Soul Venerable (Re-written)

 

 

An extremely beautiful woman was lying on top of a hexagonal golden-white crystal. The woman’s porcelain white skin shone in faint golden light. Her pale hands were clenched to the point of bleeding and her eyelids shivering, evident of the woman’s suffering. Despite the pained expression on her face, her beauty did not decrease one bit.

Both her and the crystal were submerged under transparent water, soaking her body wet. However, her body would dye the transparent water with dark red blood despite the lack of wounds in her body. The phenomenon defies logic, but this was not normal water.

She was submerged in a special liquid known as Light Phoenix Amniotic Divine Fluid, an extremely precious light-path resource synthesized through complex refinement methods. The crystal that held her body is the core of a grand healing formation and is also an extremely rare light-path material named Myriad Wave Photonic Dragon’s Reflux Organ.

Every once in a while, the crystal would release pulsing light that made the transparent amniotic fluid saturated with dark red color, while in some rare cases, dark purple blood would also be washed away from her body. Through repeated treatment by the healing formation, the fluid was able to automatically clear itself, maintaining the transparency to a certain level. 

The two precious materials possessed high affinity with each other, allowing any and all known physical wounds and curses through the use of negative energy to be treated rapidly. Unfortunately, the notorious Devil King possessed otherworldly methods that weren't as easily treated by the methods of Morgen world. Even with the best physical trauma and magical curse treatment, progress is still slow.

Above the healing ‘pool’, a group of people led by a regal man with blonde hair donned in golden armor inspected the woman. “Anais… please wake up soon, we need your expertise.” he said intimately before turning his back to the sleeping woman.

The man in golden armor swept his gaze at the people in the room with stout expression. 

A burly man with one arm and one eye, a small-framed man with a giant wound across his face layered with purple lines that wriggles like worms, and an elven maiden with sunken eyes and wrinkled skin.

“Lamost… it’s… it’s time for us to step down from the Braves.” Yurnero sighed. “We need to hand out our true inheritances to the Hall of Heroes.”

“No, we are not.” Lamost’s eyes weren’t faltering like the three remaining braves. His eyes still shone in bright golden light, as if the weight of the world did not bother him at all. “Until the Braves candidates are ready, we must prepare for the next Otherworldly Invader.”

Drogan shook his head. “Can’t you take a hint? Because of your greed, our number was reduced from seven to five. If you could hold back your inflated ego, there was no need to kill the Devil King. If we approached him peacefully like Multicast had suggested, we could’ve stayed in power even if the next generation Hero rose to power. The Hall of Heroes would welcome all seven of us, but you have to ruin it!”

“Do I need to remind you of your current position?” Lamost released his aura, suppressing Drogan thoroughly. “Even at your peak, you couldn’t defeat me. The Devil King won’t willingly hand out his True Inheritance unless the First and Second Hero True Inheritance were traded. That’s a price the Sacred Alliance cannot afford.”

Drogan spit a dark phlegm at Lamost’ feet. “The First Hero True Inheritance was related to time-path and space-path, while the Second Heroic True Inheritance contained refinement-path profundity. With your intelligence, did you ever think about how he would incorporate it into his methods? Weren’t you complaining on why we couldn’t explore the Boundless Astral Plane with our own physical body? We were the one that wanted him to find methods to find more Great Planes to subjugate, but you were unreasonable.

Don’t get me wrong, I never agreed with the Devil King’s decision to slaughter two billion humans in the Orchid Blossom Plane and refine their souls for artifacts, but at least he got a point… and if it matters, a principle. All he did was for the benefit of our Morgen world. The genocide he committed, we were the greatest beneficiary from it, yet you smear his name.”

Lamost’s eyes were dark. He unleashed a spear art with his fingers as spear images pierced Drogan’s body. 

“Blech!” Drogan received the energy spear with his body, vomiting corrosive black blood. One thing that is worth noting is that he did not bend his knees, nor his resolution waver. 

“Heavenly Arbitrator, the spear of seven elemental lights… Remember how the Devil King refined it for you? He used the souls of seven hundred million humans and an uncountable number of other lifeforms, that’s more than a third of the inhabitants of the Orchid Blossom Plane. The rest of us weren’t privileged to receive that amount of resources because you vetoed his extraplanar slaughter since you are scared of his potential.”

“Go ahead, kill me and brand me as one of the Devil King’s clones, like what you did to Dietrich, Xion, Karax, and King Solomon. Better yet, since we got literal proof of Anais being possessed by the Devil King’s split soul, why haven’t you killed her yet? Hmm? Why so silent? A devil got your tongue?” Drogan spat toxic words one after another. 

“You might be able to stay mentally sane after fighting the Devil King because of that quasi-divine armor you’ve snatched from Alistair’s chamber of secrets, but not every one of us can get the Devil King’s [Godslayer] prototype. You’ve personally seen Anais' condition. We can’t afford to refine a quasi-rank 7 healing formation powered by Light Phoenix Amniotic Divine Fluid and Myriad Wave Photonic Dragon Reflux Organ. 

Did you see these lines? Every time it wriggles, it feels like water from the River of Styx being poured down to my soul, the pain is equivalent as if Despair of the Abyss was cleaving my face incessantly. Now that our job is finished, the gods didn’t grant us their favor anymore. I have to endure these physical and mental torments through my own effort. 

The ‘Undying’ Yurnero is literally dying. His regeneration power was completely stripped by Mordred’s curse. Can you actually afford to heal him? Just this amount of Light Phoenix Amniotic Divine Fluid allows him to recuperate, but this divine water is literally extinct outside this room. Only the Devil King knows how to refine more of it, while the rest of what’s left is used to stabilize that slut’s condition!” Drogan’s eyes were red, his veins bulging while he pointed towards the sleeping Anais. 

“And don’t let me start with Multicast. She has to enter eternal sleep so that her soul might have a chance to be useful in the fight against the next Otherworldly Invader as a magic puppet. I’ve known the Devil King more than you know, his Cryonic Sleep Chamber is extremely cold both literally and figuratively. Multicast has to endure the cold and infinite void alone so that she might be slightly useful in the fight against the next Otherworldly Invader. 

Were your sacrifices comparable to any of us? You just sat there in your golden throne with your divine favor while scheming to accumulate wealth, power, and true inheritances so your sad little existence could ascend into the realm of the gods. You might have ignited your divine spark and could accept the faith energy of your believer, but I know your true character. Your righteous words meant nothing to me.”

Lamost’s wrath could no longer be contained after the accusation by Drogan. “Are you trying to split us apart? Depending on your answer, I might have to kill you for treason.”

“ARE YOU REALLY THAT BLIND?” Drogan yelled on top of his lungs. “LOOK. AT. US. YOU WANT US to assist YOU in exploring the Devil King’s Secret Plane? Take a closer look at Her!” Drogan pointed at Eleanora. “Let me remind you that she merely sent her beast slaves to test the waters and received the time-path wound that accelerates her aging by 100 times. If we failed to retreat at that moment, it would be 1.000 times or 10.000 times! She’ll turn into dust if not for Multicast’s methods before she went to eternal sleep.

What does that mean? His Secret Plane possessed something resembling his Mage Tower, and you haven’t even fully conquered his Mage Tower nor his forces in Galatreon yet! 

You don’t have the courage to face the consequences of subjugating Galatreon completely. Even if we managed to open his Secret Plane, do you think he has no other countermeasures against us? Just to control Alistair took years of planning and subterfuge on Multicast’s end, now that she’s asleep, what makes you think we have the chance to break that turtle shell and eat the juicy meat inside? Furthermore, you’ll take the most benefit from it anyway.”

The tension was slowly increasing, but Drogan wanted none of it. “Me and Yurnero are going to step down from the Braves and relinquish our position in the Hall of Heroes. We’re going to put our True Inheritances there and retire, and I hope you will respect our decision for old time’s sake.” 

The two former braves left, leaving the unconscious Anais, the frail Eleanora, and the stout Lamost. 

“Are you going to let them go just like that?” Eleanora asked, “They know too much of your sins.”

Lamost dismissed the thought of killing them, “No need to worry about them, I have prepared the contingencies if they decide to act funny. They are no threat to us. We just need to focus on recovering Devil King’s artifacts on his Secret Plane, Mage Tower and Galatreon.”

“Alright, I will believe in you. For immortality.”

….

“Did we really leave the Braves just like that?” Yurnero asked doubtfully, “It’s not like he’s going to let us go.”

“We are no threat to his ambition, there's nothing that we can do to disrupt his divine ascension. As long as we’re not in the way, he won’t make our life difficult.” Drogan answered.

“Alright.” he nodded as if he had reached the same conclusion. “You know; I have noticed one of the Devil King’s methods.”

“Please, elaborate.”

“Of the various methods in his hands, he was most proficient in refinement-path and lightning-path, right? I’m pretty sure his attainment in both of these paths are at least [Exemplary], but at the end of his life, he showed the methods of fire-path, water-path, earth-path, wind-path, poison-path, dark-path, light-path, necro-path, wisdom-path, transformation-path, time-path and of course, his self-detonation contain information-path profundity. 

Since he possessed extremely high attainment in refinement-path, the methods of the nine elements might be mere replication and mimicry through the use of his artifacts. As the most erudite Braves from all generations, it shouldn’t be surprising.

Every single one of us received different methods that counter our specialty the most. For example, I received a curse that negates my superhuman healing. After researching further, I’ve found out that he was using a refinement-path method that refine my body runes into a weapon against myself.

My rank 6 body rune set that allows me to move unhindered in the world becomes a weapon that shackles myself, turning me into a cripple. My strength-path healing methods were automatically refined into negative energy. 

As for you, your anti-magic body rune sets were re-refined during battle, putting you in a dilemma whether to remove your anti-magic capabilities completely or endure the cursed runes. Multicasts lost her ability to cast spells chantless, Eleanora whose secret method allowed her to absorb the life essence of her beast slaves could not completely cure her time-path wound, while Anais was slowly being possessed by Devil King’s split souls.

His attainment was truly profound as I have never seen a refinement-path cultivator turned into one of the greatest combatants ever existed in the history of the Braves.

The question is… what kinds of methods were used against Lamost?”

Drogan was shocked at Yurnero’s line of thought. He was surprised that he’d never thought of this by himself. The gap of intelligence between him and Yurnero was not that wide, any and all cultivators who have reached their level were extremely intelligent and shrewd. Drogan realized that Devil King’s methods were extremely frightening, even after he overestimated him greatly. 

“Are you saying that his wisdom-path method is still plaguing us?” Drogan asked.

“That’s what I am unsure about. I mainly cultivate strength-path while wisdom-path as my secondary. My resistance against wisdom-path methods is higher than most rank 6 magic casters. Devil King’s wisdom-path methods might work against Anais and Eleanora because the two were lacking in these aspects, whereas Multicast’s Mantle of Chaos counters all forms of telepathic thoughts and divine senses targeted towards her.

Then, that brought me to a new conclusion. What about you or Lamost? Wisdom-path and Information-path was popularized by the Devil King himself, even if it wasn’t his main method. Be it magical or martial, the widespread development of wisdom-path was due to his abuse in his early days, but what if he was holding back all along?”

Drogan pondered deeply, “That’s not impossible, but the chances are too low. If his wisdom-path and information-path methods were powerful to that extent, then the Nine Braves wouldn’t be the Seven Braves after the war with Demon King Maximilian. He wouldn’t let his wives die under the hands of Otherworldly Invaders, I’ve known his personality.”

“Okay, you’ve known him way before he rose into power, so I have no say in that. Then let’s consider his wisdom-path and information-path attainment were merely his secondary or tertiary cultivation paths, but isn't it weird that these two paths attainment were still as high as it was? Wasn't his secondary cultivation path lightning-path? I feel like there's crucial information that we missed.

Information-path specialized in gathering, transmitting, and storing information whereas wisdom-path specialized in the manipulation of thoughts, will, and emotion. These two paths possessed relatively lower destructive power if used in direct combat, but it greatly amplifies one’s worth if one is a non-combatant, for example, if you’re an administrator, a commander, a strategist, a researcher… or a refiner.

Your lack of attention towards Lamost’s condition might be caused by Devil King’s wisdom-path methods affecting your thoughts.”

Drogan was doubtful. As long as he could remember, during the fight against the Devil King, he wasn’t hit by any wisdom-path methods. No colorful lights or aura whatsoever hit his true body nor his equipment. Every change of the battlefield was scrutinized with his methods, half-baked methods would be found out and countered immediately. Furthermore, every single person who participated in killing the Devil King was closely monitored by Alistair to ensure no Devil King’s split souls went under the radar.

“You must be thinking that you weren’t hit by any wisdom-path methods, right? Then you are wrong. He must’ve imbued his weapon, Despair of the Abyss, with wisdom-path methods secretly. We closely monitor our body and soul, but monitoring one’s sea of consciousness is like monitoring our memories and thoughts, nobody wants to be at the receiving end of that level of investigation…”

“Are you implying that we’re under the control of the Devil King’s methods? If that is so, our memories regarding that fight are not reliable.”

“No.” Yurnero quickly denied. “Wisdom-path methods manipulate thoughts, will and emotion. Thoughts are like grass, they are easy to create and easy to disperse. Wills are like trees to grass, it is a significant congregation of thoughts weaved together that has greater durability and versatility. Emotions are like a sea of forests, it is extremely durable and permeable, it can infiltrate the deepest without the victim being aware.

These three aspects of wisdom-path are expendables. The more they affect the host, the shorter it becomes. That being the case, as long as time passes, the effect and effectiveness will reduce until it’s completely gone. 

If my deduction is correct, then you got hit by a type of telepathic will, while Lamost secretly affected by a type of telepathic emotion.”

“Are you aware of what it is?”

“Not exactly. My wisdom-path cultivation is secondary, and I am specialized in defense and offence, not true deduction. As the one who popularized wisdom-path, I am sure his attainment is higher than mine. There are myriad types of thoughts, will and emotion, but if my guess is correct, then what affects you is telepathic fake will: it can produce telepathic fake thoughts that can assimilate itself into your thoughts, manipulating it to process fake information or completely take wrong conclusions.”

“When you put it like that, that makes me think our separation with Lamost is because of the Devil King’s manipulation.” He pondered deeply. “What do you think?” he trusted Yurnero’s wisdom-path attainment.

“I’m not sure. Even if you’re not affected, according to your personality, you won’t follow him blindly and be used as a tool.” Yurnero scratched his head in confusion, “Maybe I was wrong? Maybe it wasn’t telepathic fake thoughts?”

Even if Yurnero used his wisdom-path investigative killer move to peer at Drogan’s sea of consciousness, he wasn't confident he would be able to detect the Devil King’s methods. Just the telepathic fake thoughts could assimilate itself to Drogan’s thoughts. If Yurnero is unlucky, this might be a double-tactical deception to attack his sea of consciousness that would lead to unwanted circumstances.

The two were helpless against invisible attacks that they could do nothing against. 

“The telepathic will would consume itself the more it spends thoughts. It has to hibernate and wait for the right moment to strike, but it cannot exist forever since mere existing exhausts its own thoughts, and affecting someone at our level is not as easy as manipulating mortals. For now, this time bomb will not explode.” Yurnero gave his verdict.

“If that is true, then what about Lamost? I noticed his behavior has changed ever since he donned the Godslayer Power Armor prototype from Alistair’s chamber of secrets, he became obsessed with the Devil King’s artifacts and acted based on that desire. You said he was affected with telepathic emotion, are you aware of what it is?” 

“Telepathic emotion possessed the greatest durability and permeability. Even if Lamost realizes he was affected by outside influence, he cannot distinguish what it is. However, he wasn’t aware of it yet. But that can’t be.” He quickly denied himself as purple lights shone in his eyes, one of his passive wisdom-path methods activating itself to mitigate him from danger of taking the wrong conclusion.

“We’ve underestimated someone who has the ability to ignite his divine spark, he might already know this better than anyone, but he bided his time to squash all future hindrances.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yes...” Then as if he realizes something, the purple lights in his eyes shone in a darker light, “Even after greatly overestimating the Devil King, we still underestimated him… Our separation from the Braves, Anais’ condition, and Multicast’ entering eternal sleep… all might have been calculated by the Devil King.

The Devil King realizes he could not stop Lamost divine ascension, so he tried to ensure his foundation is flawed. However, Lamost was extremely shrewd himself. Half-baked scheme to hurt his future would fail in its infancy. The Devil King kept on offering baits that Lamost could not decline, for example… a [Godslayer] full set…”

“Godslayer… set? Wasn’t it only a prototype?” Drogan recalled the intel he received from his subordinate. As the assassin of the Brave, his information network should be only second to the Hero, but there was no mention of the word ‘Godslayer’ and ‘set’ together in one topic.

“Devil King Mordred was someone who cultivates information-path and wisdom-path as his tertiary path, I have to overestimate him and take wild guesses to make a foundation for deduction and if my hypothesis is correct, then the battle dress he wore during his last retaliation was a [Godslayer Battledress], a type of inner armor which should be worn inside the [Godslayer Power Armor] that Lamost currently wore…”

“That’s insane.” Drogan felt fear. “Based on his performance, the Godslayer Battledress could easily utilize the nine elements methods as if a battalion of twenty rank 5 Epic magic casters working together with perfect synchronization, that’s why he could effortlessly use elemental methods without a care… if it was combined with Godslayer Power Armor, then…”  

“The power of a Divine, a true rank 7 artifact that could fight toe-to-toe with a god….” Yurnero paused at his own answer. “That being the case, I might know why Lamost put his focus on the Devil King’s Secret Plane instead of Galatreon. The two artifacts are basically supportive and defensive in nature, it lacks a certain level of lethality...”

Despite the existence of [Godslaying Cannon] on Alistair, it wasn’t a true god-killing weapon. It has so many drawbacks that a god could exploit such as the long charging time, the sheer size of the weapon, and the lack of an independent energy supply system. A true [Godslayer] weapon wouldn’t have so many flaws.

“A weapon to slay god… are you saying it exists in Devil King’s Secret Plane?”

“I don’t know. The gods wouldn’t stay still if they knew, but nothing can be said for sure, information manipulation is the Devil King’s forte. All of his post-death arrangement revolves around manipulating our actions to distract ourselves from securing his True Inheritances scattered in seven locations, while delaying Lamost’ attack at his Secret Plane and Galatreon...” Yurnero laid out the facts.

Drogan interjected, “If we aren’t afraid of our lifespan being consumed, attacking the Devil King’s Secret Plane would probably take a couple of years, but it’ll cost us hundreds if not several thousands of years of lifespan. This simple deterrent made us split apart with Lamost and put Eleanora in her place. Even knowing we were manipulated by him, we are completely helpless and split apart with Lamost. 

The Devil King’s Secret Plane definitely harbors his greatest wealth, but if Lamost focused on conquering Galatreon first, then our chance to penetrate the secret plane’s defense increased significantly. However, Lamost is too agitated after he receives clues regarding the Devil King’s reincarnation, he must find methods of ascension before the Devil King’s reincarnation matures…”

Yurnero sighed. Being a chess piece that moved according to someone’s will does not bode well with his character. Rank 6 Sovereigns are the cream of the crop of a civilization. As the inhabitants of a Great World, he might be below the Gods in their Divine Kingdoms, but he is the top figure of the cultivation world. Mortals would pay respect-borderline-worship the moment he appeared.

“Is that why you want me to step down from the Braves with you?” he asked Drogan.

“Aren’t you curious why you weren’t dead? The Devil King’s methods could kill you during the last battle if Lamost did not use his trump card, but he gives us a way out. I don’t want to be dragged into a senseless battle between a soon-to-be God and a lunatic with the ability to reincarnate.” Drogan patted Yurnero’s shoulder as he gazed into the stars under the dark night. “Let’s go home, I’m tired.”

“The land of sand and fire… It’s been a while since we returned.” Drogan sighed.