The Dawn of the New World

Lazar finally stood up. The energy readings coming from the mist were far too strong to be ignored any longer.

He strode through the many beasts, stepping over masses of them and within a few steps was standing within striking distance of Hao Xuan.

Still somewhat apprehensive, Lazar chose to observe first.

When the barbarian party first come in, Lazar singled out Hao Xuan because not only was he much smaller than the others but the energy and life force that he gave off was also much lower in intensity as compared to them.

He seemed the most insignificant and the easiest one to deal with among the lot. That's why he had ordered the canine Ether Beast to send the Nightmare Hounds out first, both as a test and an inquiry.

If Hao Xuan was too weak he would simply die by their claws and if he managed to survive, Lazar would take control of his mind after it had been whittled down by the Nightmare Hound's ability.

He would make Hao Xuan his slave that was to be sent out into the world to find a way to undo the seal.

Lazar released a tinge of his aura focused in and around the mist. The pressure started building up, forcing all the beasts to move back far enough so that they wouldn't get caught in.

He expected some sort of a response but the mist didn't budge an inch. There was no sound nor movement. He couldn't even feel the presence of any living thing in there.

His brow furrowed from the confusion. Did the human die already? He WAS acting quite bizarrely beforehand. Maybe he didn't think he was going to survive and chose to kill himself.

Behind him, Tasgall made his appearance just in time to see Lazar bend down right above where Hao Xuan should be.

He craned his neck and upon seeing the mist he relaxed a little. Thinking it was one of Hao Xuan's many abilities, he quickly retraced his steps to tell the others. A couple of minutes later he was standing in front of Burak again.

"Need help...the big one...moved!" he signed anxiously.

Burak didn't waste a single moment and quickly ordered the others to follow. Instead of leaving like how they had planned, they ran towards Hao Xuan at full speed.

Killing any beasts that blocked their path, the party reached the boundary of the second zone where the canine beasts were all standing on the sides along with a mixture of others.

Instead of fighting amongst one another as they should have been, all the beasts were staring towards the front where Lazar was kneeling down with his back towards them. He was hunched over, with his hand extending towards the mist.

Burak's expression turned grim once he understood what was happening.

He turned towards Isak, "Go from the right and try to distract him for a few seconds. Just enough for me to get close."

"Okay," Isak nodded at once.

They were about to go their separate ways when someone reached out from behind and grabbed them from the shoulders.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Burak hissed swiveling his head back to see Jarek's face.

Jarek shook his head, "Stay. Dangerous!"

"I know, that's why we're going. Move your hand, NOW!"

Jarek's usually expressionless face looked quite troubled right now. He didn't know how to tell them what he was seeing so he did the best he could in such a situation.

"No, dangerous if...too close. Don't go near!"

But his warning only sounded like the excuses of a coward to them. Even Isak seemed angry seeing as Jarek was still holding them back. He revealed the palm of his right hand which held a small ball of black flame.

"I will burn your arms off if you don't remove them right now!"

But Jarek only shook his head even more vigorously, "No...you not understanding..."

His gaze was locked onto Lazar's back, or rather what was in front of it.

When the parasite bonded with Jarek, much of his internal anatomy changed to compensate for the new host of the body. The Parasite was the only one in control of it and since it was a creature that used to live in the abyss, obviously it did not process information in the same way as humans did.

Where humanoid species mostly depended on their visual and auditory systems to ascertain what was happening around them, the parasite, more often than not, did not have such luxuries.

That's why it also developed the ability to 'see' energy that all beings gave off alongside the usual methods.

A normal human would look like a glowing ball of light about 15 centimeters in size. The size, shape, and intensity of each ball of light depended on how strong an individual was or how much energy they were giving off at that time.

In Jarek's eyes, Burak's lifeforce was the strongest among them all at 1.6 meters.

But right now, what he was seeing in front of Lazar left him at a complete loss for words.

It was bright enough to dwarf everything else on the entire floor. Jarek's senses felt pain from merely glancing in its direction.

It wasn't very big at only 2.2 meters but it was bright enough to even put a sun to shame.

Isak was just about to strike when he felt a looming sense of doom coming from the front, as did Burak and all of the other barbarians but none more so than Jarek.

In his eyes he could see all the energy gathering at one single point.

"Sunder...the heavens!"

*Sssshhhh*