A bright and sunny day. A peaceful world filled with abundant mana. Everyone gets a harem with beautiful nymphs. Nothing dangerous on the horizon and yet there was enough thrill to satiate many. A perfect idyllic life. But all of a sudden…
An ear-piercing scream of monstrous proportions echoed throughout the world. A stone was thrown in the seemingly tranquil world and now the ripples of the action affected the entirety of this serene existence. Birds scattered into the sky, their peaceful chirping replaced by frantic cries as they sought refuge from the sudden disturbance. The calm air became charged with tension, and the gentle breeze that once carried the scent of blooming flowers now bore a hint of impending doom.
The inhabitants of this world, who had been lounging in the warmth of the sun or enjoying the company of their companions, froze in place. The beautiful nymphs clutched each other in fear, their eyes wide with terror. The tranquility that had defined their existence was shattered in an instant.
As the echo of the howl faded, a heavy silence settled over the land. It was as if the world itself was holding its breath, waiting for what would come next. Then, the ground began to tremble, gently at first but growing in intensity with each passing second. Trees swayed violently, their roots straining to maintain their hold on the earth. Beasts and men scampered away in a desperate bid for safety.
However, everyone knew that it was useless because there was absolutely nowhere to run. They were all prisoners after all. They have all been here forever and were pretty much stuck in this world for the rest of their lives. Nothing was going to change. They had long since accepted this. It wouldn't right?
The thing was until just a moment ago everyone had been damn sure about that. But not now. Something had changed and everyone could feel it or rather see it. That's right. The very fabric of their reality was ripping apart right in front of their eyes. The world that had been stable like a rock until now was suddenly starting to disintegrate. Multi-colored lights covered the sky. Spatial tears started appearing left and right. Something was definitely happening to their world and probably the beast inside which this world resided.
However, this was not all good news.
Because the world around them falling apart could mean many things, some that might result in them staying alive and some that might result in them dying. No one wanted to stay back and see which one it was.
As soon as the tremors and the unusual natural disasters appeared every single inhabitant of the prison world reached for their spatial rings, spatial necklaces, pretty much any trinket in their possession that contained a teleportation token.
This was their chance and no one was foolish enough to let it slip through their fingers.
And just like they thought, something was really wrong with the beast because for the first time in forever, the teleportation tokens were not useless talismans. One by one all the teleportation tokens started lighting up.
At this moment something even more disastrous happened. A huge tornado popped up out of nowhere and it looked as if it was sucking in the very sky they were standing beneath. The world was crumbling.
However, no one had time to care and activated their teleportation tokens as fast as they could to get the hell out of there. After all, mana inside was also bound to be limited. They did not want to get left behind. Several spatial rifts appeared in numerous places and within seconds the prison world emptied out.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the strange tornado, one of the last parties also finally started activating their teleportation tokens.
"Lord Liam, you really do have a penchant for playing with fire." One of the nymphs bitterly said as she clutched onto the token and hurriedly activated it. Instead of leaving as soon as the upheaval began, the group had only begun to teleport now because their leader, the person responsible for all of this was also only teleporting now.
Liam only gave a smile in response to the nymph. He tucked away the stone tablet which was the cause of the strange tornado. He also would have preferred to leave immediately but it wouldn't be right not to fish in muddy waters and let all of this good stuff go to waste just like that. This was way too much loose soul energy for him to ignore. He would have told the nymphs that if they did not use every advantage they had they would never get anywhere in life but he was tired. Soul Splice's backlash was quickly dawning on him and it was about time they left as well.
Even with Soul Splice the injury he had managed to cause to the beast's soul was insignificant at best. The result was this good only because of the surprise factor and the fact that the beast was not aware of his identity, his strength, and his limit.
And he did not plan on staying here when the beast found everything out.
Zing! Liam's teleportation token also activated and the group of four humans and two nymphs quickly teleported out of the crumbling world just like the others.
HOWLLLLLLLLL! HOWLLLLLLLLL! HOWLLLLLLLLL!
The beast thrashed wildly, its cries of pain and fury resonating across the crumbling expanse of its own soul space. The once-pristine world housed within the creature was now a scene of devastation.
In the wake of the group's departure, the remaining structures and landscapes continued to disintegrate, falling into the void left by the torn fabric of this soul-created reality. The beast, a formidable entity in the myriad realms, found itself reeling from an assault it had never anticipated.
The spatial tears through which the prisoners had made their escape started to close slowly, sealing off the world from the outside once more. However, the damage done was irreversible. The beast's inner world, a realm of its own making, was now scarred and broken, a shadow of its former glory.
For the first time in countless cycles, the beast felt fear. Not of death, for it was far too powerful for such an end to come easily, but of the unknown. Who was this being that had managed to breach its defenses and cause such havoc? What did they want, and where had they come from?
A golden glow appeared around the beast's eyes and the next second its vision changed. Numerous golden threads appeared in front of it. Well, all of them were mostly silver but the beast's eyes widened as it quickly spotted one odd thread.
This thread alone was golden in color. It was just a thin thread but it was unmistakably golden. "No wonder…" The beast grumbled. It then suddenly reached out with its humongous scaly paw and grabbed onto this thread of gold, forever imprinting its body with the thread.
The karma had already been sowed so there was no point in running away from it. Rather it was best to keep track of it and make sure that the connection doesn't ever get stronger. Even better would be to locate the thread and erase the existence that was on the other side of it to solve any potential future problem. As far as the beast was concerned that was the only true way to sever karma.