Francis floated above an encampment. It had taken seventeen kidnappings, but he had finally found out who the Chosen of this particular Divinity was. Rather than a Mage or the Head of the Church as he expected, it was an unassuming Knight-Captain in charge of punishing rogue Mages. Unassuming if you ignored the sheer amount of Divine Power in her that made it seem like her Divinity had already descended. Perhaps even more than that.
A perfect gift for Talvara.
He waited a few hours until they headed to sleep. Even though the Divine Power made her stronger than most, this was still a system-free world. He Void-walked into her tent and sent a lightning-infused fist at her stomach, only to stare in shock as a shield of Divine Power covered her.
Her eyes snapped awake, but it was a pointless gesture as a [Blade of the Void] stabbed through her hastily made shield and made way for a lightning covered hand, sending her into unconsciousness.
Francis frowned and took out his [Blade of the Void]. He swung it where he felt the distortion and felt something ‘snap’.
No Divinity would be descending here. He glanced at the frayed connection with [Arcane Revelation]; the abrupt stoppage of a Divinity descending into her body had created a strange frayed line of connection. After staring at it for a few moments, he used [Void Detection] to check if the Divinity was attempting to descend again. The energy tickled the edge of his detection range, like it existed both in and out of reality.
A powerful sense of power entered his mind as his [Archon] class kicked in.
[Skill Gained: Divine Detection lvl 1/10]
He felt a ringing in his head when he tried to directly detect the energy in her body, but it was easy enough to feel another connection trying to enter her body. With how clearly he could feel it, it was plenty to just counter it with [Soul Manipulation] and a little help from [Devil’s Soul Language]. He got the understanding that her being unconscious was the only reason he could stop this so easily. Her Soul seemed to resist against the foreign connection automatically.
He Void-walked her away, and then Void-traveled to an empty stretch of land, dropping the injured woman on the ground. The ritual to sacrifice her to Talvara called for blood, and the wound he caused offered plenty.
He paused for a moment, staring at his hand that reached into her stomach wound for some blood, wondering if he should be doing this before shaking his head. There was no way she became Chosen without killing at least one innocent Mage, especially with her current role hunting rogue ones. And he was never one for sexism when it came to showing no mercy to his enemies. Powers that transcended biology removed any real gender differences. Her being a pretty blonde was inconsequential.
Drawing the ritual circle was easy enough; most of the leg-work was done from Talvara’s side, the ritual itself only enhanced her and acted as a signal for her. Even someone with no skill in rituals could manage this.
Half-way done, a voice echoing behind him caused Francis to jump to his feet.
“Slave of the Void, to think you’ve found your way to a place beyond the system. How is it you have kept your strength?”
Francis stared at the hovering face of Divine Power, which looked like it was trying to guess where he was standing rather than actually seeing him.
“Do not think, Defier, that your silence will keep me from finding you. Looks like one of the abomination’s incompetent slaves has finally stepped beyond his mortal station. But it is for naught.”
“What do you want?” Francis said, stepping away from the Chosen and using [Flesh Manipulation] to continue drawing the ritual. If his prior experiences were any judge, Divine Sight didn’t work against his magic either.
“So the slave speaks? How you have found yourself on this planet and were not torn apart on entry is beyond me. I have hidden this Chosen here and she is of great importance to me.”
Francis raised an eyebrow. Why was he revealing that?
“If you are willing to let things go, I can free you from your servitude with no loss of power.”
Francis knew that Talvara had no control over her followers, but he wasn’t sure if she could indiscriminately take back her Void Will.
“If you tell me how you traveled here through the ambient Mana I can gift even more… Hmm… you… how do you have Mana and the Void within you?”
The floating face’s eyes were now staring directly at him.
“Magic.”
“Ha. That much is obvious. You grow more interesting. I am a Divinity of Magic, why not cooperate with me instead of that abomination who calls itself a goddess?”
“A Divinity of Magic who enslaves Mages? That’s hardly a ringing endorsement.”
“Ringing endorsement? Ah, you are using translation magic. How my followers choose to interpret my creed is up to them. I need only their faith.”
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In other words, you couldn’t care less about your followers except what they can do for you. Not a surprise.
Francis wasn’t done with the ritual and decided to keep talking. He was wearing a hooded cloak so it wasn’t as if he needed to hide himself.
“What can you offer?”
“A sensible man. I can connect you with my followers within the Imperial Magiocracy. Reaching the 3rd Tier and extending your life countless times would be within your reach. Disconnecting you from that abomination would be simple.”
Francis gritted his teeth as this thing kept calling Talvara an abomination. He may have thought it himself, and it was likely true, but that doesn’t mean he had to be okay with others calling her that. He wouldn’t be a man in love if he was rational.
A man in love…
Shit.
“Well?” the Divinity asked after a long period of silence.
“Just thinking over how I can pull a Divinity from their realm and rip out their spine. Do you even have spines? Maybe I should just feed you to my pet instead,” Francis said with a deep grin as he completed the ritual. Talvara reached out from the Void moments later, taking the Chosen with her.
“You dare?!”
“All the time-” was all Francis could say before being blasted away by a wave of power. He tumbled head over heels several times before he managed to grip the ground. Even then he slid several dozen feet before stopping.
He didn’t even have time to consider [Void-walking] away as he stared at the figure appearing in a storm of Divine Power.
Its figure was entirely covered in the blue of Mana with Runes - that made his head feel like it was splitting open - swimming across its skin. Francis even feared that trying to escape through the Void would be fatal with the sheer amount of power entering the air, a mix of Divine and Mana spreading out for miles.
“Did you think I wouldn’t descend an Avatar!? I will show you, and all your people the consequences of your actions!”
Francis didn’t even have a second to think as magic covered him and a damaging voice entered his mind.
“[Void Lock]!”
His vision doubled as the voice echoed, bouncing around his head as he lost his connection to the Void. Before a spear of Mana could punch through him he disappeared with a Void-walk.
It was a spell under the Space-Time spellbook, after all.
He Void-walked dozens of times as he sought to escape, hoping his invisibility to Divine Sight would hide him.
“Do you think you can escape from me simply by obscuring my senses?”
“[Spatial Lock], [Void Lock]!”
The words echoed in Francis head again as he collapsed, a foot crashing into his back as he was slammed onto the ground, breaking part of his spine. His struggles were useless under the sheer strength of it.
“Others would have cursed me for my temper. To descend an Avatar simply because I lost a Chosen. But it was worth it. Worth it. Beyond worth it. It was worth it to descend even a hundred Avatars to witness a magic that could cross the Void.
“Now,” The Divine Avatar said, prying Francis’ bloody face from the ground, “How shall I extract such an accomplishment from you?” He asked before slamming the ‘Void slave’s’ head back into the ground. The Divinity then grabbed Francis by the head and threw him several feet away.
Francis coughed up blood and gasped for breath, grimacing in pain. He did his best to avoid using anything Arcane related in case he implicated Rainer. But he wondered if he had to choose death or revealing himself. It wasn’t Rainer he was concerned about so much as it was Kara and Luna.
“I’ll need something to write on,” Francis said, trying to think his way out of this. Both his connection to the Void and the Space around him was disrupted. He had never felt so powerless before, especially with the missing Arcane from his body. He used [Water’s Gentle Touch] to sooth his back and tried to regain some feeling in his legs.
“Do you think I’ll believe your words so simply?” the Divine Avatar said, walking slowly over to him.
“You were stupid enough to chat me up while I sacrificed your Chosen,” Francis said with a chuckle, before a fist impacted his face. He laughed in between gasps as he felt his teeth leave his mouth with every hit. All the while he thought of a way to get out of this situation. He could feel the sheer power of the Divinity blocking his Mana Pool as well, and dissipating the healing spell he used earlier. Did he have nothing left?
“It seems you are unrepentant.
“[Pain].”
The word echoed in his mind as every nerve in his body lit up. But that only furthered his chuckling as he writhed on the ground. To a man who could write a book on dying one thousand different ways, could this even be considered painful?
“Is t-this y-your s-sad at-tempt at t-t-torturing me for information? But y-you didn’t even ask anything yet,” Francis said, his voice sounding distorted through his missing teeth and gasping breaths.
While the Divine Avatar looked down at him with barely concealed rage, Francis stared at the runes dancing across his blue body. Every look incurred pain, but could it compare to how he already felt?
Ah, how he wanted to kill this Divinity. To see the impotent rage on his face as a ‘mortal’ ended his existence. But for now, he was left to endure several repeats of the [Pain] spell. He wasn’t sure how much time passed before another voice entered his mind,
“[Obey].”
The words filled his weakened mind as Francis crawled over to the Divine Avatar’s feet. He stuck his finger into the grass as he thought of runes involved in [Void-walking].
As if the pain he felt weakened him enough to be controlled like this.
A small [Arcane Blade] extended from his finger, ripping apart the Domain-like spells preventing him from accessing either Spatial Magic or the Void.
[Blade of the Void].
Francis jumped to his feet as he attacked with a black blade, tearing apart the Divine Avatar from the center. Sending out a [Void Seer], he tried to find somewhere to go, and realized the cut reality provided a perfect leaping off point for any Void-walks.
He couldn’t head to Rainer, nor could he go to the Abyssal Planes. The Divinity could clearly follow him. Then Earth?
His thoughts existed within a single second as he cycled through his Soul Marks on Earth. He quickly saw all were in medically induced comas within a single warehouse.
A trap? All the better to lead a God into.
He disappeared through the tear in reality with a Void-walk.