Chapter147: The Eclipse of the Fallen Soul
[Visual: The atmosphere is suffocating. The air is thick with the scent of ozone and burnt memories. Diari is on his knees, his back a map of glowing charcoal, the mark pulsing like a dying sun. Rina stands above him on the balcony, her eyes vacant, glowing with a parasitic silver light. The Grandmother stands in the center of the courtyard, her staff carving runes of black fire into the very fabric of reality.]
The silence was no longer a refuge; it was a weapon. Diari felt his heartbeat slowing, each thump echoing like a funeral drum in the hollow of his chest. He looked at his hands—they were trembling, not from fear, but from the sheer pressure of the ancient power dormant within his blood. This was the power he had buried, the strength of the old kings, the raw force that once made the world tremble. But as it flickered to life, the air around him began to distort.
The Grandmother: (Her voice a jagged blade of shadows) "Do you feel it, little beggar? The embers of a dead world trying to ignite in your pathetic chest? You think you can use his power here? In my domain? Every spark of strength you summon is a nail driven into the heart of your child!"
Diari didn't listen. He couldn't. His mind was a storm of grief and "Ugliness." He forced his eyes upward, meeting Rina's cold, distant gaze. He wanted to scream her name until his lungs bled, but the silence held him tight. With a roar that didn't come from his throat but from his very soul, Diari slammed his fists into the mud.
[Visual: A shockwave of golden-black energy erupts from Diari. The ground shatters. For a split second, his "Ugly" appearance flickers, revealing a warrior of blinding light, a king of old. The chains of the curse begin to crack.]
Diari (Internal Monologue): "If the world calls me a monster, then I will be the monster that saves you. If they call me brainless, I will lose my mind to find yours. Rina, look at me! Not with the eyes she gave you, but with the heart that once beat for mine. I am burning... I am breaking... but I am here!"
Rina flinched. For a microsecond, the silver veil in her eyes flickered. She clutched her chest, a sharp, stabbing pain blooming where her heart used to feel warmth. She felt a phantom heat, a memory of a touch that wasn't "dirty" or "ugly." Her breath hitched, and a single, confused tear tracked down her pale cheek.
Rina: (Whispering, her voice trembling) "Why... why does it hurt? Grandmother, make it stop. The beggar... he's doing something to the air. My chest... it feels like it's being torn open by a thousand golden threads..."
The Grandmother's face contorted into a mask of pure malice. She saw the crack in her masterpiece. She saw Diari's ancient power rising like a titan from the abyss.
The Grandmother: "Insolent worm! You dare to wake the sleeping lion? You dare to touch her heart with your filth?"
She raised her staff high. The black fire runes leaped from the ground and coiled around Diari's limbs like starving serpents. She didn't just strike him; she performed the Rite of Absolute Desecration. She reached into the air and grabbed the golden energy Diari was manifesting, twisting it, turning it into leaden weight.
[Visual: The golden light turns into black chains that pull Diari upward. He is lifted into the air, his limbs stretched until the sound of popping joints fills the courtyard. The mark on his back erupts, pouring black smoke that forms the shape of a cage around him.]
The Grandmother: "I will not just break your body, Diari. I will make you watch as I erase the woman you love. You want to use power? I will use your power to feed her hatred!"
She pointed her staff at Rina. The energy stolen from Diari flowed into Rina like a dark river. Rina's eyes turned from silver to a void-like black. She let out a scream of agony that turned into a cold, hollow laugh. The pain in her chest vanished, replaced by a numbing, absolute cold. She looked down at Diari, who was suspended in the air, bleeding and broken.
Rina: (Her voice now a chorus of a thousand demons) "Look at the beggar in the sky. He thinks he is a god. He thinks his 'manners' can save him now. Grandmother, let him hang there. Let him watch as I forget the very sound of his name. He is nothing but a shadow on the wall of my greatness."
Diari's vision began to blur. The ancient power was being siphoned out of him, leaving him hollow. The Grandmother twisted her staff, and Diari was slammed into the stone floor with the force of a falling star. He lay there, his body shattered, his spirit flickering like a candle in a hurricane.
The Grandmother: "Levitate, my broken doll. Levitate in your failure."
With a flick of her finger, she used a levitation curse, lifting Diari's limp body a few feet off the ground, keeping him in a state of perpetual, floating agony. He was conscious enough to feel every break, every tear, but too weak to even close his eyes.
Diari (Internal Monologue - Fading): "I can't... I can't reach her. The more I fight, the colder she becomes. The more I love, the more she hates. Am I truly the 'Ugly One'? Am I the reason for this rot? Grandmother... you haven't just taken my life... you've taken the light I was fighting for. But even in this darkness... even as my blood turns to ash... I will not... stop... looking... at her."
The Grandmother stepped onto Diari's floating chest, her weight crushing the little breath he had left. She leaned over and whispered:
"This is just the beginning, Diari. By the time I am done, Rina will be the one to light the fire that burns you to nothing.
Wirtten by : Dlin_myth