Odyssey of the Blind God

Huge, black arms shot out of the gate, followed by a massive horned human-like head.

The monster Nial had summoned was more than ten meters tall. Its body was trembling violently as dark energy erupted from its leathery black skin, and its yellow serpentine eyes stared down at the tiny figure of the human, who had summoned it.

Its nose twitched as a unique smell entered the monster's nostrils.

The yellow serpentine eyes of the monster were locked on Nial, who did not appear to be fazed by its might.

"I might not be able to see you, but I can still tell that you're pretty powerful," Nial spoke calmly, his lifeless and milky white eyes resting on the Tyrant of Destruction.

Ryu and the little Oracle turned their heads in Nial's direction as he spoke using words in a language they had never heard before.

"Master?" The humongous monster asked in the same incomprehensible language Nial had just used.

'Master?' Nial wondered, feeling slightly dumbfounded when he felt something, or rather someone, emerging from his Heart of Darkness.

Nial's skin turned black, horns protruded out of his forehead and a black grimacing face of a devil covered his entire head.

"Kaeldur? You are with Master?... No that isn't master… is that his descendant? He smells similar…" The Tyrant of Destruction had been enraged to be awakened from his deep slumber, but the beings in front of him left him no chance of even harboring ill intentions.

However, that was only obvious because the beings in front of him were overly familiar to him, at least, one of them!

"Tyrant. I didn't expect you to still be alive. Looks like your power has dwindled with the passage of time!" A hoarse voice coming out of Nial's mouth that didn't quite belong to him teased all of a sudden.

'Kaeldur can speak?!' Nial realized, as his lips twitched. 'Why did he never speak to me before?'

"You should look at yourself instead of trying to provoke me. My powers might have dwindled in the absence of our Master, but I am still stronger than you!" Tyrant thundered, releasing a terrifying roar that shook the buildings in the surrounding area.

Dark energy that was much stronger than Nial's swept through the surroundings due to the Tyrant's roar, destroying the structures in a range of a few dozen meters.

A huge maze made out of darkness manifested in the bulky arms of the Tyrant of Destruction and he smashed it into the ground using all his might.

Soil and rubble were flung through the air like prickly shards, nearly hitting Nial who had yet to move an inch.

"Are you done?" He asked coldly, ignoring the power display of the Tyrant of Destruction.

"I have some work to do. If you have nothing better to do, how about you and Kaeldur get your act together and give me a helping hand?" Nial's voice was even but it thundered in the ears of the beings around him.

His patience was waning, especially because of the news of trouble at the Forest of Life.

There was no time to waste on idle chit chat, or how it was a miracle that Kaeldur's acquaintance had been summoned through the Awakening of the Prymal.

Nial could tell that the Tyrant of Destruction had had a close relationship with Kaeldur and also Damian, the Lord of Darkness, but that was an advantage he could exploit.

"Yes, Mas…Master?" Tyrant spoke, his voice faltering for the first time.

The Tyrant of Destruction was not sure how to address Nial, the human, who possessed a very similar smell to his late Master…the man who could be said to have given birth to Kaeldur, Tyrant, and many others.

He had nurtured them into beings of unfathomable powers and unwavering loyalty.

The same man who had raised them to become powerful existences had disappeared after sealing them away at places no soul ought to be able to reach even if the Universe were to be destroyed.

Yet exactly those places had been found by the same being…twice at that.

[He is in possession of the Eclipse Fragment…well not anymore, not exactly…but he has received Master's acknowledgment and portions of his memories!] Kaeldur spoke in Tyrant's mind after he had calmed down.

Kaeldur had witnessed all the achievements Nial had attained in recent years. Thus, he knew the young man's potential very well.

It was wise to follow him, even if Nial had yet to fully mature.

Tyrant kept staring at the grimace on Nial's face for several seconds. It looked like he was contemplating something while Nial was apparently done with the discussion.

"I will heed your commands!" Tyrant hastily announced and he stretched out his bulky arm that enlarged all of a sudden.

A black Star appeared out of the Tyrant of Destruction's chest. It enlarged for a moment and shot straight toward Nial.

The star hit him in the chest and began digging inside his flesh. Nial felt a searing pain while his physical body was, oddly enough,  not actually injured.

His Heart of Darkness began to vibrate violently as the black Star impacted on it.

At first, the Heart of Darkness rejected the black Star but upon sensing Nial's approval, the black Star was allowed to enter the pits of the Heart of Darkness, the exact area where Kaeldur resided.

'Both are creatures bound to the late God of Darkness. Looks like they accepted me as a successor…' Nial thought, though he was not certain how he could have been lucky enough to summon another creature of the Late God of Darkness.

It looked like his compatibility with the God of Darkness was quite high, enough to get mistaken as Damian.

He accepted Tyrant's link to the Heart of Darkness, which had once been the God of Darkness' fragment.

His Heart of Darkness was the place the creatures of the late Darkness God called home, where they could find shelter, regain their former strength and become beings that followed their new master's will.

The gigantic Tyrant of Destruction turned into countless particles of darkness. The particles of darkness swirled around Nial as if he was the heart of the typhoon.

Their speed intensified and an astronomical amount of mana flooded in his direction.

He absorbed the mana while noticing that the particles of darkness attached themselves to the mana currents that entered his body.

Nial could sense a few changes occurring inside his Heart of Darkness the more particles of darkness he absorbed.

Tyrant's presence could be sensed inside the Heart of Darkness and Nial instinctively lifted his hand high in the air before he motioned for the remaining particles to enter his body as well.

'Tyrant's physical strength might be enough to rival the Keltia Heligav…' Nial thought as he felt his mind teeming with the influx of information flooding his mind.

The information was solely related to the Tyrant of Destruction, the being that seemed to have been born as a crippled Titan youngling.

The rise of the Tyrant was rather unspectacular.

After being sold to a mercenary group, the crippled Titan youngling was abused and turned into a laborer whose sole purpose was to do chores and menial work.

A long time passed before the Origin of the crippled Tyrant awakened, creating a frightening force that was to be reckoned with.

He slaughtered every single member of the mercenary group that had abused him, no matter what rank they were.

His slaughterfeast had turned him into a wanted criminal and decades of running away had followed.

When Tyrant had nearly been caught, his chest pierced by a huge spear while his life force seeped out of his veins, Damian came to his rescue.

What happened afterward was a blurred memory to Nial who was unable to perceive anything for now.

The things Nial couldn't see about Tyrant's life were not that important to him. He was just elated to have gained another ally.

And this ally was extremely powerful!

"Are you guys ready to join the City Brawl and beat up some Keltia ranked Heligav?" Nial asked enthusiastically while he released a large amount of his Essence of Darkness.

His Heart of Darkness was beating wildly and the power it released increased drastically as well.

'Does this mean that the more forces of the Lord of Darkness I gather, the stronger my Heart of Darkness will become? That's good to know!'