Chapter 609: We are the same…

Suddenly, Mason's voice trailed off as he heard something disturbing...

Countless harrowing, horrific screeches echoed loudly from every direction around them in the dark expanse. The haunting sound vibrated through the empty void, carrying an unbearable weight of pure, unadulterated malice.

Axel stomped his foot heavily onto the unseen floor of the void, propelling himself backwards by hundreds of meters in a single swift movement to create distance.

Before Mason could even fully process the sudden retreat, more than a thousand unimaginably grotesque void creatures attacked and pounced on Mason Vex all at once.

They lunged from the pitch darkness like a tide of starving beasts, their writhing limbs and jagged jaws tearing through the black air.

The Vex powerhouse, acting on sheer survival instinct in the very last instant, managed to let out a burst of multidirectional spell attacks aimed directly at the horrid creatures coming for his dear life.

Waves of bright, destructive magical energy erupted outward from his body in every direction.

However, the man realised in absolute terror that even one of his most powerful spellcaster attacks barely did anything against the relentless Void Creatures. The spell energy washed over their pitch-black hides before dissolving uselessly into the surrounding void element.

His mind was truly rattled by the horror unfolding before him. He could not understand where these horrifying things had come from, and the worst part was that Mason knew very little about this alien expanse called the False Void.

He knew only of its theoretical existence, but possessed no details about its nature or its horrors.

The powerhouse roared in fury as his massive energy reserves, his life force, and his physical stamina were all being drained at an astonishing rate to keep the swarm at bay.

Yet, despite his best efforts, his spells barely damaged the vile creatures, and even if some of them did take minor damage, they seemed to recover almost instantly in this void atmosphere.

Or worse, even more of the hungry Void Beasts would lunge at him madly, drawn by the scent of his active mana.

Realising that his magic attacks as a Spellcaster were failing, Mason quickly switched to his Runecaster aspect.

He began pulling out one powerful 5th phase artefact after another from his spatial storage, activating their defensive arrays in rapid succession.

Magical barriers flared to life, and automated energy constructs unleashed focused blasts into the writhing mass.

But even then, in this eternally corroding world of the void, those high-tier power artefacts suffered a terrible fate. The ambient void energy aggressively attacked the delicate runic circuits.

The artefacts were brutally degraded and crushed within seconds of activation, barely functioning like weak, one-time-use items before crumbling into useless dust.

Within a mere few minutes of frantic combat, deep black bites and unhealable wounds covered Mason's entire body. The void beasts tore through his flesh, leaving behind dark trails of decay that burned into his muscles.

And the wounds received from this sort of Void Creature were nearly impossible to heal through normal magic. The void element seeped directly into his bloodstream, eating away at his vitality from the inside out.

Mason was barely hanging on, desperately running and dodging between the narrow spaces of the mindless swarm of near-endless grotesque abominations.

In that chaotic moment, Axel Nomrad's dark voice echoed in Mason's mind, carrying a stillness that stood in sharp contrast to the surrounding carnage.

"Mason, there is one way to escape from this hell. Only one way."

Mason gritted his teeth, his bloodshot gaze travelling far into the distance toward his enemy who had brought him to this hostile alien expanse. He bellowed mentally with raw rage, "YOU?? WHY ARE THESE FUCKING MONSTERS NOT ATTACKING YOU??"

Axel chuckled softly inside the mental link, but he did not bother explaining. Instead, he revealed the escape method without hesitation.

"I know you watched the battle between Duke Allen and me."

"And just like Duke Allen, you have to destroy one of your aspects and point all that power into a single point of space where the spatial fluctuation feels weakest in this stale world."

Mason laughed in pure anger, barely avoiding another life-threatening strike from a massive void beast. "DID YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD BELIEVE ANY OF YOUR NONSENSE AND WILLINGLY CRIPPLE MYSELF???"

Axel did not respond. He felt no need to argue. Instead, for a moment, Axel looked down at his own arms.

Large parts of his skin had already rotted away, falling off his body and face like grey flakes. The corrosive void element was slowly devouring his physical body.

Furthermore, the Demon could feel that forty per cent of his emotions were already completely extracted by Prime Nexus.

The emotional warmth and fiery passions of his past were vanishing into nothingness. The hollowness in his soul kept deepening with every passing breath, leaving a cold, unfeeling calm over his conscious mind.

Meanwhile, Mason kept shouting and raging toward the Nomrad heir, cursing his name.

However, it all fell on deaf ears.

It was as if Axel was not even paying attention to the man anymore.

When Mason only had a measly amount of his energy reserves left, true panic finally began to settle deep into his spine.

The 5th phase Runecaster was terrified beyond all reason. He could almost smell the scent of death looming over him, as if an invisible grim reaper were holding a dark scythe against his neck.

Only then did he finally relent to his enemy's suggestion without any other choice left in his hands. Yet, a vicious look remained across his face.

Without hesitation, the Vex powerhouse actually started to break down his Runic Aspect Chamber, instead of the Aspect Chamber of his Spellcaster Aspect. He wanted to preserve his spellcasting foundation while discarding his runic aspect.

The physical and spiritual pain of having half of his Soul Sanctum violently destroyed was unfathomable beyond all reason. It felt as though his soul were being torn apart from within.

He almost went completely mad, but in the end managed to complete the brutal task with his life hanging in the balance.

He compressed all that wild energy into a tiny spot, pulling it out from the ethereal space of his Soul Sanctum and holding it directly at the very tip of his index finger.

The white light from that impossibly compressed packet of energy was so powerful that it looked like a marble-sized sun being held in his hand.

As the power from that ball of energy was about to erupt, the countless Void creatures surrounding him actually stopped attacking him momentarily, stunned by the dense force.

And then…

The Vex powerhouse pointed his finger exactly toward Axel Nomrad.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

A space-tearing beam of blinding rays streaked through the dark expanse of the False Void, illuminating all the surrounding area in a brilliant flash. Any Void Creature that stood in the path of that light was desecrated without exception.

The light pierced exactly through the middle of Axel's chest at a speed inconceivable to the Demon, creating a gaping hole in his body. His two hearts were instantly destroyed.

But more importantly, in the space exactly behind Axel, a very small part of it was torn open by the incinerating ray of light.

A small part of the real world could be seen through that gap in a blurry visage.

However, to the unexpected shock of the Vex Patriarch, the brutally injured figure of Axel Nomrad flickered, glitching madly like a magically projected hologram.

All the hair on Mason's body stood on end in alert of an intense danger coming from behind.

Mason turned around as fast as possible with all his remaining might. But…

Squelch….!!!

A ginormous iron spear etched with majestic runes pierced right through his stomach.

"Blerghhhh!"

The Vex powerhouse vomited a mouthful of dark red blood.

Mason's state was already near death, both from the constant fending off of the countless Void Creatures as well as the forceful breakdown of his Runic Aspect into pure offensive energy.

The man dropped to his knees, completely out of strength, out of will, and out of hope.

Axel let go of his grip upon the rune spear, then walked slowly until standing right in front of Mason, looking down at him with an emotionless face.

He stated to the Vex Patriarch in a mirthless tone:

"You were right, Mason; we are the same."

"We are the same kind of hypocritical, selfish Bastard."

"And as such…."

Axel's gaze then turned unnerving as he added, "If you are ever born again…."

"It doesn't matter if you have a different name, a different face."

"Whether you are Good or bad."

"Or if you are young and old."

"Every time your soul reincarnates upon Eldarion."

"I will kill you again and again and again and again…"

Axel stomped his feet onto the ground, jumping hundreds of meters away in a single bound.

At that exact instant, the thousands of hungry Void Beasts all pounced upon the crippled figure of Mason Vex with even greater ferocity than before.

They tore apart the torturer of Axel to utter bits, like a pack of deadly hyenas finding a crippled deer that was unable to run.