Chapter 278
The Gambler’s body was scattered, in shambles after the eradication of the underground temples in The Abyssal Descent. The black crystal that’d been hoarded there for eons was now gone, rejoined to its original wielder, and even now as he swept through the darkness into the deeper recesses of the abyss - he could feel the presence of Lillith growing.
His arch nemesis had gotten the better of him… this time.
Still. He couldn’t blame himself for trying even despite circumstances having not been ideal. What other time could he have attempted such a thing? Assassinating Gluttony’s Reincarnation would have been the pinnacle of success after Greed’s forces had also managed to steal The Seventh Wing away from both the heavens and Gluttony’s own warriors. The Church of Greed had lost a few S-Grade Empyrean-Class demons in order to do it, but they’d gained the true prize in their co-op with The Great Maw.
And draining the commandment of Purity for all time would no doubt be a great boon to thrive off of, for both Greed - when he managed to reincarnate as well - and for The Gambler himself.
“I have failed, master.” The Gambler’s voice resonated inside his soul like an echo chamber, but another’s presence quickly presented itself as the Original Sin of Greed welcomed him home.
“It was worth the attempt. We knew it likely wouldn’t work to begin with, even at the cost of many of the younger generation.” Greed’s scratchy voice replied, sounding like twigs cracking with every syllable. “Do not dwell on it. We will have ample chances to kill or capture Gluttony’s reincarnation as he grows in power, and as long as we manage to do so before he reaches the pinnacle again - we won’t have cause to worry. This reset on the commandments and sins will for eons restructure the power dynamic between what were once equals, and many more risks like this one will doubtless need to be taken as the centuries wear on. As for now…”
Greed paused, contemplating something while letting out occasionally growls and grunts. “As for now, there is another that you will contact for me. Are you familiar with The Blood Moon Requiem?”
“I am.” The Gambler replied. “Why do you ask?”
“There is a vampire there of great importance to our cause. An enemy of my enemy is my friend, or so the saying goes… and I believe we could aid one another in the attempt on Riven Thane the next time we try. He goes by the title of Elder Thune… and the archbishop on the planet of Aldius should have some of our best waiting to escort you; so that you may enter into diplomacy with him. Finish your own descent, claim E-grade, help the Naga cultist with his own ascendancy, and then you must leave.”
There was a pause.
“I will do as asked, master. And I will not fail you this time.”
***
A tenth of the entire city was absolutely ruined, with city blocks eradicated and hundreds of the best of F-grade and E-grade for the Unholy Pillar now laying dead or dying in the streets. Gluttony’s forces were cleaning up or helping their injured comrades, while other forces on the periphery who’d been watching were kept at bay or dealt with harshly whenever they tried looting corpses.
Because in most cases, each corpse was a treasure trove of supplies from some of the wealthiest and most influential clans demonkind had to offer.
And truthfully, Riven felt a little sad despite the victory. He’d been saving his skeletal summons in case Greed’s forces pulled a trump card out, and he’d not even used his ultimate form where he and Gluttony would fuse to form a demonic body - but now he was regretting not having used them due to how many of his allies had died. Gluttony was telling him it was wise to keep such things in reserve just in case they were needed, and Riven was used to seeing death by now, but these people - these creatures… they looked up to him as some kind of worship-worthy being.
They’d fought and died for him, going all out in their own rights while Riven had held back just in case he’d been targeted and needed the additional boost.
“Don’t give yourself so much credit. This fight between our churches is ancient, and has been going on long before you got here.” Lillith said with a friendly nudge, standing next to Riven atop one of the skyscrapers overlooking the molten wreckage of what had once been the underground Greed temples. “We’d have fought, killed, and died regardless of whether or not you were the almighty chosen one.”
She said that last title with a bit of teasing exaggeration.
Raising an eyebrow and giving the ancient demoness a sour glare, he couldn’t help but feel a little bit better about what she’d said. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right!” She swatted him on the back, causing him to stumble and smiling widely. “And I’m in a great mood! They’d been holding part of me hostage here for a long long time now. A piece of my soul. I just got it back.”
“How’d that ever happen? Weren’t you supposed to be some hotshot?”
“Hey kid, I still AM a hotshot.” She chuckled, then waved a dismissive hand across his face. “And wipe that stupid frown off. You did very well, and your training has obviously paid dividends. You’ll be E-grade in no time, and back in Chalgathi’s trials.”
“Indeed. How did the operation in Universe 3 go? Did we catch The 7th Wing?”
Lillith threw up her hands to either side, still in a jolly mood. “Yes and no. We had a specialist mark Purity’s reincarnation with a tracker in anticipation of Greed betraying us, and are now waiting patiently for her to be settled down before we give it a go. They did just what we thought they would, and she’ll no doubt be put down in a high security prison somewhere - hidden from the rest of the multiverse. Worst case scenario, Purity is still captured - just not by us. Best case scenario…”
Lillith began rubbing her hand together with a vicious grin. “We get Purity back, and find one of Greed’s hidden strongholds so we can burn it to the ground.”
“That’s quite the gamble.”
“Somewhat, but it was more important that Purity be taken from Heaven - rather than she go specifically to us. It would obviously be favorable to keep her ourselves… but it is a good outcome regardless. I have no doubt the heavens will be up in arms and scouring the edges of the third universe within days though, and countless worlds inhabited by demons will burn.”
Riven’s mouth fell slack. “Seriously?”
Lillith gave off a more grave, and less excited expression with a sigh. “Yes. But Purity is an extremist, and would no doubt have done it anyways when she rose to power. The eternal war sleeps for no one, and both sins and commandments are going to be out with a vengeance. Taking Purity out of the equation is an enormous boon for all of demonkind, not just us. Now, pick up and…”
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WHOOMPH
The world around Riven abruptly turned gray, and time stopped - as his soul was forcefully ejected from his body. Even Gluttony’s presence was absent, as Riven’s ethereal form looked around at what was usually the representation of the world when his malignant prophecy activated.
Just what was this?
Turning in the air and freezing stiff, his ghostly eyes landed on a familiar figure.
She...
She looked like she’d just walked out of his memories, every detail matching the same figure he remembered from back when he was just a kid.
She stood like a beacon in the night atop the tower as time remained at rest. Soft features, a sad but brilliant smile, the head tilt he often did when pondering, and the same brown hair he had. She was beautiful, and… and was it really her?
His voice caught, and if he’d been in his normal body - his heart would have been pounding. “M…Mom?”
A wave of emotions roiled within him, and seeing her like this so suddenly and without warning… it made him want to cry. “Are… is that you? Are you real?”
He reached out, floating down to stand beside the spitting image of the woman who’d raised him, but his hand traveled through her as she let out a soft breath of air with a nod.
“You’ve grown up…” She muttered, still looking forlorn. Sheline Thane, otherwise known as Lady Sheline Wraithtide, raised her hand as if to brush his face - but hesitated an inch from him and dropped her arm. “That… saddens me.”
He could not comprehend this.
Was he dreaming?
Sadness, excitement, and confusion were abruptly replaced with rage - and Riven snapped angrily at her with a sneer full of internal pain and turmoil. “Yeah well it fucking saddens me too, mom!”
His voice broke, and he let out an involuntary whimper while rapidly changing between sorrow and anger. “Where have you been? Why are you here now? Why did you abandon us?”
“I did not abandon-”
“YES YOU DID!” Riven screamed, snapping again and clenching his fists. “ALLIE AND I WERE LEFT ALL ALONE! We had NO IDEA where the FUCK you’d gone! I looked for you for years… and… and I’d given up until…”
He let his gaze fall, and became silent.
That silence reigned for quite some time.
What was he even supposed to say?
He was at a loss for words. After everything that'd happened, without warning, she'd finally reappeared.
“I did not wish to leave, but it was for your own protection. We were being tracked… and we still are being tracked even to this day… the day in my future, where I’m speaking to you now.” She said with a sigh. “And truthfully Riven, I’m not even here right now. Not really.”
His gaze snapped back up. “What do you mean? You appear out of nowhere and now you’re saying you’re not really here? What does-”
“This is an image. A projection of myself through time.” Sheline, his mother replied softly. “Please, contain your anger. I do not have much time to speak. These images are taxing, and I must find both place and time within the matrix to properly stay. It is a gift you may one day figure out for yourself, though not all carriers of the prophecy are able to do so.”
He rapidly snapped his jaw shut, but remained silent - waiting for her to continue and choking back words he’d been wanting to shout at her for over a decade. That he missed her, that he loved her, that he wanted her back… That he hated her for leaving. That he’d been scared when she’d left him to take care of Allie.
Allie. What would she say about this?
How the hell was he supposed to break this kind of news to her?
And who was it that’d made his mom leave? She was still being hunted? Even now?
“Riven…” Sheline began, with firmer resolve to her voice and standing a bit straighter. Her gaze flitted to Allie’s form in the distance, and that gaze softened again. “Thank you for taking care of your little sister. I want you both to know that I miss you… more than you know. But you must finish this descent with haste. If you do not… Your world will die. As will you. And Gluttony won’t be enough to save you.”
Riven blinked, and eventually when she didn’t continue - he replied through gritted teeth. “You have my attention, and you said time is short. Go on.”
Silence.
"Please to not look at me with such hate... Please, Riven." His mother was obviously undergoing a hard time herself with this reunion, and her composure broke when she stifled a sob and held a hand up to her mouth. But soon afterwards, she pointed towards the black portal at the center of the city. “This system event is unique. I know you have had the system notification explain some of it to you, but let me be clear. Every 300 years the rankings reset, and more people are allowed into the descent to complete their soul lattice. That is the purpose of this place, for the greatest of the F-grades oriented towards the Unholy Pillar, and you’re not competing against the contenders who are currently here this round. Rather, your score is competing against the contenders who went in the last cycle.”
She waved a hand, and a piece of the script from Riven’s old notification months ago came into view.
[Successfully completing The Abyssal Descent will result in 50 points. Completing in the top 100 contenders will result in 300 points. Completing this event in the top 5 contenders will result in 1000 points. Finishing first will result in 3000 points.]
“I know you may be asking why I’m telling you this, but let me explain why it is relevant.” She glanced down at the hologram, then back to him. “Your score in The Abyssal Descent is dependent upon matching it to the previous contenders, and is based upon how well your soul lattice is constructed. The abyss will give you insights during meditation, and the deeper you go - the more dangerous it gets, but the more insight you can acquire. If you do better than the top 100 contenders from the last 300 year cycle as ranked by Elysium when constructing your soul lattice - you will acquire a bonus. Completing with a better score than the top 5 means you get a top 5 rank, and you’ll need to beat the previous top contender in order you win the number 1 spot. If you do not finish in the number 1 spot, Riven, you will fail to win the Chalgathi trials. Another will beat you to the egg if that should happen, a cultist. If that is to pass, the system will treat you as an outlier given Gluttony’s presence and increase the penalty for failing - increasing the bonus the cultist acquires, and the apocalypse beast named Chalgathi will grow an entire two tiers. For those who have distinct advantages such as yourself, it expects you to win. And if you don’t, then it punishes you far more harshly than it would others under more normal circumstances.”
She paused for emphasis. “You will not be unleashing an F-grade apocalypse beast on the world if you fail. Not an E-grade either. You would be unleashing a legendary, level 599 D-grade apocalypse beast onto Panu, and it will kill you along with everything else that lives. This is something that I have foreseen, and even with this warning I am unsure if you will be able to make it out in time. So not only must you hurry, but you must hurry and do well. And I advise you now that, should you not succeed… you need to abandon Panu entirely. Not even Lillith would be able to save you if Chalgathi appears fully formed at the cusp between D and C grade, so there are no other options but to flee.”
***
Tre’Zix of the Purple Claw sniffed at the cellar, and the mantis-like archdemon’s bladed arms traced the dirt where the scent still lingered. He looked around the room at the various tools of torture, of the remnants of Vin and Nin. The flow of turmoil in the room was palpable to his senses, he could still literally feel the pain and torture that’d happened here, the horror behind it, and the resonate emotions of the victims that still may or may not be alive.
Or, at least two of them might still be alive.
“Tre’Zix…” One of his mantis brethren hissed, clicking her mandibles and brushing a bladed arm up against her horns. “We have found a trail. A spacial rift was used in the opposite cellar. We believe the culprits to have fled through it… Do you think it was treachery? Betrayal?”
Tre’Zix snorted, his red eyes gleaming over the deep purple-red chitin of his face - and he stood up to stretch his wings while turning his simultaneously demonic and insectoid form around. “Probably. There are unknown scents here, I am only familiar with Mara’s smell. It is hard for me to distinguish why this happened, but she was interrogated for something. Tortured, certainly, and less than a day ago. Whoever it was holding her, they probably found out that we were coming.”
The other mantis cocked her head quizzically. “How?”
“Insider information and treachery - as you suggested… or a means of scrying that I did not detect. Though the latter seems unlikely.” Tre’Zix clambered over an overturned table and through a hallway, changing into his more humanoid form in order to fit properly given his otherwise gigantic size. Walking into the next cellar, he came to a stop where others of his Klinac’Tal Clan were waiting for him in silence. The remnants of the rift torn in space were now stabilized thanks to their efforts, and a wide grin set across his face when Mara’s scent grew stronger.
His mandibles began to click. They were getting closer.
The mandibles of the others began to click in turn, and the pack of archdemons slowly all began to laugh with a violent glint to their eyes. A glint that called for a bloody murder, and one that showed they’d enjoy every second of it.
“The hunt is on boys…” Tre’Zix called to his fellows, reaching towards the remnant magics and infusing it with sin. Purple lightning raced up his arm and discharged, tearing space open once again and revealing a spherical portal. “We have their scent. Let’s not keep them waiting.”
He stepped into the globe, and one by one - the twenty members of his ancient and once very feared clan all stepped in after him. After a moment the portal closed, and only blood and dust was left behind.