CHAPTER 167: CHAPTER 167: THE WEIGHT OF DEATH [3]

Chapter 167 – The Weight of Death [3]

Kaden stood there, not knowing what to do.

Well actually, he knew—as The Will had told him what he needed to do. He simply had to bear the weight of death.

But Kaden couldn’t just do what The Will had said, because there were many things he had to understand first.

His head was spinning with different kinds of thoughts as he tried to make sense of what was happening.

First of all, he was in Darklore, so The Will shouldn’t be here managing a dungeon.

The second thing was the mention of one of his traits.

"Corruptive blood...?" Kaden muttered under his breath. This was a trait he had obtained after Nocthar gave him a drop of blood in that dungeon.

"What does it have to do with this dungeon?" Kaden wondered. "Are they linked? Corruptive blood... corrupted undead... Nocthar was controlling death power... and so this dungeon..."

Kaden’s thoughts continued to flow in a seamless manner as he tried to put all the pieces of puzzle in one place, but the more he thought about it, the more it became confusing.

Especially if he added to all this what The Will said.

Half fragment of War-Aspect.

The Will had said he possessed this fragment that belonged to a being whose name Kaden couldn’t even read, whose name was shrouded in divine mystery.

His head started to hurt with all those different things as a sense of dread started to rise inside of him. He looked ahead of him and saw the dead body with the half-scythe floating above the body and the small river—more like a puddle—of black blood.

Kaden could already guess who the body belonged to.

’So the one who made those strange lines died here, surely by attempting to beat the weight of death,’ Kaden thought, making his own assumption. But beside this, there was no other logical explanation to all this.

He took a deep breath, trying to steady his breathing and his mind.

’War... death...’ Kaden thought.

These two aspects are undoubtedly linked. Because there is no war without death.

He sighed ruefully, his expression bearing a dark frown.

’Things are getting complicated,’ he added in his mind, but even if it was...

Kaden had no other choice but to walk through this.

The door behind was closed and even if it wasn’t, he wouldn’t pass on a way to gain additional power just because he was afraid.

Yes, he was afraid because he didn’t know what type of power he was getting involved in.

He didn’t know if he had what it takes to go through this.

He didn’t.

And, as you know, the fear of the unknown was one of the most dreadful one.

But,

’I cannot cower because of fear. I am Kaden Warborn. I am the child of blood. I am Death’s Envoy.’

And besides, wasn’t that what he wanted? The power of death? Then why the hell was he here overthinking?

Steeling himself, Kaden’s face hardened like a bloodied blade under the aching sun’s glow.

He looked ahead of him and, with one steady breath, he took a step forward.

His step echoed loudly around the dark space as he approached the dried corpse and the floating half-scythe.

The more he approached, the more the aura of death the scythe was exuding became stronger and stronger, so much that Kaden started to have harrowing hallucinations.

And all of them were related to him dying in the most gruesome ways possible—all the time, over and over again without any pause. His face started to tingle, sweat began to fall from it. His body quivered softly under the constant attack of the aura of death but...

Kaden held on.

Because he was used to dying, and his will was strong, these hallucinations did not have a crippling impact on him.

So with gritted teeth and bloodied eyes, Kaden continued to step forward until he was just an inch from the half-scythe.

At that moment, what he was feeling was something he never thought possible. The power of death was so pure that Kaden was almost... amazed by it.

He always called Death sweet, but what the aure he was feeling truly took that description a little bit too seriously.

So instead of rushing the process, Kaden sat on the ground just in front of the half-scythe and started to meditate.

He had just reached True Intent, so his intent was still in the newbie stage, and so it was very sporadic and pathetic in sense of mastery. And Kaden could feel that he would need this intent if he wanted to shoulder the weight of death.

So he closed his eyes and meditated under the constant attack of the pure death energy.

The space became deadly silent, only broken by Kaden’s rhythmic breathing.

It was no easy task, as his body was drenched in sweat. His eyebrows were curled up into a tight frown as he tried his best to not let himself be pulled by his countless deaths.

At some point, the difficulty increased. It was no longer only him dying... it was his loved ones dying.

Daela, Garros, Serena, Rory, Meris, and even his brother Dain.

Their deaths touched Kaden’s mind more than he ever thought. His body started to shake with fear and insecurities. His breathing became ragged but he only clenched his teeth’s tighter and his knuckles until a crushing sound echoed through the dark space.

’Calm down... calm down... this is fake.’

He continuously repeated these words, trying to ground himself and not lose his mind over the endless deaths of his loved ones.

He then activated his Intent of Death, and shakily, awkwardly, pitifully manipulated the very intent to wrap around his head in order to protect him from these hallucinations. And it worked, albeit barely.

But Kaden now knew of a way.

So over the next couple of hours, Kaden consolidated his intent and refined further his intent manipulation.

His Intent of Death was special. Because as his understanding was built upon death being his companion and he being its messenger, its Herald...

His intent had both defensive attributes and attacking attributes.

That was rare, as it was usually either one of them—or the third type, the supportive attribute.

So with his intent, he managed to protect himself more easily, the more his understanding deepened and consolidated and the more his mastery over it grew.

After a couple of hours, Kaden barely felt anything anymore. He managed to block almost entirely the effect of the scythe with his intent and the few that passed through were dealt by his Will stat.

His progress was remarkable.

Deciding that he was ready, Kaden stood up.

He looked warily at the half-scythe, not knowing what to do.

But he could guess that...

{Touch it, and bear the weight of death. Bear it and become more... complete.}

The Will chimed again, giving him the direction to take.

But Kaden didn’t act upon The Will’s words. He looked at the half-scythe for a long while before slowly, a crazed open smile appeared on his face.

"Why...?"

"If I have to bear something, I might as well make it so the thing becomes mine and mine alone after that." Kaden declared, then raised his head to the boundless black expanse above and opened his mouth again,

"I won’t touch it. Instead..."

His smile widened.

"Synthesize."

Kaden activated his trait and immediately after,

"Make this thing mine and destroy anything harmful or suspicious to me."

He paused, then,

"Make me one with Death."

—End of Chapter 167—