Transcendence?

by Andur

  Then my cute little granddaughter finally realizes my presence.

  “~Hi, Grandma! How is the subjugation going?~”

  84 - Summon.

  Norfolk, Northern Ocean

  Ascathon

  After the fight with the bandaged guy I finally have time to concentrate on other things. The battle around us has ended and there are just a few silver ships on the run. I can count about thirty of them descending towards the sea fleet of the Nation of Mist.

  There is no way for our ships to follow them in a close range engagement. The ship we are on is just drifting without control. Jazira's first attack spell fried the bridge, leaving the vessel with no one to control it. There may still be combatants below deck, but it doesn't look like they are interested in challenging us.

  My damaged flagship is on it's way towards us while my fleet is gathering again. Den and Fingulf did a good job in keeping order after Celestial and Jazira followed me.

  “It's cool that we managed to capture this vessel. Although I don't understand why the enemy just sent their dolls again. You got a lot stronger Celestial. Last time we had a lot of trouble with those elders. They almost defeated us.”

  “I trained a lot. And I knew what to expect this time. It's easier if they don't manage surprise attacks because of their freaky healing abilities. But I have to admit that they seemed slower and weaker than the previous ones. Maybe their controllers tried to save mana.” Celestial shares her impressions of the enemy with us.

  “This silver armour wasn't very strong either, although it kept rambling about various things during the fight.” Jazira nods while sitting on the silver breastplate.

  “And what was it talking about?” Celestial asks with a questioning gaze.

  “How the hell should I know? I don't listen to the whining of my opponents. A fight is a fight. Talking can be done later.” Jazira crosses her arms in front of her chest.

  “It may have told you what's going on? There are some idiots who do that, you know?” I argue. But I am not a fan of talking to someone I want to kill either, so I understand her reasoning.

  “You could have interrogated the bandaged guy. Instead you threw him overboard.” Celestial looks at me angrily.

  “Hahahaha. Don't fret about the small stuff. Besides, he didn't look that important.” I scratch my head while I try to shrug the matter off. “So we don't have any high ranking captives who might know what's going on.”

  “How about reassembling one of the elders?” Jazira looks at the pile of body parts at Celestial's feet.

  Celestial kneels down and tries to reattach one of the heads to the body. The flesh immediately grows back together, but the eyes remain closed and the body stays silent. “Looks like it doesn't work.” Celestial shrugs her shoulders.

  “Maybe they have to be reassembled completely. Let me help you.” Jazira gets down beside Celestial to reassemble one of the elders.

  I observe their dubious efforts while they discuss the placement of various body parts. A body piece which looks like it belongs to someone else gets attached in the wrong way. A finger is facing the wrong direction.

  When their work is done I have a hard time holding back.

  “It's an abomination! Once I knew a mad scientist. He was obsessed with creating life. For that purpose he gathered body pieces from graveyards. This looks like one of his works! You even mixed up the gender of some obvious parts. This looks like a mixture of some kind of ghoul and a hermaphrodite!” I burst out.

  “Shut up! I tried. But she didn't listen.” Celestial pouts her cheeks.

  “I am not good at puzzles! She made too many pieces.” Jazira stabs an accusing finger towards Celestial.

  Then the eyes of the thing flick open. It inhales and starts coughing and flailing with its wrongly connected limbs.

  “~It's alive!~” Jazira starts to hop like a child and claps with her hands. “See? I told you that it would work!”

  “Put the poor thing out of its misery.” Celestial looks at the thing like a sad mother who has to end the life of a baby which was born with a life threatening malformation.

  The thing is somehow able to sit up and take a look at its body. “What did you do!”

  “An experiment to make contact with you. How about surrendering now, before we start bombarding your sea fleet?” I emphasize that we hold the upper hand at the moment.

  The abomination snorts. “I could say the same to you. Surrender now or face the full wrath of our gods! Our summoning ceremony is almost done. There is no chance that you are able to withstand the power of a god.”

  I look down at the sea fleet and then to Celestial. “Could this be a part of their stupid game? As I understood it the gods aren't allowed to take action themselves?”

  “Maybe they are, if certain conditions are met?” Jazira asks.

  Celestial winces. “Like being summoned by your followers.”

  “Ahahahaha! It's too late! You may have won the battle, but you lost the war! Our gods are here!” The elder screams and the whole world is dyed in a strange light. I get a dreadful feeling and run to the railing to observe the fleet under us. A huge magic circle appeared. Around the enemy fleet.

  “Great! What now? Do you think Lidith may come to help us?” Celestial comments from beside me.

  Then the huge magic circle vanishes as fast as it appeared. It was just a light show for the believers after all.

  Another person appears on the deck of the ship. And another one. Then a third and a fourth. They have familiar faces. I know those bastards from my vision.

  The abomination continues to babble religious nonsense until Jazira decides to shut it up by pointing her middle finger at the thing.

  One of the three figures turns towards me. “So we finally meet. Seems like Lidith told you about our little game. I am Charon. This is Aneth and she is Wynne.” The younger one of the two men introduces himself. Lidith is standing a little behind them while looking very unhappy. Seems like she lost a dice roll or something like that.

  “Indeed, she did.” I smile while I grab into my pocket. “That's why I have to ask of you to leave this world and never come back.”

  Charon starts to laugh and Aneth puts on a fake smile. “Unfortunately you are in no position to make any demands. We will continue this game until a winner is decided.”

  Wynne steps forward. “But we aren't inhumane. If you change your loyalties and abide by our rules, we might overlook you. The game became too imbalanced since your arrival. There are too many overpowered characters on the playing field.”

  “I don't know what you are talking about. My loyalty was always to myself.” I pull the fist sized mana crystal out of my pocket.

  “It's a matter of the influence you take on this world. Your current actions label you as Lidith's followers. She continues to get points until you change your alignment.” Charon explains.

  I hold the crystal in front of me and smile at them. “I don't care about your stupid rules. So I'll make my own from here. First rule, if I die this thing activates. Second rule, if I get pissed this thing activates. And third, if you don't fuck off this thing activates!”

  Aneth snorts. “Stupid Immortal. What do you think you could do with a measly creation like that.”

  I purse my lips and inspect the big mana crystal. “Oh. To be honest I am not really sure. A whole range of things could happen. Like blowing up the world, or making me a true god. Not a measly imitation like you guys.”

  Then everything happens faster than I can comprehend. In one moment Aneth is still standing beside his fellows. In the next he is in front of me and has the mana crystal in his hand with me at his feet.

  “You are too full of yourself. Even if you are an Immortal. Taking something away from you is easier than stealing candies from children.” Aneth laughs.

  “Just with the difference that children's candies can't kill you!” I give a mental command to the mana crystal in Aneth's hand and he freezes for a second as runes li
ght up on the surface of the crystal and the flesh of his hand starts to sizzle. His face becomes strained as the crystal draws the mana out of the god's body to grow.

  I bare my teeth and drive my crystal blade upwards through his chest. The blade starts to glow and mana start to pour out of Aneth while I bath in the pure power of a god. While he still stares at me I grab for the crystal in his hand. “Sorry, I told only half the truth. I never said how this would make me a god.”

  Pure mana washes over me and I am almost consumed. It feels like I am floating in a sea of power.

  -Master? You should stop. You aren't able to handle that much yet.-

  A soft voice reaches my mind and I wonder who it might be. And why is the voice calling me master?

  -I am the mana crystal you created from a part of yourself. Until now I was too weak to talk to you. But since you found a sufficient supply of mana I thought tapping into it wouldn't be a problem.-

  You are the mana crystal from that accident? Why can you talk?

  -Because master created me by using not only his mana, but a part of his soul. If you allow me to control the flow of mana, I can get you out of this situation. Otherwise you might burn up like a light bulb on too much power.-

  You are convenient. Though I don't feel bad at all?

  -That's just subjective. If you go a little further you'll break. It's like being on a drug. I can store the mana away for later. But you won't be able to catch his soul like you planned at first.-

  Fine. Although it'll be troublesome if he revives. How should I call you by the way.

  -It'll be more troublesome if we die here. You can choose a name. I am just something like a second personality of yours anyway.-

  It sounds like I just went schizophrenic. Fine, I'll call you Warden since you protected me.

  Then the flow of pure power stops. Aneth looks pale and powerless. There isn't an ounce of mana left inside of him. I pull the blade from his chest and he falls to his knees while spurting blood. “I'll get you for this! This won't end with my death!”

  “Yes, but it'll take at least some time for you to reincarnate.” My blade flashes once and Aneth's head rolls over the deck.

  Then I turn to the other gods. Wynne is staring in shock at her dead comrade and Charon grins crazily at the unforeseen disappearance of a competitor.

  “So? How about a little bout? I feel like taking on a god! Although it's sad that I wasn't able to catch the idiot's soul because controlling this power is a little complicated.”

  Charon smiles. “Maybe another day. There is too much of an imbalance of power here. And I guess that Lidith won't fight on our side.” He disappears with Wynne.

  Lidith walks over and kicks Aneth's head like a football over the railing. “Hahaha! I always wanted to do that!” Then she looks at me. “But he'll be mad as hell when he reincarnates.”

  “Shouldn't we follow your friends and deal with them now?” I signal at the empty spot where Charon and Wynne disappeared.

  Lidith shakes her head. “Better not. They didn't fight here because they wouldn't have had the upper hand and it would've been two on two. But I still think that we aren't able to overpower them. They won't grab that crystal after seeing what it did to Aneth. I guess the game is on a hold for a few years until he is reborn and returns.”

  I nod and turn my attention towards the mana crystal in my chest plate. But there is no answer. No matter how much I concentrate, the crystal stays silent. Was it my imagination? Or did it go dormant again without the steady supply of mana?

  Something bulldozes into me from the side and I find myself being hugged by Celestial. “Don't do that again! I thought I had lost you in that pillar of light.”

  Only now I realize the smouldering circle around me.

  85 - Confiscated.

  Norfolk, Northern Ocean

  Celestial

  “This is so boring. Can't we speed this up?” I watch the enemy fleet while it's bombarded with everything we have. Yet their barriers are surprisingly strong and withstand our continued attacks. Even Jazira went out of steam after frying a few ships.

  The problem is that the enemies tightened their formation to a point where they are able to create overlapping barriers. This resulted in a very strong protection. They are like a tank which is moving forward despite the continuous barrage.

  “It can't be helped. We have just one hundred and three remaining ships and most of them are damaged. The safest way to wear the sea fleet down is holding them under constant pressure.” Ascathon smirks.

  “My fleet will do short work of them once it arrives.” Jazira comments with a happy voice.

  I turn my gaze towards Lidith. “What do we have a god for? Wave your almighty hand and it's done. What are you still doing here anyway? Shouldn't you play your stupid tabletop game with the others?”

  Lidith tilts her head while watching me. “You are still under the misconception that there is any kind of cooperation between us gods. All of us are working for our own goals. We are just playing the 'stupid game' as you call it to settle our dispute in a manner that doesn't destroy this world. Well. Safe for Charon. He is a crazy bastard. But in that case Wynne and me would suppress him.”

  Lidith waves her hand to signal that she isn't pleased either. “I spoke to them and we agreed to lay low for the time being. Nobody is allowed to take an action until Aneth is back.”

  “Hasn't he lost the game by dying? How long does it take for a god to reincarnate anyway.” Ascathon asks.

  “Not really. We never expected that one of us would die, so there are no rules for it. I also told the others that I wouldn't hold still if they messed with you. I guess they aren't interested in trying something anyway. It was very impressive that you managed to deal with Aneth like that.” Lidith glares at my longsword. “I guess gods aren't safe any more. To think that a weapon like that can easily cut down a god.”

  Ascathon nods. “From your description I guessed that a god is nothing but an Immortal who somehow got access to unbelievable amounts of mana. If you have limitless access to mana you may seem like a god, but you aren't the real metaphorical being. So I devised a weapon which is able to attack that mana pool. Though I have to admit that I still don't fully understand the creation process of mana crystals. I can create them, but I don't know how they come to be.”

  I interrupt them. “That's not important at the moment. When will Aneth reincarnate? That's important to know.”

  Lidith shrugs her shoulders. “I don't have much experience with the death of gods. But from what I heard from gods in other worlds it's faster than the reincarnation of a simple Immortal. Maybe immediately? Maybe a few years? It's hard to tell without an example. Gods don't die often you know? And the ones who do are too embarrassed to talk about it. We generally try to stay away from each other. I am much more concerned with the strange awakening process of you guys. Normally gods awaken all of their powers at once. In contrast to that you seem to get stronger step by step.”

  This is frustrating. So it basically means that the idiot god will show up unexpected and try to kill us because we injured his pride. I snort and swing a fist down at the enemy fleet to vent my anger. While I put all my feelings into it, a powerful surge of mana bursts out of my hand and impacts the sea.

  An enormous fist shaped indentation appears in the sea. The ships in the centre are flattened outright. Then all the water sloshes together over the depression and a tsunami starts to travel away from the centre of my attack in a circle.

  I raise my hand in wonder at what I just did. I trained so long and never got the desired result. Why!? Did I do something else? Or was it... ? Hmmm. Maybe emotions are the key? I jump onto the railing and summon all the feelings I can muster. Then I strike out again and again. Each time more powerful than before.

  “~HAHAHAHAHA!~”

  Feelings are the key! Maybe it's just about the state of mind. That's the explanation. I stop and watch the roughed up sea under us and the dispersing fle
et. They gave up on their formation and are fleeing in all directions.

  “What the... How did you do that!?” Ascathon is the first to speak after several seconds.

  I wriggle while standing on the railing. “You want to know? Maybe I'll let you in on my little insight if you do something nice to me.”

  “That's unfair! I want to know too!” Jazira pulls at my trousers.

  I bend down and whisper the answer into her ear. She blinks and steps to the left and points a finger down at the enemy. One of her death rays shoots out and she starts to wave it around, picking off enemy ships like a child who is squashing ants.

  “Her too!?” Ascathon gapes at Jazira. He turns his attention back to me. “Tell me!”

  “First I want to be carried in a princess carry. Then you have to tell me that you love me. And then you carry me off to our private quarters and do ~this and that~.” I imagine a romantic night with lots of attention from him.

  “Tell me or I'll do something completely unromantic to you!” He threatens me.

  “Hah!? I am the one who has the upper hand! You can't just...” He pulls a whip out of his pocket and I shut up.

  “You know? Lately I thought that we may...” He doesn't get to talk any further because I snatch the whip from his hands and throw it overboard.

  “Confiscated!”

  “It's connected to emotions! If you feel strongly enough about something you can break the barrier to that huge mana pool and poof!” I spread my arms.

  He stares at me for several seconds. “That explanation wasn't very scientific. But it'll suffice.” Ascathon picks the small mana crystal from his chest plate and concentrates on it. It starts to shine in a cool blue light.

  Lidith shakes her head. “You guys break one expectation after the other. It's totally unreasonable!”

  “Ah, you finally found a sufficient mana supply, master.” A soft female voice comes from Ascathon.

  “What was that?” I look up and down on him while searching for the source of the voice.

  “I am Warden. Master created me from a part of his soul.” The voice speaks again. This time I realize that it comes from the crystal in Ascathon's hand.