1 Chapter 1: The End (Edited)

In a world where countless races could harness the power of the heavens to accomplish their goals. Greed and fear mongering had done the unthinkable. It put an end to what had once been one of the most prosperous races in the land. The only thing that remained of the dreaded race was destruction..

The once-beautiful scenery of the prosperous races' home world, Alfheim, had been destroyed by heaven-shaking battles. Corpses darted across the landscape as far as the eye could see, Ruptures in the ground extended deep into the earth.

A handsome man knelt in the midst of billions of human soldiers on the battlefield. Blood trickled down his brow from a deep wound that was healing quickly. Blood red armour adorned his body, leaving his white hair flowing in the warm zephyr of Alfheim's morning sun.

As he surveyed his surroundings, his crimson eyes dimmed. The corpses of his kin were found next to his exhausted figure. How their blank eyes stared back at him, almost as if they were pleading for help; pleading for salvation; pleading for something he couldn't give them.

He returned his gaze to his surroundings. Taking in the sight of the countless human figures that were obstructing his vision. Anger bubbled beneath his skin like a volcano on the verge of erupting.

"Brother Yi, give up please." A loose-robed, black haired man spoke abruptly, breaking the tense silence. " I tried, I really tried to..."

"How dare you!" Yan Zhong Yi bit out each word. "You and those...Humans will pay for your actions. I will personally gut you, Alexander!"

Each of their faces was burned into his memory by his crimson eyes. The humans banded together to form a motley army. Every single one of them had come from different parts of the world, from high and mighty sect figures to soldiers of individual human kingdoms, and even barbarians from the snow plains had come for the chance to plunder and wreak havoc as they pleased amongst his kingdom, and they would pay for it.

He exuded a great deal of murderous intent, causing the people around him to tense up. Some wiser people had even speculated that, as wounded as the crown prince appeared to be, he seemed to be more dangerous than ever. What was keeping him from leaving when he had nothing to live for? They were confident in large numbers, but they would have to live in fear for the rest of their lives if he escaped their encirclement.

Despite the fact that his spirit energy was dangerously low, to the point where he would be drawing on his life force to fuel his techniques if he continued fighting in this state. But he didn't care any longer. His responsibility as the Scared Ghoul Empire's crown prince demanded blood. He'd bring the rats and vultures with him to the grave if he must. He would kill them in retaliation for all the women, children, and elderly who had been taken from him. For all the fathers and brothers who fought alongside him until the end.

The air seemed to condense around him as his breath came out as white vapour. Zhong Yi unleashed his full killing intent, rising off the ground with his blood red kagune stabilising him. He revolved his cultivation technique, the sacred scripture, with a familiar ease. Spirit energy gathered so quickly around him that it was visible to ever-vigilant eyes.

"Put a stop to him right now!" Alexander yelled. Before he spoke, the other peak level figures had already begun to move. They struck in unison, employing the most potent techniques in their arsenal.

"Fist of Blood Aura!"

"12th form sword art!"

"Divine Suppression!"

"Devil Pagoda!"

However, it was too late. This, above all other reasons, was one of the reasons why the sacred ghouls were so feared. The Sacred Scripture. It was designed specifically for Ghouls and allowed them to absorb spirit energy at a rate unrivalled by traditional cultivation methods. Zhong Yi wasn't standing still either; he was already moving.

He could feel his body becoming saturated at a rapid pace. Even when he couldn't absorb any more, he kept revolving the scripture. The immense pressure of the wild energy being absorbed into his body was causing his meridians to rupture.

The techniques had hit his previous location, creating a cloud of dust. Because of the low visibility, the crown prince revelled in his rage. His hand had already slipped from inside a human's chest to twist the neck of another. His kagune moved in tandem with his pugilistic fighting, sweeping the legs out from under the humans and piercing them through the heart for instant kills.

The rapid change in the battlefield had caught most humans off guard. Those who weren't surprised were those who were already exchanging blows with him. The collateral damage from the fighting was enough for him to kill even more people than he could have done on his own, and he loved it.

However, as the fighting continued, he noticed a pattern. With the majority of the weaker humans fleeing or dying, more and more powerful cultivators were showing up. Most of them he could handle, but the four humans floating in the air made him nervous. They were top-tier figures who could kill him individually, let alone as a group.

"Kana," He started but a soft voice cut him off before he could finish his sentence. " I know and I want you to be careful. The demonic energy released by the seal would allow you to continue fighting, but your blood lust would rise along with it."

"I understand, and I will do what is necessary." He dodged another sword swing, breaking the arm and snatching the weapon from their grasp before decapitating them with it. "Didn't I promise you a family?"

On the armour, black lines appeared quickly. Each back line was an inch wide and overlapped to form an intricate pattern. The pattern glowed briefly before breaking apart. Zhong Yi swallowed the blood that threatened to seep out of his throat from the sudden onslaught of spirit energy coursing through his meridians. He ceased absorbing energy from his surroundings, but it continued to grow in amount.

"You better stay alive," Zhong Yi almost chuckled at the threat, but a sudden pressure settled around him. Looking up, he locked eyes with the floating cultivators, and a sinister grin appeared on his face as a blood-red helmet encased him.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*2 hours later*

Yan Zhong Yi felt he had reached his breaking point. His veins were on the verge of collapsing due to the chaotic energy flow within his body. His blood and aura flowed chaotically damaging his internal organs. But he persisted in fighting. He felt as if a fog had settled around his mind, preventing him from thinking clearly and making him crueller. It was evident by how mutilated the corpses around him were. His kagune was still stabbing through a corpse for the millionth time, with no sign of stopping. Not that he minded.

"I'm sorry for what happened, but I also want to congratulate you. Your race will serve as a wake-up call to all other races out there. Maybe now they'll agree to form an alliance to fight a common foe." Alexander's voice travelled into his ears. "You also levelled the playing field for us, for which I am eternally grateful. They have lost a significant amount of manpower as a result of this. There were 12 peak-level figures who had died here."

Zhong Yi didn't even bother looking in the direction from which the voice came. Kana wasn't responding to him, and he was worried, not to mention the pain from attempting to tame the demonic energy within him. However, the words he spoke reawakened the blood lust within him.

"You did this!" It wasn't a question.

His father had been a peace advocate, cultivating strong ties with every race and empire he could find, and Ghouls had allies everywhere. They benefited from the support of a powerful and ever-expanding empire. He did, however, see his father make concessions to people who did not need or deserve them. With each bad decision, his subjects would whisper to one another. The crown prince witnessed his father destroying their reputation by transforming us from what we are to what he desired us to be.

Peace loving fools.

'It's because they saw us as weak, that we didn't take what we wanted no more but instead negotiated. They saw that we did not kill anyone who wronged us; that we did not kill our enemies but instead let them live. Only for those ungrateful rats to plot and scheme against us.'

"That isn't the only piece of good news. My subordinates discovered one of your ancestor's hidden realms.," mentioned Alexander as if he hadn't said something shocking.

Zhong Yi's shock caused him to lose his concentration, which was already strained from listening to the man responsible for his race's demise. Black blood sprouted from his orifices, running down his pale skin.

"Don't worry, only ghouls can enter. I double-checked, or I wouldn't have told you about the discovery. The hidden world alone could secure my position as king, but I'll settle for allowing the remaining ghouls to flee. They wouldn't be able to go anywhere, after all. Fortunately for them, their beloved princess Azura will accompany them."

Zhong Yi turned to face the man with black hair. The desire to murder him grew stronger and stronger. "I recognise that look; you want to kill me, but you can't, can you? All of this could have been avoided. You only had to agree to marry my younger sister. But Crown Prince Yan Zhong Yi would not settle for anything less than a suit of armour."

Alexander's cold glint spoke of the buried resentment he felt all those years ago. "She had to marry a human prince, and her corpse was discovered at the border the following year, holding none but my newborn nephew."

"I don't blame you in the least. You're nothing more than collateral, just like she was. The world will be consumed by chaos, and I will exact my vengeance during it."

Alexander smiled coldly as he looked at his friend. "You're in luck. I felt a twinge of remorse. so I'm going to make it my mission to prevent any ghouls from being sold as slaves. I'll be watching with bated breath as they emerge from the hidden world and the humans discover that their homes are no longer safe."

Zhong Yi attempted to stop him, but his knees buckled. "They will have served their intended purpose. I must thank you once more for your cooperation. Without you, this wouldn't be possible" Even though he dissipated from sight, Zhong Yi could still hear his voice in his head.

"You were wrong, Father, you were so wrong." Zhong Yi muttered to himself.

"Urgh!" *cough* All of the raging energy within his body began to spiral out of control. The energy was running amok inside him, attacking the cells within his body, causing his health to deteriorate and, not long after, his death.

A slow agonising death.

The armour on his body began to convulse, as if it had a heartbeat. The red colour became brighter until it was as bright as the sun. That's when he noticed blood pooling beneath him, and the spirit energy wrapping around him took on a darker golden hue. Vein-like structures appeared on the armour boots and spread like a spider web around the chest plate, convulsing.

It felt safe; it felt familiar. He was exhausted to the bone, and his determination to stay awake was slowly waning.

An elderly man appeared out of nowhere and gazed at the spectacle in front of him. He had long white hair and appeared to be so thin that he could dodge the wind. But his eyes, along with wrinkles on top of wrinkles, spoke volumes about his age.

'This isn't looking good. This is a disaster, a colossal disaster. A being on par with us that is on a warpath to destroy humans has the potential to destroy this entire world' The old man furrowed his brows at the predicament. He was aware that when spirits ascend, they aren't limited to the rules that other races are subjected. "I hadn't even started my vacation."

Suddenly, he came up with a rather strange idea that would definitely work.

'What if...?' The old man took a close look at Yan Zhong Yi and noticed something that shook him to his core. His sigh was heavy, and he ran his hand across his irritated brow. 'Of course, that child's greasy fingers would be all over it. Always making it difficult for me."

Kana was getting stronger and stronger. She could feel, she had a sense of touch and just that was enough to make her feel jubilant. The stench of blood was overpowering but she had been bathed in blood for as long as she could remember. But then something caught her attention.

Kana, on the other hand, was becoming increasingly powerful. She could feel more than she was used to; she had a sense of touch that extended beyond the armour, which was enough to make her happy. The stench of blood was overpowering, but she'd been bathing in it for as long as she could remember. In her ecstasy, she almost missed a being nearby. No matter how hard she tried to pinpoint his location with her ever-expanding senses, she couldn't find it. But that's when she heard a voice. It was warm and reminded her of the first time her master spoke to her.

"There's no need to be concerned, Young One. I noticed you had someone else's will imprinted on your being. Spirits like yourself are normally stopped, but I fear for whoever harms even a single hair on your body. However, I cannot allow you to continue your ascension in good conscience, so I propose a solution to both of your problems."

Above the cocoon that encased Zhong Yi, a golden humanoid figure appeared. "Why are you assisting us?"

"The fact that you have my Disciple's seal on you indicates that you are important to him, which makes you important to me as well. I recommend that you make your decision quickly because your dao companion has origin energy in his body. It's mind-boggling how he's gotten this far." The final words were mumbled, but Kana could hear them as clearly as night and day.

"Please help us!"

The white-haired man briefly felt guilt for lying, but he really wanted to have his vacation here.

"I'll take you to a world I discovered not long ago in the lands. They have everything, including the Samsara cycle." He advertised by making hand gestures. "There isn't much I can do for him, but I can use the origin energy inside him to make sure he gets there safely, but his cultivation will be ruined."

Kara paused for a moment. It was either die or become a cripple and from what she understood about Zhong Yi, she knew he'd rather die than live such a cruel fate. "Could you make it so that he has the ability to cultivate?" She inquired, hoping for the best.

"That's what I meant. He will have to cultivate from the beginning. Also, my memory is a little hazy, but these stones should at the very least make you two recognised by the laws of the world, and it should accept him."

The elder withdrew two floating crystals from his cosmo ring. The crystals were a finger length in length and two in width. He flicked his wrist and the crystals disappeared once they neared them.

Yan Zhong Yi had almost succumbed to the increasingly compelling urge to let go when he heard a familiar voice. He could only hear snippets of what was going on; something about a new world and Samsara. However, he was startled when a crystal appeared in front of him and disappeared once again.

He did notice, however, that the longer he stayed in the cocoon, the less he could feel. His strength was slowly eroding, and no matter what he did to try to stop it, the feeling persisted.

"Don't fight it, Zhong Yi." Kana's voice filled his ears. "I'll see you later." No more words were needed. He heard all that was needed to hear.

He struggled to speak back, summoning the last of his strength, but his words came out as a whisper. "Kana, I'll find you. I promise it!"

"I know you will"

Soon after, the world went dark.