CHAPTER 104: | SEED OF THE FALLEN

  ---

  The world was overrun with filth.

  It was so filthy that it was nauseating.

  Moreover, this physical construct of mine is far too weak, too weak to hold the full scope of my true capabilities.

  It was an ugly form.

  This feminine shape of mine was too ugly, utterly forgetting the former glory of its past, my past, where I was the harbinger of Myth, the one who devours those who proclaimed themselves as 'Fallen.'

  "Youdamned!damned!damned!damned!Howdareyouappearbeforeme!Howdareyoudefythetruthoftheoneandtruegod?!Ihisapostleshall!shall!shall!punishyoufortheimpudence!"

  Her screams were distorted to the point that it made me sick from hearing them.

  Her voice was like one possessed by the devil, weird and demonic, yet it was eerily a music to the ears.

  I don't know why I’m feeling this way.

  Swoosh!

  Thousands of tentacles, striking at an immense speed that even broke sound, poured down from the sky like droplets of water, like a downpour.

  Her movements were predictable.

  I saw them, their intents, my multitude of eyes tracking their motion like a supercomputer calculating every move I should take for this approach.

  A step from the front, then to the back, tilt my head to the left, then to the back along with my body, before clenching my hand into a fist.

  Do not punch, since this frail form would collapse from the impact of her attack, even just from a graze.

  Instead, just punch the water currents to push your body out of her range.

  Like what my brain calculated, the muscles all over my body followed its command without any failure.

  The timing was impeccable as I dodged her every strike before pushing my body with a punch to the water currents, distancing myself from her range.

  It was a weird feeling that something was amiss in this situation.

  It didn't feel right.

  It just felt like something inside me was distorting by the second, it felt like my memories were tweaked, my abilities wouldn't just amount to this.

  This situation felt like I lost my key to open something very important, like something parasitic was invading my mind and body.

  It was an oddly annoying feeling.

  What was even more irritating was this woman, who served a false god, pummeling thousands of strikes at me every second.

  My body had begun to feel sore from dodging it over and over.

  "How distasteful..."

  I said softly as the water currents all around us trembled violently from an unknown pressure.

  The world was then affected by the wrath that I was emanating right now.

  "You who serve a false deity... leave!"

  Silence ensued in her mind.

  It was a first that the corrupted Amara was feeling something so deep, something so primal, that if she didn't leave from this place her end would be death, a painful death that words alone wouldn't be able to describe.

  "?!"

  She glanced at the frail man before her and felt that something about this situation was amiss.

  It was like after feeling a momentary fear, now she felt something weird, akin to a reverence for her forefather, the god she served, one who was feared across the world.

  ‘Father... ahhhhhhhh... let this lowly one...’

  Those words were stuck in her throat.

  It was weird that she nearly betrayed her faith from a momentary blindness of desire, the desire to be one with this lowly man.

  Her instincts screamed that she would achieve ultimate bliss if she fused with this being...

  The remnant of Amara's consciousness yearned to be fused, while her corrupted self was conflicted at this feeling.

  She watched the body of that lowly being... it was riddled with dozens of eyeballs... especially that mesmerizingly red pupil that watched her with interest...

  "Forefather..."

  "!!"

  Her mouth unknowingly muttered those dreadful words, but she regained her composure in the next moment.

  She watched the lowly man with disgust, disgusted at herself for letting such heretical thoughts play in her mind.

  It was unsettling... that the one true god that she served the moment she was born was distorted.

  The image of 'Xu Tie,' her god, was changed to a more delicate and handsome one...

  "Howunsettling!Thisisunsettling!Mymind!Mymind!Mymind!Iscorrupted?!It'scorruptedbythisfilth!Damnit!Damnit!Damnit!Damnit!"

  Her screams were loud and full of disgust.

  She couldn't believe it that for a moment she believed that handsome man was her god...

  "Nothiscan'tbe!MyfaithtotheoneandtruegodXuTieispureasitcanbe!Thishereticalthought!Itneeds!needs!needs!needs!"

  She screamed with desperation.

  This time, her words echoed like a choir sung by ladies.

  Her pathetic and dirty appearance was a spectacle to behold in front of me, like a theatrics.

  It was funny that only now did she feel reverence to me, she who shared the same source as me.

  I felt it, that a fragment of me was inside her.

  The power of mutations she possessed shouldn't be possible unless she was an apostle of mine... like the filth that woman named Solia is.

  Her presence was disgusting.

  The lightning that she wielded, the lightning of the heavens... just looking at it made me want to puke in pure disgust... it was this very lightning that took my life...

  "It was the lightning that made me fail my mission to construct the Anchor of the Fallen to the folds of reality... such failure needs to be cleansed!"

  I clenched my fist as I felt an intense anger bubbling inside my chest.

  It was suffocating thinking of that failure...

  "Youdamned!Howdareyoupretendtobeasourceoffaithtomeyoudamnedmongrel!Youdare!You dare!Youdaremakemequestionmyloyalty!Die!die!die!die!die!die!die!"

  Her face, riddled with insanity, could be seen as dark lines similar to runic formations covered her face.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  It was ugly yet fascinating at the same time.

  Amara, having lost all her reason, vanished, then appeared tens of meters away from me as thousands of trunk-like tentacles as massive as my torso tore through the water and inches away from hitting my frail form.

  Time slowed as I glanced at my hand with a dissatisfied face...

  The power I possess right now may not be enough to kill her in an instant, but it should be enough to hold her off...

  It was pitiful to compare to the strength I possessed in the past, but it should do.

  "Fallen Lord Descension."

  The world stilled for a moment as the tension of stillness ensued in the still world.

  Then the sound of glass shattering broke the silence along with the reality splitting could be seen at the same time.

  It was a passage connected to the plane of nothingness where my past form lay dormant.

  But before I could reminisce about the past, a pair of hands crawled from the tear in reality as it vanished, then appeared inches away from my face, pummeling the tendrils threatening me.

  The reality was healing from the 'Fallen Lord Descension' effects, but I wasn't satisfied with the current appearance of the gauntlets in front of me.

  Even though its durability was infinite since it was connected to my soul, it was still disappointing to find it in this state where it lost its past glory, or where its punches could only amount to this.

  Though it moved tens of thousands of times in a second, releasing a flurry of attacks, I was still dissatisfied by its destructive power that could easily cut through the thick tendrils of Amara since it couldn't indirectly kill her in a single blow.

  It was a stark contrast to where I fought Lumicor when I... what was I about to mutter again?

  How weird... it seems that I had forgotten something of great detail, it's about Lumicor.

  But forget it, since it's not as important as me recruiting him to create an anchor for the Apogee in the far future.

  It was weird that a mere mortal would have such great value, except for those fools whose presence alone brings me great displeasure...

  Commanding Tellus wouldn't work... or maybe it will.

  "Tellus, kill all those things."

  Tellus flinched at his summoner's command as he was spooked that his summoner would order him to rid of his beloved...

  It was extremely weird...

  Summoner, just what are you planning right now?

  ‘I didn't think that I would be put in such an unexpected situation by you, who is the smartest of all. It really puzzles this earth venerable to his core... Is it just what I had expected from you?’

  ‘That you...’

  Tellus's lifeless eyeballs, made from the dirt on the ground compressed until it became a marble, stared through his summoner for minutes.

  Then he stared at the women around him in great displeasure.

  It was true that he was an Elemental that should follow what his summoner willed him since a disobedient elemental was a useless one, but he was puzzled that his summoner ordered for their existence to be rid from the reality.

  "Summoner... no, should I call you Eleysian?"

  Eleysian flinched at the words of Tellus.

  He was confused that the elemental that he bound with questioned him?

  ‘How impudent,’ he thought to himself as he pondered whether he should get rid of this useless thing that wouldn't even follow his command.

  "You dare to question me, your summoner? How impudent! That a mere elemental would question my authority! And how interesting that you'll have the gall to be the first..."

  Eleysian pointed his finger on Tellus with rage seething on him, but Tellus was merely amused by his reactions since he knew that his unfeeling Summoner, the one he acknowledged, wouldn't show such a pathetic side.

  "So I was right! That you, a mere parasite who hailed from filth, had invaded the mind of my one and only Summoner! Yet you dare have the gall to command me?! Me! Tellus, who is the venerable of the sacred earth!"

  Tellus's words were domineering.

  He wasn't just playing around with his sagely knowledge, now he was acting cool so that he could court this beautiful woman called Solia.

  ‘Hehehe! I wonder how Lady Solia, the most beautiful of all, would think of me right now? Would she praise me for my boldness? Perhaps a kiss on my cheek would be enough.’

  He daydreamed about those moments where they would swear their life together to become partners...

  But to his dismay, Solia had grabbed his collar forcefully as her form crackled with a red lightning.

  "Tellus, you..."

  Tellus was expectant that it was time for her to open her heart to him, the most handsome venerable of the earth, but to his disappointment, Solia closed her eyes, then let go of him as she bent down, placing Ishtar on the ground.

  "It seems that... Master is in great distress... so let me, his priestess, resolve this situation."

  Solia said menacingly while pulling her dual swords from her inventory before she pointed the tip of her sword at her own master threateningly.

  She wondered how strong this usurper would be as to invade the mind of her great god, the Master of Distortion himself.

  He was flustered at his situation.

  Eleysian was in disbelief that a mere mortal woman who was not half as strong as him would challenge him into a contest of strength.

  "How intriguing... Let I, Eleysian, see how you've progressed, my dear apostle."

  With his words settling, the world then trembled violently as a violent clap of red lightning tore apart the currents around her as the ground began to solidify, the sand turned into glass from the heat of her red lightning.

  She was pissed that a mere impostor who was beneath her Master was calling her by the title that her Master had given to her while acting to be him.

  It was nauseating, a feeling that she couldn't help but be disgusted that this worm was calling her by her name.

  "...I didn't think that a mere parasite would speak of such impudence while using the body of the one I serve, of the one that I admire."

  Her words were calm as she stared at Eleysian, her eyes now tinted in red.

  But it reverted back into her usual silver pupils as the red lightning crackling around her settled, turning into an extreme neon white, crackling like the very heart of a storm.

  Tellus shivered at Solia's domineering stance as he was in disbelief that this woman would completely absorb the fire attribute of his brother Surtr in one go just from a fit of rage of her feeling insulted.

  "How wonderful, Lady Solia... I didn't think that you possessed the qualities of a god... My brother Surtr would be elated knowing that you had completely made his records as your's."

  For the first time, Solia felt a sense of accomplishment.

  Her unforgiving Master didn't indulge her, but this god before her, Tellus, let her feel it by mentioning his brother.

  She was proud at the mention that Surtr would be proud of her accomplishments.

  She was happy that Surtr, a god who was far stronger than her if they fought fairly, would acknowledge her in her achievements.

  "I wouldn't be someone worthy of serving him if I wasn't this competent..."

  Her smile was contagious as Solia hesitated.

  Then her face flushed red before she muttered softly, almost embarrassed.

  "Umm... thanks."

  Tellus's face flushed red.

  He couldn't believe that the stone-faced Solia would be someone this cute...

  She wasn't just beautiful, but also someone so cute...

  ‘I would love it... if she smiled some more at me.’

  He reveled in these dangerous thoughts for but a moment before his eyes turned cold as he felt something was approaching Solia at an incomprehensible speed.

  But he merely smirked and lifted his index finger as the earth rose.

  Boom!

  Eleysian's fist tore through the earth, pushing it into a hole and toward Solia.

  But Solia, embarrassed at her incompetence that let her rely on Tellus's impeccable sense of danger, clenched her teeth until her gums bled as she muttered coldly while drawing her blade at a supersonic speed that far surpassed sound.

  "Lightning Draw!"

  The world lost its color, replaced by pure whiteness.

  Eleysian was flustered at the incomprehensible speed that Solia's swords moved.

  He felt it momentarily, his atoms being sliced, but ignored it as a mere delusion since how could a mere mortal wound him?

  The world regained its color as a flash of neon white lightning flashed through his hand.

  Unbeknownst to him, it was already sliced into thousands of pieces.

  Eleysian watched in silence as his hand was falling apart.

  He couldn't believe it that someone so weak would be able to wound him...

  He acknowledged it that Solia was stronger than he expec...

  ‘Huh?’ Eleysian was confused at the sight before him.

  He watched Solia's blade flashing through again as it cut the ethereal fist of the 'Fallen Lord Descension,' disabling its descension completely...

  He could believe it if Solia could only push those ethereal constructs of his, but cutting it was an impossibility that he didn't account for while he could only use 'Gaze of the Fallen,' 'Fallen Lord Descension,' and 'Incarnate of the Fallen.'

  It was still impossible to defeat him...

  His mind stilled for a moment as he then remembered those moments where he defeated Lumicor with a single punch, but him being sliced by Solia was an impossibility itself.

  He was silently watching Solia preparing for another attack.

  He was in disbelief as he couldn't help but clench his gums tightly as he shouted with his mouth bloodied.

  "This is impossible!... NO! THIS IS POSSIBLE, ELEYSIAN! I AM ALISTER VON FAI! HOW DARE YOU PROCLAIM MY BODY AS YOURS, YOU LOWLY BASTARD!"

  Eleysian was in disbelief that someone other than him was inside his body, that someone lowly would parasite his glorious form.

  "YOU DARE BELITTLE ME, ELEYSIAN, THE SERVANT OF APOGEE?!"

  Instead of receiving an enraged answer, Eleysian received something else.

  He received a primal pain, so primal that he felt his nerves burning as he felt it, a hand was inside his body, grabbing something spherical.

  Gurgle... splurtch!

  A hand so delicate, supremely the most delicate hand that he saw in his entire lifetime, broke out from his stomach, bloodied while it was holding something solid that looked like a brain.

  Before he could recollect himself, Solia and Tellus had already kneeled in prostration at the return of their Master as they lifted their heads, glancing at the flustered Eleysian, then into the hand that tore Eleysian's stomach wider, snapping his spinal cord in half as a supremely beautiful head appeared, bathed in red liquid.

  "..."

  The world went into silence for a moment as he opened his beautiful eyes that were red as the stale blood covering him.

  It turned into a slit, then into normal humane eyes as he then lifted the brain above his head.

  "How beautiful, the seed that the false Apogee had planted in my core..."

  Eleysian's face contorted in a twisted, unnatural way as he glanced at the back of the parasite that had only emerged from his body just now, with an immense hatred.

  He was angered that he ignored him like he was a mere nobody, more so when he called the Apogee as false.

  He pummeled his claws toward his back in an attempt to rip his heart apart, but darkness consumed his vision.

  He felt it, the coldness of touch, the texture of his palm grappling his head and his life held captured by his will.

  It was a sense of helplessness that made his mind blank, that he would fail his mission here.

  Then his leg trembled violently as he felt pain lancing through his body.

  Eleysian clenched his teeth in an attempt to stay standing, but his knees gave up as he fell to his knee.

  It was then when he felt fear, when this parasitic being used a skill that he was most familiar with.

  It wasn't something as grand as 'Fallen Lord Descension,' but it was something simpler, it was 'Gaze of the Fallen,' destroying his mana circuits while his body squirmed at the immense pain.

  At the same time, his eyes bled profusely from the pain.

  "I didn't think that the Apogee would plant an insignificant persona in my body... I like it, but this seed... I'll let it be for now."