A large wave rose up in the ocean, growing faster as it approached the shore. It crashed onto the beach with a ripple reflecting the light of the sun in the sky. Droplets of seawater touched Langa's face, alerting him to the fact that he was sitting with his mouth wide open.

"V-visage?" he asked, not sure if he heard Adtonifulmin correctly.

"There's no need to panic, I won't force you to take the contract, you need to have been an Avatar first before we can upgrade the contract anyway," Adtonifulmin assured him.

Once the shock had worn off, Langa sat on the sandy beach, his feet buried in the warm grains as he gazed at the crashing waves before him. "I’m fine being your Avatar, I'll gain good skills, but I still retain my freedom," he said.

Adtonifulmin turned to him, a smile on his face. "Indeed. But as my Visage, you will have access to 3 extra divine skill slots and I will be able to give you a divine skill every Tier instead of every even Tier. I might even be able to do something about your divine domain. Besides that, it is a bond beyond your wildest imagination, one that will guide and protect you. Even as weak as you are compared to all of my other Avatars in this and many other Towers, you would have Authority over all of them as my Visage. You would speak for me and order them around, even those above Tier 10."

Langa listened intently; he didn't like being in charge of anyone, but free labour did sound nice. "But, Lord Adtonifulmin, what about my freedom? If I become your Visage, you will control every single passive, active, and divine skill I can learn. At least as an Avatar, you can only forbid me from learning certain divine skills. If I become your Visage, I won't have any control over one of the most important aspects of my life."

Adtonifulmin's eyes softened, "I understand your concerns, Langa, but I can help you cover your greatest weakness. There is something that I can grant you from my master that can only be equipped by his Visage or his Visage's Visage. It will protect your mind from being controlled by those whose deities are ranked lower than my master. Trust me, my master may be nefarious, but he is very powerful. If you became my Visage, you would also be able to have more than 1 divine skill from him too," he replied, his voice gentle. "I will never force my will upon you. You will always retain your autonomy and your freedom to choose who you want to be. I promise you that I will only control which divine skills you can learn, nothing else."

Langa's brows furrowed as he considered Adtonifulmin's words. A part of him wanted to agree, if only to cover for his mental weakness. A divine skill that would protect him from Kindaro and other mind mages' mind control was desirable. However, he did not want to trade his freedom for revenge. "How can I just trust that you will keep your word?" he questioned. "I need some assurance, a sign that you won't abuse the power you have over me."

The god laughed. "I should be asking you that. As a Visage, your name and your every deed will be spread across the multiverse and in every single Tower wherever my Name is mentioned. You'll find that most gods only ever choose to have one Visage and get another one if the first dies. It's very rare for a god to have an Ascended Visage and a mortal one. The bond and influence only grow after a Visage's Ascension into constellationhood or godhood. It's not an easy bond to replace.

"Understand that, as my Visage, your every action will reflect on me, Langa, and will have a profound impact on the faith all my other followers in the multiverse have in me," he explained. "The more faith they have, the more karma I receive. If you were to do something that diminished their faith, I would lose karma. And karma is the lifeblood of gods. So, our fates would be intertwined, and there are no assurances for either of us, only faith."

Langa nodded slowly. "I'll think about it," he said non-commitally. He was not saying yes because he did not trust him, but because he was sure that there was something important that Adtonifulmin was keeping from him regarding why he had Chosen him.

"It's okay if you don't want to. I'll still treat you the same," Adtonifulmin assured him. "Passing over that, this is not something that happens often. You can only come to my domain once per Floor, and you need to make a worthy offering at my temple for the doors to open. So, if you have any questions for me, now's the time. We only have less than half an hour until you're forcibly pulled back into the mortal realm."

Langa perked up immediately. “From what I read in the Relgtes, I know that when a bonded mortal dies, their deity claims their soul, and they become a part of that deity. What about people from lost worlds?” he asked.

“Their souls go to Life and Death, and they judge whether their souls will be reborn, recycled, tossed into the Void, or sold to other deities for karma. There are many other places where a soul can end up. Life and Death generally judge according to how you lived your life. So, most people will go where they believe they will go. If you lived your life believing that your soul would join your ancestors after death, that is how your soul would perceive life after death. If you don't believe in life after death, then there will be nothing for your soul after death. For some, if Life and Death feel that your soul would be compatible with the values of a demon god, then a demon god gets your soul for karma, or if it’s a saint god, the same thing. According to them, it’s a fair process that ensures all mortal souls end up where they belong, except Daevas,” Adtonifulmin said. “Don’t worry, now that you are bound to me if you permanently die, your soul will always be a part of me.”

“I've never cared about life after death. You can have my soul, as long as everything that makes me, me, dies with me, I don't care what happens to my empty soul," Langa said. "Anyway, I wasn't asking for myself, I was asking for my father. Can you tell me where his soul is? I'm wondering if I can talk to him, or his soul.”

"I cannot tell you that, Langa," Adtonifulmin said, shaking his head. “You don’t want to know.”

Langa’s heart sank, “It’s that bad?” Was his father in hell? Was hell real? He had not been a bad person, though, he had always just been a smart guy interested in studying the religious history of different cultures all over the world. He had believed in everything and was devoted to nothing. Where could his soul have ended up?

“No, you literally don’t want to know," Adtonifulmin clarified. "You do know where your father’s soul ended up, you were with him on his last day on your Earth, were you not? The memory is there, along with countless others that you filed away in the back of your mind because you could not deal with them.”

"What?" Langa blanched. No way. Was that even possible? If he opened up his mind and faced everything he had ever locked away, would he find his last memories of his father too? How was that related to where his father's soul was?

“You can read my mind, can’t you tell me?” he asked desperately.

“I will not. I don’t want to break your fragile mortal mind. If you truly want to know, you need to open that cage where you filed all your trauma in your mind, and deal with it,” Adtonifulmin told him firmly. "I can assist you if you so desire."

Langa clenched his fists. There was a lot of baggage that he had buried in there, most of which he did not remember. Because of his compulsive need to compartmentalise, he was afraid to open up his mind. Did it mean that the memory he unlocked in the battle against the trollimp boss was real? Was that female voice real as well? Had something more happened during that accident besides his father dying? All he had to go on was that it had to be tied to their family's generational curse, that was the only explanation.

"Let's... let's leave that for later," Langa said, asking the next important question. "Can you tell me about the rest of my family?"

"You know the rules, I can't reveal information about living mortals to you that they haven't allowed to be revealed, even if I know it," Adtonifulmin told him. "All I can say is that most of what the Seer you saw in Risa's Plateau told you was true."

When Langa had asked about his family, the Seer had said that two were dead, two were in mortal peril and one was Shrouded. "Come on, just tell me one thing?"

"No, I would love to tell you and ease your heart, but the system blocks the words, look," Adtonifulmin opened his mouth and said something. Langa could tell he was talking but there was only static, and he could neither hear him nor read his lips. "I just told you the location of your ?????, but you can't even hear that."

Oh. Well, that sucked. "So is there any way for you to even give me a hint?"

The Lackadaisical Herald shook his head, but then he scratched his left ear with his index finger pointed upwards and Langa's eyes widened. That was a signal that he and Neo used when they wanted to communicate secretly in the presence of other people. The left ear was yes, and the right ear was no.

"Is Thandiwe Tlou dead?" he asked hastily, and Adtonifulmin scratched his right ear. Langa released a relieved breath, and most of his tension eased. His sister was not dead, she was still alive, and he may be able to see her again.

"Neo Tlou?" This time, there was no response from the god, and Langa frowned, uncertain if that meant Neo was alive or not. "Khaya Tlou?" Once again, the right ear was scratched. That was good, she was the one he worried the most about being so young and reckless. At least two of the three most important people to him were alive. "Zandile Dube?"

This time, Adtonifulmin scratched his left ear. Langa did not know how to feel about this, since it meant that his mother was dead. They never had a good relationship, as he only saw her once in a while when his father needed to go on one of his trips and his sister was unavailable to look after him. Then he would be left at his mother's house. All she ever did for him was the bare minimum, and after his father died, and she confirmed the truth about Langa's curse, she abandoned him. He hated that a part of him still loved her, wanted her attention, and was sad that he never got to make up with her or ask her why she never loved him.

"What about Kgosi Tl-"

"Crap, she caught me. Sorry, I won't be able to tell you any more. The system is blocking me from using even the signal now," Adtonifulmin said with a shrug, putting his hand down. "The Unrivalled is always so sharp and quick on the uptake."

After gathering the information he obtained, Langa knew that his sister and niece were alive. Either Neo or his brother-in-law were dead, Shrouded, or in mortal peril. He sincerely hoped that Neo was okay. But he knew that if Neo was okay, he would have contacted him by now, even with just a comment on his videos, so that worried him the most. Maybe Neo was an NPC back on Earth, and didn't have access to the Dent yet? He could only hope so.

"I know you have already done more for me than what is required of you, but I would still like to ask a favour. Consider this my first prayer as your Avatar. About the members of my family that are still alive, I know it's too much to ask, but-" Langa started.

"Despite my anger at how the people you call your family chose to raise you, you care about them, so they will receive sponsorships, and be well taken care of," he said. Seeing the look on Langa's face, Adtonifulmin continued. "Not from me, unfortunately, none of them pass my selection criteria. I have, however, instructed my constellations to watch over them."

"Thank you, Lord Adtonifulmin. I appreciate it," Langa said honestly. Was the snide remark about the way Langa's brother-in-law treated him? "How do I thank you? Do you want sacrifices, offerings, and stuff?" He'd done cultural rituals and cleansing ceremonies back on Earth, so this would be nothing new.

"Sacrifices are only necessary if you're asking for forgiveness for something really bad, otherwise, not my thing," he said with a shrug. "I wouldn't mind some nektiary or ambrosia if you can get your hands on them, though. If you want to make an offering to me, to any deity really, more than the true value of the item, what matters is the value of the item to you. In your case, say you explore a ruin and find an uncommon necklace that increases mental resistance by +1% and a legendary lightning sword with fantastic effects that all the guilds in your Tower would go to war over. You would earn a hundred times more karma if you offered the necklace to me than the sword, because while it is less valuable in general, it is more valuable to you and offering it to me would be a sacrifice for you."

Oh, well, that meant increasing his faith would be very hard. "Good to know," he mumbled. Changing the subject, Langa asked another question. "Is Earth doing okay? Can you at least tell me that?" he asked.

"Sure, I think I can tell you this because it is not about a mortal. An enemy of our clan has set his sights on the 36th Floor. He has planted a demon in the body of a Daeva, hoping to take that Floor for himself and suppress your people," Adtonifulmin said. "So if you want to save your world, you might need to gain the support of a guild powerful enough to contend with the demon and the army he will build."

Langa remembered something he'd read about Daevas' bodies being turned into monsters like demons when they died. Well, it was none of his business. "Why would I bother joining a guild just to save Earth? It's not like that demon is going to kill all the people or anything, right? He needs people to rule over." He knew his mentality was a little screwed up. It would be different if the oppression was happening right in front of his eyes, but as far as Langa was concerned, if he didn't see the injustice, he was not obligated to correct it.

"True. Well, if you don't care, then neither do I. I just thought you would want to save the member of your family stuck in that world."

At that, Langa froze. Shit, so one of his family members was an NPC? Who was it? Fuck, this was so annoying. Now he had to prepare to save Earth from some fucking demon? It would take over a decade for him to even reach the 31st Floor and that was just the minimum time. What a load of crap. Perhaps all he needed was to find a guild leader with a strong sense of justice and use them to save Earth. He would think about it later.

"I have another question, then. How do you kill a deity?" Langa asked, changing the subject.

Adtonifulmin's head snapped towards him, his expression dumbfounded. Then he threw back his head and laughed. His laughter resounded throughout the beach, and it sounded just like Langa's father used to when Langa would say something absurd and amusing. The god fixed his eyes on Langa, mirth still evident in them.

"You are truly a child after my own heart," Adtonifulmin said, shaking his head. "You're lucky you were Chosen by me. That's blasphemy right there."

Langa frowned. "So I'm not supposed to ask?"

"Why do you want to know?" Adtonifulmin asked him instead of answering.

Langa looked up into the clear sky. It was strange, the sun was high in the sky, reminiscent of Earth, yet it was not scorching his skin or burning his eyes. "In my father's stories, he used to say that the only way to break our family's curse was to slay Mamlambo. The old story said that she cursed our family for her god, and in Zulu culture, she is always depicted as an evil goddess. I never believed in her, but now that I know a lot of myths from back home are real, I think she and that story might be too."

"Your curse?" Adtonifulmin asked and then nodded. "Ah, you mean the Brand. Alright. I'll tell you how to kill a deity. For deities, karma is life, the measure of our existence. Constellations have both spiritual and physical bodies, unlike gods, who no longer have physical bodies, we just take whatever form we want. To kill a constellation, you must kill their physical body, take over their domain, and drain all of their Total Karma, and they will cease to exist."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Really? It's that easy?" Langa asked suspiciously. Granted, he had no idea how to drain karma, but that seemed like an awfully simple way to kill an 'immortal' being.

"You did hear that I said Total Karma, not Available Karma right? Also, remember that constellations are constantly gaining more karma by the second from the mortals bound to them. So if you want to kill a constellation, you must first stop that influx of karma by breaking the link between them and their mortals. The most common method is by killing the millions of mortals sponsored by them across multiple Towers and worlds. If even 1 karma remains, they can just use their stars to regress to their previous Total Karma stored in their domain, as long as they didn't fully Descend. It's complicated, and you won't get exactly what I mean until you reach Tier 10. If you want to kill a constellation, the best time is right after Ascension before they have any mortals bound to them."

As he said, Langa did not understand everything, but to think that if he wanted to kill a constellation, he needed to kill so many mortals first! That was too much. "That's impossible!" Langa said, frustrated. They really were immortal.

"If you think that's hard, then you're going to scream at how impossible it is to kill a god. Not only do you have to drain all their Total Karma, destroy or take over their domain, kill every mortal and every constellation that they sponsor—some gods are sponsors of other gods too, so you have to kill those gods as well—but you must also erase their Name. That means you have to kill every being in every world who has ever heard of their Name, believer or not. Every point of reputation, renown and faith is life to a god along with their karma," Adtonifulmin explained.

"Fuck. What's so special about a Name?" he asked, hating how impossible it seemed.

"You see, the Name of a deity is considered sacred, and any mortal who says it summons the deity's essence to them,” he said.

Seeing the blank, confused look on Langa’s face, he continued. “Essence is what allows us to be present in various places at once. Right now, I’m talking to you, but I’m also watching over all my players in all of the Deiwos Towers, and all my players in other Pantheons’ Towers. I am also listening to the prayers of the people in every unintegrated world that I own in the multiverse, including those governed by my constellations for me.”

"Okay?" Langa said, pretending to understand.

“We are everywhere; our essences watch everyone in the multiverse passively. But if you call a deity’s Name, their essence watches you actively. Most of us prefer to use a moniker to avoid our essence being constantly called upon. However, most constellations prefer to use their names instead of monikers because it allows them to spread their essence. Always use monikers for gods if you don’t want their attention," he paused and gave him a stern look. “More powerful gods don’t care about monikers, look at Life and Death, Chronos, Odin, Sun Wukong, Nana Buluku. People use their names, and they are powerful enough to actively watch every mortal in the infinite multiverse if they so desire. And honestly, sometimes monikers for different deities blend together. If I say, I met with The God of Lightning yesterday, who’s the first being to pop into your mind?”

Langa thought for a moment, “I don’t know, Zeus or Thor?”

Adtonifulmin frowned. “I’m right here!”

“Sorry,” Langa said sheepishly.

“I’m kidding. Of course, you’ll think of those beings, they are billions of years old, and I’m barely like 100 000 years old. Some monikers belong to multiple deities, all that matters is who you intend to address. Your prayer goes to them," Adtonifulmin shrugged.

Langa slumped down on the sand and lay on his back, watching the sky. There was no freeing himself from his curse in that case. So Karma was life to gods, huh? "How much karma do you have, Lord Adtonifulmin?" he asked.

Adtonifulmin smirked down at him. "How high can you count?"

"999 Trillion?" Langa asked. Surely he did not have that much karma, right?

"More than that."

"999 Zillion?"

"That's not a real number, Langa. The point is, I have that much karma, and I'm a relatively young god. Although I'm a special case, thanks to my master, the karma of beings like the Neutriarch gods would explode your delicate little mind. Don't even get me started on The Garbage Quartenity," he mumbled.

Killing a deity was truly hopeless then. Langa turned to his god sharply as the words he just said registered in his mind. "Did you just insult The Great Quartenity?" he asked, looking around with a gasp.

"Damn right, I did."

"Can't they like, take away your powers or something?" he whispered. He usually kept his snide remarks about Chaos to himself or indirectly insulted him, not straight up like this.

Adtonifulmin snorted. "Please, besides The Unrivalled, those fools are just old geezers clinging to power that was handed to them by The Creator. The rest of us worked hard to get to where we are. Life and Death’s hubris led them into an unending conflict, pitting demon gods and saint gods against each other for all eternity. Chaos is the most like his father while being The Creator’s favourite child yet his entire existence is a contradiction to the purpose she created him for. Order is holding this entire infinite multiverse together while those three only ever make a true effort during the great corruption wars. And yet, they like to claim her achievements as The Quartenity’s achievements. Besides, they can't do a damn thing to me without the risk of awakening my master."

From what Adtonifulmin had been saying, it seemed that the god who had sponsored him when he was mortal was very powerful. "Who is your master?" Langa asked.

"I can't talk about him," he answered, looking away.

Langa frowned. "But if I'm bound to you, doesn't that mean I am automatically linked to him too? Shouldn't I know who he is?"

"I would like to tell you, but I cannot physically say his Name," Adtonifulmin said. "I'm bound by a contract, one that I was pretty much forced to agree to, but I can't break it unless I want to rain calamities on the mortal worlds."

That was ominous. So he had a master whose Name could not be uttered? Langa did not like it, so he pushed the worry away to the back of his mind. Of course, his mind immediately went to the books that Khaya loved with a passion. "Your master is He Who Must Not Be Named?" Langa asked, only half joking. Lots of myths were true after all.

"Who?" Adtonifulmin asked with a cork of the head, probably looking into Langa's mind. He snorted, "No, my master's not an old wizard unhealthily obsessed with a teenage boy. He's obsessed with something else, that's for sure," he sighed. "Look, don't worry about him, my master is not going to be a problem for you. He is... not all there right now, and as his Visage, I hold most of his power. Besides, he is the type of god who doesn't seek people out. People unknowingly invite him in, and he latches on and refuses to leave."

"If he is that strong, is he a Neutriarch?" Langa asked.

"Something like that," Adtonifulmin murmured. His face was sullen and distracted when he spoke about his master, and it reminded Langa of how his father's face would get when he spoke about his father.

He needed to change the subject again. "What is the Brand, the curse?" he asked.

"That is information I can't divulge to someone who hasn't completed the Infinite Challenge. All I can tell you is that it's a mark on your soul. It means you were touched by corruption before integration and you survived, so now since that corruption failed to destroy you, it destroys for you. It's better to learn stuff about the Brand on your own," he said. "If I could tell you everything, I would."

That didn't answer any of Langa's questions. "Okay, but what's the purpose of having it?"

“Nothing. Just know that corruption always leaves a mark. You have to be careful since most of the Brands consume something and if you overuse it, it can consume you. I’ve seen a lot of mortals die because of their Brands. Power is good, but only if you can control it," Adtonifulmin warned him. "Now, we don't have a lot of time. Is there anything else you want to know?"

Langa stood up, and paced back and forth across the sand, his mind racing as he thought of the prophecy. Since some of what the Seer said was true, was the prophecy true as well? The thought of becoming a cold-blooded killer, forced to carry out the bidding of some tyrant, terrified him to his core. Yet, he could not escape the nagging question that lingered in his mind - was he doomed to fulfil this dark destiny, or could he decide his own future?

"How does the future work?" he asked. "Is it set in stone, or is it dependent on people's choices?"

Adtonifulmin watched him. "It is both. Fate and free will are not mutually exclusive. The future is set in stone, but you only get there by freely making your own choices.”

Langa blanched again. “That makes no sense! If I got told that I would get hit by a car today, I’d just stay at home.” He could not fathom himself as a murderer, blindly following someone's orders. It went against everything he believed in, everything he held dear.

“If your destiny is to be hit by a car, then a car will crash into your house, killing you,” Adtonifulmin said, picking up a stone from the ground where he sat. “This stone will land right below your feet.”

Langa was standing in front of him, but Adtonifulmin threw the stone to his left, and there was a sudden gust of wind that blew the stone back, and it landed at Langa’s feet.

"That's bullshit. Why must anyone tell me how my life will turn out? Why should anyone make those choices for me? It's my life, I don't care what some damn petty god decided!" he said furiously.

"You seem to think that the prophecy you heard means that you will falter in your path morally, but have you stopped to consider that you may be literally under someone's control?" Adtonifulmin asked.

Langa froze. If he was being honest, he had thought that the tyrant in the prophecy meant Liv, since that was the only friend he had in the Tower. But now that he thought about it, Kindaro was a prince, a ruler who could easily be a tyrant. He even boldly expressed his desire to become a voident! If Langa fell under his control again, whether alive or undead, he would be forced to do terrible things. His hands shook. "Is that why you want me to be your Visage, because you have seen my future, and I end up being Kindaro's slave?"

"Langa," Adtonifulmin's response was gentle, yet firm. "That is not it. You must always live your life as you see fit, not because you want to avoid a prophesied future outside of your control. Tirio'Lakhasa made that prophecy to you to spite me because she Saw that you would be bound to me. She and I disagree on a lot of matters about how the Deiwos Clan should be run, and we don't get along. She messed with your head just to spite me, and for that, I apologise. I assure you that I made sure she was sorry for it."

What? Thinking back, she had said that he was disrespectful, like his future master. But Langa's anger cooled down a little because a god was apologising to him. Was that normal? So, that goddess had used him as a pawn then? Langa sighed and sat back down on the sand. "I guess things like that will happen more often if I become your Visage, right?"

"Yes, those who seek to hurt me will hurt you, that is how strong the bond between a god and his Visage is," Adtonifulmin advised, a hint of compassion in his voice. "What lies ahead may be predetermined, but it should never hinder you from pursuing your own path. It is predetermined because you choose it. If you do not choose it, then it will not be your fate. Embrace your free will, for it is a gift bestowed upon you by The Creator."

Langa nodded as he absorbed these wise words. Although it was hard to comprehend the future being both set in stone and a result of his choices, he decided that there was nothing he could do about it. He was not going to be anyone's lackey, killing people on someone else's orders. Langa knew he was no hero, but an unwavering love for his family drove him. He understood the lengths he would go to to protect those he held dear, even if it meant sacrificing innocent lives. In that, he was like uthekwane from his father's stories. The lightning bird protected its own, no matter what the consequences were.

There was no solution, and Langa could only cling to the hope that his choices and actions would define him, not that prophecy. Hell, he didn't even know what half of it meant! He decided that he alone held the power to choose his fate.

Time was running out, and there was still a lot that he wanted to ask his patron deity. "You said you would tell me about the Void Star as well. What is it?" he asked, letting himself forget about the prophecy.

Adtonifulmin nodded. "What do you know about Void Gems?"

"I know they are ranked in terms of power, from F-rank to S-rank. It goes from Void Pearl to Void Emerald to Void Sapphire to Void Ruby to Void Opus to Void Spinel to Void Diamond," he said. "I know that they are made with the sacrifice of lives, but there's not a lot of information on them in the Tower."

"Void Gems are the condensed form of pure corruption, sealed in place by the only thing that can seal corruption, the Void. There are only four ways for mortals to interact with that corruption, by harnessing it, assimilating it, sealing it, or clearing it according to the four principles of the Quartenity. A Void Star is the highest-ranking Void Gem, above Void Diamonds. It is what remains after the death of a constellation. While the rest of the Void Gems grow stronger through the sacrifice of purer as well as higher-ranking sapient beings, Void Stars only grow stronger through the sacrifice of constellations. Of course, if the Void Star is absorbed by another constellation or a seraphim, they can become much more powerful."

Langa gaped at him in shock. No wonder he didn't want the other deities to see it! "Why the hell did the FireFox Queen's soul shard give me something so precious? And why was it in the hands of a level 5 maestril mini-boss?"

"Ah, that's an incomplete Void Star. The constellation it belonged to had Descended so she must have lost around 90% of her total karma to The Quartenity for breaking the rules. The Dark Void probably gave what little remained of The Void Star to the maestrils so that they could syphon the rest of Syn-... The FireFox Queen's karma until she died. They ended up not succeeding, and you ended up with the Void Star," he said. "The Void can seal anything, karma, corruption, power, mortals—everything. It is the origin of darkness magic, while the Tower is the origin of light magic. The Void seals but allows growth, and The Tower clears, organises, and purifies."

"So what the fuck am I supposed to do with this weird thing? Wield darkness magic and harness corruption like a voident?" He looked at the Void Star in his hands. He couldn't throw it away, what if it fell into the hands of a voident?

"There are many uses for it. If you want to save it until you are a seraphim, you can then use it to build your constellation. At your level, you can use the charges on it to heal yourself, though that might be too dangerous for you. You can also use it as protection from other Void Gems, though I suppose you have your Deiform Artefacts for that. You can use it the same way that voidents use Void Diamonds if that's your thing. Most voidents use it for permanent griefing," The Lackadaisical Herald said nonchalantly.

"Permanent Griefing?" Langa asked with interest.

"You can seal a player inside your pseudovoid territory with a Void Diamond or Void Star and they can't leave. Even if they die, they are forced to respawn in there, and you can kill them over and over again until nothing remains. That is the real danger of voidents, they disrupt order in the Tower to the extent that they can mess with divine artefacts," he explained. "But I'm not sure if The Unrivalled will mark you as a voident if you do that with your Void Star since you didn't create it using any sacrifices."

Langa gasped. While the thought of using this dirty power disgusted him, he realised he could use it against Kindaro. Confine him and kill him over and over again until he breathed his last. He would kill him until he freed Makoto's soul. Before he could say anything else, Langa started to feel a prickling sensation on his hands, and he knew that it was almost time for him to return to the Tower.

"Will you begin the Infinite Challenge once you clear the 1st Floor?" Adtonifulmin asked him.

"Of course," Langa said. "I don't know what it is, but it has the word Challenge in it, so I'm curious."

Adtonifulmin nodded. "Good, have fun, and don't die."

That made him want to do it even more. It had to be difficult, after all, completing it was one of the requirements for mortals to Ascend to deityhood.

"I still don't know who I want to be or what Langa's path will be, but I liked it," Langa confessed. "Chasing the voidents. Hiding in the forest, contemplating the best way to hunt them, and executing it. I liked destroying the trollimp archers in one fell swoop, and even though I was barely standing, I enjoyed battling the trollimp warden. Even while listening for Psike, the hairs on my body standing up, waiting for him to strike, it was exhilarating."

Adtonifulmin said nothing, allowing him to get the words out.

"It wasn't even the fights themselves, I'm not addicted to violence. It was more the feeling, you know. How quickly can I end this? How far can I push my body before it breaks? How fast can I move before I burn out? I was alive, Lord Adtonifulmin. For the first time in the twenty years since my father died, I was living," Langa said, looking up at him. "Is it okay that I want to chase that thrill, that fear of death, to feel my heart struggling against my chest as long as I live?" he asked.

This hadn't been his plan when he said he wanted to change, but he liked this. His sister wouldn't want that life of recklessness for him, but what would his father say? He was desperate for his approval.

"Of course it is," Adtonifulmin said, gently placing a hand on top of his head. "You can be anything you want to be. I promise you, no matter how fast you run, how much you achieve, how much you sin, how many people die because of you, how many live because of you, how many worlds thrive because of you, how many worlds fall because of you, you are a child after my own heart, and I will always be on your side."

Tears stung Langa's eyes. It softened his heart to hear those words in that voice. Adtonifulmin held out his arms for him, and Langa did not hesitate to allow himself to be hugged. He felt like a child wrapped in his father's arms again, and he closed his eyes. Logically, he knew that this was not healthy and that projecting his daddy issues to a god like this may not be good for him, but wasn't a god supposed to be a father to the fatherless? It wasn't like Adtonifulmin minded.

"I promise that I will think hard about whether I want to be your Visage or not," Langa promised.

"If you do decide that you want to be my Visage, all you have to do is ask. But, Langa, you must never, ever, bow down to any mortal or immortal except for me," he said authoritatively. "Yes, that includes The Garbage Quartenity. You will answer to no one but me."

That surprised Langa because there was a defined hierarchy when it came to the gods, but Adtonifulmin didn't seem to fit in anywhere. Perhaps the legend of uthekwane was based on Adtonifulmin after all. The lazy bird that liked to eat and sleep in peace. It didn't bother anyone, but when one of the people it cared about was hurt, it rained lightning down on the enemies of its loved ones and protected them.

"Please continue watching over me," he asked, glad to be one of the people Adtonifulmin cared about, even if he didn't understand why.

"Of course I will. Don't ever let that stupid prophecy or the Brand that you call a curse define you. You can rise above both those things, I believe in you. So be the best version of yourself, Langa," Adtonifulmin whispered. Langa nodded as he felt the telltale prickling sensation all over his body.

"Thank you, Master," he said, and Adtonifulmin's eyes softened.

Then he was once again teleported away, and back into Psike's Grotto.