Chapter 99: The Encounter
After purchasing the Fate Gem from the Court of Secrets Palace, Rios returned once again to the real world.
In the palm of his hand, he was now holding a gray sphere. Inside it were countless threads of different colors and sizes, spinning at an astonishing speed.
The Fortune Teller had already given him the proper instructions on how to use the Fate Gem.
Its method of activation was incredibly simple.
By sending his spiritual sense into it and destroying it, the Fate Gem would activate immediately.
Rios held the Fate Gem in his hand and stared at it for a few more seconds before finally gritting his teeth.
"Damn it... Whatever I’m about to see, it doesn’t matter."
Rios felt a trace of fear toward the unknown that awaited him, but in the end, he gathered all the courage he could muster and shattered the Fate Gem!
The instant it broke apart, all the threads imprisoned within it shot straight toward Rios’s forehead!
Without encountering the slightest resistance, they entered his forehead, and he immediately lost consciousness.
Rios opened his eyes once more and looked around, only to find himself standing before a terrifying scene beyond description...
He was standing in the middle of a vast crimson lake, its red waters rising above his knees...
Except... it wasn’t water at all.
It was blood.
The entire lake was made of blood!
Floating across its surface were millions of corpses.
Some had human bodies.
Others possessed dragon-like horns and scales.
Some had black feathered wings and black horns.
Others...
He recognized them instantly.
They were Elves and Falcons.
Especially the Elves.
The moment he saw their corpses, an indescribable feeling of loss and regret welled up within him.
He felt as though he knew them...
Yet he couldn’t recognize their faces or remember who they were.
Besides those clearly visible corpses, there were also millions of indistinct bodies belonging to countless other races and creatures.
The most prominent among them...
Were figures with golden hair, along with golden dragon horns and wings.
Above that lake of blood and corpses floated a gigantic black coffin that seemed to be carved from the wood of an ancient tree.
Inside it was an imprisoned soul that couldn’t even move.
At the front of the coffin was a carving of a gaunt demon with an enormous mouth and two sharp horns protruding from its eye sockets.
The coffin wasn’t floating freely above the sea of blood.
It was bound by five chains of different colors, all trying to crush it.
Black. Gray. Golden. Purple. Red.
Especially the gray chain.
At this very moment, it continued tightening with every passing second, as though it wanted to destroy the coffin more than any of the others.
As for the loosest among them...
It was the black chain.
Although it hung more slackly than the rest, it still sought to shatter the coffin just like the others.
Nor were those five chains the only ones.
Millions more surrounded the coffin, each trying to slip closer in an attempt to destroy it as well.
High above the coffin...
Far beyond the sky...
Hung five enormous mist-covered chains that Rios couldn’t see clearly.
They were larger...
Greater...
More majestic than anything he had ever witnessed.
Unlike the countless chains below, however...
These five remained suspended high above, making no attempt to descend.
As though lowering themselves to the level of that coffin would be an insult to their very existence...
Yet they remained there as a distant threat.
"How truly miserable our fate is."
At that moment, Rios’s entire body trembled as an inexplicable chill spread through him upon hearing that voice.
He immediately turned around.
Behind him floated a white sphere bound by countless chains, surrounded by numerous strange, indistinct symbols.
Within the sphere swirled dense mist.
Nothing could be seen except a pair of dreamy violet eyes staring indifferently at the black coffin.
"W-Who are you?!"
Rios shuddered once again when he saw the chained sphere.
This place was supposed to show him glimpses of his own present and future.
It was a place meant solely for him.
So why was this thing here?
"Who am I..."
The violet eyes remained fixed upon the black coffin and the chains surrounding it without shifting toward anything else...
Not even Rios.
"I am you."
Only after silently observing everything did those eyes finally turn toward him.
"We don’t have much time.
But before I disappear...
Learn about the soul.
Strengthen your soul well...
Before the great catastrophe arrives."
The moment those words were spoken, the strange white sphere began trembling before gradually fading away.
"Wait!
What do you mean you’re me?!
And what is this catastrophe you’re talking about?!"
Rios shouted as he lunged toward the sphere, trying to grab it.
But before he could reach it, the vision of his fate vanished completely.
His consciousness instantly returned to his body inside the training room beneath the Royal Garden.
"What... is happening...
What was that?!"
Rios opened his eyes, muttering in shock at everything he had just witnessed, while an overwhelming weakness spread throughout his body.
Drip! Drip! Drip!
He raised a hand to his nose and found it covered in blood.
Drops of blood began flowing one after another from his nose, mouth, eyes, and ears.
With every passing moment, the bleeding only grew worse.
Rios immediately used Pulse of Life—the strongest healing technique he possessed—to stop it.
But even that proved useless.
The bleeding continued relentlessly.
He kept pouring Life Energy into his body without pause...
Yet it accomplished nothing.
The blood leaving his body far exceeded the amount of Life Energy he could replenish.
"System!
Is there any way to help me?!"
At that moment, Rios turned to the most powerful existence he knew and shouted with every ounce of strength he had left...
The System!
But the System gave him none of the answers he wanted.
[.....]
"System, begin—"
Rios tried shouting once more at the top of his lungs.
But before he could order the System to convert his points into energy, he collapsed onto the floor.
His eyelids gradually closed as he lost consciousness.
Just before everything went dark, he forced out a few broken words with tremendous difficulty.
"I... Is this... How... It ends...?
Wh... What a... Pathetic... End..."