The Walker Of Voids
Chapter 88 The Monarch Of The Autumn Forest [4] - Breakthrough

Two fists clashed in the middle of an arena while cracks slowly spread through the stone surface.

Lloyd and Zack stared into each other's eyes as they both forced the other back.

Sliding back, Lloyd quickly did a flip to stabilize himself while Zack simply threw his hands to the side, allowing the sheer power of his arms to create a wind pressure strong enough to stop him in his tracks.

"Hehe. Stare upon my power, as I shall take over the world!" Zack roared.

"What?" Lloyd asked, seemingly perplexed by Zack's random outburst of weird speaking.

"Never mind." Zack sighed.

"You two have been improving nicely." A voice entered both their ears, making them look toward the entrance of the training room to see Olivia and Layla.

"I know right." Zack puffed out his chest while Lloyd simply chuckled.

"But I think Lloyd has been having problems breaking through. He's improving fighting-wise, but-" Zack scratched the back of his neck before Lloyd finished his sentence for him.

"Everything else has been kind of stale." Lloyd shrugged.

"I guess that's normal. People are your ages usually replace it hard to break through the next commandment, so you don't have much to worry about." Layla smiled before patting Lloyd on the shoulder and ushering the two boys to the living room so they could take time to eat and relax.

"Hey, Zack! I heard that you beat up my brother." Elana grinned from ear to ear as she looked at Lloyd almost mockingly.

"You thought you were all high and mighty when you reached the half step so quickly, but look at you now. Zack already surpassed you in strength. How does it feel, huh? Are you going to cry? Its okay, don't cry." Elana snickered while rubbing Lloyd's head.

"Elana. Stop teasing your brother." Noah scolded, making Elana let go of Lloyd and look away with an audible 'hmph.'

It had been two weeks since Lloyd left his clone in charge of his normal life, and everything had gone completely as expected. After Lloyd used a portion of his mana pool to create a clone that could think independently, Lloyd left, and the clone played his normal life like it usually did.

Wake up, spar with Zack, ear, spar with zack, eat, spar with zack, and then finally go to sleep.

'I'm lucky I left just after reaching the half-step. At least now it makes sense why I'm not improving strength-wise. Man this is tiring. I hope the real Lloyd come-' However, before clone Lloyd could finish what he was thinking, he felt a sharp pain shoot through his chest.

*Thud*

Collapsing to his knees, the clone gasped for air to the best of its ability while clutching onto its heart in agonizing pain.

"Lloyd!" Olivia screamed and also got onto her knees.

"Are you okay? What's happening!? Are you hurt?!"

By the time Olivia could ask all those questions, everyone in the room had circled around Lloyd, with Benjamin even calling Ruben over in case of a medical emergency.

"Shit. Okay, I need you all to listen to be carefully, okay?" Lloyd spoke through gritted teeth as images of the original Lloyd's memory flashed before him.

"Ruben! Call the hospital immediately!" Benjamin roared before Layla dropped to Lloyd's level and tried to use her best inspection skills. Despite her ability to basically analyze anything she wanted, she never used it on family or friends without asking for permission first. However, since this was an emergency, she went right in and analyzed his body...

"Shadow clone?" she gasped before a wave of suspicion hit her.

"Shut up and listen!" Lloyd roared, immediately silencing everyone who wanted to ask what Layla meant.

"I'm a shadow clone that the original me put here before leaving for a dungeon raid two weeks ago." The clone grunted.

Raising his finger and covering it in a single claw, the clone began carving a set of numbers into the ground.

He knew he had to do this. He didn't really understand what was happening, but there was one thing that he was sure of, and that was that the original Lloyd was in danger, and he had to do everything to save him.

"These are the coordinates to the dungeon's portal. I don't know what's happening in there, but I know that the original is in danger." The clone gasped for air despite not needing it to breathe.

After finishing writing the last few numbers, he rolled over and writhed in pain, yet that was not all.

"Wait. Why would he-"

"What are you still doing here, you morons. Time works differently in dungeons. Start moving!" The clone shouted.

"Rage... So much rage..." Layla muttered to herself, but no one had time for whatever she was trying to say this time.

The clone slowly took its final breaths while its shadow gradually sunk into the ground; A final thought came to his mind as his brain finally synchronized with the original's.

A thought that only Layla heard.

"Why..."

***

"You must have realized it already. The reason you haven't reached the first commandment." Lloyd's voice echoed within the abyss, yet unlike his usual voice, it was monotone and emotionless... As if it was spoken by a lifeless robot.

"..."

"Do you know why I want you to strengthen our body instead of breakthrough? Do you know why I even bothered to teach you how to control the void energy that enters your body every time you kill something?"

"No..." another voice replied, yet unlike the monotone one, it was filled with much more life and emotion.

"It's because we are different from these humans." The masked man took a step forward" "

"We are different from these mortals."

"We were chosen."

"We changed for the better."

"We are special, and those humans out there are in no way as special as us." The black-masked individual stood right in front of Lloyd, his purple and black eyes staring into Lloyd's purple and white ones.

"We have so much potential, so we cannot stop at just ordinary..."

"Every time you shatter your vessel, you create a stronger one to replace it. A true void walker body... That is what we should aim for. Only then should you breakthrough... Only then should you strive to cross the boundary between you and the next commandment. Only when the moment comes to shed your humanity will I help you reach the other side."

***

Lloyd closed his eyes as the rage that boiled within his soul converged on the pool of void energy he had been saving up for his breakthrough for several weeks.

And as his rage took over the energy, it pooled itself into Lloyd's void rune powering it to its maximum and initiating-

[Commandment: 100%]

[Breakthrough Initialized]

"How rude of me to not introduce myself." The pale monster stepped forward with a disgusting smile on its face.

"Welcome to my palace. I am the monarch of the autumn forest. I may not have a name right now, but I should get one when my dungeon spills over into your planets."

However, despite his upbeat voice, no one could hear him over their own heartbeats.

"Don't look back." Hime's voice reached everyone's ears as rage and determination intertwined within their eyes.

A new fire burned within them, and at the moment, nothing mattered more than the desire to kill the creature before them.

"Natural formation. Stay calm, and don't grieve too hard. It's what they would have wanted!" Hime roared before they all released their kill intent.

'Five? Did two of us...' Hime thought in horror, yet she quickly understood why there were only five.

*Rumble*

The winds howled like mourning wolves, while the clouds roared with the rage and power of a lion.

And it was at that moment that a beam of purple light shot down from the sky, piercing towards a particular individual.

'Do you finally understand?' The voice asked, its tone laced with emotion for what felt like the first time. An emotion that Lloyd knew all too well; after all, it was an emotion he constantly heard in the voices of the higher families whenever they spoke to him...

'Why keep your humanity when humanity is so fragile.'

*BOOM*

As if the sky had ripped open, pools of void energy surged into Lloyd's body and channeled themselves into his void rune.

The power was intoxicating, and the sheer amount of it almost made Lloyd faint, yet only one thing kept him steady.

Lloyd didn't say a word yet, but everyone knew how he felt because they were feeling it too.

"Aww. Did I make you angry?" The creature asked with a cruel and wide grin on its face, yet before it could take another step-

"Tell me, can you feel it?" Lloyd's distorted voice shook the air around him and made the very ground beneath his feet shudder under his presence.

"Huh."

"Can you feel it?"

[Void Step]

Lloyd's body blinked out of existence and appeared behind the monster.

The monster's eyes widened in shock as it turned around, yet when it did, there was nothing there.

*Zip*

The monster's hand shot forward, aiming for Lloyd's heart, yet the moment his hand entered the purple energy covering Lloyd, waves of excruciating pain shot through his body.

"What is the meaning of this!" The monster roared, yet when it saw a palm right in front of its face, every single muscle in its body froze while Lloyd's eerily calm voice echoed within its ear.

"Can you feel my rage?"

[Aspect of Void + Flame Control]

*BOOM*