Chapter 19: My name is Viel

"N-no! Baby Viel, stop! What is that Xing Cai woman doing!? Why is she not stopping Viel!?", Lu Yi was no longer caring about the somewhat unconscious Xanthus, instead, she was hitting the huge screen.

She could clearly see on the screen that Viel was about to kill the man called Li Zhao. It would have been alright if Viel was acting normal, she was sure that Viel would stop before anything drastic happens.

But the Viel they are watching now was too different, he was too sinister.

"Voice, speak to us! Is this your doing!? Stop this!", Lu Yi shouted into the empty darkness, but no one answered.

The Voice, who always seemed to have something to say, was not responding.

"N..no, Viel… please stop this…", Lu Yi's concern was the same as Xing Cai's. Viel was young, so young. This is the kind of violence that he must not be exposed to yet. And yet, Viel was the very source of this violence.

Lu Yi kneeled down with her hand still placed on the mirror. What exactly is their role? Was it not to help shape this boy become the strongest? Was their role just to watch as the boy descends into the path of madness?

"Can we do nothing but watch!? Is this what you want!? Can… can we do nothing…", Lu Yi once again shouted to the vast and empty darkness. Even with all of her strength, all of her years… she was powerless. "Xanthus… what do we do…", she stared at the unconscious Xanthus.

"Perhaps one of us is already doing something", suddenly, Judge, who had his eyes closed the whole time, started to speak.

"J-judge of Karma, what do you mean?", the disheveled Lu Yi curiously glanced towards Judge.

"Xanthus… I can feel him outside", Judge placed his hand on the mirror as he opened his eyes.

"What…What do you mean?"

Judge then proceeds to also touch the unconscious Xanthus on the forehead. Judge released a huge breath as his head began to shake uncontrollably fast.

Lu Yi, who was anticipating Judge's explanation, could not help but be weirded out. It felt like one of those bogus doctors on her previous world.

After a good few seconds, Judge stopped shaking his head as he continued to watch what was happening in the mirror.

"It is as I thought, I could feel Xanthus' life force oozing out of the boy"

"I still do not understand, Judge of Karma. Are you saying that Xanthus is now in control of the boy?", Lu Yi started to calm herself to better get a grasp of what the Judge of Karma is saying.

"I am uncertain, I said I could feel him, but it is faint. So, it might be better to say… that they have merged"

"What!? Are you saying that is possible!?", Lu Yi turned her attention away from the mirror and placed all of her attention towards Judge.

"A part of Xanthus is definitely influencing the boy. But as I said, I am uncertain. Everything I have known as the Judge of Karma amounts to nothing. Even with all of the trillions of unique souls I have seen, the boy is still a mystery to me", Judge shook his head as he took of his palm from the mirror, he then once again proceeded to sit down and close his eyes.

"But if what you're saying is true… then why is… Then why does Viel seem to be enjoying torturing that man!? It is impossible that Xanthus would allow our Viel-"

"It seems that being stuck here with the Demon God has clouded your judgment. Never forget, Xanthus was the Devil of this world."

"That… Even so, I know of his story. Even if he was called as evil by many, he is not an evil man", Lu Yi approached the unconscious Xanthus, stroking his hair with a warm expression on her face. She and Xanthus have bonded enough for the past 5 years to clearly know each other, Xanthus knows her story, and she knows his story.

Lu Yi could not help but pity the man. In truth, she might be older than Xanthus by a mile, but her time was spent mostly in secluded meditation, only coming out when wanting to. While Xanthus' life was filled with nothing but inescapable pain.

Hearing this, the Judge of Karma just shook his head. "Being the Devil, it does not matter whether one is inherently good or bad. The Devil will be different in every world, but they will always have one thing that remains unchanged, their role in the cycle…"

"The Punisher…", Lu Yi muttered as she once again put her attention towards the screen. Viel was now strangling the life out of Li Zhao with his small hands, laughing.

Viel's laughter surrounded the vast and empty darkness. Sinister, the sound of laughter could almost penetrate the deepest parts of your bones.

"Correct. And they were made to enjoy doing so"

But as soon as the Judge of Karma said so, Viel's laughter ceased, only to be replaced by tears.

"Hm…"

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"Gu…ghkk..gu"

Li Zhao tried his best to break free of from Viel's clutches. But the earlier beating and his broken bones makes it seem impossible.

It was not supposed to go like this, he was supposed to humiliate the boy in front of all these people. The boy was supposed to be the one that is being strangled right about now, but alas, it seems that fate had other plans for him.

At first, he thought that the boy just got lucky in getting the first hit, but now, his body knew that that wasn't so. His body cried in pain as every inch of his being is now under the boy's palm, literally.

He thought he was able to escape once the Golden Pavilion ordered the boy to stop attacking, but for some reason, the Headmaster told the boy that he can continue. Things only got worse for him after that.

He was slammed on the ground a couple of times by the boy, almost ripping off his leg. And after seemingly getting bored, the boy slowly creeped his hands towards Li Zhao's neck while he let out the most sinister laugh he has heard.

It was like the laugh of a devil. A devil that enjoyed inflicting pain upon people. So this is what his western victims as he raped and killed them. The helplessness of only being able to take in the pain, knowing that you are no longer able to fight back.

Viel continued to laugh menacingly. Li Zhao stared at the boy's face and he could only feel one thing.

Fear.

The boy was not even looking at him anymore and was instead looking above the skies, as if he was relishing the moment knowing that he would take someone's life at this very moment. But soon, Li Zhao felt a warm feeling on his face.

Tears.

Tears started to fall down from the boy's face as the grip on his hand started getting tighter. The boy started to mutter something, but Li Zhao was in too much pain to hear.

"This is enough", Elder Xing Cai could no longer watch what was happening. There was really something seriously wrong with Viel. It was like his emotions are running amok, causing him to do things he would not normally do. Does her earlier assumption have merit? Does the boy actually have multiple personalities? But no matter what her thoughts are, the most important thing right now was not allowing Viel to take another person's life this early in his journey.

"Sit down, Elder Xing Cai", the Headmaster grabbed her hand, his tone commanding.

"Stop me and I will make sure the Golden Pavilion and the Academy will no longer be allies", Xing Cai threatened the Headmaster.

The Headmaster paused for a bit before letting out a sigh. He loosened his grip on Xing Cai and proceeded to walk away, no longer caring about the ending of the match.

Elder Xing Cai hurriedly jumped down and rushed towards the stage.

"Viel…boy..", Xing Cai slowed down her footsteps as he approached Viel. As she got nearer, she heard that the boy was muttering something.

"Y-young noble… p-please…stop"

"It's enough… you've done enough… It's alright now"

Elder Xing Cai gently grabbed crying boy's hands. But it was like she was trying to open the gates to the heavens. The boy's hand did not even budge a single bit. Not allowing anyone to stop him from taking this man's life.

"Viel, let go…", Xing Cai's arms started to shake as he tried to loosen Viel's grip. She was right, something was really wrong with the boy. During their sparring, the boy showed incredible strength, but this… this was just monstrous.

"Viel, this is not what your Grandma and Grandpa would want!"

As soon as she said that, Viel's grip quickly loosened as his eyes full of tears directly stared at Xing Cai's eyes.

Xing Cai suddenly felt herself being drawn in by Viel's jet-black eyes. It was as if she was being sucked in by a vast and empty darkness, and she was.

She suddenly found herself floating in this empty darkness, it felt soothing. As if she was being bathed from the most precious materials in the world. But it didn't last long.

A heavy pressure came upon her, it pierced through her bones as it slowly creeped itself towards her whole body. The scene around her started to shift.

Bodies, countless of bodies mangled on the ground started appearing one by one. People being burnt alive, the screams as their skin slowly wither away from their body.

Death. This was death.

Xing Cai wanted to fly away but she couldn't as the bodies began moving around her and started pulling her down.

"N…noo!", as soon as she shouted, the scene around started to darken again until nothing was left. She breathed a sigh of relief. A relief which also did not last long.

Once again, a heavy pressure.

But this time the pressure was so intense she felt like she was being ripped away in pieces.

She kneeled down in the darkness. She reached out her hand as she struggled to breathe in air, but when she did so, what she saw made the remaining air left in her lungs to give away.

What she saw was a figure of a man.

It was a figure that she was very familiar with. The figure of the man that decimated most of the western continent.

The Devil, Demon God Xanthus standing directly from her. There were two others at his back, but Xing Cai could not care to identify them as she tried her best to remain sane.

Xing Cai slowly and carefully backed away, as if afraid that the figure in front of her might notice her. But as soon as she took her 5th step, the 3 figures opened their eyes as a blinding light covered the entire view.

Xing Cai was about to shout in panic, but as soon as she opened her eyes. She found herself back in the courtyard, currently grabbing Viel by the wrists. It felt surreal, it felt like she was trapped in the abyss for years, but yet here she was.

She instinctively let go of Viel's hands in fear. She almost backed away, but as soon as she saw the weeping boy in front of her, she resolved herself.

"It's over dear… it is over"

She gently hugged Viel as she tried to comfort him. The boy did not stop crying for a minute until he fell asleep on Elder Xing Cai's arms.

Elder Xing Cai was about to take the boy home when she remembered the boy's friends. She asked them if they wanted to come again, but Viel's friends could only reply weakly and shake their heads. As if they were afraid of him.

"I understand.", Elder Xing Cai said as she flew away, carrying the unconscious Viel.

And thus, the friendly match was finally over. Leaving horrified faces along the way and a man beaten so badly he could barely walk.

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In a vast and empty darkness, Viel found himself awake and confused.

"H-hello!?", Viel started to run around, trying to find any presence he could. But no matter how fast he ran around, he could not find a single soul.

"A…anyone!? P..please..", Viel started to panic as he felt himself being alone for the first time in his life.

"G..grandma!? Grandpa… where are you!?"

"Miss Xing Cai!?"

He called all the names of his friends, but to no avail. Not even a single wave of the hand greeted him back.

"N…no… please…"

He ran and he ran. He ran until his legs could not take it anymore. But there was no one.

Viel's tears started to fall as he curled up into a ball.

"No..no..no..no", he swinged himself back and forth as he started to panic.

Suddenly, a light appeared from the distance. Seeing this as a sign of hope, he quickly stood up and ran towards it.

Slowly but surely, the light got bigger. Soon, he saw 3 silhouettes inside of the light.

"H-hello!?", Viel's face started to light up as he see traces of people. His pace became clumsy as he got excited.

Soon, he reached the edge of the light as he saw 3 distinct people that were seemingly in a heated discussion.

His steps once again became quite as he got excited that somebody as finally here. He ran towards the group.

But as soon as he got near,

*thud*

He fell butt first as he seemed to have hit an invisible barrier.

"Ow…ow..", Viel gently tapped his nose a couple of times to feel if it was still there.

The three people that were seriously discussing something turned their heads towards Viel. The expressions on their faces could not be painted. Truly, they were shocked beyond compare.

Viel saw the 3 slowly approach him. But just like him, they were stopped by an invisible barrier. Xanthus tried to punch the barrier with all of his might but there was no effect.

The three still didn't speak as if they could not find the words to say to the boy that suddenly appeared in front of them.

Viel slowly got up and touched the invisible barrier, then he looked at the 3 strangers in front of him.

"H…hello, my name is Viel."