章節 49: The Successor
"I see." Mayer said, tone agreeable, but expression stony. "However, I do not think that would be in your best interest, Armament."
"Oh?" The ghastly form intoned.
"Maximilian over here, is not a Champion, but an ex-Champion." Keeper Armament was silent for a while, the heat of the room cooling ever so slightly.
"Explain." Mayer nodded taciturnly and I stayed thoroughly silent, sweating bullets.
"Another Court of Gods reached out to Maximilian and blessed him and cut his ties with the God of his world." The cloaked Keeper turned towards me, giving me a long, hard look from underneath his hood.
"What relevance does this have? Others were blessed by our worlds' Gods, yet they remained Champions in action and principle. Cutting ties with his God, while intelligent and perhaps a correct step, does not change much to my mission."
"Indeed, it does not." Mayer agreed, "However, you might find it pertinent that it wasn't just any blessing that court gave him." The Keeper stopped dead still, the heat and flame leeched out of the air entirely.
"A Court Blessing?" He said softly, and Mayer nodded.
"A Court Blessing and more, Armament. He is a mortal Demigod, the first of his ilk."
In fact, the flame and heat wasn't just leeched from the air, it was getting colder and colder as time went on. Then he spoke to me, his voice the sound of shattering ice.
"Summon your weapon." His order was almost overwhelmingly powerful, a mixture of anger, surprise and possibly… hope? I pulled my hammer from my hand in record speed, leaking from my palm like liquid fire. The fully formed thing was gigantic, even against my own form. The slightly darker silver contrasting with the extremely bright divine light that coursed through the runic markings that adorned the flat, block head to the horn at the back, and travelling down the haft towards the wrapped hilt and pommel.
I laid the hammer head on the floor of Mayer's home with as much grace as I possibly could, the wood groaning under the stress of the hammer's gargantuan weight, though Mayer probably had the floors super reinforced on the odd occasion you might need an immensely heavy Soul Weapon summoned in the lounging area.
The Keeper immediately moved closer, scouring the hammer with his obscured eyes. He seemed specifically interested in the markings on the hammer themselves, silently analysing it. Though it wasn't long before a hand came up to touch the hilt.
I started to open my mouth to tell him to not touch, but it only took a quick shake of Mayer's head to keep my lips sealed tight, especially with that doomsday expression on his face.
As the Keeper's scared and mangled hands caressed the dark silver metal gently, I realised that his touch wasn't unpleasant. I don't know what it was, but he managed to make it a not entirely uncomfortable experience, despite him quite literally touching the manifestation of my soul as a weapon.
"It is true then. This is undoubtedly divine energy, much greater in quality then what a God themselves could provide another, so it can only be your own energy." He mused, even as he picked up the hammer by the furthest end of the hilt easily, hefting the unknowably heavy hammer without even a hitch in his voice when he did so.
"Which Court granted you Godhood, child?" He spoke softly as he admired the hammer in his hand. Even the floors underneath his feet didn't groan with stress as he swung the hammer without so much as a worry that he might hit something within the home.
"I don't think it'd be fair of me to say, Keeper Armament. I'm sure that a man such as yourself would be able to hazard a guess." I said, keeping my voice as neutral as possible in the face of the terrifying man swinging my hammer around more skilfully than I had seen Mayer wield a short sword.
The Keeper's clouded hood turned to me, and for just a moment I could swear that I could see the barest hint of a face, smiling.
"Ah, the Hearth Court then." I managed to school my own expression, though I couldn't be sure it escaped either Armament or Mayer's notice.
"What leads you to that conclusion, Armament?" Mayer asked, as if her were only curious. Armament deftly laid the head of the hammer down at his side, letting it rest while he thought.
"There are not many who can hide from the Court of Mysteries, Mayer Renue, and far fewer still that can hold secrets from them. In fact, I believe the Hearth Court to be the only Court to hold a secret from them for more than a few thousand years. This, however?" He hefted the hammer and tapped at the side of the hammer head, where the larges conglomeration of runic patters were inscribed.
"This is a far larger secret than I could have ever expected. I had always suspected they held something just out of the Court of Mysteries' reach, but to manage this right underneath their noses…" The Keeper trailed off.
"Do you mean the seed?" I asked. Mayer gave me a look, but I ignored it. This man was easily strong enough to wipe all of us off the map, and I'm not even sure that I could bet on Mayer and be confident. He also already seemed to know everything that was important. At this point, it felt stupid to ignore it. Maybe it was my Domain of safety, which I had unknowingly extended after things started getting sketchy, but I was willing to risk it.
"The seed, is a Divine Seed." I nodded at the man, already knowing that little factoid, "But it also isn't any normal Divine Seed."
"How so?" Mayer asked, a hint of worry making it into his voice.
"A 'true' Divine Seed is something far too powerful to plant into a mortal's soul, even those as strong as Champions. Even mortals as strong, or stronger than I." I scrunched my nose up at that.
"Then how could it have been planted into mine? I know that Ga–" I stopped myself, "the God who granted my Godhood said a lot of it had to do with my connection and alignment to the Hearth domain." The hood bobbed in acknowledgement.
"You are correct, it did. However, even still it would have surely killed you. However, this seed is far different. This is manufactured, somehow, someway, to be a seed of a seed."
"So wait, does that mean I am or am not a Demigod?"
"You are, in every sense of the word. But to move past simply being a Demigod, this seed will have to grow to become more than the precursor of the Seed of Divinity." I couldn't help but let a confused expression leak onto my face, desperately trying to unpack the Keeper's words, but he seemed content to let me question.
"Though I will note that not just anyone would be able to meld this seed to their own soul. For I would most certainly perish within moments of this seed being planted within me, any energy my soul contains being drawn till it was dry and then dying with me. I only know of a handful that would survive the process, even fewer that would wake up from the endless sleep they would find themselves in faster, and no-one that could possibly stand before me like you do only days, maybe weeks since the seed was planted." The man picked up my hammer and placed it back at my side gently, almost reverently.
Honestly, I just took it all as a compliment. It just seemed that I was an anomaly of an anomaly, and to think that I legitimately though that I was nothing special, huh?
"Regardless of the Demigod's hammer. I also wish to speak to you Mayer. Of Hindle." Mayer froze at the word, though made no other expression.
"What of it?"
"The sword has been in your possession for far too long. I gave it to you during the war, however, the war has long since ended. The sword is far too likely to end up in the wrong hands the longer that it stays out of my care." Mayer took a deep breath in and slouched in his chair.
"I understand, Armament. I'm not as young as I once was, and fighting in the war will only kill me, now. But…" Armament looked at Mayer, graciously allowing him to ponder for a moment before returning to his thought.
"I understand that the sword is dangerous, and that it should be kept in the correct hands. But I think that I may have a successor." Armament walked towards Mayer, a chilly breeze following him.
"This was not in our agreement, Mayer. The sword was for you and only you. The Court of Mysteries lambasted me for that decision even still."
"I know. But I think he has a better chance of making a difference in the new war than even I." The Keeper stood very still, you'd almost believe that he was a mannequin if he hadn't walked around and swung my hammer about.
"This successor. Where is he?" The Keeper demanded. Ever since the whole 'I'll take your soul' thing, he seems to be far more agreeable than before. I feel like Mayer and Armament know each other better than they let on.
"Right outside, of course." Mayer said casually, "Rethi! Get yourself in here."
I watched silently as, after a short pause, the front door softly creaked open and a set of nervous footsteps travelled down the hall and a black-haired youth popped around the corner. I gave him an unimpressed look, and he responded with a wry smile.
Then Rethi saw Armament. The bolt of fear that hit him as he did was almost amusing, if I hadn't been experiencing the overwhelming presence of the man since he walked in.
"This is your successor? A village boy?" Armament asked, though decidedly without the derision that you'd expect.
"You and I both know that being a village boy has nothing to do with how well you can learn the sword. And I can tell you that, while Rethi is… unexceptional in his swordplay," Rethi grimaced at that, unable to argue, "he has the ruthlessness and drive that he needs to be truly great. Besides, we both know that skill was hardly ever the requirement to wield Hindle."
Armament stood, unpersuaded. He looked towards the young man that stood in front of him. He was slightly taller than the average for his approximate age, and was well built, clearly having put in an inordinate amount of work to create his physique.
"But he is just that. Unexceptional. In my travels I could find others just like him. I'm likely to find another in this very village." The Keeper countered. Rethi was well and truly pale by this point. Apparently being argued over by a Demigod level being and Mayer wasn't pleasant. Though I guess I had my own taste of that.
"True. But none are dedicated to serve a Demigod of the Hearth, to aid him in his quest to save our worlds from destruction." Mayer shot back. Keeper Armament, if I could see his face, probably looked suitably unimpressed.
"What is the real reason, Renue?" The older man looked thoughtful for a moment before he returned his gaze to the Keeper.
"Because he has what it takes. All he needs is the opportunity."
The resulting silence lasted a long, long time. Minutes maybe, but the look the two men shared was it's own sort of intense conversation in and of itself. I could pick up some of the emotions coming from Mayer, mostly a stubbornness and pride, but still nothing from Armament.
"I see." The ghastly Keeper said after a long while. "I will take this risk, if not for what you have given the Court of Mysteries in the past, then for honouring our agreement for all these decades." Mayer nodded thankfully, not one to become exuberantly excited when things go his way.
"However." The Keeper continued, "I require to see Hindle passed on in front of me. I will not let it happen on your leisure." Mayer's jaw clenched, the muscles tensing up the side of his face in an almost-grimace.
"Of course." Mayer said slowly, which Armament seemed to take as good enough. The Keeper turned back to look at Rethi, scouring his eyes over the young man like he had for my hammer.
"You are in for an extremely unpleasant experience, young warrior. I hope that it is worth it. For both of our sakes." Then he walked right past Rethi, footsteps absolutely silent and cloak barely moving. You'd swear he was floating.
"I, uh, what?" Rethi stammered out. With all of the heavy conversations and clashing ideals, the bou hadn't even managed to get a word in edgewise.
"'What' is the word of the hour it seems." Mayer said, sighing heavily as the Keeper closed the door on his way out.
"What's this about successors and 'Hindle'?" The boy said frustrated, looking to me for answers. Come to think of it, neither Mayer nor Armament explained what was actually being discussed to Rethi, and even I was blindsided by all this talk.
"Don't look at me. This was all sprung on me as well." Rethi's frustration grew as he turned his fiery gaze towards Mayer.
"Tell me." He said commandingly, and Mayer just chuckled ruefully.
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