“Effort is the key.”

“Effort is the consistency of input.”

“Effort is the consistency of output.”

“Without it, you might as well announce yourself as everybody's bitch.”

#5 Quote - Book of Races and Species.

*

Li’On Domain - Temple of the Oracles- ???

BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM

Intense pressure from the explosion pushed the air away from the origin point.

Alongside air forced outward, Sound did the same.

As did Light, Heat, and Vibrations, yet that was not the worst.

The worst was that the explosion happened in a closed space.

Yes, the stone chamber was large in all proportions. But that did not erase the fact that it became a giant pressure cooker. Anything not supernatural would have been ripped to pieces in the worst case and burned to death at the very least.

So, I was very glad I no longer belonged to such fragile existences. And even more glad the Honey Badger I protected was not one either.

At least not at this moment, because I am pumping her body full of Auril.

The Auril increased the physical integrity of her body while fueling the White Flame that she summoned from out of nowhere. However, even with the White Flame Cladding her whole body, she still wouldn't have survived the explosion just with that.

Despite the abundant stock of energy, actually, it was my quick thinking of dipping away from the center of the explosion to hide myself behind the huge Golden Barrier the Old Diviner created that saved her and me alongside her.

Still, just in case, I slimed the beastly construct made out of White Flame to the densest possible consistency I could exhibit at the moment.

I am not sure what it felt like for her, but to me, it felt like I gave this female Honey Badger the greatest of hugs in existence while not harming her.

Yet, I still felt the Heat, the Light, the Pressure, and Vibrations smothering the… fluid white armor-like construct I created around her body.

It took around half a minute for things to calm down.

Once it did, I uncurled the fluid armor.

As a side effect, the female Honey Badger had to follow the movements, almost like a puppet, but not that she minded it much currently. Her psyche was in a sort of bliss-like state from the raging emotions and information overload reaching her mind.

Uncurled, I looked around.

The first things coming to my attention were numerous squiggly lines on the floor and the walls as they pulsed like a living heartbeat.

I had no idea what they were, but I did have a suspicion.

After all, now, with my recovered memory, I remember reading a lot of fantasy stuff.

The memories told me to categorize the lines as a magical formation that does magical stuff. In this case, it was very likely a defensive formation that protected the precious mirror or the chamber it got carved onto.

Nodding with understanding, I turned around and noticed a thing that brought me a smile.

Walking a few steps to the left, I peeked at everything inside the chamber.

Huge crater? Not really, as the formation had absorbed quite a lot of the damage. The damage would have destroyed most of the stuff outside the chamber.

Golden Barrier? Gone. Although, one Old Diviner with a gray mane panted for breath right in front of the giant mirror.

His sparkly gray WereLion form had vanished as well.

The Golden WereLion was gone too, and so was the one the individual who summed that huge Black Fireball.

Mmm. I distinctly remember them running outside the chamber. They will be fine, probably.

What should I do now?

Trying my best to figure it out, I quickly went through everything that happened in these past few minutes.

Honestly, it all went by so fast. I can hardly believe what I have done.

If somebody had told me I would be fighting somebody, I'd be considered an idiot.

In that life, I was but another of those cogs in a machine where violence was forbidden. Plenty of incentives existed to not consider it, let alone do it.

And if you did, there were plenty of punishments that followed.

But Gods forbid if I killed somebody. I'd be waving freedom goodbye for a long time. Yet, here I am in the prongs of such violence.

One declaration to get rid of the Old Diviner got announced. I wasn't sure why I did it. But my guts were telling me to do it, so I followed up on the advice, and that advice brought me here to this moment.

Hmm, I don't think the problem lies in me getting rid of the Old Diviner. He's already on the brink of Death grabbing him any second now.

Once my mind figured that out, I turned my attention to the giant ass mirror that decorated this chamber.

It was created out of Gold. At least its frame was. However, that was still a lot of Gold when the mirror was at least two meters in diameter.

Getting rid of the Old Diviner will do nothing, as Diviners and Mirrors are a buy-one-get-one extra package deal. Therefore I need to destroy the Mirror as well. Right?

However, when I used White Flame Explosion, it did nothing to it. Either it's impervious to damage, or the White Flame is not strong enough.

At least not enough, when compared to the cage that held the female Honey Badger.

That was also the reason I listened to my gut. Because of it, I decided to use a long-known cheat of blowing the hinges of the door instead of the unbreakable and unopenable door.

Nodding the Honey Badger head, instead of my own physical self, as all my awareness had shifted here, I tilted the fluid armors head back before breathing White Flame like a dragon.

Once more, the White Flame split into two directions. Both Flaming streams encircled the altar of the Giant Mirror and the Old Diviner with the gray mane.

“You…!” He growled at me, but I cared not.

The White Flame, like a properly trained puppy, eagerly tried to please me by following my commands since I was the one that fed it.

When my entire awareness combined with that fact, there was no trouble controlling it.

Still, the first time I interacted with the White Flame, I understood the Intent imbued into its existence. And while I knew not the actual limits, I understood deeply the Spiritual Consumption it exhibited.

Therefore, the goal was to have the Flame break the connection between the formation and the Mirror.

The Old Diviner trembled as he stood up in response to my action.

His scepter began to glow, but it was nothing like before.

Seeing him like that, I ignored him by focusing on the White Flame and the circle it had created.

As the White Flame burned away the light emitting squiggly lines on the floor, the Old Diviner summed forth another Golden Fireball.

It took one glance to know it was much weaker than before and when it reached me and exploded, I toughed it out like a champion without interrupting the White Flame Breath.

Multiple weak-ass fireballs hitting me and me spewing flames, I felt the first squiggly lines catching on fire.

Then voices came to my attention.

“Brother, your advice was crap. That almost killed us.”

“I know. I know. Don't rub it into my face.” The other replied dismissively.

Splitting a tiny bit of my awareness, I glanced at them.

The one who summoned the Black Fireball had a familiar facial structure. Only when I saw the other one, who had withdrawn his WereLion form, did it all click into place.

You don't forget the killers of your best buddy just like that. No doubt about it, it's them.

“Nah. Will be doing it till the day I die. Still, what do we do now? I don't want to repeat the same experience.” Asked the one with the Black Sun Tattoo on his forehead.

“I… am not sure.” The one with the Golden Sun Tattoo on his forehead replied. “Armaments don't work on it. And Destruction… causes unforeseen effects to happen? The only thing I can imagine that will work, without a doubt, is to overpower it with enough Golden Flames. Or to attack it physically with High-Grade Artifacts.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“I guess that leaves us with only one option.” Black Sun forehead tattoo guy admitted. “Am I right to assume constant Flame exposure is a bad idea too?”

“Yea, it needs to be instantaneous in its effects.” Golden Sun forehead tattoo guy confirmed.

Feeling my options trimmed down by the seconds, I understood my only option forward.

Ignoring the twins, I split half of my awareness.

One half focused on my Dream Realm. The idea was to draw from the Realm for more juice. Specifically, to drow from the White Flame at the bottom of my Realm.

Since it was my first time doing it, I had my physical Honey Badger body enter the center of the Flaming bottom of my Realm with no hesitation because instinctively, I knew there would be no harm to me inside it.

After all, this is my Realm. Still, that did not mean I could use it as I like, willy-nilly.

Some conditions had to be fulfilled.

First, I had to know what I was doing. And if I did not, I should at least be sure of the idea behind my reasoning.

Second, I had best limit the amount of Time it operated under, as any prolonged usage would destabilize the inner workings of the Realm.

Thirdly, if both the first and the second Rules got ignored, I best prepare myself for the consequences. Because, at that point, the destabilization of my Realm would be the least of my problems. At that point, I risked losing everything.

Luckily, in my current circumstances, all I needed was additional juice instead of accomplishing miracles.

With my physical body as the bridge, I drew on the White Flame of my Realm.

With the medium of the female Honey Badger, I added it to the White Flame she created.

Currently, I have no idea how it came to be, but both Flames were different yet similar, technically speaking. Even if nothing special happened, I knew, without a doubt, it could be used as fuel.

My Realm Master gut instinct told me of that. However, when the White Flame Breath attained the Dream-like properties of my Realm, something unique did occur.

“Wh… What is… going on?” An old voice spoke with plenty of pauses between the words.

The Old Diviner was spent. His sun-kissed complexion turned a shade whiter from sheer exhaustion and whatever he noticed was none of my concern. He was out of the game.

No, my attention was stolen by what I felt as I combined the two White Flames into one.

In the same instant they achieved fusion, the Rules and Laws of Reality attained a malleability they did not possess before, at least when I was concerned.

All it took was one tiny thought of mine, and the White Flame encircling the altar destroyed the formation, piece by piece, at least the parts it was touching.

With another thought of mine, the circle the White Flame had become began to grow in size as it reached for the sky up above, or the ceiling in this case.

With another thought, the circle gained a directional flow in a clockwise manner.

The one-directional flow was there to create a centrifugal force. It wasn't a true physical force centrifugal force, but it would act as a suction effect on the energy that fueled the formation.

Within seconds, the White Flaming circle sped up fast enough to generate its own rotation power. And within seconds, a White Flaming Tornado came into existence, fed by the very power exhibited by the formation.

Moments later, what I desired was achieved.

Instantly, I cut off the Dream Realm juice. At the same time, I stopped my own White Flame Breath.

The only thing left was to lay back and enjoy the wonder I created.

Sadly, while impressive visually, it did not contain the same prowess as a genuine flaming tornado.

There was no oxygen consumption for fuel. Therefore, no rushing air to fill the vacuum from the overconsumption of air a regular flame causes.

Still, placing my but on the ground, I glared at the wonder before me. Despite everything I had gone through, the novelty of creating spectacular things filled me with glee.

This brings me back to my childhood and the new toys I played with.

Sadly, the novelty was not meant to last.

There at the entrance of this chamber, I saw one individual eager to truffle with me.

We both stared at each other's faces for a moment before moaning erupted from his Golden Sun forehead tattooed brother.

Instantly, his face forgot about me. His head jerked left to see his brother clutching his head with both hands.

“Brother!” Shouted the Black Sun forehead tattoo guy. “What happened? Were you hurt?”

“No… I… I… Don't think so.” I heard him say.

It was weird how we could understand each other, but I ignored it. My mind wondered what was going on. So far, I had yet to make a move against them, except to defend myself.

“It's… not my pain… I think.” The Golden Sun forehead tattoo dude answered vaguely. “Yet, I can feel it echo inside me. It's… as if I'm being burned from the inside out.”

“That makes no sense.” Black Sun forehead tattoo guy commented.

And he was right. It made no sense. And it would continue being so had I not heard the last dialog between the Old Diviner and this Golden Sun forehead tattoo dude.

As a response, my head whipped a few times between the White Flame Tornado and the Golden Sun forehead tattoo dude before a conjecture manifested in my mind.

Just in case, I gave the tornado one more glance before making my way to the twins.

My approach was slow so as to not spook them too much.

Personally, I had no beef with them. Even if Alexander died because of them, at least they had prevented him from going down to the Dark Side.

Chuckling a few times at the word Dark Side, as it probably existed here in this world, I arrived beside them.

In the same instant, I realized a simple fact.

The physical body of this female Honey Badger was much, much bigger than I expected.

Still, now was not the time to trip myself on those thoughts.

Shoving aside the thoughts, I saw the two brothers flinch as they noticed me.

Both retreated a few steps, only for more moans to leave the Golden Sun forehead tattoo dude.

“Don't move. I mean you no harm.” I say with carefully detailed intent in the projected voice.

The idea behind it is simple. Even if the frequency by which the brain processes sound is different, the Intent imbued inside it should be enough to bridge the gap of understanding.

Both brothers followed my advice. However, their expression spoke of preparedness to zip away if needed.

“I believe I know the cause of what you're experiencing. Will you let me examine you?” I asked calmly.

Both of them stared at me as if not fully understanding what I was saying. I knew they did, as it had worked so far.

When they said nothing, I glanced back at the tornado to see for a second. Noticing its behavior showed no indication of loosening up, I focused on the twins.

Specifically, I focused on the Golden Sun forehead tattoo dude.

“Remember the last words that Old Diviner spoke to you?”

In the same moment, I asked the question, I saw his eyes blink with recognition.

In the same instant, his eyes blitzed toward the flaming tornado. They stayed locked onto it for a moment before focusing on me.

“I… am feeling the Golden Mirror?” He posed the question to me.

“I am a being of Chaos.” I explained. “Destiny/Fate/Karma are my bitches. I am totally invisible to them. Therefore, the Mirror could not Divine my intervention in today's endeavor. On the other hand, if the Old Seer was right, you are to be its next puppet. Want me to break the last strings tying it to you?”

After saying that, for two seconds, I tried to imagine myself smiling. But in favor of not spooking them too much at the moment, that too got shoved aside.

“Brother, be careful of its intentions!” The Black Sun forehead tattoo guy cautioned on the side. “Who knows what the true motives are? Or what the price is?”

“I know.”

Shaking my fluid armor head, I give one answer. “My intentions are of goodwill. As for the price, you have already paid for it in a certain way.”

“I did?” The Golden Sun forehead tattoo dude wondered.

Nodding, I pointed it out to him. “I am not sure how much time passed as I slept, but I remember you two. You both were there when the first of my Chosen was descending down to the Dark Side.”

It took them a moment to realize what I meant, but both of them gawked at me once they did.

“You may have been following orders from somebody, but thanks to your actions, the worst-case scenario got prevented.” I reason with them before focusing on the Black Sun forehead tattoo guys. “At the same time, if my guess is right, thanks to your actions, my Chosen have obtained a wonderful talent. With that being the case, I will help you deal with the puppet strings.”

With the questions posed, we stared at each other for a few moments when a shudder from behind alerted me.

Glancing at it, I saw the flaming tornado weaken somewhat.

Complementing my following words, I lowered my tone for better effectiveness. “You better decide now. The White Flame Tornade is interfering with it on a bigger scale than you imagine. You either chose to cut the strings now or admit to forever being its little puppet.”

Hesitation followed as the brothers gazed at each other before nodding. “I'll do it, but what about my younger brother? The Head Oracle mentioned him too.”

“I doubt he's in the same situation as you, but I won't mind doing the same for him.” Agreeing, I moved closer to them.

They flinched for a second but ultimately controlled themselves. I stood on two legs before two front leg paws touched two foreheads where their Sun tattoos were.

The White Flame Armor caused no damage to them. Through it, I poured Auril inside them.

At the same time, I took the liberty to do a little scan of their biology. Nothing too detailed. Just a general scan.

Once I was done with that, the scan was filed away, before focusing on their heads.

In truth, there is no actual focal point for Destiny/Fate/Karma as it was an outside reaction to one's own thoughts and actions, but that was only for little mortals whose presence left little upon the tapestry of Reality.

Those who produced greater footprints formed greater waves, and a Giant Mirror tying the strings of Fate upon an individual were, without a doubt, giant footprints.

In truth, even I would not be able to undo them without my Dream Realm being a literal Potentially Chaos production facility, in a manner of speaking.

With Intent, I once more drew on the White Flame, infused it into myself, only to spew it out here into Reality and then into two individuals.

The way the Dreamlike properties and the Spiritual Consumption molded together to achieve a malleable effect on Reality was truly remarkable. In moments with my desire to do it, I perceived the strings of Fate upon them, and in moments they became kindling to be set on fire.

Instantly, the White Flaming Tornado behind me behaved as if it got juiced by additional fuel. Its intensity recovered and even slightly increased.

The reaction manifested an Idea, but it got shoved away in favor of the current moment.

It took a few more moments to pass before the strings actually snapped, but I was still not done with them.

The next instant, I drew on another part of the Realm, the Galaxy Core.

With it, I created a suction effect right where the strings snapped. With it as the guiding focal point, the Potential Momentum, which the brothers had generated their whole life, and all the potential of the future, found its juncture of manifestation.

At the same time, I drew on the Nebulas as the final refining step, and all that Potential Momentum transformed into Potential Chaos.

However, I still wasn't done. There was no way I was stupid enough to let them have it in its raw form.

Instead, I infused the Potential Chaos into their physical bodies. If my thoughts were right, they would benefit from it, in the long term, instead of me creating something for them that did not fit them.

Phu, I am so glad I don't have to be a door salesman and do it all manually.

Done with them, I withdrew my awareness.

Giving one last glance, I saw their glazed but distant expressions.

What you do from this point on will be up to your own decisions. I just hope I am not going to regret it.

Leaving them like that, I returned to the White Flaming Tornado, yet my mind kept returning to the thought that popped to me just moments earlier.

It was such a blazing and daring thought that bordered on insanity.

Do it, my gut shouted.

Just, God’s be damned, DO IT.

The instant I hesitated, a memory popped into my head.

For a second, I laughed and just had to agree with it, loudly, not caring if anybody heard it or not.

“This Honey Badger gives not one FUCK. He takes what He Wants.”