Breaking Out of the Shell

Yifomiet stood where he was for a while. Those shrill laughs made his head buzz.

He suddenly reached out to grab their throats—there was no need to be picky; any one of them would do—it was only a matter of order...

With a strange laugh, the harpy elder vanished from the air, and a burst of fluorescent yellow dust exploded around him.

The dust, glowing with an eerie light, rushed straight at his face, veiling his vision in fog.

He stopped, trying to wipe away whatever was blocking his sight.

Another cloud of dust struck him in the eyes from a different direction.

His eyes stung with pain. His vision instantly turned gray-white.

The harpies leaped about, and all he could see were a dozen or so blurry patches of colored light.

Yifomiet tried to distinguish them by sound and lunged at one of the shadows.

The shadow swiftly jumped away, followed by a burst of mocking laughter. The harpies behind him began shrieking and beating their wings, throwing his hearing into chaos.

Sometimes he felt the smooth edge of a feather beneath his fingers, but the nimble fairies would quickly twist free and escape his grasp.

He failed to catch a single bird.

Why was he still so weak? Still that wandering demon, Asmodeus?

"I don't think there's any need to become stronger. This is good enough."

Yifomiet remembered saying that. He found it strange that he had ever thought that way.

Screech—screech!

Chirp chirp chirp!

The harpies easily dodged his attacks. Wave after wave of fairy dust blanketed his face.

The dust brought a sour, burning sensation. Lava-like liquid began pooling in his eyes.

He wanted to catch them. For one moment, he grabbed a thick, stubby tail feather. But almost at once, several sharp beaks pecked at his head. Then all the harpies swarmed away in a rush.

There was nothing he could do.

Why had the ascension not been completed...

Why had he not yet gained the power of the Hand of Destruction?

He had made a promise. He had fulfilled what he promised. He had gained the faith of believers. Sorena... Sorena had erased his name and removed the old anchor point... hadn't she?

The harpies threw dust at him as though having a snowball fight, cackling with delight.

Yifomiet wanted to kill them. Make them swallow that terrible news back down, drive those mocking beaks into their brains.

His vision was filled with red. An earth-yellow shadow leaped toward him—

He lunged at it and missed again.

Sorena, Sorena... why?

Sorena said...

She said she needed a new anchor point. To replace the beginning position.

He remembered.

"This new anchor point must be something that belongs entirely to you, and your new title must be carved onto it."

Yifomiet stopped, standing there in a daze.

He tried hard to think about it. He had to think about it. Whatever Sorena said, he did. It had always been that way. He only needed to focus on doing what Sorena told him to do.

There was no need to think about anything else... no need to think about anything else... He needed something that belonged entirely to him, then carve his new name onto it.

And then?

He forced himself not to think so much.

Fairy dust kept striking his body and face.

"Boring. I'm done playing."

He did not know how long had passed before he heard the harpy elder slowly flap her wings and come to a stop.

After a while, the blows from the other harpies stopped as well.

"Hey. Dumb ox. Have you stood there long enough?" He heard the harpy elder's voice and tried to turn toward it.

But he could not see anything.

Yifomiet felt someone shove a long, slender rod into his hand. It was hard, its surface scarred by fire. One end was rounded, while the other was extremely sharp.

"What is this?" he asked.

"Sorena." Someone among them could no longer hold it in and started cackling again.

Fairies needed new amusement every moment. That was simply what fairies were like.

He rubbed the bone back and forth in his hands, cradled it in his palm, and strained his eyes at it.

His eyeballs nearly burst from their sockets, but he still could not see anything.

Sorena, Sorena. Say something to me.

Slowly, amid the laughter, he sat down.

"Who killed her?"

"Don't know."

"Where did it come from?"

"A demon without ears brought it."

"Who was that?"

"Dumb ox, you ask too many questions."

I ask too many questions. Asmodeus loses ten points. Sorena, hurry and jump out to tell me that.

Only shrill laughter answered him.

He sat there, one claw sliding over the bone as though playing a stringed instrument.

Yifomiet sat blankly for a while.

Then, after some time, he raised one finger. His sharp claw tip scraped across the bone, carving his new name into it:

Hand of Destruction Yifomiet.

He gripped it tightly.

He felt the blood throughout his body boil.

Something radiated out from him. His shoulder blades cracked without end as new flesh burst through his skin.

The bone in his hand thickened and lengthened out of thin air.

He grasped it with the two new arms that had grown from him.

The laughter abruptly vanished from the air.

The next second, he heard terrified gasps and the frantic beating of wings.

Yifomiet's horns struck the ceiling of the cave.

For some reason, the cave had suddenly become very narrow.

The ground beneath his feet was slippery.

And sticky.

Carefully kicking aside several harpy limbs torn into pieces, he braced himself against the wall and moved forward slowly.

He still could not see. Everything before him was a blur.

At last, it was quiet.

He soon discovered that quiet was not a good thing either.

Silence closed in around him from every direction with malicious intent. He felt as though something were stuck in his throat again.

Where should I go?

"You don't have any ideas of your own, do you?" Sorena would surely say that.

He clenched the scarlet spear tightly.

"A demon without ears." He remembered what the harpies had said.

A demon without ears had brought her bone.

He would return to Chaos Hell and find that demon. Kill him.

Every demon without ears had to die. "Hand of Destruction" Yifomiet should do that.

The ascension was complete. That weak wandering demon, Asmodeus, was gone. He would become one of the strongest demons.

He carried his heart and slowly walked outward.

It was too heavy. He feared it would suddenly fall to the ground like a stone.

He would kill them. Kill every demon without ears. Every being that played pranks, every being that stopped her from playing pranks.

This damned silence was going to kill him.

Sorena, Sorena. He could not think anymore. Sorena. Sorena.

A faint knocking sound came from the corner, breaking the silence.

Yifomiet stopped where he was.

He had nearly forgotten about this.

A strange, warm breath drifted from that corner.

The knocking changed into the sound of a thin barrier being punched through.

Then came the chirping of a baby harpy.

"Waa—" It was not crying. It was laughter.

He moved toward the corner, cautiously following the sound. He slid his claw beneath the thing and lifted it.

"Wahahahaha! Wahahahahaha!" A plump little bird was held high in the air, crying out happily.

"Who are you?" said the little bird in the eggshell.

He felt as though he had aged three thousand years.

"Your father." After a long while, he reached out with his other hand and poked the little bird's tiny head.

"Oh~ Father~"

Yifomiet looked in her direction—he could not see clearly, but he still said:

"Remember. Your name is Xiqisi. Your mother gave you that name."

Pale blue light surrounded him. It carried him away.

He felt the warm touch of the little bird in his palm growing distant.

The world of dreams was growing distant.