Chapter 449 - 447:Peace…

Chapter 449: Chapter 447:Peace...

The horde of nightmares collapsed one by one as a terrifying force covered them, their very forms dissolving and being devoured, turning into fuel that funneled through my being.

I’d never felt such a pure and enormous amount of energy before, barring the chaos energy I wielded.

The Apostle didn’t relent. The region around us snapped into the shape of an uncountable number of screaming faces. The unholy sounds coming from their mouths unleashed a wave of raw, paralyzing dread—a feeling like what one would get at the precise moment a heart stops, the ice in the veins when the dark reaches back. Every shadow cast by the horrible yellow manifestation of the Apostle sharpened into an eye that demanded to be seen, seeking a mind to infect, a pulse to hijack.

I didn’t flinch. I couldn’t. Reacting now would mean once more acknowledging the fear before me.

I’ll be damned if I let such a thing repeat itself.

My origin of Denial churned madly from within my being as another command left me:

NO! That was all. I refused to be afraid. I refused to acknowledge such a concept.

The eyes collapsed, the screaming faces folding in on themselves as they disappeared.

Oblivion, having already taken a hold on Fear’s existence, roared from within me, trying its best to unmake, to erase, to remove this creature from before me. I could feel my energy being siphoned in horrifying waves, but—

DEVOUR... Energy was the last of my worries. The endless horrors that kept spawning like a tide had become nothing but fuel to power my struggle against this... thing.

The battle had become a stalemate.

Fear wanted me to believe, to acknowledge my own ineptitude, my own inadequacy. Its force was unrelenting as, even after all I’d done, the Apostle refused to give. But,

My origins weren’t having it. I wasn’t having it. I didn’t care if it was a being on a higher level of existence than me. I didn’t care if it was a being that had lived long before I even came to be. I refused to acknowledge anything that placed me below this thing. I refuse. I refuse—

"I REFUSE IT, GODDAMMIT!!!!" The roar tore out of my form before I could even stop it.

The essence of Denial siphoned even more of my already dwindling energy, but I couldn’t care less.

"Take it! Take it all, goddammit! I am Denial! I am Devouring! I am Oblivion! On what grounds does Fear have to stand before me?"

"All has been given to me. All is mine. All will be mine. So devour!!! Devour, goddammit!!! DEVOUR!!!!!!!!"

The realm around us began quaking, but I wasn’t of the mind to care.

All I wanted now was to take it all: the fear, the terror, the uncertainty. Take it all.

Bring it to me. Bring it to Oblivion. Fear, today, shall cease to exist! No! Fear, today, shall be a forgotten concept!

HOOONG!!!!!

The realm around us trembled even more violently as even the nothingness was slowly being devoured.

The idea that nothing was untouchable was being outright rejected as my three origins worked in tandem to ensure my will was enforced.

"Impossible!!! This is impossible!!" I could hear the disbelieving cry of the massive stain of yellow that was the Apostle of Fear, but I wasn’t about to respond. My entire will was focused on taking its existence, forcing it to bend, forcing it to yield.

"I am the Apostle of Fear!! You cannot erase me!! For if there exists even an ounce of fear, an ounce of doubt, I shall forever remain! I shall forever hunt you! You’re but a fledgling!! Your existence is too weak!!! This shouldn’t be possible!!!"

At the words coming from the yellow stain of Fear, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

There was that word again: impossible.

I had spent the better half of my time proving that the word had no meaning in my presence.

Only to discover that, truly, I was a being born of impossible circumstances, a being meant to take the word Impossibility and Devour it.

So the moment I heard the very representation of Fear screaming in disbelief at what was happening, screaming at the impossibility of the situation, I couldn’t help but find it funny as every nerve within me suddenly calmed.

A peace unlike any other washing over me. And with that sudden peace and clarity, my origins bloomed further.

The thought came to me naturally. Not out of desperation anymore. Not out of struggle anymore. No, just natural, like the state in which I should’ve been since the start.

And so, it was with that thought that I gave the command:

DEVOUR...

And this time, there was no resistance.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" The Apostle’s disbelieving cry rang out through the nothingness as the yellow stain began compressing, a figure being forced into shape as the Apostle’s physical body reappeared.

Its many eyes were wide open. Its myriad mouths were still open in their haunting screams. But the creature itself was stationary, movement impossible. More than half of its existence had been thoroughly devoured, the essence being transferred to my being as I felt a fundamental change begin occurring within my body.

<<DING!!>>

<<You’re devouring the existence of a higher being>>

<<Your existence is being refined...>>

I ignored the messages as the darkness covering me slowly collapsed, my own form reappearing with my hands clasped tightly around the throat of the grotesque creature.

The fight was over. I had already begun taking its very existence for myself. But I wasn’t done—not by a mile.

I had promised myself to be someone who invoked fear into fear itself, and I intended to keep that promise.

My left eye, the one that had become a swirling nebulae, began heating up as it swirled in a mesmerizing fashion, my gaze settling on the frozen Apostle before me as I opened my mouth.

"Look into my eyes." A simple command, yet one the creature at this moment couldn’t dare to resist. And so, robotically, it raised its head, its myriad eyes locking onto that one eye, and the moment it did, they went blank.

No light. No emotion. No feeling. Just absent—like its soul had been vacated from its body.

I maintained the stare, waiting. And then, I felt it.

Fear!

"Heh!" My smile slowly widened as the creature began trembling within my grasp.

"No!! No!! No!!" Its many mouths opened in a delirious manner as it screamed out in dread.

"No... stop!! Stop!! I don’t wish to die!! I am my master’s apostle!!! I am the Apostle of Fear!! No!! Not like this!! No!!!" The creature’s squirming increased exponentially as it thrashed within my grasp, its fear one so suffocating I could taste it, and it was...

"Exquisite.." I couldn’t help the satisfaction curling up my gut as I felt the dread bleeding off the creature’s body.

It was a type of fear not many would understand.

It was a type of fear known only to those who have lived longer than life itself.

It was a type of fear born when one who thought himself eternal finally encounters something that threatens to erase that eternity so thoroughly that no one would even know you ever existed.

It was a fear only those as ancient as this Apostle could experience.

Its thrashing only increased further as Devour and Oblivion kept siphoning off its existence, feeding it to me.

Little by little, the Apostle of Fear was being unmade, until eventually,

Shaaaa!!!!

Its form dissolved completely, finally being drawn toward me as—

<<DING>>

<<You have successfully devoured the existence of a higher being.>>

A warmth washed over my very being. My three origins churning in excitement as the warmth bathed them, loosening their restrictions even further, and with their loosened restrictions:

<<Your existence is being refined...>>

The warming sensation lasted for what felt like a long time while also being an instant, before finally fading away, and with it came the final notification:

<<DING!>>

<<Existence refined successfully..>>

{Existence Level}: <Fledgling(30%)>

.....

I looked at the notification before my eyes and I could only shake my head.

Somehow, I wasn’t even surprised at the fact that this wasn’t enough to raise my existence level.

I could feel it: I had gotten a lot stronger than earlier, in the sense of the things I could do with my origins, but even then, I was still merely a fledgling.

That begged the question:

"Just what would a juvenile me actually be capable of?" I couldn’t help wondering, because if I could already do what I did at this stage, then...

"No. That isn’t important right now." I shook the thought away. I had better things to do.

With a thought, my body vanished from the realm we were in, as I had no interest in even checking out the space before confirming something more important.

...

The moment I appeared within the control area, now turned into an estate area of the Ascension Tower, my senses spread out, covering the entire place as I searched.

"Hoo... they’re fine. They’re all fine.. good." A heavy weight finally left my shoulders as I confirmed that, indeed, that was nothing but a nightmare.

I already knew, but I wasn’t about to gamble on whether any of that was real, and I’m glad it wasn’t.

I stood in silence for a few moments as I recalled all that had occurred within that nightmare: Aunt V, Clarissa, Melissa.... Lucien. My thoughts stopped as I buried the feeling away.

A scenario like that was one that would never come to pass, not when I, the very representation of Denial itself, still live.

So, steadying my mind, I gave the others another cursory sweep just to be sure, before I disappeared from the spot, once more appearing within the infinite nothingness around me.

The silence after everything was oppressive in a way I’d never experienced before, but even that was secondary as—

"I believe you should be tired of spying and acting like you’re not there, no? So why don’t you just show yourself?" I called out into the empty space.

Silence was all that greeted me.

"You know I can feel your presence, right? It’s futile trying to hide, so let’s try not to play this childish game."

...

Silence once again.

"Haa.. I guess that’s—" I wasn’t allowed to get the words out before—

"Heh! I guess it was indeed a foolish idea to try hiding from someone I not only gave authority to enter here freely, but someone who is also bonded to my foolish daughter." A voice belonging to that of a middle-aged man resounded through nothingness as the area in front of me twisted and a shape began forming.

A resonant hum rang through the place as the being finally took shape, with hair the color of nothing, eyes that bore nothing, a handsome face with stubble on his chin. The being that appeared before me gave what it probably thought to be a warm smile as it spoke:

"Welcome to my humble domain, dear son-in-law of mine, heh!"

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A/N: Honest opinions please. How did I do with this fight? I need to know how to improve and what I did wrong or if you guys even enjoyed it. Thank you and as always,

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Thanks for reading...