Fanwork#2742 Words
Reaction to "Compelled to Battle"
Compelled to Battle
The decision was made, the bargain complete. He felt the weight of each Curse settle upon him like leaden shrouds. But with them came a spark of power, swift and irrepressible, coursing through nerve and vein, awakening some part of the Hero that had been. Sublime electricity like a held breath, like the stillness before a storm, skin of the world so paper thin that with a fingertip's exertion he could brush through, touch the capillary-walls of the weft between realms.
The Accursed puts a heavy burden on his Cursebearers' shoulders, but the power offered in exchange is mind-blowing, more so for some privileged assholes who don't know just how good they've got it having the freedom to take additional Major Curses just for a fucking power-up-
Not that I'm envious or anything. What's there to be envious about? We'll show them how a proper Cursebearer does things yet! For example by taking on those Lesser Dooms of Rivalry and Culling and showing it
personally.
Interesting description at the end though. Probably just dramatic language, but magic's power source is quite often set to originate from between the space between worlds, Blind Eternities, Nothingness, the Bleed or whatever else one wants to call it. Assuming the Accursed's powers require something as pedestrian as a power source instead of functioning on sheer awesome, - unlikely, I know, - such in-between spaces could provide access to magic relatively uninfluenced by local conditions. Another possibility is drawing power from one's own soul, but the Hero doesn't have the best experience with that one...
He was not fully restored. Nowhere near the fullness of his power, still but a shadow of the man that he was, soul and memory tattered with holes. That was the cost in selfhood that he'd burned to strike down the overlord.
But it was strength enough to start again, and with strength came even a dull flicker of hope.
Poor guy, the Forbidden Art has done a number on him. I wonder if it's possible to not just restore the damage but also recover what was lost, to get those memories back. Mundane as they likely were, memories comprise a significant part of our identity, and to lose even a part of them always felt like a great tragedy to me.
And think of all the genre savvy we lost! One of the most powerful advantages of a deconstruction isekai protagonist, burnt up in the purgatory flames of his magic just like that? Truly only the greatest of sacrifices can produce such impressive results, but we can't allow the hidden masters to take away our greatest weapon from us so easily.
We must take back and restore our knowledge of memes to its full glory asap!
When entire world had abandoned him, this being - cosmic monster, impossible horror, whatever it was - had reached out its hand. Whatever its reasons or timing, it alone had given him a chance. Had offered respite, or vengeance, to a tool so thoroughly expended that even the dim shadow of a future had seemed a faraway dream. He would not forget, that every tomorrow onward was possible only because of this being today.
Hopefully the Hero will be able to carry that gratitude forwards into the future as the Curses start crushing him under their malignant weight. It is true that the Accursed benefits from making Cursebearers, but I suspect he could have found ways that aren't so slow or onerous for him, if much harder on the verse.
Yet he decided to do this, to reach to the weak and the downtrodden - and to the 30-year-old virgins, but I'm not judging - and to grant them an infinitesimal spark of what once made him great. That takes great trust and breadth of character, so my respect to him for that.
"Thank you," he said, as it turned to leave. "I'll pay you back one day."
The Accursed raised an eyebrow, slight amusement in its eye. "See that you do."
Somehow he felt, despite the vast gulf between them - transcendent overbeing and depleted wretch - that those parting words were no cosmic transaction, but merely an agreement between men.
I know this is a very serious moment, but all I can think of is 'the Accursed sure takes that Champion Brand Mitigation seriously'. Would have been quite awkward if the Hero immediately rejoined with 'but not before you give me 20 bear asses'. Of course even with the Curses the Accursed's favor to the Hero is probably so massive that the Brand doesn't have a chance to proc.
And then the Accursed was gone, the world resuming its mundane pace, footsteps thudding outside his door. Soldiers come to collect his presumptive corpse.
He inhaled deeply, the tug of the Geas like a hook through his chest, and let it carry him forward, to another world than this.
That's going to be a bitch to explain to their superiors. And for those to explain to
their superiors. The confusion is going to propagate all the way up to those mysterious hidden masters, who are hopefully going to go into panic mode for a while. Or maybe against all common sense our Hero will succeed on his journey and return to this exact moment, ready to go up that ladder personally.
Plenty of time for sentimentality if he survived. In the meantime there were other debts to pay. And these would not be so pleasant. To fulfill the mission of his vengeance, the first step was simple.
Live, and grow strong.
It might sound simple, and the second will naturally follow the former thanks to Progression, but fulfilling that first goal is going to be quite the task. Well, thinking about it positively, our original enemies will seem like kiddy stuff by the time we get to them!
Might have to work on my positive thinking.
There was no jarring transition. Barely had the impression of passage touched him before he arrived. He was standing on a hill of green grass under blue skies. The sun was stark and brilliant, a mailed fist of light bearing down. A breeze was blowing, cool and soothing but with the faintest scent of charcoal. He raised a hand to cover his eyes and took his bearings.
Well, at least it seems to be a somewhat normal climate rather than a desert/ice planet or something. It even seems like a picturesque landscape if one disregards the scent of charcoal hinting at the conflict in the distance. So while two examples aren't enough to establish a pattern, one can't help suspecting the Geas of Indenture has a type of situation it likes dropping its Bearers into. Might be the Apocryphal Curse this time though.
And if that's true... well, that village in the last Transaction quest seemed quite unimportant, right until it suddenly wasn't. Should we get used to landing near fulcrums of fate on arrival, or is it a starting pack benefit?
The mission of his Geas unfurled in his mind, the task upon which he'd wagered his life.
Conquer at least nine-tenths of the Human Sphere and rule for a period of no less than fifty contiguous years. Time limit: twenty-five hundred years.
Quite a bit to unpack here. The time limit brings me back to the ones promised by the Geas: that the allotted time depends not on the power levels (obvious, since we're only brought to worlds that can challenge us) or societal structure, but
size of the territory we need to conquer. So theoretically we might be able to extrapolate how much we need to conquer from the years given if we do it enough times.
With a thousand years as a lower limit and something like conquering a kingdom as the smallest possible territory worthy of a Cursebearer's attention, one could even guess that with the limit being 2500 years, we should aim for something between an empire and a planet, though it's an almost worthless guesstimate with so little to go on.
Other interesting points are naturally the 'fifty contiguous years' and the term 'Human Sphere', with the nine-tenths part probably being there to prevent death by technicality. The Human Sphere could mean a planet, a country/government name, or simply all the territories belonging to humans. Will hopefully get the details as soon as we get the chance to learn more about this world.
The 50 years though... two points that are going to make things difficult here - assuming we were competent enough to conquer the place properly and won't have to deal with silly rebels whose wives inexplicably throw themselves in front of our sword. The first is Decimation, but by that point we'll hopefully collected a number of Mitigation options that will make dealing with this Curse bearable. The second is that this is the
Human Sphere, so I guess we should prepare for alien invasions if we don't destroy them all proactively.
He was unused to rulership, and his first attempts at politics would have killed him were it not for the Accursed's intercession. It would be a change of pace, to say the least.
Yeah, this time his attempts at politics are going to kill
other people. That's an improvement, right? With some luck there will be enough chaos for us to take a shot at taking over. And if not, our Curses are quite adept at
creating chaos that is not our fault at all, pinky promise!
But how much at all remained of the man he'd been? His name, his titles, half the memories that comprised his identity had been burned from his soul in the final conflagration of his battle with the Tyrant. He recalled that he had come from Earth, a planet of sophisticated technology, born in a land of the far East... or was it the far West? He had been a schoolboy, on the precipice of manhood. He had stumbled into a glade. The contours of his mundane life remained, but its details slipped like raindrops through his fingers.
Man, he can't even remember his name, family, country of origin or cultural identity. I suppose we should be glad he retains
something at least, enough foundations not to crumble under the weight of his later experiences. That last fight had done a lot of damage.
And we get another mention of the circumstances under which the Hero was transported into the Tyrant's realm. In the first lines of the first chapter we're told he stumbled his way there, which I didn't pay much attention to back then. After all, that's how it happens normally, right?! The hero accidentally goes where he shouldn't and bumbles his way into an incredible adventure.
Only it wasn't quite that simple, and his circumstances seem to imply that the reach of those hidden masters extends to Earth at the very least, and maybe even to other dimensions.
All those memories he'd sacrificed in order to hold more tightly onto what truly mattered. The names and faces of those who'd fought besides him. Who'd given themselves so that he could live, shell of a man that he was. Those he'd befriended. Those he'd admired. And those he had loved.
He would seek vengeance for them, and for himself. Whatsoever architects had engineered the misery inherent to their lives, he would cast them down. No matter how high their thrones, how unassailable their power, he would not rest until they lay broken before him. And he would bring back all who had died to the Tyrant, when he was strong enough to keep them safe. There would be power enough even for that, someday. Power enough and more, if he was to someday keep his promise to his benefactor.
Yeah, if we're strong enough to pay the Accursed back, we're probably way too overleveled for those chance. Could take a few octillion years before he can even begin to appreciate our efforts though. And I'm being optimistic here.
Also, I want to establish something. No matter what kind of shiny is dangled in front of us, no matter what reasons we're given, we're
not giving up on that vengeance. We'll see this through to the very end. Those who had sacrificed themselves to make his chances of victory even a tiny bit greater deserve no less.
Someday. If he survived. If he completed this mission, and all the missions before him. So he was to be a tyrant? So be it. But the time for deliberation had passed.
Well, that was quite swift acceptance of his future rule. I imagine having a Curse like the Tyrant's Doom and being told to conquer a place as the first task leaves one with few illusions about one's future. We've been warned against becoming what we fought by the Accursed, so the least we can do is try to act as a benevolent Tyrant. Less trouble with those pesky rebels this way too.
There were more pressing concerns. A short sharp bark behind him, unnaturally loud, and he whirled to see a pack of armored creatures loping towards him, hyena-like mouths tasting the air. The frontmost pair charged, leaping forward with uncanny coordination, fangs bared and slavering.
And here are the first monsters of this realm, quite aggressive too. At least they have some and we aren't forced to fight humans if we want to advance! That's something.
He notes uncanny coordination, but from appearances they don't seem to possess telepathic communication - would have been better to approach him silently instead of calling out otherwise. Definitely artificially constructed though, I doubt their intelligence, tactics and armor are entirely natural.
Casually he adjusted his stance. The creature on his left sailed harmlessly by as he drove his bare fist into the one on his right. Its chest all but disintegrated, the shock of his strike describing a perfect circle of sky where its torso once was.
He twisted, reaching back with his hand to grab the first creature by the scruff, hurled it with catapult force into the ranks of its fellows, and leapt, falling like cannon fire into their midst. The force of those twin impacts sent the beasts into brief disarray, and he killed swiftly as they gathered, slaying three more before the pack regained its cohesion. Retreating slightly, they coalesced around him with an easy, dauntless fluidity, the dozen disjoint appendages of a single mind.
Oh yeah, that's the stuff. Diminished he might be, but even the shadow of a Hero is too much to deal with for some dogs. Assuming he isn't crippled to the point of powerlessness, of course, and even then he apparently had a chance to escape. Would have resulted in some additional wounds though, I think.
Still, my presumption about a lack of telepathy might be wrong if the last line is anything to go by. Or is it something that isn't activated constantly?
He'd never found any enjoyment in killing the Tyrant's men, offering surrender when practical. But he'd no such compunctions about the Tyrant's monsters. Despite himself, the once-hero smiled. It'd been too long since he'd killed something properly.
No coddled Earthling to be found here anymore. Quite a transformation from a hapless schoolboy to someone who veritably
enjoys fighting and killing, but given his backstory we can only be thankful things aren't worse. I think the last protagonist to truly relish the act of fighting was Arthur Drake? And even his desires were quite repressed, only brought to the surface by the Strategist's insidious whispers.
They sprang at him again, a whirlwind of fang and claw, but he swung his palm outward, neatly bisecting the creatures at his front, and shoulder-checked his way to the other side of their perimeter. Encirclement broken, the rest turned to flee. They didn't get far.
So smart enough to flee after a few probes proved fruitless. Or the controlling intelligence behind them decided against wasting bodies pointlessly. Not like throwing bodies at the Hero did much more than stain his clothes.
Supplies would be a factor, he mused. He wondered if these monsters were edible. But their bodies dissolved quickly, melting away in the few brief minutes of his scrutiny. Likely not edible, though it was unclear how exactly his status as a Cursebearer had altered his physiology.
How annoyingly competent of them, not even leaving loot behind. I'm probably not the only one reminded of the Grimm, but summoned creatures and monster projections are a staple of adventuring life, so not that surprising. Should we hope there is a single evil queen we can defeat to eradicate these monsters?
A second pack approached, larger in numbers, though little more bothersome than the first. Still it seemed wise to track down and eliminate the source of these creatures before he began to tire. As he crested another hill, he could faintly make out a city on the horizon, smoke in countless tendrils twisting upwards from its walls. Grand spires of white stone jutted upwards from the fortifications.
Someone hasn't truly learned their lesson from the first clash. Probably just meant to slow him down a tad though.
And of course it's a settlement under attack from monsters. Now to look for something out of the ordinary so we don't pull a Sylvie...
Looming above were two grander figures still. The first was an wurm-like monster covered in armor plates, towering and vast, its top a grotesque cross of dragon and jackal, lower half a single muscular tail. It was locked in the throes of battle with a vaguely humanoid abomination, bipedal and armored as well.
...or maybe we don't need to look far. How about that, a giant robot vs a kaiju! And the source of those armored hyenas from the evidence at hand - interesting that the minions are maybe created in the image of the monster.
A pang struck him at the sight of that second giant, as if the marrow in his bones had gained magnetic charge, to orient now in its direction. There was an affinity between them, not that of friends, not quite allies, but... a sense of camaraderie, as if in all of the vast, lonely universe they were the only two of their kind.
It was love at first sight. If only the Hero wasn't a married man already!
Quite an array of options here: from the minuscule chances of it being a Cursebearer, who are neither unique nor paid for during this adventure, to the greater possibility another Hero that we're attracted to on a metaphysical level, to a certain level of likelihood that we're
getting in that fucking robot.
What if we have to do it during the battle in the middle of a particularly dangerous maneuver? What if there's someone sitting there and we'll be
partnering up for this fight, ready to rapidly learn what takes others decades to master and kick giant monster butt?!
Much excitement.
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[ ] Humanitarian Efforts - The city is being pillaged or simply butchered by that creature's spawn. It appears to be struggling against its opponent, so there should be no need for you to intervene. Save as many lives as possible, rescue and evacuate civilians from the city and cull the ranks of the creature's horde. Best keep your distance from both abominations until you learn more. You don't quite trust this unnatural affinity. [+Charisma]
A betrayal to all red options, the less risky choice. We can be the mysterious hero sweeping in during the disaster and rescuing the civilians, which will be a net positive for our
harem aura social abilities.
[ ] Cut Off The Head - The wurm-beast shares too many similarities with the hyena-creatures that attacked you for this chain of events to be a coincidence. Likely it sent those hunting packs because it could sense whatever link exists between you and its opponent. If it so badly desires to be your enemy, you will oblige. Though you wouldn't be confident against a monster of that scale at your current strength, you should at least be able to avoid becoming collateral damage. And it has little attention to spare for the likes of you. Helping your... comrade kill it should address the root of the problem.
The eco-friendly option that deals with the problem at its root. Also gives us a chance to get to know that giant robot better, which is in no way a betrayal of our wife. We're a fucking Cursebearer with a respectable starter package we paid dearly for. This is a chance to take advantage of that and start accumulating power at a rapid pace.
And
to fight a giant monster. Why do I need to convince anyone this is a thing we have to do?
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This was a highly contested vote, but after reviewing everything the King's Scepter faction had an substantial lead in fanworks. Please decide the nature of your final build. You will meet any companions shortly (would have been present for the first battles with Sword, but Scepter crushes them easily).
In the hero's estimation he is still far from his peak, but his current strength is very respectable. Roughly equal to his power halfway through his journey against the Tyrant, more than enough to subdue a force of hundreds with his bare hand. Your decision below may modify this.
Hmm, if this was his capability halfway through the journey... while this is an impressive amount of power, it's way too far from what what we know of the hidden masters. Even considering that he might have started accumulating power faster during the latter half of his journey, these enemies honestly seem like a complete OCP. What could even draw the interest of someone like that to the Tyrant's world and its little Heroic theatre?
A bold supposition: they didn't care about the conflict or this specific world at all, it was just a place to gather useful resources from. Naturally beings of their magnitude have little interest in the low-energy materials this world could provide, so it should be nothing so mundane. But we did learn about something that went missing before the Hero's first clash with the Tyrant.
Destiny.
It didn't say he'd taken over as destiny's master, or the hero would have just died, plain and simple. But it did describe how destiny became mere causality.
Who is to say that the Tyrant didn't summon something from beyond in search of means to evade his ultimate fate? Something far beyond him - maybe they ignored him and went about it without anyone being aware of what happened, or maybe they bargained with him for support if the process was more involved. Hell, maybe the Hero's war with the Tyrant was part of a lon and drawn out process that drained the world of its power of destiny.
...I think I should stop with my wild speculation there, however interesting making conjectures is. It's all too far in the future.
And now the meat of the update! The beloved build votes.
[ ] King of Sorcerers - Expansive versatility at the cost of some direct power.
Seven Seals, Gisena Allria, Retinue, Forebear's Blade
*The most popular elements in one build
*Numerous sources of Curse mitigation
*Ability to bring in Retinue members and capitalize on character-unique synergies across Seals, Null Sorcery, and any magics or special technologies present here
*Powerful active defense and counterattack potential. Great utility from Seals.
*Direct offense slightly lacking.
Mitigation, Mitigation, Mitigation. All the options here are useful for Curse Mitigation, though that's not the limit of their usefulness. Still, there's our Soul Evocation to seal away the Curses, the Blade to enhance the effects, Gisena to add to those efforts and Retinue to both empower Gisena and weaken ourselves (thus indirectly weakening our Curses).
Personally I don't quite see the appeal of going all-in on Curse Mitigation like that, but to each their own.
[ ] Twice-Great - Magus-knight and apprentice.
Seven Seals, Caethlynn of Amarlt, Hunger, Forebear's Blade
*Pay forward the Accursed's gift.
*Advance rapidly with Hunger, use the fruits of that growth to improve your seals of enhancement. Use said seals on yourself and Catherine to produce two formidable combatants. She scales as you do, and Hunger scales quickly.
*Catherine with your buffs is a superior physical force, while you retain the utility of sealing for support and counter-utility.
*Decent mitigation with the Forebear's Blade.
*Would be awfully convenient if one needed a spare pilot for some form of biomechanical abomination.
Yes, would be awfully convenient. It's a good thing Rihaku's warnings almost never come true and such coincidences never matter in these quests anyway. It's not like we'll suddenly find an ancient mech that can serve as proof of sovereignty, but what a shame, it needs two pilots, one of whom has to be of noble Amarlt blood, preferably as pure as possible.
That would be entirely silly and completely not in line with mecha stories. Good thing we didn't lose any of our genre savvy or we would have fallen for this devious trap!
On a more serious note, I wouldn't mourn too much if this option won. Not only does it have a great name, it is the only option with Caethlynn in it! Have I already mentioned that? Well, she;s bound to be a major plot point, so it's no wonder.
[ ] Luna Conquerer
Accretion, Gisena Allria, Hunger, Forebear's Blade
*The highest synergy of the popular Accretion elements
*Very high power, but somewhat lacks proactive utility. Accretion + Hunger + Forebear's Blade allows for a rapid rate of advance which means easier access to findross for Gisena if you can figure out the method.
*Strong through every stage of early, mid, and late game, so long as you have straightforward challenges.
*Accretion gives some natural resistance to the Apocryphal Curse which Gisena can also mitigate
Are we on a moon? Are we supposed to conquer the moon? I don't think we should conquer Moon right after establishing the Accursed as our bro.
My second choice, since it has nice synergies for both power levels and Mitigation (assuming we can find the way to generate findross). A stable option that takes the best from the Transcendent Shounen Murderhobo and replaces vacation time with Gisena. Let's hope it's an improvement? Just need to remember to grind our Cooking Skill on the way and never let her near a kitchen.
[ ] Muscle Wizard
Accretion, Intensify, Retinue, Relinquishment
*The ultimate option, the destined path
*Just look at the thread tags
*Use Intensify to magnify the power of Accretion while narrowing its scope...
*Allows the power of Accretion to be applied to one's body itself, at the cost of locking it otherwise. Grants a broad and powerful defense against esoteric and mundane attacks.
*The hero's missing bodyparts make his body more unique and recognizable, and thus most suited to this unique path.
*Lategame, uses Retinue synergies to magnify his training in the pursuit of supreme perfection of body.
*Retains the fighting style he displays in this update, though with higher parameters when he gets serious (otherwise, this update is just the hero fooling around)
*Very powerful early and late, but weak midgame. Will more effectively complete the objective in this update.
*Extremely degenerate
There were gonna be a few other votes, like the hero's pseudonym and logistical issues, but we'll sort those out when they come up.
Best option bar none. Finally
red has taken its rightful place as the option without limits! None of that pansy stuff like going out of our way to rescue civilians instead of punching giant monsters in the face. Only second to the Power of Having the Right Friends on the cosmic scale, but even that one is included in this option!
Our arm would strike like an unerring spear! Our beard, nay, Beard the best defense one could muster against the hostile gazes of our foes! Our
peeping all-seeing Eye possessing knowledge beyond mortal ken!
All that plus vacation time and I have no idea why it's so unpopular. Alas, Muscle Wizard, you were too good for this world.
