Epic of Ice Dragon: Reborn As An Ice Dragon With A System - Chapter 2326: Oda Nobunaga’s Endless Castle [44]
Chapter 2326: Oda Nobunaga’s Endless Castle [44]
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“Hajun?!”
Amaterasu gasped, stepping back in disbelief. This demon was unlike any of her other creations.
He was a being born in this world from her nightmares, her darkest thoughts, and her sinful desires. Every negative aspect of her mind had been extracted, giving rise to him.
He was her opposite, an unstoppable demon king who craved only bloodshed and destruction, having opposed her countless times.
With the aid of Susanoo and the other gods, she had thwarted him each time, ultimately sealing him within the depths of Hell.
Then he met Susanoo, and they struck a deal.
“I have come to slay you once and for all…” Hajun laughed. “This is my goal, my dream, and the reason I exist! Yet I want to exist for more than that, you know? To find a new purpose, you must die, Amaterasu-sama.”
“You heard him, sister…” Susanoo said with a gentle smile. “Will you die, please? For me?”
“No! Wait…!” Amaterasu cried, tears streaming down her face. “You don’t have to do this! I’ll change…! I’ll do everything you ask, but please…! Stop…! Stop this…! I don’t want to die…! And I don’t want this world to crumble…! The people, everyone…! Susanoo, please think of them! You told me so many times you loved them!”
“…” Susanoo remained silent for a moment, gazing at the floor.
Amaterasu hoped he might reconsider at the last moment…
Yet he did not.
“If you aren’t moving, I am.”
Hajun surged forward, rushing toward Amaterasu.
Caught off guard, the goddess recoiled as he struck her stomach, sending her flying with an explosion of demonic flames.
BOOOM!
“Aaaaggh!”
Her barriers shattered, and the blow struck her directly, forcing her to vomit blood as her soul fractured with countless cracks.
Weakened, Amaterasu struggled but rose swiftly from the crater where she had landed. Glaring at Hajun and gasping for air, her Aura surged, causing the world to tremble.
“I won’t… I won’t let you harm this world! If this is truly what you desire, you’ll meet your end now…! I won’t…! I won’t die!”
“I love when you struggle, Amaterasu… show me all you’re made of!”
Hajun charged at her, and their clash erupted with punches, beams of light, explosions of demonic flames, and masterful sword and spear techniques. They appeared evenly matched, yet Hajun was overpowering her.
That initial blow had weakened her enough to shift the battle in his favor. That was all he needed! Though Amaterasu was powerful, he embodied her “other half,” encompassing all her negative emotions, nightmares, and desires.
He was the embodiment of all that darkness contained within a single entity!
“Haaa… Haaa… Everyone…! Someone…! You can’t…! Susanoo…! Brother!”
Amaterasu called out to Susanoo as he slowly approached her. Covered in wounds, her right arm broken, her legs bleeding from bony spears embedded by Hajun’s attacks, and half her face burnt and malformed, she pleaded.
“Susanoo? Will you forgive me? I know I’ve been a bad sister… Please, can we start over? I’ll do it for you… you only had to ask! You didn’t need to—”
“Goodbye, sister.”
SLASH!
“Ah.”
In that moment, Amaterasu felt a sharp pain in her neck, followed by a deeper agony in her soul as a demonic claw tore through it, shattering it into countless fragments.
“Amaterasu, you will die in body and soul!”
Crack, crack…!
“No! It hurts! Nooooo! Please forgive me! Someone…! AAAAAAHHHHHH!”
CRAAASH!
Her beheaded body collapsed onto the cold floor, and her head rolled down the hill, stopping to stare blankly at Hajun and her brother. Susanoo picked up her head, smiling at her.
He knew faint traces of consciousness remained.
“I always hated you, never forget that… I’m so happy I killed you, my dear sister. Now everything you had is mine!”
“A-Aahh… AAAAAHHHHH!”
Her head began screaming, startling Susanoo as he saw her shedding black tears.
Her beheaded body suddenly rose, its pale white skin turning dry and gray. As her head rolled back to her body and reattached itself, she screamed.
“What’s happening?! You said she would die like this!” Susanoo panicked, glaring at Hajun.
“She did,” Hajun said with a smile, crossing his arms. “This is… what happens after her body and soul perish by our hands… her heart broken and betrayed, her soul shattered by my powers, the embodiment of the darkness she tried to seal away.”
They watched Amaterasu’s distorted, dry, lifeless form rise.
Her black tears transformed into miasma, spreading everywhere as the heavens darkened and the world below quaked.
“Aaaaahhhhh! Oooohhhh…! Uuuugghhh…”
She wept, clutching her face, screaming in horror and agony.
Her soulless body, filled with grief, agony, and pain, became…
A perfect vessel for all the world’s darkness.
The sea of miasma around her spawned tens of thousands of Yokai, monstrous specters that tormented the mortal world below.
“Isn’t this wonderful, Susanoo?” Hajun said, spreading his arms with a smile. “We made it possible!”
“This is not we agreed to…” Susanoo muttered.
“Oh, we did,” Hajun said with a wicked smile. “Don’t worry… We can control her. She’s ours.”
Hajun held a large tear-shaped crystal, black and purple, and divided it into four fragments.
“Here, take one for yourself,” he said. “I’ll keep the other three… with this, our deal is done.”
Hajun walked away, the undead goddess trailing behind him, drooling miasma, her form mindless and aberrant…
Susanoo remained, staring at the wicked tear in his hand.
He gazed at the darkened sky and the world below.
Clutching his face, he smiled monstrously and laughed.
“Hahaha… Hahahahaha! This is really… ridiculous… I did it… Heheh… Hahahahahah!”
The echoes of his wicked laughter resonated within her as Yuki was tormented by dreams of her previous life.
“Ma…”
The laughter persisted, and darkness engulfed her once more.
“Mwaah…?”
The darkness born from her own body.
“Mom…”
The darkness that would never release her, forever imprisoning her within its eternal abyss.
“Mama…! Mama! Mamaaaaaaa!”
“Aaah!”
At that moment, Yuki awoke to her daughter’s screams, who had been trying to wake her up the entire time.
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