Power Corrupts: Divine Missions (ch. 82) (Patreon)

"Ehh?" Kazuma uttered, a sinking feeling opening up in his gut as the news reached his ears. The words traveled in one ear and out the other, the implications not really settling in for a good, long minute. "Ehh…? What do you mean that a general of the Demon King is here to face me?" What did that even mean?!

Luna had a wild look in her eyes, "I mean that the Demon General Verdia is here at the head of his army and demanding that you face him in single combat!" She repeated herself, leaning over him. The news really sunk in at that point, and he couldn't even bring himself to enjoy the view of her cleavage even though he was on the verge of seeing a hint of nipple.

A Demon King General was here. To fight him. Him.

Kazuma set down his drink, his gaze drifting to the sword next to him. A sword that he had only taken out of its sheath to finish off monsters that Senpai had defeated for him. Then he turned to the crowd in the Guildhall -- it was a bit of a wreck considering it hadn't been that long since Senpai performed his daily proselytizing, but the bodies of Aqua's followers were up and ready to keep partying thanks to Aqua healing them.

A room full of people looked to him, their expectations piling high on his shoulders until their weight was crushing.

Kazuma took in a slow breath and stood up, grabbing his mostly unused sword. "Don't worry people of Axel," Kazuma said, turning towards the door as he lifted his sheathed sword. "My partner and I will handle this."

Thankfully, the people of Axel were so busy cheering and chanting his name that they didn't hear him sweating bullets as he strode out the door. His legs felt weak and despite his strength stat being over a hundred, his two-pound sword felt like it weighed about a million pounds.

But he had to maintain the facade because the moment he stepped outside the Guildhall, he was beset on all sides by citizens calling out his name. They wished him luck. They wished him well. They wished for him to bring back a trophy. Despite the situation they were all in, there wasn't anything so much as resembling doubt that he would do anything less than absolutely crush the Demon General Verdia.

Kazuma soon reached a level of panic that it looped all the way around and he felt completely calm, "Don't worry, don't worry! Go about your day! This is nothing to worry about!" Kazuma said, dismissing the whole issue with a wave of his hand. The relief his words inspired went beyond what mere words could properly convey.

It could only be described with an action. With a handful of words, people took his suggestion. Not everyone, but some did. They stopped looking so worried, they wandered away from the crowd, then they went about their business as if there wasn't an army of monsters outside the city gates. That was the sheer mindbogglingly amount of trust that the city of Axel had in him.

Up until this day, he had been completely unworthy of it.

"That changes today," Kazuma said, trying to will himself to not be scared. He wasn't having much luck and he could only hope that no one noticed how wooden his steps felt. Thankfully they didn't, based on the fact that women swooned as he walked by, men cheered him on, and children looked at him with eyes filled with wonder. He gave them all a smile that he had practiced so much it felt like it had been stapled to his face.

His gaze landed on a group of Succubi as he passed them. He tossed them a wink, "Wait for me," he said, his words somehow carrying through a sea of noise. The twin Succubi sisters swooned, appearing about ready to jump him in the middle of the street, uncaring of the crowd that was watching.

Kazuma finally neared the city gates. This would be it. This would be the moment he would be worthy of all those really awesome nicknames that he'd gotten over his stay in this world. And, to top it all off, he would officially come out as 'bisexeual' so he could finally lose his virginity with those twin Succubi. This was the first moment of the rest of his life.

It had been a bumpy road. He made mistakes. But he learned from them. Sorta. He was a better man. Kinda. This was where he earned his keep. Hopefully.

The gates swung open to allow him passage, letting light stream in from the sun shining on the other side. Kazuma squinted, walking forward-

Ah.

What the fuck?

Kazuma tried not to freeze when he saw what awaited him on the other side of the walls. When he heard that General Verdia was here to challenge him to one on one combat, he kinda assumed that… well… he would be here. Alone. He was anything but.

Monsters gathered on the horizon for about as far as the eyes could see. They came in all sorts of shapes and sizes -- dark green goblins and goblin cavalry on the back of dire wolves. Kobolds, gnolls, trolls, skeletons, zombies, and so on. There were thousands of them. Countless. From where Kazuma stood, he couldn't see where they ended -- they just stretched across the horizon.

In front of them all was what could only be the General Verdia. A tall, heavily armored man riding an undead horse. He was a Dullahan, based on the fact that he carried his head in the palm of one hand, while in his other he hefted a light green greatsword the size of a fully grown man. His skeleton horse bayed, rising up to its hind legs as lightning crackled in the distance from the sky above.

What the fuck? Did the city of Axel not know what scouts were? How did they only find out about this army when it was literally parked right outside their gates?

"I am General Verdia, servant of the Demon King! Are you the one known as the Supreme Mega Hero Kazuma the Savior?" Verdia demanded to know, raising his head high and broadcasting his voice as he looked down at him. Kazuma wondered if anyone could even hear him over the sound of his knees knocking together.

He stole forward, unsheathing his sword to hide his fear, "I prefer to go by Satou Kazuma." He responded, leveling his sword at the General in what he hoped was a super cool display of confidence for everyone that was watching. "I've heard you are here for me! My apologies for keeping you waiting… for your death!" He tacked on, his sword arm only trembling a little bit. In eagerness. Because he was finally going to take his chance to earn his accolades.

In response to that, Verdia let out a super intimidating laugh. "My death has already come for me, Satou Kazuma. I am afraid that yours has come for you," he said. Damn, that was such a good line! He totally should have been the one that said that! Banter was such an important part of a fight -- Kazuma imagined so, at least -- and he was already screwing up!

"I suppose that we'll just have to see about that! Before we do battle, I would like a vow from you. Whatever you have become, I know you were once an honorable knight -- do you swear that no matter the outcome, the people of Axel will not be harmed?" If he died here, then Aqua could just resurrect him again. By the time this guy heard about it, Kazuma could pull a Senpai and prepare to defeat him in the time it took him to realize, so round two was a guaranteed victory.

In response, Verdia got off of his horse, and… why was he so tall? He was about as tall as Senpai, and that was without his head being attached to his shoulders. "You do your reputation credit, Kazuma. I swear upon my honor that the city of Axel shall not be harmed, no matter the outcome. Only one of us must die this fine evening." As he spoke, he strode forward. His absolutely freaking huge broadsword being held out to the side, and despite what it must weigh, there wasn't so much as a tremble in his hand from holding it.

"And what a fine evening it is to die," Kazuma responded, striding forward to meet the General. An overwhelming sense of calmness seemed to fill Kazuma once again. His mind was at peace. His body stopped trembling. It was a moment of utter clarity as a single thought played in his head.

That this was where he died.

His stats were trash for his level, even if they could be classified as good. He had next to no martial experience. And his skill list was filled with nothing but Cantrips because Wiz refused to teach him any super-powerful spells right out the gate. Something about learning to use magic responsibly.

And, as he neared the General, it couldn't be more clear that he was unprepared.

"AhhhHHH!" Kazuma unleashed a war cry, darting forward as he made the sword equivalent to a wild haymaker. Verdia met his fierce cry with one of his own as the edges of their blades scraped against one another. Kazuma felt the impact all the way into his bones, instantly losing in a contest of strength against the Dullahan.

The edge of Verdia's sword raced towards his neck, barely registering the impact of their clash…

Then Kazuma slipped. His leg shot upward, sending a particularly smooth stone flying out at incredible speeds. As he fell and landed on his back, Kazuma heard the horse nay in time with the sound of metal being struck rang out. At the same time, his foot caught the bottom of Verdia' sword as it narrowly avoided taking his head off. On complete accident, Kazuma kicked the sword up, offering up the perfect angle for the ricochet stone to bounce off of it, and smack directly into the helmeted head that was in Verdia's other hand.

"Ack- my eye! Oh, by Eris's pads, that hurts! That hurts so much! Ahhh!" Verdia shouted as Kazuma ended up following with the momentum and landed on his feet somehow. Kazuma blinked, having absolutely no clue what was going on. He looked to Verdia, who clutched his face, with no small amount of uncertainty.

"Do… you want to call a timeout?" Kazuma questioned, lowering his sword a little.

Verdia sucked in a sharp breath, "Ah- n-no, I'm fine. Thank you for your concern, it's… ah… just something that got in my eye. I- I can continue! Shit, that hurts so much," Verdia responded, sounding anything but fine. Kazuma glanced around, looking for what exactly had hit Verdia before his gaze landed on a burnt black stone. One of the ones that had been charred by Senpai being… Senpai. Verdia cleared his throat, "I am ready to continue."

Kazuma snapped his attention back to Verdia and he readied his sword that had a really bad nick in it. Even still, he struck a pose that he had practiced in the mirror -- his body angled, his feet in a wide stance, his sword and elbow even with his shoulder, while a single finger of his other hand touched the tip of his blade like he was about to do something cool with it. It made him look like some kind of tracksuit wearing Samurai.

Verdia responded by striking a pose of his own. His arm angled across his body, holding his greatsword with a single hand that's tip faced the opposite way he was facing. His stance looked pretty cool, Kazuma had to admit.

There was a long moment of waiting for the other to make a move. Kazuma couldn't because the stance he had taken was kinda terrible for attacking the few times he mimed it out. In the end, it was Verdia that made the first move. He shot forward at speeds that Kazuma couldn't react to -- Verdia was the real deal in that regard. You needed to be more than just a high-level Adventurer to beat him.

However, he made the dangerous mistake of not looking where he was walking. His foot slammeddown on the rock that had hit him in the eye, throwing off his aim. By the time Kazuma could think to react, Verdia' great sword slammed into the ground next to him, sending up a cloud of dust. Kazuma swung blindly, the tip of his sword scraping against Verdia's armor before it managed to dig into something.

Kazuma only realized what it was when the shoulder pauldron on Verdia' exposed side fell to the ground.

With his free hand, Kazuma followed up on his lucky break, "Acid Splash!" He shouted dramatically, lime green acid shooting over Verdia' armor and splashing into the exposed interior. Verdia reacted, flinching back to protect his exposed side.

"Heh. Perhaps if I was still alive, I wouldn't have ended up like this. Giving up the advantage by giving me a warning with acid, something my class is immune to? It does this old knight's heart some good," Verdia said as he struck another really cool pose.

Dullahean's are immune to acid? Shit. Kazuma used it because that was his best Cantrip!

"It's not too late to stop this," Kazuma pointed out, desperately hoping that Verdia would take the out he was giving him. Aqua could just bring him back to life, and Kazuma wouldn't have to fight.

"I'm afraid it is, Kazuma the Legendary. I've thrown away my old vows. There is no going back," Verdia stated.

"A shame," Kazuma responded, "Dancing Lights!" He shouted, causing a few twinkling lights to appear between them. Verdia flinched back, clearly expecting something… more.

I'm sorry! Kazuma apologized in his mind, knowing that Verdia thought that he was a Senpai-tier Adventurer. Instead, he was just a fraud. But he was a fraud that was going to fight with everything that he had!

Verdia didn't seem to think that they were just dancing lights because he dodged between them, careful not to come close, and because of that his foot slid into a wet patch from the acid. He used his sword to catch himself, nearly stabbing Kazuma in the process after he started to move. A hand reached out and touched the blade, "Light!"

The massive hunk of what looked like Mythril suddenly began to glow incredibly brightly, like a floodlight almost. Cantrips, sadly, had hard limits on their capabilities. Kazuma had a pretty decent magic stat because of his intelligence, so he could push that limit a thousand times before he hit empty.

"Ah!" Verdia cried, shifting his head away to protect it from the light.

With his hand still on the blade, Kazuma cast Shocking Grip. He thought really cool arcs of electricity or something would flow into Verdia, but… well, it was more like sticking your finger in an electrical socket. Verdia flinched back and muttered a quick curse, but he was otherwise completely fine.

"Are you… mocking me?!" Verdia suddenly demanded, that aura of coolness quickly getting replaced by anger when he seemed to catch on that Kazuma was only using Cantrips.

I'm so sorry! Kazuma answered in his mind, tripping and falling over his own two feet because he was blinded by the glowing sword. He only realized that Verdia had taken a swing when he felt a gust of wind brush over his neck.

"Prestidigitation!" Kazuma quickly utilized the spell, making the illusion of a stink bomb going off. Verdia recoiled, once again slipping into the acid-infused mud and this time he fell on his butt. Kazuma could hear the sound of him grinding his teeth, looking at his once spotless white cloak to find it covered with mud. "Minor Illusion!"

Kazuma had absolutely no clue what the difference between the two spells was since Prestidigitation could also cast visible illusions, but now wasn't the time to question it. He made the sound of a Lion's roar in Verdia' ears, making him flinch back at the sound that continued on a loop.

"Dancing Lights!" Kazuma cast the spell again, and with his senses all under assault, Verdia reacted to the first sign of movement, even if he didn't know what it was. He shot to his feet to avoid the dancing orbs of light that were completely and utterly harmless. Kazuma jabbed a finger in his direction, "True Strike!"

Insight on Verdia's defenses… were completely and utterly overwhelming. He was closer to Senpai in strength than anyone else he's seen. That being said, since it was Senpai, he'd probably crush him without noticing, but he was someone that Kazuma should absolutely not be trying to fight using Cantrips.

But… if he won… he would lose his virginity in a threesome.

"RaaaahhhhhHHHHHH!" Kazuma shouted, sprinting forward and closing the distance between them with shocking amounts of speed. As if his blade was drawn to a point of weakness, Kazuma thrust his blade forward with all of his strength.

The tip of the blade slid between the eye guard of Verdia, stabbing him in the eye like it had so many foes before, but this time, Kazuma had earned his victory. Verdia's body went still, caught mid-dodge before the fatal blow was struck. Kazuma pulled his sword free, finding that the tip was bent rather badly. That seemed to be the only thing holding Verdia's body up because his great sword numbly fell from his grasp.

It hit the ground with a dull thump. Then his head fell from his grasp and his body fell to the ground next to his sword.

Kazuma felt like crying tears of joy. He did it! He went on an adventure!

"May you rest in peace," Kazuma said, clapping his hands and bowing to his defeated foe. As powerful as he was, Kazuma didn't gain a single level. Opening his eyes, he looked out at the army of monsters that each looked absolutely terrified.

Turning his back to his defeated foe, he paused mid-step when he heard a low groan coming from directly behind him. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder and his heart sank in direct proportion with Verdia rising to his feet until he was standing tall and Kazuma's heart was in his tennis shoes. This had to be a joke, right? There was no way that this wasn't some sort of twisted joke, right?! He stabbed him in the head-

Oh… right. Undead. Wait, but that kills undead too!

"You are more incredible than the stories say, Kazuma the Glorious." Verdia said as his body picked up his head. "To think you managed to best me with mere Cantrips. Were I still living… my arrogance would have cost me my life." The words of praise did some serious critical damage to Kazuma.

No! That's not it! I just don't know anything else because I keep slacking off! Senpai was under the impression that Wiz was teaching him really awesome spells. He didn't correct that line of thinking because… well… he really didn't want people to realize that for all his supposed feats, he had nothing going for him.

I learned nothing from my death! I'm sorry!

The only thing that changed was that he and senpai were getting along again and he didn't touch drugs anymore.

"It seems that the outcome of our battle is clear -- you are my better, Kazuma. I will take the defeat you allowed me… but, I swear, on my honor, that I shall return!" No, you don't need to do that. "Stronger and greater than ever before! Then we shall clash once again and I will stand as your equal!" Verdia made a solemn oath that Kazuma really, really, really wished that he hadn't.

However, he had to keep up appearance. "I'll be waiting, Verdia. Until then," Kazuma said, turning his back to the demon general and power walking to the city gates. He replayed the fight over in his mind a thousand times as he quickly made a retreat from the field of battle, going over every single detail.

He came to one conclusion.

Is this… the power of a Luck Build? Kazuma couldn't help but marvel at the power that he had at his fingertips. Senpai was right. Again. He should absolutely go with a Luck Build! He totally won that fight against a way too powerful opponent, even if he lacked the ability to actually finish him off. It was awesome!

The doors to the city threw themselves open and the sounds of rejoicing welcomed him. Kazuma wore a wide smile on his face, laughing sheepishly as he was lifted up into the crowd before getting tossed up.

Unlike all the times before, it felt like he sorta earned it this time.

…

"Jerichoooooooooo! I'm gonna miss my chance to blow up an army…!" Megumin whined, grabbing me by the back of the shirt and pulling with all of her might.

"I said another minute," I responded, touching up the featherweight enchantment on the headset. Lifting it in my hands, I found that the headset was properly weightless. Perfect. It was a good system -- each headset only took about ten minutes to make each.

Once a week or so, I'll dedicate a few hours to it, and make a load that I would give to Wiz to sell. Then when her business turned a profit, she would know who to thank, and consider an offer to join the Familia.

"You said that like five minutes ago! Come onnnn! They're going to get away!" Megumin continued to whine, her feet sliding across the floor as she failed to get me to budge. I held up the headset for Hestia's inspection, but she seemed far too amused by Megumin to notice. Fair enough, I guess.

"Alright, alright. Let's go blow up an army," I said, standing up.

"Yay!" Megumin cheered, her eyes lighting up with excitement. "Can I have a mana potion? Can I have five?" She pressed, looking up at me, looking and sounding like a little kid in a candy store. Honestly, it was a little frightening.

"You can have two -- so make the most of your shots. They're the only two you're getting," I told her, reaching into my inventory and handing her two vials. She snatched them out of my hands, clutching them to her chest and squirming around like they were her lover. I looked to Hestia, who just smiled softly at the noises of pleasure Megumin was making before she took off to go blast the army of monsters.

Hestia looked at me, "Can she really blow them up?" She asked as we trailed behind Megumin, who seemed to intend to blast the enemy army from our upstairs patio. I considered it for a moment before I shook my head.

"Nah, probably not," I said. Megumin, right now, was more of… A TNT type explosion. A lot of TNT, but still TNT. She could scale upwards to explosions the size of a Tsar Bomb -- a thermonuclear bomb. Maybe more. But she wasn't there yet.

Now Hestia looked a bit worried, so I dropped a hand onto her shoulder. "Don't worry, I can take care of the rest. It's just an army of monsters," I dismissed. It might be a chance to try out my Title, Army Killer, for the first time. Despite how insane the words might have sounded, Hestia instantly looked relieved and leaned into my touch.

Megumin waited for us to arrive, practically vibrating with excitement that she tried to hide by turning around and pointing her staff towards the army of demons that we could see in the not so far off distance. They were congregated around Axel, but the mansion was just close enough to it that I could probably throw some rocks at the edge of the crowd of demons and monsters.

Megumin took in a deep breath and let it out, "Be still my heart, manifest my madness and wreak havoc upon my foes. Grow, grow, grow -- three chimes does the bell toll. It doth chim for you," Megumin began, launching into one of her chunni speeches, before an array appeared above the monster army. They had enough time to look up, but not enough time to react. "Unleash the most secular art in this world! Break reality into shards of hlass! EXPLOSION!"

No matter how many times I saw it, it never got less impressive. It was like someone was bringing the hammer of god down to earth. A bright light filled my vision as the explosion rang out in the center of the army, sending a cloud of dust and fire up and out. The shockwave hit us a second later, rattling the house.

Megumin held herself up with her staff, her legs wobbling like a newborn deer. "I-I'm not… done yet!" She said, forcing the words out through gritted teeth as she pulled the corks out of the vials I had given her with her teeth. I blinked when she upended both into her mouth, swallowing the contents down before she dramatically tossed the vials aside.

"EXXXX…" Megumin began, thrusting her staff out as another array appeared above the army before the dust could even settle, this one larger. Much larger. With several layers stacked ontop of it.

"Uh…" I began, squinting my eyes at the array. Wasn't that a little close?

"...PLOSION!!!" Megumin brought the explosion down upon the army. There was no comparing it to the first explosion. It was like comparing a firecracker to a hand grenade. I tensed, ready to grab the two girls, only for that to prove unnecessary when Hestia raised a hand.

"Divine shield!" She called out, and the air seemed to solidify before the mansion, wrapping around it like a blanket. Not a second too soon because the shockwave of the blast washed over the mansion a second later. Trees were ripped up and sent flying, the wall and gate were obliterated in an instant, dust and smoke washing over us to the point that we couldn't see a thing. Not counting the ominous red glow through the dust and smoke that came from the center of the explosion.

Megumin fell to her knees, "Ha…ha...ha…" she started and I couldn't tell if she was panting or laughing. "N-nice… explosion!" She decided, completely oblivious to the damage she had caused and only seeing the work of art before her. I thought she was crazy, but… well… you could admire the dedication to her craft at least.

The shockwave luckily blasted away the worst of the dust and smoke, letting us see the devastation that she had wrought.

The forest between the mansion and the city?

It wasn't there anymore.

The city? Well, the city was still standing, but… well, if they had wanted a lake in front of their front gate, Megumin had done them the courtesy of digging one out for them.

I took a moment to bask in the absolute chaos, a faint ringing in my ears. Reaching out, I patted Megumin on the shoulder, causing her to fall against my leg while Hestia dropped the divine shield.

"Nice explosion," I agreed with her.

This was going to be a problem. I knew that much.

But that didn't make it my problem.

...

I've been thinking on where to put this AN for a while now, and I decided that this chapter would do because every chapter past this point has gotten glowing reviews on Patreon. So, the rough waters I anticipated are over. I didn't want people thinking that this was in response to the criticism -- and to prove that point, I have a confession to make.

I haven’t read anything from the Power Corrupts thread in over a month. Basically, I stopped and went 'do I want to do this to myself?’ And the answer was no, I didn’t. So, I tossed the thread on ignore. And, I gotta say, upon skimming over the various pages, that was a big brain move on my part. People can dress it up as ‘forums aren’t hug boxes’ but that’s not really a justification for being toxic assholes.

But that’s not what this AN is about.

Going Native ending had me thinking about endings, and it made me take a step back and look at all of my stories -- basically, where they are, where they're going, am I happy with the direction, and so on. And, as a lot of you know, Power Corrupts has always been the problem child of all of my stories.

Some of that is the Jumpchain formula. Changing settings always comes with some hiccups, and that's to be expected. However, upon inspection, I think that Power Corrupts has some fundamental problems that are only going to get worse as the story progresses.

The cliff notes version is -- Jericho's character arc, the lack of character arcs from the side characters, Jericho became too powerful too quickly, game mechanics that I stacked don't work together as well as I thought they would, the lack of a credible antagonist, and some concepts were left undercooked.

So, I decided that it would be best to plan out how I'm going to end the story rather than letting it petter out with a whimper.

Which is why Power Corrupts will be ending after the Skyrim return arc. For how long that would be -- with the Biggest Tipper chapter, the Konosuba arc has 2-3 chapters left, and the Skyrim return arc will be between 10-15 chapters in total. So, about 3-5 months until Power Corrupts comes to an end and earns a (Complete) tag. So, there’s still a fair bit of Power Corrupts to go.

I know that this will disappoint some of you, but I do think that this is for the best. I just think that I made too many fundamental mistakes with Power Corrupts because it was one of my first stories, and I wrote it at the same time as Gone Native, my first real story. Believe it or not, writing two stories was a huge challenge for me back in the day. Then those mistakes became further exacerbated with each jump while other problems stacked on top of them.

However, it's not all bad news.

I do have another Jumpchain story in the works that will replace Power Corrupts when it ends. The working title is Fool's World. With it, I've, hopefully, fixed the mistakes that I made with Power Corrupts. What I've got written up so far seems pretty solid, and my beta, who is my biggest critic after myself, also agrees that it's probably some of the best work I've done.

So, while Power Corrupts will be ending in the coming months, I do hope that everyone enjoys Fool's World. I'm aiming to take what I got right about Power Corrupts and make them better while buffing out the parts that were less than good for an overall much stronger story with a solid cast of characters to support the MC throughout his journeys across the multiverse.

Thank you for your understanding, and again, I am sorry for those that this will disappoint. It wasn’t an easy decision, but I do think it’s for the best.