn’t be this issue anymore.” With a small nod, the Serpent’s body disappeared into mist.

Mo Fei’s body fell on the ground with a thud. The peeled skin remained. She turned toward the house where villagers cowered.

Inside the house, the villagers huddled together. The elder held his grandchildren close, his hands shaking. The woman who had tripped with her child was still trembling, her arms wrapped tightly around the boy.

”Is it over?” One of the men whispered.

The cost of returning after true death truly invited the ancient insanity.

Through the cracks in the door, she saw the white Serpent wrap around the young man. Saw his limbs go slack. Saw the blood drip from his nose, his mouth, and his eyes.

The door creaked open slightly, the elder of the village peering out with terrified eyes at the dead guards and the unconscious young man by the tree.

​Kiyori looked up toward the misty tree line where the demonic wasp had vanished with the Shikon shard. The figure who was watching them earlier had what they wanted, and Mo Fei was in no condition to pursue.

”I was so wrong when I thought I could purify the darkness.”