Chapter 30: The True Form of Vorzakh

"Shit!"

Ren’s body locked up under the sheer pressure, the mountain wind howling in his ears as the shadow of death fell over them.

His reflexes kicked in a split second before impact, driving his boots into the gravel and throwing his body backward in a sharp, evasive leap.

CLANG—!

Ren’s eyes widened as Ryu stood his ground, his blade bathed in a pulsing mantle of deep violet aura that hummed with oppressive frequency. The longsword met Vorzakh’s descending obsidian talons in a blinding shower of sparks, the iron-on-iron shockwave driving the swordsman’s boots two inches deep into the soil.

Ryu disengaged instantly, leaping backward three paces to reset his posture.

"GRRR-AAAAAAH!" Vorzakh let out a guttural, reverberating roar, its four split mandibles snapping in raw irritation as its claws missed flesh.

A sharp, mocking laugh echoed across the crater.

"Oh? Two Celestials in one place?" Vora murmured, placing two slender fingers against her dark-painted lips. A sinister glint lit up her purple eyes as she smoothed the side of her gown. "How deliciously rare."

"I didn’t think you were a Celestial too"

The violet aura around Ryu flared higher, cascading down his arms and creeping onto the steel of his longsword like burning oil. He held the blade at eye level, his gaze locked firmly on the four-meter titan before him.

Ren caught his breath, staring at his companion’s back in utter disbelief.

’Unbelievable... We still have a fighting chance. Ryu can actually hold the line.’

As the vibrant aura radiated from Ryu’s frame, a violent throb violently pierced the back of Ren’s skull. He winced, bringing a palm to his temple as a flood of suppressed memories surged forth from the deep recesses of the host body’s mind.

The ancestral lineage of the Celestial bloodline carried a natural, innate gift for martial warfare—an inherited mastery over the sword paired with an intrinsic command of darkness magic, passed down from the ancient era when their progenitors worshiped the Old Dark Gods. This latent power was designed to manifest under absolute life-or-death duress, granting any true heir supreme sword mastery and supernatural speed to complement their blade skills.

Ren snapped his eyes open, the raw information settling into his conscious thoughts. He glanced down at his trembling, dirt-stained hands. This host body was a direct descendant of that very same Celestial lineage.

’If Ryu can tap into it... can I force this body to awaken the same ancestral power?’

The thought flickered for only a second before the harsh reality of the memory chain crushed it.

If this host body had been capable of unlocking that dormant gift, he never would have been stripped of his status and forced into the humiliating rank of a backline porter.

The memory deepened, exposing the bitter truth. The original owner of this body suffered from a severe, ingrained lack of self-worth. Raised under the suffocating shadow of devout, fanatical parents who spent every waking hour performing dark rituals for forgotten gods, he had never received a single word of praise or affection. He grew up constantly comparing himself to the high-achieving prodigies of his clan, internalizing every failure. Deprived of validation, he shrank into his own skin, convincing himself he was utterly worthless. When his dormant bloodline failed to ignite during the rite of passage, the clan’s endless ridicule solidified his despair. He truly believed he was born to be nothing more than trash.

Ren felt a heavy, hollow ache spread across his chest—a residual trace of the original host’s deep-seated sorrow lingering in the muscle memory of his heart.

"GRAOOOR!" Vorzakh tore through the air again.

Ryu moved like a phantom. Sidestepping a sweeping strike from the titan’s left claw, he pivoted on his heel and brought his violet-laced longsword down in a clean vertical arc. The blade carved through the thick, armored hide of Vorzakh’s shoulder, sending black sparks flying across the gravel.

Vorzakh roared in frustration, spinning around and opening its massive maw wide. A torrent of corrosive, dark-purple venom spewed from its split jaw like a pressurized stream.

Ryu vaulted sideways in a mid-air spin, his body twisting with impossible grace to clear the caustic spray. The venom hit the ground behind him with a loud hiss, dissolving solid rock into bubbling sludge. A single stray droplet grazed the hem of Ryu’s shirt, instantly burning the thick fabric to ash.

As the beast opened its mouth to vent the poison, Ren’s sharp eyes caught a distinct detail deep inside its throat—a pulsing, jagged violet crystal embedded right at the base of its tongue, radiating the core energy driving its movements.

Ryu didn’t give the creature a moment to breathe. He closed the distance with staggering agility, weaving between Vorzakh’s relentless claw swipes and tail thrashes. He darted in, delivered two precise, deep lacerations to the creature’s joint seams, and backpedaled before the monster could pin him down. Piece by piece, the heavy chitin armor covering Vorzakh’s chest began to fracture under the relentless, high-speed sword assault. Ryu’s aura burned brighter with every step, his movements gaining unnatural precision as the dark energy sped up his reflexes to a blur.

Vora stood near the crater’s edge, watching her pet get sliced to ribbons without a single hint of concern. Her expression remained serenely cold, her dark lips pulled back into a faint, indifferent smirk.

The refugees huddled behind Ren snapped out of their shock, their eyes wide as they watched the young swordsman push the titan into a defensive corner. Hope, fragile and desperate, flickered back into their pale faces.

"He’s... he’s actually pushing it back!" a middle-aged man gasped, clutching his bruised ribs.

"If he slays that beast and we take down Vora... we can break the barrier and get Liora out alive!" a woman whispered, her hands clasped tightly in prayer.

Ren watched the dance of steel and dark mana with acute focus. The fluid elegance of the Celestial sword style was undeniable.

’If I grip a blade while pushed to the edge... will this body’s muscle memory take over? Now that I’m occupying this shell, self-doubt isn’t an issue anymore.’

Ryu flicked his wrist, avoiding a clumsy overhead smash from Vorzakh that shattered the earth. The beast was growing visibly sluggish, its massive limbs flailing wildly as it swung at empty air, utterly frustrated by the swordsman’s evasive speed.

Ren’s brow furrowed into a tight scowl as he analyzed the beast’s movement patterns.

’Something is completely off... Is this really what an A+-Rank Aberrant looks like?’

Despite its terrifying size and aura, Vorzakh was fighting with the predictable, blunt instincts of a C+ or B-Rank creature. It lacked the intelligence and adaptive battle logic expected of a high-tier calamity.

Ryu leapt backward, creating ten paces of separation. He raised his longsword toward the dark sky, aligning the blade vertically with his forehead. The violet aura surrounding him condensed instantly, wrapping the steel in a dense, shimmering edge that vibrated so intensely it whipped up a localized gale.

Ryu kicked off the bedrock, transforming into a streak of purple light.

SWISH—!

The blade cut through the ambient air with a sharp, high-pitched hum. Ryu materialized five yards behind the behemoth, coming to a halt in a low landing stance.

SLASH!

A clean, diagonal line of violet light bisected Vorzakh’s massive torso. The four-meter titan froze mid-motion before its upper body slid off its waist, tumbling onto the gravel with a heavy crash while its legs collapsed sideways.

Ryu’s violet eyes gradually faded back to their natural tone. He exhaled a long, steady breath and smoothly sheathed his longsword with a metallic click.

Ren let out a tight breath, his shoulders dropping slightly as a small, relieved smile touched his lips. "It’s over..."

He turned toward the villagers to check on Liora, but stopped dead in his tracks.

The refugees were not celebrating. Cold sweat dripped continuously down their pale foreheads, their faces drained of all color, eyes wide with sheer, unadulterated dread.

"What’s wrong with you guys?" Ren muttered, his brow furrowing.

"No... it doesn’t die like that," an old villager stammered, his body shaking violently as he pressed himself flat against the dirt. "You can’t kill Vorzakh with simple steel..."

Before Ren could process the warning, a sickening squelching sound rang out behind him.

Ren snapped his head back around. Ryu whirled around in utter disbelief, his hand immediately flying back to his hilt.

The severed halves of Vorzakh’s body were trembling on the ground. Thick, tendril-like strands of black and purple mass erupted from the open wounds, writhing like angry leeches. The tendrils latched onto both halves, violently hauling the upper torso back onto the waist with a grotesque, bone-snapping crunch. The flesh fused together instantly, leaving not even a scar behind.

Vorzakh stood tall once more, its crimson compound eyes flaring back to life with renewed cruelty.

THUMP!

The titan slammed its heavy fist into the earth, creating a localized shockwave that blasted Ryu off his feet. The swordsman tumbled backward across the dirt, rolling four times before digging his boots in to stop his momentum, gasping for air.

Ren’s blood ran cold, his lungs locking up as he stared at the fully regenerated monster.

"I-It repaired itself... instantly?" Ren stammered, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks.

The realization hit him like a physical blow. That’s why it was classified as an A+-Rank threat. Its raw combat patterns were basic, but its immortality rendered traditional physical destruction completely useless.

"Hahaha!" Vora crouched down like a playful child, resting her chin comfortably on her palms as she watched their desperate expressions. "Did you really think it would be that easy to put down Vorzakh?"

She stood up slowly, smoothing the wrinkles from her black skirt with slow, deliberate strokes. Her smile vanished, replaced by an expression of cold boredom.

"I’ve wasted enough time playing with you bugs," Vora announced flatly.

She raised her right arm toward the stormy sky, her fingers curling outward. She closed her eyes, her lips moving rapidly as she recited an ancient, rasping chant.

The ambient pressure doubled. The dark clouds above churned violently, lightning cracking across the black expanse with deafening roars.

"O trapped souls of the fallen, hear your sovereign... bind your agony to the dark, and serve!"

A terrifying phenomenon tore through the realm.

From the far corners of the mountain, across the desolate valleys and ruined settlements, thousands of spectral violet shadows materialized. They took the ghostly shapes of teenagers, adults, and elders—the souls of hundreds of innocent victims slaughtered by Vora throughout her terror. The ethereal phantoms wailed in silent agony as an invisible vortex dragged them toward the crater.

The vast horde of souls swirled through the air before funneling directly into Vorzakh’s split, gaping jaw. The monster gulped them down greedily, its chest expanding with every absorbed spirit.

Ren stared at the scene, horror freezing the blood in his veins.

’She murdered these people... and now she’s consuming their residual souls to fuel her pet?!’

This woman wasn’t just an enemy—she was a complete monster, devoid of even a shred of humanity.

Ryu pushed himself up from the dirt, his face pale as paper, his arm trembling as he raised his sword once more. Behind him, the refugees collapsed into complete despair, weeping silently as they curled up on the ground, accepting that their deaths were now absolute.

Vorzakh swallowed the final soul.

BOOOOOOM—!

A blinding column of violet radiance erupted from the monster’s body, shooting straight into the clouds. The light was so intensely brilliant it washed out the entire plateau, casting harsh, stark shadows over the barren landscape.

"Shit!" Ren slammed his forearm over his eyes, shielding his face from the searing light and the roaring gale that followed.

The blinding glare slowly faded.

Ren lowered his arm, opening his eyes millimeter by millimeter.

The breath left his lungs instantly. His hands and knees began to shake uncontrollably, a tremor he couldn’t suppress no matter how hard he locked his joints. His heart hammered violently against his ribs like a trapped beast.

Standing before them was no longer the four-meter titan.

The entity had mutated into a towering, 6.5-meter humanoid nightmare. Its skin had transformed into a dark, pulsing, veiny hide that oozed a black, tar-like substance. Three glowing crimson eyes sat vertically across its elongated facial plate. Its upper jaw was permanently split open, revealing rows of jagged, overlapping metallic fangs.

In its massive, elongated right arm, it gripped a gargantuan, scythe-like battleaxe made of jagged purple crystal—a weapon built purely to reap lives like wheat. A suffocating, pitch-black aura rolled off its frame in heavy waves, radiating a cold, inescapable pressure of pure death.

"Feast your eyes upon true despair," Vora proclaimed proudly, gesturing toward the titan with a dramatic flourish. "The true form of Vorzakh!"

"No... this can’t be real..." Ren choked out, his voice barely a whisper as he took an involuntary step back, his boots dragging through the dirt.

Since being pulled into this twisted world, he had faced terrifying things—starting from the shadow creature that had severed his leg upon arrival. But compared to the entity standing before him now, those previous threats were nothing.

The sheer aura emanating from Vorzakh’s true form demanded absolute submission. It wasn’t just an opponent—it was a literal grim reaper, waiting to claim every single soul left standing on the hill.