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DODGE THE WHEEL
- Thread starter BrunofanofK
- Start date
- Crossover
Battle Through the Heavens - 11
- Location
- Brazil
By the time the Xiao orphans had risen from bed it was almost noon. Life in the room was a reckoning to one's sleeping schedule after all. But at the very least they looked better now than how I found them. My worker spirits readily worked as silent attendants, grooming them as if they were noble scions and patricians instead of homeless kids without a drachma to their name.
The late breakfast was just as luxurious as last night's dinner, the presentation is a feast to the eyes and spirit just as much to the stomach, after all. Exotic fruits from this world and beyond artfully filleted into beautiful plates, kykeon porridge, bread, cheese, honey, and charcuterie cold cuts. It was so extravagant that they mistook it for a desert mirage at first, but the weeks in the room taught them to eat wherever the chance appeared. To the point that they happily ignored Yao's presence at the table.
But all good things come to an end and the comforting afterglow of a full stomach led way to tense silence. It was time for our promised talk.
"Xun Er," I finally addressed the teenage girl, causing her to almost jump out of her skin. It was clear that the rest of the family resented her for her ties with the Gu clan. "Do you know why I came here? Why did I find you?"
"I- my personal attendant, Ling Ying; that is a former attendant! He, well… has some affection for me still despite my rebellion… my betrayal. He contacted through remote means to inform them that you were attacking the Gu clan. You can here – and she involuntarily swallowed in dry saliva – you are here to tie some loose ends…" She finished meekly while looking down on the verge of tears.
Xiao Yan at her side cupped her trembling hand on his own to comfort her but the rest of the family regarded her with a mix of callous indifference to downright vindication.
"Well, you aren't wrong. I came here for something like that. First of all, I have to tell you something. While I am sure you heard it there are some details that only witnesses were privy to. I didn't kill your father personally but I broke his body and spirit to the point he became easy prey to his ally of convenience… a fitting end for betraying his vow of eternal friendship to Xiao Xuan, don't you think?"
In answer Xun Er shrank even more under herself as if making herself a smaller target. Family names are everything in the Dou Qi continent, and the actions of a single member reflect back to the entire family; a very Chinese mindset. Xun Er is the daughter of a traitor and oath breaker, even her defection of her family for the Xiao clan serve only as proof of her lousy loyalty under the lens of family pedigree. She has a hard life ahead of her.
"I don't see how bringing this up will help you any, Sir." Xiao Yan says, clearly peeved with me putting his maybe-girlfriend in such a tough spot but still fresh from last night's conversation.
"Ah, but it does. It would be remiss to bring someone with shaky loyalties into my house hood, boy. Especially when she is almost certain to run into the ghost of her father the moment she gets out of my sight." I explain, eliciting horror and outrage in the table.
The children went guzzling like a kicked bee hive. Screaming, shouting, throwing accusations and crying in fear. Xiao Yan, to his credit, just looked at Yao Lao's direction with a horrified expression of realization. Quickly connecting the pieces that powerful cultivations have ways to persist even after death.
For my part I just raised my hand in a call of order, decades as an educator more than prepared me to rule in excited children.
"It was carelessness on my part, since modern cultivation of battle aura neglects the soul and spiritual power, I disregarded the possibility that such it might not have always been the case. It is called [Heavenly State], which is humored to make a soul indestructible. Even if one's soul is forcefully shattered, the lingering soul seed will gradually gather together, allowing one to be reborn."
"Are you saying Gu Yan is immortal?" Asked a boy from the peanut gallery.
"If such was the case then the world would be flush with ghosts of Battle Gods. No, it is simply a case of cultivators being hyperbolic braggards. And even if such was true it wouldn't be enough to protect themselves from me. I have great experience bringing honest death to otherwise immortal existences… and that is precisely why I opt for burying my grudges with my enemies, otherwise I would be tempted to torment them after death. Otherwise I would eventually become no different from the Soul clan."
"What makes you sure Gu Yan is still ali- around?" Yan asked, unable to contain his own resentment for the man that destroyed his clan and killed his father.
"When I attacked the Ancient clan, I found that the Heavenly Tomb had disappeared." I said, as if this explained everything. Which it kind of did for Xun Er, who then filled her friends in.
The Heavenly Tomb was a demiplane used as the common graveyard for powerful cultivators of the venerable clans and their souls are allowed to persist there indefinitely while out of sight of the rest of the world. Considering grave robbing is among the top five pastimes of cultivators it makes a lot of sense. One needs to be at least a battle venerable to get a humble grace inside of it.
"Most likely the wrath of Gu Yan and Hun Tiandi joined forces to take the Heavenly Tomb for themselves in order to reestablish the Soul Hall. The perfect place to recruit ghosts of powerful cultivators and hunting ground, harvesting the power of those who refuse their offer. And after I thoroughly disabused Hun Tiandi of the supremacy of his soul arts in our last fight there is no way he would attempt a rematch any time soon.
"No, to have the ghost of a chance they have to revive first and for that they need a suitable vessel but people who are both compatible and powerful enough to give them a fighting chance are hard to come by." I explained while pinning Xun Er with a penetrating stare.
Despite shedding the fatigue and rickety from her exile, Xun Er got more withered that I first found her by the gad news. "Father… he wouldn't do that… would he?" She asked herself, get meeker and more uncertain with each word. Even though she had already severed all formal ties with her father when he attacked the Xiao clan, blood bonds are not so flick nor easily broken.
This is why she can't help but want to protest such accusations even as her head points out the plain truth… This is also why the orphans of the Xiao clan hold her in contempt. Xun Er is truly alone, with no place to belong and her origins make sure she will never be wanted. I made sure of that when I started to hunt down the venerable clans for daring to cross me. The People of the Dou Qi continent are nothing if not practical, the only person who would dare to know to stick out for her was Xiao Yan who even now tries to silently support her by holding hands.
"I am afraid this can't be left to chance. Moments of crisis make for strange bedfellows… and necessary sacrifices. It is naive to think vows can hold back men from transgressing for the sake of ascension, there wouldn't be a need for tribulation if this is the case. That is why you aren't safe, girl. You are the perfect vessel for Gu Yuan to reincarnate, even extinguishing the power of your bloodline using the nihilism devouring flame wouldn't be enough… that is why I am taking you in."
My words were like a bolt from the blue, Xun Er raised her head so fast her neck audibly cracked in the whiplash as she looked up at me, with a mix of incredulity… and hope. "Don't look so surprised, I owe a debt to Xiao Zhan and I have in good authority that he recognized you as his daughter as one of his final acts, did he not? I am not as heartless to simply leave you to the vultures." I say with an easy smile, at the end of the day it isn't the first time I took the progeny of an enemy for my own. That is how I ended up with Megumi and Tsumiki… and Azula, and Jet, and Panaka… maybe I let it become a habit.
During my musing Yan and Xun Er were doing sparkle eye at each other, completely forgetting the peanut gallery… Well, at least he filled the rest of the presents about last night's conversation. A shame I had more bad news to deliver.
"I am afraid you are not that better off than Xun Er herself. No matter how much it has fallen, the Xiao Clan is still counted among the venerable clans. Its last true patriarch, Xiao Xuan, attempted to revitalize the clan's bloodline by ascending to battle god through the consumption of all the remaining bloodline power of his clansmen. He failed." It was an old story, but it serves as the perfect example of the value of context. Zhu Kun was rightfully bitter about the secret of Origin Qi, those that knew of it made sure to obfuscate this nugget of information to sabotage the following generations. The Broad's Allegory of the Cave springs to mind immediately.
"The problem is that powerful cultivators have the annoying tendency to linger on and as luck would have it, he attempted to ascend in the Heavenly Tomb due to its time dilation and high density of ambient qi. Xiao Xuan and Gu Yuan were sworn brothers who forged an oath that their two clans would never go to war, after all. Something that lasted even after Xiao's clan fell from grace, after all Xiao Zhan's wife was from the Gu clan. And while Gu Yuan broke this vow the ghost of Xiao Xuan has no means to know about it from inside the Heavenly Tomb."
I explain the situation to the orphans of the Xiao clan. It is a sad truth that cultivators are infamous for their unscrupulousness but there is a difference between theoretical knowledge and lived experience. I wasn't even surprised when young Xiao Yan connected the dots first, springing up from his seat and looking at me with adjective despair.
"Mast-, Fath- … Uncle. What exactly … Did something happen to my brothers? You found us so… it would be easy for you to know their whereabouts, right?" He asked with a yellow smile, all but begging me to dispel his worst fears. His intuition really is impressive.
I ran my hand over my hair in exasperation. Not at his question but at the situation as a whole.
"Xiao Ding and Xiao Li location as of now it is unknown. They were working as mercenaries and body guards to ward off monsters and the snake clan until recently just to suddenly vanish without even collecting their severance. Divination attempts have failed to give away any clue, which means someone went out of their way to cover their tracks by occluding my sight. I am sorry, boy. The reason I rushed to your location was because my presence was the only thing capable of warding off fate."
The little composure Xiao Yan recovered from last time was scattered like sand between his fingers. His body trembled all over until it suddenly collapsed like a puppet without strings, only Xun Er's timely support prevented him from collapsing.
"The situation is dire, but not hopeless. Two battle kings should be beneath consideration to the Heavenly Tomb which means they were not kidnapped for their souls. Most likely your brothers are valuable alive – the same way your ancestors once sacrificed their bloodline power to Xiao Xuan it now will be transferred to the two of them. With it they should be able to reach battle venerable level in a few decades, probably less with the support of the ghosts of the Heavenly Tomb. Said that I doubt they will be at a sound state of mind by the time you next meet them, Hun Tiandi is a shifty bastard like that.
"Xiao Yan, are you willing to gambit your life in the off chance that your brothers might be saved?" I asked, putting every measure of my passion in each single word. A lifetime of tragedies disabuse me of the hubris of thinking myself an invincible aegis capable of protecting everyone. Most likely this will be a battle Xiao Yan will have to do on his lonesome, the best I can do is prepare him for this.
"Hey!" Xiao Yun, a young girl exclaimed in indignation; it seems that a good night of sleep and some good food was enough for her to recover some of her spunk. "Don't act like this is just Xiao Yun's problem! The guy is a weakling anyway – "Hey!" he protested – I will save older brothers Ding and Li. They are the rightful heirs of our family After All… and besides, I do have a grudge with those shitty ghosts, so… TEACH ME HOW TO BEAT GHOST ASS LIKE YOU DO PLEASE!!" The young girl screams full of bravado and boldness that did nothing to hide how she trembled like a leaf under my gaze.
Her action opened a floodgate, the rest of the orphans all made bold declarations of defeating the Heavenly Tomb and beating the ghosts of Gu Yan and Hun Tiandi and demanding my sponsorship. The audacity! I couldn't help but laugh at it. "It seems you got beaten to the punch, boy."
"What? No way! I will be the one to save my brothers and destroy the Heavenly Tomb! Get that on your tick skulls!" He finally declared and it was as if the previous uncertainty he had shown had been just some mirage of the desert. Seeing them bantering and needling at each other without a care in the world, my worst fears dissolved. Taking them all in would be for the best, after all.
As of late my starlight marrow was so potent that I no longer feel prudent to share it as carelessly as I once did… what a foolishness. It seems I have really become an old man after all. When Dionysus was reborn again in the bronze age he had hit rock bottom, becoming a man so terrible that the Father whipped tears of sorrow and flooded the world (as in, The Flood of the Bible and countless other mythologies) to wash away his sins from the earth and restart the world anew.
In that new world he met noble men and women who lit the world with their defiant noble souls cultivated like he cultivated his grapevines. Among them he found friends, true friends like the ones he made when the world was silver and bright and the grapes were honey sweet without any hint of sour nor bitterness and smiles came easy. That is why he shared with them the only thing he could to support them, his senselessly beating heart… and in turn they took even that and improved it the same way they improved the world. Beating in their chest it was incensed aflame in the flame of their passions, becoming something glorious, triumphant.
Indeed, humanity where born from the molten clay made from the ashes of his first death by the maws of the titans and from these two-part humans take in the soul and the body. Dionysus is the god of religious rapture for this reason. The Hellenic answer to the question of – if the divine exists and it is fundamentally good then how can it abide suffering to exist? The god's manifestation breaks away the barrier of individuality that distinguishes and divides men into alienated isolation from each other. It redeems the world.
"I am courageous in the face of future tragedy. I am the timeless acknowledgement of life's cruelty and the enjoyment of it in spite. I am fortitude. I am a promise – That no matter how many times I fall, I will rise again tomorrow."
If there was a time to share in my flesh and my burden and a meaning to perform this then it would have to be here and now. I reach inside my inner garden to produce a silver bright chalice alloyed in a golden bright flame. My actions finally caught the attention of the excitable children who noticed my action. "You think you have what it takes to succeed where I failed and amend my mistake? So be it. I will give you all a shot."
I then manifest a blade of rhetoric from one finder so sharp it could even cut the pneumatic sense of any who dare carelessly brush against it and run it across my wrist, depositing a stream of blood in the waiting goblet. Like the rest of myself, my sanguine essence was a true scarlet that looked more like the idyllic ideal of blood imagined by poets than the plain mundane thing. It also boiled in an effervescence churning that shined a silvery sheen under the sunlight. "Drink from my cup and become strong. But be warned, this blood is fortifying hope that endures all sorrows. If you run you ragged and burn you out until you are hollowed out it is because of your own lack. Only sip as much as you think you can endure."
I placed it on the tablet and the sight of it was intimidating enough that all the presents just stared at it with a look of trepidation. It radiated a heat that threatened all the children in sweating waterworks at the prospect of ingesting something so dangerous. It is indeed a death of sorts, if they don't surrender to it then they can't die and consequently be reborn.
That is why I wasn't surprised that Xun Er was bold at it once it seemed none of them would have the courage to be the first one to ingest it. Before Xiao Yan could even protest, she grabbed the chalice even as it burned her palm and brought it to her lips. If lifting it was challenging enough then consuming it was like drinking molten lead.
The Xiao orphans watched horrified and Yan tried to intervene but a hand materialized pneuma of my carrion intent held him back. He tried to throw a look of betrayal my way but my glare made my message clear. It was her life and her choice; he had no right to decide those things from here.
Xun Er was truly impressive though. I expect them to endure no more than a single sip but she drank deep from it. Gulp after gulp from starlight marrow, one, two, three, four, five, six, sev- and then she collapsed and this time I let Yan go to her without protest.
Yao Lao watched the starlight marrow do its work with open fascination. As an alchemist he has cultivated sharp spiritual senses capable of monitoring even the slightest changes, a necessary skill when refining pills and why real alchemists are so prized and respected.
The starlight marrow burrowed new paths across her flesh, connecting points that once stood as isolated islands on her flesh while creating new ones. A ten spooked wheel that resembles the Macedonian flag which will support her as surely as her lungs, the wheel turning now my star rage. The marrow refined her using my own body as a template, after all the soul is the body and the body is the soul. After my final crossing of the Rubicon that metamorphosed my soul into a [Ancient Soul] akin to the Old Gods, my flesh became a perfect and ever updating record of my soul and lived experience. By consuming it, calling Xun Er my daughter wouldn't be an exaggeration or hyperbole. Especially as my starlight marrow burned away her Battle God blood, readily consuming it to foster further refinement.
Ever so slowly Xun Er stood up under her own power like a newborn foal. Her eyes now a deep indigo like amethyst stone, her hair went from jet black to a shade closer to darker wine dark of profound water; even her features had subtle chances as the cosmetics of cultivation made her taller, more athletic and toned, and less a brittle jade beauty into a marble warrior princess.
Side by side with me the family resemblance is undeniable, any unwitty onlooker would assume me to be her father. While it still isn't on the same level as Prometheus' golden ichor most cultivators would be hard pressed to find a better substitute. The wealth inside my bones harmoniously merge in its host like no other, courtesy of the Isodaetes (he who distributes equal portions); a rather dark joke about the ritualistic Sparagmos (tear and renting to pieces), followed by omophagia, the eating of the raw flesh of the one dismembered.
This is her first taste, her baptism. In time she will experience her Eucharist in the Orphic House.
The benefits were self-evident and the resentment toward Xun Er spurred the competitiveness of the Xiao orphans. Despite knowing better, they one and all decided to bite more than they could shew, gorging from the goblet as much as they could before their bodies started retching in protest. Cheeky little hunts, the entire lot. The Xiao clan certainly is as vivacious as the rumors suggested since ancient times. Even none of them beat Xun Er, the girl was a true born master of the pour! She will fit right in.
The last one was Xiao Yun, who decided to make up for his poor performance so far with enthusiasm and any lack of self-preservation. He noticed how the burned palms of his cousins quickly healed and had the bright idea to break his own jaw and tie his hand to the goblet to drink as much as he could. I simply watched the show, it was like the cultivator version of Jackass buy hey, if it looks stupid but it works then it isn't stupid… all the presents will still hold this over his head for the rest of his life though.
Xiao Yan had to manually work his jaw with his free hand, the sight of him choking down the drink while choking back tears was utterly absurd yet I had the impression Dionysus himself was witnessing the sight with amused appreciation, the guy loved gambits after all.
That is the only explanation I have for how Xiao Yan endured up to twelve gulps before violently snorting the rest through his nose!
Everyone watched the show in mortification, the average cultivator certainly would take exception to his behavior but I couldn't help but laugh at the sight.
"Hahaha, if the protagonist gig doesn't pay off at least I know you still will have a future as a comedic side character. Isn't it a relief, boy?" I goaded, causing the already miserable Xiao Yan to make an even sourer expression.
"Shut up, I am weak so I have to seize every opportunity I have with both hands!" He countered petulantly, which was the perfect skit to break the ice leading the rest of the onlookers to realize the sight was indeed hilarious.
Even Xun Er was laughing at the end of it which caused Yan to be both ashamed and kind of happy to see her smiling once again. They were all young yet their lives were already touched by so much tragedy yet the sight of them joking and teasing each other made me hopeful for their future. They would be alright.
[AUTHOR ROOM]
Happy holidays! This chapter took me a lot of time to finish. The holiday season is especially eventful in my family so I had little time for anything else. Plus, I was kind of lazy and the Elden Ring DLC was calling me. I brought it before my country's coin finished evaporating, an event as tragic as it was predictable. I hate to be the guy that said "I said so," but well… I fucking called it! The perils of a banana republic is that the money also becomes worthless. I dodged this bullet by liquidating all said assets and brought a solar roof and put them in bitcoin. People are fearing a return of an inflationary crisis the likes we had in the 80s as the dollar is liable to hit 20 'Brazilian dollars' by the end of the Labor's party term in power so open discussion of impeachment is in the air which make the supreme court of the country really nervous since they broke all sort of laws to allow our current president to run while at the same time obstruct the opposition; typical Latin American judicial enabled coup like we saw in Venezuela. Elon Musk's threats of incarceration to certain Voldemort minister of justice that must not be named have become more real by the day. Honestly, the main reason I don't leave the country is because I have many elderly relatives who depend on me… So help your boy by supporting me on Patreon!
The late breakfast was just as luxurious as last night's dinner, the presentation is a feast to the eyes and spirit just as much to the stomach, after all. Exotic fruits from this world and beyond artfully filleted into beautiful plates, kykeon porridge, bread, cheese, honey, and charcuterie cold cuts. It was so extravagant that they mistook it for a desert mirage at first, but the weeks in the room taught them to eat wherever the chance appeared. To the point that they happily ignored Yao's presence at the table.
But all good things come to an end and the comforting afterglow of a full stomach led way to tense silence. It was time for our promised talk.
"Xun Er," I finally addressed the teenage girl, causing her to almost jump out of her skin. It was clear that the rest of the family resented her for her ties with the Gu clan. "Do you know why I came here? Why did I find you?"
"I- my personal attendant, Ling Ying; that is a former attendant! He, well… has some affection for me still despite my rebellion… my betrayal. He contacted through remote means to inform them that you were attacking the Gu clan. You can here – and she involuntarily swallowed in dry saliva – you are here to tie some loose ends…" She finished meekly while looking down on the verge of tears.
Xiao Yan at her side cupped her trembling hand on his own to comfort her but the rest of the family regarded her with a mix of callous indifference to downright vindication.
"Well, you aren't wrong. I came here for something like that. First of all, I have to tell you something. While I am sure you heard it there are some details that only witnesses were privy to. I didn't kill your father personally but I broke his body and spirit to the point he became easy prey to his ally of convenience… a fitting end for betraying his vow of eternal friendship to Xiao Xuan, don't you think?"
In answer Xun Er shrank even more under herself as if making herself a smaller target. Family names are everything in the Dou Qi continent, and the actions of a single member reflect back to the entire family; a very Chinese mindset. Xun Er is the daughter of a traitor and oath breaker, even her defection of her family for the Xiao clan serve only as proof of her lousy loyalty under the lens of family pedigree. She has a hard life ahead of her.
"I don't see how bringing this up will help you any, Sir." Xiao Yan says, clearly peeved with me putting his maybe-girlfriend in such a tough spot but still fresh from last night's conversation.
"Ah, but it does. It would be remiss to bring someone with shaky loyalties into my house hood, boy. Especially when she is almost certain to run into the ghost of her father the moment she gets out of my sight." I explain, eliciting horror and outrage in the table.
The children went guzzling like a kicked bee hive. Screaming, shouting, throwing accusations and crying in fear. Xiao Yan, to his credit, just looked at Yao Lao's direction with a horrified expression of realization. Quickly connecting the pieces that powerful cultivations have ways to persist even after death.
For my part I just raised my hand in a call of order, decades as an educator more than prepared me to rule in excited children.
"It was carelessness on my part, since modern cultivation of battle aura neglects the soul and spiritual power, I disregarded the possibility that such it might not have always been the case. It is called [Heavenly State], which is humored to make a soul indestructible. Even if one's soul is forcefully shattered, the lingering soul seed will gradually gather together, allowing one to be reborn."
"Are you saying Gu Yan is immortal?" Asked a boy from the peanut gallery.
"If such was the case then the world would be flush with ghosts of Battle Gods. No, it is simply a case of cultivators being hyperbolic braggards. And even if such was true it wouldn't be enough to protect themselves from me. I have great experience bringing honest death to otherwise immortal existences… and that is precisely why I opt for burying my grudges with my enemies, otherwise I would be tempted to torment them after death. Otherwise I would eventually become no different from the Soul clan."
"What makes you sure Gu Yan is still ali- around?" Yan asked, unable to contain his own resentment for the man that destroyed his clan and killed his father.
"When I attacked the Ancient clan, I found that the Heavenly Tomb had disappeared." I said, as if this explained everything. Which it kind of did for Xun Er, who then filled her friends in.
The Heavenly Tomb was a demiplane used as the common graveyard for powerful cultivators of the venerable clans and their souls are allowed to persist there indefinitely while out of sight of the rest of the world. Considering grave robbing is among the top five pastimes of cultivators it makes a lot of sense. One needs to be at least a battle venerable to get a humble grace inside of it.
"Most likely the wrath of Gu Yan and Hun Tiandi joined forces to take the Heavenly Tomb for themselves in order to reestablish the Soul Hall. The perfect place to recruit ghosts of powerful cultivators and hunting ground, harvesting the power of those who refuse their offer. And after I thoroughly disabused Hun Tiandi of the supremacy of his soul arts in our last fight there is no way he would attempt a rematch any time soon.
"No, to have the ghost of a chance they have to revive first and for that they need a suitable vessel but people who are both compatible and powerful enough to give them a fighting chance are hard to come by." I explained while pinning Xun Er with a penetrating stare.
Despite shedding the fatigue and rickety from her exile, Xun Er got more withered that I first found her by the gad news. "Father… he wouldn't do that… would he?" She asked herself, get meeker and more uncertain with each word. Even though she had already severed all formal ties with her father when he attacked the Xiao clan, blood bonds are not so flick nor easily broken.
This is why she can't help but want to protest such accusations even as her head points out the plain truth… This is also why the orphans of the Xiao clan hold her in contempt. Xun Er is truly alone, with no place to belong and her origins make sure she will never be wanted. I made sure of that when I started to hunt down the venerable clans for daring to cross me. The People of the Dou Qi continent are nothing if not practical, the only person who would dare to know to stick out for her was Xiao Yan who even now tries to silently support her by holding hands.
"I am afraid this can't be left to chance. Moments of crisis make for strange bedfellows… and necessary sacrifices. It is naive to think vows can hold back men from transgressing for the sake of ascension, there wouldn't be a need for tribulation if this is the case. That is why you aren't safe, girl. You are the perfect vessel for Gu Yuan to reincarnate, even extinguishing the power of your bloodline using the nihilism devouring flame wouldn't be enough… that is why I am taking you in."
My words were like a bolt from the blue, Xun Er raised her head so fast her neck audibly cracked in the whiplash as she looked up at me, with a mix of incredulity… and hope. "Don't look so surprised, I owe a debt to Xiao Zhan and I have in good authority that he recognized you as his daughter as one of his final acts, did he not? I am not as heartless to simply leave you to the vultures." I say with an easy smile, at the end of the day it isn't the first time I took the progeny of an enemy for my own. That is how I ended up with Megumi and Tsumiki… and Azula, and Jet, and Panaka… maybe I let it become a habit.
During my musing Yan and Xun Er were doing sparkle eye at each other, completely forgetting the peanut gallery… Well, at least he filled the rest of the presents about last night's conversation. A shame I had more bad news to deliver.
"I am afraid you are not that better off than Xun Er herself. No matter how much it has fallen, the Xiao Clan is still counted among the venerable clans. Its last true patriarch, Xiao Xuan, attempted to revitalize the clan's bloodline by ascending to battle god through the consumption of all the remaining bloodline power of his clansmen. He failed." It was an old story, but it serves as the perfect example of the value of context. Zhu Kun was rightfully bitter about the secret of Origin Qi, those that knew of it made sure to obfuscate this nugget of information to sabotage the following generations. The Broad's Allegory of the Cave springs to mind immediately.
"The problem is that powerful cultivators have the annoying tendency to linger on and as luck would have it, he attempted to ascend in the Heavenly Tomb due to its time dilation and high density of ambient qi. Xiao Xuan and Gu Yuan were sworn brothers who forged an oath that their two clans would never go to war, after all. Something that lasted even after Xiao's clan fell from grace, after all Xiao Zhan's wife was from the Gu clan. And while Gu Yuan broke this vow the ghost of Xiao Xuan has no means to know about it from inside the Heavenly Tomb."
I explain the situation to the orphans of the Xiao clan. It is a sad truth that cultivators are infamous for their unscrupulousness but there is a difference between theoretical knowledge and lived experience. I wasn't even surprised when young Xiao Yan connected the dots first, springing up from his seat and looking at me with adjective despair.
"Mast-, Fath- … Uncle. What exactly … Did something happen to my brothers? You found us so… it would be easy for you to know their whereabouts, right?" He asked with a yellow smile, all but begging me to dispel his worst fears. His intuition really is impressive.
I ran my hand over my hair in exasperation. Not at his question but at the situation as a whole.
"Xiao Ding and Xiao Li location as of now it is unknown. They were working as mercenaries and body guards to ward off monsters and the snake clan until recently just to suddenly vanish without even collecting their severance. Divination attempts have failed to give away any clue, which means someone went out of their way to cover their tracks by occluding my sight. I am sorry, boy. The reason I rushed to your location was because my presence was the only thing capable of warding off fate."
The little composure Xiao Yan recovered from last time was scattered like sand between his fingers. His body trembled all over until it suddenly collapsed like a puppet without strings, only Xun Er's timely support prevented him from collapsing.
"The situation is dire, but not hopeless. Two battle kings should be beneath consideration to the Heavenly Tomb which means they were not kidnapped for their souls. Most likely your brothers are valuable alive – the same way your ancestors once sacrificed their bloodline power to Xiao Xuan it now will be transferred to the two of them. With it they should be able to reach battle venerable level in a few decades, probably less with the support of the ghosts of the Heavenly Tomb. Said that I doubt they will be at a sound state of mind by the time you next meet them, Hun Tiandi is a shifty bastard like that.
"Xiao Yan, are you willing to gambit your life in the off chance that your brothers might be saved?" I asked, putting every measure of my passion in each single word. A lifetime of tragedies disabuse me of the hubris of thinking myself an invincible aegis capable of protecting everyone. Most likely this will be a battle Xiao Yan will have to do on his lonesome, the best I can do is prepare him for this.
"Hey!" Xiao Yun, a young girl exclaimed in indignation; it seems that a good night of sleep and some good food was enough for her to recover some of her spunk. "Don't act like this is just Xiao Yun's problem! The guy is a weakling anyway – "Hey!" he protested – I will save older brothers Ding and Li. They are the rightful heirs of our family After All… and besides, I do have a grudge with those shitty ghosts, so… TEACH ME HOW TO BEAT GHOST ASS LIKE YOU DO PLEASE!!" The young girl screams full of bravado and boldness that did nothing to hide how she trembled like a leaf under my gaze.
Her action opened a floodgate, the rest of the orphans all made bold declarations of defeating the Heavenly Tomb and beating the ghosts of Gu Yan and Hun Tiandi and demanding my sponsorship. The audacity! I couldn't help but laugh at it. "It seems you got beaten to the punch, boy."
"What? No way! I will be the one to save my brothers and destroy the Heavenly Tomb! Get that on your tick skulls!" He finally declared and it was as if the previous uncertainty he had shown had been just some mirage of the desert. Seeing them bantering and needling at each other without a care in the world, my worst fears dissolved. Taking them all in would be for the best, after all.
As of late my starlight marrow was so potent that I no longer feel prudent to share it as carelessly as I once did… what a foolishness. It seems I have really become an old man after all. When Dionysus was reborn again in the bronze age he had hit rock bottom, becoming a man so terrible that the Father whipped tears of sorrow and flooded the world (as in, The Flood of the Bible and countless other mythologies) to wash away his sins from the earth and restart the world anew.
In that new world he met noble men and women who lit the world with their defiant noble souls cultivated like he cultivated his grapevines. Among them he found friends, true friends like the ones he made when the world was silver and bright and the grapes were honey sweet without any hint of sour nor bitterness and smiles came easy. That is why he shared with them the only thing he could to support them, his senselessly beating heart… and in turn they took even that and improved it the same way they improved the world. Beating in their chest it was incensed aflame in the flame of their passions, becoming something glorious, triumphant.
Indeed, humanity where born from the molten clay made from the ashes of his first death by the maws of the titans and from these two-part humans take in the soul and the body. Dionysus is the god of religious rapture for this reason. The Hellenic answer to the question of – if the divine exists and it is fundamentally good then how can it abide suffering to exist? The god's manifestation breaks away the barrier of individuality that distinguishes and divides men into alienated isolation from each other. It redeems the world.
"I am courageous in the face of future tragedy. I am the timeless acknowledgement of life's cruelty and the enjoyment of it in spite. I am fortitude. I am a promise – That no matter how many times I fall, I will rise again tomorrow."
If there was a time to share in my flesh and my burden and a meaning to perform this then it would have to be here and now. I reach inside my inner garden to produce a silver bright chalice alloyed in a golden bright flame. My actions finally caught the attention of the excitable children who noticed my action. "You think you have what it takes to succeed where I failed and amend my mistake? So be it. I will give you all a shot."
I then manifest a blade of rhetoric from one finder so sharp it could even cut the pneumatic sense of any who dare carelessly brush against it and run it across my wrist, depositing a stream of blood in the waiting goblet. Like the rest of myself, my sanguine essence was a true scarlet that looked more like the idyllic ideal of blood imagined by poets than the plain mundane thing. It also boiled in an effervescence churning that shined a silvery sheen under the sunlight. "Drink from my cup and become strong. But be warned, this blood is fortifying hope that endures all sorrows. If you run you ragged and burn you out until you are hollowed out it is because of your own lack. Only sip as much as you think you can endure."
I placed it on the tablet and the sight of it was intimidating enough that all the presents just stared at it with a look of trepidation. It radiated a heat that threatened all the children in sweating waterworks at the prospect of ingesting something so dangerous. It is indeed a death of sorts, if they don't surrender to it then they can't die and consequently be reborn.
That is why I wasn't surprised that Xun Er was bold at it once it seemed none of them would have the courage to be the first one to ingest it. Before Xiao Yan could even protest, she grabbed the chalice even as it burned her palm and brought it to her lips. If lifting it was challenging enough then consuming it was like drinking molten lead.
The Xiao orphans watched horrified and Yan tried to intervene but a hand materialized pneuma of my carrion intent held him back. He tried to throw a look of betrayal my way but my glare made my message clear. It was her life and her choice; he had no right to decide those things from here.
Xun Er was truly impressive though. I expect them to endure no more than a single sip but she drank deep from it. Gulp after gulp from starlight marrow, one, two, three, four, five, six, sev- and then she collapsed and this time I let Yan go to her without protest.
Yao Lao watched the starlight marrow do its work with open fascination. As an alchemist he has cultivated sharp spiritual senses capable of monitoring even the slightest changes, a necessary skill when refining pills and why real alchemists are so prized and respected.
The starlight marrow burrowed new paths across her flesh, connecting points that once stood as isolated islands on her flesh while creating new ones. A ten spooked wheel that resembles the Macedonian flag which will support her as surely as her lungs, the wheel turning now my star rage. The marrow refined her using my own body as a template, after all the soul is the body and the body is the soul. After my final crossing of the Rubicon that metamorphosed my soul into a [Ancient Soul] akin to the Old Gods, my flesh became a perfect and ever updating record of my soul and lived experience. By consuming it, calling Xun Er my daughter wouldn't be an exaggeration or hyperbole. Especially as my starlight marrow burned away her Battle God blood, readily consuming it to foster further refinement.
Ever so slowly Xun Er stood up under her own power like a newborn foal. Her eyes now a deep indigo like amethyst stone, her hair went from jet black to a shade closer to darker wine dark of profound water; even her features had subtle chances as the cosmetics of cultivation made her taller, more athletic and toned, and less a brittle jade beauty into a marble warrior princess.
Side by side with me the family resemblance is undeniable, any unwitty onlooker would assume me to be her father. While it still isn't on the same level as Prometheus' golden ichor most cultivators would be hard pressed to find a better substitute. The wealth inside my bones harmoniously merge in its host like no other, courtesy of the Isodaetes (he who distributes equal portions); a rather dark joke about the ritualistic Sparagmos (tear and renting to pieces), followed by omophagia, the eating of the raw flesh of the one dismembered.
This is her first taste, her baptism. In time she will experience her Eucharist in the Orphic House.
The benefits were self-evident and the resentment toward Xun Er spurred the competitiveness of the Xiao orphans. Despite knowing better, they one and all decided to bite more than they could shew, gorging from the goblet as much as they could before their bodies started retching in protest. Cheeky little hunts, the entire lot. The Xiao clan certainly is as vivacious as the rumors suggested since ancient times. Even none of them beat Xun Er, the girl was a true born master of the pour! She will fit right in.
The last one was Xiao Yun, who decided to make up for his poor performance so far with enthusiasm and any lack of self-preservation. He noticed how the burned palms of his cousins quickly healed and had the bright idea to break his own jaw and tie his hand to the goblet to drink as much as he could. I simply watched the show, it was like the cultivator version of Jackass buy hey, if it looks stupid but it works then it isn't stupid… all the presents will still hold this over his head for the rest of his life though.
Xiao Yan had to manually work his jaw with his free hand, the sight of him choking down the drink while choking back tears was utterly absurd yet I had the impression Dionysus himself was witnessing the sight with amused appreciation, the guy loved gambits after all.
That is the only explanation I have for how Xiao Yan endured up to twelve gulps before violently snorting the rest through his nose!
Everyone watched the show in mortification, the average cultivator certainly would take exception to his behavior but I couldn't help but laugh at the sight.
"Hahaha, if the protagonist gig doesn't pay off at least I know you still will have a future as a comedic side character. Isn't it a relief, boy?" I goaded, causing the already miserable Xiao Yan to make an even sourer expression.
"Shut up, I am weak so I have to seize every opportunity I have with both hands!" He countered petulantly, which was the perfect skit to break the ice leading the rest of the onlookers to realize the sight was indeed hilarious.
Even Xun Er was laughing at the end of it which caused Yan to be both ashamed and kind of happy to see her smiling once again. They were all young yet their lives were already touched by so much tragedy yet the sight of them joking and teasing each other made me hopeful for their future. They would be alright.
-//-
[AUTHOR ROOM]
Happy holidays! This chapter took me a lot of time to finish. The holiday season is especially eventful in my family so I had little time for anything else. Plus, I was kind of lazy and the Elden Ring DLC was calling me. I brought it before my country's coin finished evaporating, an event as tragic as it was predictable. I hate to be the guy that said "I said so," but well… I fucking called it! The perils of a banana republic is that the money also becomes worthless. I dodged this bullet by liquidating all said assets and brought a solar roof and put them in bitcoin. People are fearing a return of an inflationary crisis the likes we had in the 80s as the dollar is liable to hit 20 'Brazilian dollars' by the end of the Labor's party term in power so open discussion of impeachment is in the air which make the supreme court of the country really nervous since they broke all sort of laws to allow our current president to run while at the same time obstruct the opposition; typical Latin American judicial enabled coup like we saw in Venezuela. Elon Musk's threats of incarceration to certain Voldemort minister of justice that must not be named have become more real by the day. Honestly, the main reason I don't leave the country is because I have many elderly relatives who depend on me… So help your boy by supporting me on Patreon!
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- Pronouns
- TheSilverStar
So, does that mean they have experience both Zagreus and Dionysus' memories?
- Location
- Brazil
- Location
- Brazil
Only in the second ritual at the Orphic house that they experience lived experience of Dionysus. Zagreus's starlight marrow acts more like... imagine the context sensitive Arkerman inherited knowledge and experience or Assassin's Creed's animus, besides the simple refiniment to the basic physical parameters the host extract the knowledge recorded in the marrow through empirical experience like it was a ziped archive filled. This lead the host to master a skill much faster than normal, like trainning wheels, up to the point of Zagreus's own parameters and even add their own to the next generation.
This is only possible because in Orphism humans are born from Dionysus' first death at the hands of the titans, giving them a soul from the gods and a body from the titans. This led Zagreus to especulate he could use the starlight marrow the same way that promethus ichor work as liquid refiniment... just slightest diferent as even skills can be passed along. Being more liquid Nobilitas (inherited excellence) than simple liquid refiniment like Prometheus.
please for the love of all that is holy turn all the boom's into boon's i get the spelling confusion but this feels way to consistent to be accidental
- Location
- washington
Please stop complaining about spelling errors to a guy who clearly speaks English as a second or third language. It's not really helpful and the dude has a life outside of this. If people want better spelling offer to be a proofreader.
I.. wasn't ..complaining? I just pointed out a fairly consistent spelling error in the first chapter, I didn't say anything that a sane person could consider rude or sarcastic and certainly didn't insult or imply anything about the author. In what universe would informing someone that they were consistently making a spelling error be considered negative? Additionally going by how you phrase the later half of what could generously be called a "reply" most of your issues aren't even specifically about my actions in particular but rather a generalisation of "people who point out spelling errors online". Furthermore let the author speak for themselves on whether or not they appreciate people pointing out minor mistakes in their work, and although this is somewhat repeating the previous point what do you know about whether or not people pointing out incorrect spelling is useful, who are you to say it isn't helpful?
-Some guy (or gal) with to much time on their hands
- Location
- washington
It's already happened in the thread my dude. The author is from Brazil English is not his first language and he already types a lot for someone who clearly doesn't have the most time in the world. People have mentioned stuff like this before I'm saying it's not helpful unless someone actually offers help.
Honestly I feel like I'm walking in circles trying to communicate with you and frankly the satisfaction I'd get from finally managing to explain what I'm trying to say just isn't really worth the effort also you should really stop derailing threads
- Location
- Brazil
I don't really mind but... is this from the last chapter? I am thankful when people point out ways to help me be a better writter even if this is just a hobby for now. I first used word autocorrect then grammarly but they both fell incredibly short compared to google doc so I thought those problems had been solved. Which chapter do you refer to? I normaly don't use onomatopoeias.
The sins of the father being inherited is a sadly common trope and belief among various supernatural and cultivator cultures. Zagreus is very much not cool with that kind of thing and has taken people who suffer from it under his wing.
Looks like they're getting introduced to Orphic House stuff.
Looks like they're getting introduced to Orphic House stuff.
- Location
- Brazil
You have Hera to thanks for that. The Percy Jackson world is ever closer after all, it will be fun!
- Location
- Ukraine
Wait a minute... What about mushoku tensei?
Wasn't Mushoku after Percy Jackson? Anyway I can't wait for both, Zagreus slapping the disappointment out of Rudeus is an image I hold dear to my heart
- Pronouns
- ImBuda
Its the oposite, first Rudeus then Percy
- Pronouns
- TheSilverStar
I wanna know how India is doing with their own Cultivation System? Like, are there any Guru there who awaken to their Pneuma and trying to figure out a Hindu Cultivation System. How about the followers of Vaishnavism or Shivaism. How did they react to the 7 Chakras actually being a thing.
- Location
- washington
I mean they're not? We've already been told their using what works they may try their own philosophical lens but it's virtue cultivation all the way.
Creating a cultivation system is possible for other people but it's not as good as the Greek or Jujutsu ones due to not having bullshit geniuses to create them.
Yeah, essentially it would take a Genius Like Gojo.
Consider the Greek System. The Heroic Realm was developed by Heracles using the Heart of Dionysus and Socrates developed the Sophic Realm.
You need geniuses on the level of them to innovate a new realm.
Even the Sorcerer Cultivation System is one that obviously mimics the Greek Cultivation system somewhat rather than goes in its own entirely unique direction.
So would be cultivators are faced with the prospect of working to make their own path or following a path that was already established and work to advance that.
Not helped by the fact that the Greek System already compliments the western world's mindset quite handily already and that is most of the world and in a world as interconnected as the modern world the knowledge to cultivate in this style will spread instead of being confined to their specific regions.
Essentially one needs to be a Xianxia protagonist to be bullshit enough to trailblaze their own cultivation system and even if one is potentially talented enough to do so they have to actually want to make a new system instead of choosing to go down the already available systems.
Consider the Greek System. The Heroic Realm was developed by Heracles using the Heart of Dionysus and Socrates developed the Sophic Realm.
You need geniuses on the level of them to innovate a new realm.
Even the Sorcerer Cultivation System is one that obviously mimics the Greek Cultivation system somewhat rather than goes in its own entirely unique direction.
So would be cultivators are faced with the prospect of working to make their own path or following a path that was already established and work to advance that.
Not helped by the fact that the Greek System already compliments the western world's mindset quite handily already and that is most of the world and in a world as interconnected as the modern world the knowledge to cultivate in this style will spread instead of being confined to their specific regions.
Essentially one needs to be a Xianxia protagonist to be bullshit enough to trailblaze their own cultivation system and even if one is potentially talented enough to do so they have to actually want to make a new system instead of choosing to go down the already available systems.
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- Location
- Brazil
You keep talking about making new cultivation paths and I had a fever dream about how one would become an A-Ray like being from bruno's Age of Will. It's pretty much the same just instead of using a holy grail you would have to jump down a tyrant's gut and survive to be 'digested' properly, if you do survive however since the new tyrant realm would have a computing engine with infinite processing power and energy available (cough*mooncell*cough) as a stomach, and there is a very convenient Wheel Turning just next to that... shit happens and an A-Ray would come out kek.
I have weird thoughts while drunk, been holding on to that idea ever since the infinity drive was mentioned as an addition to the tyrant realm. It also plays with the themes of greek myth and termina in a very morbid and dreadful sort of way, 10/10 the old gods of termina would approve since the survival rates would be abysmal and weird things could happen if multiple souls were 'digested' at the same time.
I have weird thoughts while drunk, been holding on to that idea ever since the infinity drive was mentioned as an addition to the tyrant realm. It also plays with the themes of greek myth and termina in a very morbid and dreadful sort of way, 10/10 the old gods of termina would approve since the survival rates would be abysmal and weird things could happen if multiple souls were 'digested' at the same time.
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Solo Leveling 2 - Megumi
- Location
- Brazil
Sung JinWoo has lived as a hunter ever since his mother succumbed to the eternal slumber. Even as the weakest hunter- No. Precisely because of his years as the weakest hunter who danced with death even against the weakest of monsters is why he has such a wealth of experience in matters of life or death. That is why he can tell he is completely outmatched. The… hero (?) in front of him is stronger than any adversary he has ever seen and the gulf had to be measured by factors rather than multipliers.
Sung JinWoo was led to believe everything by Megumi Fushiguro because, if nothing else, the man had no need to lie to him when he could crush him like a fly. Which also means he had to defer to his expertise right now and take his words to face value. Megumi wanted to save him and, well, he doesn't seem like a self-deluded larper. The term hero seems to carry a similar meaning to hunter, since he comes from another world it is sensible things would vary in some ways.
The problem is that this is essentially a hostage situation where the victim has to hold the gun to his own head at the risk of the kidnapper blowing up the bomb he set on his heart. He has to resist to the best of his ability… while being the least obstructive as possible… and wasn't it surprising how fiercely he was clinging to life? He had just accepted death just a second ago but now it is the furthest thing from his mind, the thought brought out a smile in Sung JinWoo.
Slacking off is asking for disaster, in Sung JinWoo's experience few things are as lethal as unexpected developments. The System already showed off its willingness to jerk him around, acting impertinent will only aggravate the puppet master in escalating… even if he manages to beat Megumi, Sung would just be a threat to all Korea- no, the world itself.
His best odds to survive is betting everything on Megumi. That he can beat him despite his best effort and even save him at the end… Sung started to regret giving up on that nectar potion by now. He had already died once in the dungeon, a second temporary death doesn't look so bad from where he is standing, it's the third one that is the charm after all.
"Arise," he ordered with the monarch's authority to manifest the shadows extracted from dead monsters and stored inside his own shadow. A pocket army that makes Sung JinWoo a one-man guild all on his lonesome. The shadows can even get stronger overtime… What was he thinking? There was no way something this convenient could ever be used for good. This is definitely power fitting only for a villain, the kind of damage a monster with this ability could do sends shivers down Sung JinWoo's spine.
An army of orcs, knights, and demi humans from fairytale manifested at once. Sung JinWoo even activated Monarch's Domain to grant his shadow army greater power while inside his range. At once he bolted at the hero using his quicksilver speed booster, his minions followed suit as if they were his own shadow. Sung JinWoo was like a streak of light and yet…
As soon as he reached Megumi's range he was unceremoniously cut down. His strange blade cleaved him from shoulder to waist, and the momentum of his sword arm catapulted him back to the cave wall like a canon. The only reason Sung JinWoo knew he had not been split in two was because he didn't hear two impacts… and because of the excruciating pain that wracked his body.
That strange blade delivered the single most painful injury Sung JinWoo had ever experienced. His magical senses told him it was more than physical not that he needed them to describe the agonizing experience of being forcibly severed. It was like a new limb he didn't know that he had had been crudely racked off by a rusty cleaver to the point it is still hanging despite the mauling.
He could feel the Orc Shaman using his healing magic to help him but he knew his healing was too shallow to matter… what a fearsome display of power. Sung JinWoo looked up toward Megumi, despite how blurry his vision became due to the acute pain. The man's presence was almost magnetic, it was easy to focus on him.
He stood exactly on the same spot where he cut him down and despite the vicious attacks his shadows desperately assaulted him with, he was unbothered. He casually swayed their blows aside with a sense of casualness that stood at odds with his masterful display of swordsmanship. He wielded the sword with a single arm with such speed and grace it looked like he was a one-armed man protected by a silver stream of blades. Sung JinWoo was surprised how frustrating the sight made him, he risked his life to defeat these monsters, in a sense they were a manifestation of his hunter's pride yet Megumi treated them as an unimportant annoyance.
"Tsk, there goes plan A down the drain. I was once in a similar position to your own so I attacked the boundary between yours and the monarch's soul to sever them from each other… but it seems they really have been fused together. As things stand, simply severing the two apart would be a big enough shock to kill you in the process. Sorry Sung JinWoo, but I will need you to do your best to endure. Get back up and last for as long as you can." Explained the hero even as he fended off an army of shadows.
Honestly, why do things always seem to come back to this. His powerless self helplessly struggles until the inevitable catches up with him… Even so, Sung JinWoo serrated his hands into fists and lifted his protesting body from the ground until he managed to get a footing to stand up. The more time passes the more the hero's slash aches, festers, and burns. It was like an iron brand that never ceased burning, the agony of standing up caused his vision to double over but even so Sung JinWoo feared it would stop hurting more than he feared the pain. This was his lifeline.
"Interesting," Megumi assessed. Sung himself probably didn't realize but the forceful shock he experienced seemed to have shocked the slumbering monarch inside of him to awaken. It seems Sung JinWoo hadn't been chosen at random after all. The young man had a certain panache that was painfully nostalgic. It was the kind of absurd posturing that seemed to say that he didn't need a reason to fight off the entire world but an excuse.
Sung JinWoo's soul had been thoroughly tempered by the monarch parasitizing his being until he became the ideal vessel. Megumi felt he had to hurry, now that he tipped the scale Sung's precarious situation is likely to enter its terminal phase. The dharma wheel that stood as the mount piece gem of his laurel wreath crown finally ticked once; its sound was the gong to round two.
Megumi bolted, turning his divergent blade of exorcism on the shades. He grew up under the light of chthonic mysteries, their basic principle isn't that different from his father's dragon tooth warriors. Death is a process, as profound and mysterious as life itself. It doesn't occur all at once either, the soul decomposes and disperse much like a physical cadaver. Sung JinWoo's soldiers are more than puppets, Sung is storing the leftover record of their existences stored in the body, its previous vessel. The Séance cursed technique follows the same parameters as well.
At this point Megumi didn't know who was scarier, this Shadow Monarch or his father for managing the same with a single shikigami. While those shadows lack the exponential power increase brought by the swelling of their numbers that make the dragon bone warriors so fearsome, in a real combat situation they would be a problem that had to be addressed as soon as possible before the situation became unmanageable. Once the initial investment was paid for the shadow soldier became an autonomous entity like an advanced cursed corpse the likes of Panda, capable of subsisting on its own generated cursed energy. While the part of Megumi that is too Greek for his own good can't help but think it crude, in a battlefield where corpses are plenty, he would be a nightmare to deal with.
Even if the shadow soldier is destroyed his information would return to its master shadow, ready to be recreated once more by the appropriate price. A similar process to the mantle of Kyrios that Tsumiki bears carrying the weight of the departed members of Raging Heaven.
Alas, Megumi wasn't just anyone. While his sister would attempt to usurp control over the puppet with her own proficiency in necromancy, Megumi had an altogether more elegant and clean solution. All he had to do to exterminate these soldiers was to exorcise these anchored souls back to the maw of the Abyss where they belong, severing the connection with Sung JinWoo that anchored them in the material world.
The time that he endured their assault was intended to quickly create familiarity through lived experience. The more Megumi experiences an attack the quicker he adapts to counter it but it isn't an instantaneous nor ideal counter. Generally speaking, the 'adaptation to any and all phenomenon' is not something he can bet his life on, more like a gradient improvement to his defense, offence, and auxiliary options to deal with foes. Dragging a battle down until a perfect counter is found is tempting the fates… which is a shame, because that is precisely what he has to do in this fight.
The red skinned orcs piling on him are cut down so quickly that it was as if they had been turned into red mist by his sword work. Megumi launches into the offensive, the knight captain (Igris) is flung aside by a blade stroke that twisted his arm backward. His companions were not so lucky. The blade of exorcise parted their flesh like it were mist and the immortal shades found themselves vulnerable to the positive energy that unraveled their necrotic frame. But more than that, each bite from Megumi's blade sank into their soul and the link with their master.
The immortal army of the Shadow Monarch that had once upon a time threatened the balance between monarchs and rules finally found its match on a single man. No, not a mere man. He was too tall, too powerful, too perfectly sculpted, he was more like the idealized manifestation of a man than flesh and blood. The hero cut a trail of destruction on his charge toward the carrion king that had enslaved all these souls to his service.
Sung JinWoo attempted to use his Ruler's Authority to attack Megumi from afar but the hero cut through the invisible hand as decisively as if it was flesh. Reeling from an injury he didn't even know he could have, Sung JinWoo put his all on stopping the incoming blow from the hero. Using two dagger blades in a cross counter, Sung's entire flame rattled under the weight of the impact. He had to give a lot of ground to bleed off the impact and was still forced to kneel but all he got from his trouble was a shallow cut on the shoulder instead of another vivisection.
Even this shallow cut was as somehow as agonizing as Megumi's first attack. Worse, it was less that he got better and more that Megumi pulled back somewhat-
"No, while I definitely held back you definitely has become faster and stronger since our first exchange. It is worse than I feared, Sung JinWoo. So, brace yourself. We are about to speed things up." Megumi said, as if he could read Sung JinWoo's mind. Were Megumi senses and intuition so sharper than his own that he could cold read his thoughts like a trivial puzzle? More and more Sung JinWoo started to understand why such a man carried the title of hero.
No, more than that, if what he said was true then the Player System had always been nothing but a misdirection meant to fool Sung JinWoo into thinking he had a free will. Now that he thought of it, why did he select the necromancy job in the first place? The rules the System operated on had always been arbitrary from the beginning; it makes sense for the System to abandon that misdirection meant to condition him now that Megumi forced its hand. Megumi was right, he was getting stronger. His states were steadily climbing up by the second without any impute from his part.
This confirms it. The System was never a means to grant an unremarkable person a means to become stronger but a plot to make him into a vessel of some entity. And to think he went through all this trouble precisely because he didn't want to get jerked around anymore… yet he still just a pawn of fate. Sung JinWoo was filled with bitterness, he watched Megumi, defiant and proud, shedding glory like the sun does heat and light, and he wondered what he had to do to become someone like him.
The thought somehow helped Sung JinWoo to center himself. It seems all the pent up emotions that had been crushed under the weight of apathy brought by his power had been finally being released. In a strange way he finally felt like himself again. His heart was beating inside his chest with the kind of euphoria he had almost forgotten about. That is right, before he aimed for power through the System, he had always fought for the right to survive. For tomorrow! This is just a return to form.
This is a return to form… and as painful and frustrating as it is, he is glad to have it back.
Using his dominating touch Sung JinWoo reached into his inventory and telekinetically got a hold of all the great swords he had collected so far. Treasures worth the GDP of small countries now hovered over Sung's head as he crossed his daggers in a battle stance.
Sung JinWoo didn't exactly understand what Megumi's end game might be yet he noticed his soul seemed more awake than before. The torpor that weighed him down seems to be dissipating and a deeply buried instinct told him to seize it with everything he got.
The Champion of Raging Heaven took his own stance in response to Sung JinWoo's battle spirit and despite his severe expression the heart flame behind his eyes betrayed his soaring spirit.
The onlookers and expectations watched the battle with a mix of confusion, bewilderment, exhilaration and horror. The Jeju island raid went completely off the rails. They were even more off the loop than Sung JinWoo, why was that human attacking a fellow hunter? Who was this Japanese man and what was Raging Heaven?
A silent gong triggered the third bolt of their battle. Sung JinWoo moved with unparalleled speed assisted by his [dagger rush] speed to deliver a barrage of blade strikes, his flying blades attacked leaving a frenzied trail of light in their after image, his shadows used all forms of ranged attack they could manage yet their attempt was as futile as trying to catch the wind.
It was as if the hero had all the right answers to every attack. Beyond speed and power there was an almost causal approach to every attack as if their battle was a familiar trail Megumi memorized to heart long ago. To Sung JinWoo fighting Megumi was like attempting to climb an ever rising mountain, even though he was getting visibly stronger by the moment it seems that fending him off takes less effort the longer the fight goes on.
The impact of each of their exchange rings like thunder inside the confined mountain turned anthive. Less a succession of strikes and more like a single uninterrupted shriek. The walls trembled and the ceiling quaked threatening to bury all presents yet the two men fought unconcerned. To the expectations the battle had long since stopped looking like a fight between hunters and turned into a chapter of an epic from legend. Demigods warring for the throne of heaven in ancient wars of yore.
Yet there was no doubt about who was the superior combatant. The cave had been painted red with Sung JinWoo's blood as his body was a ruin of countless shallow cuts. It was a testament of a hunter's durability that was still alive, let alone fight on as he was. He had bleed more in the few minutes of this battle than most men had in them to give and then some. Yet his gaze only had eyes to his adversary and the counter clocking down his death.
On the other hand Megumi stood pristine and as unhurt as he had first appeared. Sung JinWoo had thrown everything he got, every ability, rare resort, and trump card he had accrued. It was evident this was more than power that set them apart, their compatibility couldn't have been worse either. From Megumi's ability to exorcise his shadow minions to his ability to resist the fear aura and dominating touch. This had been a terrible mismatch for him, Sung JinWoo should have been frustrated… but somehow, he saw the seriousness Megumi was assessing him.
Maybe the same way he managed to read the Ant King he now started to understand Megumi. The hero's victory parameters had nothing to do with beating him down, he had been searching for something and so Sung JinWoo gave his all for him to find it. The fact that he stopped means he finally found it.
"How much longer do we have?" Megumi asked seriously.
"About one minute." Sung JinWoo replied as evenly as he could. Part of him was glad he managed to keep his composure despite his returned humanity.
"It will have to do. Listen quickly, Sung JinWoo. I finally found… an answer. It is far from the ideal one but those rarely are. You were a troubling case from the beginning but I insisted on being the one to tackle it because I was once in the same spot you found yourself right now… the gulf that separates a mortal man like you from a semi divine existence as myself is not as unbreachable chasm. It is something that I did myself… and it is the leap of faith you have to cross now to survive." Megumi said with utmost seriousness, weighing every word as Father in Raging Heaven was its witness.
For Sung JinWoo's part this brought a mix of elation and trepidation in equal measure. The way Megumi spoke gave the impression he had to undergo an emergency open heart or brain surgery as life saving treatment. The ideal of being as powerful as the man in front of him was surely nice but Sung JinWoo had already reversed his old ways. He couldn't enjoy power if he was dead.
"What did you do? To achieve it?" He immediately asked.
"It is not like you could replicate it, of this I assure you. I simply can't teach you in the time that we have left… but there is more than one way to climb Olympus Mons… my father once confided to me that the old Egyptians stood apart from others cultivators of virtue in pursuit of ascension through the proper execution of death instead of the avoidance of it. It is a bit too harsh for my taste… but the orphic mysteries come the closest to their methodology. In theory turning a mortal into a god isn't that different from turning mundane ingredients into nectar."
"In theory," Sung JinWoo parroted. Megumi just said his best chance to survive… is to die and then hope he can be turned back to life. Part of him wants to complain that he should have done this from the beginning but he understood he is simplifying things for him. The nectar the man produced excelled even the S rank potion, Holy Water of Life, that he created using the blood of the demon lord and Yggdrasil shard. Any process capable of synthesizing a bottled miracle from mundane ingredients of all things must be insanely complicated. More than that, it clearly excels the System's own capabilities.
It is insane but Sung JinWoo not only believed Megumi but had complete faith in the man's ability to pull it off. In the short time they had been acquainted the man had treated him with more answers and consideration than anyone else beside his own parents and this for once had nothing to do with his own new powers. Despite Megumi being an aloof guy Sung JinWoo had the impression he would treat even a homeless person with this level of courtesy which said a lot about his character when most B rank hunters prowl the streets as if they had a license to kill in their pockets.
No, what worried Sung JinWoo wasn't Megumi's part on this but his own ability to do his part. "You said something about proper execution of death. I think this is not as simple as a deathbed confession sacrament that Christians perform."
"For short, if a man led a virtuous life and his corpse was properly observed, his vital breath would find its way back to his body after death. Reanimate it and change its form. Since neither of us were tempered under such a method we will have to freestyle it while flying by the seat of our pants. Not ideal but such is life… I know this is a big ask but I will also stake my life on this chance Sung JinWoo, of this I promise you!" Megumi delivered with the utmost sincerity.
Honestly, Sung JinWoo was starting to get frustrated. How can an adult man deliver such a corny declaration in such a cool way? Is that a requirement to become a hero? Sung JinWoo didn't feel like he could pull this off even with the System's help. Even when proposing the impossible it seemed like he still could pull it off in defiance of any common sense. So, yeah. Even if this meant that he had to become some kind of mummy, Sung JinWoo felt like he should do it. He should- no. He wanted to reciprocate the trust the hero placed in him.
At once he let go of his daggers and dropped his domination touch over his blade collection. Even if he died here at least a threat to the world went down with him, he had nothing to do and everything to gain. In his final act Sung JinWoo opened his arms wide as if in greeting, welcoming his ending with open arms. "Do it."
Hae-in, despite being the most debilitated of the hunters witnessing our battle, screamed the loudest as she attempted to rush in to interfere with the inevitable. She wasn't alone though, the hunters of Korea had been reduced to helpless witnesses but a lifetime of life and death perils was not easily ignored. They rushed in to save the newest shining star of their country.
Nine seconds before his heart stopped for good Megumi closed in with uncanny alacrity of a wraith as if he was a monster of a horror movie instead of a hero. Eight seconds later, instead of skewering him with his blade, Megumi shoved his fist on Sung JinWoo abdomen just below his rib cage. The impact had less of a moment than Sung JinWoo expected, he could feel Megumi's power rendering steel-like muscles into soft, pliable, and tender flesh. The promise of death imprinted on mortal life manifested as present reality by his necrotic power.
But she was foaming at the mouth, her eyes rolled all around; her mind was mindless now. Held by the god, she paid the man no heed. She grabbed his left arm just below the elbow: wedging her foot against the victim's ribs she ripped his shoulder off – not by mere force; the god made everything they touch.
Seven seconds and Sung JinWoo felt Megumi seizing something that should not be there! Over his right side of his chest the hero held in hand a spectral [Black Heart]. And his vice grip on it induced phantom pain that brought the Korean hunter to his knees. Six seconds in and Megumi's accompanying muse perked at his back moved on phantasmagoric dainty hand toward his mortal heart with utmost tenderness.
Sung JinWoo had no breath to respond to the melodious voice singing in his ears… but he was a survivor. Three seconds left and with his last breath he nodded in assent.
Two seconds left and Megumi reaped the black heart out with a sudden jerk move and to Sung JinWoo it felt like his soul was being torn apart with it. With his last moment he saw Megumi holding the eldritch organ ripped from his chest high over his head as he fell into oblivion.
"Murderer!" Chan HaeIn screamed at Megumi while brandishing her sword with all the deadly grace her power and training ingrained in her. She wasn't alone either, the koran hunters were incensed to the point of murder by the hero's action. All safe, that is.
The resurrected Min ByungGyu was an experienced support type hunter he is used to directing his insight and focus toward the bigger picture as the safety net of his comrades. That is why he could understand all the irregularities with Sung JinWoo. More than that, his brief death experience had opened his eyes to the ways of things. The refining nectar running through his body has made him more than what he already was and that was a kind person that hated violence.
"STOP!" He shouted and was surprised with the weight his voice had over his comrades, even the distraught Chan HaeIn stopped before making a terrible mistake. He didn't exactly understand what was happening but he knew he had to act decisively, so he marched ahead at a brisk pace toward the hero and the downed hunter.
To his new senses the black heart in Megumi's hand made in retching and wanted to puck, there are a few hunters with such a sharp sense of smell that they feel sick when close to powerful monsters and hunters. He now knew what they endured. There were no words to describe how sick that thing made him feel. How was such a thing inside Sung JinWoo?
He looked from the heart to the hero then to the downed Sung JinWoo. He had a lot of questions but somehow knew the mysterious man was indulging him because he stopped the others, he was in a hurry! "Can- can you save Sung JinWoo like you did to me?" He asked.
"Like I did to you? Well, this is in fact the plan… but it won't be so simple." Megumi said while brandishing the abominable and still beating heart. Chan HaeIn could feel the malignant will inside the abominable and still beating heart, and that it was desperately struggling by leveraging more power than any hunter could dream of having… yet the man seized all the godly power in hand with a casual disinterest. "By forcibly severing this parasite from Sung JinWoo I inflicted terminal damage to his soul in the process… a bit too brutish as far as surgeries go but there are fates worse than death. But this is what makes bringing him back to life so complicated. The damage… the taint already gangrenning his insides… Sung JinWoo was already dying. As a person that is."
"But can you save him?" Chan HaeIn insisted. Even if what the man said made a disturbing amount of sense it wasn't like it helped Sung JinWoo's situation.
"Of course, even if I share the same fate as Asclepius, I will bring Sung JinWoo back to life." Megumi promised and despite the absurdity of such a claim Chan HaeIn had seen enough miracles in a single day to believe him.
He sighed to himself in exasperation. As a semi-divine existence, a hero brings the world closer to Olympian (shining) splendor of yore by the simple act of existing and basking it with the light of their passionate heart flame. Their Muses are spiritual entities, unfettered by the constraints of this gross material world, that is why they can be in more than one place at once, and as divine existences they can receptive to the calling from mortals whose hearts can't help but to appeal to higher power in pursuit of their desires.
As long as the supplicant and the Muse share the same soul nature the muse can mark the heart of any cultivator she fancies. Both Sung JinWoo and Takuhatachiji-Hime-no-Mikoto – and consequently Megumi – are [Shadowed] souls. But Argyrchiara is in a class of her own, only comparable to Calliope herself, the Chief among all Muses. As a [Ancient] soul she isn't so restrained, and as a chthonic daemon of the silver age she has unparalleled freedom across the Abyss.
I need your help, Mother. Megumi called with the voice of his heart and immediately he could feel the tender embrace of the Silver Bright Madonna, her majesty was puissant that even the hunters could instantly feel it down to their marrow… if only she wasn't using this moment to pinch Mikoto's cheek in exasperation.
Despite her morose tone of voice Megumi couldn't help but cringe inside. Zagreus always had a peculiar habit of putting on a front of calmness that manifested this kind of inexpressible deepness when he was about to crash out – which happened in their line of work – giving Megumi more than enough insight to dread Argyrchiara's… everything. To anyone familiar with Zagreus his muse's whole demeanor was a giant red flag… a tragic disposition which promised to endure through all suffering and tribulation unending.
"All of antiquity extolled Dionysus as the god who gave man wine. However, he was known also as the raving god whose presence makes man mad and incites him to savagery and even to lust for blood. He was the confidant and companion of the spirits of the dead…The flowers of spring bore witness to him, too. (…) Dionysus was the god of the most blessed ecstasy and the most enraptured love. But he was also the persecuted god, the suffering and dying god, and all whom he loved, all who attended him, had to share his tragic fate." (Walter Otto, Dionysus: Myth and Cult)
This enigmatic paradox was the core of their greater mystery. The madness which is called Dionysus is no sickness, no debility in life, but a companion of life at its healthiest. It is the tumult which erupts from its innermost recesses when they mature and force their way to the surface. It is the madness inherent in the womb of the mother. This attends all moments of creation, constantly changes ordered existence into chaos, and ushers in primal salvation and primal pain.
Argyrchiara was an existence of mad glory, her mere presence invokes a sense of urgency, ecstasy, and terror in the hearts of all within her vicinity. Her beauty invoked an agonizing rapture that symbolizes the eternal enigmas of duality and paradox experienced when confronted with the stark awareness of the perplexing nature of reality. Mortals either fall back into euphoria or lose touch in a transitory insanity.
And now Megumi needed this power to save Sung JinWoo. Appeal to Higher Power. Worst, recognized this moody temperament as sure as his own name. Argyrchiara was now pinching both of Mikoto's cheeks and forcing her into all kinds of funny faces. Fortunately Megumi had a lifetime worth of experience in this department, children are quite sensitive to the adults around them. It was just a matter of swallowing his prime.
"I am sorry, okay? Observing the proper funerary final rites and properly observing the honored death was a skill that I needed to learn after all. You were right all along! I was wrong! So please, can you help me save my friend here?" Megumi could feel heat in his cheeks, it was partly genuine and partly a construction to Argyrchiara's… maternal instinct? His father always was a softy for children and his muse was bound to be no better.
He knew he was spot on by the smug and self-satisfying smile Argyrchiara now bore. It was genuinely upsetting, Megumi could almost overlay his father's face on her and imagine him there, gloating at his expense.
Megumi could really do without the morbid sense of humor and attitude. Those are two things he never learned to miss from his old man. Argyrchiara definitely understood what he wanted from her, she is the only reliable source to the [Book of the Dead], the ancient Egyptian funerary text intended to assist a dead person's journey through the underworld (Abyss)… but before that…
Megumi looked down at the [Black Heart] desperately struggling to break free. It was a thousand times worse than the Sukuna's finger he was force fed so long ago… but he wasn't the same as before. He was the Curse Eater, the God Devourer. Compared to Master Tenge's heart – Megumi refused to call it Tengucifer – it wasn't really that bad even if it still deserved the title of Lesser Mystery. A worthy meal to give him the energy that he needed to pull a new miracle into being.
The Champion of Raging Heaven swallowed the Black Heart of the Shadow Monarch and made its strength into his own.
[AUTHOR'S ROOM]
Now imagine what the people watching this shit on live television are thinking. Argyrchiara is the most radical introduction to the concept of memetic hazard, as a higher ideal made manifest her impact isn't diminished by much just because they are seeing her through the TV. This was the perfect chance to show what Zagreus looks like for everybody else, since we often see things from his perspective. The true gravity of the situation is lost due to his own power. The Silver Age is not something comprehensive even for those born in a Heroic Age, hundreds of millions of people are having a downright religious experience and rapture in the euphoria instigated by her grace. They don't call them muses for nothing.
This also shows how long Zagreus' reach truly is as well. Remember, after defeating Diablo in Iron Gods Zagreus consumed his divinity and learned and became a divine source capable of granting access to divine spells. The so-called "Emitters". Romer says that the race of men from the silver age were showered with honor in the underworld once they were delivered back to the earth. As I said previously this is how Argyrchiara managed to establish the Tartarus Network… and now Megumi was about to create the first Lich cultivator.
Sung JinWoo was led to believe everything by Megumi Fushiguro because, if nothing else, the man had no need to lie to him when he could crush him like a fly. Which also means he had to defer to his expertise right now and take his words to face value. Megumi wanted to save him and, well, he doesn't seem like a self-deluded larper. The term hero seems to carry a similar meaning to hunter, since he comes from another world it is sensible things would vary in some ways.
The problem is that this is essentially a hostage situation where the victim has to hold the gun to his own head at the risk of the kidnapper blowing up the bomb he set on his heart. He has to resist to the best of his ability… while being the least obstructive as possible… and wasn't it surprising how fiercely he was clinging to life? He had just accepted death just a second ago but now it is the furthest thing from his mind, the thought brought out a smile in Sung JinWoo.
Slacking off is asking for disaster, in Sung JinWoo's experience few things are as lethal as unexpected developments. The System already showed off its willingness to jerk him around, acting impertinent will only aggravate the puppet master in escalating… even if he manages to beat Megumi, Sung would just be a threat to all Korea- no, the world itself.
His best odds to survive is betting everything on Megumi. That he can beat him despite his best effort and even save him at the end… Sung started to regret giving up on that nectar potion by now. He had already died once in the dungeon, a second temporary death doesn't look so bad from where he is standing, it's the third one that is the charm after all.
"Arise," he ordered with the monarch's authority to manifest the shadows extracted from dead monsters and stored inside his own shadow. A pocket army that makes Sung JinWoo a one-man guild all on his lonesome. The shadows can even get stronger overtime… What was he thinking? There was no way something this convenient could ever be used for good. This is definitely power fitting only for a villain, the kind of damage a monster with this ability could do sends shivers down Sung JinWoo's spine.
An army of orcs, knights, and demi humans from fairytale manifested at once. Sung JinWoo even activated Monarch's Domain to grant his shadow army greater power while inside his range. At once he bolted at the hero using his quicksilver speed booster, his minions followed suit as if they were his own shadow. Sung JinWoo was like a streak of light and yet…
As soon as he reached Megumi's range he was unceremoniously cut down. His strange blade cleaved him from shoulder to waist, and the momentum of his sword arm catapulted him back to the cave wall like a canon. The only reason Sung JinWoo knew he had not been split in two was because he didn't hear two impacts… and because of the excruciating pain that wracked his body.
That strange blade delivered the single most painful injury Sung JinWoo had ever experienced. His magical senses told him it was more than physical not that he needed them to describe the agonizing experience of being forcibly severed. It was like a new limb he didn't know that he had had been crudely racked off by a rusty cleaver to the point it is still hanging despite the mauling.
He could feel the Orc Shaman using his healing magic to help him but he knew his healing was too shallow to matter… what a fearsome display of power. Sung JinWoo looked up toward Megumi, despite how blurry his vision became due to the acute pain. The man's presence was almost magnetic, it was easy to focus on him.
He stood exactly on the same spot where he cut him down and despite the vicious attacks his shadows desperately assaulted him with, he was unbothered. He casually swayed their blows aside with a sense of casualness that stood at odds with his masterful display of swordsmanship. He wielded the sword with a single arm with such speed and grace it looked like he was a one-armed man protected by a silver stream of blades. Sung JinWoo was surprised how frustrating the sight made him, he risked his life to defeat these monsters, in a sense they were a manifestation of his hunter's pride yet Megumi treated them as an unimportant annoyance.
"Tsk, there goes plan A down the drain. I was once in a similar position to your own so I attacked the boundary between yours and the monarch's soul to sever them from each other… but it seems they really have been fused together. As things stand, simply severing the two apart would be a big enough shock to kill you in the process. Sorry Sung JinWoo, but I will need you to do your best to endure. Get back up and last for as long as you can." Explained the hero even as he fended off an army of shadows.
Honestly, why do things always seem to come back to this. His powerless self helplessly struggles until the inevitable catches up with him… Even so, Sung JinWoo serrated his hands into fists and lifted his protesting body from the ground until he managed to get a footing to stand up. The more time passes the more the hero's slash aches, festers, and burns. It was like an iron brand that never ceased burning, the agony of standing up caused his vision to double over but even so Sung JinWoo feared it would stop hurting more than he feared the pain. This was his lifeline.
"Interesting," Megumi assessed. Sung himself probably didn't realize but the forceful shock he experienced seemed to have shocked the slumbering monarch inside of him to awaken. It seems Sung JinWoo hadn't been chosen at random after all. The young man had a certain panache that was painfully nostalgic. It was the kind of absurd posturing that seemed to say that he didn't need a reason to fight off the entire world but an excuse.
Sung JinWoo's soul had been thoroughly tempered by the monarch parasitizing his being until he became the ideal vessel. Megumi felt he had to hurry, now that he tipped the scale Sung's precarious situation is likely to enter its terminal phase. The dharma wheel that stood as the mount piece gem of his laurel wreath crown finally ticked once; its sound was the gong to round two.
Megumi bolted, turning his divergent blade of exorcism on the shades. He grew up under the light of chthonic mysteries, their basic principle isn't that different from his father's dragon tooth warriors. Death is a process, as profound and mysterious as life itself. It doesn't occur all at once either, the soul decomposes and disperse much like a physical cadaver. Sung JinWoo's soldiers are more than puppets, Sung is storing the leftover record of their existences stored in the body, its previous vessel. The Séance cursed technique follows the same parameters as well.
At this point Megumi didn't know who was scarier, this Shadow Monarch or his father for managing the same with a single shikigami. While those shadows lack the exponential power increase brought by the swelling of their numbers that make the dragon bone warriors so fearsome, in a real combat situation they would be a problem that had to be addressed as soon as possible before the situation became unmanageable. Once the initial investment was paid for the shadow soldier became an autonomous entity like an advanced cursed corpse the likes of Panda, capable of subsisting on its own generated cursed energy. While the part of Megumi that is too Greek for his own good can't help but think it crude, in a battlefield where corpses are plenty, he would be a nightmare to deal with.
Even if the shadow soldier is destroyed his information would return to its master shadow, ready to be recreated once more by the appropriate price. A similar process to the mantle of Kyrios that Tsumiki bears carrying the weight of the departed members of Raging Heaven.
Alas, Megumi wasn't just anyone. While his sister would attempt to usurp control over the puppet with her own proficiency in necromancy, Megumi had an altogether more elegant and clean solution. All he had to do to exterminate these soldiers was to exorcise these anchored souls back to the maw of the Abyss where they belong, severing the connection with Sung JinWoo that anchored them in the material world.
The time that he endured their assault was intended to quickly create familiarity through lived experience. The more Megumi experiences an attack the quicker he adapts to counter it but it isn't an instantaneous nor ideal counter. Generally speaking, the 'adaptation to any and all phenomenon' is not something he can bet his life on, more like a gradient improvement to his defense, offence, and auxiliary options to deal with foes. Dragging a battle down until a perfect counter is found is tempting the fates… which is a shame, because that is precisely what he has to do in this fight.
The red skinned orcs piling on him are cut down so quickly that it was as if they had been turned into red mist by his sword work. Megumi launches into the offensive, the knight captain (Igris) is flung aside by a blade stroke that twisted his arm backward. His companions were not so lucky. The blade of exorcise parted their flesh like it were mist and the immortal shades found themselves vulnerable to the positive energy that unraveled their necrotic frame. But more than that, each bite from Megumi's blade sank into their soul and the link with their master.
The immortal army of the Shadow Monarch that had once upon a time threatened the balance between monarchs and rules finally found its match on a single man. No, not a mere man. He was too tall, too powerful, too perfectly sculpted, he was more like the idealized manifestation of a man than flesh and blood. The hero cut a trail of destruction on his charge toward the carrion king that had enslaved all these souls to his service.
Sung JinWoo attempted to use his Ruler's Authority to attack Megumi from afar but the hero cut through the invisible hand as decisively as if it was flesh. Reeling from an injury he didn't even know he could have, Sung JinWoo put his all on stopping the incoming blow from the hero. Using two dagger blades in a cross counter, Sung's entire flame rattled under the weight of the impact. He had to give a lot of ground to bleed off the impact and was still forced to kneel but all he got from his trouble was a shallow cut on the shoulder instead of another vivisection.
Even this shallow cut was as somehow as agonizing as Megumi's first attack. Worse, it was less that he got better and more that Megumi pulled back somewhat-
"No, while I definitely held back you definitely has become faster and stronger since our first exchange. It is worse than I feared, Sung JinWoo. So, brace yourself. We are about to speed things up." Megumi said, as if he could read Sung JinWoo's mind. Were Megumi senses and intuition so sharper than his own that he could cold read his thoughts like a trivial puzzle? More and more Sung JinWoo started to understand why such a man carried the title of hero.
No, more than that, if what he said was true then the Player System had always been nothing but a misdirection meant to fool Sung JinWoo into thinking he had a free will. Now that he thought of it, why did he select the necromancy job in the first place? The rules the System operated on had always been arbitrary from the beginning; it makes sense for the System to abandon that misdirection meant to condition him now that Megumi forced its hand. Megumi was right, he was getting stronger. His states were steadily climbing up by the second without any impute from his part.
This confirms it. The System was never a means to grant an unremarkable person a means to become stronger but a plot to make him into a vessel of some entity. And to think he went through all this trouble precisely because he didn't want to get jerked around anymore… yet he still just a pawn of fate. Sung JinWoo was filled with bitterness, he watched Megumi, defiant and proud, shedding glory like the sun does heat and light, and he wondered what he had to do to become someone like him.
The thought somehow helped Sung JinWoo to center himself. It seems all the pent up emotions that had been crushed under the weight of apathy brought by his power had been finally being released. In a strange way he finally felt like himself again. His heart was beating inside his chest with the kind of euphoria he had almost forgotten about. That is right, before he aimed for power through the System, he had always fought for the right to survive. For tomorrow! This is just a return to form.
This is a return to form… and as painful and frustrating as it is, he is glad to have it back.
Using his dominating touch Sung JinWoo reached into his inventory and telekinetically got a hold of all the great swords he had collected so far. Treasures worth the GDP of small countries now hovered over Sung's head as he crossed his daggers in a battle stance.
Sung JinWoo didn't exactly understand what Megumi's end game might be yet he noticed his soul seemed more awake than before. The torpor that weighed him down seems to be dissipating and a deeply buried instinct told him to seize it with everything he got.
The Champion of Raging Heaven took his own stance in response to Sung JinWoo's battle spirit and despite his severe expression the heart flame behind his eyes betrayed his soaring spirit.
The onlookers and expectations watched the battle with a mix of confusion, bewilderment, exhilaration and horror. The Jeju island raid went completely off the rails. They were even more off the loop than Sung JinWoo, why was that human attacking a fellow hunter? Who was this Japanese man and what was Raging Heaven?
A silent gong triggered the third bolt of their battle. Sung JinWoo moved with unparalleled speed assisted by his [dagger rush] speed to deliver a barrage of blade strikes, his flying blades attacked leaving a frenzied trail of light in their after image, his shadows used all forms of ranged attack they could manage yet their attempt was as futile as trying to catch the wind.
It was as if the hero had all the right answers to every attack. Beyond speed and power there was an almost causal approach to every attack as if their battle was a familiar trail Megumi memorized to heart long ago. To Sung JinWoo fighting Megumi was like attempting to climb an ever rising mountain, even though he was getting visibly stronger by the moment it seems that fending him off takes less effort the longer the fight goes on.
The impact of each of their exchange rings like thunder inside the confined mountain turned anthive. Less a succession of strikes and more like a single uninterrupted shriek. The walls trembled and the ceiling quaked threatening to bury all presents yet the two men fought unconcerned. To the expectations the battle had long since stopped looking like a fight between hunters and turned into a chapter of an epic from legend. Demigods warring for the throne of heaven in ancient wars of yore.
Yet there was no doubt about who was the superior combatant. The cave had been painted red with Sung JinWoo's blood as his body was a ruin of countless shallow cuts. It was a testament of a hunter's durability that was still alive, let alone fight on as he was. He had bleed more in the few minutes of this battle than most men had in them to give and then some. Yet his gaze only had eyes to his adversary and the counter clocking down his death.
On the other hand Megumi stood pristine and as unhurt as he had first appeared. Sung JinWoo had thrown everything he got, every ability, rare resort, and trump card he had accrued. It was evident this was more than power that set them apart, their compatibility couldn't have been worse either. From Megumi's ability to exorcise his shadow minions to his ability to resist the fear aura and dominating touch. This had been a terrible mismatch for him, Sung JinWoo should have been frustrated… but somehow, he saw the seriousness Megumi was assessing him.
Maybe the same way he managed to read the Ant King he now started to understand Megumi. The hero's victory parameters had nothing to do with beating him down, he had been searching for something and so Sung JinWoo gave his all for him to find it. The fact that he stopped means he finally found it.
"How much longer do we have?" Megumi asked seriously.
"About one minute." Sung JinWoo replied as evenly as he could. Part of him was glad he managed to keep his composure despite his returned humanity.
"It will have to do. Listen quickly, Sung JinWoo. I finally found… an answer. It is far from the ideal one but those rarely are. You were a troubling case from the beginning but I insisted on being the one to tackle it because I was once in the same spot you found yourself right now… the gulf that separates a mortal man like you from a semi divine existence as myself is not as unbreachable chasm. It is something that I did myself… and it is the leap of faith you have to cross now to survive." Megumi said with utmost seriousness, weighing every word as Father in Raging Heaven was its witness.
For Sung JinWoo's part this brought a mix of elation and trepidation in equal measure. The way Megumi spoke gave the impression he had to undergo an emergency open heart or brain surgery as life saving treatment. The ideal of being as powerful as the man in front of him was surely nice but Sung JinWoo had already reversed his old ways. He couldn't enjoy power if he was dead.
"What did you do? To achieve it?" He immediately asked.
"It is not like you could replicate it, of this I assure you. I simply can't teach you in the time that we have left… but there is more than one way to climb Olympus Mons… my father once confided to me that the old Egyptians stood apart from others cultivators of virtue in pursuit of ascension through the proper execution of death instead of the avoidance of it. It is a bit too harsh for my taste… but the orphic mysteries come the closest to their methodology. In theory turning a mortal into a god isn't that different from turning mundane ingredients into nectar."
"In theory," Sung JinWoo parroted. Megumi just said his best chance to survive… is to die and then hope he can be turned back to life. Part of him wants to complain that he should have done this from the beginning but he understood he is simplifying things for him. The nectar the man produced excelled even the S rank potion, Holy Water of Life, that he created using the blood of the demon lord and Yggdrasil shard. Any process capable of synthesizing a bottled miracle from mundane ingredients of all things must be insanely complicated. More than that, it clearly excels the System's own capabilities.
It is insane but Sung JinWoo not only believed Megumi but had complete faith in the man's ability to pull it off. In the short time they had been acquainted the man had treated him with more answers and consideration than anyone else beside his own parents and this for once had nothing to do with his own new powers. Despite Megumi being an aloof guy Sung JinWoo had the impression he would treat even a homeless person with this level of courtesy which said a lot about his character when most B rank hunters prowl the streets as if they had a license to kill in their pockets.
No, what worried Sung JinWoo wasn't Megumi's part on this but his own ability to do his part. "You said something about proper execution of death. I think this is not as simple as a deathbed confession sacrament that Christians perform."
"For short, if a man led a virtuous life and his corpse was properly observed, his vital breath would find its way back to his body after death. Reanimate it and change its form. Since neither of us were tempered under such a method we will have to freestyle it while flying by the seat of our pants. Not ideal but such is life… I know this is a big ask but I will also stake my life on this chance Sung JinWoo, of this I promise you!" Megumi delivered with the utmost sincerity.
Honestly, Sung JinWoo was starting to get frustrated. How can an adult man deliver such a corny declaration in such a cool way? Is that a requirement to become a hero? Sung JinWoo didn't feel like he could pull this off even with the System's help. Even when proposing the impossible it seemed like he still could pull it off in defiance of any common sense. So, yeah. Even if this meant that he had to become some kind of mummy, Sung JinWoo felt like he should do it. He should- no. He wanted to reciprocate the trust the hero placed in him.
At once he let go of his daggers and dropped his domination touch over his blade collection. Even if he died here at least a threat to the world went down with him, he had nothing to do and everything to gain. In his final act Sung JinWoo opened his arms wide as if in greeting, welcoming his ending with open arms. "Do it."
Hae-in, despite being the most debilitated of the hunters witnessing our battle, screamed the loudest as she attempted to rush in to interfere with the inevitable. She wasn't alone though, the hunters of Korea had been reduced to helpless witnesses but a lifetime of life and death perils was not easily ignored. They rushed in to save the newest shining star of their country.
Nine seconds before his heart stopped for good Megumi closed in with uncanny alacrity of a wraith as if he was a monster of a horror movie instead of a hero. Eight seconds later, instead of skewering him with his blade, Megumi shoved his fist on Sung JinWoo abdomen just below his rib cage. The impact had less of a moment than Sung JinWoo expected, he could feel Megumi's power rendering steel-like muscles into soft, pliable, and tender flesh. The promise of death imprinted on mortal life manifested as present reality by his necrotic power.
But she was foaming at the mouth, her eyes rolled all around; her mind was mindless now. Held by the god, she paid the man no heed. She grabbed his left arm just below the elbow: wedging her foot against the victim's ribs she ripped his shoulder off – not by mere force; the god made everything they touch.
Seven seconds and Sung JinWoo felt Megumi seizing something that should not be there! Over his right side of his chest the hero held in hand a spectral [Black Heart]. And his vice grip on it induced phantom pain that brought the Korean hunter to his knees. Six seconds in and Megumi's accompanying muse perked at his back moved on phantasmagoric dainty hand toward his mortal heart with utmost tenderness.
Would you accept me in your heart, brave hunter?
Sung JinWoo had no breath to respond to the melodious voice singing in his ears… but he was a survivor. Three seconds left and with his last breath he nodded in assent.
Two seconds left and Megumi reaped the black heart out with a sudden jerk move and to Sung JinWoo it felt like his soul was being torn apart with it. With his last moment he saw Megumi holding the eldritch organ ripped from his chest high over his head as he fell into oblivion.
"Murderer!" Chan HaeIn screamed at Megumi while brandishing her sword with all the deadly grace her power and training ingrained in her. She wasn't alone either, the koran hunters were incensed to the point of murder by the hero's action. All safe, that is.
The resurrected Min ByungGyu was an experienced support type hunter he is used to directing his insight and focus toward the bigger picture as the safety net of his comrades. That is why he could understand all the irregularities with Sung JinWoo. More than that, his brief death experience had opened his eyes to the ways of things. The refining nectar running through his body has made him more than what he already was and that was a kind person that hated violence.
"STOP!" He shouted and was surprised with the weight his voice had over his comrades, even the distraught Chan HaeIn stopped before making a terrible mistake. He didn't exactly understand what was happening but he knew he had to act decisively, so he marched ahead at a brisk pace toward the hero and the downed hunter.
To his new senses the black heart in Megumi's hand made in retching and wanted to puck, there are a few hunters with such a sharp sense of smell that they feel sick when close to powerful monsters and hunters. He now knew what they endured. There were no words to describe how sick that thing made him feel. How was such a thing inside Sung JinWoo?
He looked from the heart to the hero then to the downed Sung JinWoo. He had a lot of questions but somehow knew the mysterious man was indulging him because he stopped the others, he was in a hurry! "Can- can you save Sung JinWoo like you did to me?" He asked.
"Like I did to you? Well, this is in fact the plan… but it won't be so simple." Megumi said while brandishing the abominable and still beating heart. Chan HaeIn could feel the malignant will inside the abominable and still beating heart, and that it was desperately struggling by leveraging more power than any hunter could dream of having… yet the man seized all the godly power in hand with a casual disinterest. "By forcibly severing this parasite from Sung JinWoo I inflicted terminal damage to his soul in the process… a bit too brutish as far as surgeries go but there are fates worse than death. But this is what makes bringing him back to life so complicated. The damage… the taint already gangrenning his insides… Sung JinWoo was already dying. As a person that is."
"But can you save him?" Chan HaeIn insisted. Even if what the man said made a disturbing amount of sense it wasn't like it helped Sung JinWoo's situation.
"Of course, even if I share the same fate as Asclepius, I will bring Sung JinWoo back to life." Megumi promised and despite the absurdity of such a claim Chan HaeIn had seen enough miracles in a single day to believe him.
He sighed to himself in exasperation. As a semi-divine existence, a hero brings the world closer to Olympian (shining) splendor of yore by the simple act of existing and basking it with the light of their passionate heart flame. Their Muses are spiritual entities, unfettered by the constraints of this gross material world, that is why they can be in more than one place at once, and as divine existences they can receptive to the calling from mortals whose hearts can't help but to appeal to higher power in pursuit of their desires.
As long as the supplicant and the Muse share the same soul nature the muse can mark the heart of any cultivator she fancies. Both Sung JinWoo and Takuhatachiji-Hime-no-Mikoto – and consequently Megumi – are [Shadowed] souls. But Argyrchiara is in a class of her own, only comparable to Calliope herself, the Chief among all Muses. As a [Ancient] soul she isn't so restrained, and as a chthonic daemon of the silver age she has unparalleled freedom across the Abyss.
I need your help, Mother. Megumi called with the voice of his heart and immediately he could feel the tender embrace of the Silver Bright Madonna, her majesty was puissant that even the hunters could instantly feel it down to their marrow… if only she wasn't using this moment to pinch Mikoto's cheek in exasperation.
Honestly, the audacity of this prodigal child is worth punishment.
Despite her morose tone of voice Megumi couldn't help but cringe inside. Zagreus always had a peculiar habit of putting on a front of calmness that manifested this kind of inexpressible deepness when he was about to crash out – which happened in their line of work – giving Megumi more than enough insight to dread Argyrchiara's… everything. To anyone familiar with Zagreus his muse's whole demeanor was a giant red flag… a tragic disposition which promised to endure through all suffering and tribulation unending.
"All of antiquity extolled Dionysus as the god who gave man wine. However, he was known also as the raving god whose presence makes man mad and incites him to savagery and even to lust for blood. He was the confidant and companion of the spirits of the dead…The flowers of spring bore witness to him, too. (…) Dionysus was the god of the most blessed ecstasy and the most enraptured love. But he was also the persecuted god, the suffering and dying god, and all whom he loved, all who attended him, had to share his tragic fate." (Walter Otto, Dionysus: Myth and Cult)
This enigmatic paradox was the core of their greater mystery. The madness which is called Dionysus is no sickness, no debility in life, but a companion of life at its healthiest. It is the tumult which erupts from its innermost recesses when they mature and force their way to the surface. It is the madness inherent in the womb of the mother. This attends all moments of creation, constantly changes ordered existence into chaos, and ushers in primal salvation and primal pain.
Argyrchiara was an existence of mad glory, her mere presence invokes a sense of urgency, ecstasy, and terror in the hearts of all within her vicinity. Her beauty invoked an agonizing rapture that symbolizes the eternal enigmas of duality and paradox experienced when confronted with the stark awareness of the perplexing nature of reality. Mortals either fall back into euphoria or lose touch in a transitory insanity.
And now Megumi needed this power to save Sung JinWoo. Appeal to Higher Power. Worst, recognized this moody temperament as sure as his own name. Argyrchiara was now pinching both of Mikoto's cheeks and forcing her into all kinds of funny faces. Fortunately Megumi had a lifetime worth of experience in this department, children are quite sensitive to the adults around them. It was just a matter of swallowing his prime.
"I am sorry, okay? Observing the proper funerary final rites and properly observing the honored death was a skill that I needed to learn after all. You were right all along! I was wrong! So please, can you help me save my friend here?" Megumi could feel heat in his cheeks, it was partly genuine and partly a construction to Argyrchiara's… maternal instinct? His father always was a softy for children and his muse was bound to be no better.
He knew he was spot on by the smug and self-satisfying smile Argyrchiara now bore. It was genuinely upsetting, Megumi could almost overlay his father's face on her and imagine him there, gloating at his expense.
And to think you put so much trouble back then too, saying messing with dead bodies was disgusting. Being a grave keeper is hard work! People don't become less demanding just because they became dead… but since you apologized all is forgiven. It is never too late to learn, plus we have some fresh meat here perfect for the next final lesson.
Megumi could really do without the morbid sense of humor and attitude. Those are two things he never learned to miss from his old man. Argyrchiara definitely understood what he wanted from her, she is the only reliable source to the [Book of the Dead], the ancient Egyptian funerary text intended to assist a dead person's journey through the underworld (Abyss)… but before that…
Megumi looked down at the [Black Heart] desperately struggling to break free. It was a thousand times worse than the Sukuna's finger he was force fed so long ago… but he wasn't the same as before. He was the Curse Eater, the God Devourer. Compared to Master Tenge's heart – Megumi refused to call it Tengucifer – it wasn't really that bad even if it still deserved the title of Lesser Mystery. A worthy meal to give him the energy that he needed to pull a new miracle into being.
The Champion of Raging Heaven swallowed the Black Heart of the Shadow Monarch and made its strength into his own.
[AUTHOR'S ROOM]
Now imagine what the people watching this shit on live television are thinking. Argyrchiara is the most radical introduction to the concept of memetic hazard, as a higher ideal made manifest her impact isn't diminished by much just because they are seeing her through the TV. This was the perfect chance to show what Zagreus looks like for everybody else, since we often see things from his perspective. The true gravity of the situation is lost due to his own power. The Silver Age is not something comprehensive even for those born in a Heroic Age, hundreds of millions of people are having a downright religious experience and rapture in the euphoria instigated by her grace. They don't call them muses for nothing.
This also shows how long Zagreus' reach truly is as well. Remember, after defeating Diablo in Iron Gods Zagreus consumed his divinity and learned and became a divine source capable of granting access to divine spells. The so-called "Emitters". Romer says that the race of men from the silver age were showered with honor in the underworld once they were delivered back to the earth. As I said previously this is how Argyrchiara managed to establish the Tartarus Network… and now Megumi was about to create the first Lich cultivator.
- Location
- washington
what'd it taste like?
- Pronouns
- TheSilverStar
So Shinwoo is going to return as an Undead?