BOOK 4: CHAPTER 16: IDOLS

It was highly interesting to see bonds of Conflict intertwine with bonds of Favor, yet it was even more curious to feel the Conflict disperse and transform into Favor, strengthening the bond further. Not all bonds of Conflict shifted into Favor, but that was to be expected since only a few smaller groups witnessed Electra fuse with him.

They realized that the Sacred Beast belonged to him and that Electra was there to help them.

Regardless, the new bonds were as strong as expected. The Favor owed through the survivors’ rescue was high, after all. His power increased little by little, providing him with trickles of strength. Yet, as pleasant as the trickle of the Weave’s power was, it wasn’t enough for David.

He removed the fusion with Electra, and the pressure that had weighed heavily on his body, mind, and soul ceased. The Sacred Beast formed before him, but she wasn’t in her gargantuan combat form. Instead, Electra slithered around him in her three-meter-long form. Their bond filled him with warmth, and a flood of information, complaints, and pictures was released.

“Yes, yes. I am also happy to see you, Electra,” David snickered. “It looks like you had some fun without me, though. Did you find some thugs on your way to Kamia?”

Electra hissed in exaggerated annoyance and forwarded various images of Kobolds and Gnolls emerging from anchored Rifts. She’d burned their settlements to the ground when they attacked her without any warning. The humanoid monsters did not appear to attack her for any particular reason as far as David could tell. If anything, they had challenged a creature much stronger than themselves for no reason, and they paid a heavy price for it.

Sure, Electra had less than 100 pure Blood droplets left to maintain her form, but she managed to replace most of it with refined Aether, which David absorbed to replace with the remaining Blood stored in his storages and the Beast Core. It wasn’t enough to fill her to the brim, nor did [Bloodlife Echo] have enough space left to push Electra back to her prime. Regardless, the Sacred Beast seemed satisfied. Though she also reassured David that she would obliterate the centipede Echoes once the rescue mission concluded.

The Sacred Beast’s wrath toward the Skill-created structures was overwhelming—and quite funny to watch.

“How about you destress a little bit more? There are thousands of undead in dire need of a beating. Plus, it would help me grow stronger,” David proposed, and Electra agreed without a second thought. She drained him of as much pure Blood as he was willing to spare and released a barrage of dark-violet bolts that pierced through the undead cores and brains of the walking dead in a 200-meter radius.

In the meantime, David walked over to the Classers and motioned for them to follow him once he had released the majority of Vitae to consume the rest of Liear: the walking dead, their remains, and the rest of the city.

The remaining campus structures disappeared swiftly, and it did not take long before the first heaps of rubble and bones were consumed by the all-consuming darkness as well.

The Classers’ heads flicked left and right in a mixture of awe, respect, and fear as the commotion around them intensified, but they remained tense and ready to fight the undead as they strode out of Liear to reunite with the survivors in the village on the hillside. David considered rushing to the survivors earlier to help them fight through the masses of undead, but Electra, leading the five centipede Echoes, was already one step ahead of him.

It was surprising how easily Electra could control the other Echoes, though he was glad for it. Learning about Electra’s potential and special abilities as his Champion would come in handy. If anything, it had already been helpful given her encounter with a horde of Gnolls and Kobolds.

David and the Classers returned to the village in no time. They were the first to arrive, and it was not until two hours later that the last group of survivors reached them. Some Classers—actually, most of them—returned to Liear to help their friends. They charged into the masses of undead, enjoying the last traces of [Herald’s Blessing] to unleash devastating attacks on the walking dead. Their help was greatly appreciated by the rescue squads, as well as the survivors who seemed to get along really well with the Classers, yet it was clear that most of them wouldn’t have survived without the Echoes’ constant support.

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David could have helped, making everything a lot easier, but he was busy with more important things. He spent two hours alone, focused on the Weave. Accessing the Weave with a cracked Source wasn’t easy. Even so, it was possible. As long as he didn’t touch anything, he wouldn’t worsen the Source’s condition.

That was not his plan. He didn’t intend to strain, let alone damage, his Source. All he needed was to watch, to access the Weave and feel the Intents, Laws, and Authorities that were close to him. It felt like he should be able to acquire several Intents with the snap of his fingers, whereas other nodes of the Weave were further away, barely out of reach, just far enough to make acquisition difficult.

“This was going to be troublesome. Acquiring the Law governing Rend is one thing. It feels close, yet so far away… And then there are those things.” David sighed deeply. ℞Àℕö𝐛Ę𝓢

Gaining access to the Weave was a powerful privilege granted only to Ascendants, yet it brought new challenges with it. New powers he could acquire with enough enlightenment and effort—effort he had planned to devote to his other Class Skills and Sparks for the foreseeable future. All while nurturing both Vitae and his various bonds.

Since he returned from the Naughtrealm, David had enough time to devise various plans. Sure, some revolved around the Laws and Intents he had acquired, but they had never been about the Weave. Since he learned more about the Divine Seed and the doors it opened for his future growth, David was forced to change his plans, shifting from fighting mindlessly to grow stronger, to using his head to form bonds of Favor to use long-term, and bonds of Conflict, though he had yet to gain the opportunity to exploit the Path of Conflict.

The five centipede Echos returned to the village alongside the last batch of survivors. They plowed through several undead threatening to attack the survivors and reached the village shortly after, all while Electra’s gargantuan form circled above Liear, releasing a constant stream of dark-violet bolts. Several of the more fortunate buildings that had survived the integration collapsed from the impact and disappeared into the all-consuming darkness that had already devoured the city center.

The all-consuming darkness spread outward, and it was only a matter of hours—possibly a day or two if Vitae’s efficiency diminished, but either way was fine.

“Is that your companion, Your Excellency?” Lilia asked as she arrived with the last survivors. Her voice was strained, her face marked with scratches and two deep bite wounds.

“The exact details are a little bit more complicated, but she is my Champion and a Sacred Beast,” David explained, touching her face gently to cast [True Restoration] and [Radiant Expulsion].

“We should leave right away. More powerful undead are heading this way. They must have sensed the pillar of life,” Lilia stammered as heat rose to her cheeks. The tips of her ears turned red, and she failed to maintain eye contact with David.

“That, or they sense the removal of death’s presence. The Rulers emitted a tremendous amount of death’s presence, which must have strengthened the other undead, creating an army of Bronze- and Silver-ranked undead. With the death of the Rulers, other sentient undead are probably going to search for their corpses or the resources they used to advance to the Platinum Rank,” he added.

“I will stay here to remove what’s left of Liear. Maybe I can find out why four Platinum-ranked undead were so interested in Liear. If not, I might be able to find a few more survivors, though I somehow doubt that. We already rescued a lot more survivors than I’d anticipated to be hiding underground.”

In truth, he just wanted to devour Liear and avoid getting bothered by the Classers and survivors. The fight with the undead Rulers had been different than expected. More dangerous, for one, but also mind-opening.

“Settle the children, old, and injured on the centipedes. If there isn’t enough room, the injured can walk beside them. The centipedes will heal them.”

Lilia looked like she had a lot to say. Clearly, she didn’t want him to stay behind alone, but a glance in Electra’s direction was enough to tell that he wasn’t in danger. If anything, the Classers and survivors would have more dangers to face than them.

She nodded and excused herself to prepare for their departure. David, in the meantime, returned to Liear to devour the rest of the city.

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