Purgatory and wrath.

Liang Chen made his way to the rightmost corner of the mausoleum, a patch of land that was looked no different than the rest of this little garden, or at least what used to be a little garden. He glanced down at the dirt, the earth and plants withering away as they became mulch that was subsequently pushed aside. And just as Lao Ye said, beneath a layer of dirt was a set of stone stairs leading down, soft blue crystals embedded into the walls and shedding their light onto the path.

Liang Chen set foot on the stairs and made his way down, the air thick with Purgatory's energy. The energy was filled with a sensation he was exceedingly familiar with, perhaps even comfortable with. Wrath, volatile and violent, like a chained dog snarling as it tried to break free. The air tingled with unrestrained anger, pricking the skin like needles.

The stairs didn't continue for too long, plateauing out into a short tunnel illuminated by the same blue crystals. Beyond the tunnel laid Purgatory's chamber, a simple square room covered in deep crimson runes that quietly pulsated like veins, each one oozing out a bloody scent.

"And so, another one comes. The previous one seemed quite capable, but apparently not capable enough. So, new one, what sort of anger brings you here, what sort of desire do you want fulfilled?"

And sitting in the centre of the room, the focal point of the bloody runes, was Liang Chen's target. Lao Ye had already told Liang Chen about how Purgatory's form changed depending on who talked to it, but the form it took for him was still a tad unexpected. It did indeed take on his form, albeit somewhat younger than the current him, but its golden pupils were narrowed like a snake's, its head full of crimson hair.

It wasn't a form he was unfamiliar with, he had actually seen it plenty of times in the past. It was back when he first started cultivating, when he bathed in excessive amounts of Demonic beast blood and was slightly tainted by it. This was the form his bestial instincts took back then, or perhaps it had just been a way for his mind to give a concrete image to his repressed anger and hostility.

Liang Chen stood at the entrance of the room, quietly observing Purgatory as it sat there and absorbed the energy of the pulsating runes. Shen Fei had mentioned that the final wraths sect may be positioned as they were to form a grand array, and looking at the current scene it didn't seem entirely groundless. This land was filled with death and blood, and both of those things held power, power that Purgatory desperately needed to restore itself.

Liang Chen still didn't respond to Purgatory's question, quietly stretching his arm into the room. A fine red mist filled the entire room, seeping out from Purgatory's body every time one of the runes pulsated. One of his fingers touched the mist and a burning sensation immediately washed over him, the skin around the affected area flaking away.

"That's not a good idea. Well, it is if you want to die. My power is not something that can be handled by people. You bathe in sin, and so you will burn if you touch me. And you... you look like you'd burn exceptionally well."

Purgatory gave him a light warning when it saw his finger burn, a somewhat crooked smile on its face. Liang Chen pulled back his arm and checked his finger, it burned about as much as it did when Lao Ye utilized the power of Purgatory so he could offset it momentarily with his regeneration. Having confirmed his guess, he finally turned his attention to Purgatory.

"What about you? What desire are you hoping to fulfil after arranging things like this? You say that we bathe in sin, but you encourage that very same sin, you reward it so that we'll repeat it. What will you accomplish by birthing scores of people that deserve to burn?"

Purgatory, the ancient power of heavenly punishment. Once it did just that, it burned sin. But then the Bloodwind Emperor happened and the multiverse consciousness died, Purgatory falling along with it. What had changed since then? Did Purgatory believe that its revival was worth creating a few million people that it should technically scorn?

"Birthing? I don't birth people who deserve to burn, people simply deserve to burn. They lust, they greed, they ignore everything else but their own desires. Horrible things, vicious things. The worst thing this multiverse ever did was create living beings. The only good thing about them is the burning anger and hatred so many of them nourish within themselves."

Purgatory sneered derisively, saliva almost flying from its mouth as it spat out its inner thoughts. It wasn't shy about them either, it had probably never been. It hated, it despised, it was angry, and that was exactly why the wrath sects had formed around it. The answer wasn't too far removed from what Liang Chen had expected, Purgatory had encouraged far too much bloodshed for its thoughts to be anything normal. But even so, it was a shame.

"How disappointing. I... hoped that the thing that once stood for heavenly punishment and burning sin would be a bit different. But no, you're just another angry child throwing a tantrum."

Yes, this great entity that once policed the multiverse was now no better than a crying kid, completely tunnel-visioned as it generalized things. Liang Chen was an angry and vicious person, but not even he had sunk to a point where he thought all people were bathed in sin. Liang Chen's words evidently hit a soft spot, Purgatory practically seething as it responded.

"Heavenly punishment... Yes, I once stood for that. I dedicated my all to following my rules, my purpose. I burned sin, I punished evil and cruelty. I, and I alone, made the world a better place to be. I gave you people peace! And what did I get in return, how did you reward me? You killed my creator, you cast me down and buried me in this forgotten tomb! Did you ever try to help me, did you ever come to thank me for what I did? No! You only ever came because you wanted more energy, because you heard that there was a good resource here that you could use to grow stronger. I saved you, and you abandoned me!"

Liang Chen didn't know this, but the mausoleum he stood in right now hadn't always been here. Only when Lao Ye arrived here was it constructed, before then, Purgatory had simply rested within the dirt of this land, alone and forgotten, abandoned.

Purgatory's words also told Liang Chen why Lao Ye had planned to entrust his wrath to it. Rules. Purgatory was created to follow certain rules, heavenly punishment was only ever meant to strike down on certain people, so rules were necessary to ensure that. Did these rules still exist within it? Did it still have to follow them after its creator died? Liang Chen didn't know, but Lao Ye at the very least seemed to have believed as much. But whether or not it still needed to follow those rules was irrelevant to Liang Chen.

"We didn't do that. From what I've heard, the Bloodwind Emperor killing your creator was an accident. Now granted, I wasn't there so I can't verify that, he may well have done so on purpose. But so what? How much time do you think has passed since then, how many of the people you condemn still live? The people out there, trying to live their lives, they don't even know about your existence. You say that they abandoned you and deserve to burn, but do you really think that ignorance is a sin? Should they burn because no one ever told them anything, should they burn because of something done by an ancestor that has already faded from history?"

Yes, it didn't matter to Liang Chen whether or not Purgatory was still bound by rules. The things it had done, the things it stood there and said it would do, he couldn't accept either. Sin was not hereditary, a child did not deserve to die for what their father did, nor did they deserve to burn because of ignorance. Yes, Purgatory had been abandoned here, but it wasn't by the people of this time, it wasn't by the people it was trying to burn.

"Hah, does it matter how much time has passed? You say ignorance isn't a sin, but why shouldn't it be? I did so much for them, but they let my name fade from history? They couldn't even muster the will to pass on my name to future generations, couldn't even bother to spread word of what I did, of how they should live? To willingly let themselves sink into depravity, is that not a sin worthy of burning?"

True, the people of this time may not have been the ones who abandoned Purgatory. But who was it that had the right to decide that ignorance wasn't a sin? Liang Chen had learned, Lao Ye had learned, plenty of people had learned about Purgatory over the years so it was clearly still possible to learn. Yet they never seemed to do, they relished in their ignorance. Liang Chen once again spoke against Purgatory's beliefs, shaking his head lightly.

"But they did spread word, Purgatory. The heavens are just, if you sin they will strike you down for your cruelty, if you do good then they will reward you for your benevolence. That is part of the story that my father told me as a child, a story told to children all over the world."

A story he had been told as a young child, one of his earliest memories. The heavens are just, the heavens punish evil. That story had been his belief, and in the end, it had become part of his wrath, one of the triggers that started it all. But clearly, a children's tale was not good enough for Purgatory, for the world.

"And what good has that done? Is the world outside at peace? No, it can't be, if it was then there wouldn't be people entering this land. If it was, then there wouldn't be people like you here, seething with anger and hatred, bathed in blood. So clearly, they couldn't be bothered to properly spread the word, couldn't be bothered to live properly."

Purgatory had no access to the outside world, it had no idea what went on beyond this cradle. But it didn't need to have access to it to know how it was. As long as there were people willing to enter this cursed land, the world would never have peace. And there had never been a shortage of people willing to come here and kill, there had never been peace. Once again, Liang Chen shook his head.

"But they do live properly. No, the world isn't at peace, it may never be. But that does not mean that it deserves to burn. There are good people out there, far more good people than bad. Should they burn because you've been tunnel-visioned by anger? No, no they shouldn't. I won't accept that, I never will. They've done good, they don't deserve to burn."

Purgatory was twisted, ruined. The years it had spent here had broken it, he could clearly tell that now from its words. Its hatred and anger, born from abandonment, had festered in it, become a poison that ruined it. Once it had been a weapon of peace and justice, but time and hatred had eroded it, not even it was safe from the cruelty of time.

But no matter what caused it to reach this point, what caused it to cross the line, all that mattered to Liang Chen was that it had crossed the line. Purgatory felt like it finally got an answer to the question it had asked at the start, what had he come here for?

"You won't accept it? Do you think you have the right to decide what is and isn't accepted? Is that what you came here for, what you killed so many people for, to tell me that you don't accept me and my plans?"

Liang Chen was just a man, one among billions, one among countless. What right did one man have to decide what was and wasn't accepted? What right did one man have to go against, to reject, the arbiter of punishment birthed by the multiverse? Liang Chen simply shook his head again as Purgatory sneered at him, he hadn't come here to tell it his thoughts. He stepped forward after shaking his head, walking directly into the red mist that seeped out from Purgatory.

"No. I killed so many because they deserved it, they had sinned so they deserved to burn. And I came here for you, for your power. The heavens are dead, Purgatory. Heavenly Punishment is a forgotten thing, a threat no one heeds any longer. But it doesn't need to be like that, I won't let it be like that. If the heavens can't cast down punishment then it falls on man to do so, and I will be the man that does so. Give me your power, Purgatory. Help me burn the sin of this world."

Liang Chen burned. His skin and flesh flaked off and disintegrated, his blood crackled for a bit as it fell, vanishing before it touched the ground. But for each patch of skin he lost, for each step that robbed him of flesh, new ones grew back. In the end, he stood in front of Purgatory, his hand slightly stretched out as the fires continued to burn his sin. The corners of Purgatory's lips twitched in response, dumbfounded laughter escaping him as he sneered once more.

"Ha...Hahaha, that's what you came for? Not even the previous man above was as deluded as you were. Man cannot become the heavens, just as the heavens cannot become man. They don't understand each other, their struggles and thoughts, that's why they can never take over each others roles. Do you really think you can be impartial? Just? No, the punishment you mete out can ever only be born by your own judgment, your own standards and morals, it will always be biased."

Gods and humans could not coexist because they could not understand each other, and the same was true for man and the heavens. Heavens was impartial, it held no one else in high regard so it could punish everyone equally. Man could not, they had emotions, people they loved, people they hated, acts they hated. Biased and hateful, that was why man could never become the heavens. Liang Chen didn't deny Purgatory's accusations, he completely agreed with them.

"Yes, yes it will. I will be selfish, unjust, cruel to many. But so what? I'm not a god, Purgatory, I'm just an angry child who does whatever he wants. I don't need to be perfectly just and unbiased, I can never be. But I'll still go on ahead, I'll still stride forward, all the way until there comes a day where the only sin left to burn is me. So come, Purgatory, join me in burning."

He wasn't a god. Once he may have hoped, dreamt even, of becoming one. But no more. He could never become a god, he could never be like that, he could only ever be himself. And that was fine. He'd continued to walk that path, continue to walk as himself, all the way to the end.

Purgatory fell a bit silent as Liang Chen stretched his hand closer. He gazed upon the burning man in front of him, the entity that continued to flake away and rebuild. The way he resisted the fires of sin was just too strange. Or rather, the way he didn't resist them at all was the strange part. He burned and fell apart, but he didn't use any of his energy to resist the power. Yet he regrew everything he lost. He stared deep into Liang Chen, his gaze piercing right into his very core. And there he saw it, the vastness, the great end. And he understood exactly what the man in front of him was, what he had become.

"You... I see, you're that thing from beyond, the emptiness. What a monster, what a horrible thing has been born into the world. Let me guess, if I reject, then you'll erase me? A wrath you can't accept or control, no need to keep that around, is there?"

Not a Voidborn, but of the Void. A man, but also the Void. A physical entity, but also the great nothingness that shouldn't exist. He was a being that should never have been born, a monster that by all rights, should never have walked this earth.

"..."

Liang Chen didn't respond, but his silence was all the answer Purgatory needed. If it rejected his offer, then he would use his law of the void to erase it. Purgatory was dangerous, if left unchecked there was no telling what it might do. And he could not accept what it tried to achieve, so he would erase it without a trace. Purgatory snickered somewhat lowly when he reached the same conclusion, he truly hadn't expected that the great emptiness would ever arrive at his doorstep and threaten him.

"It's not impossible. If I want to, then I can indeed give you my power. But if I reject it, then not even Jormungandr would be able to devour and take my power for himself."

That was his right, the last right of Purgatory. If it rejected someone then they would never be able to acquire its power. He would fade from existence forever, but he would take his power with him. Never again would sin burn in this multiverse.

"Alright, what is it you want me to do?"

Purgatory hadn't accepted or rejected, it simply stated that it wasn't impossible. So there was something it wanted, something it desired. In that manner, perhaps it was more human than it wanted to be, more human than it thought it was.

"I want to test you. You speak of wrath, but are you truly wrathful? Memories, emotions, they birth so much wrath. But in time, they fade like everything else, and the wrath they birth fades with them. I want to see if your wrath is skin deep or if it's truly a part of you. I'll join you for a bit, to see if wrath truly is a part of you. If it is, then I will accept you and willingly give you my power. If not, then I would rather just fade from this filthy world."

Time healed all wounds, a saying that was all too familiar. People forgot, memories faded. The love they birthed, the anger they brought, in time they would all become nothing more than a whisper on the wind, heard by no one. Was Liang Chen the same? Would there come a day where his wrath would become just another word whispered with the wind, an emotion lost to time?

"I accept."

Liang Chen didn't think so. If his wrath was so fickle then he would have never gotten to this point, he would have never reached this place. The very fact that he stood here in front of Purgatory, an ocean of blood holding him up, that alone told him everything he needed to know.

Purgatory stood up from its seated position after Liang Chen nodded his head, glancing at the outstretched hand that still burned. And it reached out with its own arm and grasped that hand, its entire being melting into energy that flooded into Liang Chen.

"Very well then, new one. When you wake up, show me how true your wrath is, show me that it's not dictated by something as feeble as memories."

The words echoed in Liang Chen's head as his vision was dyed black, a weightless sensation overtaking his entire body as the energy filled him, a small part of it quietly covering his interspatial ring. He was falling asleep, he could feel it. It was similar to how his consciousness faded when he cultivated, Purgatory was filling him with energy, and his body shut down his mind so that it could more easily take it all in.

But what he didn't notice as his consciousness drifted away, surrounded by the burning flames of Purgatory, was that the land all around them was trembling. The cradle quaked, the land and sky cracked. Purgatory's Cradle, the land that had existed for countless years already, was crumbling to pieces. Purgatory was gone so it no longer needed a cradle, all it needed now was to see if the monster that reached out his hand would be worthy of burning the world.