Lucas felt his grandfather’s grip around his throat tighten as he desperately struggled to keep his demonic form hidden but to no avail, his efforts were wasted. For no matter how hard he tried to free himself from the grip or reign in his demonic aspect, both held him in a vice-like grip – one holding onto his body, the other his mind.
He wasn’t quite sure where he was exactly, the area around him like a void, but the figure of his grandfather and the pressure around his throat were all too real. Not only that, but Lucas could feel the vast empty space around him begin to vibrate and crackle with terrifying power as his grandfather’s righteous fury grew unimaginably intense as he glared at Lucas’ black-tinted demonic form.
He looked pleadingly into the eyes of Arthur, and he saw nothing but fury and disgust in the man’s soul. It was as though the old man did not recognise him at all, and that instead of his only living grandchild in his grip, he held a hideous monster worthy of zero compassion. Lucas tried to scream but his words were stuck in his throat, and he was very quickly losing consciousness as his brain ran out of oxygen due to be strangled.
As his struggle started to falter, his otherwise kind grandpa began shouting at Lucas with a voice that rivalled thunder in its booming quality – but none of the elderly man’s words were anywhere near comprehensible. He did not understand his grandfather’s anger until he picked out a lone understandable word in his grandpa’s nonsensical shouting. “Demon”.
His worst fears had come to pass. His grandfather had discovered his demonic cultivation and had taken it terribly. Just as Jergras had said he would, but even worse in that Lucas was very quickly realising he had no ability to escape the man’s clutches. He was all but powerless in the face of his grandpa’s overwhelming strength. The power that had once been so reassuring to Lucas as he slept now became a source of unending terror as it was brought to bear against Lucas’ tender throat.
Yet, as the shouting stopped, the pain began. It was as though his very being was being torn apart from the inside, his soft flesh tearing, and his organs dissolving in a mystical acid that maximised pain. This was no quick and painless death and the torture lasted for what felt like hours, but was probably only a couple of minutes, with his only release being that of what he assumed had to be his virtual death.
However, the world around Lucas spasmed as he died and suddenly it was as though time rewound and once again, he found himself being raised off the ground by his throat. This second time he didn’t bother struggling, but regardless of his lack of action, the rewind ended in the same way, with his body being torn apart from the inside as his grandfather’s merciless gaze glared daggers at him with no hint of mercy in sight.
Lucas eventually lost count of how many times he rewound to that same moment, for him to be torn apart again and again. He suffered through the excruciating agony for what felt like aeons until his mind and body became so numb to everything that he stopped even feeling or caring about the passage of time. Sure he felt the torturous pain as vividly as before, but it was as though his consciousness simply didn’t know anything anymore.
Then, suddenly, it came to an end. The cycle was broken. As when he died for the billionth time, instead of time rewinding for him to experience it again, he appeared in a familiar room bound to a familiar table with a familiar demon standing beside him looking sombre and severe. Taking in the demon, Lucas swore he could see scars on the demon’s ash-black skin and a hint of fear present in the demon's cold sulphur eyes.
“So kid, what did you see in your vision?” Jergras asked, the question penetrating through Lucas’ immense mental malaise like a bullet, Lucas jolted as he heard it and tried coming up with an answer. However, aeons of not really thinking had done a number on his ability to speak, so it took a long time before he eventually managed to croak out a single word. A question really.
“Vision?”
The demon nodded solemnly, “Yes kid, a vision. You know, the fabled power of prophecy or future sight. It’s one of the many perks of demonic cultivation I'll have you know. And you, being the talented little seedling you are, managed to have a vision before even reaching the [Lesser Demon] realm. Truly impressive I must say.”
Lucas felt as though his mind had been hit by a freight train. That was a vision of the future he had just experienced. But it had felt so real and vivid as though it were really happening there and then. The thought was both awe-inspiring and beyond terrified as he imagined having more of these in future - the phantom pain he was now feeling once again being more than enough for him to wish to never have a vision ever again. However, if Jergras was right and that was what was in store for him in the future, then what hope did he truly have of living a painless life anyway?
The demon seemed to notice Lucas’ doomed expression and smiled, before saying in a faux-sympathetic voice, “I presume the contents of the vision were appropriately cataclysmic. Don’t worry too much about it kid, visions are a bit like elaborate warnings. In that though they certainly imply something like what is to come, but no foresight, no matter how strong, can ever truly predict with certainty what is to come.”
Lucas, for the first time in a very long time, felt relief wash over him.
“So, I can avoid the vision coming to pass?” Lucas asked, desperate to find out how to avoid truly dying at the hands of his grandfather.
Jergras nodded happily before saying matter of factly, “Yes. You just need to try hard enough to keep your secret hidden and accumulate enough power so as to ensure that you can escape should the vision’s prerequisite conditions come to pass.”
Lucas wasn’t quite sure what prerequisite meant, but he guessed its meaning from the context and couldn’t help but feel the demon had simply stated the obvious – though it was obvious stuff that Lucas needed to hear right now. For if the vision’s events were truly avoidable, then of course they’d only be avoidable so long as Lucas kept his secret and or became strong enough to be able to escape from his grandfather’s grasp.
He'd been naïve in thinking his grandfather would accept his demonic cultivation, the world was so different now and his grandfather had changed, just as Jergras had said he would the last time he’d been strapped to this table. Then, in and amongst all of his doubts and fears, a realisation struck him like a nuclear missile, blowing up his mind.
Due to the excruciating pain clouding his mind during the vision itself, he had barely computed this fact but now, he finally was able to remember some of the events leading up to the vision’s occurrence and a conclusion was forming in his mind. If grandfather appeared in a vision of the future, then that could only mean one thing. The man was alive!
And despite the portent of misery and destruction he had just experienced, he felt genuine happiness flood through him at the thought. Before that too was corrupted and malformed as that realisation led to another realisation. If his grandfather was alive combined with the fact that a World Boss had been slain before he'd fallen unconscious, then that implied the old man had been the one who managed to defeat the colossal monster in battle.
Oliver had informed him briefly of just how monstrous World-Boss class monsters were and Lucas could now only quake in fear as he realised he now had to try and surpass a being, his grandfather, who was capable of defeating one such titan if he wished to avoid the fate shown to him in his vision. He shivered at the thought, then did the only thing he could think of, and asked Jergras for advice as he had done those many weeks ago.
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Soldiers saluted soldiers as they all walked around the Imperium's northern hemisphere base. Though most of the population of the base were soldiers, many merchants, wives and husbands of the soldiers, and even a number of children had accompanied the Imperium's forces to the newest Imperial colony of Earth. This was, after all, a habitable planet, and those were uncommon in the multiverse. Thus the poor and the opportunistic alike sought the right to some of the new colony's land.
Housing prices in the multiverse were beyond extortionate due to the immensely high demand and so it was really only thanks to the ever-expanding system that the poor ever managed to acquire a house of their own in the first place. Many joined the Imperium's army explicitly for this reason, as the Imperium guaranteed a home and a plot of land to every soldier who served out their full 30 years of contracted service. Such a tempting reward ensured that the Imperium had no problem recruiting quadrillions of soldiers from their humungous civilisation.
Although every soldier underwent training and skill development before deployment, most were to gain their combat prowess "on the job" and so very few but the elite had any experience fighting against monsters above their own level. Their levels were higher than most natives mostly because the monsters they'd been forced to face as a unit had been almost ubiquitously much higher than them back on their home planets, thus giving them unimaginable quantities of experience despite little individual effort.
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So, when the aura of a truly titanic monster washed over them from above, every man woman and child froze in place - terror possessing their minds and bodies. A fear that was only abated when the brave amongst them looked up and saw that there was no huge dragon flying above ready to burn them all with world-melting fire, but instead an Imperium spaceship coming into land.
However, their fear returned as the ship landed, and its hanger door opened, revealing that the aura came not from one of the Imperium's high command, but instead, it emanated from a man whose strange features immediately told everyone that he was a native of this planet.
Those with enhanced senses were able to literally see the power that the man possessed and many dropped to their knees in shock, their breath stuck in their throat. Seeing the maelstrom of the man's raw power was like looking at a hurricane, and combined with the man's stern blank expression, he could not have looked any more like a powerful demi-god even if he had intended to. The soldiers were almost certain that this man was the second most powerful person on the planet, second only to their recently arrived general whose strength was fabled to surpass nearly all within the empire.
They were all thus relieved when the man did not attack them like many other natives had and instead followed a female Corporal in the direction of the base's main facilities. However, the aura did not dissipate, and it took them all a while to acclimatise to the immense pressure, but eventually, they could all move again.
When they were finally able to move, their first priority was to get as far away from the man as possible and many rushed to their homes in panic and others to send communications back home about this unbelievable native. For many, this was their first encounter with a true monster in human flesh and none could keep their mouths shut about it.
Arthur, on the other hand, was as silent as death itself as he took each careful step towards the infirmary - tears failing to stream down his face due to the intensity of his desire to remain stoic. However, his outward expression revealed nothing about his internal state, as his mind had gone haywire upon hearing the news.
His grandson was on the verge of death and the only person who held news about what had happened to him was not saying anything to the Imperium about what happened. Every what if and maybe infuriated or depressed Arthur. Arthur's sanity was being barraged by both his fury and his fear as he internally began condemning himself for this series of events. The only thing he could cling to was that it wasn't totally his fault.
This woman, whoever she was, knew about what was happening to his grandson and yet refused to speak. The thought alone infuriated Arthur beyond reason. Not only had this person apparently entered the dungeon with HIS grandson with seemingly no consideration of the boy's young age and the risks to his safety, but she now had the audacity to refuse to help the doctors who were trying their best to restore him after her mistake blew up in her face.
Deep down Arthur knew that Lucas likely asked for her to delve into the dungeon with him but Arthur placed no blame on the boy's head. He was a child, naive and foolish. However, she was an adult! She should have known better and made better decisions. She bore the remainder of the responsibility, and thus would also receive the full force of his paternal anger and all he seemed to feel as he pondered Lucas' current state was anger.
For who on earth could be so stupid and or irresponsible to accompany a barely 8-year-old child into such a place? He asked himself internally.
Yet his anger was nothing in comparison to his fear. His fear that Lucas would never wake up, fear that he would lose the last family he had, and fear that his whole world would come crumbling down around him as the system took away the last thing that meant anything to him like it had done everything and everyone else. A fear that only spiked as he turned the corner into Lucas' infirmary room and saw his beloved grandson unconscious, a black smog encompassing his body, writhing on the bed in immense pain and discomfort.
Arthur slowly walked to the boy's side and he felt his tears finally begin to flow down his face. He tried to cup the boy's hands in his but the smog was molten to the touch and it prevented him from doing so easily. However, Arthur pushed through the pain and held the boy's hands as best he could.
As he caressed the boy's hand, doing his best to comfort the boy through the pain, he couldn't help but recall every loss he'd ever endured. The death of his 3 children to the system. The death of his wife to cancer. The loss of his former master and his entire family many years ago.
Their deaths had been one of the most painful memories of Arthur's life before the apocalypse. The master and his family had become like an extended family to him in the time that Arthur had served them, with Arthur having all but raised the master's children. He'd been there when they'd uttered their first words, helped them take their first steps, and in the end, he'd been the only one left to organise their funerals.
A man should never have to outlive their child, and the master had been so broken by his children's premature deaths, that he had... joined them volunarily quickly after their departure. A whole family was wiped out by grief and disease. The aftermath of their loss had driven Arthur into the lowest lows of depression and melancholy and he couldn't remember a time before now when he'd felt worse. For he was currently in a truly terrible state.
This was why, when he raised his head from his grandson's body and found Corporal standing by the door awkwardly, he didn't dare meet her sympathetic look as he knew it would break him. He was in such a state where her sympathy could do nothing but metastasize his grief and she knew it.
Arthur would have stayed by the boy's bedside for the rest of eternity if he had been able, but a few hours later, the imperium's nurses came in and told him he needed to leave as they had to cast very precise magic to keep the boy alive. Thus, he couldn't be in the room or he risked disrupting their magical spells integrity.
Arthur had needed to muster all the stoicism he had to obey the request and leave Lucas' side. Thus he welcomed the distraction offered to him by Corporal Leah as soon as he exited the hospital room, his attention turning to her.
"Mr Goodman, the General would like to speak to you in his office as soon as possible. He understands if you'd prefer to spend more time with your ailing grandson." She said, her voice soft and sympathetic.
Arthur shook his head and wiped tears from his eyes, before saying, "No. It's fine. Corporal. I shall meet this general whoever now." Though his words of reassurance didn't convince her of his firm mind, the corporal still led him away from the infirmary and towards the general's office in the command centre.
Trying to distract Arthur from dwelling too much on the painful situation, completely out of the blue, Leah began speaking about what she knew about the general that she served under.
"Mr Goodman, you won't know this but General Maximus is a legendary figure within the Imperium. It's said among those in the know that his personal might is second only to the Grand Emperor himself, and his strategic mind is second to none in the whole multiverse. It is even said that he bested the famed tactician of the Abyssal sect in a game of Rule or Die once."
Arthur only nodded respectfully in response, not really too interested in the woman's words - his mind not being distracted by her words in the slightest, not when so much of his soul seemed to hang in the balance. However, though his mind languished in the dark depths of despair, his body continued to wander at a reasonable pace in the direction that Leah guided him.
He remembered how not so long ago he'd promised that he'd represent Earth's population to the Imperium to give his fellow earthlings a chance to avoid annihilation and now somehow he was being given the chance to do so. Whether by whims of fate or mere coincidence, he'd managed to get a meeting with the Imperium's military's leader and was probably in the best possible negotiating position he could have. Yet fate was cruel as his mind was in no condition for any serious negotiations as of now.
Plus, his fears that the Imperium would wipe out all of humanity had long been assuaged by Oscar.
"Mr Goodman, if I may be so bold as to ask, how did you defeat the adolescent hydra?" Leah asked, her question somehow penetrating through Arthur's experiential fog.
Arthur looked at her confused for a moment before trying to answer with words and simply failing. Thoughts of his fight with the hydra only made him feel more and more guilty for having been absent when Lucas needed his hand the most to steady his youthful vigour.
Arthur should have known the boy would've found some way to feed his unhealthy desire for combat and acted accordingly. Yet Arthur had all but manifested the conditions for the boy's current situation to come to pass by leaving him alone in his room and taking so long to defeat the hydra. Even though he was quick to blame this random woman's irresponsibility and carelessness, and she definitely bore a heavy responsibility for the boy's situation, Arthur, as usual, placed most of all of the blame on himself.
Leah sighed as she realised her efforts to distract Arthur had failed. So the two walked in silence until they came upon a dark mahogany door with a sign above it that read: General Maximus' Office.
The door was guarded by 2 soldiers wearing expensive enhanced armour who wielded mighty spears. Both were intimidating in their own way, but as Arthur knew better than anyone else, the system was the most terrifying creature of all as a system prompt appeared before them all.
MANDATORY GLOBAL QUEST ISSUED!
Quest Objective: Kill the World Eater, Jormangandr, when he wakes up 30 days from now.
Current Progress: 0/1
Quest Reward: [UNKNOWN]
Penalty for failure: Earth is DESTROYED