Chapter 837 V2 (Patreon)

Author’s note: this first section is gonna go at the top, before the other PoVs. I left those out for now because I haven’t touched them yet, and would like to hear some thoughts on the changes I have made. My insecurities are showing, so embarrassing…

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jSoaFlBmMPN_xrX5lEEsA905wN8iz8ouvS0Ppo580_8/edit?usp=sharing

The barrier between reality and the Void is one delineated by the speed at which time is perceived.

Or at least, that’s how I understand it. Here in the Void, everything moves at the speed of thought, so even though it feels like this fight against the Emperor has been going on for weeks, it’s really only been a few minutes in reality. This makes it difficult to pay attention to what’s happening in Shi Bei while doing battle here in the Void, or at least keep track of what’s going on outside in what I would call ‘real’ time, since doing so would leave me distracted here in the Void long enough for the Emperor to put a figurative kettle on the stove and enjoy himself a cup of tea like a proper monarch would.

Which I knew going in, and as such, was prepared to stall for as long as needed for my prayers to reach the ears of those who could help. For the souls of the dead to respond to my call came as something of a surprise, even though I had an inkling suspicion that this was within the realm of possibilities. Though the Eternal Emperor was light on the details of how he survived the apocalyptic battle which claimed the lives of his sworn brothers, the fact that he was able to salvage their souls and implant them into new bodies tells me that the soul can survive without a physical vessel. For a time, at least, as I suspect the presence of Spectres in the Void makes good incentive for any lingering souls to make themselves scarce, but after so many Demonic births and Ascensions here in Shi Bei, Spectres are in short supply, which enabled the souls of the fallen to linger for longer than they otherwise might in hopes of seeing this battle resolved.

A good thing too, because I doubt I could’ve stalled long enough for my expected help to arrive. As denizens of the Void, the souls of the dead were able to hear and respond to my Call almost immediately as they lent their strength to my cause once more, and I gotta say, it felt good fighting alongside these heroes for one last hurrah. More than that, I suspect like the battle might’ve helped them in some way, freed them from the heavy burdens their violent deaths placed upon them, a cathartic release of grudges and regrets from this life before moving on to the next. I am merely a single man, one incapable of righting all the wrongs they’ve endured in life, or providing for all the loved ones they’ve left behind, but at least they were able to relieve themselves of this last burden before moving on.

I wonder… What unresolved enmity did I carry over from my previous life to make me the man I am today? I don’t exactly know, and I’m not even sure if I had any, but I suspect my past life wasn’t all sunshine and roses, though I’m glad a part of Buddy made the trip over with me.

Grateful as I am for the aid from all these fallen heroes, I was never counting on them to win me the day, nor am I willing to let them throw away their chance at reincarnation either. Had the Eternal Emperor not brought it up, I wouldn’t have noticed the souls of the dead slowly succumbing to Unbalance around me until it was too late to save them. In retrospect, it makes sense since I know that souls are unable to generate emotions without a body and mind, as I discovered first-hand through the experiences of several my Natal Souls, not unless they care to merge with an Elemental Spirit at the risk of being consumed should they ever become Unbalanced. It’s all academic anyways, for the solution to their woes comes to me in a moment of Insight as I utilize Tranquility as a Keystone to emanate an Aura of calm serenity and something else to soothe their rage and send them on their way. A simple thanks is a sorely lacking farewell to heroes who gave it their all in life and in death, but unfortunately, it’s all I can offer. I wish I could do more, but I don’t know enough about reincarnation to help them any more than I have, so all I can do is wish them all the best as I turn to face my foe once again.

But not alone, for though the souls of the dead have moved on, I still have others to rely on.

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My sweet doggo appears in the Void alongside me, the first living being to respond to my call, with plenty of happy yips and frantic wags to greet me. It doesn’t last for long however as he spots the Eternal Emperor across from us, and his hackles raise at the mere sight of our formidable foe. Though sweet as can be and utterly useless in a real fight, my doggo utters a deep, guttural growl that is adorable as can be, so full of warning and caution without any real threat. Ineffective though he might be as a guard or hunting, Buddy’s mere presence alone is enough to wash away my fatigue and bring me my second wind, though I suppose that number should be higher if we take into account all of today’s trials and tribulations. Buddy is my emotional support dog in every sense of the word, a furry little bundle of endless joy and love that I brought with me from my past life into this one, a feat made possible by the fact that Rayne loved Buddy so much that an imprint of Buddy’s soul was left on his own. This Buddy is not the Buddy’s real soul, which probably reincarnated into another life by now, but a reflection of the real Buddy, a soul cast in the same mould as the original, with many of the same emotions and memories.

They say love is magical, and it’s corny as hell, but there’s no denying the truth.

One supported by the arrival of the second arrival following the departure of the recently dead, someone I never expected to see. It’s not Lin-Lin, who trusts me implicitly without any doubts whatsoever and would have responded without question, which I know because if she didn’t she’d never would’ve been able to make her way into my Natal Palace before. Nor is it Mila, Yan, or Luo-Luo, who I love dearly but don’t expect to see here in the Void for a little while longer, because they’re strong, independent women who have become my lifelong partners in love, and as partners, deserve an explanation even if they don’t necessarily need one. The new arrival isn’t Taddy, who loves me like a son and harbours no doubts in his heart, or Dad who wholeheartedly believes I am his son, genetics be damned. I honestly expected Alsantset would be the first to arrive after Buddy, because my older sister has always been the one looking out for me the most.  Turns out, I was wrong, because my older brother has been keeping an even closer eye on me all this time, without me even knowing it.

Not Gerel, my brother by blood, who I’m not sure will even heed the call I sent out since he’s not exactly the trusting type, but Charok, my brother-in-law who has been right here with me from the very start.

“You seem surprised,” Charok begins, greeting me with a familiar grin as he takes his place beside me, neither leaning too closely nor standing too far away which shows just how well he knows me. Alsantset would throw an arm around my neck, which I don’t hate, but don’t always love it either, while Dad would feel compelled to pat me on the shoulder or head. Mom likes to run her fingers through my hair, which I enjoy because it shows how much she loves me, while Gerel is every bit as awkward as I am and would stare me down to prove that he’s not awkward at all. This isn’t to say I don’t love all the people I just listed, but I also like my personal space, so while hugs and pats are fine every now and then, there is a very finite limit I am willing to accept before I’m forced to tolerate it instead.

Which Charok understands, hence his distant but not too distant greeting, and I love him all the more for it.

“I didn’t know you were close enough for my Natal Souls to reach.” Furrowing my brow in concern, a thought strikes me and I ask, “Were you captured by the Legate? Are Tali and Tate okay?”

“No and yes,” Charok replies, before furrowing his brow as well, which does nothing to ease my troubled concerns. “As far as I know.” Shrugging, he adds, “Or perhaps I should say as far as you know. I am not entirely sure, as I am not the Charok you left behind in the Citadel.”

And just like that, the answer comes to me, knowing without knowing before I even knew what I wanted to know. This isn’t Charok’s real soul, or even a Natal Soul, but rather a reflection of the imprint he left on my soul, the same manner in which Buddy was brought forth. While still processing this new information, my eyes are involuntarily drawn to Charok’s wrist, one gushing with enough blood to almost send me spiraling into a panic, but my brother by choice shoots me a calm, soothing smile which brings me back to the day he left this impression upon my soul, almost two years after I arrived at the village when I was still struggling to find Balance because of my fear. There we sat, around a little campfire which Charok just used to make a delicious lunch, when he stopped and asked me a single question which I have struggled to answer ever since.

“Why do you seek strength?”

I remember how I replied, with a joke about crushing my enemies and hearing the lamentations of their women, but he told me to go reflect on the question and come back with a serious answer. Of course, me being me, I did no reflecting at all and simply wasted some time wandering around the forest before coming back to camp, at which point I tried to change the topic. Charok wasn’t having any of it though, and he asked me the question again, so I told him I wanted to be strong so I could defend myself, so I could fight back if anyone tried to hurt me. That was a lie too, and Charok knew it, and he needled me until I admitted the truth, that I pursue strength because I am driven towards it by fear, fear of losing control, losing my freedom, losing the people I love again.

So he sat me down and told me a story, the story of how he felt unworthy of being with Alsantset and how those feelings rendered him unable to find Balance. How he allowed himself to be guided by his fear, driven by it until he pushed everything else away. He hid his fear deep inside him until it consumed him from within, pushing him to the point of running out of the village half-cocked in the middle of the night to chase after a nightmare of his own devising.

Most importantly of all, Charok taught me that fear, or any emotion really, doesn’t stop you from attaining the state of Balance. Being controlled by your emotions is what stops you, because then you have given into your emotion and in doing so, reject any and all aid the Heavens might render you.

And so in an effort to assuage my irrational fears, Charok swore an Oath to the Heavens stating that he would never allow anyone to take me away from the People, and if anyone should try, then they would rise up as one and wipe my enemies from existence. In doing so, he left an impression upon my soul, one nowhere near as real and complete as the one Buddy left, but one significant enough to materialize him here today in my time of need. Surprised as I am to discover this, after giving it a moment of thought, I feel like I shouldn’t be surprised at all, because like someone else said before, I am the combined effort of everyone I’ve ever met. Though I know myself as Falling Rain, the very essence of my being changes every time I meet someone new, because those experiences change me in turn for better or for worse. Charok’s presence here is proof of how he helped shape me to become the man I am now, one who has finally figured out the lesson he was trying to impart, to neither reject nor surrender to emotion, but embrace it and all it entails, a lesson which seems easy enough to understand, but difficult to truly accomplish. It’s been almost ten years since that fateful day, and I’ve finally managed to follow through, and in doing so, have found Balance, plain and simple.

A Balance I share with my loved ones as they appear in the Void to support me, or rather the Natal Souls of my loved ones whom I’ve summoned here to aid me. Lin-Lin materializes on my back with her arms wrapped around my shoulders, and as testament to how much I love her, my first instinct to this unexpected intrusion of personal space is not to throw my unknown assailant head first into the ground, but rather to lean back and press my cheek against hers in a chaste show of love and affection. Alsantset’s arrival is met with a smile from Charok which she returns in full strength, but even this impression left almost a decade ago knows better than to approach his wife while she’s working. Even though she just arrived, my ferocious sister is ready to rend and tear at the drop of a hat now that I’ve finally managed to pull my head out of my ass long enough to ask for her help, and she settles into a hunched stance with her spear in both hands, eagerly awaiting the start of battle. Appearing beside her, Dad takes a step forward to take up a similar stance, putting both of us behind him without blocking our avenues of attacks, emanating fierce pride and boundless joy at the prospect of fighting alongside us. Mom’s arrival is far more sedate as she reaches over to run her hand through my hair as expected, her radiant smile taking decades off her appearance before she moves to stand beside Dad.

Taddy swoops in almost unseen with Hua Lie at his side, both standing tall and ready to help shoulder the Heavens if they should fall. Despite being a thousand times weaker, Mila arrives in similar fashion without sparing me so much as a glance, her fetching freckled features scrunched up into an adorably fierce frown whilst brandishing her spear and shield. In stark contrast, Yan offers me a sultry, pouty smile and a slow, suggestive bump of her hip before settling into a readied stance, so relaxed as she prepares for the fight of her life. Luo-Luo is all smiles and sighs as she appears with her zither in hand to stand slightly behind us, and I position myself with Yan, Lin-Lin, and Mila so that Luo-Luo is beside us instead. As for Song, her arrival almost goes unnoticed because she’s busy quietly introducing herself to Buddy, though she spares me a bare fraction of a nod in greeting that speaks volumes to her respect.

I count myself blessed to have so many people who love me, with still so many more to come, and I revel in the shared emotions emanating from one and all as they bare their love for me in full, love which I return in spades because I would be nothing without them.

This was the outcome I was aiming for when I put my hands together to pray, to call upon the Natal Souls of my allies to do battle against the Eternal Emperor here in his Natal Palace. Powerful though I might be, my time spent pursuing the Dao is too short and too limited for me to overcome the Eternal Emperor, but with the combined efforts of various Natal Souls working in concert, victory is all but assured. That’s the answer that came to me in my moment of Insight, to join hands with my allies to overthrow the tyrant before me, but it took a little doing to accomplish. First, I figured that asking my allies and loved ones to risk their eternal souls in battle would be dangerous to the extreme, doubly so considering their bodies and minds were engaged in a literal battle of life and death on the fields of Shi Bei. So rather than ask them to show up in full spirit, because you never go full spirit, I had my Natal Souls become vessels for my allies to send back with a sliver of their Will and souls, one carrying the culmination of their perspective of the Dao to help me do battle against the Eternal Emperor. It’s almost the reverse of what Zhen Shi did with Gen, in that he sent in a Natal Soul to take control, whereas I handed over a Natal Soul to surrender to my allies, one they then took over and sent back without affecting their ability to do battle in the real world.

The lessons learned from my brief battle with the souls of the dead tells me there will be a cost to this, but the cost of a single Natal Soul should be negligible to most, even those close to the end of their natural lifespans. Hopefully this isn’t the straw that breaks the camel’s back, because I could never forgive myself if I accidentally convinced Grandpa Du to give up his few remaining years of life just to help me in a fight, any more than I could forgive myself if he took an arrow meant for me. That being said, whatever the cost they paid, I intend to pay back in full, since I should have more than enough Life Force or whatever to spare thanks to Pong Pong’s contributions and my own Ascension to True Divinity. I don’t need to live for millennia, because a single mortal’s lifetime is enough for me, so long as it is one spent in the company of my loved ones.

A sentiment I firmly believe in, and one I hold fast to in my heart as the floodgates open and Natal Souls begin pouring into the Void. Many are close friends who I treat as family like Fung, Zian, Huu, BoShui, Tenjin, Tursinai, and so many more, while others are actually family, such as Grandpa Du, Kyung, Gerel and Naaran. Still more are close allies who have won my trust, such as the Abbot, Nian Zu, Situ Jia Yang, Tam Taewoong, Seoyoon, Da’in, and Wu Gam, while the rest are Warriors I am proud to stand alongside, Warriors who are fighting in Shi Bei even now. Though there are at least a million Imperial soldiers still struggling to fend off the Enemy Half-Demons in reality, only tens of thousands of Natal Souls have answered my call, which honestly is tens of thousands more than I expected. I knew my family and loved ones would respond without hesitation, and maybe a few hundred Stormguards and Sentinels would take the leap of faith and follow soon after, but almost everyone my Natal Souls were able to contact have made it here to join me in this battle against the Eternal Emperor, an honour I am not sure I am worthy to bear.

Touched as I am by this overwhelming show of support, I fear there is no time for niceties. These Natal Souls are mere fractions of fractions, bare slivers of Will being held together by little more than love and determination, meaning every emotion experienced will eat away at their limited existence, so time is at a premium here. Thankfully, in my newly acquired infinite wisdom, I made sure my Natal Souls passed along all the relevant information needed to clue everyone in to what’s going on, so there’s no need for me to give a second speech in hopes of tricking everyone into thinking the Eternal Emperor is actually Zhen Shi, rather than the other way around. A good thing Zhen Shi’s physical form looks exactly like the Eternal Emperor’s soul, to say nothing of how the current host and Emperor is clad in Imperial robes despite being chained to the throne. The actual explanation would be too difficult to get into, but the people who responded to my call care not for the details. What’s more, unlike the first wave, these Natal Souls belong to people who are still alive, so there’s no need to share my Life Force with them to ensure they can reincarnate, as even if these Natal Souls are wholly expended, the real souls are still out there in reality, inhabiting their real bodies.

Then again, what separates a Natal Soul from a real soul? If you make a copy of the original indistinguishable in all ways, then what sets the two creations apart besides the time of their creation? A difficult question to answer that I would rank up there with the ship of Theseus and all that jazz, but right now, I have more pressing matters to attend to.

Because being the no-nonsense Warrior that she is, my Grand-Mentor’s Natal Soul kicks off the battle into high gear as soon as she arrives by launching a Ground-Shrinking Strike at the startled Eternal Emperor.

This is Akanai of the People, the Herald of the Storms, a peerless Warrior unlike any other and the first Demi-Human Divinity in history. Even more incredible is how I am able to perceive her attack, not just see it play out but also parse through the steps she went through to deliver it. Balance on Windy Leaf into Pierce the Horizon, until today, that has been the full extent of my understanding of the Ground-Shrinking Strike, which is the same as saying a Major League pitcher can throw a ball real fast. The information within the statement isn’t wrong, but it’s not exactly useful either, and I feel embarrassed for ever having tried to explain the Ground-Shrinking Strike in those exact words. There’s so much more to Akanai’s attack than I ever knew, for she is not focused solely on accelerating herself towards her opponent. That’s one half of the equation yes, eking out every last iota of speed and power she has to spare, but at the same time, she’s also utilizing her Domain to pull on her opponents’ Domain and bring them both closer together. Given the limited strength of her Domain however, and the ‘inertia’ of her target, this generally leads to her opponent not even feeling a thing, but this subtle, metaphysical push-pull interaction is enough to drive her Ground-Shrinking Strike to a level I could never previously hope to match. Add in the scintillating Weapon Intent which appears to be a combination of Spear and Axe Intent, and Akanai’s singular attack has done more damage to the Eternal Emperor’s soul than I and an army of the dead could manage.

All of which is made clear to me through her perspective of the Dao, one shared with me through the medium of emotion and Intent.

Amazing as it is to see her mastery of the Dao firsthand, what’s more surprising is how damned proud she is of me, which given our history together should not be a surprise at all. She is my Grand-Mentor, my Grandmother, and my Mother-in-Law all at once, a triumvirate of roles one would not usually hold all at once for the same individual, but roles she wears with pride. Though she’s never said it in so many words, her actions have all but screamed it, and she is pleased to have had a part in guiding me along my Path.

Akanai’s perspective is not the only one revealed to me, as Husolt charges into battle after his beloved wife. Out in reality, he is no match for his newly Ascended Divinity of a wife, but here in the Void, emotion and Intent matters more than arbitrary milestones of the Martial Path, and Husolt has always been a man of emotion. With his staff in hand, he delivers a powerful, two-handed hammer strike to the Eternal Emperor’s reeling form. Still bent double from tanking Akanai’s Ground Shrinking Strike, he is in no state to defend as Husolt’s first strike slams him into the stone surface of his Manifested court which he himself maintains. Never one for courtesy or face, my grandfather slash Father-in-Law uses this to his full advantage by unleashing a flurry of furious blows, and I see within them a glimpse of his Dao in full effect. Like the blazing fury of a red-hot forge, his attacks radiate a half-formed Intent, one that is neither Creation nor Destruction, but of both, and neither at the same time. This is the Intent he uses when forging a new Spiritual Weapon, hammering away at steel to shape it into the form he envisions, and right now, he can only see death. In his eyes, the Eternal Emperor is not some ancient, insurmountable monster out of history, but the man who dared slight Husolt’s beloved wife, someone who summoned her to Central to bestow upon her a title as reward for her heroics, yet left her wholly unprotected from the greed and envy of his subjects.

And hell hath no fury like a grizzly scorned, as Husolt has held firmly to this grudge for more than fifty years.

Together, Akanai and Husolt’s actions spur the other Natal Souls into battle as well, and a deluge of information floods through me as I am given a glimpse into every last individual’s Dao, a look at how they perceive the power they wield and a chance to better understand the Dao as a whole. There is no instant understanding like with the limited omniscience of the Heavens, but a more intimate comprehension, one based on my rapidly flourishing perspective of the Dao which makes this knowledge my own. That doesn’t necessarily mean I can explain it, the same way I can’t really explain how I track a ball flying through the sky and know where to run to so I can catch it.

Knowing without knowing, comprehending without wholly understanding, this is where I stand upon my Path, and the knowledge provided is terrifying.

Intoxicating too, because in the blink of an eye, so many mysteries are made clear to me, and the more I comprehend, the more easily I am able to put it all together to move myself further along my Path. Knowing how Mom delivers her shards of Domain and how Luo-Luo turns moving melodies into group buffs to everyone who hears them might not seem related, but put them together in the right way and now I have a method to imbue a sound with my Domain to attack my foes through Sending. The little trick I played on Miss Rou’s guards, blaring a soundtrack to disorient them? If I were to use it again, those guards would be left dead and bleeding from their eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. Nian Zu’s Shooting Star takes Amplified Resonation in the completely opposite direction as the Mountain Collapsing Stomp, as rather than increase the magnitude of forces, he compresses and contains them until there is power enough to literally vibrate matter apart. What would happen if I combine the two? Untold destruction as far as I can tell, but even here in the Void, I dare not try it, because there is no way I could control it. Mila’s Blessing of Sun borrows power from the actual sun itself, a feat which could be harnessed by Yan’s Blessing of Air to create literal hurricanes with a simple wave of her fan, or my Blessing of Water to raise floods and tsunamis with an equal lack of effort, because it turns out the vast majority of all Elementally Blessed Warriors have been doing things the hard way, Creating new forces rather than harnessing what’s there.

And this is merely scratching the surface of my recent attainments, some of which would make defeating the Eternal Emperor a breeze. Like so many times before, the answer had always been right in front of my face, but I was too blind to even consider it. That’s no longer important however, my opponent’s defeat a foregone conclusion once I am able to act, because now I am struggling with a crisis of faith as I consider what comes next.

Not the next step in this battle against the Eternal Emperor, or the siege in Shi Bei, or even how to deal with the Supreme Families afterwards, but the next step along my Path, one I must take now if I am to end this war, but one which might well be the end of me.