Nine Paths of Asura-Original Wuxia

Chapter 174-Amalgate

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"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."

"Who are you?" Lineir forgot his misery for a second as he startled. His gaze was drawn up to the top of the cave. A strange man had appeared there. His form did not seem right...he was covered in twisting runes which morphed freely about his body. The exposed skin of his hands was strangely purple and glowed with a hidden strength. He looked almost like a man made of mercury rather than flesh.

"Amalgate." He said in a hoarse voice. He said it with spaces in between so that it sounded like Am-ahl-gate. It gave his name an ancient accent which did not sound quite right in modern language. Lineir felt a vague sense of unease in the way this strange man was fixated on him. The gaze of a predator looking at his prey.

"You're not from this mortal realm are you?" Lineir felt his fists instinctively clench and his shattered bone scythes appeared, jagged and broken. A second later he sighed and released his breath, his fingers uncurling. He had no desire to fight anymore. Not after what had happened... his eyes however remained covered in Madness. The strange man just looked on, completely unconcerned.

"An uncalm Dao heart. I don't remember much but I do know that HE would never allow a disciple with a heart such as yours. Perhaps I was mistaken. But those eyes...you've never met him yet you have his eyes. It makes no sense. None of this makes any sense at all. We should have won. The Heavens were beaten, the final battle was practically a foregone joke. What about the Hells? Did he betray me or did I betray him? No matter what, he should have won. Yet Heaven's Eyes still watch me and punish my existence. Did they have a secret weapon, some trump card we didn't know about? Impossible they would have used it long before the final battle..." The runes wandered about the "man" who called himself Amalgate. His body stretched and turned into deformed shapes before reforming. He didn't even seem to notice.

"What are you talking about? Are we going to fight? I'm in no mood for this right now." Lineir was brusque. Even though this Amalgate was mysterious, since he was currently in a mortal realm Lineir doubted that he was too strong. Lineir had no desire to entertain a madman's ramblings. However something about his words stuck with him, "wait...did you just talk about my eyes. You know of my eye's past? How?! Tell me!"

"Hahaha, know the past. Now that's a good one kid. I would probably be one of the only ones left who would remember such an ancient thing. But I would also be the worst one to ask right now. I was going to take you here, but I've changed my mind. Consider yourself warned. But remember, I WILL be finding the answer once again. And when that day comes I may choose to come for you for real. Goodbye little boy." The mysterious shape was suddenly, inexplicably struck by a lightning bolt. Lineir's eyes were blinded by the sudden light and when he opened them again, the man was gone like a figment of Lineir's imagination. He shook his head.

"What? There's no one here... Am I going mad...he seemed so real though." A sense of relief ran through Lineir's body. He had the strange feeling that he had just escaped a great calamity for some reason. However, as he began to relax, he heard the words,

"One more thing. I have been to the Hells. I saw what you did there. If I were you...I would not lose all hope just yet. You had best survive now kid while you can. Before what's coming, you stand no chance as you are."

LIneir rushed out of the cave, his Phoenix Flame Wings mightily lifting him up, yet when he reached the top, he was alone. The only evidence that "Amalgate" had existed at all was the smoking blackened lightning strike. But as Lineir himself had unleashed a wild lightning bolt he was unsure as to whether he had simply imagined the entire thing.