On the edge of a craggy, dune-white cliff, Karma looked past his dangling legs, peering deep into the chasm depths below. Three distinct palettes danced to and fro: dark, light, and their illusory median.
"It seems," chimed Anlîthëma, "the gradient of violence oft takes pride as its measure of steepness."
"More than that," said Karma, unblinkingly spectating Ilmiri, Erinyes, and Tathāgata's chaotic melee. "The gradient is merely a consequence. Pride—in its convergence—buds in weight atop fate's satin linens. When that weight reaches a precipice—"
"A depression forms, drawing those with pride to their self-portended confluence. Ingenious!" exclaimed Anlîthëma, leveling Karma its take on an approving nod.
"But what if that prideful weight were to suddenly ... disappear?"
"I'm failing to deduce your leap in logic."
"Humor me."
"Congruent to a trampoline effect, everyone would be flung asunder."
**
My Meaning—I think I've finally grasped it.
I crave the excitement of the ephemeral.
I care naught for the height I reach, only the rate I ascend.
I ordain my inductive property—my path to the genesis of eternity—to be induction itself.
I will forever chase the greater me.
Become the greater me.
Devour the greater me.
**
"Hey, Anlîthëma? For a cultivator, what environments spurn the fastest periods of growth?"
"Off the top of my dome, there are five cardinal standouts: mystic realms, inheritance, natural enlightenment, guidance from a supremacy, and—"
Anlîthëma regarded Karma with somber apprehension.
"War.
"At its core, our society thrives by way of natural selection. Resources, knowledge, artifacts: all are unerringly commandeered by the bigger first, more cunning mind, and the fortunate few.
"War is an accelerant. A catalyst. Conflict breeds potentates; it lofts them upon a dais of the slain—of the unfit."
"I see." Karma turned to Anlîthëma with ineffably sober eyes. "Thank you."
Bleached-white flames enveloped his serene visage, blooming akin to a bouquet of angelic wings.
Karma#2 exited from his rear, clutching Anlîthëma's residential spatial pouch.
"I offer the harbinger, the intersection, and the terminus."
Karma fell over the cliff face, embodying the firey nail of Heaven's ire.
"I offer apocalypse."
The wind did not slow but hastened his descent.
For none would dare impede ...
Karma's Descent.
**
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The vengeful combatants felt Karma's approach before perceiving it, hurriedly disengaging to avoid his point of ingress.
BOOOMMM.
A geyser of fragmented bedrock blared Karma's arrival, his iridescent form a beacon amidst the silty cloud.
Like a phoenix splaying its feathers, Karma fanned his dominion over natural law, inducing speed into the rainfall of earthen slabs. A tidal pulse of squalling stone shunted the reeling trio off their feet, crushing them against the chasm walls.
In a phantom-like lunge, Karma came face-to-face with Tathāgata's haloed facade. The monk, stunned by the preceding impact, could only despair as Karma rained blow after blow upon his vital organs.
Jab, uppercut, blood, hook, more blood, cross ...
Tathāgata's savior came in the form of a whistling, glossy spear en route to Karma's skull.
Swish.
That is, until he whipped around, snatched it out of the air, and harpooned Tathāgata through the gut—fixing him to the canvas of jagged rock behind.
He shrieked.
As if in response, a swarthy circlet spat out Erinyes's Nightlurker Wolf transformation with fangs bared and claws brandished, rocketing toward Karma's flank.
Reaching over his shoulder, Karma swiped a languid finger.
Slash!
Erinyes loosed an agonized yowl, a yawning gash torn deep into her eye socket. Her wailing was shortlived, brusquely silenced as Karma booted her back into the shadow realm.
Bzzt.
In a show of unparalleled agility, Ilmiri flickered to Karma's backside, his colorless energy fastened into an arrowhead-shaped sword about his forearm. Karma, mimicking the blade with a chop gesture, curled around the attack.
So close their noses nearly swiped, Karma brought the edge of his palm down on Ilmiri's shoulder joint, hewing the limb with surgical finesse.
"AAHHH!"
Smack!
Backhanded by his own arm, Ilmiri somersaulted headfirst into an errant boulder.
Breathing.
Barely.
Heedless, Karma hurled the gory appendage at seemingly empty space. Erinyes, lunging back into the main dimension with righteous fury, met the blood-trailed projectile with her forehead.
Concussed.
Unconscious.
Alive.
"Mrhhm," Tathāgata sprayed crimson-laced spittle as he plied the transparent spear from his mid-section. Two identical Tathāgatas stepped out from his body, emitting the sacred aura of his Embryonic Avatar.
Slash-slash.
And were promptly bisected.
Tathāgata retched chunky sanguine, staggering side-to-side with a vacant stare.
Lending him a hand, Karma gripped the monk's throat, dragging him up the ragged cliffside.
"Days of teaching and you've learned nothing. Perhaps, another lesson is in order."
"Is it done?" asked Karma#1.
"Yes. Sending now," replied Karma#2.
**
Tathāgata rose unsteadily upon a giant golden plateau, finding Buddha's benevolent smile shining down on him.
"Namo Buddhaya," rumbled a dignified chorus.
Sacrilege! Buddha is forever humble, never imperious!
"Na-Na-Namo," each syllable twisted with shrill, eerie inflections, "Namo Asuraya!"
Asuraya—demon!?
A midnight purple hue encroached upon Buddha's boundless gold, trading compassion for cruelty.
Wisdom for oblivion.
Love for apathy.
Good for evil.
The platform—revealed to be the demon's palm—shut into a closed fist about Tathāgata's frame, his now-haloless head peeking out between its thumb and index finger.
With excruciating languor, Asuraya raised him to its slobbering, gaping jaw.
Crunch.
**
Tathāgata, foaming at the mouth, dropped listlessly to the chasm floor.
Thump.
Fading into glittering sparks, Karma#1 stole a passing glance at his handiwork, neither proud nor discontent.
He felt nothing.
**
"Do you think that was enough? Rather than a beat down, I used mental intrusion to make them think it was a four-way battle, but ..." Karma twiddled his thumbs, "this is my first time starting a war."
"I sometimes forget how young you truly are," muttered Anlîthëma, floating to the chasm's rim. It stared in awe at the dredges of children bathed in destiny from birth—men and women seen as more than human by their peers and superiors alike.
The hopes and dreams of three consummate sects.
Routed by an adolescent.
With ease.
Monster.
**
"Countless wars have been fought for 1/1000th of your actions on this day.
"But you know this. You knew before you plummeted into a den of weaklings.
"You portended apocalypse, and we both know your relationship with cause and effect.
"To you, they are one and the same."
Feigned ignorance scurried from Karma's disposition, baring a mask of tranquil indifference. Joining Anlîthëma at its perch, he intoned, "I enjoy your company, Anlîthëma. Tell me: what do you desire?"
"What difference does telling you—"
"I haven't peeked, nor do I plan to."
...
"I want to finish the journey I started in an era long forgotten; see all there is to see. The universe, like you, boasts limitless mysteries ripe for harvest. I don't want to read the annals of their discovery.
"I want to write them myself.
"All of them."
...
"If your answer had been anything less, I would've freed you without hesitation."
"So I've condemned myself?"
"The opposite," Karma turned to Anlîthëma, radiating an unprecedented warmth. "To chase eternity is to turn your back on the finite. How rare it must be to embark on this path bereft of loneliness, don't you think?"
"I—"
Karma grabbed Anlîthëma, stuffing him into his spatial pouch. No sooner did arcane teleportation glyphs envelop him and everyone else.
"—'m looking forward to it."
"As am I."
Pop!