Chương 276: Strategy
30 advance chapters in my Pat.reon. Pat.reon.com/Saintbarbido.
I know there has been a massive drop in quality. I recently lost something really important to me and my work has suffered for it. I want to sincerely apologize to all of you for losing sight of what Aden Strong was supposed to be. Something fresh and new to read. From this point forward, I'll try to get back on the swing of things. Please bear with me during this difficult time in my life.
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(Aden Strong P.O.V)
"...and that's where you went wrong."
Chaos stopped writing on the bottom of the board and lifted up from his crouch, cracking his back and sighing.
"Ah that feels good."
I also sighed from where I was leaning on the back of Nagini, the huge snake coiled on the base of the tree with the Dark Bees(sue me, it's a simple nickname and perfectly describes what they are. Dark bees). And about the snake, the only other iconic name would be Kaa from the jungle book and hypnosis inducing or not, Nagini's sooo much cooler.
"...well? Are you listening?"
Huh? Oh, Chaos had been saying something. I ducked the marker pen and watched as it hit one of the bee hives atop the tree. Chaos and I looked at each other and I immediately used Spatial Load, my new favorite skill before doom befell us.
Back to a few seconds earlier, Chaos rolled his eyes and pointed at the board.
"I'll just start over again. This time, would you please pay attention?!"
I nodded with a serious look and placed my palms flat upon my face.
"So basically, because Order is gone, my inner energies shifted towards Chaos even more, which in turn influenced my emotions, which influenced my mind into making the wrong decisions. Then the imbalance influenced my actions, turning me into a reckless, careless confused mess of a Realmlord when before I was a calm, rational while still being understanding, sympathetic asshole, right?"
I said it all in one breath, making Chaos blink his eyes.
"Why are you surprised?" I laughed, rubbing Nagini's scaly skin. She shuddered under my touch.
"I was listening." I emphasized the 'was.'
"Alright what about the other stuff?"
He asked, crossing his hands.
I threw a quick glance at the board then went on to rattle the rest of the information.
"There was also an effect left on you from the loss of the merger, but because of your brief exposure to each other's states, instead of growing more illogical, more chaotic when Order left, a part of you started to take on some of his missing traits. This has led to you being able to think more clearly and hence curb a lot of your passionate tendencies. You theorize the same is happening to Order which is the reason why he is the way he is. A massive dick."
He sighed at the insult then made a continue motion with is palm. Man all this talking was putting me in the mood for some Grangos.
"Which is why I shouldn't look for him with the intent to battle it out but instead to talk to him and merge back." This part I was unsure about but looking into Chaos' pleading eyes, I... understood his point.
This was all me. Order was me. Chaos was me. Prima was me. We were connected in a way that enemity wasn't really possible. And no matter how much he had fucked up, I...missed that part of myself. Order and Chaos were what would keep me going. It didn't feel right to stay like this.
"Ok, we'll try it your way." But he ain't getting off that easy. If I hadn't been harsh on myself then I wouldn't have gotten this far. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Chaos had a smile on his face as he turned to the board.
"So the new plan is..." He spun the board around.
"Very simple."
On it, he begun to draw out something, explaining only after finishing writing.
"You died." A small dead icon that I guessed was me was drawn on the board, taking me back to what had happened.
The blast of my own power had almost too scalding hot. For the first time I actually felt what my enemies did. The exposure to my own attack also brought with it something. An understanding of what my elemental abilities were. The deep meanings became almost too comprehensive for me to understand.
It wasn't just Fire, Air and a little bit of water either, somehow through no effort on my own, I actually had the details on the other two elements, Water and Earth. I had somehow managed to master them. Well not master, more like I had the information, all I needed was to understand it.
The trade off having been over a billion years asleep but oh well.
Anyway, death had truly come for me. I felt my body hold up against my own attack for a few seconds before I stopped resisting and activated Soul Load. Now here's where things get fun. Crazy fun.
Soul load was Spatial load just...on my soul. Spaced out through time was an infinite number of me up to the present time, with every passing second. I call it an infinite number because the difference between one Aden and another is a simple matter of thought or thought chain and experience. Everything else could be argued was the same.
Soul Load basically merged myself with another me through time by using a contract with a certain location, in this case Energia, as the bridge. Basically, I used Spatial load and brought myself along for the ride. And because it was all me, still me, there wasn't anyone's soul getting erased or replaced, just me, a few thoughts and seconds ago.
It's... confusing to explain, so we'll just gloss that over.
Soul Load was a dangerous skill. I usually touted on about how Spatial load held a risk to the world yet would use it a lot. Soul Load was not the same. It was truly very risky and after the first time using it, I never wanted to use it again. And even if I did, not for more than 10 seconds in between the loads. Why? For starters it carried a big risk to my sense of self and we have already established that that's kind of important. It was how I know Gaea would recognize me, my soul signature. My Self.
Soul Load going out of control or done wrong would tweak just the barest of changes in me and that small tweak would change everything. Gaea, Equity and Energia wouldn't recognize me. It's why I couldn't give my soul infinite energy or make it completely unkillable. Besides that, it was a wonderful skill, able to bring me back from certain death. The subject of soul contracts had been something I had never given up on. And luckily for me, it came in handy when I faced The Living Tribunal.
Basically, I used Soul Load and went back to 6 seconds ago. The sudden death had given me clarity. I had been rash and stupid. What I excelled in was my mind. I was a strategist. I shouldn't have forgotten that. I shouldn't have let Chaos bleed chaos from the surroundings either, that's going down a rabbit hole I wasn't sure had an end.
"...and after dying, I realized, I needed to stop reacting and start acting. For starters, come up with a long time sensible plan." I interjected on his earlier words. Chaos smiled in anticipation as I picked up on his morale, standing up from where I was leaning on Nagini.
"I need to sift through the System logs and understand how I survived my space of being getting destroyed. Maybe we can use that to find a way back. I also need to do what I promised the ancient one."
"Yeah, actually, I had thoughts on that. Something that would kill two birds with one stone."
Chaos interrupted, making me pause and round up to him in interest.
"Go on."
A sketch of the Earth appeared on the board. In the middle there was a small picture of an armored figure. I immediately understood what he was getting at.
"You want us to use the celestial growing at the core of the Earth."
He nodded his head and expanded on his idea.
"If you can assimilate it like you did the Justice League, then link it to you like Energia or Equity then..."
"I can just use it as the main core of the new force I promised the Ancient One, while still getting a powerful being with celestial energy manipulation on a massive scale under me."
I finished. Brilliant.
"You see? It's not about how many more powers you get, it's about how you use the ones you have."
Chaos smiled proudly after giving his 'quote of the day'.
"That being said, the plan will definitely bring you into conflict with the Eternals and Arishem. Not to mention any other Celestials around. But they were the ones who started this in the first place. You should try to go for peace but if it fails then the alternative is fighting."
He then added grimly.
The same thoughts were running inside my mind.
"I should be prepared for more than just Arishem. The Living Tribunal was the one who killed me, avoiding his notice up until I am ready to leave or atleast fight back is the logical move."
"Which brings us to the next thing."
Chaos circled the word 'leaving' on the board.
"I have another plan."
I raised my eyebrows.
"Is it the same thing I'm thinking?"
I asked, making him shrug.
"Depends on what you're thinking."
I walked over and took the marker pen from him then begun to draw on the board.
"It was never about how much power I could use to tear through the veil separating the universe, it's about control and efficiency." I explained,
"What I need is to understand this 'space'. The marvel space. I know how to manipulate it, now I just need to understand how the process actually works. True control over all Spatial foundations. And the thing that can allow me to do just that is...the Space Stone."
I got up from the crouch and cracked my back letting out a satisfied crack.
"You're right. It does feel good."
Chaos chuckled at my words, grabbing the marker from my hand.
"That will bring you into conflict with Shield."
He pointed out, only for me to shake my head.
"Not really, we just need a replica and as the tesseract is an energy containing box, I can replace the Space Stone inside with a marble of blue light by using my light divinity to hold it together."
My reasoning was fairly simple. They had no idea what was inside, they wouldn't now and I would be taking something dangerous off their hands.
"But that won't be our only contact with an infinity stone right?"
Chaos asked, as if reading my mind.
"No." I shook my head.
"We also need the time stone to solve the issue of being more than a billion years apart, if it turns out that the time difference between the two worlds is naturally dependent on the perception of the individual. However, I don't think that's too big of an issue. Something tells me that we're good on that front. We just need to manipulate our spatial Positioning. Everything else can come later."
"And don't forget the reality stone. You will need it for study. Enhancing your miracles or even getting reality manipulation abilities ain't too bad."
Chaos told me to which I agreed.
"You're right, but there's only one problem. It's 2001, the convergence doesn't happen for another decade which is when I can get the reality stone...wait."
I started pacing a little.
"Actually...that works out perfectly. I can spend that decade here under Spiritual attunement and master both water and earth, taking them to the divine level while also trying to perfect that... imperfect form I used."
Chaos shook his head.
"You'll need a stronger body for that. The energy would overwhelm you. It's like Thanos using all the infinity stones without the gauntlet to snap out life in over a million universes at the same time."
"No problem, I'll spend that decade under increased gravity and harsh space. It's going to be some Goku hard shit. And I realize I was too passive when I was training in my realm before Empty Hand's attack. I need to actually break myself. Fuck the pain. Fuck the sparring,just a continuous grind."
Chaos sighed, a little helpless.
"Just be careful."
"So we will aim for the Chitauri Invasion. That's when we begin this whole thing."
We both looked at the board that was completely covered by the detailed plan.
"It's good to be back."
I sighed. My mind had stopped getting distracted every 2 seconds and my focus was as sharp as it used to be.
I caressed the pendant strapped to my neck and smiled softly, their faces going through my mind.
"Soon."
Now it was time to go though the system logs.
(Elsewhere)
Ajak stood on the deck of the Domo as they watched a Marathon happen below them, in the city. The Domo was cloaked.
"You remember back when all this was one huge farmland? Stretching from the valley all the way to those woods. Now it's all so... different."
Ajak told Sersi.
The latter was silent. Frowning a little, she answered hesitantly.
"Yes...I kinda remember. It's not too memorable after travelling around the world so much, but its familiar."
Ajak smiled softly and rubbed Sersi's back.
"I know you have questions."
The Prime Eternal said.
Sersi looked at her in a slightly irritated mood.
"Not just me. Even the others. Ajak, we would follow you anywhere. Something's changed with you and Ikaris. What are you two keeping from us?"
Ajak rubbed her shoulder some more and turned to the rest without answering.
"We've all come to adore them. Humans. They are our charge. Our responsibility. Whoever this...Avatar is, he threatens that duty. He threatens us. I have spoken to Arishem and he has given me the go ahead. We need to begin preparations. We need the Uni-Mind to fight back."
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