In his previous life, very few truly knew anything about Hanzo, the Nightmare King. And that wasn't surprising. It was difficult to learn about a man when almost no one survived an encounter with him. Entire sects vanished. Armies collapsed. And the ones who did manage to crawl away with their lives like the Lunar Sect, spoke of only two things when it came to the monster who walked the continent.
First: Hanzo stood at the peak.
Under the heavens, above the earth there was no one like him.
An undefeated calamity in human form.
Second…He was batshit insane.
Even the survivors couldn't properly describe it. They'd say that while they were begging for their lives or throwing everything they had at him, Hanzo would be doing the most absurd things.
He'd talk to himself mid-battle. He'd grin ear to ear while dodging killing blows. He'd laugh at random moments for no damn reason. And sometimes most terrifyingly his expression would go quiet, peaceful even, as he beat someone into the dirt simply because they had annoyed him.
It didn't matter if they were a sword saint, a sect master, or a demigod-level monster. If Hanzo thought they were irritating?
He would fold them like laundry.
The Lunar Sect's elders had once described him like this : "Facing the Nightmare King wasn't like facing a warrior. It was like fighting a natural disaster… that giggled while it killed you."
And in truth… maybe Hanzo was crazy. Yet no one ever knew why. Not even his own subordinates from the Everfall Syndicate the people who followed him, feared him, worshipped him. He was their master, after all. Their terrifying, unpredictable master.
When he watched his subordinates suffer during training bones breaking, lungs burning, bodies collapsing he would smile. A peaceful, almost gentle smile.
Was he truly insane? Only Harian knew the truth. It started that day… The day he mastered Shadow Ascend.
Just when he thought he had finally achieved something, a voice tore into his head violent, sharp, ripping through his skull in excruciating agony. He screamed until his throat bled. He thought he was hallucinating, dying, or finally losing whatever sanity he had left.
But the voice didn't stop. And in time… he came to accept it.
He wasn't alone anymore. There was something in his head. Something that spoke to him and something that answered back.
That was how people began to think he was insane. Talking to himself in battle, muttering to the air, laughing for no reason. Or perhaps… he really had gone mad. Even Harian wasn't sure sometimes.
Because from the moment Vex appeared, everything changed.
He went from weak to devastatingly powerful.
From composed to… occasionally losing his mind entirely.
From a wandering boy to a nightmarish force. Vex was both a miracle and a curse.
And just like back then in his new life, even now Harian felt the familiar voice cut through his thoughts:
[USER ACKNOWLEDGE. WHAT ARE YOU BLABBERING ABOUT THIS TIME?]
Harian blinked, snapped out of his memory, and sighed.
"Shut up, Vex," he muttered under his breath.
The madness… had returned with him.
Harian woke up to the rough bounce of movement and the sting of cold air hitting his face. His vision shook for a moment before it settled, and the first thing he saw was Muliad's broad back. The old man was carrying him over his shoulder, sprinting through the thick mountain forest at terrifying speed. Trees blurred past them, the ground flashing in uneven shadows as roots and rocks rushed beneath Muliad's feet.
The memories of the final clash hit Harian like a punch. The Shadow Ascend, the explosion, his body collapsing. He groaned softly.
"This is pathetic…" he muttered to himself.
Muliad immediately reacted. "You awake?" he asked, his deep voice still steady even as he ran. "How are you feeling?"
"Drained. That last attack… took a lot more out of me than expected."
Muliad gave a low hum somber, almost respectful. "You must've used a tremendous amount of essence. I felt the fallout even from afar."
Harian didn't answer. His pride was already wounded enough.
Muliad spoke again after a moment. "Tell me honestly… did you call me over just so I could carry you out of there?"
Harian stayed silent for a few seconds then let out a small, tired chuckle. "This is already embarrassing as it is. Don't make it worse."
Inside his head, Vex's voice echoed immediately.
[YES, TRULY EMBARRASSING. YOU'RE BASICALLY A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS RIGHT NOW.]
Harian let his head flop back with a sigh. His limbs were stiff, heavy, and nearly numb. Annoyingly, Vex wasn't entirely wrong.
"Status," Harian muttered instinctively.
"What?" Muliad asked sharply.
"Nothing," Harian answered quickly.
Vex chimed in again, amused.
[YOU REALLY CAN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN USING YOUR MOUTH AND USING YOUR THOUGHTS, HUH?]
Harian resisted the urge to groan louder. Great. Not only was he half-dead he was also being roasted by the voice in his head
Harian mentally shouted for the status window, and the familiar translucent blue screen flickered into existence before his eyes. His vision was still blurry, but the numbers were clear enough to make him blink.
NAME: Harian Liche
ALIAS: Hanzo of the Everfall
LEVEL : Intermediate
ESSENCE TYPE: Void (Devolved)
SOUL STATUS: Incomplete (87.9%)
SECONDARY ESSENCE: Eternal Essence [Dormant]
LIFESPAN REMAINING: [DATA UNSTABLE]
CURRENT ESSENCE AUTHORITY: 6.0 %
ESSENCE EVOLUTION PATH:
Void→ [???] → Nightmare → [???]
UNIQUE TRAIT : [???]
AVAILABLE ABILITIES: Void Grasp, Essence Break, Null Step, Devour Field
New skill : Foresight Bearer.
CURRENT RESTRICTIONS:
- Divine, Elemental, and Nature Manifested Essences cannot be devoured.
- Essence higher than user's rank will cause feedback damage.
- Overuse of Devourer trait may destabilize soul lattice integrity.
RESTRICTIONS LIFTED
-Divine essence can be devoured.
[END STATUS]
---
"Essence authority 6.0%? That's still too low…" he muttered under his breath. Even with the breakthrough, even after nearly blowing his arm off using Shadow Ascend, it wasn't enough. "My control over world essence is trash. I can barely manage intake, but the output? Half of it leaks away…"
He clenched his jaw. In his past life, 6% would've been laughable. But right now, it was a painfully accurate representation of the weak vessel he inhabited. Vex immediately chimed in.
[YOUR BODY IS TOO WEAK. CONTINUOUS TRAINING IS REQUIRED. IF YOU WANT TO USE VOID ESSENCE PROPERLY, YOU NEED A VESSEL THAT DOESN'T BREAK EVERY TIME YOU USE A TECHNIQUE.]
"Yeah, yeah," Harian muttered. "I know."
He was about to close the screen when something new caught his eye. A new line. One that hadn't been there before.
New Skill Acquired: Foresight Bearer
Harian blinked. "What the hell is that?"
Vex answered instantly.
[AH, THAT. I WANTED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT IT THE MOMENT YOU WOKE UP.]
Harian narrowed his eyes. "Why do you sound way too casual for something that sounds suspicious?"
[BECAUSE IT IS...TOO MUCH. AND ALSO BECAUSE YOU'RE GOING TO FREAK OUT IN ABOUT THREE SECONDS.]
Harian's brows knitted. "Why would I."
[TURN YOUR HEAD TO THE LEFT.]
He did.
Just in time to see an arrow whizz straight past where his skull had been a heartbeat ago and bury itself into a tree trunk behind them. Harian froze. Muliad froze.
Vex spoke again, smug.
[SEE? FORESIGHT BEARER. YOU'RE WELCOME.]