The Dawn of the New World



Mr. Hyde looked at Jin Wang in confusion when he heard the actual words of the chant.

'Are you trying to use a 'love spell' right now?!'

'Yeah,' Jin Wang confirmed, 'It's the only thing that works in here. We could never figure out why or find a way to fix it so it was hidden and kept from everyone. The defect remained and has since carried over from the original design.'

'Normally it's not even a big deal since you can only communicate with someone dear to you but in this case, it might actually make a difference. She is the only one who knows everything there is about Hao Xuan and could find a way to turn things around. Now shut up and let me concentrate!'

Meanwhile the Emperor raised the hammer for the second time. Within Hao Xuan's sea of consciousness time was moving slower which allowed him to experience every little change that was happening around him.

It started with the snow. Or that's what he thought it was at first but it did not melt after coming into contact with him. Hao Xuan held out his aching hand and felt the cold pierce deep into his soul.

It was dust, the same dust that had created the soul flame in the physical world. It fell everywhere and when it mixed in with the water from the sea of consciousness its color began to change.

The entire sea, all of it from the inside out was slowly turning darker and murkier as more soul dust settled inside.

To Hao Xuan the sea of consciousness was like solid ground. He had little to no energy to begin with but with the arrival of the soul dust, it became even harder to move about.

He was the one that was burdened with carrying the weight of all the souls that were being sacrificed at the Emperor's behest but there was nothing he could do to stop it.

The first hammer strike ignited the soul dust and connected the magic circle to Hao Xuan's inner mind. The second was coming straight for him and he could feel it in every nook and cranny of the mind.

Turbulent waves rose and fell in the distance just as the dust stopped falling for the time being. A Curtain of silence had fallen over the entire place.

Exhausted, Hao Xuan raised his head with some effort to peer into the sky.

It started with a small black dot that progressively got bigger and bigger as it came closer until it was the only thing left in the heavens.

The hammer WAS the sky and it fell on him with the same strength.

At the last moment Hao Xuan raised his right hand towards the heavens to block it. It made no sense fighting against something that powerful but he still couldn't give up that easily and let himself be destroyed.

*CLAAANG*

The sound of metal striking metal reverberated throughout. That one half-assed show of resistance was enough to hold back the tide of invading energy.

It was his body and his mind. As long as he wanted to fight Hao Xuan would always have an advantage in here. That was why the Emperor made sure to exhaust him both mentally and physically before initiating the ritual.

But even if a mere fraction of the Emperor's power could reach him, it would still be enough to get the job done.

Hao Xuan's entire right arm splintered before shattering into a million small pieces. He fell to his knees once again, his mind lost in the fog of past mistakes.

The Soul Flame burned higher and brighter.

The Emperor raised the hammer for the third strike, his apathetic voice echoing inside Hao Xuan's mind like the cruel God that he had become.

[Why do you persist? You have no reason left to fight]

The hammer fell, traversing through body and mind to destroy him but once again Hao Xuan gathered all of his strength and raised his other hand at the last possible moment.

*CLAAAAANG*

This one was even more powerful than the last.

Not only did he lose the left arm too but the shoulder along with it, while the cracks continued to spread all the way up his neck and face.

[Piece by piece you will fall, like all the others before you. Weak you are, the same as the ones that stand with you]

Head hung low, Hao Xuan's legs shook like leaves in the wind but he did not fall this time. His vision darkened and he continued to see things, things that made no sense.

There were faces- no, people staring at him from below, from the sea of consciousness under his feet. Hundreds, thousands of them all looking at him, smiling for some reason.

"Are you....mocking me too...?" he whispered.

The sky parted and the hammer fell for the fourth time, and this time he had no means of defending himself.