The Cycle of Fate

Chapter 159: "The Invitation"

Just like the previous two times, the silver-black candle flame condensed into a beam of light that fell upon Lumian's left chest, which had already been engulfed in pain and confusion.

Amidst the swirling gray mist and black winds, silver-black illusory liquid flowed out from that spot.

At some point, Lumian forgot about the pain and dizziness, as if he had become another person.

He found himself standing in the wilderness, pulling back the wooden bow in his hand and shooting a long arrow shimmering with a bluish glow toward prey in the sky.

Vaguely, Lumian still remembered who he was, but everything felt incredibly real, as if he was truly experiencing it.

The sharp, blue-glowing arrow pierced through the air and embedded itself into the belly of a gray-black vulture.

Intense pain suddenly flooded Lumian's mind. He saw himself flapping his wings, with the nearly piercing arrow in his abdomen, plummeting toward the ground.

Wait, how did I become a vulture... In his haze, Lumian had a brief moment of clarity, realizing he wasn't fully assimilated into the scene or the state of his current body.

Thud!

He crashed heavily onto the ground, feeling his bones snap one by one as the sharp pain wracked his body.

Lumian nearly lost consciousness when a hyena rushed toward him.

The warm, foul taste of blood and flesh filled his mouth, and he realized he was gnawing on the body of the gray-black vulture. The arrow, still glowing bluish, had snapped off inside the bird's carcass.

This tastes terrible... I'm not Ludwig, that little freak... Lumian couldn't help but grumble inwardly.

He hadn't fully accepted himself as the hyena but continued tearing and devouring the poisoned parts of the prey uncontrollably.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his back, and claws pinned him to the ground.

The attacker was a strange lion, its body rotting in many places and oozing yellowish pus.

Lumian bit through the hyena's throat and dragged it into the nearby bushes.

With a mix of detachment, observing the scene from a spectator's perspective, he quickly devoured the hyena.

A sense of both satisfaction and disgust filled Lumian as his stomach started to ache. The toxin triggered a mutation in his body, and the barely controlled extraordinary power he possessed spiraled out of control.

He quickly lost his reason, becoming frenzied, driven only by the desire to destroy all living things and wreak havoc.

No, I can't lose control... there's something important left to do... Lumian inhaled the faint, sweet scent of gray amber, trying not to fully succumb to the madness.

In a wild, frenzied run, he spotted a hunter and leaped toward him.

Lumian, still holding the wooden bow, smelled the stench of decay and saw a lion with rotting flesh and two head-like growths on its shoulders.

The lion's jaws, draped with strands of fresh red meat, opened wide to the limit.

Lumian was filled with dread and finally regained full self-awareness, realizing that the hunter, along with the vulture, hyena, and lion, were all dissolving into silver-black complex symbols and strange characters.

These symbols and characters connected end to end, forming a circular ring that rapidly shrank into a human form.

Lumian's eyes snapped open. He saw the silver-black candle flames gently flickering and the half-meter-high stone altar.