The Animagus: From Hunter to Monster-Chapter 114: Delusion (1)

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The rhythmic ticking of the clock was deafening in the suffocating silence of the small, dimly lit apartment. Ethan Vance sat on the cold wooden floor, his back pressed against the peeling wallpaper. His hands trembled as he clutched the final notice from the bank—a stark reminder of his colossal failure.

"FINAL WARNING: FAILURE TO REPAY WILL RESULT IN LEGAL ACTION."

A bitter laugh escaped his lips.

"So, this is it…?"

Ethan had always believed in the power of digital wealth. While others worked their bodies to the bone, he saw the future in stocks, crypto, and online investments. He had borrowed big, taken risks—trusted the wrong person.

And that trust had killed him.

"I swear on my life, Ethan, my dad will invest in your project!" His best friend, Nolan Hayes, had grinned just months ago, shaking his hand. "We're in this together, bro. Just take the loan—you'll be rich in no time!"

A lie.

A cold, calculated betrayal.

Nolan had vanished with the money, and Ethan had been left with nothing but crippling debt, a ruined reputation, and a father who disowned him.

His father's last words echoed in his mind.

"You're not my son. A fool like you deserves to starve."

Ethan clenched his fists, staring at the pile of unpaid bills, court threats, and eviction notices.

He had tried. God knows he had tried.

But no one believed in a man who had already lost everything.

His breathing grew shallow. His vision blurred. His mind caved in under the weight of failure.

Thump.

His head hit the floor.

As the darkness swallowed him, one last thought surfaced in his crumbling consciousness.

"If only I had one more chance..."

Then—silence.

A Voice in the Void

A chilling cold surrounded him. He felt weightless—a soul drifting in the void.

Then, a voice echoed in the darkness.

[Initializing System... Loading Data... Activating Investment Protocol...]

Ethan's eyes snapped open.

The apartment was gone. The pain was gone. The despair was gone.

He was somewhere else—a space filled with floating golden numbers, shifting graphs, and digital blueprints of financial empires yet to be built.

And in front of him, a glowing screen appeared.

[WELCOME, ETHAN VANCE.]

[YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO RECEIVE THE INVESTMENT SYSTEM.]

[MISSION: DOMINATE THE WORLD OF BUSINESS. BUILD AN EMPIRE. DESTROY YOUR ENEMIES.]

[DO YOU ACCEPT?]

Ethan's lips curled into a slow, dangerous smirk.

"One more chance?"

His fingers reached forward.

He pressed [YES].

And with that, the world would never be the same again.

End of Chapter 1

This opening sets the tone of betrayal, failure, rebirth, and the rise to power. It's short, impactful, and leaves the reader wanting more.

The sky is often described as the collector and giver of energies, while the earth remains the generator and consumer of energies. In this sense, every element on earth evolves into diffusion, merging with the sky's elements to form a dissection of energies before returning to the earth.

Subsequently, and in revolution, this process seems to repeat itself.

But on this day—

On that day, an unusual had happened.

Instead of tidal waves, there was a water vortex. Instead of a tremor, there was an eruption. Instead of infernal high-resolution heat, there was an unwavering flicker of yellow embers.

The sea, land, and fire elements of the Earth had all gathered their attributes into manipulative energies to engage the incoming force.

Things did not unfold as usual. Rather than being a mere collector, the sky suddenly generated its own energy and directed it towards the earth.

It traveled in a linear formation, its whirling hurricane form exuding a distorting force accompanied by intense gravity.

The sheer combined energy of the earth elements seemed not to wait for the descent of this incoming energy, as they erupted upwards into the air.

BOOM!

The clash was formidable, accompanied by the sudden change that ensued.

The vast expanse of earth, once naturally occupied by trees, was cleared, leaving a void entity as space. The entire environment had suddenly turned white, as if the sky had lent its color to the space.

Water flood came, swirling in its vortex, in this white entity. But there was no food, no victim, so it showed off and disappeared.

Waves of fire shambles took its own turn, conceding heat that will dry a wet leave up, even at hundred meters away from it. But, like water, it died down.

In turn, was earth. It came in hurricane form, rotating debris speedily in its pinned axis, before making its own move. And yet, the energy died down immediately.

And— BOOM!

The white void had exploded.

Water vortex travelled in the form of snakes, performing osmosis on land, before finally finding a domain where it rested majority of her members—forming a lake.

The fire shambles, assembled themselves into one, shooting high into the sky before forming the sun.

Earth had dominated the expanse of the space, accumulating a higher percentage of the domination.

So, there can be life again.

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And there was life.

Migrants from parts of the four surrounding countries of this extremely large expanse had gathered, and started to develop it into becoming a country.

It took moments. It took time. But they got there.

It was at this time, and due to the collective views from these migrants to form an indelible effective intelligence that they realized; this part of the universe they had inhabited was different from the countries around the globe. This part of the universe resonated and pulsed with energy.

And what are the energy controllers collectively called? Mages.

In that case, the country was given the name Guchen, which means the fusion of old and new energy.

***

Dark energy simmered from all directions—north, south, east and west, soaring high into the air.

The yielder of this dark energy was no other person than Minshi.

"Minshi?"

The energy had come in four different long strands of black utter, shover hovering into the nothingness of the atmosphere.

In contrast, a heavy lightning shot had separated into four different fire tendrils, speeding towards the long strands of dark energy.

The wielder of this power was Xan Shu.

"XAN SHU! Die!!"

Minshi thundered, running towards Xan Shu where he stood, with his sword in slant position by his side.

On the other hand, Xan Shu had his eyes shut, his two hands clamped upon each. His index fingers standing out, rubbed against each other as he muttered. "Come on, now!"

Swifff! Swifff!!

Two swords, from no where whoozed past his ears targeted at approaching Minshi.

The sword, which Minshi gripped tightly in a slant position, got engulfed with black energy. He halted to a slide, striking his sword horizontally.

A wave of the simmering energy on the sword gushed out, hitting the two swords sent to him by Xan Shu.

Before disorientation of the sword, Xan Shu had leaped into the air, grasping the two swords, and with steady air stance, and lowly descent, landed the attack on Minshi.

"Clank!"

The two swords hit that of Minshi, who used his might to nullify the attack while it was still incoming, and had failed.

Thrown off-balance, the force that emanated from the clash had sent him some distance backward.

"Pu--- blood?"

Minshi vomited blood, a proof that the strike from had great effects.

At this point, Minshi gazed at a distance where he halted, from the dark energy which was suddenly and gradually consumed by those small tendrils Xan Shu had initially sent.

"At this point, I'm weakened. I shall esc—" Minshi muttered to himself, caught in between speech by the surprise before him.

Xan Shu had suddenly strikes the ground, sending ripples of yellow-like tendrils towards Minshi. In the same vain, he had his hands spread out, gradually lifting as four corners wall seemed to obey the command, from beneath the ground.

Minshi was sort of fast. He transformed into shadows and made to escape.

Xan Shu immediately hovered his hands in the air, gathering energy as he jammed his hands together with quick precision. With his eyes closed, he prayed:

"Xan Tang, may my essence become the light that guides you. Walk forward, and never look back."

And with this, he finally said, "To the grave dump"

Immediately he said this, he released his jammed hands.

What seemed to be a small orb of energy which had formed from his concentration of mana power had suddenly evolved into bigger balls, and even, more bigger balls before it exploded.

All that was seen, was a flicker of smoke which left through the dark burst of what had just happened.

***

Besides the graveyard, was seated a boy, Xan Tang. He sat on his legs crossed across each other, with his hands brought to the Amen format.

He was adopting the traditional Cultivation position.

He had to give it a try, although it looks like a pointless effort. His gate of energy had been sealed, some years back, making it impossible for him to be able.