Adam removed his awareness from Eloise’s room. She was on her bed breathing hard, unable to move. If he ever ran into her again she was either going to try to kill him or ask for more, even though, technically speaking, he hadn’t laid a finger on her. Still, the idea of using positive reinforcement to get things done seemed like it might work out.
That idea lasted until his nanites watching The Emperor of the Vrax informed him that he'd teleported out of Throne Room and crossed dimensional barriers to appear in a room that was not infested with his nanites just as Death appeared beside him. Death nodded to six other being sitting at a table in front of the Emperor. The only being Adam recognized by sight was Ammit, the goddess who devoured Condemned souls.
Adam pulled the rest of their name from Death’s mind as she looked at them. There was Artio, the Goddess of Nature. Io, the God of the Underworld. Mercury, the God of Shadows. Pluto, the God of Knowledge. Finally, there was Phanes, Death’s opposite, the God of Life. While the names and categories of each God and Goddess were familiar, their combinations were not.
Artio, a beautiful redhead with piercing green eyes sat at the center of the crescent table the Emperor and Death had appeared before. Death walked over to her left to take the last empty chair at the table to Artio’s right as she faced the Emperor.
“Now that Death has arrived, why have you called on the Council of Seven my dear Emperor?”
“As you know I have never invoked the Will of the Gods before now. It is an Artifact from ages past where a promise was made that in our greatest time of need the rightfully appointed Emperor of the Vrax Empire could call on the Gods for assistance. This promise was made to my predecessor by the seven of you. A promise that should a call be made to the Gods by the sitting Emperor, the plea would be heard,” The Emperor said.
“We hear you, Emperor, what is your need?” IO asked.
“Earlier this day a man, a single man, decimated my fleet and humiliated me in front of all of my subjects. I need this man dead!” The Emperor declared
“This man that did this to you and your fleet what did he look like?” Death asked.
The Emperor waved his hands and an illusionary duplicate of Adam appeared beside the Emperor, “Like this,” he said as he pointed to the copy of Adam.
Adam thought about teleporting into the image and saying boo, that would have been hilarious, but his nanites were still invading everyone in the room. As only Death and the Emperor had been carriers, it would take a little while. The nanites would need a little more time to work. Adam refocused on the conversation taking place.
“The Gods will of course do what we can to assist you in this matter,” Death said, while the nanites in her mind let Adam know that she had no intention of doing a thing and would explain to the other Gods why doing anything would be a bad idea. Of course, her thoughts on the matter meant nothing when Pluto, the God of Knowledge acted.
“We’ll take care of this now,” Pluto said, as he waved his hands and chanted.
WARNING, a divine summons is trying to take you from your present location to an unknown location. Accept, Yes or No?
Adam set his nanites to purely defensive then pulled his sheathed Chaos Blade from his Soul storage and clasped it around his waist. He also had his nanites transform his clothes so that he was in simple black leather armor that was smooth to the touch and appeared flawless. When that was done, he chose “Yes:”.
Adam appeared beside the Emperor and smiled at the Gods before him.
“Is this the man?” Pluto asked the Emperor.
“This looks like the man, yes?”
“Do you have any last words mortal?” IO asked while Death met his gaze and lifted her hands as if in surrender as she mouthed the words I am not part of this.
“Nah, do what you have to do,” “Adam said.
“You do not declare to the Gods what we can and cannot do to you Mortal!” Mercury bellowed.
“Whatever,” Adam said as belligerently as he could.
You have been struck by the Divine Power, Heavenly Smite! Rank Disparity takes effect, Damage reduced. You have taken one point of damage. The damage has been healed.
“That’s one,” he said softly as IO looked on in disbelief as his mortal smiting power seemed to have no effect.
You have been struck by Nature’s Wrath! Rank Disparity takes effect, Damage reduced. You have taken no damage.
“That’s two,” he said a little more loudly as Artio followed IO’s example and her eyes widened in disbelief while he stood there.
You have been struck by Extinguish Soul. The attack has catastrophically backfired. The caster of this attack has been drawn into your Soul Space.
“And that would be three,” Adam said as his body translocated into his soul to stand one foot in front of Ammit and shook his head as he said, “What a shame.”
“What a…” Ammit started to say as he drew his Chaos Blade wound it around and down and up between her legs, through her abdomen, between her breasts, just to the left of her heart, up through the center of her neck, and then her head to sever her completely in half.
You have struck an ordered being with a Chaos Blade. As the being was divine, no chaotic effects will manifest.
You struck Ammit for 7.18E+23 damage.
A divine being of lesser Rank than you has destroyed within your soul. You may absorb the divine energy, releasing that soul from this Cosmos or you may keep the soul of the divine trapped within your soul until it regenerates naturally. Finally, you may release the soul from your soul space which will allow the divine to reform when the damage done to the being has been healed.
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Would you like to absorb the Divine Energy, Trap the Divine or Release the Divine?
Adam paused for a moment then queried his interface about the option to Absorb Divine Energy.
Soul Attacks, or attacks that disincorporate a soul while within another soul normally allow the winner to absorb some or all of the challenger’s energy. The amount of experience gained is normally equal to the amount of total damage done which is permanently removed from the loser. Most often this equals the total health of the loser, however, any damage done during the final blow of a fight that would have left the loser with a negative amount of health also counts towards this award.
If this should happen to a Divine the winner gains Divinity Points instead, then Experience Points if all Divinity Points are absorbed. If the total number of Divinity Points awarded exceeds the Divines total Divinity Points the status of “Divine” is removed and the soul is ejected from the Cosmos. Divines may not be reduced in this manner and reenter the cycle of life within the same Cosmos. They are forcibly moved on. Note: No creature can be reduced below 0 Experience Points Level 0.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, he thought as he chose to absorb the Divine Energy. What was the worst that could happen? Adam paused for a couple of seconds, waiting for something cool or awful to happen to him. While he waited he watched the two halves of Ammit evaporate into smoke.
You have absorbed 5,499,945,000,000,000 Divinity Points.
You have absorbed 55,000,000,000 Experience Points
Ammit has been stripped of Divine Status and reduced to level 0
Adam felt his soul space expand as all the energy flooded into his body. If his mind hadn’t been expanded throughout the nanites that he was comprised of he would not have been able to handle the influx of the Divinity Points and Experience as 479,115 levels were added to his Ascendant level, increasing him to Level 105,359,001. His attributes also increased to 7.66E+15 each. The whole process only took a moment and then he was once again floating in his soul space. He sheathed the Chaos Blade and willed himself outside to reappear where he’d disappeared as the remnants of the Soul of Ammit appeared beside him and vanished as it made its way to the divide.
There was a crack of Thunder then all six Gods before him staggered. Not one to waste an opportunity, he found the Blade of Primal Destruction with the nanites he’d set to follow it, opened a portal in front of it, and reached through grabbing the hilt. he drew The Blade of Primal Destruction from Chaos and drew his Chaos blade then moved so that he had the tip of the Blade of Primal Destruction pointed into Artio’s eyes and his Chaos Blade pointed into Pluto’s, “Any other Gods move, these two die?”
Everyone froze until Phanes, the God of Life asked, “Is that Mah’s Blade?”
“Yes,” Adam answered.
“And you can hold it?”
“What kind of question is that, I’m holding it aren’t I? Ask something that makes sense?” Adam said.
“What Phanes is asking is how are you holding a blade that only the God of Destruction or Mah could hold without it destroying you?”
“Oh, that? No idea, but I am. Can we talk? or do I kill these two then Mercury, Phanes, and IO. Then of course I’ll need to readdress the topic of the Emperor’s request with those God’s that replace you?”
“Who do you think you are…” Pluto started to say then hesitated as Adam ever so gently pushed the tip of The Blade of Primal Destruction until it was almost touching Atrio’s forehead.
Adam held the blade there for a moment then said, “It was a rhetorical question,” as he willed himself back to his position beside The Emperor and lowered both blades, so they were pointing towards the ground before he continued. “As for what happened to Ammit. Her Extinguish Soul attack catastrophically failed which pulled her into my soul space where I split her in two, very literally, and absorbed her divine Energy. That little spurt of energy you all saw as she reappeared, that was her at level zero mortal on her way to the Divide. She’s not going to be sticking around.”
“You destroyed the God of Condemned Souls in three seconds?” Phanes asked.
“I wasn’t trying to set a speed record, she tried to use an attack that I’m pretty sure can completely destroy most basic souls permanently. You only ever get one such attempt against him. If I survive the attack, you don’t survive after. That’s been a rule I’ve been following, and enforcing, for a while now,” Adam said.
“What are you?” Artio asked.
“A glitch in the system, a ghost in the machine, a…well those statements probably don’t mean anything to you, let’s just say that I’m a guy trying to help the most people that I can that isn’t bogged down by the morality of not being able to kill people because I know that eventually, they’re going to get a second chance.”
“If you’d used The Blade of Primal Destruction, there would be no coming back from that, There will be no second chance” Death said.
“Are you saying that this blade right here,“ Adam said holding up The Primal Blade of Destruction, can destroy you?”
“Yes,” she said.
Adam opened a portal back into Chaos and cast it through the portal, closing it behind the blade.
“What did you do with it,” IO asked.
“It’s in the Realm of Chaos, where few can go after it. If, as you say only the God of Destruction or Mah, or me now, can touch that blade without it destroying the person or God touching it, it should stay outside the reach of anything that might use it to hurt people. Besides, I struck down Ammit with this Chaos Blade,” Adam said as he held up the Chaos Blade for them to see, which he quickly sheathed as he saw the area around it start to distort as Chaos tried to undo the Order of the area.
“How are you holding that blade?” Artio asked.
“Technically, that blade is part of me. If I need it, it’s there. As to your next question, why did I cast the Blade of Primal Destruction away? It is not my intention to permanently destroy beings, or divines. I have no issue with putting someone down temporarily or even making them start over, as I’m sure Ammit will have to do now, but destroying someone permanently? That’s a dick move, and while I can be a dick when the need arises, I’m not a complete dick.” Adam said.
“Colorful,” Mercury said, which was kind of ironic coming from the God of Shadows.
“So, what happens now?” Artio asked.
Adam looked at the Emperor, “Yes Emperor, what happens now?”
The Emperor looked from him to the Gods and then asked, “Is there truly nothing you can do to stop this man’s tyranny?”
“That was four, I’ll be back in a moment to have a chat,” he said to the Gods as he turned to the Emperor and teleported them both to the Throne room where he froze everyone in place.
Across every monitor, into every nanite within every citizen of the Vrax, the following message appeared.
“Emperor Princeps has requested that the Gods act against me, Adamantadine because of my Tyranny to his Empire. I am not one to call one a liar so I must show him what it is to deal with a true Tyrant.
Henceforth, for the Period of 30 days or until Emperor Princeps is put to Death and a new Emperor is elected by the Council of Nobility All Portal travel by the citizens of the Vrax is prohibited. You will not be able to enter a portal, nor will you be able to use them. Members of your Empire that are serving on vessels with a portal may utilize them one time to leave the vessel but will not be able to return until the conditions I have set have passed. To Clarify, I will know if the Emperor lives, even if he tries to fake his death. This will last 30 days or until the Emperor dies and a new Emperor is chosen. Those that deal with him from this day forward should understand that I hold truth to power. If you must speak of me officially or to the Gods about me, You will be truthful or I will see that the falsehood is revealed or as I’m doing in this case, I will make your statement true.
Adam turned to the emperor and said, “Emperor Princeps, this is what I look like when I am being tyrannical.” A moment later Adam teleported back to the Gods.
“30 Days,” Pluto asked.
“30 Days or until his death,” Adam said.
“He has asked us to intervene on behalf of his Empire, we could bring forth all the Gods of this Cosmos against you,” Mercury said.
“Are you the most powerful of the Gods?” Adam asked
“We are,” Phranes declared.
“Pluto, as the God of Knowledge can you perceive everything within this Cosmos?” Adam asked.
“Yes, everyone and anything is an open book to me, even you,” Pluto said.
“Have you actually taken the time to review my information, or have you only let my name and level appear?” Adam asked.
“How would you know, what kind of settings I might use…” he started to ask as Adam cut him off.
“I would suggest that you review the information about me in full,” Adam said.
“I don’t know what good that will do,” he said as his eyes glazed over, then he started muttering which ended with, “That’s not possible,” as his eye refocused.
“Now I’ll ask you the same question your fellow God Mercury implied If you summoned all the Gods of the Cosmos against me that are weaker than you are by your own declaration, how would such a fight go?”
Mercury looked from Adam to Pluto who obviously didn’t want to answer. Finally, Mercury asked, “Well?”
Before Pluto could answer Adam said, “Death, always a pleasure. Now that Pluto has information to share with the class and you, Death, have first-hand knowledge of exactly how bad things can get if I do act like a tyrant, I’m going to take my leave and give you time to talk amongst yourselves. I would like to leave you with this thought, if you choose to act against me, the moment that decision is made you will join Ammit, and a new being will have to be elevated to assume your role as needs to happen for her. I do not want to rule this Cosmos but if I need to make some changes to get things working correctly, I have no issue being the catalyst for change,” Adam said as he teleported to his estate in the mountains of Alamogordo in the Dyson Sphere.
Before he laid down to rest he sent a message to Ne’lix
Adam: Ne’lix, you still have access to portals. This seems like the perfect opportunity for you to make your ability to still use portals known so that you can help retrieve stranded people in emergencies. Do not try to use this ability for the current Emperor, he’s on his naughty list.
Ne’lix: Understood
Adam laid down and fell into a dreamless sleep.