Chapter 46: The Order Of The First Flame
Who are those guys?
And they want to swear allegiance to me? The timing is a bit too convenient, so it's very likely that it's a trap set up by one of my numerous enemies.
But on the other hand, the possibility of those guys telling the truth still exists. So I might see what they have to say, worst case scenario I Rewind and shoot them down.
…Nothing? I was expecting my unstable tenant to come to life since I am pondering about killing some people, but the voice stays silent. Oh well, I'm not going to complain that I no longer hear voices in my head.
I teleport in front of the group and make sure that I stay inside my barrier.
"I'm so glad that you accepted to speak to us!" the man with the megaphone, who appears to be their leader, nods in satisfaction. I use the brief lull in the conversation to take a good look at him since I couldn't see his face because of his hood. The man looks middle-aged; he has graying hair and piercing brown eyes, but his most distinguishing feature is the scar on his left cheek.
"What do you want exactly?" I ask while taking a deep breath, if they attack now then I'm ready to mow them down, I just hope they aren't bulletproof.
"My name is Terrence Woods, and I am the de facto leader of the Order Of the First Flame. But my initial position is Commander of The Legions of Holy Fire.."
All right, I have no idea what any of this means.
"The Legions are the Order's armed forces." he continues with an apologetic smile.
"All right, but that doesn't answer my question." I trace the button hidden in my left palm with a finger, this feels more and more like a trap, and I'm almost certain that he's just spewing bullshit to waste my time.
"Of course, of course. Have you ever heard about Prometheus?" Terrence asks.
*He can't possibly refer to that terrible movie, so he must mean the ancient myth.*
I nod, "Sure, he's the one who stole fire from the gods, right?"
"Exactly!" Terrence exclaim with a fanatical air."And what if I told you that this actually happened?"
*I'm not even surprised. I fought against a demon mere hours ago. At this point, I'm ready to accept any outlandish claims at face value.*
I raise an eyebrow, "I see… Then I guess gods exist then?"
Now I know where this is heading, he'll say yes and ask me to join his cult or something. I'm certain that this guy is just a hardcore version of a Jehovah's Witness.
Terence shakes his head, "Not really, our Codex of the Eternal Flame describes the true story. It's quite lengthy so here's the abridged version: Prometheus didn't actually steal fire from the god, but he stole the secrets of mana manipulation from unknown, otherworldly beings. From what we know today, the ones he stole from weren't Gods but it's very likely that they were World-Hoppers exploring Earth."
…Or not. His story sounds plausible, I bet people on Hisako's planet would treat me as a God if I showed them modern spells.
It's a shame that I can't use any.
"All right, that's a nice story but what does it have to do with me?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.
"You see, Prometheus was probably the best mage that ever roamed this planet, and his feats recorded in our Codex are still unmatched anywhere in the Hidden World."
I tense up at the mention of the Hidden World; they know that much so this cult might be the real deal.
"And that's where you come into play. You see, Prometheus used one last spell on his deathbed, and he made himself able to reincarnate his soul. The interesting part of the prophecy goes like this…" Terrence clears his throat. "I'll be back one faithful day where humanity needs me the most. Thousands of eyes will see me destroy a great evil with unique devices of my own creation. This event will mark the beginning of my crusade to free our brethren from an overbearing oppressor and take what is rightfully ours."
I can see why these people think I'm Prometheus now. The second sentence obviously refers to my widely broadcasted demon extermination. But there's one little problem.
I killed the demon with a Spirit summoning plate, which is something I stole from a tribe from another planet. All the 'unique devices of my own creation' just tickled him; even blasting Beelzebub with MH Shells from the inside didn't kill him.
However, the second part of the ramblings of the cult leader sounds a bit too close to what I want to do with my rebellion.
I shake my head, there's no way the content of their Codex is real. Furthermore, the reincarnation of the supposed Prometheus who was capable of insane feats of magic should be able to replicate those feats to a degree, right?
But I can't cast a single spell, and my equipment is shoddy at best compared to the top of the line stuff. Of course, this all assuming that these people are the real deal and this is not some elaborate ploy to lure me out of my barrier and shoot me in the head.
However, the possibility of it being real is also there. These people might be what I need to jumpstart the creation of my army.
I smirk and chase the stray thought away, there's no way that this isn't a trap.
"All right, it was a nice story but I'm not interested, so good day to you," I say.
Astonishment is visible on Terrence's face, but I point my Portal Gun to my feet and-
"Wait! Please, listen to me!" he says with a frantic look in his eyes. "I can see that you don't believe me, but please let me finish! Listen, I know it sounds crazy, but this is the truth. Our Order has waited for this moment for thousands of years! You're our species' only hope!"
I sigh, "And don't you have anything more than a dubious prophecy from an unknown book?"
*I might as well humor him, we'll see how long it takes before his story unravels. Or maybe they'll snipe me from afar, but if that happens then it'll confirm my suspicions.*
Terrence nods, "Yes, of course! Thank you for listening!" he turns towards one of the cultists, "Bring it here!"
The young man nods and goes back to one of the helicopters before reappearing with an ancient looking leather trunk covered in weird glyphs.
*I can't recognize the symbols, but the structure definitely reminds me of the runes on my equipment.*
"This trunk contains the robes of Prometheus! According to our Codex, it can only be worn by Prometheus himself, or his reincarnation. Of course, we used the latest in carbon dating technology to confirm its authenticity." Terrence says before opening the trunk.
The robes inside look a lot like the ones worn by the cultists, but it carries an aura of majesty that the others don't. It also looks pretty ancient, but I'm not going to blindly trust the words of a random cultist who showed up on my doorstep. The garment is bright red, had golden embroideries at the end of the sleeves and at the bottom of the knee-high flaps.
"This robe has many features. For instance, our records say that it protected Prometheus against the breath of dragons, and it can also endure attacks that would flatten a mountain without even a scratch. Furthermore, it can act as a conduit for mana that decupled the size of Prometheus' mana pool."Terrence continues to ramble, with the other fantastic properties of the suspiciously nice looking set of ancient robes.
*Let me guess, I'll have to wear it and it totally won't explode or constrict me.*
"Can I try something then? It'll help me confirm that you're telling the truth." I ask, and Terrence nods so furiously that I was almost expecting his neck to snap under the pressure. "Then lean the open trunk on that rock here, just like that…"
If those are truly the robes of Prometheus, then I'll resist an Exploding Growth Bullet or two, right?
I fire a bullet on the garment, causing the nearby cultists to jump away in surprise.
Oh.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
The bullet, which was going so fast that it left a small trail of fire behind, immediately stopped when it touched the robe and fell to the ground.
"All right, then can one of you show me the back of the trunk?" I ask while trying to remain as calm as possible. Maybe it went through and bounced back or something?
My hypothesis is crushed when the back of the trunk is without a scratch. But maybe the trunk is generating a barrier.
I Rewind to the beginning of the first test and this time I empty my magazine into the garment. I'm convinced that barriers able to endure an entire magazine of EGBs at once are pretty rare, so it wouldn't be used in this situation.
My jaw drops when all the bullets immediately stop once they touch the robes.
"Then I assume that only a reincarnation of Prometheus can touch these, right?" I ask, and Terrence nods.
"Throw the trunk into the portal," I say after firing a portal near the used trunk. A cultist nods and slides it into the blue portal.
*Just touching it should be fine, right?*
My finger hovers over the Quick Rewind button hidden in my left palm and I touch the robes.
A brief electric current invades my hand, but my regeneration quickly wipes it from existence. I retract my hand and touch it again, but this time the shock doesn't appear.
"A normal person would be writhing on the ground with a singed stump! This is the definite proof that we're telling the truth!" Terrence exclaim.
*This doesn't feel right; I bet my regeneration somehow fucked with the identification enchantment. Whoever made this probably didn't account for the possibility of his enchantment been suddenly erased, so I assume it bugged out and recognized me as a worthy owner?*
Either way, it seems like it isn't too risky to put it on, so I might as well try it out.
I don the robes, and it's scary how well it fits over my armor.
"See?" The cult leader is almost frothing at the mouth now, "Now please unleash you magical power so we can bask in its glow!"
*This part might be a problem.*
I freeze the timeline in a constant loop and cup my chin, how can I make this robe glow with mana when I have none? Racking my brain for a few minutes provides me with an inelegant solution.
The one who made this robe apparently didn't know how important it is to check user inputs. Maybe I can trick the enchantment by using a Magicite crystal instead of my own mana?
I stop the loop, discreetly grab a cartridge from a spare Shield Glove magazine and press it against the red robes. The golden inscriptions immediately glow with a blinding light and a golden flame covers my body.
*Well, at least the light show is interesting!*
The glow subsidizes when the crystal runs out of mana, and I realize that all the cultists are kneeling in front of me.
*So this is what it feels like to roll a natural twenty on a bluff check?*
"Please raise your heads," I say to the still kneeling cultists who are all muttering what I assume is prayers.
Terrence is the only one who raises his head, "I never thought I would see this day in my lifetime, but our search finally comes to an end."
*And what am I supposed to do now? I'm still iffy about these guys, and this could still be an elaborate ruse. But first, let's confirm that this robe is the real deal.*
I remove the magazine from my Shield Glove and shoot my left sleeve; it's unscratched so I Rewind to a few seconds earlier.
*This actually is very good armor, but I'm still unsure about this whole Prometheus business.*
But it doesn't really matter, does it? I need soldiers, and these people are willing to follow me. But they could also stab me in the back once they gained my trust, so-
A bright violet flame coming from the torso of each cultist takes me out of my thoughts, and I jump back.
"Do not be afraid! This is the last part of our Oath of Servitude, and it should complete in a second." Terrence says as the small flames float right through my barrier and enter my torso before I can even react!
*Fuck! I bet something bad is going to happen!*
I stand here in silence for a minute or two but nothing happens. I was expecting to spontaneously combust or something, but I don't feel anything weird.
"That was surprising. So what's this Oath of Servitude all about?" I ask the cult leader who looks even more fanatical.
"This Oath is a secret and ancient spell passed down by our ancestors since the foundation of our Order. It guarantees the absolute loyalty of the ones taking it, and it can't be canceled or modified since it's directly written into the taker's soul." Terrence replies.
"Then can one of you try to attack me then? Don't worry; I have a way of stopping the Oath from killing you." I say. It' only a half-truth since I'll just Rewind back once I confirm that the Oath worked.
One young cultist who's about my age nods and step forward. Two tridents of fire appear above his shoulders, and-
*Holy shit, the cultist just instantly turned into a pile of dust!*
I Rewind and test each cultist to confirm that this Oath does the same thing on them, that way I'm certain that this is not a trick since they probably didn't plan that this would happen.
The last cultist goes through my test and I Rewind back to Terrence's explanation.
"Got it, so are you the only members of your Order?" I ask.
The leader shakes his head, "No, our Order of The First Flame currently has two hundred members. We can get them here in a day, and then we'll be able to-"
An elongated ice spike bounces off my barrier before Terrence can finish his sentence.
"An enemy attack! Legion, form ranks!" Terrence shouts and the cultist raise barriers while some rush to the helicopters and slam the doors open, revealing two M249 machine guns and a couple of RPGs.
Holy fuck, those guys are better armed than I thought.
The machine guns lay suppressive fire and I notice that each bullet produces a small ball of fire on impact. This probably isn't as effective as my EGBs, but it must pack quite a punch.
"Contact!" one of the cultists manning the M249 shouts, and the ones carrying RPGs fire their rockets where the gunner aims. Four large columns of lava erupt when the self-propelled grenades explode, and pained screeches come from the pile of ash that was a forested area just moments ago.
"Shit, this wasn't supposed to happen!" A half-melted Merman kicks a burned tree that landed on his leg. He then turns towards his companion, a Minotaur sporting numerous burns.
"You said that the red guys were also mercenaries after the bounty, but they're helping the target! And what's up with this barrier anyway, how can this even-"
The cultists do not let the Merman finish his sentence since fire tridents crash into its torso before setting the mercenary ablaze. The Minotaur isn't in a better situation since the two machine guns turn him into minced meat before he can even plead for his life.
Terrence spits on the ground, "Who do you think you are?! Daring to go against Prometheus himself is worthy of thousands of deaths, and-"
"Terrence, please calm down," I say to the seething cultist who immediately stops talking.
He nods, "Sorry Great Prometheus, I lost my composure. It won't happen again. But from what the mercenaries said, someone dared to put a bounty on your head. This piece of shit will-" The cult leader stops talking and clenches his fist before continuing. "So, Great Prometheus, do we have your permission to set up a compound in the surrounding area?"
How could I say no after such a display? I nod to Terrence who smiles and pulls out a phone from his pocket. I'm glad they are on my side, and I hope they will never realize that I tricked them into thinking I actually was a reincarnation of Prometheus.
Having a bounty placed on my head is not a good sign, but it was expected. It's a bit earlier than I anticipated but I doubt people with real power will immediately come after me. My battle against Beelzebub must've made them wary of my potential strength.
But what's really worrying is how easily they found me. Relocating might be an interesting prospect because I doubt only trash mercenaries will come after me.
I haven't seriously considered the idea before since the Enforcers would be able to track me down no matter where I would go. But I know of one place that they wouldn't be able to find me… the Underworld.
Taking over and controlling a Shard was impossible for me before since I didn't have the manpower, but the Order changed that. However, I need information. Randomly attacking gangs is a good way to have the entire Underworld against me, not to mention that I have no idea how to find Shards in the first place.
I think I might need to pay another visit to a certain money-grubbing Goblin.
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Onch
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