After observing the aftermath of what he had done, Karl decided to move. He had stayed at the unfortunate place for too long. With bitter feelings stuck in his mind, he chose to walk away along the main street, not in the mood to hide. His mood was to blame that he ignored the commotion in front of him for too long, until it could not be ignored anymore.
"What is this?!" He looked at the main street in front of him that led in the direction of Genji's gang that called itself a sect. It was like the street was moving in the distance, but when he focused, he saw a huge mass of creatures heading in his direction.
"We cannot face this head on!" After the initial shock, he quickly looked around, searching for a quick solution.
Karl and his forces quickly entered a narrow street on the side, hoping that the enemies would pass by, but he had no luck. Although the main mass of the creatures passed by indeed, considerable numbers still entered the side street and ran towards him and his minions who continued their frantic retreat.
"They are everywhere! I have to hold a line to buy some time for my escape!" Karl commanded his minions, even though he had doubts about the efficiency of such tactic. The Flesh Golems at the front were preparing for a massacre, but the disfigured minions of chaos of the enemy side seemed not interested in a fight and passed Karl's minions by, as if they were just hurrying to work.
"Wait, are they not attacking?" Karl watched as the enemy minions passed his ranks as if his forces were thin air, absolutely ignoring their presence.
At that moment he realized that the enemy forces were incredibly similar to his own and they even treated his minions as allies!
However, the same could not be said when they passed him and he quickly dodged the hostile gazes by commanding his Priestess of Depravity to turn around and pull down her hoodie.
"Crap! I hope they cannot sense me like this." Karl had an urge to breathe quickly, although there was no need for it.
It looked like the gates of hell itself had been breached, a sea of minions of chaos streaming on his left and right. He observed their backs as they ran down the street in the direction out of the city.
"Is this. . . the end times?" Karl whispered to himself when watching the tide.
Looking in the opposite direction to where the hordes of chaos flowed, the black stone shivered under the hood of his priestess, praying to all order-affiliated gods he knew that the creatures would not notice his presence. Occasionally, some minions of chaos not under his control collided with his loitering forces, but they were clearly not hostile to them and considered Karl's minions their own.
At one time, a tall figure stopped right next to Karl's bearer and sniffed in his direction. Not able to see the creature, Karl perceived only a huge shadow that was observing him through the cloth of the hood. He felt like the cloth between him and the abomination of chaos was the only reason he had not been found out. When the huge shadow bent slightly forward, trying to look the priestess directly in her face, Karl's dread reached the Ninth Heaven and he promptly commanded the priestess to hide him even better.
Before he knew it, nausea gripped him, as he was falling down, but he had not reached the ground. Long before, he landed on wet flesh of the priestess's tongue which quickly disappeared in her mouth while carrying her precious master.
"Just don't swallow me!" He wanted to add and insult, but stayed his words, as the priestess most likely saved his crystallized existence from the unknown abomination that left shortly after it had observed his bearer's face for a while.
"That was close." Karl's tension relaxed, but increased again when he sensed something wet touching him all over.
"Hey, you are a good girl, but stop it with that tongue!" Karl commanded mentally and ignored the inarticulate sounds that were her response.
"Are there gone?" Karl asked after a while, as he could not see a thing inside the mouth.
"N-o." She lisped, her mouth still full of Karl.
"Can I go out?" He asked again mentally after another few minutes, but the answer was not much different.
"I th-ng, I shtill shee sham!" The priestess answered and Karl decided not to risk it and waited a good fifteen minutes before asking again.
"Are they gone now?" He had an urge to frown when he realized the tongue around him was again moving much more then necessary.
I shee sham in the thistance! She responded, but this time, Karl paid close attention and saw briefly outside during her speech.
"You cheap wench! There is no one around us! Pull me out!" His angry mental command followed.
"Mashteer, but in the thistance. .. " She tried to defend herself, but Karl interrupted her immediately.
"I do not care, if you see them ten kilometers in the distance! Out! Out!" He began raging and finally, the Priestess of Depravity pulled him out of her mouth and started strapping him again to her forehead.
"I am sorry master for the inadequate hiding place, I will do better next time." She apologized while Karl tried to see through a thick layer of saliva.
"Do not even think about it! The hiding place was appropriate." Karl said in horror and tried to ignore the whole escapade.
Yet it was hard to push to the back of his mind, the terrifying hordes still visible far in the distance.
"Wait, do not tell me.. .. ?" Karl had an idea where the horrors might have come from.
* * * *
"What are you doing here, Haruko? You are not supposed to be here." Sato frowned at a petite girl with short black hair.
"Reporting success of the mission." The girl said with a short, energetic bow and stayed standing at attention in front of the Elder.
"Good, our useless ally finally took the bait. It took two attacks to persuade him in the right direction." Sato cackled while looking directly at a circular portal in front of him. "You should not be here Haruko, Genji might come here. Leave."
"With respect, Sato, that incompetent fool is enjoying his last days. " She broke her posture and came closer to Sato. "And we could use this privacy in some ways."
Sato had long been conspiring with her to replace Genji, who was clearly not fit for command. He had no guts to lead, it could be seen at the example of the outsider. He would have never approved of the false flag attacks Sato had ordered, although thanks to their actions, the Jing-Jang Palace was no more and they were free to rule Edo as they pleased. They were the sole organized force left in the city and soon, the fool Genji would be out of their way as well. It was unthinkable for him to enjoy the fruits of their work.
"Not yet Haruko! All in due time." Sato brushed away the hand that started wandering on top of his stomach. "Only a few days left before everything falls into place and the whole city of Edo is ours."
Sato looked at his lover, but their private moment had been interrupted by a sudden unpleasant sound of something tearing apart.
"What? The invaders from the Second Heaven!" Sato and Haruko both looked in panic at the Gate next to them and their eyes widened when a muscular leg of a man slowly emerged from the Gate and touched the ground of the forbidden chamber that housed the Gate.
"It cannot be!" Haruko stared with wide eyes as second leg passed through the Gate that seemed to resist the attempt to be breached less and less. Soon, they looked at the intruder of their privacy in his full glory.
Before them stood a giant of a man, no, an abomination with five eyes on its bald head and a few tentacles where an arm should have been. It looked around and its mouth formed a grin, revealing its sharp teeth.
"Flesh to explore. Flesh to shape." It said in a raspy, deep voice, disturbing greatly the both of them.
"Who. .?" Haruko's question left her mouth along with a trickle of blood and when she looked down at here belly, the disgusting limb of the visitor was embedded there, its tip sharp and jagged. She grabbed the tentacle instinctively with her hand and threw a pained look at Sato, seeking help. She thought that it was a sudden attack aimed to pierce her through, but was horrified when the tip inside her wound began moving again, further executing the claimed aim to explore.
Her eyes bulged in dread and pain.
"Sa. . to." But no one stood next to her any longer, as her faithful lover had already left the chamber.
* * * *
"I hope none of the stupid birds have a nest hidden here." Karl looked around again from atop of an improvised hat. He was high, on top of one of the highest towers in Edo that were still standing.
Yes, one of his bald powerhouses was no longer bald, but wore a hat. Karl had tried to be strapped on its bald head with a band, but it seemed too eye catching. He found out that the Prophet of N'Ri was in no need to turn his head, because of all his eyes, enabling Karl to be fully independent of his sight.
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The reason why he had changed his bearer was obvious, his mental state was a bit heightened, due to the recent events and he needed a change of pace.
"The center of their activity is clearly the Blood God Court." Karl stated after observing the city from bird's eye view. He was almost certain that the chaos spawn that flooded the city had something to do with that Gate. He had been able to build the Buildings that enabled him to summon his minions and here he saw the same type of creatures flooding the city from the direction of the Gate.
It could not be more obvious.
"The Second Heaven is obviously not as oblivious to the Gate as they thought." Karl thought back to his conversation with Genji and Sato. "If this is how the Second Heaven looks inside, I do not want to have anything to do with it."
He did not know what the creatures were or who commanded them, but based on his cultural background, the creatures could not be called by any other name than minions of chaos. Some might them call demons, but Karl pictured demons as more refined and orderly creatures.
"These things are simply too unhinged." Karl thought while glancing at the few swirling tentacles of his companion in place of his arm.
With the invasion, Karl's plans had been thrown to the wind, as not only had the Blood God Court probably not survived the invasion of chaos, but it was only a matter of time before other creatures and beasts of Edo were displaced by the disfigured abominations from the Gate.
"What a pain, considering this upheaval, my troubles in Jinsheng were superficial." He had serious thought about returning to the city where the dangers were old and known.
Observing the unending march of disfigured flesh for nearly an hour, he decided that it would be the most rational option. The fact that the chaos spawn had not attacked him might have been just a fluke. He could not entrust his life to a simple misunderstanding that would certainly not hold if he accidentally met whoever commanded the masses. He considering digging in, just like how a dungeon should do, but the proximity of the Gate was a huge risk.
Without delay, Karl ordered the Prophet of N'Ri to climb down the stairs of the tower that had been damaged, having holes everywhere and led his group of horrors in the direction of Jinsheng. He could have chosen a random direction, but he did not dare to explore an unknown territory with Edo at his back blocking his escape road.
Surprisingly, they made a good time with no incidents, because most of the local beasts were occupied by the minions of chaos who still ignored Karl's group that looked exactly the same as them, as long as Karl himself hid in the folds of the tentacles of his new bearer.
Exiting by the same gate he used to enter the city, Karl made his way towards his old base, using the river as a landmark. He was not an experienced explorer and knew that following the river was foolproof. While his minions ran along the gentle waves of the treacherous water source, Karl noticed someone moving in the same direction at the opposite bank.
He immediately recognized the man.
The same could not be said about his acquaintance, who along with a few ragged and wounded men tried to speed up the moment they saw Karl's group and one of his followers started shooting arrows at the Prophet of N'Ri who was not burdened with Karl.
"I never liked that idiot! I have to signal him that we are not enemies." Karl thought and controlled his leading minion to wave at the man. The Prophet of N'Ri waved his normal hand at him and pointed at Karl, who was strapped to its hat. Yet, no understanding could be seen in the man's eyes after seeing the gesture, only confusion and horror.
"Is that guy stupid or what? He must have seen me!" Karl looked at the distressed man, who he remembered to be called Sato by Genji. He thought him to be a tough and smart guy and his panic did not match Karl's first impression of him.
"Could it be that he is misunderstanding something?" A sudden thought come to Karl and he had the urge to slap his forehead. "Let's just ignore them, the archer has no more arrows left anyway."
Their speed was greater than the speed of Sato's group and Karl soon outpaced them, leaving the panicked people in the distance. As they ran, they saw a few more people and even many beasts running away from Edo, all in haste to escape the terrible invasion that was taking place there. Karl's group was the fastest of them all, not because of their speed, but because his minions required little rest. It was not to the point of being tireless, but their need for respite was considerable lower compared to humans and beasts that were escaping in the same direction.
Unsurprisingly, no escapees were in the mood to fight while having the huge mob of chaos spawn in their back and Karl managed to reach the outskirts of Jinsheng without any incident. Something that would have not happened without the turmoil in Edo.
"I just hope that their numbers are limited behind that damn Gate." Karl stared at the brand new shipyard far in the distance that had been recently constructed by the Puple Lotus Sect. He quickly reoriented himself and headed in the direction of his old base.
While running, he opened his status out of boredom and was surprised by what stared back at him from the Build section.
[Basic Tunnel Element 1 000Ma 0/s], [Basic Trap Element 10 000Ma 0/s], [Advanced Tunnel Element 10 000Ma 0/s], [Advanced Trap Element 100 000Ma 1/s]
[Basic Tunnel Element(2) 10 000Ma 0/s], [Basic Trap Element(2) 100 000Ma 1/s], [Advanced Tunnel Element(2) 100 000Ma 1/s], [Advanced Trap Element(2) 1 000 000Ma 10/s],
[Basic Tunnel Element(3) 100 000Ma 1/s], [Basic Trap Element(3) 1 000 000Ma 10/s], [Advanced Tunnel Element(3) 1 000 000Ma 10/s], [Advanced Trap Element(3) 10 000 000Ma 100/s],
[Wolf Den 1 500 000Ma 10/s]
[Festering Wound 500 000Ma 5/s]
[Temple of Blood 900 000Ma 8/s]
[Maw of Insanity(2) 6 000 000Ma 20/s]
[Circle of Submission(2) 7 000 000Ma 20/s]
[Cathedral of The Thousand Eyes(3) 50 000 000Ma 220/s]
"What is going on?" Karl froze for a second, not expecting the options he had been presented with.
As they moved forward, he looked again and again, but the only line that changed was the Wolf Den, the remaining dwellings of chaos minions staying in place.
"Something has changed, I have no memory of these being available here before." A feeling of dread crept into his mind. They stretched their steps until they saw a tower in the distance that was just barely visible from behind a new outer wall that had been build by the Water Dragon Sect.
"That has to be a tower of the Twinstar Fortress." Karl was attacked by a wave of nostalgia, but this feeling was interrupted when he lowered his gaze and ended up staring at a hastily build stone gate that had not been there in the past. An entrance to Lehaim's territory.
"It might be time to negotiate with the old fart a new deal." Karl observed the gate, which looked sturdy despite its simple design with thick steel bars that could be lowered to prevent traffic on the dirt road sneaking under it. The quality of the road going out was obviously terrible and it even vanished a dozen meters outside of the walled off territory. There was not much traffic going back and forth, tall grass and vegetation being a witness to this fact.
"I must go alone, the guards might be scared anyway." Karl ordered his bearer to walk quickly towards the two guards that were loitering in front of the gate, the gruesome hand and additional eyes of his minion hidden under black cloth and a hood of a long cloak that he had picked during their escape from Edo. People tended to leave a lot lying on the ground when running for their lives.
"Who goes there?! Stop where you are!" The lean man yelled when Karl got close enough to the guards to be a threat. He looked nervous, not even wearing the colors of the Water Dragon Sect, he had to be an expendable workforce provided by Jinsheng and based on his nervousness, he obviously understood his great importance to the sect.
Karl immediately ordered his minion to lift his hands up and showed his palms in an universal gesture of peace.
"I come in peace. " Karl said and ordered his minion to relay his words to the guards.
"Monster attack! Close the gates! Close the gates!" One of the guards shouted with red face and the pair of protectors of the city disappeared behind the bars of the gate, which slammed shut right behind them.
"I am an idiot." Karl realized his mistake and jumped aside back to the forest to dodge the arrows that shortly flew in his direction.
"There is no way around it, I will have to use the priestess." Karl grumbled in his mind, the prophet was sadly no good.
* * * *
Toby and Doyle stood in front of the gate leading to the Water Dragon Sect's territory. They used to be members of the militia keeping order in the city, or rather serving the corrupted officials who cared more about their assets than the safety of citizens, but all had changed when both the new and old sects finished their outer layer of defense. More gatekeepers was needed and the cultivators of the sects were too busy, arrogant or simply too valuable for the city to be left standing here all day.
Toby liked the change, as he had the solid gate behind his back where he could hide into safety anytime and he had together with Doyle already trained several times how to quickly close the gate during an emergency. In his opinion, there was nothing to fear and as a bonus, there could be no knife in their backs due to turf wars that were never ending inside Jinsheng.
He thought that he would never ever say it, but he had to admit that the city council had finally done something to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants.
Out of the blue, Toby's pleasant boredom was interrupted by an unusually tall figure that approached the gate. His muscles immediately tensed and he had an urge to jump behind the gate and close it. Unfortunately, that was not what their superior ordered and he forced his legs to stay where they were and listen to what the suspicious person had to say.
The tall man in a cloak lifted his arm, directing his palm at them as if aiming some spell on them and a swirl of tentacles appeared from one side of his cloak. Yes, he had no other hand, his second hand being just the disgusting tentacles. Toby was shocked, but before he could move, the unknown entity spoke something.
"Gwhaaa bleeee." He listened to the something that came out of the entity and then immediately jumped behind the gate, pulling the emergency lever with all his might while his colleague kept shouting like a mad man.
"Monster attack! Close the gates! Close the gates!"
Ignoring all information his senses were trying to feed him with, he cut them off and started a panicked shout of his own.
"Demon cultivators attacking! An enemy attack! We are under siege!"
* * * *
"Ah, The ninth level, let's turn this space into something grandiose." A tall person dressed in a lavish white suit chuckled and with a snap of his fingers, four walls of a grand hall appeared around him, its ceiling barely visible.
"No, bigger! This is fun!" He snapped his fingers again and the hall increased in size once more to the point the size being absolutely ridiculous.
"That is more like it!" His eyes looked around and his gaze stayed at the empty space that lacked a door.
The next moment, a grand, golden door materialized, enclosing the insanely large space. An enormous golden door that according to all logic had no right to exist, but in this world, logic did not always apply, for it was His playground. For a second, the ridiculousness of the door reminded him of a different world, one that did not allow him to play as he willed.
His mood soured.
He had thought he won, but his reward was just boredom. A crushing river of sameness that kept grinding down his sanity.
He longingly remembered how eons ago, he fought against the other gods and won. He had been even able to trick the treacherous gods of chaos.
It seemed like a different lifetime when he took all his faithful and created a realm for them that was the most stable environment he could think of, with no magic, no tricks, no special powers and invented a system that would later prove to successfully defeat the chaotic powers of corruption.
His trick was simple.
His followers lived their short lives and before the chaos managed to corrupt them, they died and were reborn anew. Fresh and clean. His answer to defeat corruption was reincarnation. No one could live long enough to be truly corrupted.
"I was a true genius, a genius! " He laughed out laud and snapped his fingers once more, a robust golden throne appearing in front of him. "Yet, for what? For the opportunity of being stuck in my own victory, the jail of my own making? To keep vigil for eternity over my realm?"
"That is a hollow victory! Let's have some fun!" He snapped his fingers again and more and more bizarre spectacles began materializing in front of him, giving the last touches to the world he had created just for his amusement. When he was done, he sat down on the throne and conjured a few bottles of extraordinary liquors.
All this time he had been obsessed with efficiency, security and other important parameters, but no more. He had finally created the Heaven he liked, not the one he needed, because what was the use of the functional, if it brought him just boredom and emptiness?