"Come!" Orion shouted and disappeared from his spot. He reappeared above Lues and Aegror with raised hands. In his palms were two red orbs of light that kept increasing in size.
"Dome Breaker!" he spoke through gritted teeth before throwing the red orbs down at cracks.
Hao Xuan quickly closed his eyes and took a step back, but the deafening explosion he was expecting never came. He slowly opened his and once again found himself staring at another back.
It was covered with old wounds that hadn't healed properly. The purple skin was looked liked it has been through the blender and made it hard to look at. Even now it was covered with fresh wounds.
The back, of course, belonged to Orion. Only this memory was much later in the future. Orion looked almost identical to his father back in the day, only even stronger and with colder eyes.
He was down on one knee breathing heavily. He was in a foreign place where the sun was the color of obsidian and the sky was missing its stars. There seemed to be unimaginably large creatures flying around in the sky, all looking down on Orion in amusement.
All around him were numerous corpses, both from his race and those of hideous monsters Hao Xuan had never seen before.
*Huff*Huff*
Orion grabbed a handful of dirt and rubbed it in his wounds without even flinching. Just as Hao Xuan was thinking what was going on, a loud voice shook his very being.
"Mortal, you have come far…"
The black sun in the sky moved and unfurled. One, two, three, Seven rotting wings expanded outwards, covering everything in sight, and then a disgusting head came out from behind them. It wasn't a sun but the body of a mythical dragon surrounded by dark, putrid Qi. It was…Ra himself!
Half his head was missing skin and flesh, exposing the white bones underneath. It was so big that at that moment Hao Xuan couldn't think about anything else existing other than…it.
Orion slowly stood up and raised his head to meet Ra's gaze.
"It has indeed been a long journey."
Ra's head moved left and right as if he didn't understand before a realization dawned on him.
"Long? Ah, time! I would not know, for I exist outside of it. Time has no meaning in this place mortal, look around," Ra spoke while gesturing towards the surroundings, but Hao Xuan could not see anything.
Orion shook his head, "I am not here to make small talk, let us put an end to this."
"Hahaha," the ground shook with Ra's laughter.
"An end? I have no end. I fear you have made your journey in vain. With your limited powers, you are no match for me in my own realm!"
As he finished speaking Ra expanded his wings and completely surrounded whatever planet Orion was on. But what bewildered Hao Xuan was that Orion still seemed completely at ease, like everything was happening as he had expected. Ra saw that as well and halted his advance.
"What….have you done?"
Orion finally smiled, "You finally noticed?"
One of Ra's wings extended towards the top and pierced into the inky sky and his expression turned ugly.
"HOW!? How is this possible?!" he immediately backed off and struck the space above him but nothing happened.
Orion's smile widened even more.
"Come now Dragon, the fight has only just begun!" he clenched his fists and a red aura erupted from his body. A single little wooden cottage appeared behind his back, the same one he has spent his early years in with his parents.
His single Mind palace! It was being orbited by two pieces of celestial light emitting strong energy waves.
And it was…powerful! Powerful enough to even make Ra step back in shock.
"Impossible! How did you breakthrough!? It can not be!"
"Oh, but it can, and it has. And now it is time for you to pay back for everything you have done to my people!"
Orion took a single step and the entire planet he was on was pushed away, yet he seemed unperturbed by it. He floated in the empty space, surrounded by his red Qi, lighting up everything within a hundred lightyears. All sorts of creatures could be seen flying around in the dark space and they turned tail as soon as the light fell on them.
*ROAAR*
Ra let out an angry howl. All those creatures that were slowly backing off suddenly went berserk and shot towards Orion from every possible direction.
Orion looked at the incoming army of monsters and let out a woeful sigh. The scene started darkening once again but Orion's words rang clearly in Hao Xuan's ears. It was a melody of some sort, but it sounded….lonely.
"Set the world on fire, burn it to the ground. Let it crumble, watch it fall. Set the world on fire and make me forget the afterlife!"
He blinked and once again found himself floating in a dark space.
"You have passed the test," a frail voice echoed in the darkness. But what surprised him was that he recognized it.
"Miss Agueda?"
"Yes, it is I. Apologies for this elaborate scheme, haha."
"…..Why?"
"To make sure you weren't one of them."
"One of who?"
"It matters not, the point is you have passed."
"Alright…I guess. Can you tell me what this is about then?"
*Sigh*
"It is about the future of my people. Would you be willing to help us?"
"What kind of help?" Hao Xuan asked suspiciously.
