Deviant: No Longer Human

Chapter 427: Astral Plane (2)

"Is that all you care about?...A promise?"

"..."

He opened his mouth to speak, to explain, but the words wouldn't come.

How could he tell her that it wasn't just the promise that held him back?

How could he explain the fears that haunted at him, the doubts, the guilt?

Before he could say anything, she slapped him, the sound sharp even over the storm.

Her hand stung against his cheek, but the pain was nothing compared to the chaos inside him.

He stood there, stunned, as she glared at him, tears now flowing freely down her face.

She cried, her voice breaking as she hit him again, her fists pounding weakly against his chest. "You promised my master, but what about me?.... What about us?"

He didn't resist, didn't try to stop her.

Each blow was a reflection of his own self-loathing, of the guilt that had been eating away at him.

He had thought he was doing the right thing, protecting her from a future she wasn't ready for, but now, seeing the pain in her eyes, he wasn't so sure.

"I..." he started, but the words caught in his throat. Instead, he reached out, his hand trembling as he touched her cheek, wiping away the tears that mingled with the rain.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice almost lost in the storm.

Her anger melted away as quickly as it had come. With a broken sob, she threw herself against him again, her arms wrapping around his neck as she buried her face in his chest. "I don't care about the promise," she sobbed, her voice muffled against his soaked robes. "I just want to be with you."

He stood there, holding her as she cried, his heart torn between duty and desire.

He wanted to tell her that he felt the same, that he had wanted nothing more than to be with her, to protect her, to love her.

But the promise... the promise he had made to her master loomed over him like a dark cloud.

After what felt like an eternity, she looked up at him, her eyes red and swollen from crying. "I understand," she said softly, her voice barely more than a whisper. "I understand why you're doing this... but it doesn't make it any less painful."

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

He wanted to tell her that it hurt him too, that every moment spent without her was like a knife twisting in his heart.

But he couldn't. He had to endure, for her sake.

He can't be a thorn in her path.

As she clung to him, the storm finally began to abate, the rain easing into a gentle drizzle.

The sky, once so full of rage, seemed to mourn with them, its fury spent, leaving only the quiet aftermath of what had been.

"I'll wait for you," she said finally, her voice trembling but resolute. "No matter how long it takes... I'll wait."

Boom!

A final roll of thunder echoed in the distance as the storm moved on, leaving behind the man and the girl, locked in an embrace that neither of them was ready to let go.

But eventually, they did.

Wang Xiao hovered above, his figure shrouded in the raging storm, the winds howling around him as if they were trying to pull him into the tempest.

His eyes, calm and calculating, observed the scene below with detached interest.

The man and the girl walked away from each other, their paths diverging, under unspoken emotions and unfulfilled desires.

"If it's going as I thought..." Wang Xiao murmured to himself, a faint smirk playing on his lips.

The scene below was eerily familiar, almost a mirror image of the first story he had told Yue.

Yet, there was an emptiness in his eyes, a distance that suggested he was thinking of something far beyond the simple drama beneath him.

He had told Yue many stories, weaving them from fragments of truth and imagination.

But in reality, this world—the world of Yolong Dou—was still a mystery to him, a place he had only visited once before, a year ago.

His predictions were based on limited knowledge, yet they often proved accurate, an evidence to his growing understanding of the cosmos and the forces that governed it.

This world was different.

The language, the culture—primitive in some ways, yet intricate in its own right.

The people here cultivated dou, a form of energy Wang Xiao recognized as aether, despite that he found the beings in this world quaint compared to the vast power levels he had encountered in his own world.

The land itself was immense, far larger than the Earth he once knew, but the power levels of its inhabitants were comparatively low.

The strongest being in this world, a sage, was barely equivalent to Eleanor.

Wang Xiao tried to recall his own strength before he entered the Graveyard of Gods.

He had been either a quasi-sage or a sage, but now, his power had transcended even those classifications.

He had become something far greater, existing beyond the limitations of the system he had helped define.

In his world, beings like Luna were considered Demigods, powerful yet still bound by the mortal realm.

Then there were the Quasi-Immortals—beings like Eveline and Morpheus—who had unlocked the secrets of Nirvana, capable of reincarnation, lingering on the edge of true immortality.

Above them were the Immortals, like Aurora and Athene, whose souls had transcended death itself, grasping the secret of the spirit and existing in a state of eternal life.

But even they were not the pinnacle.

Maliketh, a being Wang Xiao had encountered briefly, stood on the brink of becoming a Quasi-Transcendent, a force that transcended reality itself.

Once a being completed this transformation, they no longer required a physical form, becoming a true force of nature, impossible to destroy because they were woven into the very fabric of the cosmos.

Wang Xiao's understanding of these realms had evolved over time, but he was well aware that it might still be flawed, a system he had crafted from his own experiences and insights.

He had come so far that there was no one left to guide him; he was now the creator of his own path, the architect of his own understanding of the universe.

He had studied the language of Yolong Dou, using this world as a testing ground for his abilities.

More specifically, he had honed his power of foresight, refining his understanding of the Transcendent level, where beings could no longer be classified as human.

They were forces of nature, inseparable from the cosmic order.

The dark matter Wang Xiao once wielded as a source of strength had become something more—an intrinsic part of his being.

He no longer drew upon it; he was it.

"How unfortunate..." Wang Xiao muttered as he watched the girl and the man part ways, their emotions heavy in the air.

He had hoped to enjoy their story a bit longer, to see how their fates would twist and turn.

But he had already told his daughter the story, hadn't he?

He couldn't change it now.

The tale had to unfold exactly as Yue knew it—or at least, close enough to satisfy the threads of fate he had woven.

As he pondered this, a shift in the atmosphere caught the world's attention.