A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

"Valerie! Valerie, stay with me!" Lilian shouted, holding his unconscious wife as she was fighting for her life.

The surrounding area was a devastated crater of fire, and despite being heavily wounded himself, Lilian kept all his focus on his lover.

The attack she had used was not to be used lightly. It had only two outcomes. Either you die, or your target does. And even then, the cost was extreme.

It was a spell to erase someone's soul, and the cost was paying an equivalent price in the exchange. If you couldn't afford the price, then you'd die. It was as simple as that.

Using it when you couldn't even confirm the target's strength was beyond foolish. While it would cripple anyone, you could very well sign your own death warrant with it. And the backlash would certainly cripple you, even in success.

Since Valerie was still breathing, albeit faintly, she had succeeded. The elf was dead.

—

Two kept watch of their surroundings as Eldrian made to escape. Keeping dozen of spells at the ready to intercept any attack that might come.

Eldrian rounded the corner of the next estate. Putting enough distance between him and the Zonthans to get out of their view and outside the explosion range of the Nova heading for them.

And then he stumbled.

And Two was blocked from the outside world. Kicked back into his home as hundreds of meteorites of foreign energies rained through the sky. Two immediately tried to warn Eldrian, but alas, something was blocking him.

Next, he tried to contain the damage. However, the more he tried to fight, the more he realized he couldn't manage it on his own. He was only a residence inside Eldrian's soul. He was not the owner.

He could not morph space at will. He could not use the boundless energy surrounding him to defend himself.

Devastation spread. The foreign energy turned the world into a hell, and as Two frantically tried to survive the onslaught, it started targeting him.

—

"The hell is with this barrier?" A figure asked, striking it with her axe, only to be sent flying.

Even though she was hurt, she didn't let up. The others also continued to rain down their attacks. Wishing to claim the glory of killing the invader themselves.

Eldrian was only vaguely aware of their actions at this point. He was teetering on the edge of consciousness and death. And as his consciousness faded, the effects of relying on tranquility to cool his emotions disappeared.

Grief struck Eldrian in full. And all the emotions he had been bottling ever since coming to the city erupted like a volcano. Instead of trying to contain it like he normally would, Eldrian welcomed the rage.

He did not want to deal with losing Two at the moment. No, he wanted to let his anger to take over so he wouldn't need to think about it.

As rage coursed through him, Eldrian felt himself filled with boundless strength and vigor. His mind was quickly turned into that of a mindless beast. Eldrian only barely noticed it, but he didn't have the energy to try to contain the raging beast that was wrath.

When he looked up at the figures attacking his barrier, he wanted them to disappear. Previously, Eldrian's body had been so damaged that he couldn't even move. Now fire coursed through his blood. Where his flesh had fallen off from rot, fire filled the gaps.

He no longer felt the pain. The only thing filling his heart was the wish to destroy everyone and everything before him.

When the figures noticed the difference, it was too late. A creature of blazing flesh and fire stood inside the barrier, and it shooed them with its hand.

"Vanish." It spoke, and fire erupted forth. Leaving nothing in its wake but the molten ground.

—

Eldrian only recovered a sense of self after five to ten minutes. And only barely at that. Just long enough to use tranquility to calm his mind. Even so, he knew he couldn't remain conscious for long. Before long, he would continue his rampage. He had long since lost all control.

As for the reason he had regained some self-control. He was currently facing a Zonthan. A strong one at that. The Zonthan had multiple crystals imbedded into his flesh, along with runes engraved around them. He used them to summon magic beyond his Tier.

He had landed a powerful attack on Eldrian. A large ice crystal had pierced Eldrian's stomach. By now, it was already sublimated. The gaping hole it left in Eldrian's stomach was filled with flames.

'I'm going to burn out.' Eldrian realized during the small moment that he could actually think. Right before he turned into a streak of flame. Crushing the crystal embedded in the Zonthan's right shoulder. His arm piercing through it.

'Huh, seems I can't even control what I do.' Eldrian noted, not remembering moving. His body was acting on instinct and he was missing a great deal of information on what he was doing. Blacking out every other second.

Next, he dodged the Zonthan's other arm as an invisible wind blade followed. It gorged the surroundings, but passed by Eldrian harmlessly.

Despite facing someone at Tier 6, Eldrian wasn't falling behind in the slightest. This was the second time that he had fully activated the effects of wrath, and it was truly insanely powerful. The cost for that power was why Eldrian tried everything he could to regain control.

If he couldn't, he would truly burn out. Becoming a mindless beast until he died.

As Eldrian pierced the Zonthan's heart, he tried to look at his stats and called up the map. Hoping he could at least target his rage while he worked to regain control.

His opponent had been strong, much stronger than the average Tier 6. Normally, Eldrian would have been slightly behind it in stats, but thanks to the raging flames coursing through him, massively boosting his attributes, the Zonthan turned into an insignificant fly.

It had only landed a hit because of the surprise factor. The raging Eldrian hadn't expected a Tier 7 spell to suddenly activate at point blank rage without incantation from his opponent.

Once that surprise factor was gone, the end was apparent. Its heart pierced and burned into nothingness. Once the rest of the Zonthan turned to ash, Eldrian attempted to reign in wrath.

He was forced to give it up almost immediately. By trying to rein it in, he opened a connection to his conscious state. Wrath used that very connection to corrupt his mind. Eldrian's meager mental defenses had almost completely collapsed.

'How the hell am I supposed to control this power?' Eldrian asked, watching a slideshow as his consciousness faded and reappeared every couple of seconds.

He rushed towards one of the few remaining houses. Its defenses quickly turned to muss as the stone melted and the wood turned to ash.

An answer to Eldrian's question came soon enough. The surrounding mana activated, forming a miasma of death that suppressed all living things within the city. The heaviness slowed the raging Eldrian, and as his flames moved to consume the miasma, Eldrian moved to reign in its power.

After a couple of minutes of struggling, Eldrian regained control of his body. The flame spilling out of him, however, still had a mind of their own. They moved to devour anything within range.

AN: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Remember to leave a comment if you did.

:)