248 Signets of Vacuity (3)

Kouro was lying in a terrible state on the ground, his skin had been peeled off completely exposing his flesh and bones, even his nerve tissues. He was also bleeding so profusely that it was flooding the ground where he lay.

His internal organs were severely injured and some were damaged beyond repair.

Despite this, Kouro was still alive. This could be seen from his stomach rising and falling, although it was weak because he was in a dying state.

In Kouro's blurred vision, his HP shown by the status interface was in the danger line, i.e. there was only 1 digit.

Fortunately, as long as he still had consciousness, no matter how severe the injuries he suffered, even if death was about to fetch him... As long as it exists... He can rise again!

"...Status… Recovery..."

Kouro's body was instantly enveloped by a dazzling ray of light. In just an instant, his appearance became normal again, his HP and SP became full again.

Kouro took a deep breath and slowly stood up. He first used his Herrscher authority to create clothes and put them on.

He looked at the ground where a large cut slit followed by cracks as if hit by a landslide and earthquake stopped before him. Even so...

Kouro raised his head and looked up at the sky where all the clouds had been split apart as if they had been cut. He estimated that the clouds in the entire earth's sky had split apart.

And this was indeed true. People all over the world panicked when they felt the stormy winds blow, and then saw the neat cut that separated the clouds in the sky into two.

Even some people who were at sea had posted a phenomenon where the ocean had split in two for a few full minutes before returning to normal.

There were also some who posted about mountains that had been cut causing landslides.

They are all posting on the internet about this phenomenon, so some are conspiring that these are signs of the apocalypse and so on.

Governments from all over the world are currently trying to calm people down and stop the posts that were causing panic.

But that had nothing to do with Kouro.

He was currently walking towards his father with a slight limp so he was using a cane to help him walk.

'The effects of Father's attack were really too terrible! Even though I've recovered, the effects of that attack still completely overshadow my body.'

Moreover, all abilities are currently still sealed so the regeneration factor has been significantly reduced.

He looked at his father lying on the ground in a terrible state, his clothes had returned to normal revealing all his pores that were visibly bleeding including his eyes, nose and mouth.

His internal organs including nerves and bone tissue were seriously damaged so he was temporarily paralyzed.

In such a dying state, Sagaki was still alive due to his MANTIS's physique that had high vitality and regeneration factor.

His eyeballs moved to glance at Kouro who was standing beside him looking at him with a complicated gaze.

Unfortunately he was unable to speak due to paralysis.

Kouro seemed to pause for a long moment before pulling out a staff encrusted with red diamonds on it from thin air.

"I won..." he said, breaking the silence, after which he flicked his staff against the ground creating a green glow that felt warm.

The originally barren ground quickly grew lush green vegetation until it sprouted many trees, a large gap in the ground had also been covered using his Herrscher authority.

Sagaki was also enveloped by that light making him heal in seconds until he had no marks at all.

Feeling his bodily functions returning to normal, he moved his hand with a raised eyebrow as if surprised that Kouro had this ability.

"Now, tell me father, why did you side with Otto... Where is grandfather? And... Why did you become like this?..." asked Kouro with a complicated expression.

Sagaki who heard his question looked silent before closing his eyes as if remembering something before opening his eyes again and saying.

"For your first question, there are many factors why I sided with him... And one of the main factors is because of Ashborn... No, your grandfather."

Kouro listened to his father's words without changing expression and asked, "Where is grandfather now?"

"He is here in front of you. "

Kouro looked at his father who was in front of him with a bit of confusion before his expression changed as if he realized something.

"Father, you..."

"That's right, I am Sagaki but at the same time I am also Ashborn. His body, his memories, his experiences, and everything about  Ashborn has become a part of me." Sagaki said before standing up and sitting on the ground.

"... How is that possible? Wait, don't tell me that grandpa used that technique..." Kouro said while remembering the technique invented by his father to be able to revive someone from the dead.

He suspected that Ashborn used that technique which he had probably modified so that the person he revived would be fused with his soul gaining all the memories, experiences and even the user's body.

But why would he use this modified technique on his father?

Sagaki nodded his head confirming Kouro's guess before telling the story.

"I still remember when it happened. 15 years ago, a few months after Second Herrscher was defeated, Luna, your mother, had died from the Honkai Eruption."

He raised his head looking up at the sky with deep eyes before letting out a long sigh, "Back then I was still down mourning her death and I got the bad news again that your mysterious illness had suddenly worsened and left you with only about six months to live."

His hands clenched tightly as he said this, "I panicked, I didn't want to lose my loved ones again so I went to meet him, your grandfather and worked together to infiltrate the World Serpent organization in order to obtain the core of the Herrscher of Shadows so as to cure you."

Sagaki's pupils reflected his past memories.

...

In a garden full of blooming flowers, a pair of men were running with their bodies covered in wounds.

The two of them were Sagaki and Ashborn.

"Hah... Hah... Father, why did you bring me to the Elysian Realm again? Is the core of the Herrscher of Shadows here?" asked Sagaki who was wearing a tactical combat outfit even though it didn't really fit him.

Well... This was not surprising since he was not a combat expert like his adoptive father, it was because all his life what he did was studying and researching.

'Strange, although we encountered some obstacles, I feel this is too smooth as if someone has secretly been leading us...' Sagaki thought uncomfortably while looking around.

"That Herrscher core is not here, but 'KOURO' has something he wants to tell you. It concerns your son's future." Ashborn replied in a serious voice.

Sagaki's eyes flickered as he heard his words, he then saw Ashborn stop at a special place before creating a portal.

The shadow beneath both of their feet widened before they sank into the shadow.

Sagaki was familiar with the sensation when he entered the shadow, it felt like you were drowning in water while sound asleep, a few moments later he opened his eyes and found that he was standing in a dark place with dim lighting.

The place where he stood was like a bottomless reflection of pitch blackness so that he seemed to be floating, standing in the darkness.

He didn't know where Ashborn had gone, but he was no stranger to this place because this was where he took the trial to get KOURO's approval.

This place was a special room that was quite hidden, the people who could reach this place were famous people from various eras but even so no one had successfully passed KOURO's trial except himself.

"This place hasn't changed at all." He muttered.

He had come here to find a way to cure his son's illness without using the core of the Herrscher of Shadows.

Fortunately he successfully completed the KOURO trial and when he said his wish, he was suddenly transported into a strange dimension and met a [Higher Being], no, he met the real KOURO.

KOURO gave him a technique that allowed him to be able to use [Shadow] energy so that he can create miracles such as bringing the dead back to life.

But KOURO gave severe restrictions on this technique, first the user can only revive someone no more than once.

Second, the person you want to revive if they are a Herrscher or have the Honkai gene, their body will lose the foreign gene and Herrscher core.

And finally, the person who wants to be revived cannot be revived after more than 4 days.

But in the end Sagaki did not use the technique because the risk compared to using the Herrscher of Shadows core was smaller.

It should be known that Sagaki and Ashborn had wanted to borrow the Herrscher of Shadows core from World Serpent several times but were ignored by Mobius.

It's strange if you think about it that Mobius who is an experimental enthusiast is not interested in giving Sagaki permission to use the Herrscher core on his sickly son.

But Sagaki could roughly understand the reason why Mobius was not interested in his son, after all Mobius herself had experimented on Sagaki himself in exchange for using the Herrscher Core of Shadows.

Mobius probably found nothing special about Sagaki and thought that his son was just like him.

Moreover... The Herrscher Core of Shadows was a very important symbol for the World Serpent so it is not unusual if it is not easy to borrow.

In the end as can be seen now Ashborn and Sagaki were forced to steal the core from World Serpent.

Sagaki who stood still with a pensive expression then discovered that a kind of bright purple glowing footprints appeared leading to a certain place as if guiding him to go there.

It was his own footprints when he first came here.

He immediately moved his feet following the footprints without hesitation.

Every time he took a step, the dark shadow under his feet rippled like water and revealed the image of the previous era from KOURO's perspective.

Sagaki, though curious, kept his head straight following the footprints because Ashborn had once said to him that those who saw this pool of ripples would lose their minds and go crazy as if there was some painful truth contained in KOURO's memories.

A few minutes later he arrived near a large cherry tree that was over fifty meters tall, strangely the leaves of the cherry tree were purple mixed with red and flying in the air shining brightly like fireflies.

Under the tree, a man sat leaning back while holding a book and next to him, Ashborn stood with a respectful expression.

The man was around his early twenties with messy black hair and dark violet eyes that shone sharply as he read the book.

He was the first generation Herrscher of Shadows in the previous Era, KOURO.

Sagaki did not have time to read the title of the book in his hand because KOURO had closed the book and put it away into thin air before turning to look at him.

"We meet again, heir."

Sagaki walked up to him while wearing a cautious expression and then asked.

"I heard from Ashborn that you were looking for me."

"Yes. But before that..." KOURO took out a kind of tarot card that had a symbol of intertwined roots from his shirt pocket before giving it to Sagaki.

"What is this?" asked Sagaki while wearing a curious expression.

"Someone left me this to give to you, heir. It's up to you what you call it, but if you ask me, you can call it the Signets of Vacuity." KOURO said with a mysterious expression.

"I know you guys are in a hurry right now. It's already filled with the information I want to tell you, but I hope... You can use that thing when in a state of urgency only."

Right after KOURO said that, the Signets of Vacuity in Sagaki's hand immediately shone brightly, a mysterious information suddenly appeared in his mind which made him put on a surprised expression.

"No way! This world is actually just a gam-"

Before he could finish his words his body immediately sank into the darkness followed by Ashborn.

The last thing Sagaki saw at that moment was KOURO's purple eyes shining brightly.

...

Ashborn and Sagaki returned to where they had opened the portal, the two of them quickly resumed their plan to steal the core of the Herrscher of Shadows even though Sagaki himself was still surprised by the information he had gotten.

This world, no, the universe he lived in was just an online game filled with painful stories of pretty girls fighting Honkai and so on.

A game... That means, all the events happening right now were just a predetermined scenario?

Sagaki's hands clenched tightly in disapproval, but what could he do? The facts were already in front of him, it was his choice to accept or reject this cruel reality.

He probably understood why the people who saw the ripples inside the place earlier went crazy knowing this....

Sagaki also knew that the Signets of Vacuity were some sort of magical item that allowed him to use the power of someone who had bonded with these Signets.

Even so these Signets will really give a tremendous burden to the user if the user's physique is insufficient and the worst possibility is death.

He then also received other information about [Outlanders].

[Outlanders] are those who come from a universe that is completely different from the universe he came from.

Their destiny is not tied to the world so their every action will have a greater influence than people who are not [Outlanders].

In this information, it is mentioned that KOURO turned out to be one of the [Outlanders] who appeared in this world.

Well... To be honest Sagaki was not too surprised about this information, the thing that surprised him was that KOURO was not the first [Outlander] to exist in this world nor would it be the last.

Did that mean that in the current Era there were [Outlanders] hiding?

By the way, the reason he was given this information was because the person who entrusted the Signets of Vacuity advised KOURO to give him this information.

Who exactly is this person? To be able to entrust the Signets of Vacuity and be able to tell KOURO to give this important information to him....

Sagaki shook his head as he knew that this was not the time to think about this.

'Focus! I have to save Kouro now! Fortunately with the Signets of Vacuity, the possibility of me being able to steal the Herrscher of Shadows' core has increased greatly!'

Long story short, the two of them managed to get their hands on the Herrscher core but Sagaki and Ashborn suffered severe injuries from fighting against Mobius, Grey Serpent, and Shadow.

Sagaki was able to fight equally against them due to the use of the Signets of Vacuity even though his body including his internal organs were destroyed due to not being able to withstand the weight of the Signets' power.

Fortunately they both managed to escape from the pursuit of all of them, unfortunately due to his severe injuries Sagaki was dying and was only seconds away from death.

Ashborn was also seriously injured but he was a MANTIS so he had a very high regeneration factor.

"Sorry Father... It looks like... I won't make it... What a pity... I won't be able to see Kouro grow up..." Sagaki said before coughing up blood.

He was in pain as the bones had been crushed into his nerve tissue, flesh, and internal organs.

"Father... Before I go... I beg you, take care of Kouro..."

Just as his vision faded, Ashborn held his hand tightly and said in a serious tone.

"Sagaki... You've shown me that my view of the world has been wrong all along, I've been living in the darkness for the sake of a stupid 'future'. But you have proven to me that destiny is made by our own efforts... I believe you can change the world more than I can."

"Therefore Sagaki, live, I will give you my soul, my experiences, my memories and even my body for the sake of the 'future' you will create."

A bluish-purple light began to envelop Ashborn and Sagaki's bodies to the point of blinding vision.

"I leave... The rest to you..."

Sagaki opened his eyes with a look of confusion and realized that he was holding his hands, no, his old body.

"I…" Sagaki looked down at his hands before patting his face and then was shocked.

"I am father?"

Right after that, all of Ashborn's memories instantly flashed through his mind, this included his father's experience, skills, and even his shadow abilities.

In a way, he was Ashborn now, but he still had his memories as Sagaki.

Strange... According to the resurrection technique, wouldn't a revived Herrscher or MANTIS be a normal person?

'But why am I still able to use Father's power?' he thought in confusion.

Father... Don't tell me he modified the technique and circumvented the requirements of the technique?

The reason he came back to life as Ashborn was probably to avoid the second requirement of the technique...

Sagaki then took a deep breath after digesting and understanding all of Ashborn's memories.

Nothing was different from him except the soul because his soul and Ashborn's soul had merged into one.

Even so, people like Aponia or Otto would not realize that Sagaki had become Ashborn.

Staring at his body that had become a corpse, Sagaki let out a long sigh with a complicated expression before changing his expression to a calm and cold one befitting Ashborn.

"Now, I am Ashborn."