"So you've chosen death." I gently said, but just as those words left my lips, I saw a larger man in grey leather, sweat covering his brow. He lifted his hand and bowed awkwardly.
"Lord Snow!" He shouted. " We mean no harm!"
Well, this is a first. "This meaningless slaughter directed towards me tells me the exact opposite. I'm no stranger to killing, but few who attack this lord ever make it out alive."
An ugly grimace stretched over the stranger's face. His shoulders tightened, and with a sharp pull of the air. He spoke, "We would never try to harm you, milord. The core was reincarnated over many Dao Cycles. Within that girl's eyes carry an object that belongs to us. Reincarnating objects is far more taxing and tedious than a lifeform, milord. Millions of resources have—"
"I've no interest in the affairs of the Versi. "I quaintly rebutted. "Your petty problems mean as little as a pig in shit. And, you've sullied my eyes enough today." I lifted the Atonement edge and pointed it towards the bulky man in grey. " Leave today and resume your hunt another time. I'll forgive this transgression this day, and your hunt for the Core in the eyes of this little one can begin in my absence. Clear?"
"But milord, the Core—"
"Are we clear," I stringently snapped, leaving no quarter, " I'll not ask again."
Sensing my intent, the man bowed, his face ugly beyond recognition; he took a step back. "As you command, my lord. We will retreat," he said through the gaps of his teeth.
"Retreat!"
Surveying the battlefield covered in demonic beast gorging on the fell of the residence, I couldn't be bothered to care. This village was free of all Versi, and the corpse below wasn't my problem. Although, I'll be taking all these souls.
Opening my palm, clouds of Soul Flames responded to my will and flew towards my palm before being sucked into my soul.
"You truly are a devil!" Lavos uttered.
"Bitch, is that the thanks I get? Last time I do shit for anyone. Ezra, let's go. Shameless fuckers here don't know how lucky they are to be near this king. I make the goddamn world taste better."
Spewing a few more curses, I waved my hand in the air taking my leave without another care.
"There bowing," Ezra muttered near my ear.
"What else could they do? This king was feeling magnanimous. It's not every day I'll save someone. Shit, it might just be the first." Staring northward, I smiled. "Plus, I think we'll be seeing those three again."
"I don't doubt that, but for the Versi to fear you is amazing. Are Monarchs so feared?"
I smiled, narrowing my eyes, " Well, it won't be long before Noctem is truly feared on Iluthath. The realm will know… Pain."
—
Cutting through the mist, blocking our path for a decade or so, as we traveled through the Guiser Plane. Annoyance danced over my mind. I like cloudy days, but it was way too damp here! My god! Walking for a damn minute made me feel like I was in a pool.
"Master!" Ezra suddenly shouted, pointing towards the skies. " Look! Is that—"
Her voice went still, and as I turned to look at her, my eyes widened as I caught her falling body. Amazed, I peered into her soul, which appeared to have been shocked by a powerful force.
"Careful, Arsene. You need to be more guarded." Lily suddenly said, " Higher Laws and Abyssal Laws are present. If you overstep, you are Dead." She paused, then sighed. " And before you ask, Higher Laws is what occurs when the laws become so packed that they begin to overlap in Subspace aka hyperspace. I don't know what you use in the myriad heavens. But they are essentially laws that can be one or two layers higher than your current Heaven."
"Which means what exactly?"
"Why did I get the downgrade? I miss the twins… its means that any elemental spells or Artes you use will pierce through your defense. You will die if you think you're invincible. Higher Laws aren't supposed to exist in this Heaven, but rather in the origin realm or higher."
A frown slipped over my lips. "I can adapt, so I'm not too worried, but is this common in higher realms?"
"In Arcadia, I've seen it a few times there. So I'll say it was common, but I've no idea. Higher Laws usually cover a specific area, so be careful where you step. You wouldn't want someone to cast a death spell on you."
Slapping Ezra's cheeks to awaken her, I kept every word of warning from Lily inside my mind. But… But what type of battle happened here that killed Law and used Abyssal Fragments?
This reminds me of Richter. That soul that is possessing him is it not a Chaos Lord? Can he force the Higher Laws to appear?
Turning Ezra's cheeks red with my palm, the young shadow fell open her eyes, with an ashen exterior.
"Master?"
"Be on guard. Higher laws are present. I assumed you gazed at one without the necessary defenses and fainted." I explained, lifting my eyes towards the pillar of light Ezra had pointed to before she fainted.
Reaching past the clouds, my eyes widen at the dozen or so land masses seven times larger than mountains covered around the pillar of silvery light.
'What the hell! Is that!"
Wide eye. I sucked in a large breath when a brutal force struck my chest, ripping the air from my lungs.
"Zariel did that? Holy shit. And here I thought I was near the peak!" I softly said.
"Of course your not. Everything was supposed to go from God King, battle prowess, to chaos Lord then Paragon. Have you any idea how ridiculous you can get as a chaos lord? Literally! You can create life out of the purest dao. Real life! The shortest record to be a Chaos Lord is about 22 Chaos Cycles. At the same time, the longest is over a thousand. You've got one of the best cheats, and don't use it."
"I do?"
"Gods, I miss your children. I swear, out of everyone, you need a system. You've got Lilith! Jackass! You've got the entirety of the abyss behind you. They are walking Chaos Lords, all of them! If they use into the Abyss."
Lily released a long sigh, and I just about felt her frown. " Look, I've been looking through time and space for a while, trying to gather as much information as I can. And maybe it's pride, maybe it's not, but you've not been abusing what you've been given. Your wife, for goodness sake, is a fucking Avatar to the very abyss! Do you know what you can do with all that power?"
"My God! Do you know what Crowe did the moment he appeared in Arcadia? He crashed, landed in the Princess bath, had her fall deeply in love with him, and abused the shit out of her! Have you any idea how many death threats he was getting? Unless Lilith says, she's uncomfortable with it, abuse that shit! Good damn, your a man, right? I bet you abuse her pussy! Tell me I'm lying! You pumped two kids into her! You better abuse her authority while you can!"
"None of your enemies are playing fair, Arsene. None of them. The Teleth will only grow stronger… and there are more to come. Races that'll make immortality look average. You're a Monarch now, a Sovereign of Night. Act like it."
One today...
Abuse the Laws, huh?
Picking up my pace, I didn't say another word journeying toward the pillar of light. From what I had seen of the Eben Forest, there were very few High Gods or Elder Gods, very few of them. But as I transversed this region, my mind slowly began to change as I started to see more and more higher-level gods scattered about.
Some were either heading away with tattered robes and armor or approaching like me with clean, arrogant expressions mocking those they saw with half-dead faces. Some of these arrogant types would even go out of their way to kill or rob those suspected of being too weak to defend themselves.
Some had even had the audacity of striking at me based on my cultivation… that didn't go well for them, as I drove a shadow pike up their ass, making sure I missed every major organ, and exited out their throat, and left them to rot, with a sliver of Divinity to ensure my will was carried out.
In this region, I had half a mind to swap out Ezra for Victoria but changed my mind. At least for now. I could handle myself against Elder Gods; at my level, it's really about finding ways to get around those with hax.
Shooting a stare towards the light surrounded by a dense hovering landmass, I frowned when a sudden thought struck me.
"Lily, I've been trying to create a particular arte that'll allow me to become paragon or Chaos Lord in record time. But I'm struggling to fuse external souls into mine. Any way you can help? I tried for about a Chaos Cycle, but nothing." I explained, more annoyed than anything, that this one Arte was so complex.
"If you were the twins, I could help, but my specialties revolve around the Abyss. You're a different creature."
"But Aren't the twin half Shadowfell?"
Bursting into laughter, Lily giggled. "They are Shadowfell but not half. Your children are one hundred percent Shadowfell and Abyssal Fiend. Just like you. You are one hundred percent Forsaken and one hundred percent Shadowfell. The Abyss didn't devour your blood but works side by side with it. That's how it works for those two. I assist in helping bring out their ideas thanks to the Abyssal aspect of their blood that's universal. You've got something special like the Path of Abyssal Night, but I can't control that, just like I can't control the twins' will. I'll say talk to Zariel. What your trying to do seems complex, and he's a god of souls."
"Not a bad idea," I remarked.
"What isn't?" Said Ezra, scooching near my cheek with a delectable smile.
"Speaking with my little bro,' I stated as I clasped my hands together almost as if to make a prayer.
Seconds later, the air thinned, and the raging laws in this higher domain calmed as an image appeared before my eyes.
"What?" he weakly asked, as… as a baby crawled from his shoulder up to his head with a drooling smile and a blank look.
The little one stared at me, and something strange happened as he reached out his arms to me. The image of Zareil and the little one trembled as if the little one had pushed through natural law; the virtual image of both Zariel and little Jin became real.
"Jin…" Zariel moaned as he looked up with an exhausted countenance. "You're killing me."
"That bad?"
"Yesterday, his will spread across the Origin Realm and enslaved an entire planet. Now everyone there wishes to feed my child their strange milk. I've never even heard of this race, and now the Angels are pissed at the accidental enslavement, and Lucifer is just causing more chaos with his grandson. A week ago, he stole the child as Aurelia slept and went on a ride through the cosmos fucking shit up. The Father had to pick them up."
He sighed, bowing his head, "Everday is a fire. This one is going to kill me. His astral essence is simply too bountiful."
Opening my hand, little Jin giggled and leaped into my arms, looking up at me with silvery gold eyes. I enjoyed the warmth of his naked skin in my hands when the little drool monster curled in my palm and grew silent. As if comfortable
"My god! You and Lilith. What the hell? I can never get him silent." Gruning annoyingly, he glared. 'What do you want?"
"Help with a soul Arte," I said, slowly going over how I wanted to create a hive mind.
Zariel frowned for a moment and looked around for a second. " Well, by yourself, that'll be impossible. There is only so much your comprehension can get you. The points are all there, but you need a kick to force a change. The soul is super complex, Arsene, and most of its rules are set by the One. What you need to do is override his rule with external help."
"I can do that? Won't that make him mad?"
"No idea. I try not to think about it," Zariel replied, shrugging his shoulders. " The Father acts randomly. So maybe he'll be mad, maybe not. I've done something similar to what you are doing, so maybe not, but you never know. Just do it and see what happens." He looked towards the pillar of light and smiled back at me. " Over there, you'll find my sword, Requiem, forged with an Abyssal Fragment. Tap into its power, and you'll be able to get what you want."
"..."
"What?"
"..."
"You're sword, Requiem, was forged with an Abyssal Fragment?"
Snatching his child out of my hands, he smirked. " There are so many things you don't know. What you should be questioning is how I gained an Abyssal Fragment in the first place… That question is something not even Mephisto has figured out."
"Now I've got to go, and there will be a meeting shortly… I think. This child has been ruining my life. But I expect to see you there."
Vanishing form out of my line of sight, a few words suddenly stretched into my ears, "Oh, and start splitting your soul now, a few hundred thousand times if you can. You'll thank me later."
Lifting my lips, I turned to the silent Ezra, who was just staring with stars in her eyes. " I want a baby too!"
"..."
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