Chapter 163 - WHO?

*Tremble*

The entire room shook like a minor earthquake had just hit.

Hyde's eyes glistened as he looked at Hao Xuan and spoke slowly, enunciating every single word, "Who am I?"

Hao Xuan ignored the shaking furniture and simply nodded.

"I've been meaning to ask you this for a while. Who are you? No, WHAT are you?"

Hyde smiled. And as he smiled, only for an instant, his body seemed to split apart and two pairs of black eyes stared at him from the dark.

Hao Xuan tensed up. His grip on the chair tightened but he still kept a nonchalant expression, trying to act calm.

"Whatever do you mean? I am you," Hyde replied gently.

"Stop. Just, stop. Enough games. I don't care who you are as long as you don't mean me any harm. But you need to tell me the truth," Hao Xuan wiped a droplet of sweat that was going down the side of his face. Who would have thought that one could sweat in their own mind?

"Haha. If you don't care, why do you need to know?" Hyde chuckled.

Hao Xuan raised his tone, "Because you are in my damn head. I've never asked you anything in hopes that you would come to me yourself, but that didn't happen. Now you must give me an answer. Who? What? And most importantly, Why?"

The smile on Hyde's face vanished as he met Hao Xuan's gaze. And in that moment he knew, the truth, or a part of it would have to be revealed today.

"Child," Hyde started talking, the tone of his voice changed and it sounded like hundreds of different people were talking at the same time, "if thou gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee. You woke me from my slumber, yet you ask who I am?"

Hao Xuan's throat went dry as he stared at Hyde without even blinking an eye.

"Who I am matters not, for I mean you no harm…yet."

"But if you must, know that,"

The pitch of his voice kept increasing as he talked and Hao Xuan's ears started bleeding in real life. It felt like he was about to hear something not meant for someone in his position and it was his body's natural reaction to deafen itself to avoid hearing those words.

"I am the king of the Damned,"

The glass on the window shattered into pieces.

"I am the Prince of the night,"

The flame in the fireplace that had not stopped once, extinguished like it was running away.

"I am the Arch-Fiend,"

All the furniture other than the chairs they were sitting on exploded without making a sound.

"I am the Ancient Serpent,"

The four walls of the room collapsed as an empty darkness surrounded him. Right now Hyde and Hao Xuan were sitting on two chairs with nothing but the darkest darkness around them.

"I am Death,"

Hyde's lips moved but all Hao Xuan could hear was a high pitched noise that drowned out everything else in existence.

"I am ______"

The scene before Hao Xuan's eyes suddenly changed as the smell of blood, burnt flesh and hair hit him head-on.

Shouts of the elderly begging for mercy for their young, praying of women from gods that never answered, the cursing of strong-willed warriors, and screams of children crawled into his ears.

He couldn't actually 'see' anything but it wasn't hard to imagine upon hearing their voices. A vivid image appeared in his brain and a single word embedded itself in his mind.

His lips moved and he muttered the word in real life while still being in the mind palace.

The fire in the stove extinguished and all the formation of the portable camp stopped for a few seconds.

Jin Wang's eyes contracted as he turned around and stared at him with wide eyes.

There was black blood leaking from Hao Xuan's eyes, nose, and ears. Jin Wang broke out in a smile.

"I knew you wouldn't disappoint me," he said gleefully.

*Wooosh*

Hao Xuan woke up from his daze. He looked around the room and everything was still the same. Nothing had moved an inch. He looked at Hyde who was sitting on the opposite chair looking at him with half a smile.

"Why.....are you....here?" he asked in a voice so light that it was almost inaudible.

"No real reason. I saw you looking at me so I came over. Don't worry about it too much. What you need to know is that I don't really want to hurt you. Because as you know, if I did want to do something like that, it would be easier than snapping my fingers," he replied in his usual gentle voice which was such a contrast to the one from before.

"Then....what did you do my other personality?"

"Hm? Oh, I 'consumed' him," he said casually.

"Why?"

"Because I needed a place to stay."

"Why not take the other room?" Hao Xuan asked with a frown. It would be killing two birds with one stone if Hyde could take care of his bad personality as well.

"Wheres the fun in that? And also, I can't. That....'thing' is not something I can go against, at least not in here," he shook his head mirthlessly.

"You...can't kill it?" Hao Xuan was flabberghasted. He didn't know exactly what Hyde was, but it was obvious he was extremely powerful. Yet he wasn't able to take care of his other personality?

"Well, I could probably, but it wouldn't be easy. Anyways, enough talk. I need to rest," Hyde waved his hand and Hao Xuan was pushed out of the room.

With a loud bang, the door closed on its own. Hao Xuan sat there thinking for over 20 mins, until he felt something move his physical body.