[Corruption Wielder] Chapter 75: Death Itself (Patreon)

Will reappeared in a familiar divine domain. A god waited for him within, its presence making its overwhelming power clear but no longer pressing it upon its sigil-holder.

The Hunger had intercepted Will’s teleportation.

That was new. Normally, the god was only able to drag him into his domain when he was unconscious, whether that was through sleep, a tablet vision, or just being plain knocked the fuck out, but not through teleportation.

“Did that teleport put me to bed, or did you try something new?” Will asked. “This isn’t exactly normal.”

“Though the trial has been interfered with in every possible way, many of the rules still apply,” the Hunger said. “One of which is granting permission for those who grant sigils to have private meetings with their champions.”

“Oh, lovely,” Will said. “So if you’ve still got beef with me, you could just randomly yank me out of a fight and spend some time torturing the shit out of my soul before dropping me back?”

“In theory,” the god allowed. “No god whose champion brought them this much status in the trial would do such a thing.”

“Look, just because a country says ‘we definitely are not going to use these nuclear bombs on you’ doesn’t mean that we start trusting them more.”

“Defiant as ever, I see.”

“You can’t do anything permanent to me without hurting yourself, and temporary pain benefits me in the long run. I figure I can test the waters.”

That got a laugh out of the god. “You truly are like I was, ever so long ago.”

“And then you went from underdog to benefiting from the system, and now your true colors emerge,” Will said, grandiosely throwing his arms up as if he was illustrating a great truth of the universe. “Or whatever. I’m not actually sure what the deal with gods is. This other dude I met told me that his mouth was shut by his organization and the organization, which I still maintain needs a name. Is the same true for you?”

“It is not so,” the Hunger said. “Not only have you amused me, you have infuriated Vyx beyond measure. I have taken a liking to you, so I will disclose some knowledge.”

“Oh, fantastic. You make it sound like it’s all this effort, except I’ve just fought a hundred dudes above my rank and you, what, you’ve finally made the step to tell me information that you could have relayed to me at the very beginning. How generous of you.”

“There is a saying your world has. How does it go? Do not bite the hand that feeds.”

“The other hand’s holding a gun to my head. You can deal with a bit of biting.”

The Hunger smiled. “So I can.”

“So. My questions. What the hell’s up with the gods? How did you become one?”

“A thousand years of effort,” the Hunger said frankly. “Once, I was but a man. A mortal, just like you, from a planet millions of light-years away. I rose through the ranks, far above the reach of the galaxy I was within, and when the time was right, I ascended.”

“Very drawn-out way to say that you leveled up,” Will said, “but I’ll admit that I’m intrigued. Are all gods like you? The Elven Mother sounds like the title for a real, mythologized figure. Like Genghis Khan or maybe the Messiah.”

“She molded her myth into one of her race,” the Hunger said. “I was more ambitious, and I sought a concept.”

“The Hunger. Ol’ Vyx with the Crown is the same?”

“Correct. A riskier venture, to be sure, but you do not need to hear the rest. You will be lucky to survive to the next tier, let alone achieve godhood. There are no special secrets that I can part with. Make a strong foundation and live.”

“And there we have it. The moment you reach a topic you’re uncomfortable with, you don’t want to say shit.”

The god paused to consider that. “You lack the foundation necessary to understand it. It does not concern you… but you are correct. It is no great secret at the level of the ascended that the myths we embody imprint upon us, and we imprint upon them.”

“Wait, that’s actually helpful information. You’re telling me that your personality has changed what the concept of hunger is?”

“One very specific type, yes. It has affected me as much as I have it. Others are the same. Have you noticed that peace can only be achieved through power?”

“That’s not really how it works.”

“Is it? Even before the system came to you, your world’s rules were written in blood and steel. Afterwards, nobody has known peace but the powerful.”

Will remembered how he had made an entire battle royale surrender. That had been a show of force, hadn’t it?

“You’re telling me the god of Peace did this.”

“Goddess, and yes, in part. The truth is an order of magnitude more complicated and would take time we do not have to discuss.”

“Right. I forgot that time’s still passing normally on the outside. Why did you bring me in here anyway? I figure it wasn’t just for a quick chat.”

“Incentives,” the god said simply. “You are on your way to receive the rewards for placing in the top thirty-two of the trial of the champion.”

“Are there standards for that?” Will asked. “Haven’t seen anything about prizing so far.”

“It has been a rather unusual tournament,” the Hunger allowed. “This, I think I will allow you to find for yourself.”

“Fantastic. Lovely. Really needed that, thanks.”

“You should be. I am offering you a commensurate reward. For every place you advance, you benefit my godhood further. As such, I have a vested interest in your victory.”

“I’ll never say no to free loot. What can you do for me?”

“Should you advance twice more to the top 8, I will maximize the power of your sigil skills while remaining within silver rank. At top 4, you will receive a new one, similarly maximized. If, by some miracle, you make it to the final duel, your sigil skills will be advanced to gold.”

“And when I win?”

“I am reminded of another saying, mortal. Pride before the fall.”

“Yeah, yeah. Tell me what you’ve got for me.”

“The details of that are yet unclear to even me, given the destruction of this cycle, but rest assured: the quality of the reward you would gain for this would not be limited to the the tier you are currently in.”

That was a promise for a platinum-rank reward if Will had ever heard one. His best equipment right now was still stuck at silver, unable to be advanced further without truly ludicrous amounts of monster cores that he didn’t have access to. Other than Corruption Resistance, his skills were the same. Gaining something of that power level would be a complete game changer and would almost certainly make him the single most powerful human on Earth, leaderboard be damned.

No, that last part wasn’t true. Will would be a fool to think that Nathan was the only human to return from another world after years spent training their abilities. Haoyu and Natalie Blurr had both mentioned shit going down back on the surface. When this was all done, he would have that to deal with as well.

“I’ll do what I can,” Will said. “Those would all be pretty big helps. Is there any reason you can’t do it now?”

“Gods are limited by status just as much as humans are. Someone greater could violate plausibility and the laws of the cycle to uplift a champion. Peace. War. Death. Any of the great old ones. I am not one of them.”

“Neither is Vyx, I assume. Though he doesn’t seem to like me much.”

“If it is any consolation, the Elven Mother appears to be fonder of you than any other deity I know.”

“That’s… actually really strange. I’ve killed a bunch of her elves. Also, I’m pretty sure I’ve cursed her out for not leaving sigils on the bodies of her followers. Caiyeri still doesn’t have a sigil, and she deserves one more than at least half those cowardly shitters.”

“Gods are strange. You should get used to it.”

Will flipped the Hunger off. “Is that all?”

“There is still the matter of your training.”

“Oh. Right. Let’s get on with it then, shall we?”

His soul had gradually hardened against the overwhelming intensity exerted by a god, but he was never ready for the first wave of pain.

#

“That asshole,” Will muttered, blinking awake. “I can’t believe he’s still the nicer of the two gods.”

This waiting room was, once again, unrelated to the others. At least the resource expenditure was justified this time. The library was corrupted, and Will was sure that the area he’d opened a portal into the Beyond from had its own issues now.

Besides, this one was cozy. Rather than the seemingly randomly repurposed pieces of architecture that could have come from Earth ruins, Arcadia, or some random point in the universe that the other waiting rooms had been composed of, this waiting room very much resembled a luxurious hotel suite.

After a quick scan of the area with Sen, Will determined that a) nobody had planted any hidden explosives or monitoring devices and, more importantly, b) there was a fully equipped shower.

He made a beeline for it, inventorying his clothes as he did. They were soaked through with sweat, blood, and the grime of all the battles he’d been through already. A nice, steamy cleanse sounded perfect right now.

The showerhead didn’t just put out water—or, at least, not normal water. There was some magical element present in the flow, deep-cleaning Will’s body without the need for soap. It felt strange on his skin, but it was as relaxing as anything he’d experienced so far. For a few minutes, he let the tension drain from his body, luxuriating in the slice of heaven the system had given him.

Of course, the system took away just as much as it gave. Text started scrolling over his vision as he turned the water off.

[4] of the top 32 champions have been selected. The reward threshold has been met.

Congratulations, User [William Li-Brown]. You have placed in the top 32 of the Trial of the Champion, proving your worth to your world and your god—or, in rare, heretical cases, gods.

Rewards for this Trial of the Champion will be distributed upon reaching certain thresholds as follows:

Top 32 - Peak silver-rank item and 1,000 silver credits

Top 16 - Peak silver-rank growth item and 2,500 silver credits

Top 8 - Gold-rank consumable item and 5,000 silver credits

Top 4 - Gold-rank item and 2,500 gold credits

Top 2 - Peak gold-rank growth item and 5,000 gold credits

Champion - Platinum-rank growth item and 5,000 platinum credits

Good luck, User. Enjoy the facilities while you can. Your next round’s matchup has not been decided.

Top 32 reward selected!

Demonic Blast Scepter has been added to your inventory.

Will processed the barrage of notifications. Just like the Hunger had promised, the rewards it would grant were roughly on par with what the trial itself was granting.

He popped his new item out from his inventory. It was about as long as his arm, with an evil-looking orb swirling at the tip of it, orange flames infusing black shadow. The scepter itself was made of a dark, steel-like metal inscribed with runes that Will’s Omnilingual skill translated as “BRINGER OF DEATH.”

“A little edgy, don’t you think?”

Item: [Demonic Blast Scepter]

Very rare, silver

Forged in the infernal fires of the underworld of Selrethnir, this scepter is imbued with dark, malevolent energy. Greatly enhanced versions of this weapon are common amongst Selrethnir’s commonplace Demon Lords.

You’re not that evil yet, but with this item’s help, you could be. You’re well on your way.

This weapon has 10 charges. It regains half its maximum charge capacity over the course of a day. You can increase its charge with extreme mana expenditure.

[Malevolent] - This weapon can only be wielded by someone with the [User Killer] title or an evil alignment. Congratulations. You fit both.

[Channel] - This weapon can be used as an arcane focus for certain elements, lessening the cast time, cooldown, and mana cost required for skills channeled through it. Of your attributes, it is compatible with [Death] and [Corruption].

[Power Strike] - You can expend a charge to channel demonic energy through the scepter, drastically increasing the power of a melee attack.

[Infernal Wrath] - You can expend 1 to 10 charges to channel a concentrated blast of demonic energy, creating an explosion somewhere you can see, scaling in size and power with the number of charges spent. This detonation increases in power against those weak to demonic magic. It also inflicts a level of silver-rank [Despair].

“Very edgy,” Will muttered. “Wow. How many effects can you fit on one staff?”

Despair had a similar effect to Altrien’s Despair, the affliction that had been on Will’s late chieftain’s axe. It reduced the Soul and Speed attributes to the bottom of the rank they were at, which was incredible if he could get it to stick.

This was a terribly valuable find. Will got to unattuning his jumping ring immediately. His air-dashes combined with teleportation did plenty, and the jumping ring didn’t need much more room to grow. This, on the other hand, would be a fantastic weapon to rank up over time.

You have attuned [Demonic Blast Scepter].

Will wished he had a more offensive skill to use with his Death and Corruption attributes. Decaying Touch and Chaos Transfer were both already on relatively short cooldowns, and this scepter helped shorten those even further, but if he had a beam attack like Nathan had, this item would be a fantastic force multiplier.

He did still have one open slot in both his Corruption and Death attributes, which had been affixed to Affinity and Soul, respectively. Will had five out of thirteen shards needed to create another tablet of the Beyond, but he doubted that would immediately create something super offensive.

“Surely there’s some monsters that’ll drop shards in the area,” he said to himself.

Will plopped facedown into the impossibly comfortable feather bed, tempted to catch a nap while he could. It had been an exhausting couple of days—hell, an exhausting few weeks. Rest was a rare commodity, and when he had it, he suddenly found himself overwhelmed by drowsiness.

“Wait, no,” he continued sleepily, his monologue muffled by the pillow his entire face was currently stuffed in. “It’s a tournament asteroid. No monsters here… just other fighters…”

That reminded him. How were the others doing?

Will sent out a few messages. Most of them were blocked by a notification that the User in question was in an area where they could not receive messages.

Liam: Yo. Made it through somehow. On my last legs, but I’ll get healed up and be back on my feet.

Will: Brilliant. Get anything good?

Liam: Bloody fantastic loot, I’ll tell you that.

Will: Good to hear. Keep it up. Alert me if anything goes wrong.

Hua ended up seeing a message and replying to it shortly after. She was the sixth User to complete her duel.

Hua: That was way easier than the first round. Fighting other silver-ranks is basically free at this point, especially the super heavy core abusers. Shit’s like hard drugs. Makes me think I should use them less.

Will: Probably, yes.

Hua: Do you know where Haoyu is?

Will: Shit.

Hua: Ah, fuck. He’s out, isn’t he? How’d he lose?

Will: Cultists broke in. System broke. It really isn’t fair, but he’s back down to Earth.

Hua: Between the rounds? That really sucks. Hopefully our sponsors compensate for it.

Will: It’ll be good to have someone competent on the ground helping stem the tide of monsters we’re getting.

Hua: Absolutely.

Hua: I’m going to get some rest. Good luck, mate.

Will: You too. Call if another cultist breaks in.

Blurr came soon after, though she responded laconically, other matters clearly weighing heavier on her replied.

Caiyeri was still unresponsive. She hadn’t lost, which Will knew because she was still listed as being in an unreachable area, not out of range like those who had failed out like Haoyu.

Will’s eyes opened wide, his exhaustion forgotten.

There was no element of fairness in this tournament. Mid gold ranks like the gestalt could fight against bronze ranks without any sort of debuff, and outside interventions had caused people to fail out despite sticking to the trial’s rules.

What was that Nynn had said again?

Those with power prevail.

There was nothing for Will here but rest, and rest was not what he needed the most. What he needed most were reliable allies. People who he could count on to fight by his side or to better the world.

“Sorry about this,” he said, standing up and making his way to a wall. He paused. “Actually, I’m not sorry at all. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on. You’ve got the power to save our planet, system. Why waste it all on making us fight each other?”

With a touch, he corrupted the wall.

A moment later, Will was outside.

#

Caiyeri hid behind a boulder barely large enough to cloak her body, controlling her breathing so her enemy couldn’t hear her panting.

She was bleeding at an unsustainable rate, and she was exhausted. The elf woman had run out of mana three or four times now, relying on conditional skills and potions to get her through.

Her opponent was barely even trying, and after all, why should he? He was so much stronger than her, and more importantly, he knew every trick she could try.

“Oh, Seven,” taunted Lystri Zero, gold-rank abyss elf and holder of the Mother’s sigil. His voice was singsong, and his every step was placed deliberately so that she heard it coming. “Last of your batch. You couldn’t save anyone else, and now you’re stuck here. Aren’t you ashamed?”

You’re the one who should be ashamed. Caiyeri saved her breath, knowing she would need it.

A sharp whistling in the air was the only signifier that Lystri was firing another set of the flechettes that he was so famous for.

He was a template. One of the originals. In comparison, she was nothing, disposable trash that was meant to be used, expended and tossed aside like a cheap rubber.

That fucking infuriated her, and it was that fury that gave her the strength to dodge yet again, barely staying out of range.

Lystri was toying with her, she knew. He enjoyed the pain and frustration that he caused her, that sadistic piece of shit. There had been some conflict between him and the original Caiyeri at some point. Maybe torturing a copy was helping him work through it.

Whatever it was, Caiyeri Seven didn’t care. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of watching her kneel.

Yet this was becoming untenable. Their game of cat and mouse had been going on for what had to be hours at this point, with Caiyeri growing closer and closer to death’s door with every passing engagement.

Is this why you forsook me, Mother? Caiyeri wondered. Do you hate me that much that you would let a lazy, barbaric template overcome me? Is he truly that much more representative of you?

Questions that had haunted her all her life came back in full force now, but she couldn’t afford to be trapped in despair.

“Nobody is watching me here,” Lystri said, which Caiyeri knew was a lie. “Nobody who will care about your fate. We’re having so much fun already, but can’t we have more?”

Disgust rose in Caiyeri’s throat, and she had to resist the urge to spit at him. Save your strength for when it matters most.

When the breach happened, it was so small that only Caiyeri noticed it. Lystri was so focused on tormenting her that he missed out on it.

In the corner of her vision, high above her, part of the arena warped, twisted by corruption, and her heart skipped a beat.

That moment of observation cost her. Lystri rounded a corner and fired a group of flechettes at her, impaling her left wrist and her lower abomen to the tree she had taken cover behind.

Non-lethal. Painful, but non-lethal. She wouldn’t die until Lystri let her know.

Caiyeri met his evil smile with a defiant one of her own. She registered surprise in his eyes with vicious satisfaction, though her stomach dropped with the disappointment that this, too, would not be her victory.

Will: Holy shit, man, it took me forever to find this place. Do you know how hard it was to find this dome? It’s, like, three hundred miles from the one I was on. Space travel isn’t easy.

He was invisible, but he wasn’t hiding his aura at all. Hunger ripped through the arena, drawing Lystri Zero’s attention.

“Mother’s grace,” the elf breathed. “Who are you?”

“Oh, I know this one,” Caiyeri sneered, tearing her wrist forward and ripping her arm apart, freeing herself from one of the flechettes. With her good arm, she tore the second one out of her abdomen, bleeding freely. 

Lystri turned to her in shock.

She grinned, expression crazed with exhaustion, blood loss, and pure fury. “Most people know him as William Li-Brown, but it’s your lucky day. To you, he is death itself.”

Will: Solid introduction, if a little over the top. 7/10, but delivery could bring it up a bit.

Caiyeri: Shut the fuck up and help me. I’m dying.

Will: As you wish.

The corruption wielder descended.