The Ninth Rises from the Ashes

[DAY 49]

Immediately after Neo saw the bright light in the sky, he ordered his Legion to withdraw from the entire Camp, not caring for where they go, just that they need to leave immediately.

Afterwards, Neo immediately ordered his Miasma to manifest itself and fly away from the area as fast as possible, he can't risk staying here for even a second longer.

Because, when a Military Cruiser initiates an Orbital Bombardment, it will aim its Plasma Bombarding Weapon, hanging below the Cruiser, right at the location of a planet it intends to bombard. Then, afterwards a short charging time beginns after which the weapon will be slowly but also steadily fired. It will take the fired Plasma beam a few seconds to break through a planet's atmosphere. The bright burning light in the sky that Neo is seeing now signals just that.

So Neo has only a few seconds to escape from the weapon range, that will bring unimaginable destruction.

He evaluated his chances and immediately decided to flee.

No matter how strong he is, this Plasma Beam is too powerful, too big and too fast. He can only flee and not face it at all.

When he can't fight the Plasma Beam, of couse he also cant't fight the Cruiser orbiting around Earth that fires the Beam.

'Does the Earth Defense Force already know about me? Is that why they decided to destroy me? Was I too arrogant to think that I could just take whatever I want? ...' such and other questions popped up in his mind at the situation as Neo flies away on his Miasma.

"NO! I've decided to take this PATH. So that I no longer have to be POWERLESS! So that I never have to have these feelings of guilt again for not being able to protect someone! Guilt for being the only one that ist alive!" screamed Neo suddenly as he looked downward.

Below him, Neo saw his Legion running away and couldn't help but clench his teeth.

"My Legion... My Subjects... I swear to you that they will suffer for it! No matter who, no matter when, I swear to you that I will destroy the Evildoers who will be responsible for your Death!" yelled Neo as he flew further and further away from the area and his Legion.

He was sure he would suffer incredible damage from this attack and couldn't help but feel incredible anger.

But Neo didn't have much time to build up his anger further, especially since the Plasma Beam was now raining down on the former Survival Camp.

...

At first nothing was heard as the brightly glowing Plasma Beam hit the ground.

But after a few more seconds came the huge Shock Wave.

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!"

It tore buildings, the wall of the Camp, all Vehicles and the Mech in the air where they then begun to glow and afterwards just disappear. Anything within a 5 km radius was instantly annihilated into tiny molecular particles. The ground broke open and was molecularly burned at an incredible rate.

Then came the second shock wave.

The Sky itself and the Air burned in red and blue fire while the second blast ripped out buildings and shattered countless streets, taking the Undead everywhere with it.

Then came the third pressure wave, which had a radius of further 50 km and made all buildings and living beings shake uncontrollably.

Glasses exploded in a thousand pieces. Buildings that were tall and mighty were falling apart piece by piece. The once proud city of mankind has been obliterated into nothingness. The hearing of the surviving humans was destroyed and they began to bleed from every orifice.

The Undead were no better and all fell to the ground and their brains gradually began to liquefy.

Meanwhile, the sky itself was changing in unimaginable ways. Where once there were clouds, now there was only fire. Red and Blue abnormal fire making the scene on the ground look like an inferno from hell.

Many would say upon seeing the almighty destruction that it was the vengeance and wrath of God. Vengeance for sinners and enlightenment and deliverance for the faithful.

Countless other attacks like this one were launched on Earth that day and the number of dead beings is indescribably high.

The impact on Earth, the Origin of Mankind and the beginning of its Galactic Conquest, was struck that day by an attack so powerful that it will never recover again.

The Earth is doomed in the near future and no one can stop this process now anymore.

...

The attack lasted what felt like an eternity, but in reality the Plasma Beam disappeared after a hole minute.

Though not there long, the Plasma Beam had a devastating impact on the environment.

The sky burned above a huge crater where part of the city once stood.

Everything living and non-living, no longer existed there.

Everything except for Neo who got hit by the third shock wave but was still undead.

He lost his entire right half of his body. His arm, his leg, his right upper and lower body, and the right half of his head.

Neo's skull was open and you could even see his brain if you looked under the yellow threads of the endoskeleton.

Neo's skin was otherwise completely burned, black and red burns on his skin could be seen everywhere.

But despite being badly wounded and his body buried under several feet of rubble and debris, Neo was not dead.

Although anyone who might see Neo here would say he won't make it out alive. And that he will find his death there, buried under the debris of a metropolis.

...

While Neo's Body was badly wounded in reality, his consciousness is in his Soul, the World of Darkness where he was trying to repair the damage taken there.

Yes, damage to the Soul, you read that right.

After his body was severely wounded, Neo's Soul was also harmed from the attack.

Neo was so able to confirm one of his theories, that when the Body suffers too much damage, the Soul is also more vulnerable.

It is as if the higher the stage of the Soul, the bond with the Body increases.

Because of that, fatal damage to the body, hits the soul as well.

Neo's Soul currently has white cracks in various places inside his Soul which symbolize this damage.

Neo is about to close them and has to concentrate completely on the cracks therefore and has no chance to think about anything else, considering his Legion or Emily.

He doesn't even know if he's still alive or if he's already dead. All he knows is that his consciousness still exists.

And that's more than enough for Neo to recover.

...

Neo doesn't know how much time has passed, but it felt like an eternity in the World of Darkness for him.

Even though this dimension is his Soul and Neo feels safe and completely calm here, Neo was completely filled with hatred right now.

Hatred towards the soldiers on the ship that harmed him so much.

Hatred towards the people who must have informed them about him and his abilities.

And in the end, hating himself for letting himself be wounded like that in the first place.

How can he talk about getting stronger and having power now when he can be so easily wounded so badly and never even had a chance to fight back.

NO! As long as he doesn't control everything. As long as he doesn't Subjugate them all and make them his Subjects.

Then how can Neo really be powerful?

How else can he survive something like this in the future?

He realized that true power is the power to Subjugate everything!

Neo had these thoughts for a long time as he continued to strengthen his Soul.

In those moments his World of Darkness seemed to shine in a dark light. His purple thread, which stood for his Miasma, slowly began to grow thicker and tighter, glowing in unison with Neo's Soul.

...

In reality, however, Neo's Body was still badly burned and parts of his body were still missing.

Neo has been in this state for more than 20 days and the vicinity has not changed in all this time.

But suddenly a dark/purple mist appeared, which poured out of Neo's body and spread out, completely covering him.

The three body cores of the Stage 2 that Neo had collected earlier were sucked up by his Miasma too and disappeared afterwards.

All that was left of Neo in the mountain of rubble was a huge dark Mist.

Only after a few days the scene changed again.

His Miasma started to grow and spread all over the area. While doing so, the Miasma pushed away the debris, while getting bigger the Miasma pushed the debris farther and farther away and at the end the Miasma suddenly shot high into the air.

In the Horizon, Neos Misama could be seen rising as a huge tower out of the rubble and erupting several hundred meters into the sky, higher than any buildings in the area.

Meanwhile The Miasma spread out onto the ground all around Neo and anything it came in contact with was instantly destroyed.

Neo's body then rose out of his grave, with his eyes still closed.

One could then finally see the changes Neo undergo, as he looked entirely differently.

On his back were two long and wide demonic looking black Wings that stretched into the sky, making Neo look like a fallen angel.

His skin was completely white and you could see his entire body had a new demonic armor on it, made out of a similar material like his new Wings. And his neck, back and arms hat purple patterns and symbols all around them.

Neo then opened his eyes as he was carried upwards by his Miasma.

His eyes were purple and exuded an unyielding Desire.

"ALL SHALL BOW TO ME!"

His Miasma then set in motion and arms everywhere arose in search of living and non-living beings.

When they found what they were looking for, the arms began to grab the living beings and pull them away, not their physical body, but their Souls.

The Arms of Miasma ripped out and absorbed the Souls of all beings within the area.

The beings' bodies then fell to the ground.

They were Dead, but neither. At the same time they were not undead, just Soulless Shells.

But in that moment, the Miasma grabbed the bodies by their heads and a purple light expanded and encompassed the heads of the beings.

Whereupon the beings opened their eyes again, but their eyes have changed, they emit a purple light. They were no longer the creatures from before, but Neo's Shells.

They all got up and afterwards and made their way towards Neo and the tower made out of Miasma.

Neo's Shells came from everywhere to worship and serve him.

As they gradually approached Neo, they all knelt down and bowed their heads when they saw Neo.

Neo has Risen from the Ashes in which he was once again fated to die.

And once again he has changed and in his World of Darkness, a new purple Soul Thread has formed.

The Soul Trait that Neo has newly received is called SOUL SUBJUGATION, and this opens up unreachable opportunities for Neo.

...

Meanwhile, in an unknown dimension... far away from Neo's Galaxy and Reality itself, Eight Beings felt the changes Neo was undergoing all at once.

All Eight Beings exude an unbelievable powerful presence. They all wear silver masks of alien beings known as Leviathans and black robes that merge with the world around them.

These Eight Beings have existed for eons and seem to be waiting for something.

"A new one has Awakened." one of the figures suddenly said in a strange voice, which sounded like a Soul speaking itself.

Clarity, but at the same time incalarity.

Loud but quiet at the same time.

Rough but soft at the same time.

"The wait is over, with the appearance of the Ninth, our longing END will come." said the Second.

"The Ninth will take Control." said the Third.

"He will create Unity and unravel the Chaos." said the Fourth.

"He himself will symbolize Insanity and Power." replied the Fifth.

"Worlds will tremble at his presence." said the Sixth.

"Stars will lose their light and fall into Darkness." said the Seventh.

"In the END the Void will manifest itself and be subservient to him." said the Eighth at last.

The figures then fell silent and eternal peace reigned again...