Nine Venoms Sect Founder

"Never thought a bitch could get this gross," Mukri blurted out. With over 2,000 birthdays behind him, his portfolio of experiences carried a fair amount of sordid things—none could match the atrocity taking shape before his bull eyes. Across the growing mass of rosy flesh, the livid faces of the Soul Refining Hall's elders and their legions of victims contorted in ever-changing grimaces that alternated between grief and madness. Blood tears dripped down their cheeks. Their eyes popped out, merging with and gathering at the center of the mass of flesh to become a single eyeball that stared at Birandar with stark hunger. Expanding to 100 meters, the flesh mass soared into the sky. 

"Re…reverend…h-hurry. We can't…let the Blood Matron recover too…aaargh…it hurts!" The last conscious message of Weeping Soul's top elders died down. Their awareness faded in the fesh mass, enabling it to complete its transformation and become…a Grief Incarnation. But even though the monstrous beast had regressed to a primitive state, it would never lose sight of its sacred duty: to obey the Reverend and protect his goals.

Words couldn't describe Weeping Soul's emotions. The closer he was to the finish line, the more humane he became—so to speak. Weeping Soul hoped that, at the very least, those four would remain by his side, and alongside him, enjoy the fruits of centuries of labor. But ever since Harun's appearance, things just kept getting worse. For the first time since their initial confrontation, Weeping Soul discovered a profound hatred for that con artist of a plaguebringer. Suppressing that base emotion, Weeping Soul returned to human form, bowed at the Grief Incarnation, and escaped deeper into the cavern—leaving his subordinate to fend off Birandar. 

Dark-blue flames filled the faces' empty eye sockets. Knowing that the situation had taken a turn for the worse, Mukri rushed to Birandar's side—meeting the grotesque beast alongside his boss' first disciple. Unsurprisingly, Birandar didn't lose his composure. By completing his awakening, he freed himself from negativity, making his willpower as steadfast as a mountain. "You think Master would enjoy this thing as a gift?" Birandar asked Mukri, who for a second, seriously pondered the question. "The boss would probably be like 'oh, this is fantastic research material.' But I'm not sure you wanna start your career by offending the madame. Let's just bring some heads back." Mukri dissuaded Birandar, who promptly acknowledged the wisdom of the bull's words—the battle thus started. 

Dark-blue energy balls formed across the air, filling nearly all available corners of space. Blue flame lines shot out of the Grief Incarnation's eyes, stabbing through and connecting each of the orbs to create and trap the pair in an unbreakable net of flame. Six, massive rosy tendrils sprouted from the Grief Incarnation, swaying like sea waves while the orbs fired a succession of beams at the Mukri-Birandar duo. The first salvo bounced against Birandar's barrier, and at first, it seemed that the immovable sheen of light could repel all assaults. But when dropping hurricanes of dark-blue flames joined hands with the rapid-fire beams, even Birandar's mantra couldn't protect him—to say nothing of Mukri. 

Worse, surrounded by the flaming net, they could neither advance nor retreat. Unwilling to remain trapped like a powerless mouse, the bull unleashed his Devil Essence and stomped his hooves. A volcanic eruption of dark-purple magma geysered upward, aiming straight for the Grief Incarnation. Its single eyeball shifted from Birandar to the infernal volcano, imperceptible ripples followed, hiding a terrifying eruption of telekinetic powers that stopped the dark magma mid-air. In awe of the beast's sheer mental powers, Mukri's eyes narrowed, but undaunted, Birandar flew upward. Mukri, who relied on Birandar's barrier to not become a barbecued cow, followed instantly. 

With an immaculate glow in his third eye, Birandar saw through the tiniest gaps in the net and read all patterns and energy fluctuations to anticipate all beam strikes and know the lapse between the salvos. Riding on that lapse, Birandar reached the top of the net, a step away from breaking free—the Grief Incarnation wouldn't have it. The legions of faces opened their mouths, the stench of death filled the air, and in an explosion of foul energies, the Grief Incarnation made all the orbs…detonate!

Energy flashes, smoke clouds and geysering flames marked the strongest blast the Obsidian Soul Stone mine had experienced till now. But as Mukri saw Death's scythe dropping on his thick neck, reality changed. The pair was now behind the Grief Incarnation, as if from the start it was aiming for a mirage. Always on maximum alert, Mukri directly released his signature diabolical skill. Dark clouds formed above the Grief Incarnation, with cracking thunder and flashing lightning announcing the fury of Heavenly Tribulation. 

BOOM! 

As if scaling to match all the evil the Grief Incarnation represented, a deluge of purple lightning dropped from the dark clouds, smiting and tearing through this amalgam of pure malevolence. Its mournful howls became soul-rending screams that flayed Mukri's soul piece by piece. Even Birandar couldn't take those stoically, veins beat on across his forehead, his eyes went bloodshot, but by relying on his Dual Soul Root's fortitude, the teen resisted the blow. "Ugh…" Mukri had no such protection. Struck hard by the Grief Incarnation's scream, he lost control of the tribulation clouds and cratered below. 

"Bull of Heaven, hold on tight," Birandar warned, and rammed his fists into the flesh mass. No significant impact followed. Worse, the rosy flesh mass sucked in Birandar's fists. The eyeball shifted back to him, with the six great tendrils dropping like guillotines to execute the youth. Closing his human eyes, Birandar released a dazzling flash of light from his third eyes. The tendrils froze, and as Birandar entered an unholy communion with the Grief Incarnation, a second Birandar leaped out of the original, appeared before the eyeball, and punched the sight out of it!

Vibration waves demolished the ground and walls as the beast's dissonant shrieks reverberated. Shrugging it off, the second Birand kept his fist lodged in the eyeball and activated his third eye. In symbiosis, the two Birandars attacked the beast's emotional spectrum, revealing and breaking down the roots of its grief to reduce its strength drastically. Feeling its existence threatened by the mental assault, the beast let its survival instinct guide its moves—and set itself ablaze. The ghostly fire was like a disease that gnawed at Birandar's arms and souls. But worse, the flames sank into the ground, pulling out bones and remains of past experts too greedy for their own good. The remains assembled in an army of skeletal undead that rushed after Mukri, who groaned and convulsed under the beast's mind-flaying.

A sense of urgency disturbed Birandar's pace. The skeletal platoons assembled to become mammoth-sized rhinoceroses that formed a stampede that threatened to impale every inch of Mukri's incapacitated body. 

"Boss, I'm going to kick it! I'm going to kick it! Please save me!" Using the Karmic Link, Mukri connected to Harun's soul, and warned him of his predicament. Though surprised by Mukri's presence in the mine, Harun suppressed all questions that popped up and took control of Mukri's body.

With masterful control, Harun isolated the grief strike from Mukri's soul. Devil Essence gushed out, forming a purple shield wall that met the stampede in an ear-splitting confrontation. The skeletal rhinos shattered instantly. Birandar's lips curled into a smile, his third eye's light shone at its brightest, cleansing the Grief and Sacrifice Essence that made up the ghastly beast. 

Its screams died down. Harun returned control of the body to Mukri, who in rage and indignation, rammed into the weakened beast with his elongated horns. Malignant flames overpowered whatever remained of the beast's defenses—reducing it to ashes. 

Yanking their arms free from the burning creature, the two Birandars fused back into one youth, who stared at the flesh barbecue with mixed feelings.

"Sorry Master, I guess there won't be any trophy after all."