ROD - Chapter 133

Chapter One-Hundred-Thirty-Three – Carry the Torch

Hail Thy Gods… for I send you to meet them…

-Third Incarnation of Akronos-

“You don’t live in a world where all that I love is gone, you suffer in it.” Light springs forth from the heavens as my last set of runes activate, “You pray in such a world that you can escape the wrath that is mine.”

Sariel squints at me.

“Fear is the only appropriate emotion.”

Lightning sings across the landscape as reality bends and bows to a new god.

Me.

Lightning swells around me, arcing across the ground as my eyes flicker purple. A surge of power ignites inside of me. The fury of my wrath steeps inside my soul like a bittersweet melody… I’m going to enjoy this.

A pulse of authority from the connection to the Jimminites ripples through the mana and Abyss shivers with excitement.

Abyss-byss…

Deep black armor that swallows the light flows around me as Abyss envelops me. Sariel stops pacing as he tilts his head at it. “What is that?”

“Despair…”

[ Juggernaut Mode Engaging… Success ]

Time slams to a halt as my thoughts condense into a new frame of existence. Color bleeds away as the world becomes grey to improve my processing speed, sensations become approximations to maximize my reflexes… emotions begin to fall away… save one that cannot be taken…

Wrath becomes me as I feel the coldness of it swallow my perception.

Everything becomes clearer as violence becomes my muse. My first strike breaks the sound barrier sending Sariel flying through rubble. The air cracks again as my frame moves to meet him more than a kilometer away, picking him up and slamming him like a rag doll. His eyes are wider as he blinks past the debris.

“Interesting…” he breathes as I throw him into the sky.

My finger points and items from Abyss smash into Sariel, sending him past the clouds and into the stratosphere. Time slows as I form a thousand circuits made of a thousand runes that weave a new fate for reality. They pulse into existence and the winds howl as they grow outward.

With the expanding clarity I begin to understand the momentum of his presence. There is a thread of mana that connects him to his core. One that is obscured with complex rules. Rules that fall away as my body lowers to the ground. A shockwave turns the ground molten as I bound into the air towards Sariel.

“Very interesting…” he says as I strike him in the chest, sending him into the void of space.

A storm of dust plumes on the moon where he lands moments later. More waves rise and ripple out as I feel him leaping back to Earth. When he lands it’s like a nuclear weapon exploding. The blast expands outwards and I feel souls finding the pyre. Souls that I wrap into my own.

“Energy becomes mana…” I whisper into the void and deep grooves of intricate mana wards arise from the abyss of intention. The heat and light dissipate rapidly, leaving Sariel wide eyed across from me on a barren landscape.

“Im-improbable…” he stammers, looking around, “How did you…”

His words do not find purchase on his tongue as I slam my fist into his skull, heatwaves from the air turning into plasma explode outwards before they condense again into my will that shapes them. Like a thousand explosions in a single breath I beat his vessel into oblivion until the face is crumpled and his arms no longer stir.

There is a twang in the effervescence of mana that fills my thoughts.

There it is… the cord of mana that connects his vessel to his core.

I grasp into the air and vibrations of System magic try to burn my flesh, but I am wrapped in Abyss and the authority of Mythren’s core, so it cannot burn me.

“You should not have come here…” I say hollowly as existence stirs and my body begins to travel along the cord of mana.

Reality bends and light warps as I move at unnatural speeds across the Cosmos. The cord snaps and I feel myself rushing through space until I feel a place I recognize. The Grand Nexus… there it is.

Light blooms as reality bows, a massive ring of fire envelops me as I step into the place between places. The very same place that Sage took me before my trial.

Thousands of faces with bright eyes look at me strangely before the quiver finds their spines. A massive pulse of energy swells in the mana of this place.

“Emergency alert, all admins are to eliminate the Anomaly known as Novak, Jimmy… Emergency alert, all admins…”

The message repeats, but none dare to move. My presence confuses them. The thought of a mere mortal taking the power of a god, let alone a Arch Admin must be unthinkable to them. My eyes close as I try to find the thread again.

There… I feel it.

My steps are measured before I get the popup.

[ Lifeforce diminishing… Power down Juggernaut mode until needed? ]

[ Note: This will increase efficiency. ]

[ Yes / No ]

I select yes and color swells back into my vision fully again, no longer dulled by the hyper focus.

“Stop!” someone finally yells, pointing some kind of weapon at me.

The air stirs and I see Sage appear next to me, though he is not wearing his normal attire, he is dressed in some kind of battle uniform. On my other side Terra appears in a flash dressed similarly.

Sage smiles, looking at my chest, “You haven’t killed him, right?”

“He’s alive.”

“Was it absolutely necessary to take him hostage?”

“Yes.”

“Good enough for me, it’s good for him to rebel, he’s too uptight,” Terra nods, a brilliant silver visor like a knights covers her face as a radiant spear made from starlight expands into her grasp.

Sage cracks his neck and draws from thin air a glorious flail with a spiked end, “So what’s the plan, defy the heavens?”

“I’m not here to defy the heavens, I’m here to burn them down.”

Light sparkles in his eyes, “Meatsack, you could have told me we were going to overthrow the heavens and burn everything down. I do love a good bonfire after all.”

The emergency broadcast changes suddenly, Sariel’s voice echoes past the noise.

“Whosoever brings me the Anomaly’s head shall become an Arch Admin or a full-fledged God.”

Silence fills the massive place between places until hundreds of portals begin to glow. Thousands upon thousands of Admins and demi-gods trying their luck appear before us.

“Well… we’ve had worse odds before,” Sage says shifting his stance as a grin finds his lips, “At least we’ll all go together.”

Terra’s eyes glow brighter beneath the visor. As my eyes trace them, I feel the rhythm of what once was. My hands find the backs of both of their necks as I say, “Carry the torch.”

Energy booms in a silent echo that rolls across the grand nexus. Sage’s eyes bulge as the blue shimmers and shifts to purple.

He looks down at his hands and then back at me, “Meatgod…”

The air cracks as magic sprays outward, the white curls in Sage’s hair turn golden and shimmer with radiance like a god.

“Oh, this will be fun,” Terra says as purple weaves into her irises and along her body, “I missed this.”

Another popup appears in my vision.

[ Mythren’s hall of heroes found… Enact Carry the torch protocol? ]

[ Yes / No ]

The place that Mythren has stored every promising soul for thousands of years… I swipe yes and light fractures as heavy boots begin to stride from purple portals of my own making. Thousands of warriors that are extremely capable begin to move outwards. They all turn to look at me, waiting for explanation.

“Destroy… everything.”

Visors clang as they move downwards. Swords and countless other weapons that swell with mana scrape the ground as the command is heeded. Blue blood sprays alongside other colors from the orchestra of my new symphony of absolute violence.

My answer to their call… despair.

My hands find the ground as my armies lay waste to the hordes that Sariel has summoned.

[ Begin transmission of CTT virus? ]

[ Yes / No ]

I select the yes mentally. Another pulse of power ricochets into the ground, this one is different though, it whispers like a forgotten melody of madness. Changing the stark white marble into a sprawling black design… like a plague it moves unabated until it reaches the portals.

Abyss squeals with excitement as I say, “Consume it all…”

Byss… Byss… Byss…

Tendrils of absolute darkness spread like vines from an old gnarled tree made of black ichor. Admins scream in horror as the vines rip through them and turn them into husks. Their blue eyes turn red and they howl to a new tune that I create.

Waste not… want not…

My horde grows as the Grand Nexus trembles, each dead admin becomes a new soldier under my command. There are more that I can summon…

My hands spread and my mind focuses on the area of the Nexus that connects to the Well of Souls. The place they keep souls before they are permitted to return to the true well.

“Adaraic, come…”

Red light blooms in front of me as the lich begins to form into how he was before I slew him. He looks down at his body and then up at me, the ethereal whisps of his eyes widening. He looks around at the carnage.

“Seek retribution…”

Weapons form in the air as I take them from the Nexus’s storage, the very same weapons he’d known for a lifetime.

“Why?” he asks, staring at me, “You do not need me… why let me…” he sighs shaking his head and turning away, “Do not expect a thank you…”

Two orbs of blue light appear next as he moves into the fray… Niva’s parents. The fox mother and father.

They lower their heads for me respectfully as I whisper the incantation for them. There is no need for words between us, we have shared our thoughts many times before.

Their forms expand as they evolve with the enhancements of the magic that is weaved into them.

My army grows like a virus that infects and spreads, I can feel each of them moving further into the Nexus, infecting every piece of it. Until they find him… Sariel… hiding deep beneath me.

The floors crack asunder as I dive deep into the Nexus, flowing past energy portals and compressed worlds in the madness of this place. Reality frays as I give it commands it was not intended to heed, bending light and traversing deep into the marrow of the System itself.

It is here in the depths that I find him. His first instinct is sound. He tries to flee.

But I am not as I was even ten minutes ago… I am more now.

I am everywhere as I clasp the mana that he holds in my hands, preventing him from leaving the Nexus. He blinks rapidly, swallowing faster as his words come out pressured.

“I… I don’t understand, how are you doing this… this shouldn’t be possible…”

“Bring them back.”

His eyes widen more as he tries to flee again, but I anchor him in the Nexus.

“I can’t… I destroyed them.”

“Reverse time.”

“It’s not allowed… the high gods would kill me if I did it… not to mention I’d die from the expenditure of reversing the divine timeline…”

My head tilts at him as the air tremors, “You are already dead, Sariel the soon to be ended one. Now is when you choose how long I will make you suffer.”

He shakes his head, putting his hands in front of him, sweat beads on his brow for the first time in his existence, “We can come to an arrangement, I can… I can…”

“You can suffer and die… or you can just die.”

He whimpers strangely then snarls suddenly, “You know nothing…” the air turns cold as he whispers some kind of incantation, “Emerthul, God of Darkness, Ninth of the Nine, I beseech thee to honor thy pact and help me in my time of need.”

Time slows and I feel something expanding into the existence around us… something colder than ice.

“Reap what you sow, fool…” Sariel grins, a semblance of confidence finding him again.

“Funny you should say that,” my eyes look down at his flesh, as deep burns begin to form on it.

His eyes dart frantically around, “Emerthul… you’re killing me…”

Everything is becoming colder as his skin begins to ash.

“You promised me aide… not death… we had a deal!”

Sariel’s eyes begin to bleed as he falls to the floor, purple blood spilling from him quicker as the presence grows stronger.

Everything tells me to run, every fiber of my being, but I do not. For I have nothing to lose. Nothing except the wrath that cannot be quenched. My hand tries to grab Sariel to take his energy and make it my own, but a flash of black eyes that hum in the darkness cause my hand to pull away reflexively.

He saw me… this god that Sariel foolishly summoned. One of the nine he called him. A high god. Sage’s voice finds my ears, I turn to look at him, covered from head to toe in blue and purple blood.

“We should probably make a temporary retreat, you’re not quite ready to fight a high god yet.”

“I don’t have long to live, run if you must, but I will not.”

Sage looks at me strangely, but he understands as I release Mythren’s core into his grasp, for I won’t need it anymore. I’m already in the System, written as an Arch Admin, I feel my soul splintering as the virus spreads deeper into the maze of the System. The only thing left for me to do is take the last leap of faith the Jimminites did.

I’m becoming something else… something in between. My thoughts are spread apart like I’ve been stretched thin.

“You really won’t come?” he asks.

“No, I must see this through.”

He nods, “Well, I will never forget you.”

The air shifts as he leaves.  

The cold embrace of death suits me well enough. I am not afraid of it.

When the god steps into reality there is silence. Like in the dead of winter when not even the snow dares to fall and break it. He does not speak as he moves ever so slowly around me. Eyes dipped in the ichor of darkness, skin as pale as the first winter’s snow. Lips painted a deep black that seems to move with the darkness that wraps him.

Then I hear it, like it’s distant and close at the same time, an even tone that grinds at the sanity of one’s mind.

“What have they done… foolish girls… they’ve overstepped this time. Not even the legacy of their father will save them today.”

He snaps his fingers and the scenery changes instantly, deep black rivers flow upwards in a circular space that stretches for miles in every direction. The emptiness is a pale white glow. In the center is a throne made of obsidian, it sparkles in the light of a black sun that hangs above, emitting a strange glow of heat and cold.

“Seraphine, self proclaimed goddess of fate…” he says, snapping his fingers again.

Instantly she appears before him at the bottom of the steps that lead to his throne. She snarls at him, “You do not have the authority to summon…”

“Silence,” he says as darkness wraps her mouth, “You have been found guilty of breaking divine law. The punishment shall be death.”

Red energy flares outward defiantly as the darkness breaks from her momentarily, “You don’t have the authority!”

He flicks his hand and she kneels. I move to place my hands on the ground, but his eyes shift over to me, and my hands fall from my body and hit the floor. Blood drips to the ground in a steady stream that I manage to quench with mana.  

“This is my space, my domain, you hold no power here. Only I can wield power in this place.”

My legs slam to the ground as his dark magic entwines around me. He looks at Seraphine coldly.

“I have waited millennia for this moment. Where I have irrefutable evidence and reason to slay you. Where your father’s legacy couldn’t be used to protect you from divine judgement. Next, I’ll go for your sisters and claim their power as my own.” A strange smile finds his mouth, “Then I will become the master of the universe and harvest Akronos’s legacy for myself.”

Sera laughs suddenly, he tilts his head at her before the darkness recedes to allow her to speak, “This is your master plan? Usurp our father and take his power? I knew you were an idiot, but by the veil’s grace, you’re a fucking moron.”

He does not speak back, he studies her slowly.

“My sisters don’t care about me, they will leave me to die. If you’re hoping to catch Ulana, you won’t, she’s more careful than me.” Sera looks down, clenching her jaw for a moment, “Wiser than me too.”

“She will come, so will your other sister. Like moths to the flame.”

“No, she won’t,” Sera says, mustering more red energy that falls beneath the oppressive cold of this place.

“I’ve opened a portal so she can view what I do to you. Have you ever seen a god stripped of their divinity piece by piece.” He smiles, licking his lips, “It’s beautiful, a god’s tears are such a wonderful treat.”

Sera’s face does not flinch as she raises her head to look at him defiantly, “I am a daughter of Akronos, I do not shed tears.”

He laughs a wicked and sinful laugh as the air curdles in the coldness of it. He moves his hand and she presses upwards toward his throne, carried by the darkness he commands until she is only a pace from him.

“Your father was a god among gods. A myth among legends. But he is gone, dead and vanished into the oblivion of time. Some of the others still fear him, but I do not. I do not fear anything, girl. Most of all,” he smiles, “A challenge,” his grin deepens, “You said Akronos’s daughters do not cry… well, shall we test that?”

Tendrils of darkness spear into her flesh, her eyes widen for a flicker of a moment, but they fall back to placid. He doesn’t seem irritated by this either, he seems to be enjoying her silent defiance.

Meanwhile, my severed hands move quietly in a rhythm born from a madness that even I cannot fully believe.

“You will cry for me, girl, you will cry me many tears so that I might wear them in a necklace. So that other gods will know I was the one that broke Akronos’s daughters.” He twirls his hand and more tendrils spear her, steam rises as her body heals each time. “I shall keep vials, one for each of the three. Yes… I like that idea.” He snickers strangely, “I really like it.”

Golden light begins to crack on the edge of the sky, small at first, until it fractures and opens a golden portal.  

“I told you, like moths to the flame,” he breathes, licking his lips again.

Sera blinks at the sky in surprise as Ulana’s figure begins to take shape. Her voice drips with authority as she says calmly, “You will release my sister, Emerthul.”

His head turns slowly as she floats down toward them, “Or?”

Ulana’s eyes burn brighter, “I will slay you.”

He roars with a laughter that surges the upwards flowing rivers, “Slay me?” he shakes his head, “I should have known you’d gone mad, giving mortals forbidden boons. Breaking divine laws as you please. Now thinking yourself strong enough to slay a high god. Madness and beauty go hand in hand.”

Her eyes narrow, the gold of them glowing brighter still, “You will release her.”

“No, I won’t. But I will let you watch as I torture her and strip her divinity from her. I may not have enough reason to do it to you yet, but I really, really hope you try to stop me.” His smile deepens even more as strands of black hair dance across his forehead, “For you know the punishment of interfering with divine law administered from a high god. Come now little moth, join the fire.”

Ulana shows no emotion as she says, “You do not have a writ that allows…”

“I do though,” he brandishes some kind of scroll, “I already had it drafted three millennia ago. One for each of you sisters. Just in case I caught one of you. I’ve been watching you, waiting for you to slip up.” He points at Seraphine, “Her divinity has clearly written the base for whatever monstrosity this… thing has created. It is faint, but it is there, she gave him an illegal boon. One that even high gods cannot have. Forbidden intelligence.” He muses a cup of dark liquid that moves like wine in a glass, he smirks as he says, “Not very intelligent to do that though.”

The fingers of my severed hands scrawl in the blood of my body deep and malicious runes that match the corruption of the place that I am in. Shielded by the strangeness of Abyss, the god doesn’t seem to notice yet.

“I will not tell you again, Emerthul,” Ulana says in a tone that echoes with intent.

“I hope not,” he smiles, leaning back in his throne, he flicks his fingers and Sera winces as spears sheer out of her sternum.

“Three…”

He tilts his head at her.

“Two…”

He smiles, then laughs, “Are you really counting down for me?”

“I’m not counting for you…” she turns and looks at me, “One…”

My severed hands rise and meet my body, my healing skill automatically reattaches them. The runes drafted in my blood ignite with the fervor of countless thousands of Jimminites life’s work. To bring someone such as I have become into their domain… rather foolish.

Ulana’s golden eyes flash as golden light sheathes her in a dazzling armor. She turns her hand toward me as she says, “Dashkatul, come.”

Abyss roars with excitement as it dances from my finger and launches towards her, becoming a glowing black blade that shines with every color imaginable through deep etchings across it.

In a word… beautiful.

Existence hems as the blade sings through the air, Emerthul’s eyes widen as it nearly cleaves his head off. He leaps backward and sheathes himself in a dark armor that screams like it was hewn from corrupted souls.

The next layer of my weave releases the constraints on Seraphine, allowing her to use all of her might in this place. All while restricting his. The rivers fall downwards now as the flow changes. Black, red and gold light fracture the sky. Energy that could rend a solar system sparkles in a glorious battle that vibrates existence itself.

It’s wonderful…

I try to stand fully, but my body is barely hanging together.

[ Notice: You are dying. Activate Juggernaut mode for one last fuck you? ]

[ Yes / No ]

I smile and click the yes. Color bleeds as the mode activates. The stillness in between life and death is wondrous. So too is the silence as I move into the fray and see the surprised expression of Ulana and Seraphine.

The expression of surprise that draws the most satisfaction though is the pretentious asshole. Emerthul Ninth of the nine, last place in the asshole academy graduates.

He’ll do just fine.

On the edges of my vision I begin to see them, Jimminites coming to cheer on the Prime before he falls. One last glorious bout to stick our noses up at the gods and the System.

My fist finds purchase as I punch the face of a high god, sending him crashing through his obsidian throne. A kick to his groin tells me his armor wasn’t quite strong enough.

No matter what happens next, I’m going to die, there is peace in this thought, serenity even. The thought of finding some rest for my weary soul drives the punches faster and faster.

I barely feel the black spear that protrudes from my chest, an empty chest without them.

Even as everything begins to dull and fade, I know that I made him bleed.

Even if we lose in the end… we still won…

He is stronger than I thought, my runes are beginning to fail all around us. I can’t keep them functional. I think Ulana knows this too. But she is headstrong and won’t leave the fight. Her and Sera are going to lose once my runes fail. I need to send them from this place. To a place where they will fight on level ground… or to a place with an advantage.

My last will and testament becomes a single thought… send them to Ulana’s home world.

“Gate…”

Light bends and reality warps…

Darkness is all I perceive as my body fails and dies….