Chapter 453: Halfmortal [3] [T30 Bonus - s 5/7]

Chapter 453: Chapter 453: Halfmortal [3] [T30 Bonus Chapters 5/7]

Chapter 453 – Halfmortal [3]

Worm of Truth.

The name echoed inside Meadow’s mind, and with it came a stunning, dreadful sensation that she had just stepped past a point of no return.

There was no way now to go back and undo what she had just done.

The coin had been flipped, and the result — the ending of all this — remained to be seen.

All these thoughts flashed by faster than the blink of an eye before Meadow was dragged into a torrent of pain that choked her, her throat dry and gasping.

Rayel had placed her right eye inside Meadow’s socket, and that caused Meadow’s body to try to connect with this twisting, living eye.

It was not easy. It was something completely foreign, after all. But the Worm of the WorldTree knew how the Refinement Process of her own Characteristic worked.

So steadily, with visible progress, the eye began to settle properly into the young tycoon’s socket, evidenced only by the scream that tore through her throat.

She was thrashing erratically, and if not for Rayel’s strength, Meadow would have broken free long ago.

The Dead God watched the mortal, her green lips twisted into a strange smile. She focused on the mortal’s left eye of Truth, and saw within that immaculate light a glimpse of the being behind it.

"Oh, Keeper of Truth," Rayel whispered, her voice low beneath Meadow’s screams. "I didn’t know you to be someone who would choose a Chosen One. And you still haven’t Blessed her, I see. Why, I wonder, if you are already so present in her? What stops you from taking this step?"

Rayel waited for an answer, but none came. She chuckled and shook her head.

She was not surprised.

The Keeper of Truth was a being unable to lie or speak falsehood in any way possible.

Which meant that if He had chosen silence... then either the answer was something he didn’t want others to know, or it was a dangerous Truth.

And oh, Rayel knew. She knew extremely well how dangerous a Truth could be.

She was the perfect example of it. For it was because of the Truth she had unveiled about her delightfully mad mother, Inara Serpentine, that she had decided to swallow the WorldTree.

The same Truth that had killed her.

’Ah, brothers and sisters. You want to delay the inevitable. Mother will come back, just like her Sisters will.’ She smiled with a hint of madness. ’All of them are coming back, fools. This is the End. And the End deserves the presence of them all. Just sit, and wait.’

Rayel looked at Meadow, who had now calmed down significantly. And looking at her black locks, the dead god noticed a hint of green mixed in.

’I am sending Truth your way.’ She laughed. ’Your greatest fear, I have come to realize. Ah. Let’s see how you fare against my dear mortal tainted by a dead god. My dear Worm of Truth.’

It was as if her words, those final words, were all the process needed to be completed. Meadow snapped her eyes wide open, gasping for breath.

Her body jolted up, instinctively trying to move away from Rayel, but the dead god held her like a mother holding her child and brought the mortal even closer.

Rayel’s head was still just a touch away from falling off, blood still gushing out. So it was quite understandable to Rayel that Meadow’s horror, rather than diminishing, only grew at being so close to the god, despite her new evolution.

Still, the young tycoon began to calm down after forcing herself to understand that this god had no reason to hurt her.

"What a beautiful eye you have now, my mortal," Rayel whispered, looking at Meadow’s new right eye.

It was completely different. The white of her sclera was a profound black, and the pupil was slitted and green, pulsing like a living thing.

Which it was.

Meadow’s left eye was looking at Rayel, but her right eye was looking around as if curious about its surroundings. Combined with the fact that the two eyes saw completely different things, it was quite hard for the young tycoon’s perception to remain steady.

She groaned, lips pressed tight, trying to control her right eye, but to no avail.

"You will need more time to control the eye. But you will get there," Rayel said, then brought Meadow closer to her half-decapitated head. "The eye has a mind of its own. It can think and speak. You need to tame it and make it yours."

"How... can an eye think and speak?" Meadow asked, her voice hoarse.

"It’s a monster, my dear," Rayel smiled. "A monster acting as your eye. Don’t worry, it can’t harm you."

Meadow said nothing, still shaken by everything that had just happened. She should have known that taking the Characteristic of a dead god was not going to be easy.

"Still," the Dead God spoke again, tearing off a piece of her dress, "you will need this, mortal."

The moment the piece of fabric was raised to the level of Meadow’s eyes, it transformed into an eyepatch.

It was black, with pink lines slithering around it.

"You will need this at the beginning. It will help you control your perception and get used to the eye’s power. The eyepatch will make sure your monster eye matches the level of your Truth Eye, for normal perception," Rayel explained. "I chose black and pink because of your skin color and eye color. Aren’t I good to you, my dear mortal?"

Meadow smiled wryly, nodding. "I guess you are."

"Then don’t forget my instructions." Rayel placed her hands on either side of Meadow’s face. "Get my body, and destroy it. Do it before my brothers and sisters, or any kind of god, manage to get it."

"What if... I am still too late?" Meadow asked, holding the eyepatch in her right hand. "What should I do?"

"Then you kill anyone who dared to take a piece of me," Rayel smiled coldly. "You hear me, my dear? Kill them all, and take those pieces into you, if you can bear them. If not, destroy them."

"But they are gods!"

"And gods can be killed," Rayel said. "The proof is right in front of you."

"I follow a goddess," the young tycoon said again. "I cannot say no to my goddess if she wants... your corpse."

Rayel paused at those words. Meadow had the impression the dead god would have tilted her head to one side if she could.

"I see. On one condition," the god said. "That she doesn’t eat my Authority of Parasite."

"I will tell her that, dead god."

"Rayel," she said. "Call me Rayel, mortal. You have a piece of me in you. We are past formalities now, aren’t we?"

Meadow forced out a smile. "Rayel, then. I am Meadow. Meadow Wealth."

The Dead God laughed, then her hands began to glow, and with them, the whole realm they were in.

Meadow’s body began to turn illusory.

"It’s time for you to go back, dearest Meadow." Rayel took the eyepatch from Meadow’s hand and gently placed it over her eye herself, her movements filled with an almost maternal affection. "Don’t forget what happened here. And don’t forget what you’ve become."

"A monster?" Meadow asked with a trembling smile.

Rayel shook her head. "Not just that, dearest Meadow. You have a monster living in your eye, and you now possess the power to create worms from within your own body. You have Truth flowing through your blood, dwelling within your soul, and residing in your left eye. But most importantly..."

Meadow’s body continued to fade, until only the upper half of her remained.

"...you carry a piece of the divine within you. Never before have I heard of a mortal carrying a dead god within their own flesh. And do you know what that means, dearest Meadow? It means you’re the first. Because now, you are..."

Meadow’s body vanished completely from the Half-Gate of Parasites, but Rayel’s final words followed her even as she disappeared.

"...Halfmortal."

—End of Chapter 453—