Chapter 289: Isissis (Morlük)
The atmosphere, until then calmed by the reunion, suddenly froze.
Bakuzan felt a tingling in his skull, a deep vibration resonating throughout his body. He immediately tensed.
— What is… this? he murmured, his voice tight.
The pulsation intensified. Like a hum from elsewhere, a distant echo that he seemed alone to perceive. Sakolomi, worried, immediately stepped closer.
— Bakuzan? Is there a problem?
Bakuzan slowly lifted his head, his gaze darkened.
— Something is approaching.
These words were enough to chill the whole room.
Salomi, Ysolongue, Zelongue… all exchanged uncertain looks.
— Something? repeated Ysolongue, tense.
— Is it dangerous? asked Zelongue, frowning.
Bakuzan fixed the ground, as if trying to listen through the earth. Then, in a firm tone:
— Sakolomi and I will go check.
Salomi almost jumped forward.
— Wait! I want to come with you!
Bakuzan turned to her. His gaze was serious, but not cold.
— No. It might be dangerous.
— But I can help! she protested.
Sakolomi observed the scene silently. A discreet but reassuring smile spread across his lips. He placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.
— Let her come, he said softly. She will know how to defend herself. And besides… I will watch over her.
Bakuzan held Sakolomi's gaze for a few seconds, then sighed, defeated.
— Very well. I trust you.
They immediately left the castle. The wind had picked up, shaking the surrounding trees. A heavy premonition floated in the air, an almost palpable tension.
The three of them lifted their eyes toward the sky.
The clouds twisted slowly as if fleeing from an invisible central point.
— It's strange, breathed Salomi.
Then, without warning, a lightning bolt tore the sky.
The light was so bright that they had to shield their eyes. Thunder followed, roaring with the strength of a divine roar.
When they reopened their eyes, a figure stood before them.
The air vibrated around it, saturated with raw energy.
All their eyes widened.
Their hearts stopped for a moment.
Someone… had just made their entrance.
The thunder had died down, but the silence still thundered.
Under the bluish light of the dissipating lightning, Sakolomi frowned.
— …Isissis?
Salomi hesitated to believe what she saw.
— He… he looks different. Very different.
The man slowly advanced toward them, barefoot on the still wet stone.
His hair, brilliant white, floated in the breeze. His dark skin seemed to absorb the light, but faint luminous patterns of sky blue pulsed weakly on his chest, like living runes.
He wore a white cloth tied at the waist, and light pants tucked into fine boots — an appearance both divine and disarming.
Then he spoke, in a calm voice, without supernatural echo:
— Hello. How are you?
Sakolomi stared at him, perplexed.
— He doesn't have… the resonating voice.
Salomi squinted, trying to sense what he emanated.
— It's strange… he seems less oppressive. Almost… reassuring.
The newcomer burst into a light, peaceful laugh.
— Calm down. I am not the Isissis you fought in the past.
Bakuzan, who had until then only observed, crossed his arms.
His voice, grave, cut the murmur of the wind sharply.
— Indeed. Because that "Isissis" is now part of me.
The stranger's smile widened.
— Exactly.
He slowly opened his arms, as if welcoming an invisible light, his eyes closed in an almost divine serenity.
— I am the true Isissis. The real Shylty. The avatar of Morlük… the original threshold of the second Zone.
His eyelids reopened, revealing two irises of deep, infinite yellow.
— Isissis and Shylty were only fragments… lost reflections of what I truly am.
A cold breath swept through the air.
Bakuzan, in a low tone, almost involuntarily murmured:
— You are… Morlük?
The being crossed his arms, a calm smile floating on his lips.
— Exactly. I see that my fragment has caused you many troubles.
He approached Bakuzan slowly, almost benevolently, then placed a finger on his chest.
— I feel it within you. It watches me… right now.
His smile turned more melancholic.
— It never liked me, you know. Ironic, isn't it? To be hated by a part of oneself… a fragment that would want to replace its own father.
He let out a brief, almost weary laugh.
— But that is the fate of every creator: to see their reflections try to surpass them.
Sakolomi stepped forward, gaze steady.
— According to ancient sources, he said calmly, although you are the Threshold of the Second Zone, it was never said you were its most powerful. Is it because your own fragment… Isissis… would have surpassed you?
Morlük remained silent for a second, then burst out a frank and deep laugh.
— Hahaha! What a delicious question.
He crossed his arms, his aura vibrating like a subtle wave in the air.
— No, Isissis never surpassed me. But he always wanted to believe it. His pride pushes him to seek what cannot be found. He thinks that by merging with Bakuzan — who himself has transcended the Second Zone — he would be able to rise above me.
An amused smile stretched his lips.
— Alas… a fragment remains a fragment.
He raised a finger, swinging it gently.
— No matter how high it climbs, it remains dependent on the Whole. Its essence stays linked to mine, inverted, reflected… and limited by the mirror of my own existence.
His yellow eyes then fixed on Bakuzan.
— Isissis, I know you listen through him. You hope to replace me? Vain ambition. Even if you stand against me, you remain my resonance, and I am an idea directly from the God the Father himself. What I am, no fusion can reproduce.
A brief silence followed.
Sakolomi, unsatisfied, stepped closer.
— All this is fascinating… but you still haven't answered my question.
Morlük looked at him with quiet curiosity, then slowly nodded.
— You are right. Very well. Here is the truth.
He lifted his gaze toward the sky, as if his mind went back millions of eras.
— Once, I was much more than a threshold. I was an Absolute Supreme. My transcendence equaled that of primordial gods like Zeus himself. But the God the Father, in his wisdom, decided to subject my power to the Second Zone… and elevated Zeus above me.
He smiled with nostalgia.
— Since then, I can no longer speak to him as before. I miss his words, our exchanges as well. Zeus became so close to the Father that his voice now resonates in a plane I can no longer reach.
His tone softened.
— So, I had an idea: to divide myself.
Create reflections of myself, to spread my presence where I could no longer go.
He slowly extended his hand, and a blue flame appeared in the hollow of his palm.
— The first split gave Shylty: gentle, luminous, symbol of my creative part. She carries my purest, most loving essence.
Then the flame changed color, turning deep red.
— The second was Isissis. Born from my destructive part. Vain, ambitious, ready for anything to become the supreme master of Madhurya.
A light laugh passed his lips.
— I gave him that role. Chief of the lower zones, absolute figure of the Second Zone. It was his destiny, and I… had no desire to rule anymore.
He lowered his hand, and the flames died out.
— I erased my own legend so that his would impose itself. Because even if I remain the most powerful, my goal is no longer to dominate. It is… to observe.
He fell silent, his eyes lost in the infinite horizon, as if looking beyond the world itself.
Silence settled, dense, almost sacred.
Sakolomi, Bakuzan, and Salomi stood still, absorbed by Morlük's words. Every word resonated like a wave crossing space, and each of them tried to grasp its scope — or at least guess the unspoken.
Bakuzan observed Morlük with new attention.
He now knew he was not a mere superior being, but an impossible balance: the perfect synthesis between creation and destruction, holder of the power of Retro-Genesis, origin and end united in one flesh.
What he perceived as warmth, kindness, almost humanity… was just one mask among others.
Beneath that benevolent light hid a darkness of equal intensity — the same absolute coldness he had once seen in Isissis.
Morlük could smile with Shylty's sweetness and, in a moment, unleash Isissis's cruelty.
It was this contrast that made him so disturbing… and fascinating at the same time.
Bakuzan lowered his head slightly.
A confused feeling overwhelmed him — neither fear nor anger, but something more subtle: understanding.
He now glimpsed the reason for Isissis's contempt toward his creator.
It was perhaps not hatred, but a form of admiration turned unbearable.
Isissis did not accept being a mere fragment of what he worshipped; he wanted to be himself, without him — to exist without the Father, to become what the Father is without ever resembling him.
A painful paradox, almost beautiful in its madness.
But something was wrong.
Morlük could not be here out of mere curiosity.
Since he had absorbed Isissis's essence — with the help of Satan herself — Bakuzan knew such an action was not without consequence.
Morlük's arrival could not be coincidental.
He felt it.
Slowly raising his head, he fixed his gaze in the Threshold's eyes.
His tone, firmer, broke the silence:
— I have another question… Lord Morlük.
Morlük turned to him, a calm smile floating on his lips, as if he had been expecting this request from the beginning.
His eyes shone with a soft, almost paternal light.
— Go ahead, he said calmly. I'm listening.
Bakuzan clenched his fist, his gaze hardened.
He did not look away.
— Why are you here?
What truly brings you… Morlük?