Chapter 168 – Floor 15: Part 14
Her face was melting; her body was rotten and malformed. Emily appeared to be a creature from a nightmare, a figment of the darkest parts of Mathew’s imagination. He couldn’t help but be terrified by what he saw, what she had become.
Mathew stumbled backwards in terror, and whatever enchantment affected his mind was shattered.
“What is wrong? Don’t you find me beautiful?” The monster asked, its voice slurring as parts of its mouth dropped, the muscles gone slack as the corruption spread. It tried to take a step forward, but its legs collapsed from its weight, and the creature collapsed onto the ground.
It writhed and twisted, grasping and struggling to get closer to him even as it continued to whisper his name.
“This isn’t real. You aren’t her.” Mathew stated as his sense of clarity returned. With it came an overwhelming feeling of anger, a hatred that this monster would take her face and defile it. His rage was like a fire inside of his chest, waiting to be unleashed and barely constrained.
“Alter Body - Investiture of Flames!” Mathew shouted, and the fire within his chest burst forth, covering his body in a brightly burning blaze. He didn’t summon the Wrathful Blade; he just poured his mana into the magical fire and swept it across the ground toward the creature that had taken Emily’s form.
It evaporated in the intense heat; its corrupted body couldn’t withstand the flames. It crumbled to ash, and even those were blown away until no trace remained. Not content with just destroying it, Mathew burned the withered trees that ringed the clearing and charred the ground until it was baked hard and dry.
He let his magic fade when everything within sight had been engulfed in the fire. Mathew stumbled slightly from the exertion. He had used nearly all of his mana during his outburst, leaving him panting and dizzy.
His newfound clarity came with the realization that he had no idea where he was. Mathew thought he had only travelled a short distance from the camp during his dreamlike state, but when he looked around, he couldn’t see the mountains at all.
“Where the hell am I?” Mathew whispered, confused by how he could have moved so far in such a short time.
“You’re exactly where you need to be, Champion of the Gods.” A voice spoke from the darkness, and Mathew felt the ‘Buzz’ explode with agony; he fell to his knees. He couldn’t move at all, couldn’t breathe. Whatever had found him was on a scale of power that he couldn’t comprehend, could never hope to face.
It made Arthur look like a schoolchild playing Knight with a wooden stick. Mathew’s vision was blurry; the world was going in and out of focus, but he could make out a hazy figure emerging from the darkness by the tree line. It was like a human shadow given flesh; it seemed to fade in and out of existence as it moved.
What shocked him the most was the reaction of the Celestial Spirits. They took one look at this new arrival and fled. Mathew couldn’t feel their eyes on him for the first time in almost a year. He was blessedly alone once more.
Mathew tried to speak, but his lips quivered, and his tongue refused to form words. The best he could do was a small grunt that could have meant anything, but the figure chuckled, and Mathew could sense that it smiled, although he couldn’t see details through the shadows.
“Don’t try to move. This will be much easier if you don’t, for both of us. Still, I expected you to be stronger. The illusion crafted from your dreams drew you to this place without any effort at all.” It said. Mathew couldn’t tell if it was male or female; it echoed and had a strange pitch to its voice, nearly monotone. The shadowy creature approached him and casually placed a hand on Mathew’s head.
It felt like the sun itself had touched his skin, like molten metal in the shape of a hand. It burned, and Mathew thought that his entire body was aflame. He screamed in agony as the pain shot down from his head, through his torso and into his limbs.
It continued but alternated between extreme heat and intense cold. He felt like his entire body was coming apart, his nerves were being frayed, and even his soul shuddered.
“Now… where is it….the link. Ah! There it is.” The voice whispered, and it seemed to come from all around Mathew, rising from the ground and descending from the sky simultaneously. Mathew sensed its focus on the connection he had with the gods of the Tower of Avarice, that ephemeral link that his ‘Spirit’ attribute improved.
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Whatever this creature was had directed its attention from Mathew’s body to the silver bangle on his right hand and, through them, reached through to the Tower of Avarice.
“This might sting. Humans are such brittle creatures.” It said, and Mathew felt it pull at the connection.
It was an unimaginable pain on a level that could not be comprehended. After only the barest hint of it, Mathew blacked out. Unconcerned by Mathew’s state, it continued what it was doing. Only after it completed its task and retracted its hand did Mathew recover.
Coming awake, Mathew found himself lying on the ground. The mysterious figure was still standing in front of him, but its gaze was no longer on Mathew but on something in the distance. It seemed pleased with itself; the air held a hum of energy that felt…positive, somehow.
“What….what did you do?” Mathew asked. The ‘Buzz’ had faded somewhat, or perhaps when compared to the pain of the creature’s touch, the ‘Buzz’ was much easier to manage.
“I have accomplished that which has been denied to me for centuries. Rejoice, Mortal. You are about to witness my Ascendancy to Godhood.” The creature said, and there was a flash of light and a thunderous crash. The ground rumbled, and Mathew forced himself to look away from the figure and toward whatever it was staring at.
There, on the distant horizon, was the Tower of Avarice. It rose into the sky until the gold and purple-coloured clouds obscured its peak. It glowed as brightly as the noonday sun, driving back the darkness, and Mathew winced and shielded his eyes from the brightness.
The ground, formally black and red with corruption, was returning to its former vitality with the arrival of the Tower of Avarice. Mathew could feel its familiar energies washing over him, replenishing his vitality and removing some of the damage done by the stranger’s touch.
“Ahh, a welcome worthy of a deity.” It whispered, its voice still sounding as if it were descending from the heavens above and shaking the earth around it. Mathew squinted, and he could see a person approaching from the Tower.
To his shock, Mathew recognized him. It was Arthur, the former King of Anglica and the Apostle of Righteous Subjugation. He seemed grim and on edge, but his face and eyes had an edge of fear. He wore full plate armour that shone brightly in the Tower’s light, while his cloak bore the symbol of his god prominently.
He stopped a few feet away from Mathew and the stranger. Ignoring Mathew on the ground, Arthur bowed deeply to the shadowy stranger.
“On behalf of the god of Righteous Subjugation, I bid you welcome to the Tower of Avarice. As per our agreement, your entry will be confirmed by my Lord’s Demesne.” Arthur spoke while remaining bowed, and Mathew could tell that Arthur struggled against the stranger's sheer power. No doubt his ‘Buzz’ was tormenting him with its warning.
“As it has been agreed, so shall it be.” The figure stated. It pulled out a chunk of clear, Crystallized Aether in the shape of a heart and tossed it casually onto the ground before it faded away, its shadowy figure melting like bight meeting the rising morning sun.
Once it was gone, Arthur breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed. Turning away from where the mysterious figure had stood, Arthur reached down and picked up the Aether heart.
“How are you feeling?” Arthur asked as he examined the Heart.
“What the hell was that?!” Mathew hissed as the pain slowly faded. It took him a moment to climb back to his feet, and only a steadying hand from Arthur's shoulder prevented him from falling again.
“That was a god. Well…Demigod. It still needs to be confirmed and officially join the Tower. It’ll get a lot stronger after that.” Arthur commented before slapping Mathew on the shoulder.
“Still, congratulations. You met your first Deity! How’d it feel?” Arthur asked, and Mathew shook his head.
“Painful. Care to explain what that was all about?”
“That, my young friend, was a deal between deities. Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about. Righteous Subjugation needed a local to lend a hand and another deity to join his Demesne, and that shadowy chap needed an ‘in’ to the Tower. Win-Win. Here.” Arthur said, handing over the crystal Aether Heart to Mathew.
“That was the Abhorrent Corrupted Ancestral Beast?” Mathew asked tiredly. The chunk of Aether felt like it weighed a ton in his hands, and he wearily placed it in his inventory.
“Yep. Grew quite a bit since my day; it was barely ‘Repulsive’ and ‘Tainted’ when I was king.” Arthur joked. Seeing that Mathew wasn’t amused, Arthur let out a snort.
“Oh, lighten up. You got what you were after, and everyone lived happily ever after. Don’t tell me you’re upset because you were used’ or something. I thought you would be accustomed to that by now.” Arthur scolded.
“Can you at least tell me why?” Mathew pleaded, and Arthur sighed before nodding.
“Recall how I told you previously that the gods all had their own plans? That they were all fighting over limited resources? None of them wants to see the birth of a new god. Better to nip that in the bud before another hand tries to grab what’s yours.” Arthur began to explain.
“They blocked it from entering the Tower and becoming a god?” Mathew guessed, and Arthur nodded.
“Got it in one. It must have been frustrating since it agreed to Righteous Subjugation’s demands to join his side of the conflict. But it needed a way in; that’s where you came in. It exploited your connection to the Tower and gained entrance.” Arthur finished.
“Why couldn’t you have done that? Why did it need me?” Mathew asked.
“And have them all know that Righteous Subjugation was looking to recruit? That wouldn’t have gone over well. Alright, Matty my boy, you’re all set. Get your affairs in order and enter the Tower when you’re ready.” Arthur said, giving him a small wave before he disappeared with a faint ‘pop.’