Chapter 44: Chapter XLIV: An Unexpected Meeting Out of Hell
"*pant* *pant* Finally...," the white-haired youth said in between labored breaths, not out of fatigue but rather out of anticipation for what was to come. Frostmourne's two runes glowed while its blade was deeply embedded in the blackened heart of the last obstacle to his salvation. Then, the ever familiar voice of the Nightmare Spell serenaded his ears with the words he was waiting for.
[You have slain a Fallen Terror, Prince Artorias, Scion of the Abyss] (D100 = 1)
[Your soul grows stronger.]
[As the slayer of the last remaining member of the Leonian Royal Family, you have been bequeathed the attribute [Royalty] by right of conquest.]
He immediately felt the effects of his new attribute. He could feel the connection between him and the whole kingdom beneath his feet. He instinctively knew that he could bring down the barrier around the kingdom if his heart so desired; however, that would serve no purpose other than crush the kingdom under thousands of tons of water with him inside it.
No, he already had an inkling of an idea of what to do in regards to the kingdom he earned, but first, he needed to leave.
Thankfully, his search through the royal archives brought back promising results. Apparently, King Leonhart, like the paranoid warlord he was, had built a secret teleportation platform in case the worst-case scenario came up for his family.
He had previously scoured the palace upside down in search of said teleporter; however, he never could find it. Yet, now, with the new connection between himself and the entirety of the kingdom, he knew exactly where the teleportation platform was located.
He was already standing right in the middle of it.
The whole room where he had been fighting the Fallen Terror for Spell knows how long had been the room that led to his freedom. The irony of the situation was not lost on him.
Just as he was about to dislodge his mourneblade from the corpse of Prince Artorias that had for some reason not disintegrated into black mist like all the nightmare creatures from before, he saw the corpse shaking frantically while leaking some black substance from its orifices.
Before he could move himself away from the twitching corpse, like a deluge from a broken dam, darkness erupted from the Fallen Terror's corpse and engulfed him and the entire room. He could feel the darkness breaking through the chinks and imperfections of his armor, where it had received the brunt of the nightmare creature's attacks during their battle, and enter his body through his mouth, ears, eyes, and nose.
He tried to stop it. He tried to summon the War God's artifact to push back against the darkness. Alas, he was too slow. His consciousness was already gone.
Over the period of several seconds, the darkness, as if possessing a will of its own, transferred itself from the body of Prince Artorias to the the body of the young Sleeper who had the misfortune of being the one who slayed the former. The darkness invaded his body and attempted to settle in his heart. However, said organ already had a presence of primordial cold inside it, which pushed back against the darkness.
Left with no other coarse, the darkness moved to the right side of the Sleeper's chest, where it began the process of forming a second heart - one as dark as the starless night. Then, tenebrous vessels began expanding from the newly formed heart and began assimilating themselves into the rest of the body. Ever so slowly changing the body to accomodate itself.
Messages from the spell began appearing frantically in midair.
[Warning! Your soul is being corrupted. Please resist.]
[Your soul is being corrupted...]
[Your soul is being corrupted...]
[Your soul is being corrupted...]
[Your soul is being corrupted...]
[Your soul is being corrupted...]
[Beginning banishment of the host from the Nightmare Spell.]
Meanwhile, inside the soul sea...
The serene atmosphere of the desolate tundra that was William's soul sea was disrupted unceremoniously as an uninvited presence came inside.
Contrasting greatly against the pure whiteness of the undisturbed snow, an invader the same color as pitch, appeared out of nowhere. Its shape and size were unknowable as the darkness that made up its body seemed to fluctuate constantly, never staying the same for too long. Ever so slowly, it moved. Its destination being the four soul cores floating at the center of the field of snow.
With every step, the snow beneath it blackened until it was the color of soot, like the mere presence of the invader was enough to corrupt the area around it.
However, it was not like the Soul Sea had no defensive mechanism against such intrusions. It was just that...
Several hundred sprites fell down from the collection circling in the air and transformed into a variety of nightmare creatures that had been slain by William. A formidable display that would have scared any other intruder.
Instead, the dark monstrosity felt amused at the soul's paltry effort at defense. It simply stretched a single tendril of darkness at the remnant souls, and the next second, they all began disintegrating into black mist before getting absorbed the the invader.
...the intruder was of a different breed.
More and more sprites came down in an effort to do their duty and stop the intruder. Yet, the same thing occurred over and over again. The effort only served to make the invader stronger, if anything. By the time it was only a short distance away from its goal, the skies only held a small fraction of the sprites it once held before. A quarter of the tundra had already been drenched in the invader's color.
Just as it was about to touch the four blue crystalline soul cores, it stopped in its tracks as it felt something...
A presence the likes of which it had never felt before.
The invader turned its head, or what served as its head, towards the skies where the dark stormy clouds began moving away like curtains to reveal the tarry black sky behind them. Then, one by one, stars of various colors and sizes began appearing one after another until they filled the entirety of it.
No, these weren't stars but rather...
.
.
.
.
.
.
Eyes.
Millions upon millions of eyes of various colors, shapes, and sizes were dotting the night sky of William's Soul Sea.
Like one, all the eyes began to focus down on the black monstrosity that was standing near the four soul cores.
The invader felt like an unimaginable weight fell upon it as the collection of multi-colored eyes focused on it. Then, without warning, it felt its entire body being gripped by an unseen force before getting lifted towards the sky.
The intruder was an ancient existence in its own right (a remnant will), one that preceded the existence of its own world, a child of the Primordial Abyss. Yet, it felt fear for the first time in its existence as it witnessed the multitude of eyes. It knew that the creature looking down on it was much older and much much more ancient and powerful than anything it could think of. It somehow knew that if it weren't for its own status, it would have gone mad the second it witnessed the timeless being.
Suddenly, it felt itself stop rising when it was right in front of the multi-colored eyes. They seem to inspect it. For what? It didn't know.
The inspection lasted for a second before the intruder felt that the way the eyes were looking at it changed. They were looking at it with... malice and ridicule?
Before it knew what happened, it felt something bite down onto its body. No, it was not only his body that was bitten but also its soul and essence.
It tried to protest, or flee, or even move for that matter. However, it felt like an insect held in the hand of a giant, weak, and inconsequential. Piece by piece, it felt itself getting eaten by the million eyed being until not even an iota of itself remained.
With the invader gone, the multiple eyes scanned the Soul Sea for a final time as if checking for any other intruders. Their eyes lingered on two severely cracked and defaced statues for a fraction of a second before the eyes began closing one after another. Soon, the skies had returned to their previous darkness, and the storm clouds rolled back in to hide it from view.
Serenity returned back to the frozen tundra. Not long after the skies fully blocked the skies, they began to darken in color. Then, black snow, the color of soot, began falling from the black clouds.
Soon enough, the whole tundra gained a new black velvety carpet. Even the ice spikes that arose haphazardly here and there had changed color into a dark shade of blue.
On the outside...
[Host's soul has been cleansed.]
[Aborting banishment process.]
[You have gained a new attribute, [&$(*#$* Scion]]
The shimmering messages of the Nightmare Spell seemed to glitch out for a moment before they vanished altogether as if nothing had happened.
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In a rundown kitchen filled with second hand bent utensils and old creaking furniture, a four year old boy with dark brown hair could be seen trying to write something while holding onto a short, worn down piece of crayon. His juvenile features were scrunched up in concentration as he stared at the piece of paper before him.
"I know you can do it, William," a soft voice came from besides the child. It was the voice of his mother. William turned around and saw the featureless face of his *^&%$^; yet, the slender man-esque face didn't scare the child, as if what he had seen was the norm for him. In the featureless woman's arms was a child two years younger than William, who also had a similar featureless face like a mannequin.
"But *^&%$^, I don't want to do this! I want to go and play," protested William childishly. He had been given homework in kindergarten: he had to write his name in a passably readable fashion and then give it in. However, like all children his age, he much preferred playing to doing homework.
"It is not good to procrastinate dear," the faceless woman said in an endearing tone, "we'll play as long as you want as soon as you finish. Be a good boy and do this for *^&%$^, won't you? Who knows? Maybe you'll also get a surprise if you finish quick enough."
"Surprise?" William's ears perked up. "What surprise?"
A gentle giggle came from his mother, "You'll know if you finish quick enough."
Enticed by the promise of the surprise, William started doing his homework in earnest. It took a few tries and the better part of two hours, but by the end of it, he managed to write his name in a surprisingly readable fashion - for a four year old.
"*^&%$^, *^&%$^, I did it! I did it!" Jumped the brown haired child excitedly, eager to show his mother.
Upon seeing the result of her son's efforts, the featureless woman spoke in a proud tone, "That's my son! Good job, William!"
Then, it all stopped and greyed out as if someone pressed a pause button.
Crack!
The entire scenery broke apart like a Swarovski decor piece that accidentally fell on the ground and shattered into a million pieces that fell into an endless pit.
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When he opened his eyes, he was greated by two words that he got sickeningly familiar with during his time in Leonia.
[You died.]
Following them was a sentence that made him groan every time he read it.
[You are less whole.]
"Fucking..." he cursed under his breath. He was so relieved by finally killing the final boss of this place that he overlooked the possibility of a final fuck you from beyond the grave.
He only hoped that nothing too essential was lost this time around. Not that he even knew what he had lost during his multiple other deaths.
He knew that his frustration over the incident wouldn't make anything better, it would only delay his escape from this place.
Thus, after taking a deep breath, he rose from his lying position. Thankfully, a single good thing that came from him dying numerous times was that he perfected the art of reviving with his armor on so as not to get back into the midst of a battle in his birthday suit. Not that his armor was in any condition to be helpful, it had taken the brunt of the damage from his battle with the Fallen Terror, and if he were honest, it was mostly thanks to the armor that he could defeat the nightmare creature while only dying twice times not including his most recent death.
"Well, time to get out of this depressing place," muttered the youth as he began utilizing his latest attribute.
It felt wierd, he discovered, being able to see every nook and cranny of the Kingdom of Leonia in his mind. It was like he had a God's Eye view over the entire place. Moreover, he could now see the intricate essence currents that were flowing deep in the grounds of the kingdom supplying various defensive formations and other mystical things that he couldn't begin wrapping his head around.
What surprised him the most was the source of all of the energy that helped run this massive kingdom. Seven Spell damned sacred soul shards were being used to fuel the entirety of the kingdom. It was no wonder that the barrier that protected the kingdom from the massive leviathans living in the Dark Sea was and still is holding on for long.
He didn't know how the Leonian Royal House got their hands on seven sacred soul shards and he didn't want to waste any more precious time thinking over it.
Shaking his head to get those thoughts out of his mind, he focused on the essence current that was supposed to supply the teleportation platform. Apparently, the previous king had rerouted the current that went to the teleporter and used it to help seal his corrupted heir - not that it helped much.
According to what he discovered from the various memories and writings he came upon while exploring, King Leonhart had actually lead a suicidal charge into the heart of the Hollow Mountains and managed to get to its bottom to get an item that belonged to an ancient monster that had been slain by the gods during the creation of the world - a black heart. Based on the information he received by the mysterious person that he met, it was the only method to have his child live longer.
If only he knew that he was getting the monkey paw for his trouble.
Anyway, the heart had managed to slowly corrupt the young prince until it fully turned him into a nightmare creature. Stricken by this turn of events, the king, in his final moments, sealed the still weak prince Artorias in the teleportation chamber and locked the entrance to the Royal Palace and gave each of his three remaining commanders a third of the key for safe keeping.
Unfortunately, whatever creature the heart belonged to proved too strong for even a seal powered by seven sacred soul shards to fully effect which caused his corruption and darkness to spread in the kingdom and lead to its downfall.
A truly pitiful end for such a great kingdom.
With a final sigh, he mentally connected the teleportation chamber back to the main power source and he witnessed the room brighten up as several giant runes began lighting up one after another.
It only took a few moments for the room to be fully functional again. In addition, it seemed that luck was on his side for once since the teleporter, in his humble unprofessional opinion, looked to be in good condition despite the bloodly battle that occured here.
Then, after taking another deep breath, he said, "Take me to the Forgotten Shore." Sure he could say take me to Earth but from what he gleaned from the information provided by the [Royalty] attribute about the teleporter, it had only limited area of efficacy. The father away the target of travel, the worse the accuracy of the teleportation. Also, it couldn't teleport between realms.
In a blinding flash of light, the white haired Sleeper was finally free from Leonia. Alas, if he only stayed a few more seconds to check all the runes in the teleporting chamber, he would've seen a certain rune flickering ominously every so often. If he were here, he would know that the rune held the meaning for 'Time'.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
????'s POV:
'This was a very bad idea,' the girl thought as she forced her weak body to move as fast as she could to get away from the Nightmare Creature that was chasing her.
She tried as best as she could to weave her way through the red coral blades while running over the muddy sludge beneath her feet.
This wasn't what she expected to happen when they told her that she was going to go into the Dream Realm during the winter solstice! The academy only told them that they were supposed to face dormant creatures at most and get to one of the great clan citadels to get back.
Yet, here she was running for her life while being chased by a massive crab-like nightmare creature while stranded in a region that looked nothing like the known Dream Realm regions recorded in the Academy's library.
And to top it all off, she was in an incredibly weakened state thanks to her shitty flaw and it was only her second day in the Dream Realm! It was no wonder that her parents looked at her like they were looking at a corpse when she survived her first nightmare.
Hell, not even the worst of the Legacy Clans had any interest in sponsoring her.
Unfortunately, despite all of the teenager's efforts, she had only managed to drive herself into a corner. She despaired as she stared at the giant wall of red coral before her.
From behind her, the clicking sound of pincers could be heard clear as day. She turned with shaken eyes and witnessed the menacing Carapace Scavenger come towards her with its giant pincers clicking menacingly.
She regretted all her choices that lead to her being served on a silver platter for the nightmare creature. Still... she wasn't going down without a fight at least.
Gripping the DIY wooden spear she had fashioned from a particularly sturdy wooden branch, she prepared herself for a final desperate stand against the ugly bastard.
Seconds stretched into minutes as the girl could swear she could see the entirety of her life flash before her eyes like a particularly yawn-inducing film before a sudden flash of light blinded her.
When her vision returned, she was flabbergasted to see the nightmare creature that was about to kill her was lying on the ground while cleanly split into two. Behind the creature stood a tall humanoid figure decked in a full body metallic silver armor that looked like it had come out of a literal warzone. Horrible gashes and dents could be seen all over it and served to make it somehow appear more menacing.
(Image)
Her eyes soon got glued to the weapon held by the mysterious person - she hoped - a black sword that was as long as she was tall if not more and on its surface were carvings and glowing runes that served to give it a very eerie and malvolent vibe.
"S-Stay back!" she managed to stutter as she held her pathetic wooden spear even tighter. "I have a spear and I know how to use it!"
The armored figure simply tilted their head as they observed the girl.
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Malvolent Star's POV:
The white haired youth tilted his head curiously as he saw the Soul Window, as he liked to call the information windows that appeared thanks to his [Soul Sight], belonging to the girl.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Name: Athena
Rank: Dormant
Class: Beast
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Athena... that name made him pause. Surely, a name like Athena was a common enough name for there to be more than one, right?
It was then that he remembered that he was in a 'stand off' against said girl. Thus, as a sign of good will, he decided to desummon Frostmourne - not that he needed it to kill someone or something these days.
"Relax," he tried to sound friendly but his voice only came out flatter than an anvil. He internally cursed his imprisonment in Leonia, spending so much time without human contact made him worse than Nephis when it came to conversations. Still, he decided to soldier on despite his... handicaps.
"I'm an awakened like you."
"Seems like something a nightmare creature would say," the brown haired girl replied, not convinced.
"You literally saw me desummon my memory just now," the male replied in a deadpan tone, this one he intended. "Pray tell what nightmare creature has access to the nightmare spell?"
"I don't know, you might be a new breed or something," she muttered while squinting her eyes at him.
"Now you're just being ridiculous," he rolled his eyes a hint of exasperation in his voice, not that she could see with his helmet on.
This somehow seemed to satisfy Athena as her posture loosened, "Alright, I guess you really are a human, big guy. It seems that I won't need to hunt you down."
"Not that you're going to do much damage with that toothpick," the young Lich King noted matter-of-factedly.
"Hey!" she uttered in mock offense. "I'll have you know that I made this thing with the finest wood in these lands - wherever it is!"
He was about to retort when a loud grumbling sound came from Athena's stomach that put pause to their conversation.
"Uh... you wouldn't have any food on you, would you big guy?" she appeared almost embarrassed to ask - almost.
The youth looked stumped for a moment, he had many things in his subspace storage but food was not one of them. Hell, he hadn't eaten anything in so long that the thought was making his mouth water a bit. He looked down at the bisected Carapace Scavenger before him before looking at the heavily malnourished girl.
"Do you fancy eating crab?"
Athena only stared back at him curiously.
It was only after three hours and slaying nine more Carapace Scavengers that the two Sleepers sat infront of a raging flame on a rocky platform while tens of sticks holding chunks of crustacean mean were being roasted. Moreover, several pots of crab soup were also being cooked simultaneously. In addition, a pot had ice inside it that was in the process of being melted for drinking water.
It was thanks to his [Pale Ring] memory that he could slay and transport ten nightmare creature corpses by himself.
Athena wasn't even commenting on how he could store and retrieve items such as pans, plates, spoons, and forks from out of nowhere as she was staring ravenously at the food. He needed a hobby while being stuck in Leonia and being a loot goblin was a natural development due to the said memory.
"Is it time yet?" the brunette said before gulping the saliva pooling in her mouth. This managed to pull him out of his thoughts. The cerulean eyed Sleeper looked at the meat that seemed to be all done.
"Bon Appétit," he said before modifying his armor to have the lower part of the helmet vanish so that he could take a bite out of the cooked crab meat. When the juices and fat entered his mouth, his taste buds sprang back to life from their long slumber. Then, throwing all etiquette to the wind, he began wolfing down the meat as fast as he could. Beside him, Athena was eating her food in a manner that would make even wild beasts blush with shame.
Soon enough, the food that consisted of the meat of ten whole ten foot Carapace Scavengers had vanished as if it were a lie. The two Sleeper laid on the rock platform with a content smile on their faces as they watched the sun go down and the black waters of the Dark Sea rise from their hiding.
"Man, that feast was the best thing that happened to me in a long while. Thank you big guy."
"No need for thanks-," he was cut off.
"Athena."
"Hm?"
"My name's Athena but my friends call me Effie," she said as she sat up from her lying position.
The revelation didn't being peace to the white haired youth. Something was terribly wrong with this situation and he had an inkling of what it might be.
So lost in his thoughts he was that he didn't notice that Effie was looking at him weirdly. It was only when she cleared her throat did he come back to his senses.
"I believe that when someone introduces themselves, it is only natural to introduce yourself in kind or did I hit the jack pot and your name is actually Big Guy," she said with an amused smile on her face. With her being fully fed - for the moment - life finally returned to her previously malnourished face.
"Uh... right... my name is...," it was then that he realized, to his absolute horror, that he had no idea what his name was or if he even had a name.
'I-Is this because of my flaw? Did I ever have a name? If so then what was it?'
He tried to scramble his brain for an answer but there was only one name he knew that belonged to him: Malevolent Star, his true name.
However, it was not something that could be shared in polite company. Not without everyone getting cozy about several things very quickly. Thankfully, his nervous system has developed to a transhumanist degree during his trials below the sea so his whole existential conundrum only took a fraction of a second in real time. Without a name, he had to improvise with what he had.
"Mal," he uttered, "you can call me Mal."
A thoughtful expression came over Athena's features before giving way to a small smile. "Weird name, but who am I to judge," she said with a shrug before lying down on her back.
"*Yawn* Mal, do you mind taking the first night shift?" she said in a tired voice. "The food coma is finally hitting me."
"Ye-" he hadn't even spoken when he heard her let out soft snores as got knocked out.
Taking a moment to wonder why Athena was putting so much trust in a guy she just met, the newly named Mal sat up from his lying position. He needed to check somethings.
With a single mental command, a series of shimmering runes began appearing out of thin air before his eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Name: ?
True Name: Malevolent Star
Rank: Sleeper
Class: Devil
Iceborne Cores: [4/7]
Soul Fragments: [97/4000]
Attributes: [Fateless], [Eidetic Kinesthesia], [Adaptive], [Living Undead], [Monarch Beyond the Grave], [Mental Fortitude (D+)], [Muscle Evolution (B-)], [Essence Assimilation], [Enhanced Reflexes (C+)], [Royalty], [Abyssal Scion]
[Royalty] description: "You have slain the last remaining member of the royal house of Leonia. By right of conquest, you are the sole ruler of the Kingdom of Leonia. This attribute will be transferred to eldest of your bloodline upon your demise. It can also be given to another person willingly by the owner."
[Abyssal Scion] description: "Your body has become the host of the Abyssal Heart that has somehow been purified of the original owner's remnant will. Your affinity to True Darkness has increased exponentially."
Undead Monarch Abilities: [Mantle of Death], [Undead Resilience], [Soul Sight], [Frozen Heart]
[Frozen Heart] description: "You heart is encased in primordial ice giving you authority over cold and frost. You also gain immunity to cold and heat."
Aspect: [Living Lich King]
Aspect Rank: [Semi-Divine]
Innate Ability: [Anomaly]
Aspect Abilities: [Raise Undead]
Aspect Legacy: [Frostmourne], [Profane Grimoire]
[Frostmourne]
Memory Name: Frostmourne
Memory Rank: ?
Memory Tier: II [1789/2000]
Memory Type: Weapon
Memory Enchantments: [Soul Rune], [Forge Rune]
Flaw: [Hollowing]
Description: [To live forever, one must forget. Your immortality is imperfect. Every time you suffer fatal wounds and die, you shall lose a part of yourself until nothing remains but a shell of your former self.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Well, fuck me,' he thought as he saw the big question mark next to his name. It seemed that he really had forgotten his name. It was a very chilling reminder that not knowing that he lost something didn't make it any less frightening that he was ever so slowly becoming... less.
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on perspective, he had another issue to busy himself over. A new attribute had sneaked its way into his Nightmare Spell status window.
Only the second half of the attribute was translated by the spell, he had to use his expertise in the Dream Realm language to translate the first part.
Abyssal Scion, meaning 'First-line descendant or heir of the Abyss'. Neither of these two interpretations filled the youth with confidence. The abyss was where the nightmare creatures originally came from and where the six gods were born.
The only reason why he wasn't freaking out about getting corrupted like the Leonian Prince was because of the attributes description.
The heart had been somehow purified? It was like the Nightmare Spell itself was perplexed by the whole scenario.
Mal desummoned the top half of his armor and placed his hand on the right side of his chest where he felt a second heart beating synchronously with his original one.
Sometimes, he felt like there were too many coincidences in his life for it to make sense. Yet, he also felt like he was too insignificant in the greater sceme of things to understand what was truly happening.
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How is everyone this fine evening?
I'm just here to say that the rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated.
I was simply busy with so much stuff that free time was less of a commodity than I liked. Also, it didn't help that I had a severe case of writer's block thanks to the pace of the story was going. It was either write six more chapters full of fights that would soon get too boring to read or do as I just did in this chapter and speed things up a bit.
Don't worry, things connected to the timeskip period will come back as brief flashbacks where appropriate.
I know many were getting frustrated with the MC rotting away in the spiritual successor of Old Yharnam. Thus, I set him free but not without having him pay the toll mind you.
Until next time, I hope to see you in good health.
Sincerely,
John_Doe_777
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