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R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 26 (in editing-v1)

“What?!”

Blood pounded in Micheal’s ears, blocking out his hearing for a few seconds. His heart spasmed as he processed what the Nirvana Saint had told him, trying to come to terms with it.

The major enemy he had been planning around, the foes he was preparing himself to confront, the ultimate targets that he needed to handle after dealing with the Six Lords…

They had just up and left.

“How do you know this?” Micheal’s mind raced ahead of him as he began to think dozens of thoughts at once, doing his best to comprehend the situation.

The Nirvana Saint tapped on a Mid-Tier Spatial Ring that was on his finger, pulling out a Shop-purchased electronic tablet. He turned the tablet on and tapped over to a video recording.

He slid the tablet around to face Micheal.

In the video, Micheal saw a lean, wiry man dressed in black leather armor. The figure had a mask covering his face, painted with the image of a praying mantis. He was sitting on a chair in a brightly lit stone room, the only visible person in frame.

His eyes widened as he realized it was a recording of a member of the Beasts of Providence.

“This is Mantis, the leader of the Hunter Division in the Beasts of Providence.” The Nirvana Saint began, pointing at the still video.

The Nirvana Saint paused again as he looked up at Micheal, his gaze searching.

Micheal remained silent, his forehead creasing slightly.

‘He’s springing all this on me just to see my reaction?’ The realization let him calm down, regaining control over his emotions.

The fact that the Nirvana Saint would share intel like this meant he had to be insanely curious about Micheal.

‘Focus. I still hold some level of initiative here.’

Micheal reached over to the tablet and prepared to press the play button. Before he could tap on it, the Nirvana Saint spoke up again.

“To be more specific, this is a Deathless Clone Mantis sent over, not his real body.” The Nirvana Saint went on,

“Mantis learned of various resistance efforts that were being raised against the ‘Vile King’s’ machinations, as you put it.” The Nirvana Saint accepted the pseudonym Micheal had used with a nod,

“This was his attempt at a confession, something I obtained quite recently.”

“Attempt?” Micheal raised an eyebrow.

Instead of replying, the Nirvana Saint waved for Micheal to press the play button. Micheal obliged.

The video began to move, the wiry man suddenly coming to life.

“Have you ever thought about how you would resist an irresistible force?” The man’s voice was a confusing mix of somber and cheerful as he spoke.

“I think about that every day.” Mantis waved his hands around in the air exaggeratedly as he stood up for a second.

“It’s much harder than you might think.” He abruptly collapsed backwards down into a wooden chair with a sigh.

“Terribly, terribly hard.” Slowly, Mantis reached up and grabbed ahold of his mask.

He took the mask off.

Micheal gasped out loud despite himself, his eyes drilling into the visage before him.

The man had a sallow, sickly appearance, the face of a man who looked like was a step away from death. His hollow blue eyes were dim, accentuated by a sharp nose and a rigid chin. His hair was brown, cut short and clinging to his scalp.

Micheal recognized him immediately.

Baron Lux, one of the 4 Barons that led humanity on the Second Layer.

“People call me the Great Lord of Luck… yet my life is far from what I’d call lucky.” Baron Lux’s voice took on a hard edge as he stared at the camera with a faint smile.

“To whomever watches this confession, know that everything I am about to tell you is the truth.”

The Nirvana Saint paused the video here, adding his own comment.

“I can confirm that his words have no lies within them. Two of the Church’s own Truthseekers were present and checked every statement he made.”

Micheal took a deep breath and nodded.

Humanity discovered ways to resist the powers of Truthseekers in the later Layers years from now, but that knowledge was non-existent at the present moment.

The Nirvana Saint returned to playing the video.

“There is much I would like to say… but...” Baron Lux’s clone smiled again,

“I don’t have much time, so listen well.”

“You may know me as Baron Lux, a leader of humanity… but my actual identity is different.” The man went on,

“I am the Beast King, the leader of the Beasts of Providence.” As these words left Lux’s mouth, his face abruptly grew pale, a small trickle of blood starting to flow from his nose.

“My main body is both blessed with a power that grants it the ability to twist fate and an Ability obtained from a Dark Wraith Inheritance that allows me to manipulate the minds of others.” A wheezing cough escaped Lux’s lungs as he trembled, raising a hand to steady his chest.

“Despite my great powers, however, my will is not my own. Someone else is controlling me. Manipulating me. I have tried to resist, again and again, and I have found it to be a losing battle. Even brainwashing myself with my own Ability has started to lose effectiveness.” Lux spat these words out in a rush, his hands beginning to shake as he continued,

“This isn’t how I wanted things to play out. I thought I would have more time. Unfortunately, the manipulator controlling me has grown wary recently. Every action I take is scrutinized, as are the actions of the many men under me. My ability to resist has been almost completely eradicated at this point.”

Micheal winced slightly when he heard that, taking in every word the man on the screen said.

‘That’s probably because of me.’ Micheal’s actions on the timeline had caused unforeseen ripples that even he couldn’t predict.

“You could say this is the last free shred of my consciousness. To pass on this message, I first had to commit suicide to cut off my connection with the main body.” Lux leaned to the side and puked out several mouthfuls of blood.

From off camera, several voices rang out in concern. Lux waved them off with a shake of his hand, however, gathering himself as he looked directly into the camera.

“I will only have one shot at this. I didn’t want to do things this way, but now I have no choice. I don’t understand everything, but I can tell you what I do know.”

Lux spoke rapidly as he began to list everything he knew about the Beasts of Providence. He outlined their branches, named the important members and their main Abilities, and spoke of several of their current and past missions.

He spoke of how the Vile King infected people with his Seeds and controlled their minds, and how this power was almost impossible to detect, and how Lux’s own brainwashing ability was not.

“However…” By this point, blood had begun to drip down from Lux’s eyes and he had stopped moving his arms, leaning back in his chair like a man on the verge of death.

“All of those missions have been cancelled and the Beasts of Providence have been redirected. And, just the other day, we have been directed to pull out entirely from the Second Layer.”

Micheal sat up straight in his chair, his back rigid as he focused every iota of his being on what Lux was saying.

“I don’t know why… I can barely comprehend the meaning behind the commands we receive. I wish I could tell you all more, but my mind is no longer my own.” Lux gave off a long, wheezing cough as his whole body shook.

“All I know is that he is abandoning this Layer to focus on something higher up, something he deems far more important than anything else.”

Lux took one last breath as his entire body began to relax. His head slumped to one side, the embrace of death sweeping over him.

“He’s planning something big.” Lux’s voice shook as he spoke his final words into the camera, powering through his death with sheer strength of will alone.

“Something that will affect all of humanity.” His body shuddered, blood pouring from his ears, eyes, and nose as he trembled.

“Please...” His voice fell to a quiet, desperate whisper as his eyes fell shut for the last time,

“Please kill me and stop him.”

.. .. .. .. .. ..

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

The sounds of water dripping down from the ceiling of a large cave and splashing into a puddle on the ground below echoed softly in the air.

“Incredible…” Constantine Lancaster’s eyes gleamed as he looked past the dripping water, towards an enormous creature that was chained upside down to the wall.

A huge, 5 meters tall monstrosity, the leader of the Yil that had attacked him earlier.

The monster was now a haggard mess, nailed to the wall with dozens of long metal spears. Surrounding the creature were large tentacles of darkness, writhing in and around it. Its face had grown slack and its eyes blurred as it breathed in ragged breath after breath.

Constantine smiled as he looked at the Deity and then away, gazing off into the distance.

“So all Deities possess this power…?” He murmured quietly, his voice trailing off.

When he first heard about it, he hadn’t believed it. It sounded too good to be true.

But now, after much testing, he had confirmed it.

After they Ascended and became a Tribe of Deities, all of them, one and all, gained access to the Titles System… or, as the Yil called it:

The Mandate of Heaven.

“It is truly an absurd power.” The Vile King shook his head as he reviewed what he had learned, information he had pieced together from the accounts of all of the Yil he had captured.

The Title System gave Deities the unique ability to warp reality, breaking the very rules and laws that governed the fabric of existence, making the impossible possible.

The Titles System, as he learned, came in two parts.

Deities that trained themselves to a basic level were able to pick and choose a ‘Trait,’ in a similar manner to how humans ‘bought’ Abilities from the Shop. There were an enormous number of Traits, each one granting unique effects or powers.

These Traits could Evolve and grow if the Deity dedicated himself to training. Some talented Deities could obtain new Traits over time after reaching certain growth milestones, granting them even more fantastical powers.

Every single Deity, however, was capable of possessing at least one Trait as long as they put in even the smallest amount of effort.

And... if a Deity that was extremely talented, hardworking, and lucky enough happened to train themselves to the absolute limit…

There was a very small chance to Evolve that Trait into a Title, the second part of the Titles System.

According to what the Deity he was interrogating said, the chance of forging a Title was absurdly difficult and somewhat mysterious. Just because one Deity gained a Title one way didn’t mean another Deity could replicate that.

But, once a Deity achieved a Title, they underwent a qualitative transformation.

Their newly Evolved Title granted them reality-warping levels of power, the specifics of which depended on both their training and the Trait that they Evolved.

The clearest example of this that Constantine discovered came in the form of the leader of the Yil, a Deity by the name of Ashroth.

That Deity possessed a unique Title:

‘The Immortal.’

Like the name of that Title implied, the power it granted was simple:

Ashroth literally could not die.

It was physically impossible to kill him.

His Soul could not die.

His body could not die.

Nothing about him could die.

Even if his body was reduced down to ash and his Soul forcibly dissipated…

Ashroth would regenerate somewhere near the vicinity of his death, his body and Soul reforming as if it had never suffered even the slightest injury. In the tortured memories of the Deities that Constantine had invaded, he found distinct records of Ashroth demonstrating this, proving his real immunity to death.

Ashroth was, in the truest sense, an immortal, unkillable being. Any injuries he took would quickly heal, no matter how dire, and, even if he was killed, reality would bend and he would suddenly appear, alive once more.

The normal lifespan for a Yil stood between 1,000 and 2,000 years of age.

Ashroth had lived for more than 80,000 years, because he could not die of old age.

He held absolute power among the Yil, in part thanks to his extreme mastery of Black Magic.

According to the memories Constantine parsed, Spells cast using Black Magic required a sacrifice of one’s lifespan. In return for that cost, the power granted by Black Magic was tremendous.

However… Ashroth could not die, and this included from Spells that sacrificed his lifespan.

“How ridiculous…” Constantine’s eyes gleamed as he looked through the memories of the Yil before him.

In those memories, he could see the absolute ruler of the Yil casting Spell after Spell, sending off devastating explosions of power like it was nothing. Every Spell he cast sacrificed his entire lifespan and killed him, but because of his Title, he was immediately revived as if nothing happened.

It was absurd.

Constantine’s hands shook as he blinked, emerging from the scan of memories as he turned his attention back to the chained Deity before him.

“I understand how great this power is… but these are not the memories I want.” He took a small step forward, resting a hand on the laggard Deity’s face.

“Tell me again…” Constantine’s eyes began to glow with dark light, confirming information that, in the first timeline, he wouldn't obtain until 5 years later,

“How exactly do I make an entire species Ascend?”

.

Comments

Fury777

… for a job well done there is even more jobs to be done :) seems Mike attribute is only the start. @Wiz is Mike already aware of that we just did learn?

Sean

It's funny how weird it is to draw a moral line for these characters. Micheal should be good but is often in a role that makes him out to be the aggressor or just the straight enemy of a supposed good faction. Then you have Constantine saying he's trying to do everything to the utmost for humanity but is considered a scourge by people in Micheal's timeline. I love the way it plays out in the story because it leaves you guessing which group will ultimately be considered the 'victor' and have there opinion cemented as the correct one.

Fury777

Lets hope the humans win this time or it would be a sad story:)

Joshua Little

Thanks for the chapter.

FlawlessMovement

Kind of piggybacking off the previous comment. The vile king is gradually moving to being the “good guy” if he doesn’t twist this he’s GENUINELY helping humanity massively while micheal will try to unravel what he’s doing. Because of course he would he can’t tell that he’s ACTUALLY trying to be helpful for once.

Anonymous

think michael would get an heartattack if he would hear constantine asking that

Anonymous

If his body and soul can't die, I guess the Vile King is probably going to do a number on his spirit and mind. Poor Yil-e-poo. Looks like he is really going to live to regret his Title. Not sure ascending humanity _is_ actually helpful though. It sure seems to have warped every other species that has gone through it.

Fury777

He was not mindreading Ythrog but annother deity that knows about him.

Rhett Sellers

Woot! Excellent chapter.

Rhett Sellers

Constantine is a classic example of victory at all costs, while Micheal is the classic example of the opposite. The character motivations and methods are interesting enough to make it pretty compelling. Constantine was ALWAYS trying to help humanity in his own eyes. And so is Micheal. But Constantine doesnt place limits on his behavior the way most people do and Micheal is acting with imperfect information where his quest to end Constantine *may* at some point be harmful to humanity. It will be interesting to follow this as the timeline of the original story changes more and more from what Micheal knew.

Rhett Sellers

Yep. He wouldn't know to panic or not. After all, it would be good for humanity, presumably, but at what cost? We know ascending destroyed or changed the morality of the Toren people. If you gain ultimate power and it costs you everything, is it even worth it? In what situations do you change your mind? Moral dilemmas are always great for storytelling in the hands of a talented author.

Snow

I think it's safe to assume Connie interrogated a deity in the first timeline and still was unable to meet the requirements

Snow

"extremely talented, hardworking, and lucky enough happened to train themselves to the absolute limit…" I think you need a another comma in there near the word lucky

Fury777

I guess he did but this time it was over two years earlier then that timeline. At least.

Anonymous

An immortal mastering a magic that would kill anyone else is the kind of synergy that would make a normal person throw up their hands. It takes people like Constantine and Michael to keep going in the face of that and I can definitely see them working together in the future. Michael would be the tip of the spear at the forefront of what humans are capable of and Constantine would be manipulating things from the shadows. This might be the beginning of Constantine realizing that instead of forcing humanity into horrible situations to temper them that he should focus on sowing chaos among the Tribes if he wants to give humanity a fighting chance.

wiz

Micheal is aware of everything Constantine now knows! Including details on the Yil, and their leader, Ashroth.

Fury777

@Wiz, "one and all" does it mean that the humanity will have big suprise when Mike gains the Title system? Or will it just be for himself? Or is it a read and find out question?

Anonymous

mooooar!

Malcolm Tent

Inb4 the title system comes out down the line, I think we all know there's only one title that fits him. He's totally going to be the Godslayer. Being able to kill deities even when they're supposed to be immortal is right up his alley.

Rhett Sellers

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!! The wait is killing me. Im stoked to see what happens next with NS and meeting the others at the soul kings tomb

Snow

Nah I was thinking he'll become more of a time traveler. That's the one thing the deities have zero practice with because they kill their own kind who use it. They'll be defenseless against an enemy who has mastered it

FlawlessMovement

That’s basically the “best case ability use scenario” the abilities in the shop are good when solo but if you could get possibly 10 million people working together by choice led by people with abilities like the saint and Constantine and spear tipped by the world tier energy guy from the start of the book and Michael you end up with TRUE power

Piyush Singh

Umm how did constantine even beat him then ?

wiz

Can you clarify your question? Constantine (in this timeline) has only fought against the Yil scouts that came early into the 4th Layer. He hasn't encountered Ashroth, or any Titled Deity.

Nate El

I…. Am I rooting for Constantine Bloody Lancaster?