The Villain's Story

Chapter 895: Confrontation.

James sat in front of Alanʼs soul, on a chair he conjured with his emerald green threads. However, the chair was in a sad state, multiple threads unravelled time and time again, only for James to mend them.

His mask, his flawless white mask, was broken as well, lined with endless cracks, and the look in his eyes was listless. His hands were sitting on his knees, palms facing towards him. His fingers twitched every so often, but ultimately, they were unable to do anything more.

His shoes were dirty, and his suit was wrinkled.

Countless strange beasts surrounded him, the guardians in Alanʼs soul, a unique type of existence given birth by [Dominatus], with thin but long legs supporting a ridiculous body of metal and rock, and pincers in place of eyes. They seemed to form a protective circle.

James, in the middle of them, appeared frail. His breathing was ragged, which was strange, as a soul did not need to breathe. It was just a figment of his imagination, an act he was desperately clinging to to remain sane. An anchor of sorts.

However, all of a sudden, the beasts surrounding him all turned to look at him, at once. James, in whatever strange state he was, noticed it, but he didnʼt do anything.

The sound of heavy footsteps resonated in the soul sea, and the beasts moved away, farther back, and split apart, making a way towards James.

The Astral Blue soul with a core of Golden disappeared in front of James, which finally forced a reaction out of him. He raised his head and barely turned around, watching a figure enter the soul sea.

He was tall, exceptionally tall for a human, a giant with ample muscles that werenʼt too bulky but incredibly dense. He had hair as white as snow, and bits of blue ice lay at the edges of his forehead and at the tips of his hair. The most unique thing about him was his eyes.

Diamonds, literal diamonds. They werenʼt human; they werenʼt normal at all. It was as if one were looking at the most beautiful pair of gems that existed, at the cosmos itself, when one stared into his eyes.

Alan stepped into the core of his own soul sea and saw the man with a broken mask; his eyes were no longer the beautiful shade of emerald green but a rather dull, dark green that was unpleasing to the eye. A part of it bled into his pupil, and onto the mask he wore, which was full of cracks.

Alan Peccator glared at James Smith, who appeared broken, listless, and weak. Nothing as he had expected. In the confines of his soul sea, Alan was aware of what had happened... because James had arranged it to be so. A flood of information entered his mind, and he calmly digested all of it.

James current condition was due to the effects of the Weave; he appeared broken because all he had was used to deal with the ʼinfinityʼ of the Weave. He had succeeded in his attempt to edit Alanʼs existence, but he paid the price.

No one could endure the Weave, the full brunt of it. Even the former users of [Fatipu] barely glanced at it, and that was all it took for them to go insane. Still, James had spent a significant time in the Weave, and had used [Fatipu] right at the center of it; he had combed through infinity to find Alanʼs information and had made whatever changes he deemed necessary.

He was the first to do it, he was the last to do it. It was a feat on par with Arielʼs creation of Death, a unique feat no one else could ever, ever do but him. But unlike Ariel, who was a Primordial Being and capable of withstanding far more... James had hit the ceiling of his talent at the Divine level.

His original talent was barely Mythical, but Aranusʼs body, along with other numerous factors, had made it possible for him to advance to the rank of Divine in the previous iterations, but that was it. Even among the divine, James was a rather weak combatant. He wasnʼt one suited to fights. In a sense, you could say he was the weakest divine being.

”So... she sent you... here...”

His voice was nauseating to hear, and it wasnʼt because of Alanʼs enhanced senses. It was like gravel dragged across stone, like a blade drawn slowly across glass. It was grating, guttural, and extremely unpleasant to hear.

”Worst... case... scenario, I guess?”

He let out a small chuckle before coughing up bits of his soul. His mask was breaking apart, revealing his burned, charred skin beneath.

”Isnʼt it... funny? In the realm of the soul... You can take whatever appearance you want of yourself... But I canʼt even remember what I used to look like...”

He joked, and Alan silently stared daggers at him. Ariel had sent him here whilst his body underwent the bestowment ritual of the panoply, and he had finally met the man he hated the most.

The guy who made him, through ʼtrial and errorʼ. Slowly, Alan approached James, his stride slow but heavy, his fists clenched.

”Ha... Shit, am I going to get a beating?”

James asked, as the chair he was sitting on unraveled, the green threads floated in front of him, but alas, they could barely form a thin shield.

Alan appeared suddenly in front of him, using Instantaneous Teleportation. He raised his left and struck James in the stomach, sending him flying. His emerald green threads could offer no resistance to Alanʼs sheer physical might.

James was sent flying out of the core of the Soul Sea and into the vast blue plains beyond. He crashed into the thin layer of water and clutched his stomach. He was barely able to breathe.

”... Damn, did I make you that strong? Shit...”

He cursed as he stood up, coughing up bits and pieces of his soul. The blue glow around his neck slowly went up. James looked at it and sighed.

And in the next instance, Alan was right in front of him once more.