Both sides were in a standoff. Or rather, it was Eldridge and Parasmus that were testing each other. The champions of the world were all regarded as fodder by both parties. However, this disregard allowed them to survey their opponent.
Every so often, they watched as a soul entered the giant.
But they never saw any exit.
Though the monstrous nature of the enemy wasn’t important here. It was something they knew long ago. Far more noticeable was the small marble in front of them. The volume of souls that were sucked into it eclipsed that of the giant itself. As seconds passed, many realized that the rate was still increasing. Yet the crowd of souls did not lessen in the least. In fact, it had only ever grown, seeming even denser compared to when they had first arrived.
Obviously, the ceremony had not yet reached its zenith.
At least something positive had been found amidst a deluge of bad news.
But how to disrupt the ceremony was the question on everyone’s minds. The picture before them painted a rather straightforward picture. While no one in the party, save for one god, recognized what the object in the giant’s hands was, they were all experienced in dealing with spellcasters. They understood that it was likely an integral part of the spell. If they destroyed it the whole crisis would likely end.
But they knew that such a thing was impossible for them. Their enemy was way out of their league if they needed their god to confront. As such, their objective was just to provide support. However, the avatar of their deity had left them and hadn’t issued any instructions before it left.
But even if their deity was preoccupied with the enemy, these people were not like a group of headless lambs. Everyone was a leader in some capacity. While the current situation was far beyond any of their fields of expertise, they knew that they needed to take the initiative.
Most quickly recognized that things could not go on like this - they would be wiped out by a random AOE if they stood still and the two behemoths before them started fighting. Nothing would be accomplished if such a thing happened.
One woman shouted, "If we can’t do anything about that monster or the core of this ritual, we can at least try to demolish the supports. Have faith in Him. He will prove victorious. But we cannot leave everything up to Him. According to my skills, the tower in front of us is only a small portion of this base. While it is at the center and the primary conduit, there are greater portions of underground that facilitate all this. Those should be our targets”
“Agreed. Let’s first break in and then see how best to split up as we go,” remarked another. With some more murmurs within the crowd, the plan of action had been settled. The cohesion of this group was no surprise to any of them. Even if it was the first time everyone had gathered together in a display of combined arms, even if all of them were more accustomed to working alone, they were at least decently familiar with those in the immediate vicinity.
With that, they used their respective abilities to break the ground and try their best to do the most damage they could.
Once they made a little headway, they were immediately beset by magitech automatons and condensed ice elementals. None of them were surprised. Some were even a little relieved, as resistance meant they were working towards an outcome the enemy did not desire. The period before had just been too strange.
Finally they could fight to their hearts’ content.
But their influence in this matter ended here.
9 System Hours until the end of the world
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Their god, however, had other thoughts in His mind. As the only one among them that had an inkling of what was going on, He did not have such naive thoughts in His mind. Parasmus recognized the marble to be a World Core almost immediately.
This particular World Core was modified so much that He almost couldn’t recognize it, but the intimate contact He had with the one He’d dominated made Him familiar enough to identify it as one immediately. Though He’d never tested how durable it was, He knew it wasn’t something that could be broken easily.
He didn’t speak out to remind his followers of this. They were unlikely to make use of that information and knowing what they should not know would only spread undue panic. Their current actions were enough for him. Hopefully they would wreak enough havoc to cause a small lapse in judgment.
As He gazed at this monstrous entity before him, which bore no resemblance to the weak old human He had lazily watched cross the broken world barrier all those years ago, a decision had finally been made.
He could see now, with renewed clarity, that this was a fight where He was hopelessly outmatched. The monster’s heart-palpitating strength was no longer hidden under the guise of a weak and dying man who had traveled here to live out the rest of his life in peaceful isolation.
Was this the demon’s true form?
It was no wonder He had failed to recognize it for what it was all those years ago. Even now, all means of identification fizzled when applied to it.
Nothing could be gleaned aside from some surface-level observations. The creature’s body had obviously gone through magical augmentation, that much was obvious at a glance. And among them was something that He'd wished He was unable to identify. A shame then, that it was all too obvious to ignore. It also seemed to have its own metaphysical field of gravity, as ambient mana was being pulled into it under the density of Eldridge's own mana.
It didn’t seem to be a conscious action, either.
He was only able to recognize this phenomenon by referencing the world's heart, but even that did not even reach a fraction of the intensity He felt here. It appeared his earlier guess - and the situation He had dreaded - was correct. Something that could rival the Bringer of Calamity had descended.
Although He didn’t know why such a monster deigned to plot for several centuries rather than just take what they wanted directly, their intentions mattered little at this point.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
This life of his might as well go out with a bang. The Beast of Calamity had always been His nightmare. Something that could be considered its equivalent brought down by Him in His last moments… It was not a bad conclusion to his story at all. Though He would have much preferred a story without an end, the circumstances were ultimately stronger than the people.
Perhaps there was still a chance. While it wasn't possible to split Himself off from the world, that did not mean this monster was unable to. From the way the ceremony was being held, He was absolutely certain that before it ended, He would also have Himself severed from his domain and brought here. The mark that held tight to His soul was a testament to this monster’s greed.
But that was also His most vulnerable period. Whether He could flee or was forced to detonate was up to fate. In a moment like this, a God like Him could only pray.
But to destroy an entity that went against the world He would be bringing out an ability that flaunted the natural Laws as well, and not just a law unique to this world, his world. No. It was something that went against a foundational Law, judging by what He understood from his world's inheritance.
It was a power that turned against the idea that energy was impossible to create or destroy.
This, among many Laws, was known instinctively from birth, as a keen understanding of the world’s natural Laws was the birthright of all dragons.
He was fixated on this particular law early on, as He recognized that mana seemed to go against this notion. Mana was essentially just an extremely mutable form of energy, however, everyone seemed to be able to regenerate it constantly without limit.
Through repeated experiments, He noted that mana regenerated even in a void bereft of mana, meaning it wasn’t coming from the environment, nor was it coming from the world itself. That much was clear, as the world’s ambient mana had been completely corrupted during the height of the Calamity.
As such, the mana that came in were proven separate through numerous correlating tests.
As a result, before his ascension, He'd hypothesized that it came from the soul.
Where else could it be from?
His utilization of the Calamity’s powers caused Him to believe this, though it did not solve the underlying issue. Where was the soul getting that mana?
He had guessed that this contradiction only existed due to is lack of vision and that it would be made clear once his view was higher, but much to his excitement, it was not revealed even after his ascension. Rather, it only became even more mysterious.
From the deity's lens, the soul truly was an infinite wellspring of mana. From the inheritance of the world will, He knew that a person’s mana was condensed from their soul core, the inner soul that greatly affected a person’s personality and did not disappear after death.
This was merely another layer deeper, however, and did not answer the fundamental question, only adding to the difficulty of its study.
However, as the being with purview over reincarnation in this world, He was able to satiate his fascination with the inner soul. He came to the conclusion that while it didn’t hold much information, as it lacked memories and habits of the individual, it still preserved part of the self for the next life in its own way.
While dying reduced the size and strength of the inner soul, there seemed to be a lower limit, after which it became extremely difficult to shrink or compress. He theorized that mana came from this place. It could be influenced by external sources, but its origin would always be the individual’s soul core.
Through this, He understood why a thriving population was integral to the continued existence and growth of a world. As people used mana, whether for fighting or development, it was ultimately deposited into the world, serving as its sustenance.
The stronger the individual, the more mana was produced. This was true for all classes, not just mages, though their mana took on different forms.
And this was not all. Another discovery found through the world’s inheritance was a way to artificially strengthen his followers. This was how He'd obtained the group of loyal individuals that were fully under his thumb. They would become the [Blessed] that surrounded him today.
Granted, at first, He'd lacked the control necessary and caused their souls to directly collapse. But his control grew with time, and He learned a few tricks that greatly improved the success rate. For one, He learned to not frontload all that power, while also choosing only those that he felt could handle it.
The collapsed souls, on the other hand, might have been useless, but it proved a point. This was because such a method only required one substance to complete - mana.
It was a curious thing, then. Mana begat the soul and souls begat mana. In essence, it was through this process that the soul was able to elevate itself. This was the principle behind the use of natural treasures and potions in strengthening the soul.
The discovery of this infinite feedback loop both astounded and frightened him. It became a way for him to become infinitely stronger than he was currently. However, it wasn’t something he was able to fully control.
The tentative successful experiments known as the [Blessed] were only an oversaturation of an already large vessel, not a comprehensive strengthening of the vessel directly. A perfect grasp on this subject would likely not be something he would be able to obtain for close to an eternity to come.
Steps were made, however.
Through continuous meditation over tens of thousands of years, he was able to finally sense his own soul core. It was much more difficult for him to find his own than for him to see those of his followers, but he was grateful for this. The numerous failed experiments spoke volumes of what hasty attempts at increasing power would result in.
However, those failures were interesting in their own right, and with those results in mind he came up with a theory that then was tested multiple times. It only gave results once. Poor results, but results nonetheless.
These experiments involved the use of devout, though weak, believers. He gave visions to countless people over the years and guided them into feeling their inner souls. He knew that it was a nigh impossible task, but by some miracle, one actually succeeded.
The mortal that succeeded was fortunate beyond belief, accomplishing it in but a few decades. It was lightning fast compared to himself, and drew his envy, though only quelled after considering the numbers that failed before them.
Then, through his careful guidance, the man was led to strengthen himself, cultivating their inner soul. This quickly triggered an irreversible feedback loop, forcibly elevating their power.
This time, it was not an external influence that led to their strength. An external power that would be able to withdraw its influence and end the reaction. An external force that had a rudimentary understanding of how to operate such a process.
Instead, it was due to their own unremitting effort. The person’s conviction was laudable, though as the saying went, “no good deeds can go unpunished”. It all went horribly wrong, and the believer eventually ended up detonating his soul. The explosion wiped their village off the map, even leveling the mountain beside it. The area today was still a mess, and chaotic mana storms were still abound.
It was a supreme waste and left him without even a corpse to autopsy or study. He was never able to figure out how this outlier came to be as a result.
To date, no one else has succeeded, but He knew He could do something similar. That was because the most challenging part, sensing the inner soul, was already complete.
Due to the fact that it was impossible to test, he didn’t know how strong the impact generated from his soul would be. But the ensuing blast will undoubtedly be much, much deadlier. After all, he was no civilian.
However, he couldn’t do this immediately. As much as he would have liked to just blast the damn invader directly, Parasmus needed them to move his true soul over. He didn’t want to do this next to the Core of the World. This was all for saving the world, not destroying it. However, he found that he wasn’t averse to the idea if things really came down to it.
3 System Hours until the end of the world