Nine Paths of Asura-Original Wuxia

Chapter 173-Madness and Meeting

Side are projects are delayed for now unfortunately. Will be focusing on NPOA for now. 

Boom...Thump Thump...Szzz...Szzzz

"Why? Why Why Why Why Why Why-?" Lineir moaned over and over again his fist turning the dark cave wall to rubble. Little bits of chalky dust sifted down into his hair and into his eyes to be washed out by his tears. "Why?"

SMASH!!!

He kicked the wall, the flimsy reality of the mortal realms giving away like paper.

Cruuuumble!

The entire cave wall caved in and a tunnel to the surface and a clear blue sky appeared above him. However, to his Lineir's red eyes which had not cleared of Madness since Mei's death...it all looked like an unbearable hell. The wide blue hole simply seemed not like hope, but a reminder of the emptiness in all things. There is a certain thing. When a man is subjected to a sudden great loss which he was not expecting, he may lose sight of the most important thing. It is called many things, hope by some, light by others, but perhaps the easiest way to describe it would be a simple door. In normal times, a door can be open and closed. However, to those who have experienced something so terrible, they may retreat behind a closed door in their own mind. At first they cannot physically open the door for the pain would be too great. Then they may begin to believe that they cannot open the door. One day...it may come that they even forget that the door opens at all...

"Whyyyyy!!" Lineir found the sight of the empty sky torment and smashed through the ground, burying himself deeper. Indeed, a bystander might wonder if he was trying to tunnel down to the Hells themselves and lose himself. "All I had to do was turn away. I could have said no. If we had simply turned away from the damn mission then none of this would have happened. But she needed the ingredients to revive...ingredients which we could have found elsewhere. DAMNIT!!"

Whump...BOOOOOM!!!

Lineir stamped his foot and the resulting destruction resulted in a tunnel twenty meters deep. He was lost and his Madness Eyes were no longer under his control anymore. His mind raced calculating possibilities. How could he have saved Mei? No matter how many lifetimes in the racing hyper-speed of his lightning thoughts he pondered, the only answer he came to time and time again was he could not! But even still he was forced to follow the same paths of logic. If he did this, if he did that, and when that was all exhausted he would think about how easily this all could have been prevented, every little thing which would have led to a completely different outcome.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! Make it stop! Please!!!!! Just make it stop! Freeze!" Lineir wanted to order his insane mind to quit. But he didn't have a chance. If he had been sane he might have realized that there was something suspicious about his thought patterns. They were magnified, resonating with the Path of Madness. This would seem to be an innate weakness in the Path of Madness itself. However, at the moment he had no inkling of that idea! All he felt was pain!

"Arrrrrgh!!!! Please! Please! Make it stop!" Lineir gasped and crossed his hands across his stomach which felt physically sick for the first time since becoming a cultivator. Flames sprung from his back as his Phoenix Flame Wings erupted unbidden.

Whooooosh!!!!

"No! What are you doing!" He rasped with a hoarse voice, his red eyes widening in horror. Then his bone scythes came out, black ebony blades sliding up and slicing up the cave as his wings blackened the walls. "Stop!! I order you!"

Screeeeeeeeee

The walls shrieked, screaming in agony as the bone scythes scraped into them. Lineir felt a flaming heat rising in his chest. His back was itching horribly and his scalp felt like a million ants were biting into it at once. He felt terribly sick.

"No more!!" He cried out, his arms coming out to each side as if to halt an invisible foe. His palms slapped into what remained of the poor cave wall.

"Ahhhhhhh" He groaned as Madness Rain fell from the sky into the cave. It seeped in carrying dirt and stones upon him. He slid down into the rapidly forming sludge puddle, crouched down clenching his head! He shook and shook as tears came. He let them come but more just kept coming!

"I could have just said no!!" He burst out once more. Lightning and Darkness filled the already dark tunnel, Lineir's abilities raging out of control. His Third Heart had been gravely injured and his Dao Path was no longer clear. Now his Second Heart did not have the foundation necessary to control the vast amount of power inside. And the Raging Storm inside which was normally bound, spun into a hurricane of destruction! The only path it had was out!

Krang!! Krang! Chi Chi Chi Chi!!!

Little bolts of golden yellow lightning exploded everywhere and splashed Madness Rain over Lineir's face. His trembling hands were unsteady as he tried to wipe his eyes. However, no matter what he did his vision was always filled with that bloody red. He could not wipe away the Madness ever.

"Ahhh!" A whisper escaped him though he tightly pressed his lips shut as if it could shut away what was coming.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" He roared, unable to hold on anymore. White light obliterated the world as his elemental Qi was released!

KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANGGGGGGGG!!

When it was over, Lineir's eyes were completely blind and his body was spent, wracked with terrible pain and too tired to move anymore. He feebly flopped on the ground like a fish, the filthy water sloshing over his nose and mouth.

Hah...hah....hah....hah....hah....

He just breathed like that for a long time. The misery was muted temporarily before the pain. However, it threatened...no promised to return very soon! In the depths of Lineir's despair an unknown voice came from above.

"Well, well, well I came here to find his disciple and instead I get...this mess. You're not even worth killing like this. I've changed my mind. Where is he kid? Don't try to hide it, if you're here then he's definitely alive. He and I have unsettled business so tell me quickly."