Masteria Online: Shattering the Dark God's Grand Scheme-Chapter 116 - I’m Lagging

Lumi didn’t even have to say anything.

Despite the Elite Guard’s dismissal of the noise, it only became louder. Every second the sound became unbearable. Like having your ear inside a jet engine, it was a rumble and roar of such catastrophic proportions that one’s mind began to unravel.

[HP -33]

Lumi screamed as blood poured from his ears, the sound doing actual physical damage to everyone around. But even through the agony, he could see what was happening.

The corrupted glacier was coming apart.

All at once. Tens of thousands of tons of ice exploded outward in every direction, revealing the massive chamber that had been hidden within. And from that chamber, a pillar of pure energy erupted skyward with the force of a divine judgment.

For the first time, the creature showed fear. It raised its sword in defiance, yet all of a sudden, without anyone, not even the Elite Guard being able to react...

An unperceivable slash had appeared at some point, performing its deed before anyone could even notice. The very ground was split in half as far as the eye could see, decreeing this stretch of ice would now be two, from now until forever.

The Elite Guard simply ceased to exist. It was sliced in half perfectly, then disappeared from reality.

In the center of that impossibly bright radiance, a figure began to take shape. Tall and powerful, a woman with shining white hair wrapped up in a ponytail, copper skin still marked with ancient blood and injuries, and a divine axe in her grasp. When she opened her eyes, the sheer energy they emitted made everyone present instinctively hold their breath.

Rena, the Axe of Justice, one of the six heroes who had sealed the Dark One in ages past, was free.

Her gaze swept across the cavern, her gaze frantic. It slowly calmed, as she was taking in the destruction, the injured knights, and Lumi himself.

"I..." Her gaze turned into confusion. "I was... the war. The war. The God of Light. We were... Henry had sacrificed himself and... Alton did... the seal... I..." She slowly descended from the air, and looked back, taking in the glacier she emerged from, then looked back at where the Elite Guard was.

"I," She started, her tone mixing curiosity with gratitude. "was sealed? I was sealed, right? Who... released me?"

A second passed, and she continued. "No. No one did. That presence. The presence of that servant of evil. I sensed it, and it awoke my consciousness, enough for me to break free. So, you all..."

Rena continued her words, but Lumi’s consciousness was already fading. The combination of soul damage, terror, and such overwhelming power had brought him to his limits.

As darkness closed in around him, he heard a voice calling his name, feeling hands pulling him somewhere.

We did it. We actually did it. Rena is free.

Then everything went black.

...

PAIN.

The first thing Renan noticed was the pain.

An all-encompassing, soul-consuming pain.

"K-k-key..." Renan slowly grumbled out. It felt as though someone had taken his soul and put it through a blender, perhaps alongside a cat in that blender, leaving the pieces scattered and struggling to reassemble themselves.

Meow?

His eyes cracked open to complete darkness, he struggled to even think, or to breathe. His vision was blurry. There was a faint red glow from his gaming pod’s status lights. The emergency shutdown sequence was still running.

What happened? Why does everything feel so... wrong? I don’t... can’t remember.

He tried to sit up and immediately regretted it. His stomach churned, and the world spun violently around him. He was forced to grip the sides of the pod to keep himself from falling back. His hands felt clumsy. When he moved them, they didn’t move. Yet afterwards, he found his body moving out of his control, executing the actions later. There was a delay between his intentions and his body executing his orders.

I’M LAGGING!? I’M LAGGING IN REAL LIFE!?

It’s over.

It’s so over.

Loss.

The sound of the automated emergency message playing on loop was faintly audible as he leaned back in confusion. "Emergency logout initiated due to suspected health crisis. Medical attention recommended. Emergency logout initiated due to suspected health crisis. Medical attention recommended."

He found it difficult to form a coherent thought. His soul was fragmented, making every thought painfully slow.

Renan reached his hand out to shut the alarm up. As he reached around, his fingers missed the buttons over a dozen times before finally managing to shut off the recording. In the sudden quiet, he could hear his own ragged breathing echoing in the small room.

I’m alive... wasn’t I being attacked by an Elite Guard?

Wait, no. Rena was released. The Axe of Justice, Rena. She killed the Elite Guard. That’s why I’m alive.

Soul damage.

The realization hit him far later than it should have.

That Elite Guard... it hurt my soul before Rena destroyed it.

He’d known it was possible. Elite Guards were extensions of the Dark One’s will, beings capable of inflicting damage that transcended the physical.

However, knowing something intellectually and experiencing it firsthand were entirely different things.

How am I supposed to fix this?

The question sent a fresh wave of agony through his skull. Even thinking too deeply seemed to exacerbate whatever was wrong with him.

Soul damage isn’t like a broken bone or a cut. There’s no surgery for this, no medicine that can heal a damaged soul.

Soul injuries aren’t the biggest deal when you are much, much stronger. But am I?

No.

I can’t even think properly.

He tried to stand, using the pod for support, but his legs felt like they were made of jelly. After two wobbling steps, he crashed to the floor, his body simply refusing to obey his commands properly.

The wooden floor felt like wood. It was such a meaningless sentiment, yet it was all that he could think.

Wood... wood. Wood on my cheek. So hard and woody...

He blinked.

I can’t mess around! I need to get up!

Yet all he could feel was the wood on his cheek. Everything else felt muted, distant, as if he was experiencing reality through several layers of thick glass.