Chef in the Apocalypse

Everyone in the surroundings sucked in a cold breath of air.

What was the soul? It was the gateway to reincarnation. If their soul was captured by this bloody banner, that would mean their death would be a true one and they would be forced to suffer eternally.

The prospect of an eternal suffering caused the mood to drop significantly. While the human warriors could have resolved themselves to fight to the death earlier, things had now changed.

Who would willingly sacrifice their soul to be captured and manipulated even after their death?

Victor in particular felt the weight of responsibility fall onto his shoulders. Should he put everything on the line now and fight it out, hoping that Jayce would make it back before they were all slaughtered?

Or should he agree to become Garu’s disciple. Sure everyone else would die, but at least their souls would not be captured. They would have a chance to enter the reincarnation cycle and live better in the next life.

Which was why he swallowed his pride and stepped forward.

"If I agree, do you promise to not capture their souls?" Victor said, his expression torn.

Garu smiled widely at the question, seemingly happy that Victor had changed his mind.

"I guess I can make that promise." He said after a moment of pondering.

Victor let out the breath that was stuck in his throat. His body felt deflated and left a bad taste in his mouth. He had no knowledge about souls, therefore he didn’t know what kind of power the bloody banner had.

This was the first time that he had been defeated so thoroughly, and without sustaining any damage. It was as if the weight of responsibility was crushing him under its foot.

"Don’t do it Leader! Don’t sell your soul to save ours!"

A shout from behind him rang out, sending a shiver up his spine. He instantly recognized the voice of Dave, his subordinate and good friend. The voice was firm and unwavering, carrying a deep resolution.

"Dave..." Victor muttered.

His gaze was still focused on the ground, however the voice seemed to fill him with strength. His hunched shoulders slowly recovered and he lifted his head, eventually locking eyes with Garu who was standing ahead of him.

Garu frowned, seeing that the earlier look of defeat had somehow been replaced with a stubborn and unyielding one.

"Tsk." Garu clicked his tongue in annoyance, his patience was running thin.

Without saying a word, he flicked his wrist in one fluid motion, catching Victor off guard. Before he could even move his sword arm, the sound of steel piercing flesh entered his ears, shocking him.

Victor looked down at his body, expecting to see Garu’s short sword sticking out of him.

"DAVE! NOOOO!"

The sound of a woman’s shrill scream filled the battlefield.

Sophie caught Dave’s limp body as it fell lifelessly to the floor. Her eyes widened as tears began to spill out uncontrollably. Before she knew it, she was screaming and wailing, staring at the short sword sticking out of his forehead.

Victor didn’t have to turn around to know what had happened, he instinctively knew that he had just lost his good friend. However, he still turned around, his currently blank and devoid of thought.

He saw Sophie, Dave’s sister holding him tightly and crying. Before he had a chance to fully comprehend the sight, the ghostly apparition floated up from his body, seemingly in pain.

It let out cries and was struggling whilst being pulled towards Garu. The soul was like a ship in a raging river, having no choice but to get pulled along by the current.

Victor could only watch on silently as Dave’s soul stopped in front of the purple skinned demon. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"I thought you were smarter than this human." Garu sighed exaggeratedly, however there was still a smile on the corner of his lips.

He grabbed onto the soul with one of his hands, eliciting a shriek in response from the soul. Then without any warning, the soul was engulfed in flames.

"ARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHH!"

The soul screamed in agony and began thrashing about in Garu’s hand. However, no matter how it struggled, it was as if it was shackled down.

It only took a few moments before the soul dissipated, turning into tiny motes of light.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

Everything had happened so fast, from the time Garu sent out his attack to when he had dissipated Dave’s soul, only a few seconds had passed. Victor had not had a chance to process anything before Dave was lost forever.

Victor fell to his knees, feeling a burning pain within his chest.

’F*CK it hurts!’

’Dave...’

He fell into despair, clutching at his burning chest. Every breath that he took in filled his lungs with fire, adding to his suffering.

Everything within the surroundings became quiet for Victor as he knelt down and experienced immense pain. He had never felt this much pain in his life.

"HAHAHAHA!"

Garu’s laughter was the only thing that penetrated the silence, traveling directly into Victor’s psyche. The sound was harsh and grating to his ears and elicited a sense of fury and disgust within him.

"...Garu" Victor muttered, his face twisting into fury as he spat the words through his teeth with venom.

The burning sensation in his chest increased many fold, yet he didn’t care. He focused on the scalding anger which took over his entire being.

"GARUUUUUUU!!"

Victor tilted his head back and screamed at the top of his lungs. The burning sensation subsided a little as he roared out the name of the one who had caused him such pain.

Garu’s face fell instantly as he witnessed the scene in front of him. The playful smile which was pulling up the corner of his lips disappeared, now replaced with a look of pure and utter shock.

It wasn’t only him that reacted in this way. The entire battlefield watched on, feeling as if they were dreaming. However, the heat that was coming from Victor was an indication that everything they were witnessing was real.

Plumes of flames flew into the air, coming from Victor’s mouth. The flames were so hot that they seemingly melted the space around it, causing even the fabric of reality to twist and warp in response.

"D-Dragon!?" Garu muttered, his face paling in shock.

’F*ck, there is no way the Dragonkin will allow me to take one of their kind as a disciple. I have to kill him.’ He thought inwardly. All plans of taking Victor in as a disciple had been thrown away with this one display.

In another shocking turn, Garu quickly retrieved his blood-red banner back into his spatial ring. While others may question his decision, he knew that with a single breath of fire from a dragonkin, his precious banner and all the souls contained within would be turned to ashes.

Now that Victor had alleviated some of the burning pain within his chest, he felt his body begin to shift and change gradually. The first thing he noticed was an hot and itching sensation upon his hands and forearms.

He looked down only to see black resplendent scales seemingly appear from nowhere, moving all the way up to his elbow. His once small hands had suddenly turned into claws, forcing him to drop the sword he was gripping onto.

Instead of being freaked out, Victor felt an immense comfort flow through his body after these changes had taken place.

It was as if the obstruction that had caused his bottleneck had suddenly disappeared, allowing his Qi to flow smoothly and fill his body with strength.

Victor felt his Qi circulate automatically, eventually pooling within his Dantian. Instead of rotating in a vortex, the Qi gathered together, eventually forming into a sphere.

It started off tiny, yet began to grow in size little by little.

Garu’s yelled out in surprise, feeling the power within Victor begin to grow gradually. He suddenly had a feeling that if he didn’t put an end to this man right now, he would struggle in the future.

Without a word, he began to move forward, but was suddenly stopped by two figures who threw themselves in his way.

"MOVE!" He yelled out, sending out two punches towards the two bulky men.

Colin and Heath crossed their arms in front of their chests in tandem, doing their best to block the attack.

Thankfully, due to their cultivation of the Divine Body Arts, they were able to withstand the punch of the Core Formation Garu. However, it still hurt like hell.

"We won’t let you pass." Colin said, his tone resolute.

He didn’t know what was happening with Victor, especially after seeing the trail of flames that he had released from his mouth and the black scales on his body. Yet he knew that Victor was in the middle of a breakthrough.

They had to do all they could to stop Garu from interrupting him, otherwise they would all die.