Infernal Apocalypse

“Are you all fucking scared?! I am the last one left yet none of you are coming! My spear yearns for the taste of your blood!”

A large man with ferocious black hair down to his back, bellowed out to the thousands of people surrounding him. Of course, what kept them at bay apart from the thousands of their people lying on the ground all around him, were his flames.

Black flames danced with reckless abandon around him for miles on end. His spear floated ominously beside him was too coated in his flames.

“HAHAHAHAHA!!! If you won’t come! Then I will come to you! Hear me my Ancestors! Let my flames burn Eternally! And my SPEAR BE EVER SWIFT!!!”

- A random war, on a random planet, eons ago.

Just before I was preparing to continue my seemingly futile attempts to make my spear reach the Outpost Leader, he finally decided to speak again.

“That’s enough. I allowed you to attack continuously so that you are able to clearly understand the difference in what you’re about to see. Watch carefully.”

Interesting. After hearing what he had to say, I took a couple steps back to give him space and just waited. I watched on as he calmly walked to the rack of wooden weapons and grabbed a random spear.

He seemed to take his sweet time as he strolled back to center of the training grounds with a spear in hand.

He stood there calmly for a moment before getting into a sort of combat stance. One that I’ve kind of been trying to copy. One foot placed slightly in front and to the side, with a slight bend at the knee.

Using his right hand, he held the shaft of the spear about halfway, and brought his elbow backwards as if readying the spear for a strike. His left arm calmly yet readily swaying at the side.

It was all very slow and methodical the way he got into position. A far cry from when I do it.

It seems I’m not putting in the proper effort to get better with the spear. Well, it also has only been a week since I’ve picked one up, so I’ll cut myself some slack. Anyway, I didn’t lose my focus as I watched him.

He stayed perfectly still for a few moments. I barely blinked, and the world around him seemed to follow suit as everything somehow became tranquil. I didn’t understand it, why did it feel like everything got quiet? It felt like the world was genuinely paying attention to the man in front of me. Truly fascinating. Oh yeah, the weird gate guard man was also there watching intently, and he still hadn’t moved or said a single word this whole time. Weird.

Anyway, a few more moments passed before I was just barely able to register what was but a simply thrust of a spear.

The Outpost Leader brought his hand forward with blistering speed. Even though I think that’s a speed I shouldn’t be able to track, I was still somehow able to follow and watch as his spear didn’t even so much as tremble as it came forward with a force I didn’t believe a man was able to bring.

By the time he came to a standstill once more with his arm fully extended in front of him, it took the world a second to catch up with him as wind suddenly came flying by raising dust and debris into the air.

I don’t know how to explain it other than to say it was beautiful…and If I remember correctly, he called this fundamental…what was a spear art then if this wasn’t considered an art? I gripped my spear tighter, and I almost unconsciously closed my eyes for a moment to replay what I just saw, so as not to forget anything about it.

The methodical way in which he got into position, from the grabbing of the spear to settling into his stance, to focusing everything he had into a strike so precise and profound it felt like the world watched as he did it…no…it did watch. I don’t understand how that could even be possible, but I will trust my instincts. There was something else…his motion…it felt different.

What was it…what was different…

~

Jrino watched on as Raizen was going through something he didn’t quite expect to see. Enlightenment…it was something that some of the more reclusive people from extremely isolated places might think was rare and that it meant you will suddenly gain strength from nothing and rise above the masses, but most of the Multiverse knew better.

While it wasn’t something so all powerful, it was still a moment of heightened understanding. Your mind attuned to the world enough to not only rid yourself of unnecessary thoughts, but also to acutely focus on whatever triggered the enlightenment. It was a great boon to many who experienced it but not something that most people are able to just enter at will. It just wasn’t some magical thing that causes things to click in place and suddenly make you stronger.

No, in the simplest terms it just helps you to understand things better, but you still need to actually digest and apply whatever it is you managed to understand.

So, both Jrino and Eriog who was still just standing calmy did nothing but watch, as Raizen experienced his first enlightenment. While it was a bit surprising it wasn’t too much of a shock as enlightenment had no age or cultivation requirements, anyone could do it. The biggest of note to Jrino, was that his training plans would have to change depending on what Raizen actually gained from this.

Meanwhile, on a rather extremely large ship in outer space, Yamaal was sitting in his quarters, when a small silver disk that worked as a long distance communication tool finally connected to a similar located millions of light years away, on the home world of the Meitalc people.

A rough voice, clearly annoyed came through the device.

“This better be good Yamaal, I am missing a performance from Yamshen because of this.”

“Lord Raeyon, there is an Infernal among the locals of this Universe.”

Raeyon froze in his lavish seat as he repeated what Yamaal said in his head a million times just to confirm he heard correctly.

A few deep breaths later and he was calm as a lake in a land with no wind.

“Did they send one?”

“Yes, a Second Stage Immortal. She gave me an item that I placed in the Tutorial Shop for the young Infernal.”

“Who controls the Outpost?”

“A team from the Olirag Clan.”

“Tch, those lucky green bastards. Don’t do anything stupid, I am on my way."

Raeyon shut the device off, before sauntering off to prepare for the long journey ahead of him, all the while complaining about the fact he will now have to miss months of Yamshen’s performances.

Yamaal on the other hand sat in silence for a few moments, to collect himself. He had requested this meeting the day he discovered the Infernal, but it took a week for Raeyon to decide to accept the meeting. All within his expectations of course, but what he didn’t expect was that he would come himself.

As a First Stage Immortal, Yamaal was strong enough to rule entire universes on his own, but in front of a Domain Realm cultivator he too was just an ant. He knew of Raeyon’s many quirks and qualities, none of which included biting his tongue when he was supposed to.

The Infernal that is certain to still be waiting nearby is a Second Stage Immortal, stronger than Yamaal himself but many times weaker in terms of pure cultivation in the face of a Domain Realm expert.

Despite that being the case, an Infernal was an Infernal. War was their reason for existence, they would never run from a fight, in fact they welcomed it like how a fish yearned for the ocean. Or at least that’s how Yamaal and most others perceived them. Either way Yamaal was truly worried that Raeyon would let his tongue slip and cause a repeat of the 150th Infernal War. The one that involved his own people, only a few short millennia ago.