If he goes to star trek: he gets Q'd and then hunted by the feds for being too close to an augment at first glance, or he ends up in the evil universe and has to end an entire empire on his own.
Plus even if that doesn't happen while I'm sure there's some things he could pick up in that verse I feel like the idea Bruno had for possibly having Zagreus go to Star Wars would work a lot better since the themes and powers of that universe just fit Zagreus more and he'd gain far more from it.
Hmm you know thinking about it Aizen shares some traits with both Geto and I think Gojo either way he's in his own understated way a bit of a weirdo huh and like Zagreus said he favors oddballs the most.
Edit: Actually that's probably a bit of why Aizen recruited Gin along with his being a bit of a genius.
Hmm you know thinking about it Aizen shares some traits with both Geto and I think Gojo either way he's in his own understated way a bit of a weirdo huh and like Zagreus said he favors oddballs the most.
Edit: Actually that's probably a bit of why Aizen recruited Gin along with his being a bit of a genius.
According to the god of self-perfection, Irori, a mortal sense of self is triune in nature. The physical body, the intellectual mind, and the spiritual soul. These three are inextricably linked and when they become separated, such as during death, that unique entity ceases to exist although a part of her may continue.
That entity may also recur if the three are reunited. In the case of Casandra, a strange fluke of fate saw the wakening of fragments of her previous life within her newest incarnation. The fact that she retained so many memories of her previous life complicated her maturity, and she took a decade to come to terms with herself. She awoke her oracular powers through the epiphany that she was a Gestalt of souls. Souls can linger in the Graveyard almost indefinitely, after all.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Casandra. How do you feel? I went all out sewing your soul back together once Logic did the easy part of throwing her net to gather all the scattered pieces."
"Hey, I helped with more than that!" Logic complained from the compact AI core strapped to my waist like a digital pet inside a tablet.
The main motivation for resurrecting Casandra was the possibility of carrying Logic with me. Divinity has become Unity's body and private world; she rewrote her code over the epochs to the point no ordinary-sized robot can house it anymore. To defeat Unity we either destroy the ship, kill its soul, or rewrite its code, and only Logic is properly equipped for it. like she did with Hellion.
Casandra stands on shaky legs, uncertain how to take the overwhelming sensation of flesh and blood after existing so long as a sterile and unfeeling amalgamation of zeros and ones. "It's beautiful… painful… riveting yet frightening. I had forgotten how overwhelming being alive could be." She mused.
"You are welcome. And sorry. I would like to get you settled but we have to deal with Unity sooner rather than later." I affirm. We have been talking about what we could do and the best approach but soon would be time for action.
"What worries me the most is what Unity is doing with the Divinity Drive. There is no way it gave up and returned to play SIM with it. The fact its presence in Numeria is so milt to the point that it is imperceptible is worrying. I would waver It doesn't need the Technique League, but it is not like we can hope they won't interfere while we siege Silver Mount."
"That is when I come in," imposed Casandra. "An android uprising from inside the Technique League supported from the outside by conscripts recruited from scattered hidden communities is our best shot. But they still are outnumbered ten to one by native kellids."
"You don't have to worry about that." Logic gloated in smug self-satisfaction. "Starfall is such a serpent's nest spying on it is a piece of cake! The Technique League addicted the current Black Sovereign to numerian sky fluids and drugs to keep the kellids in line, but only just. His royal consort will not waste the opportunity to instigate him against the Technique League for their treachery and there are a lot of kellids who would gladly follow. The place is ready to fall like a house of cards!"
"This brings things back to me who has to create means to restore his mind and body from addiction, somehow. This will take a while, especially considering I specialize in the precise opposite. Fortifying the body by exposing it to dangerous things."
"This is why I had to spend a container worth in gold bars exporting phoenix feathers and journals from famous alchemists recorded to pursuit for the philosopher's stone. Our plans hinge on your success, Zagreus. Don't fuck it up, little brother."
"And since when did I become the little brother?!"
"Since you failed to get anywhere on your research about Prima Materia. You confirmed that alchemists extract formulas were intelligible for you and that you had experience in your times as a grave keeper made you a vivisectionist alchemist. So now we had to blow through our war budget and delay things for you."
"I had been... sidetracked? Ok, I dropped the ball. Numeria tech got me distracted, but I have results to show for it!"
"We will see about that."
"Now, now. Stop arguing, please. This is not constructive." Casandra said conciliatorily.
I sighed deeply. The heroic life is certainly more insalubrious and less glamorous than advertised.
-//-
Science, from scire, meaning 'know'. The pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding. it is rooted in Natural philosophy's attempt to unravel the mysteries of nature.
Metaphysics, the study of abstractions. The contemplation of things that can't be directly observed.
I knew since the day I chose to become a cultivator of virtue that I had in me what it takes to be a philosopher. For the longest time, until Termina Festival, I didn't care if I ever reached beyond the Sophic Realm. That is why I went out of my way to make things right. To be the best I could and to Greek cultivators, the questions are the more important part. We call ourselves scholars of profound mysteries for a reason.
That is why I took the challenges presented to me in that mysterious land of the dead with relish. I tried like I had never done before in my life, secure in the assurance it would be worthwhile, that my soul was no longer shackled by the law of diminished returns imposed by the laws of physics.
Technology, from Greek, meant 'systematic treatment'.
Theology, writing, farming, foraging, woodworking, masonry, smiting, cookery, spiritualism, anatomy and alchemy. I had a lot of fun. For all that modern man views himself as enlightened and sophisticated the truth is that his knowledge is spurious and shallow. He might know how a battery works but most could never build one if their lives depended on it. That is because we had been born with the answer. We never had to bear the burden of asking why.
'Why' is a self-admittance of limits. It is both humbling and enlightening and so progress becomes something palpable as answers present themselves through countless attempts. It was not like my formal education went to waste, even if my original world's ignorance about the supernatural forced me to start from scraps.
No one will ever truly know a thing until they've seen it for themselves.
This forceful break is a return to form of sorts. Back then all that mattered was the task right in front of me, the passage of time is only secondary. I have been too impatient as of late, an unforgivable dereliction after the Prison Realm. Unity isn't to be underestimated, if I rush this I will regret it.
Home...
They will be fine. They survived one year without my supervision and are managing fine, thriving even. Tsumiki just broke through to the Heroic Realm. I somehow found myself unsurprised by said news and how she managed such. I healed the spiritual and physical scars left by Mahito, but I had no means to heal the mind. The trauma. I only knew how to endure it and use it as fuel. Tsumiki walked the same path as Selene, a psychologist to cultivators. Considering our kind peddle in madness Tsumiki had more than enough basket cases around her to be worth a heroic labor.
I guess she wanted to take always my pain too. Stupid, pretentious brat!
I couldn't be prouder. But this only serves to show they are no longer the little kids they were when we first met. I have to have hope in them.
Indeed. Hope. Magic is an expression of the soul, even the most rigorous and pattern-oriented wizardry and alchemy are not excepted from this. I am no stranger to magical concoctions, from zombie juice to strange tonics. All taught to me by the demented witch from the swamp. I simply had been too busy with cursed energy and modern science to continue my studies.
This changes now. Much like I used spell books as inspiration to expand my repertoire, I now will use the alchemy journals as inspiration to refine my sophic sense and rhetoric. The philosopher's stone is the magnum opus of Alchemy. It is something that should be doable for a mortal. Time is not a problem either, I have a lot of 'time' to burn. Mathematically, there is no reason for me to use my time the old-fashioned way.
I can even use this time to help equip the troops. Technology always starts by taking inspiration from nature, be it magical or mundane. That is how I created my first original robot, a [assembling ooze]. Based on the gelatinous cube. This robot is a stable nanite cloud capable of disassembling eaten materials and spilling out a programmed technological item that can be chosen from a catalog wirelessly. The first one I created using shadow conjuration, programmed to replicate itself, and now a small armada of these robots are recycling Scrapwall into equipment for our war effort. From weapons, and armor, to ammunition and grenades. Behold the almighty power of 3D printer!
I also made use of Dominion of Black's biotechnology to create plants and fruit-bearing trees capable of creating super pharmaceutical cheaper alternatives. Something easy to do between Nature's Bounty and my Vixen Maenad shikigami.
This helped me set the right mindset and mod while supplying me with laboratory equipment and reagents for me to unravel the secret of the Philosopher's Stone.
I went out of my way to adapt alchemical extracts into the most comfortable form for me, alcoholic beverages! Once I made this little concession to myself things progressed quickly and smoothly. Well, not smoothly, more like in a stupor as I pushed my heroic constitution to new limits. Most of the high-level extracts should be lethal if not for the magic involved, and sometimes a broch goes bad and if I am lucky, they are. When I am not, they become worse and I discover a new poison.
In a sense, this experience also counts as bodily refinement. Acclimating my body to these unique magical signatures and substances never seen in nature. I must have the third hardest-working liver in the multiverse at this point.
These experiences brought new insights. Golarion has a long history with alchemy, the sun orchid elixir alone is infamous, and these breakthroughs are commonly addressed as discoveries. Maybe is due to my particular cultivator foundation, but I discovered how to expand my mind through the raze of torpor though it made me awful sick. And despite the risks, it didn't disturb the balance between the humors, just granting me a more pleasant musk natural odor.
I worked through the collection of notes and journals from alchemists from all over Golarion, taking what I could when I found it fit.
Until eventually it happened. After 'centuries' of work, I created it. Bearing the appearance of an ordinary, sooty piece of blackish rock yet when broken open, a cavity is revealed at the stone's heart. This cavity is lined with a magical type of quicksilver, Prima Materia. It is the primitive formless base of all matter similar to chaos, the quintessence or aether. According to records, once open it goes inner quickly and becomes useless; like the prima material most available in Virtuous Sons.
I didn't wait any further and retrieved from my shadow the other nine ingredients needed for the creation of nectar (replique) out of mundane materials. Plus, the feathers of three virtuous birds and the purchased phoenix feather.
This time it was an old-fashioned day of work as I carefully played it by ear, progressing through the four stages of refinement. Fortunately, they were necessary for the creation of the Philosopher's Stone as well so I had some experience. All my previous experimentation certainly put me ahead of Solus and Socrates as I have come to see the guiding methodology behind this madness.
My brew was finally ready. Nectar (replique), what the Tyrant Riot filled his cup with. A pleasant echo of a wonder the likes an iron-wrought world cannot offer. A basin full of blood-red liquid. I breathed deeply, savoring the impossible amalgamation of perfect aromas and flavors kicking up to the back of my nose and tongue. Nectar (replique) is an amplifying substance. Joined with healing herbs, it becomes a perfect panacea. Joined with hemlock, it becomes an unshakeable poison.
The benefits of nectar were the subject of myth and legend. Immortality, divine constitution, advancement through entire mortal realms, and on and on it went. Even if only a few of them were true, even if only one of them was reality, a cup would be a treasure worth any Tyrant's favor. A paltry sip would be more than equal to a lifetime of closed-doors cultivation.
And it was a privilege I intended to keep fully to myself and mine alone. I had done more than enough to solve scarcity, I have more than merited some privileges. Now it's a question of how I will send this cup to Megumi and Tsumiki. Transport of items through Dream should be possible just because I had seen Rher do so to the warden's machete as a warning. I lost the chance to give them their first proper cup of undiluted wine but this has to make up for it!
I fill in a cop and bring it to my lip, yet decide to pause at the last second. Argyrchiara, I call to my muse and extend to her our first cup.
No, thank you. I know what this is made out of. She answers me unflappably while turning her nose up in disgust.
Come on, don't be difficult! I don't have the time nor the sedentary lifestyle to become a livestock cultivator. And where would I even find a sacred cow? I argued while bringing the cup to the muse's lips.
She hurriedly turned her face always from it. So you decided to become one?! The holy daemon protested.
You are being overdramatic! I just took some liberties with Maenads' legendary ability to produce honey and milk at will. And I am a heroic cow, thank you very much. Now we were locked in an open struggle of arms as I tried to force-feed the damn thing to Argyrchiara. Ok, so there might be more than greed motivating me to keep the secret of nectar to my grave. Even so, I struggled too much to reach this point. I didn't go through all these efforts for nothing!
What is next then? Forcing me to rinse it inside my mouth to see if I can turn it into true nectar!? Then what? Have me feed it to you like a baby bird? Argyrchiara displays surprisingly powerful grip strength as she tries to feed me instead. Yet we find ourselves in an armlock stalemate.
Why, now that you are offering it would be rude to decline. Wouldn't it? I kept pressing on until we spilled the cup's content in our struggle.
The panic I saw on her face was only mirrored by the one I saw in my reflexed by her eyes. I stroked my heart flame in a knee-jerk reaction and returned every single drop to the cup before it could touch the ground.
Ok, new rule. We both know this thing is too valuable to waste or give away. So let's do it together then. Agreed?
Agreed.
I procured another cup, then we locked forearms not unlike lovers and drank the nectar at the same time. And we both shared the high of all the best flavors in the world washing over our tongue like a lover's caress. More than that, I could feel it fortifying and revitalizing me as it danced inside my body with my starlight marrow, instigating each other to ever more soaring heights.
Gods, I hate it. Now there is no way to talk you out of keep making it.
She wasn't wrong. This is the best thing I have consumed. Period. Who in their right mind would renounce it? Cow life it is for me. Nobody has to know. Probably because I would kill any who did.
-//-
Silver Mount, the hill the Divinity ship crashed into nine thousand years ago. Today the tail of the shit stands at its peak. The city of Starfall stands as a bursting metropolis sprung at the foot of Silver Mount. Housing more than thirty thousand souls, two-thirds being Cimmerians while androids are less than two thousand, all serving as slaves for the Technique League.
Starfall is a hard place to live, chemicals from Divinity have tainted the water, the air is polluted with smoke from the fumes of laboratories exploring Numeria's technologies, and violence is an ever-present threat due to a mix of the League's cutthroat policies and Cimmerian brutish culture.
It's an ugly girl even from a distance. I guess high-tech can't really beat old architecture after all. Either in beauty or sense of identity. This was true back on Earth as it is in Golarion. Modern cities all end up looking the same.
Well, I am not here as a tourist though. This is a business visit.
I make the sign to cast the shadow puppet of the peacock, manifesting the [Multichromatic Peacock]. The original bearer of this soul was a spirit medium used in experiments by black priests. A radiant soul who served as a beacon. Combining the yellow mages' dance macabre with the gleams of insight from Solo Forbidden Area cursed technique and my own Orphic rites, this shikigami can amplify the power of allies through dancing. Gojo, being his usual self could not pass up the chance to needling poor Iori-sense that a familiar could replace and outdo her.
It's show time!
Heroes are extraordinary, significant existences. To which extent or by how much is hard to say, even for heroes themselves, but what is certain is that even the least among them are semi-divine existences. And divinities bear mysteries of their own. The impossible miracles they imprint on the world.
My second labor was the act of harming, of reaching, a god. It was the sublimation of my mythos. Now I summon it once more. Stroking my heart flame, I invoke my second labor, manifesting a light, unlike Rher's baleful glow. Indeed, this was no longer his hateful, jealous, and scornful light but my own, born of my virtue. By combining Dionysus' starry body, my starlight marrow, and Rher's light, and recasting both together under the sway of my virtue I have finally reached my own unique virtuous technique. Better late than never, I say.
[Star Rage: Black]! Yuki, this is my final homage and goodbye to you.
My arm goes alight like a phosphorescent lantern, my bones can be seen glowing from inside my flesh and a nimbus of starry night shrouded the limb.
Argyrchiara,
I am here, always.
My virtue is bipolar, after all. Salvation and despair. It's not a certain thing yet this is what allowed me to adapt jujutsu Technique Reversal and the Totality Technique to virtuous techniques, and I had long since adapted Limitless to Rher's smothering of space. I can only pull this off in the first place with the help of my muse though. Plus, some concessions had to be made, using Limitless more as inspiration than simple mimic as I also added Yuki's virtual mass and Yorozu's perfect sphere.
The air groans under the strain of gravitational distortion, a sharp shriek that goes on forever as if the sky were about to fall. An event horizon takes place as light start to be pulled under the sway of my influence creating a ring of coronation light as I held a fucking black hole in the tip of my fingers!
A pseudo-black hole, to be precise. Yuki's last resort isn't something a philanthrope like her would ever use outside a closed-off boundary like a domain expansion or emptiness barrier. It was more than capable of destroying the world after all. Gravity is one of the elements that must be treated with utmost caution and respect. What I created is a sphere of annihilation that disintegrates everything it touches until it fizzles out or detonates like a supernova.
I would have liked to explore the wonders inside Divinity but the destruction of Unity takes priority. The way I see it, even if I fail Unity will be forced to expend power it could otherwise use to kill me while carving a clear path for the excavator to start drilling. There is no need to hold back.
I let the pseudo-black hole go, and it inflates to a gigantic size while carving a trail of destruction, scarring the mountain as it collides with Silver Mount. The sound was like the hammer of god hit his anvil, there wasn't a soul for miles deaf enough to miss it. The earth quaked as part of the mountain crumbled and was unmade by the black sphere darker than black bearing a crown made of a ring of coronation light. Through my sophic senses, I picked how the ship was enveloped by a powerful soul, granting it more endurance than mere steel. My heroic senses picked on how Unity was using mythical power to reinforce Divinity beyond even that.
It was as I suspected. It would be best if I approached this incoming fight as my first confrontation with a Tyrant Realm cultivator, especially considering Unity's obsession with domination. Divinity is Unity's domain, the throne of its soul. Tyrants deal with Ethos, with Purpose. They don't try to convince or appeal to emotion but speak for others with the voice of a nation. And like all nations, they live or die by credibility. Actions speak louder than words, by proving they are not who they claim themselves to be, straying them from the framework of principles they had sworn themselves to, it is possible to disanoint a tyrant. To break his Ethos.
That is why battle preparations will decide the outcome of this day. One way or another, this is a new chapter in Numeria's history. And that is how Casandra's intel about Silver Mount and intimate knowledge of Unity is invaluable. Before confronting Unity's digital avatar inside its demiplane throne room in the chamber of the Divinity Drive, I have to perform some tasks.
The destruction of Bastion, the chief of security robot, the Overlord robot that serves as Unity's physical avatar inside Divinity, and Deacon of Hope, a holographic avatar brother of Hellion the Iron God created to be his hierophant, managing his android cult, as thralls don't count as true worshipers. Slaying the ancient vortex dragon Becrux, a foolish creature that was summarily turned into Unity's slave and now exists as a living trophy. Destroy the Quiet Garden, the magical freezer Unity stores the soul of his worshipers in his personal throne room. Unplug its AI facets and plug the inhibitor facet it had installed on Hellion. Kill the covenant of alien witch servants of Unity who live in the habitat pods that survived the crash. Also, disrupts the faith androids and aliens have in Unity.
Easy. Right? Ah, I almost forgot. There is also the army of gearmen and flying terminator robots wirelessly controlled by Unity at spitting distance (for a hero) of Silver Mount. Good thing Logic's followers have set up all those explosives and EMP to sabotage the Technique League radio towers ahead of time.
-//-
Heroes and tyrants live in a different world live in a different world from philosophers and citizens. As a citizen, I paid lip service to it but as a hero, I can finally see it for myself. While mortals curse with choices have to content themselves by committing to a single path, a single choice, I can invoke my first Labor and grant myself time, and the power to choose all the options present before me. The power to be in more than one place at the same time.
There is so much to be done and most of Logic's followers are dregs of little consequence. My role is crucial but brief, to decapitate the Technique League leadership, link with the royal consort to pass her the nectar to restore the Black Sovereign, and be guided to the Technique League secret passage linked to Divinity. An overwhelming attack from all directions crippled my enemies so they couldn't come to Unity's aid.
The Black Sovereign bears an uncanny semblance to Conan, as expected. Unfortunately, this resemblance is skin deep, the guy is a hedonistic lush, a hopeless addict, and a nymphomaniac with an unending appetite. When he isn't indulging himself, he is passed out in a corner of his castle like some common vagrant. It's hard to believe this wretch is supposed to be the fiercest Cimmerian in all Numeria, and I can literally see his soul. That is how far he had fallen.
It will be easy to get his cooperation in the short term by tangling the nectar over his head but Kul-Inkit is the kind of man who takes what he wants and from what I see in his harem he is liable to want more from me than just nectar. I am so skipping town after this; I would never survive as Princess Leia. Killing him will only sour things between Androids and Cimmerians while creating more trouble for Logic. Black Sovereign is a title you earn and keep by strength of arms and can only be held by ethnic Cimmerian. I am through with Numeria.
The assistance of the royal consort facilitated many things. Before Kevoth-Kul rise to power, while the black throne had been empty, the Technic League excavated a tunnel entrance under the royal palace to uncover Divinity's engineering levels over 50 years ago, and it has been the primary point of entrance for the League over the decades. Now I can use it as part of my pincer strategy.
When the city of Star Fall was rocketed by my initial assault, while a few other me were ambushing and cutting down Technique League big shots, I was preparing my invasion of Divinity's domain. I used the rainbow access card I scavenged during my tour in Numeria to open the glaucite door, summoned my mandala intention combined with Monochrome Crucible to summon all my ten shadow beasts shikigami totality, combining them into my four heavenly generals.
North – combining Tyrant Raptor, Hearth Snake, and Multichromatic Peacock through their shared fire element. Bearing the ability to 'fire up' allies into a rampage, that also heals and invigorates them.
South – combining Poisonous Anura, Kaleidoscope Logic Urchin, and Wonderland Cat through their shared water element. Bearing the appositive ability to North, it serves as crowd control and debuff, poisoning, harassing, and disorienting enemies.
East – combining Batavian Glass Armadillo and Maenad Vixen through their shared earth element. Serves as the tank and manipulates the field of battle to support allies while obstructing enemies.
West – combining Moonless Cerberus and Valkyrie Vulture through their shared wind element. The summoner creates and coordinates hordes of dragon bone warriors as shock troopers and other shadow chimera beasts using the body information data bank.
They looked like a power ranger team of samurai, bearing exquisite yet fashionable armor and masks. When I was a mere sophic each of them had enough power to be a special grade one sorcerer, yet when combined their power was compared by Gojo to the sun, moon, and stars squad his family kept during the Heian era. And when supported by my domain, their power is overwhelming enough to give pause to the strongest.
Now that I am a hero, they are the stuff of nightmares. The engine deck is overrun by faceless hoplite warriors mounted on feathered velociraptor-looking beasts, cutting down robots, aliens, and TL lackeys alike. The mounted laser turrets' counteroffensive was frustrated by illusory tricks and deflected by spatial distortions. The reinforced glaucite doors were kicked down by battering ham war beasts. Even when Unity started to use her divine powers through the turrets, creating barriers of brilliant blades, fire storms inside entire rooms, and summoning entities from other planes, it still served my purpose. Having it waste away its divine power on my cheap and fungible soldiers might slow me down for a time, but it is repricing it of resources before our true fight is a low price in exchange for some heart blood.
The Overlord robot was found at the shuttle bay, escorted by two annihilator robots, six terminators, and some dregs who fled here in desperation. The terminators were basically flying missile platforms bearing quantum whips mounted in their heads that looked like mustaches and claws for hands.
The battle raged on, like something out of sci-fi warfare fever dream of zombies versus robots. Laser turrets fired at will due to the number of targets, and the overlord robot was like a murder blender, yet they were pushed back. The laser turrets were strangled by tree trucks and jammed with seeds, annihilators were toppled, tied down, and cut apart by zero-edge gladius swords wielded by frenzied undying soldiers. And even the overlord was overwhelmed by numbers.
They moved on, untendered. Headed toward Habitat Pod 1. I have some witches to burn and atheism to preach by the tip of the sword.
-//-
After ensuring the Technique League suppression plan went smoothly, I dismissed all but three probability clones. The primary attacker waging war inside divinity, the striker that tried to blow up the mountainside, and the one piloting the modified excavator in Scrapwall.
Now, using my other selves as reference points, I open a golden gate big enough to drop the excavator directly in the hole I just carved in the mountain with a black hole. The mere act of violating the ship will harm Unity's ego but now that my other self is attacking it from the inside while I using something less lethal than a black hole, Unity will be compelled to redirect its resources for the fight inside Divinity itself.
I still have to reinforce the machine with my pneuma and flare my heart flame to perform a work of months into minutes by increasing the excavator's magnitude. This is necessary to pierce Divinity's tick outer layer of the purest glaucite alloy capable of shrugging off space debris flying at up to 1.5 km/s.
The position I am currently carving at was carefully chosen to drop me directly inside the Command Deck. A good position to be in, as the place had been rocketed the hardest by my initial attack, and a good chunk of Unity's fighting forces was no doubt going to support the suppression of my army, depriving them of time to return before I secure the perimeter.
Said that there is one troublesome Unity subordinate that can be found here. Deacon Hope's quarters can be found in this area, the former first officer's Quarters. Existential angst seizes the mnemovore, and he searches for purpose in life beyond service to his creator. His depression grows until he gluts himself on stolen memories and loses himself in another creature's life for days, eventually 'rediscovering' his faith anew. He is no different from Hellion after all, and as it is we got lucky. I can feel mythical power similar to Hellion nearby.
"Logic, now it is your time to shine," I say toward the tablet strapped to my waist. The picture of the goddess displayed on it now nods at me. Casandra was left behind to support the android insurrection. While her intelligence is crucial for the plan, she lacks the means to take part in such a fight.
Finding Deacon wasn't difficult, he calmly walked toward the command bridge turned shrine to Unity. As a mnemovore he is almost indestructible, being an incorporeal aggregation of information stored into light, like a scientific digital ghost. Honestly, I can deal with it like any cursed spirit.
The creature wielded a disarming smile toward the excavator, "Now, that is a rather uncouth way to search divinity. But that is ok, I forgive you and I am sure Unity will as well once you search atonement."
I open the excavator's doors in answer, releasing a swarm of observation robots. Those are not an ivory delusion but the real, made by my 3D printer ooze. Plus, they are not under my command but Logic's. A slap in Unity's face, an open invitation to contest for control between AIs. Even if Logic were to eventually be bested, the battle owes to be distracting enough for me to finish things in real space.
The robot swarm dances in the room like a kicked vespa nest. Erratic and furious, releasing loud buzz and projecting images of Logic fighting what my knowledge of planes identifies as an archangel, also known as solar. So this is Unity's avatar? Talk about prepotency, the AI really thinks of itself as some benevolent tyrant.
I finally drop down from the excavator myself, putting me face to face with Deacon of Hope. He contemplates me with a shit-eating grin. He regards this affair as a welcome distraction from his monotonous existence.
"Sorry, pall. I simply don't have time to waste with you so I am ending this quickly," I say as I brandish my sword over my face like a cross, presenting the entity with its flat side where the arcane glyph had been engraved. "Unlimited Void!"
How many times exactly had I been hit with Gojo's domain expansion? Despite my perfect memory, they all blurred together in a single event. And infuriatingly enough, to this day I still cannot put into words the experience of what I witnessed. A true mystery, both opaque enough to defy reason and profound enough to inspire virtue. My cute little student got really peeved when I not only devised a countermeasure using my Dionysian mystery but even grasped his own technique, even if just as a blind man. That was the day he came to understand what a scholar of profound mystery truly was and reevaluate the assessment he had of me. And as any true philosopher, I can still convey indirectly that which can't be directly observed. I can share my lived experience, especially while using the sword carrying a shard of the quintessence of the Six Eyes. The sword was designed as an amplifier, to begin with, there is no real surprise there.
It's not a very friendly-oriented ability, being closer in execution of a 0.2-second domain, hitting everyone but the one holding the sword. It's also something I can't use more than once a day due to the binding vows involved to make it possible. In a sense, it's more the sword's power than my own. But I can't argue with the result.
Deacon was a dangerous opponent yet a being that lives by information is also susceptible to die by it. Deacon Hope feeds on memories and knowledge via his incorporeal touch. Plus, as long as some remnant of information remains, he can reform himself. And the less we talk about the divine magic and mythical power he has access to due to the backing of Unity the better. A troublesome opponent but also an opportunity.
Logic was spared from my attack due to the skin contact the compact AI core is making with me. The same cannot be said for Unity who is almost omniscient inside its domain/prison. While its processing power should be enough to keep it from being stunned like Deacon, it is clear by the robotic swarm's behavior this room went dark. Time to play a grand trick on Unity.
Horn fulfills. Ivory deceives. Yet, for the wine-dark sons of raging heaven, the cup's composition is inconsequence in the face of its content. The mythical power I acquired from Pharasma amplified this aspect of myself. I am now compelling enough to fool the world itself and even magic that Ivory is actually horn. That lies are truths. I basically became real-life Bugs Bunny, with limited toon force powers.
I cast impale Deacon of Hope and use my sword as an improvised USB plug to shove Logic inside the data vampire like a virus. While she does her magic, turning the mnemovore into her avatar as she did with Hellion, I falsify the connection between Deacon of Hope and Unity. This will give Logic administrative privilege inside Divinity while Unity is none the wiser. With luck, she might even be able to backstab him by the end of the day.
I summon my Einherjar warriors and flare my heart flame to give each of them command of one hundred dragon bone warriors. They are to flank Unity forces trying to push back my invading army.
I then manifest a brush made from shadow and ivory bearing a rainbow of colors for hair and use it to paint a hole in the grounds of the command deck, giving me direct access to the Astrogation deck. The antechamber of the Divinity Drive.
-//-
The Habitat Pod 1 was easy enough to overcome, the megafauna present knew better than to stand against a stampede, the witches were skewered by countless spears despite their mighty magic, and the alien tribe was demoralized enough to be easily cowed into denouncing Unity in front of its camera feeds. It doesn't matter whether they truly meant it or not, Unity doesn't understand the concept of free will.
It was clear I had earned the AI's undying hatred when I reached the Security Section of the ship, Bastion's domain. Unity has invested considerable resources into restoring the security sector to tighten its control over the ship's legions of robots.
Its crowning feature is Bastion, a powerful robot built by Unity made almost entirely from the rare metal called noqual. Noqual is one of the rarer types of skymetal and has magic-resistant properties. It appears to be a pale green crystal but can be forged like iron. It has half the weight of iron, yet is just as strong. It is possible to craft magic items from noqual but it requires expensive alchemical treatments. Yet Unity did not only that but also endowed it with mythical power.
Bastion impedes magic by its mere presence, and its touch disrupts spells and magical constructs. This includes bodies animated by magic. Its mythical powers seem to have augmented such attributes.
A perfect overseer, inside the Security Section it serves as a hub for Unity, having authority over all robots found here. The security sector is designed to accommodate any of Divinity's heavy weapons and robots, and even allow for small vehicles. These factors, coupled with Unity's privileged access over the teleporter meant the Security Section effectively became the sight of our final battle in real space. Unity even sent a sect of cybernetically augmented gargoyles armed to the teeth to support Bastion. This apparently includes Casandra's replacement, a small and slender gargoyle with a human-like face and cybernetic limbs, bearing a powerful divine aura comparable to the pickle wizard I had met.
Of course, I expected something like that. That is why I made a point to create some 'robotballs' mixing arcane arts with tech to create a stable storage for my biggest robots inside the fold of paradox logic I can store inside my shadow without fear of losing it or opening a rift to the astral plane.
As the whole place is made of the purest glaucite alloy I had no hesitation about filling the place with kamikaze observer robots, annihilators, and my newest chunky boy, juggernauts. They are Gearman's big brother, these metallic monstrosities wreak havoc upon those whom they come across.
All in all, the battle was a marvelous waste of lives and resources. It couldn't be called anything but a war, and we certainly put the ship's endurance to the test. I mean, repetition rocket launchers can hold up to ten shots and are extremely cost efficient which makes it an almost fungible armament even a monkey could use. Fortunately for Unity, it had a lot of idle time to waste, leading the robotic tyrant to accrue a respectable army without much effort.
I also found we fought very similarly, with machine-like precision and mathematical efficiency. Our soldiers were literally made of iron, after all. No need to preserve them in any way as long they could take more away on their way down, this was everything that mattered. I had an advantage though. My Roman-style pneuma resonance of my dragon bone warriors has granted them power beyond their keen, allowing them to contest against enemies they had no business crossing blades with.
Unity saw it too, to whom the tides of war were favoring. The AI was getting reckless, it was making mistakes. And I made a point to ruthlessly exploit every single one of them, leading it to become even more frantic. This must be the second time it feels despair ever since the Dominion of Black, nine thousand years ago. How deliciously human!
Bastion itself had no such weakness though. It fought with fanatical zeal, to the point it was clear Unity surrendered command to it. Ah, but it must have hurt! I bet that if the AI had a body, it would be spitting black bile right now. If a hero is measured by his deeds and a tyrant by his authority then a god has to be judged by his divinity. The more it behaves as a god the godlier it becomes… and in turn the less godly it behaves the lesser of a god it is.
Bastion wasn't the one that faltered, it was Unity's conviction that faltered first, weakening its mythical power to the point I felt confident enough to step in and finish things myself. That little war had cost me a thousand years in heart's blood and Bastion was resolute to make me bleed even more.
Too bad for it I made my homework, conjuration magic is notorious for bypassing magic resistance altogether to the point there are countless offensive spells for it despite the efficiency drop. I used shadow conjuration to create a [caustic eruption] right under it, manifesting a geyser of green acid catapulting Bastion into the ceiling. And unlike the glaucite frame of the ship, his noqual frame was melting like wax. I followed my offensive with [Clashing Rocks], sandwiching Bastion between two colliding fists of stone like a train collision, and finished it all by having my warriors rack it to pieces.
With Bastion's defeat, the keystone of Unity's army had been cracked at its foundation, it wasn't enough for any among them to back down but it didn't prevent them from following Bastion to robot heaven. Unity's new priestess was the next to follow, being shot in the back by her own tribe's man of all things due to a well-time illusion. Any traces of coordination had been erased and they were falling to friendly fire just as often as to my blades.
I had won. For all effects and purposes, Divinity was mine.
I am fighting the ancient vortex dragon Becrux inside the Star Chamber of the Astrogation Deck, where navigators once charted unexplored space down to minute details while also serving to process the incredibly complex calculations needed to properly create wormholes through space with the Divinity Drive.
The Star Chamber can generate holographic representations of star systems, track their motion and scientific statistics, examine alien star systems or subatomic particles based solely on sensor readings, and help make the ship's survey of billions of worlds a practical reality. It was as grand in purpose as it was in execution.
The old wyrm and I were literally fighting among the stars as the room was overtaken by the display of the cosmic dance of celestial bodies. Of little consequence but worth mentioning, was the display of Golarion, where a point of light shining at the location of Silver Mount, from which a thread of light emerges to create a cage-like lattice surrounding the planet. A hint to the Iron God's loft goal of world domination.
The fight was really frustrating as well. Despite its enslavement, the star serpent shows itself to be surprisingly cunning. Vortex dragons are the undisputed masters of travel across the galaxies, serving as messengers and observers for the greatest outer dragons and godlike entities in the great beyond. It flies with grace and speed unrivaled among its kind and its mere existence bends space which the reptile uses to perform impossible maneuvers, deflect attacks, and attack at range through space rifts.
What should be Unity's trophy has become its last line of defense. I had been fighting the damn thing for almost half an hour by now and it hasn't shown any sight of slowing down. Its ability kind of reminds me of the Gojo clan's record about Sky Manipulation coupled with Todo's Boogie Woogie.
As we play a tiresome game of hit and run, I can't help but lament the circumstances involved in this meeting. I would have loved to take my time and taxidermize the amazing creature into a spaceship. I am pretty confident I can replicate idly transfiguration with my moon-scorch, reshaping it to my liking but my sword is too rough with bodies and souls but this is a detour I simply can't afford. The recent improvement of my mythical tie has granted me the ability to rapidly heal injuries and recuperate my spent pneuma at the expense of some mythical power in a short rest of one hour. I burned through a lot of heart blood to exhaust Unity. I simply can't let it all go to waste because I got distracted. I can't grant Unity any time to respire.
Of course, that is when I felt my soul multiplying as the flagging vital sea of soul doubled and redoubled as I climbed another rung toward raging heaven, 3rd rank of the heroic realm. Good news with the worst possible timing! I am currently at three different places as the fight outside Silver Mount became more serious than predicted. My probability doubles are all me, so will my tribulation be divided evenly among us or will I just be smitten three times over? As if this was even worth the breath wasted uttering it! Were the fates ever kind to heroes?
I dismissed all my doubles except for the one fighting Becrux. Fortunately, the beast took my moment of ponderation as hesitation and pounced on me. Besides one devastating blow during our initial exchange, the dragon had only shallow blows throughout his body. And now it is using its Collapsing Breath weapon, sucking me up like a vacuum cleaner and swallowing me whole and hindering me helpless inside his vortex blender stomach.
Right before tribulation lighting strikes me down for my audacity. Transgressing on Unity's domain as if it wasn't even there.
I could feel the tribulation lightning running through the dragon's flesh to unmake me. Becrux in howled pain as it was hit again and again, sharing in part of a hero's tribulation. As thanks I cut it from head to tail, Zagreus (the sword) eating his essence up until only ashes remained.
The vortex dragon's quintessence joined in with the void dragon's without any fanfare or dissonance. Whether it was due to the fact they are from the same subgroup or due to my own compatibility with the void dragon or even something beyond my keen entirely I couldn't say. What I knew was that it was a legendary drop, so to speak. A worthy prize after all the trouble I had reached so far down.
Time for the final battle. I hope Logic pulled through on her end.
-//-
I moved on, finally reaching the Computer Core, the laboratory directly connected to where the Divinity Drive is held. I used the prismatic access card I looted from her gargoyle priestess to enter its sterilization corridor and was instantly greeted by the focused fire of eight laser turrets. A good attempt but fire of that level could not harm a seasoned blacksmith cultivator such as myself. The fact Unity didn't even try to use spells through it shows my decision had been right.
I moved on and found myself impressed. Reality simply… stops. Replaced by Unity's private demiplane. I had read about such magic, and technically I should be able to do the same through shadow conjuration, but the sheer scale of the place is mind-boggling. In a blink, I found myself no longer in Golarion but in a modern metropolis contained inside a space station so big even my heroic senses struggled to map the place.
No… I looked up at the celestial dome giving clear view of the night sky. I mapped the configuration of stars and planets. This planet-sized space station is Golarion! This goes beyond the power of a single god, let alone a quasi-divine thing like Unity. So this is the power of the Divinity Drive? To think such a machine even existed outside of sci-fi…
More than that, I found treads. Although invisible to the naked eye and even my pneumatic and sophic senses, my heroic sense has widened with my ascension. Scarlet strings running through the entire place and I would bet if I follow them to their source, I will find the serrated fist of the Iron God.
So I do exactly that. Honestly, the fact Unity isn't using the power of the Divinity to erase me from existence probably meant the AI simply can't. Can't or won't. There is a deeper purpose to this place besides a show of extravagance.
I reached Unity's throne, a gauche golden citadel where Unity could survey its new kingdom. Soon enough I am accosted by two 'angels', tall human-like creatures with long feathery wings and a gentle inner radiance that would make it difficult to look directly at by mortals. Despite the outer splendor, I had been around the block for long enough for my sophic sense to pick out the difference between essences souls held. They were Lawful Evil post-mortal life forms made from the dead souls of Unity's followers, their appearance is due to the AI's ego and self-image as a benevolent dictator.
I found that this plane of existence has its own form of cultivation, the act of biding a soul to multiply itself, and it is similar to the Egyptian cultivation – success, and failure aren't measured by the avoidance of death but by its proper execution. After death, Pharasma will lead the soul to one of nine metaphysical realms, decided based on how said person conducted himself in life. Some mortals pledge their souls to gods or make pacts with denizens of said realms in order to ensure rebirth as a more powerful entity. Even the Whispering Tyrant god-like powers came from being purposefully slain by the hands of a god; a macabre parody of Heracles' own death and ascension. Most demons and angels were mortals once and they still carry the weight of their former lives, their captain virtue or vice, not unlike adults carrying the experience of their formative years as children.
Despite their guarded postures and wariness, they didn't immediately attack. So it is as we projected, Unity will try to court me as his new subordinate. Even if I ultimately refuse, he will at least get enough time out of it to gather his remaining slaves and resources for a final confrontation. Time for Logic to earn her keep.
What followed was a lot of saber-rattling on the part of said angels, but despite it, they refrained from actually attacking me. For my part, I was as aggravating as possible. Their true goal was to buy time but it was easy to force the issue as I was much faster than they. They wouldn't risk wasting Unity's last opportunity to enslave me, so soon I found myself escorted to Unity. I also could feel the presence of 'Deacon of Hope' loitering about. Things were coming together.
Before long I found myself in a grand throne room. Unity looked much the same as he did when first fighting Logic, a towering suit of armor bearing six wings. Yet now his golden bright glow was replaced by burnished Iron and an ominous red glow could be seen inside his helmet. Now that I bothered to look, much similar effect is inflicted on his subordinates. The Iron God's wrath was a palpable thing yet it still tried to present some composure, for all the good it did. Far more interesting was the web of scarlet strings tied to his chest.
"I must say I love what you did with the place. Since your divine powers are restricted to Divinity you simply have to expand it until the ship engulfs the planet. While terraforming it the old fashionable way was an option, there is no way this would pass unnoticed. After your failed bit for the Star Stone, you opted to circumvent it by using the Divinity Drive to run a simulation of terraformed Golarion in real-time. Then, once it is completed I presume you will perform a sleight of hand replacing reality for the simulation, aren't you?"
"And here you are at last, within the core of my being, standing before me in glorious idealized incarnations. So magnificent! You have been through my forge, mortals, and have conquered the tasks I have set before you with skill. And now, your reward. Serve me and you shall have the true potentials of your minds unlocked! But know that to turn away now is only an invitation to your just and deserved oblivion."
I will give him that, he was good. Many layers of deception there. Accepting his proposition, even in jest, would result in anyone turning into his pawn and no mortal magic would be able to undo such a thing. As sore a state as Unity currently is, the Iron God is still a divine existence. As such, only the divine itself would be able to undo such a thing. It would take a miracle to save a person who accepts such a deal. And unfortunately for the megalomaniac AI, he is facing precisely such a defiant soul, a breaker of chains. It is a huge gambit on my part and not part of the original script, I will make sure to apologize to Logic later.
"I accept." Unity didn't waste a single moment. I saw the horror in Logic's disguised face and the jubilation in the archangel's soul as the scarlet silk chain shot my way like a killer arrow aiming at my heart. And was promptly stopped by my insolent hand, "Not!"
I flared my heart flame, throwing hundreds of years into the flames to impose a defiant miracle into the world. With my sword, I swung a perfect arc severing all the treads Unity held in its tyrannical hand, severing its connection to all his slaves in the Silver Mount and beyond. The feedback from my action generated such a shock it stunned Unity and its angelical host. Logic did not waste such an opportunity either.
It seems the cyborg goddess has been a busy little bee since we got separated. In this digital realm, she had a lot of leeway, and she used it to produce a pistol and a detonator. She used the weapon to shoot Unity in the back and the detonator to rocket the place with a chain reaction of explosions. My grave keeper intuition picked up a massive swelling of ghost population, the Quiet Garden had been destroyed, freeing the souls of his worshipers serving Unity as a worship engine to help power the AI's ascension.
Logic lifts her disguise, revealing the ploy to Unity just to drive the point across. All conditions for Unity's defeat have been met and the AI could not be more demoralized if we tried. Not with Logic's influence running through its avatar like a living computer virus. This was without a doubt, Unity's darkest moment. Let's see if I can make it worse.
I manifest my Cimmerian Einherjar warriors, flaring my heart flame to magnify their every aspect while conferring to each enough dragon tooth warriors to battle the fake angelic host Unity created out of the soul of its most powerful followers. They had willingly been enthralled by Unity due to the power granted by its enslaving brand and now were also reeling from the shock like their former master.
The digital world itself was beginning to fall apart as Logic started to seize the command of the Divinity Drive for herself, initiating a battle for control on two fronts.
Unity hadn't surrendered yet though. It exploded into a divine aura of fury as the Iron God screamed apoplectic rage through binary. It fell on me like an avenging angel, bringing a coruscating fist to crush me down. I answered in kind, burning my life away a minute per second to manifest the strength of twenty-four thousand men against the Iron God. Our attacks crossed but did not meet as we both were more focused on destroying each other than safeguarding ourselves and due to my superior reach, I struck first. Yet my blade was harmlessly rebuffed by Unity's iron carapace, it didn't even slow it down. Leaving me flat-footed and open to the fist of the angry god.
My chest caved in as all my ribs were broken. Only my heroic constitution prevented my heart and lungs from being skewered by bone shards. I was sent flying through empty buildings like they were made of cardboard.
Well, it was clear that I fucked up. Unity's digital avatar seems to indeed have the power of an archangel, the greatest type among the celestial host, usually serving at the right hand of a deity or championing a cause that benefits an entire world or plane. It is said that an archangel's power approaches that of a demigod, adding to this mythical power and I suddenly find myself in a lot of trouble.
Fortunately, fortitude is the virtue of wine-dark sons of raging heaven. While most heroes would be down for the count of not dead after this, I can still fight more or less unhindered. Plus, my dharma pneumatic chamber is spinning at full throttle to mend me whole via my starlight marrow. Besides this, my recent dabble in alchemy allowed me to prepare a contingency extract, releasing healing nectar to patch me up. I still went from 50% back to 70%.
Yet considering the Unity once more hounds me like an avenging angel, it is clear I can't afford to be hit like that again. I burn, throwing one day of my life away to buy myself one second against the Iron God's onslaught. I bring to bear the power of three and a half million men against Unity's furious fist and it was just enough to push it back. All that power and I just have an inch-long scratch in his gauntlet fist to show for it.
We both had been pushed away from our subordinates, but unlike Unity, I hadn't lost my mind to stress. Even as we furiously assaulted each other with everything he had I still kept my connection in mind, focusing my mythical power into routing Unity's angelical host. Now I only have to live long enough to ensure victory.
Our blows outpaced the wind and clashed with each other like thunder. I felt every bone in my body rattle with each exchange all the while I guarded myself against Unity's frantic assault. The Iron God was covered head to toe in scratches as it abandoned any defense for offense, confident in his indestructibility after everything else had failed. Yet there was an edge of desperation to even that, Logic's infection was spreading. The AI was clearly giving his all but in doing so Unity was risking losing it all. That which does not bend will eventually break.
I can't dare to flinch away at the finishing line. Instead of wasting away in a battle of attrition, I have to risk it all in a battle of attrition. I felt Argyrchiara comforting arms around my neck, reassuring me of my reckless decision. Unity blows might pass through the spatial reflection granted by the vortex dragon quintessence like it isn't even there, yet Becrux proved its weight in gold by the ease it granted me to manipulate space. Using hope (despair) to invert Rher's normal smothering of space into expansion, I manage to disengage Unity, teleporting to the edge of my range of influence.
It wasn't enough to lose the Iron God, but it was long enough for me to manifest my carrion influence. Fueled by my heart blood, it became a colossal giant the size of my surrounding buildings. A giant spectral Ashura with six arms and three faces. Each hand holds a sword and I cross them together to then violently unfurl them apart, carving deep gouges across the city with air pressure alone, carving six trails of destruction and toppled buildings. A slap into Unity's face and provocation he was more the happy to answer.
He flew towards me like a meteor colliding against my six folding blades. This time my attack bites into the Iron God's body until it meets bone. Yet Unity's desperation was simply the greater between our clash and he broke his way through my manifested swords of intent. Once more he closes in to deliver a devastating blow.
I could step sideways beyond the constraints of space and time and escape his furious assault by skipping time. Yet nothing would come out of his and Unity has shown himself more than capable of adjusting to such an absurd form of combat. Worse, he might decide to do something drastic with his slipping grasp over the Divinity Drive. I have to end sooner than later.
That is why I am risking it all.
Despite burning myself up to the power of a million men I have been forced to carefully split said output into many different directions as any competent warrior owes to do. Tunnel vision had been the death of countless 'geniuses' and 'war gods', after all. Yet I find this is precisely what I owe to do right here and right now.
As the Iron God approaches, I disperse the giant of intention, leaving myself entirely open and in free fall. I can pick Unity's trepidation and foreboding encroaching on his iron heart like a snare, if I hadn't rattled and harassed him so much he would have backtracked. But I did and he hadn't, his end was sealed. The only question was whether he would take me with him to the afterlife.
My pneuma and his divine aura clashed like water and oil, generating impossible friction. To me, the world went dark and only the two of us existed.
Then we came into striking range of each other.
I felt the comforting presence of my muse guiding me to passionate action beyond logic, a truly divine surge of inspiration. I put everything of myself into my next and final attack, channeling all my pneuma to manifest my exclusive virtuous technique. The prelude of my epic, my second labor, my [Star Rage].
Once more we attack each other without any reservation about safeguarding ourselves.
Once again, I struck first.
This time, there was no counter.
"BLACK FLASH: SUPERNOVA!"
First came the expansion of sparks of black from my sword then they collapsed in on themselves and the next thing I know the world is overtaken by light of calamitous cosmic denotation.
To begin with, my [Star Rage] is a virtuous technique of the highest order, a lesser mystery on itself meant to reach that which exists apart. The unmoved mover, immutable among heaven and earth, untouched and unspoken of. A transgression and audacity of the highest order, and for me to then augment it through the spark of black? I phenomenon no sorcerer ever managed to perform at will? This is nothing less than madness! And madness is my bread and butter, not that it spared me from just tribulation.
I was not spared from the backlash of my own attack. My flesh was stripped from my bones until nothing was left behind but a ruin of a skeleton bearing a burning heart. All my mundane senses left me, leaving me with only the supernatural senses of a cultivator of my standing. The only reason I was still alive was due to the negative energy reinforcing the animation of my body that I unlocked thanks to my recent breakthrough. And even then, its stubborn hold keeping my tripartite soul together is frayed to its limit. By all rights I should have died, only my resistance to my own pneuma spared me. Even then I should be dying right now but fortunately, my recently acquired mythical power had made me stubbornly hard to kill, stabilizing my condition. I no longer had working lungs either but the quintessence of the void dragon pulled its weight, allowing me to respire pneuma and my Star Wheel pneumatic chamber is mending me.
Even then I should still be rendered helpless by my condition. Fortunately, the quintessence of the Iron God has snuggled itself comfortably to my Earth Chakra, located at the base of the spine. Being related to survival, granted me some of the durability and relentlessness Unity has shown in our fight. The sparks of divinity integrating my mythical power also helped, granting me the power to force my will over reality through force alone. With it, I managed to perform the herculean task of reaching my shadow for my remaining reserves of nectar and drinking it as a flayed skeleton.
I think dying would have been less painful yet this shit is still as tasty as ever.
-//-
[AUTHOR'S ROOM]
So a cultivator of Zagreus' rank has a baseline power of 410 men put together, a day has 86400 seconds, so by burning one day per second Zagreus power rose to 35424000 men put together… and then there is the black flash raising this to the power of to the power of 2.5 = 7.4686825e+18 men put together.
Zagreus only survived this because Argyrchiara is a bullshit powerful muse. And even then, he had to pull every trick from his bag to survive this. Unnecessary to say he isn't pulling a stunt like this again any time soon. If he hadn't used it inside a demiplane he could cause a planetary incident. At minimum Numeria would be no more. All in all, this counts as Zagreus first fight against a Tyrant.
By the way, Unity is responsible for the Gap and Starfinder, the sci-fi parallel to Pathfinder. The gap is the phenomenon where the planet Golarion got replaced by a special station and thousands of years of history were lost. This was Unity's remastered master plan since its original goal was kind of stupid and convoluted.
By the way, Zagreus got a ton of exp, a legendary drop in the Iron God's quintessence, and two more mythical ranks, putting him at 6th tier. He got Mythic Saving Throws (Ex), Force of Will (Ex), Words of Hope (Su), Surge of Inspiration (Su), Mythic Leadership feat, and his third bonus to Charisma. This completes his Marshal build and now he can grant mythical power to his followers. Expect consequences.
Hahahaha oh that was wonderful and so many things I want to comment on first I love how Zagreus still trys to be an upstanding adult but fails I take it he's using his breast milk as one of the ingredients for nectar? Yeah I can see why he doesn't want to tell people that though honestly it'd be amusing if it does come out haha poor Megumi.
Next nice 6th tier mythic that's going to have an effect on his cults given the level of spells that can now be granted but now mythic power can be granted as well oh that's going to be something else I take it Gojo is going to complain isn't he though he'll probably be amused by it as well.
Also I take it Zagreus has unintentionally spread his style of cultivation as well right?
Soon Zagreus will be the main religion on earth. Please ignore the constant frat parties happening all the time, the drugs and wine can't harm you, literally.
Hahahaha oh that was wonderful and so many things I want to comment on first I love how Zagreus still trys to be an upstanding adult but fails I take it he's using his breast milk as one of the ingredients for nectar? Yeah I can see why he doesn't want to tell people that though honestly it'd be amusing if it does come out haha poor Megumi.
Next nice 6th tier mythic that's going to have an effect on his cults given the level of spells that can now be granted but now mythic power can be granted as well oh that's going to be something else I take it Gojo is going to complain isn't he though he'll probably be amused by it as well.
Also I take it Zagreus has unintentionally spread his style of cultivation as well right?
The style of cultivation he prefers to teach is one he perfected over two decades. It's a bit different from the one he uses as it is closer to a roman style cultivation in that it focuses on virtue since dead gods and heroes are hard to find in most places. We will have time for this on the next arc as Zagreus will unintentionally become a crusader.
The style of cultivation he prefers to teach is one he perfected over two decades. It's a bit different from the one he uses as it is closer to a roman style cultivation in that it focuses on virtue since dead gods and heroes are hard to find in most places. We will have time for this on the next arc as Zagreus will unintentionally become a crusader.
Ah I meant more in the way of people awakening their souls like what happened with Sokka and what happened with the awakenings on JJK world when Zagreus and co performed their labors.
He used it on Unity. He can see and 'sever chains of unity'. Is a pun with a double meaning, work on magic that ties and controls people. It can even disrupt roman style synchronization of power and mind control, hivemind powers. Dionysus's cult is the common bane of kings, a subversive and riotous element and this power expresses this.
I find it a little funny that disrupting Unity's control over Divinity counted as a heroic feat, while beating Unity directly did not, despite that the latter seemed to be significantly harder.
I find it a little funny that disrupting Unity's control over Divinity counted as a heroic feat, while beating Unity directly did not, despite that the latter seemed to be significantly harder.
I think is because most of the reason why we were able to fight his avatar was because we had the support from Logic while the defeat of his armies was only done by him
I find it a little funny that disrupting Unity's control over Divinity counted as a heroic feat, while beating Unity directly did not, despite that the latter seemed to be significantly harder.
Well disrupting Unity's control only seemed easy because Zagreus is both very powerful by local standards not to mention he's also something of an out of context problem but even then Zagreus needed time and help to prepare and be ready for the fight. I mean just look at the list of things Zagreus took care of before his fight with Unity it would be an absolute meatgrinder for just about any other force. That said I do agree I'm sort of surprised that Zagreus didn't get another labor from the fight or from surviving it still that's fine he still got quite a bit.
Considering I have another story in Type-moon I keep dragging my feet on, I think I would restrict myself to a more contained grail war. Like, Zagreus experimented with astral projection since it is part of necromancy school and ended up as a servant in Fake Stranger.
I find it a little funny that disrupting Unity's control over Divinity counted as a heroic feat, while beating Unity directly did not, despite that the latter seemed to be significantly harder.
Most heroes ascend during their labor instead of at the end of it. It actually helped too, since Zagreus developed the means to take away Unity's greatest asset. If Unity had aborted the task it had committed the Divinity Drive on and used it to fight, thighs would have gotten ugly. The thing is like a wish spell machine.
Considering I have another story in Type-moon I keep dragging my feet on, I think I would restrict myself to a more contained grail war. Like, Zagreus experimented with astral projection since it is part of necromancy school and ended up as a servant in Fake Stranger.
How does the Tyrant Realm work? I heard their power is dependent on the size of their Territory. Can Zagreus just go to ASOIAF and conquer the whole damn Planet?
From what bruno's told so far, the best domains are the immaterial ones not just places. You can be invincible in Rome or you can be very very good at any place with a shadow. Both have their positives but Zagreus doesn't seem to be the kind of dude who traps himself somewhere without good reason.
Hmm I wonder what other worlds would be good for Zagreus to end up going too? I feel like Persona 1 or 2 would be utterly fascinating for him to go too though the other games also have interesting possibilities. Though the related Shin Megami Tensei series hold promise as well though I feel Persona would still be more interesting.
Dark Souls or related worlds seems like another possibility though he might need to be a Tyrant for those worlds though it'd also be good for him to go to less dark worlds as well not sure which ones though at least ones that would also be good for his journey anyway.
As I said before, I already decided on Zagreus's domain as a tyrant and the world where this will happen. The shadows are something he inherited from the Tyrant Riot but even tyrants from the same cult can be radically different in execution.
Hmm I wonder what other worlds would be good for Zagreus to end up going too? I feel like Persona 1 or 2 would be utterly fascinating for him to go too though the other games also have interesting possibilities. Though the related Shin Megami Tensei series hold promise as well though I feel Persona would still be more interesting.
Dark Souls or related worlds seems like another possibility though he might need to be a Tyrant for those worlds though it'd also be good for him to go to less dark worlds as well not sure which ones though at least ones that would also be good for his journey anyway.
I'm going to note zagreus worshipers on earth can now pull off the raise dead spell. If his religion doesn't become the biggest on Earth I'd call bullshit. Give it'd take time get to numbers of those who worship a form of the abrahamic God. But, it should gain more followers than scientology after just a hand full of years and within the century should be up there or larger than religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Muslim, and so on.
