Chapter 6: Gold

The Golden Armor War God seemed to sense Ethan Greaves's fury. It moved even faster. The man in jacket lunged in to kill. The Golden Armor War God met him head-on, smashed him into the ground with a single punch, then brought its foot down. In an instant, the body burst into red light and shot into the golden door. Faster. Faster still. No fancy techniques. No wasted motion. It simply reaped those eerie creatures one after another. It was a one-sided slaughter. Pure, overwhelming domination. Until the end. The old woman clutched the child in her arms, trembling so hard her bones seemed to rattle. "Big brother… I was wrong… please, let me go…" The little girl lifted her head. Her face returned to normal, wearing that innocent, bright-eyed look again. Ethan stared at her. His lips split into a smile. Then he pointed toward the corner where Ivy Spears had been. "Who's going to forgive her?" The Golden Armor War God's fist crashed down. A streak of light arced away and slipped into the door. The Golden Armor War God became a beam of gold and returned to the doorway. Ethan looked at the door, still trying to process what he'd seen, when the Gate of Sacrifice suddenly collapsed. It gathered into a single stream of golden radiance and, this time, sank straight into Ethan's body. "Ugh…" Ethan's expression tightened. He hadn't seen that coming. Truth be told, he didn't even know where that golden door had come from in the first place. But he could feel it. The instant that golden radiance entered him, an indescribable current surged into his chest. His legs gave out. He dropped to his knees, bracing himself with both arms. His muscles swelled with soreness, his whole arm shaking uncontrollably. Heat rolled through his chest like a volcano erupting inside him, like someone was pumping air into his veins. If Ivy Spears hadn't already vanished, she would have been able to tell him what was happening. His bones crackled. Pop, pop, pop. Muscle pushed outward, hardening and bulging until his clothes split at the seams. He stared at his arms. His skin flushed red. Sweat slid off his chin in heavy drops. "Damn it…" His body slammed down onto the floor. He hadn't died to those eerie creatures. Was he going to die like this instead? Curled up and shivering, he couldn't control the currents inside him. In the end, he stopped fighting and let them tear through his meridians however they pleased. Then- Those miserable screams echoed in his ears again. Like they came from hell. "Kid, let me go…" "You'll die a horrible death! A horrible death!" "Damn Human Race, filthy Human Race! You all deserve to die!" "Hahaha! The priestess… won't end well!" Ethan's head started to split with pain. It felt like someone had drilled through his temples, then used a chopstick to stir his brain into mush. *Maybe I should just die,* Ethan thought. He lay flat on the floor, his breathing growing thinner and thinner. But as he teetered on the edge of giving up, that adorable girl with the braided pigtails surfaced in his mind again. "No…" "I can't die." "If I die, then Ivy Spears… she did all of that for nothing." His heart lurched back into a steady rhythm. He began slapping at his own head, his chest heaving violently. For Ivy Spears, Ethan's will to live flared to its peak. He endured the burning, a pain that sank deep into the marrow of his bones. "Tiger Demon… Corpse Control Power?" "Fox Demon… Beguiling Power?" "Spider… Web Spinning?" A flood of information poured into his mind, as if it meant to blow his brain apart from the inside. His consciousness sank, heavier and heavier. Bang! Ethan's head struck the floor hard, and everything went black. … In the haze- Ethan opened one glowing orb after another. Each orb reflected a savage face. The old woman. That Weasel-faced Man. That Gray Jacket… The moment an orb burst, strands of fine golden thread crawled up his body, clinging to his skin before slowly seeping in. Muscle and bone shifted. Changed. A layer of golden scales even spread across him. Ugly as hell. Thankfully, those strange scales gradually faded. At least, they vanished to the naked eye. Ethan could still sense them, only… in a different way. Images kept flashing through his mind. Ivy Spears's relieved gaze as she disappeared. The venomous stares at the instant those Demon Soul were wiped out. Twisted bodies. The train's ghastly white light. The light grew brighter, clearer, until Ethan finally realized it was a lamp hanging from the ceiling. "Faye Gilholm, I think he's awake!" A voice exploded beside his ear. Ethan's heart clenched. But the face that came into view was a normal man's face. Not handsome, but to Ethan, any normal human face looked downright lovable. Tap, tap, tap. High heels on the floor. "Are you sure he's awake?" The woman's voice was cool, but pleasant. She didn't sound old, maybe twenty-five or twenty-six at most. "He's really awake. I saw him open his eyes," the man hurried to explain. The woman fell silent for a moment. "That's strange. A normal person surviving the Demon Realm… that's not ordinary." "Faye Gilholm, should we take him back with us?" "When he wakes up properly, we'll question him. Don't reveal too much. I'm contacting the boss to report what happened." "Okay… Faye Gilholm, did you see him in your dream?" "I'm not sure. In the dream, there was only that train car, and some Demon Soul, and… a golden door. There was a golden figure standing in front of it, but I couldn't make out what it looked like." "A golden door?" "Yes. The boss said it might be the Gate of Sacrifice." "All right. You're a prophet. Your ability isn't stable, but every piece of information you foresee matters. Still, if it's the Gate of Sacrifice… isn't that something only a priestess can summon?" "Mm." "Faye Gilholm, if I remember right… it's been many years since a priestess appeared, hasn't it?" Their voices faded as they walked farther away. A golden door? A priestess? Ethan heard every word of their conversation. The weight of it left him at a loss. If that golden door had been something he summoned… Did that mean he'd become transcendent? Ethan didn't dare chase the thought. He forced his eyes open and fixed on the glass on the bedside table. The clear liquid inside was water, exactly what he needed most. But he couldn't even lift his arm. He struggled, dragging his arm out from under the blanket. He stared at the water, teeth clenched as he fought through the agony. Snap! The glass toppled to the floor, ringing with a crisp, shattering sound. Ethan stared at his "arm" as it stretched longer and longer. A golden… tentacle.