" Go fuck yourself. "
You respond to the robed Valghul that's standing in front of you.
" You insult me when you're at our mercy? I don't know if that's bravery or ignorance. "
The robed Valghul remarks with an attitude as he walks closer to you and looks down at you imposingly. The womanly Valghul speaks up from behind him, chiming in in a taunting demeanor.
" You're lucky that Our Lord needs your vessel, little one. If this was any other circumstance, a mouth like that would earn you a beautifully excruciating death. "
She then looks up at the armored Valghul that's holding you as she continues to speak.
" Let us take him to The Null. "
" No. "
The robed Valghul responds.
" I'm afraid that the Lamenter isn't going anywhere with us just yet… he's not actually here with us. He is dreaming. "
You feel a wave of relief wash over you, but the stress immediately returns when the robed Valghul turns towards the woman and continues talking.
" Would you like to do the honors of killing his soul before we return to the mortal realm and retrieve his body? "
" You would give such an honor to me? You always knew how to spoil a woman, Verzo. "
The womanly Valghul says in a playful tone as she materializes a glowing red dagger in her hand before walking towards you. You do your best to break free, but the armored Valghul's grasp on your shoulder is steadfast and unmoving. You hear a beastly and sinister laugh as it looks down at you trying to struggle. You then close your eyes in desperation and focus your entire being on summoning the power within you.
It can't end like this. I still need to see Ariel in Voldoor. I need to see my wife again. Think about Ariel…
Unexpectedly, you hear Sowzo's voice whisper into your ear. His voice sounds eager and excited as he intrudes into your mind.
" Let loose, mortal. Tilt the board. Let the madness touch you once more. "
With Sowzo distorting your sanity, you instantly dig down deep into your heart and focus on the feeling of despair that you felt when you lost your family, and as you do so, a radiant wave of green energy explodes out of you. The force from this explosion breaks you free from the giant Valghul's grasp and knocks back both Verzo and the womanly Valghul onto the ground. You open your eyes to see Verzo looking at you with excitement. His eyes look happy and you can almost make out a smile behind the shredded flesh on his face. Completely unfazed by the aura of power radiating around you, his words try at your patience as he stands up.
" Ahhh, now we can have some fun. Let us see how powerful the Lamenter really is after all this time. "
As you stare at Verzo standing before you, the familiar feeling of madness engulfs you and you can feel your mental stability faltering.
D̴͓̾ë̶̦́s̴̩̔t̵̳̽r̴̬̋ő̵͙y̵̡͂ ̶̤̂ḧ̶̙́i̵̻͘m̷̨͊…̵̠̍ ̷̝̽k̶̛̭i̸̫͗l̶̎͜l̴̹̐…̵͓̈́ ̸̡̾ǩ̵̗ì̶ͅl̵͖̑ļ̵̚ ̸͇͝t̸͇̂h̸̖̍e̷̲͋ ̸͉̀d̵͑͜ẽ̸̞m̴̙͆o̵̲͒n̵͋ͅ.
(( Destroy him… kill… kill the demon. ))
In the blink of an eye, Verzo lunges at you. You sidestep each of his strikes walking backwards as your heightened perception allows you to see each of his attacks coming from a mile away. Each strike being thrown at you breaks the sound barrier, but the explosions around your body and head don't seem to bother you. The only thing you can feel is an unquenchable rage deep inside you, just like the night you lost Rosie.
T̸̜̕h̴̼̊ì̵̺s̸̪̊ ̴͚́d̶͉͝e̷͙͊m̶̯͌ỏ̴̪n̵̺͘ ̸̣́w̸̨͊î̴̱l̷̰̓l̸̼̇ ̴̳͘ň̶̝ȏ̸̫t̴̺͋ ̶̯͠s̴̛ͅt̸͚͐o̴̳̔p̴͚̿ ̴͓͆m̵̟͛ê̶̤ ̷̫̏f̶͉̏r̸̘͘ö̵̮́m̶͋ͅ ̵̗͘š̸͉e̷̜̒e̴̥͆į̸̇n̷̜͊g̸̦̈́ ̵͕̈́A̵̭͌r̴͉̾ï̶͉e̴͉̔l̷̞̆ ̶̧͗a̷̛̝g̶͖̈́ą̸̈́i̶͔͠n̸͈͊…̴͗͜ ̷̊͜i̸͈͛t̴͙͝ ̸̞̓w̷̩͝ȋ̶̲l̵͓͐l̴̥͊ ̴̩͝ń̶͕ȯ̸̰t̷̻̂ ̵̣̈p̶̤͊r̵̳̕ȇ̶͜v̶͇͆a̶͍͘i̶͙͋l̶̼̒…̴̬̐ ̸̫́d̵͔͘í̶̪ê̵ͅ…̵̹̀ ̷̱͝ţ̵͗ḫ̵͘e̶͍̚ ̶͙̅V̶̪̇ą̴͌l̵͍̊g̸̻̏h̴̙̀u̸̡͒l̶̝͘ ̷̢̉m̷̜̌u̵͈͛s̶͔̎t̸͍̍ ̵͇͂ḏ̵͊i̶̝̓e̸͕͋…
(( This demon will not stop me from seeing Ariel again… it will not prevail… die… the Valghul must die… ))
As soon as you see an opening in Verzo's onslaught, you punch him square in the face and the entirety of Somniohm shakes and begins to fracture as you launch him away. Then in an instant, you can sense the glowing dagger being swung at you from behind. You immediately turn and catch the womanly Valghul's arm, pulling her face down into your knee, and the strike from your knee shatters the realm even further. You begin to see white Light peeking through the cracks as the realm slowly breaks from the power of your strikes.
K̸̹̔ȉ̴̳l̸̪̈́l̶̼̂…
(( Kill… ))
You can see Verzo standing up in the distance, so you throw the womanly Valghul to the side and jump out into the distance to engage him. However, your fist unexpectedly goes right through him and he weaves around you to grab your arm from behind.
" Let's see how you like it… "
Verzo says before he spins and throws you back in the direction that you came from. You use your ability to levitate to catch yourself mid-air but before you can react, the womanly Valghul comes down on top of you and returns a knee back in your face, sending you down into the ground which causes an explosion that pushes Somniohm to the edge of breaking completely. The ground begins to quake underneath you and pieces of the sky begin to fall down and crash into the ruined realm. The people who are dreaming begin chanting once more as they watch these Valghuli fight you, completely unaware of the realm crumbling around them. Many people get crushed within their dreams from the pieces that are falling, but they die in their dreams complacently as the others continue to chant and stare at you with their empty eye sockets.
" NONE… NONE… NONE… NONE… "
You try to get up and roll to the side, but you have no time to breathe as the womanly Valghul comes down on top of you and begins throwing an onslaught of strikes with her fist, legs, and the dagger at you faster than the man did. Still, you keep up with the strikes and are barely able to evade them before you sense a red beam coming at you from the direction that Verzo is in. After you barely jump out of the way of the beam and slide on the ground, you look to see the beam melt everything it touches into the same smoke you saw when the Valghul bit that log in the forest.
The beam has the same properties as The Bite of Abrogation.
Verzo stops firing the beam after erasing an entire horizon of Somniohm and you see the womanly Valghul slowly walk towards you with a smirk on her face. You don't want Verzo to have a shot on you, so you lay low on your back inside the large crater in the ground made from your impact. Verzo speaks up from the distance while you refuse to break eye contact with the womanly Valghul as she slowly approaches.
" I think we've gauged his strength pretty well, Valanyah. He's definitely more powerful than a God, but it appears that he's still a weakling without the book. "
" He isn't entirely a weakling… his strikes on us were able to fracture the fabric of this Immortal Realm. There was never a question about my faith in our Lord's plan; but still, now that I have seen the potential of this vessel with my own eyes, I know that The One is as good as dead after we seize it… "
Valanyah then begins materializing and throwing daggers at you and they vaporize the ground as you crawl backwards to evade them. Your mental stability is still faltering, but the fear from experiencing the unmatched strength from these Valghuli has you frozen. It's clear that Valanyah is only toying with you as she approaches and you need some kind of out.
I have no chance at defeating one of these Valghuli, let alone all three of them. The giant one hasn't even started fighting yet.
In a moment of desperation you try to open up a portal underneath you to fall into it and escape, but to your surprise, nothing happens.
W̷͎̓h̷̞̆a̶̠͂ț̶̎?- Why aren't portals working? Did the Valghuli do this?- I̵̼͂ ̵͎̌c̵͚͌ă̵̗n̸̰͐'̶̭̇ț̵̛ ̵̦͒b̶̢̐e̷̠͒ ̴̘͌s̵̬͌t̵̘̊ů̵̞c̷͙̚k̴͇͒ ̵̻̓h̶̢̋ȩ̵̀r̸̙̔e̵̠͗… I̸̪̐ ̴͖̍c̶̯̊á̷͖n̴̝̋'̶͇͗t̶̺͊…
(( What?- Why aren't portals working? Did the Valghuli do this?- I can't be stuck here… I can't… ))
Valanyah laughs, clearly mocking you after reading your mind.
" There is no escape… and there's nobody here that can save you. "
Suddenly Sowzo's voice echoes throughout his ruined dimension, and to your surprise, he's not rhyming anymore. Instead, he sounds disappointed and confused.
" I… I understand now… Sowzo must do what it takes to keep the Lamenter on Father's path… "
Sowzo then appears in front of you in a puff of purple smoke and looks back at you out of the corner of his eye as he stands between you and Valanyah. He shouts at you with more emotion than you ever thought you'd hear from him.
" You need to wake up, mortal!! Go into the Light!! "
You look up into the sky and see the white Light coming in from outside the realm. Then, Sowzo claps his hands twice and several hundred of the purple skeletons that you once saw in his palace all emerge from the ground all around and take the shape of perfect clones of you. Sowzo then smirks before turning himself into a clone of you as well and the clones begin rushing the three Valghuli.
In the brief window of opportunity that Sowzo has given you, you take off flying up into the sky with hundreds of other clones while the rest of the hundreds of clones all surround the Valghuli and fight them. You look down at the Valghuli behind you to see all three of them effortlessly taking on your clones around them as their strikes blend into a perfect blur that leaves blood and mutilated corpses in their wake. You look back upwards and continue to reach for the Light as you ascend quickly, but you immediately sense another red beam behind you, so you and several other clones begin evading the beam by flying around in all manner of directions as you desperately continue to ascend upwards. You watch all around you as a multitude of your clones get vaporized into nothingness and you see Verzo quickly trailing behind the decreasing number of clones in the air as he shoots the beams from his hands at them. You can almost touch the Light before Valanyah intercepts you by flying in front of you, blocking you from reaching it. Without hesitation she swings her dagger at you faster than you're able to register it, but before the dagger reaches you, a clone appears in front of you and takes the dagger to the chest. He lets out an agonizing scream as the illusion fades and you can see that the clone that just sacrificed himself for you was Sowzo. As he disappears into nothingness, the rest of Somniohm instantly falls apart upon his death. The Light glows brighter and it touches you as his realm shatters before the Valghuli can reach you.
Everything instantly goes black.