Edit 4th May 2015 Revamp to fix mistakes and to make formatting style consistent with the newest update.
Edit 8th May 2015 PR by ShadowOfHavoc-san! Everyone, a round of applause!
*Clap clap clap*
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Legend:
Italics style - what's happening in the Soul Realm.
Normal style - what's happening in the 'outside' World.
[Name: Normal Conversation.]
[Name: *SFX or actions*]
[Name: "Thoughts."]
[--Name--: Conversation inside Marc's Soul Realm or Telepathy]
[
(Spells)
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Right at this moment Marcdrak had just crossed the boundary between worlds. And he felt that everything he was, was slowly fading away…
According to the theories he made in the old days about inter-universe jumps, the natural laws of the new world right now was trying to 'purge' him. As expected from another world, it clearly didn't welcome the foreign being, and thus he was being disintegrated.
A grin appeared on his face. Marcdrak was not afraid of death. Not at all. On the contrary he actually lived way too long, so he didn't mind - more like he welcomed it. After living for more than 40,000 years he grew quite weary of life, but he forced himself to move on, because they were there. They were with him, so he had to live. He had to go on. He had to protect them...
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[Time: 2 minutes ago.]
[Place: In the center of Demon Realm, inside the main chamber of the floating castle of the Demon Emperor]
The Demon Emperor's enormous aura suddenly exploded exerting a pressure on everyone.
The invading army stormed through the 50m wide black gate and entered the Demon Emperor's Chamber. And there he was, on the far side of the chamber - the Golden Beast Demon (aka enemy of women, his name was also widely used to scare little girls). He was leisurely seated in the middle of an oversized Red Throne which essentially served him as his bed. In a split-second several female warriors gasped in amazement - the young-looking-male was extremely handsome, at that moment he definitely stole their hearts, but that was just for a moment. 'If only he wasn't the Demon Emperor...' they wished... The man leisurely raised his head, and with his green eyes just briefly glanced at the beings that entered his private space, and as if not finding anything interesting he resumed petting an extremely beautiful girl that was laying with her head on his lap.
[???: Y-You!]
Despite the nervousness that Demon Emperor's aura imposed on them, one of the men suddenly came forward.
[???: Murderer of the Ellysian Emperor! Not only a kingslayer but you also kidnapped the imperial princesses to make them your playthings]( I thought he only took 1 princess)
The young man continued.
[???: Today I'll make you pay! Today we will kill you!]
There was an obvious fury inside him. The Demon Emperor in response only showed him a mocking smile.
[???#2: Stop Kine! This is going too far.]
Suddenly a female elf sitting next to the throne stood up. Ah, that's right, there were hundred odd females sitting on colorful cushions surrounding the throne, just that number made all of the male warriors furious, not to mention that every single of them was a first class beauty. The envy fueled the animosity towards the young-looking man to it’s utmost.
[Kine: Allena! What are you talking about? I've come to save you!]
[Allena: Then stop Kine. I'm here because I want to, I was never forced to...]
Hearing that response the man named Kine gave the Demon Emperor an even more hateful glare.
[Kine: Y-you! Even going as far as brainwashing... Kill him! Kill!!!!!!! Melthias!]
[Allena: Wait Kine!]
The beautiful blond elf was looking seriously nervous now, she knew the extent of Marcdrak's power very well...
Around three years ago in the Ellysian Empire a major event took place, the Emperor died and appointed his 2nd son as his successor, but it wasn't resolved that easily. His brothers organized a coup and after disposing of the legitimate successor they fought each other for the right to the throne. In the end the 4th prince won, but just winning the throne wasn't enough for him.
After becoming the Emperor he grew paranoid and gave an order to quietly kill his two sisters who thanks to the bloody struggle became the next in line of successors. Allena saw all of her most trusted servants die right in front of her and in her grief she invoked an ancient curse and an ancient call. She cursed her fate and cursed the world therefore 'he' answered. A contract was formed and she offered herself as the payment. Marcdrak came, and he murdered the new Emperor, killed off most of elven army and slaughtered half of population of the capital and then he left - simple. Thus leading to the current situation.
[Melthias: Right Prince.]
An old man who was standing next to Kine raised his voice. Laughably thanks that situation Kine's father general Kane (originally 145th in line for succession) became the new Emperor.
[Melthias: (For the eltheal planes, your humble servant requires your protection Meah-sama! DIVINE PROTECTION)]
[Allena: Wait Melthias!]
The young elf princess knew the old man, he was a royal mage that served the empire for the past millennia, he was one of the few who had achieved the highest Flow tier, 12th circle! She turned her head to look at Marcdrak with pleading eyes. The Demon Emperor at that moment was looking at the mage with amusement in his eyes, but just as he was going to raise his hand to sweep away those old bones along with that divine protection he noticed those pleading eyes...
[Melthias: (For revenge! For death! For retribution! I call thee Verdetea-sama, Mave-sama, Bloe-sama! BANISH!)]
And that moment of hesitation was all that it took.
An enormous black hole opened behind Marcdrak and from within countless black hands appeared and grabbed him to pull him inside.
To explain the situation we need to talk about the god's favors. Gods exist in the Flow world, they are an essential part of the ecosystem, Nature Gods fertilize the fields, while Death Gods take care of the remains of the departed. While those are natural favors, there are also special favors that are granted to the populace for their faith, among them there are spell reinforcing favors and to gather those favors one would need to spend a huge amount of effort and time to get them.
In that short while the old mage had used 4 favors! To gather enough faith from its populace for 4 favors even the Ellysian Empire needed at least a hundred years. Favor from Mave - goddess of night and death - granted the power of banishment, supported by two more favors, Verdetea - god of darkness and revenge - and Bloe - god of hatred and retribution, those two used as a power supply used all the resentment that a person has accumulated in his life to work against him. Unfortunately for Marcdrak he lived way too long, and in the past 40,000 years he slaughtered an uncountable number of beings... And all that malice was now coming back at him, all at once! Even Melthias was stunned by the power of that spell.
The Demon Emperor instantly summoned a great amount of power to resist... If only he had a bit more time, just a second more... The amount of power was so high that it broke through universe boundaries throwing him away from his world, but after reaching that point he already gathered enough power to resist the curse...
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[Place: Inter-dimensional Space]
He found himself in the blank white space surrounded by uncountable numbers of white spheres and one black sphere. The black substances surrounding him were desperately pushing him towards that black one. Black chains formed and attached themselves to the black sphere and the pull on him strengthened, but who was he? Right now he was prepared and therefore didn't even budge a millimeter.
[Marc: Another inescapable prison huh. So this is a power of all the malice I gathered during those 40,000 years? Quite weak.]
He announced with a haughty voice. Though the situation might look quite bleak, during his long life Marcdrak had developed a method to deal with all those inescapable seals and curses. That's right, the structure of the curse was definitely perfect. He could cut the chains, he could destroy them, he could tear them (that was easy) but everything would be repaired immediately... He was left with no other choice, so he raised his Flow output. Two meters away his Flow condensed and formed a body...
A second Marcdrak came into existence. With the link between them the second one was a perfect copy of the first one. Two pairs of jade green eyes were looking at each other. Both were identical, every fiber of their bodies, every fragment of their memories, every corner of their soul - there was only one difference...
(Chained Marc) put a hand on his chest and the bright golden sphere formed on it. He grasped it and he extended his hand toward the [free Marc].
[Chained Marc: Here. All my power and all their links, with this you are the (True) one. Even if you are me, I'm still jealous.]
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A mocking grin was formed on the (chained Marc)'s face.
[Free Marc: Hm. Got it.]
(Free Marc) took the golden sphere and absorbed it inside his chest.
(Chained Marc) carefully observed that process. After it was finished his duty was over, thus he closed his eyes. (True Marc) manifested a pitch black blade in his right hand. That was the rule he imposed on himself and it wasn't the first time he did this. Actually (Chained Marc) also killed the previous one as he inherited the power and links.
(True Marc) raised his arm and swung down. However at that instant he received a spark of inspiration and the black blade halted a centimeter away from (Chained Marc)'s shoulder.
[Chained Marc: What are you doing?]
He opened his eyes as he stared at the mischievous smile on (True Marc)'s face.
[True Marc: Say...]
[Chained Marc: Do your duty.]
Vertical pupils on (chained Marc)'s eyes contracted leaving the slim line as his iris color changed to violet.
[True Marc: I was thinking that you could try it.]
(True Marc)'s irises also changed their color to match.
[Chained Marc:
The chained one recited the vow that he made for himself.
[True Marc: True, however...]
[Chained Marc: Are you trying to insult me?]
[True Marc: Of course not, insulting you is insulting myself after all.]
[Chained Marc: I'm not afraid.]
[True Marc: I know.]
[Chained Marc: ...]
[True Marc: I thought about changing that vow a little.]
[Chained Marc: ...]
(Chained Marc)'s eyes shone with bright violet light.
[True Marc:
Light from (Chained Marc) eyes dimmed in response.
[True Marc: How about it? Do you want to try that world?]
[Chained Marc: Are you sure?]
[True Marc: Heh, with the curse there is no way you will be able to escape that world and I have my girls in mine.]
(True Marc) showed a self-mocking smile, those girls were equivalent to the curse, nah even worse. They forced him to stay, they forced him to move, they forced him to live.
(Chained Marc) in response showed a wide smile while violet light disappeared from his eyes reverting back to jade green iris. He was definitely pitying the (True) one.
[True Marc: Curse you. But you are me! You can't escape MY fate!]
(True Marc) raised his voice as he made a cut in space between them. That was a signal for the start. The link between them broke. The black chains instantly gripped (Chained Marc) and pulled him inside the black sphere. Now that he lost all his powers he couldn't resist them at all, after swallowing him the sphere turned white.
[True Marc: So it still remains, well if it didn't I would just escape that world after some time.]
(True Marc) nodded as he was observing the black chains that were still surrounding the white sphere.
[True Marc: Now... Shall we resolve that problem?]
The playful aura dissipated as he turned back. He subconsciously knew which one lead to his own world, or more like his link was showing him the way - 'they are calling you' Marc could nearly hear that mocking voice of himself as he moved towards the right
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[Time: 1 minute back]
[Place: Demon Emperor's Chamber]
[???: No!]
[???: No way..]
[???: Lord Marcdrak!]
[???: Marcdrak!]
[???: Marc!]
[???: Master!]
[???: ....]
Over hundred voices were raised as almost all of the girls in the room stood up. All of them knew the power of Marcdrak, to most of them it was the first time they saw that an actual magic attack had worked against him. Normally all attempts would bounce off him without even leaving a scratch.
[Allena: Melthias!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bring him back!]
A loud voice roared throughout the room, it was Allena.
[Melthias: Princess Allena...]
The old man was speechless.
[???: So even after being banished his control still remains? What now?]
An older female voice asked.
[Allena: Melthias...]
The Elf Princess' expression darkened as she summoned her Flow, and it made all of the people stupefied. The range of the Spirit magic that she invoked was 10th circle. Among the invaders there were only 4 people that belonged to the highest class tier (10-12). Elves were the most shocked, after all three years ago Princess Allena's power was a 6th tier. Becoming 6th tier at 500 years she was acknowledged to be a talented spirit mage, but to jump from 6th tier to 10th in three years? That was impossible. But there she was with an Emperor class Water spirit...
[???: Calm down everyone.]
One of the girls spoke up. An extremely beautiful redhead who was most probably someone of a higher tier here, because as soon as she raised her voice all of the girls became silent, and most of them stopped panicking.
[Allena: But Miss Lily, Emperor Marcdrak...]
[???: It's fine, as long as we are here then he is here.]
Another girl sat up. She was the one that was sitting together with Marc on the throne.
[Allena: Krishna-neesama]
[???: Right, if we were to disappear then you girls can start panicking.]
[Allena: Miss Nec...]
[Melthias: W-who are you?]
Old man was clearly agitated, the moment the 'miss Nec' spoke up he felt an indescribable shiver running through him.
[???: Me? Heh, the name that his Majesty gave me is Mari, but you will most likely recognize me from the other one. It's Necronomicon.]
[Melthias: Back! Fall back!]
The old mage roared as cold sweat ran down him. The Necronomicon! The profane book of black magic, if she really was the Necronomicon they all might just perish. Seeing the old man’s react in in that unusual manner people started to move back towards the door. However with just a flick of her fingers the green haired girl closed those massive doors that were in the back.
[Mari: You may have entered this castle, but without His Majesty permission you may not leave... Not alive.]
Cold voice said, and chill ran past all of the men in the room.
[???: Kill.]
Another girl spoke up as she emitted the breathtaking amount of killing intent. Immediately after her most of them followed her example.
[Krishna: Wait. They are Allena's acquaintances, and Kaya please calm down.]
[Lily: Heh, she can't help herself, her beloved Marc was taken away after all.]
[Kaya: Hmpf.]
Kaya frowned. While those girls were leisurely talking to each other the invading army was forced to hold their breath unable to breathe properly, that's how intense the killing intent was.
[Krishna: Well, m'lord will be back soon, though... he is running a bit late...]
She was right, normally he would already be back, but at this moment Marc was having a leisure chat with himself.
[Kaya: 30 seconds, if Marc is not back by then they all die.]
'Kaya' made up her mind, it seems like it was the highest consensus that she could come up with. At that moment... A grand black vortex appeared above the throne.
[Mari: See, His Majesty is back.]
As to confirm her words a hand appeared and grabbed the contour of the vortex, and then he came... The Demon Emperor have returned...
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[Place: New World, in the middle of nowhere.]
Back to the beginning. Marc smiled as he was disintegrating.
['not chained anymore' Marc: Heh, as if, what fate, as if. I'm finally free.]
Very content he closed his eyes, now he only had to wait until everything was finished and he would be able to enter his eternal rest. For the last time he decided to enter his soul domain.
He appeared on the front terrace of his Floating Castle. It was just a reproduction from his original one and it only existed inside his Soul Realm. He took a tour around it reminiscing about the old times. Although it was quite tiring those were happy times, happy enough to force him to live, to move forward... In the end he moved towards his chamber.
He was going to wait for the end on his throne, with a flick of his fingers the massive black door opened to show him the beautiful rich interior...
There...
On top of his lavish Red Throne...
In the middle of violet cushions...
[--Marc--: C-c-c-curses.]
There were seven girls sleeping.
[--Marc--: Curses! Curse you FATE!]
A howl echoed throughout the hall as Marcdrak's vertical pupils contracted and his iris started glowing in violet eyes. And again - he was forced to live…