Part 7
The dust in the warehouse hadn't even settled when the atmosphere shifted from cold to suffocating. Julia and her two comrades didn't look afraid of Libert's 1% awakening. In fact, they looked disappointed.
"Is this all the 'God' has to offer?" Julia spat, her voice laced with venom.
Behind her, Aslam stood up. He wasn't being dragged, and he wasn't unconscious. His eyes were void of any human emotion, glowing with a sickly violet hue. The dark entity hadn't just possessed him; it had offered him something, and Aslam had accepted.
"Aslam, what are you doing? Come back!" Libert roared. His power was so immense that the ground beneath the warehouse began to liquefy. As a Reborn God, Libert had enough latent energy to shatter galaxies, but here, in a mortal shell, he was struggling to contain it.
Aslam didn't speak. He simply turned his back on Libert and walked toward Julia. He chose to leave. He chose the darkness.
"He's gone, Libert," Julia laughed as a massive portal opened. "And even with your 'Universal' power, you are too unstable to stop us. My masters are ten times stronger than this boy, and soon, he will be too."
With a final mocking glance, they stepped into the void, leaving Libert alone in the wreckage.
Libert returned to the Board House. He had been here before, many times in his past lives, but today the air felt different. The Five Ladies, ancient guardians of the cosmic balance, were waiting for him.
"You let him go," the Head Lady said, her voice echoing through the massive hall.
"He chose to go," Libert replied, his voice trembling with a power that threatened to bring the building down. "I could have destroyed them all, but I would have destroyed the planet with them."
The Head Lady walked toward him, her footsteps silent. "Aslam is no longer the boy you shared bread with. That dark entity has merged with his soul. To save him—or to stop him—you cannot rely on raw destruction. Your power is infinite, but your control is zero."
She looked at the other four ladies, who began chanting in a forgotten tongue.
"The villains who took him serve an ancient order. They are ten times more powerful than Aslam, and they are teaching him how to kill a God. If you face them now, you will lose. Not because you lack strength, but because you lack the precision to strike a shadow without killing the light."
Libert looked at his hands, which were beginning to glow with an uncontrollable white heat. "What do I need to do?"
"Preparation," the Head Lady whispered. "You must undergo the Trial of the Void. You need to learn how to focus your 'Universe-shattering' power into a single needle-point. Only then can you face Aslam and the three who lead him."
Libert looked up, his eyes burning with a new resolve. "Tell me where to start."
[STORYTELLING SUSPENSE: PART 8 PREVIEW]
Libert enters the Trial of the Void, where he must fight memories of his past lives. Meanwhile, Aslam is undergoing a dark transformation that makes him more than just a vessel.
Will Libert be able to control his power before the villains launch their first attack on the mortal realm?
And what did Julia mean when she said Aslam was 'just the beginning'?