Void Veins: The Forbidden Ascension

Chapter 41: Two Valerius, One Victim

Valerius’s physical presence within the cavern shifted everything instantly. The air grew heavy, as though atmospheric pressure had multiplied, pressing against every inch of skin and filling the lungs with lead. Lin Ye gasped, chest heaving, each breath feeling as if drawn from deep beneath the sea. Deep within his mind, the Valerius who had stood beside him so long fell utterly silent—no word, no movement, trapped in a suffocating stillness.

“Impossible…” his voice came at last, trembling with disbelief. “I am the primary consciousness. I hold control. He should have faded long ago—nothing but weak, helpless scraps of soul!”

The Valerius standing before them offered a thin smile, then laughed softly—an echo that bounced from wall to wall, as if a thousand voices spoke together. “Always arrogant, little fragment. Did you imagine you could replace me? You are but a shadow I cast aside to take root here. I am the source. Everything you are comes from me.”

Lin Ye stumbled back, utterly lost. Who should he trust? The Valerius who had lived in his head, who had helped him survive, who had guided him? Or the old man before him, claiming to be the true origin? Two versions of a fiend stood opposed, each claiming the truth—and he was the prize they fought over.

Shen Kui, though still wounded and breathless, pulled himself upright. “Lin Ye! Do not listen to either! They are the same—both mean to make your body their perfect, permanent vessel. If they merge, you will vanish entirely, swallowed between them, never to return!”

The physical Valerius raised his right hand. Thick violet light gathered in his palm, compressing into a rapidly spinning plasma sphere that blazed with terrible, blinding radiance. “Surrender the body to me now, Lin Ye. Or I shall tear it from your soul—piece by piece.”

Instantly, the Valerius within him shouted. “Shield yourself! Now!”

Without thought, Lin Ye summoned every ounce of his strength, wrapping himself in a fortress of violet light. The energy sphere struck with shattering force, exploding into blinding brilliance. Lin Ye was driven backward, his feet scoring deep gouges into the stone floor.

Julian and Viper saw their chance and struck together from the sides—Julian with crackling energy, Viper with his whip lashing forward. But the inner Valerius seized control; Lin Ye’s hand rose, and a shockwave blasted outward, hurling both men back into the shadows.

“We must work together!” the inner Valerius cried, urgent and unfeigned. “Only for now. Destroy this physical form—or we both perish!”

Lin Ye hesitated. Ally with the demon in his head to kill the demon before him? A moral paradox that turned his stomach. But there was no time to debate right and wrong. Survive—or cease to be.

“How?” he asked inwardly.

“His legs!” came the sharp reply. “He anchors himself to the island’s power through them. Sever that connection, and he will weaken!”

Lin Ye nodded and lunged forward, the Nullification Sword blazing in his hand. The fight moved at lightning speed. The true Valerius was immensely powerful, yet his movements were stiff, bound to the island’s energy. Lin Ye—driven by street-honed instinct combined with Valerius’s battle mastery—was faster, more unpredictable.

He ducked a searing energy blade that singed past his ear, spun aside, and drove his sword deep into Valerius’s left calf.

Valerius screamed. His light flickered, turning half-transparent. The anchor was broken.

“Now!” the inner Valerius roared. “Draw it in—through the jade!”

Lin Ye opened the absorption gate bound to his chest. Violet energy poured from Valerius’s body into him, a scalding flood like drinking molten fire—agonising, yet swelling him with unimaginable power.

The physical Valerius sank to his knees, bewilderment written across his face. “You… you betray me…” His gaze fixed on Lin Ye.

“I survive,” the inner Valerius spoke through Lin Ye’s lips, cold and unsparing.

Then the fallen Valerius smiled—a terrible, triumphant smile. “You think this victory? You have only put me back together. Thank you, fools.”

His body dissolved into violet motes of light, every fragment drawn into the jade upon Lin Ye’s chest.

Lin Ye screamed, clutching his head as if it would split apart. Two consciousnesses, once separate, fused into one—expanding, filling every space within him, doubling in strength. Control was no longer shared. It was absolute.

His eyes blazed pure violet. No brown remained. No doubt. No Lin Ye.

Only Valerius.

He looked upon Shen Kui, then Julian and Viper, with the gaze of something far removed from human—of a god regarding insects.

“At last,” he spoke in Lin Ye’s voice, yet the tone, depth, and arrogance were all Valerius. “I am whole again.”

Shen Kui backed away, deathly pale. “Lin Ye…?”

“Lin Ye is gone,” Valerius said coldly, stepping forward. “Now, Shen Kui… let us conclude business long overdue.”