Void Veins: The Forbidden Ascension

Chapter 29. The Bitter Reunion

Julian stood there — the very figure once known as the Academy’s most brilliant student, the rival who had always intimidated Lin Ye with arrogant glances and condescending smiles. But now he looked different — terrifyingly so. His skin was ashen-grey, as though his blood had been replaced by something else entirely, and thick black veins coiled up his neck and wrists, throbbing with an unnatural rhythm. The eyes that had once burned with ambition now glowed dim violet, hollow and cold, filled with a madness that could never be cured.

"Julian…" Lin Ye gasped, struggling to rise from the hard stone floor. His body felt leaden, his legs trembling — the lingering exhaustion of the Soul Labyrinth, a place where mind and spirit had been drained dry. Yet he forced himself upright, bracing on trembling hands. "What have they done to you?"

Julian smiled — a smile that never reached his eyes. "I see you still draw breath. Honestly, I had hoped you’d perished up above. It seems luck hasn’t quite abandoned you yet. Good — because I intend to savour this moment personally."

Beside him, Viper stepped forward, whip coiled tight in his grip. His clothes were torn, his face streaked with dust and dried blood, yet his gaze remained sharp and watchful. "We fell through the same shaft," he explained flatly. "I was trapped in the second layer, nearly lost forever. Julian found me. He… helped me out."

"Helped?" Lin Ye laughed bitterly, his chest aching. "Do you truly believe that? He promised you power, didn’t he? High rank, the world laid at your feet — the same lie told to every fool who came before."

"He offered purpose," Viper corrected coldly. "This world is broken. Valerius may be mad, but he is right about one thing: the old order is dead. The Empire rots; its leaders care only for their own gain. Only the Void offers true order — equality in emptiness, peace through total erasure."

Lin Ye’s father, who had sat propped against the wall, suddenly coughed violently, fresh blood dripping onto the stone. He lifted his head, gazing at Viper with profound sadness. "Do not listen to them, Lin Ye. Julian is gone. What stands there is not the boy we knew — merely an empty vessel, filled with the shattered fragments of Valerius’s consciousness. His words are not his own."

Julian looked upon the old man with utter disgust. "Silence, you decaying relic. You failed as guardian. You let everything fall apart. Now it falls to us to finish what you began — the right way."

He raised his right hand. Violet energy gathered there, swirling slowly, radiating a weight that pressed down on the air itself. "I will not kill you quickly, Lin Ye. That would be too kind. I will take my time — beginning with those you hold dearest."

With a sharp motion, he hurled the energy toward Shen Kui, who lay unconscious on the floor.

"NO!" Lin Ye screamed.

Adrenaline flooded his veins, burning away pain and fatigue. He did not think — he simply moved. He threw himself forward, weaponless, driving his full weight at Julian. Taken aback by the reckless charge, Julian’s blast went wide, searing the wall in a shower of sparks. Lin Ye crashed into him, sending them both sprawling across the stone.

They grappled on the cold, rough surface. Julian was strong, trained in the Academy’s finest techniques — precise strikes, lethal holds. But Lin Ye fought with no rules, only the desperation of someone who had learned survival on the streets. He bit the hand clawing at his throat, raked at Julian’s face, drove his fists into vulnerable places no martial arts master would ever teach.

Viper stepped forward to intervene, whip lifting — but Lin Ye’s father, summoning his last strength, hurled a sharp stone that glanced off Viper’s shoulder. It drew no blood, but it turned his head and halted his advance for a heartbeat. That heartbeat was all Lin Ye needed. He spotted the Nullification Sword lying nearby, snatched it up, and drove the blade deep into Julian’s shoulder.

Julian howled in agony, his violet aura shattering. Lin Ye stood over him, pressing the sword’s tip to his throat.

"Enough," he panted. "You are beaten."

Julian laughed, blood trickling from his lip. "Beaten? You remain a fool to the end. Look behind you, Lin Ye."

Lin Ye turned. The great iron door was trembling. Slowly, violet light seeped through its cracks. It was opening — not from force applied from without, but because something immense was pushing it open from within.

A low rumble filled the chamber, growing louder with every inch the door moved. And from the darkness beyond came laughter — familiar, sharp, triumphant.

"At last," Valerius’s voice echoed from every wall and shadow. "The gate stands fully open. And look — I am welcomed with such abundance. Fresh fuel, and so very perfect."

Countless shadowy hands reached out from the darkness, cold and unyielding. They closed around Lin Ye’s ankles, Julian’s, Viper’s, Shen Kui’s, his father’s — dragging them one by one, deeper and further down, into an abyss without end.