CHAPTER 102: CHAPTER 101: COCYTUS PART 3

Whilst Carl was lost to the continuously repeating montage of his life, Eckro was locked in a staring contest with Cocytus. "Well? Get on with it brother, bring an end to my shameful existence already, let’s see if this human can make something useful out of me."

"Why do you seem so eager, I wonder..." Cocytus returned his attention to Carl, then reared back ready to launch an attack that would end their game, but before he ever had the chance to make his move Eckro had already struck and sent his massive body reeling across the cavern.

"Cocytus, I don’t really care if I repay my debt by saving him from you or becoming materials for one of his creations. As long as I don’t fail to be useful again, I’ll do whatever Infinity decides to push me towards."

"Infinity... So that was it..." Eckro turned around when he heard Carl’s voice, "Infinity is the beginning, the end and everything in between. You locked me in a cycle from my first memory to my last, I might not have the ability to break it, but I can expand it to include a little bit of the future..."

"You have the law of Infinity?" Waiting patiently for Carl to respond, as he tried to measure Carl’s proficiency.

"No, the law of Divinity, now I’m putting an end to this nonsense." As Carl spoke, Eckro’s attempt to measure proficiency ceased. He was about to ask Carl to explain, then felt something reach into him and twist.

"What happened?" Eckro sank and took several deep breaths as he tried to figure out what the feeling was.

"There we go, much better. Now I just need to figure out what the hell happened when I absorbed the traitor’s ice earlier."

"I thought you said you couldn’t break it, how are you free?"

"I twisted your divinity to my will, made you release me and figured out what was happening with me. Never thought I would be able to absorb the traitor’s ice and replicate it, though becoming an ice statue explains why cold felt comfortable and it looked like I was looking through crystal. Just a shame it’s so hard to move in that form."

"You are a strange human, I don’t understand anything you’re talking about. I think you might just be getting immortal concepts mixed up..."

"No, but it’s a long story... I have three laws no one ever heard of before. That doesn’t matter though, I won’t let you go out that way, if I used you as material then Samael would just kill me when he regained his senses."

"I may call him "father" but I think you underestimate what that means to him." Eckro replied with a tone that Carl couldn’t quite place, somewhere between appreciation and depression

"Then you shouldn’t even care what happened to him. If he was just keeping you around to use you, then he doesn’t deserve to be called "Father" by any of you. Even my mortal mother knows that the title is earned and not demanded." Eckro’s expression became indignant, wondering if Carl was actually picking a fight with him.

"Carl, the five minutes are up!" Bahamut shouted.

"Sorry! You go find the creatures and I’ll catch up!"

Carl glared at Eckro, who glared back at him, then Cocytus emerged from a pillar of ice lash out at both of them.

"Damn it! Wait, it seems the mood has changed. I wonder what i missed after the traitor assaulted me."

"Simple really, the moment he sent you flying he changed his mind and decided if I couldn’t manage that, then it made more sense to just fall in line.... Once a traitor always a traitor, I’m sure Samael will be more than happy to have someone so good at playing his enemies."

"Are you saying that he wants to reconcile with Father? HA! Like I would believe such an obvious ruse."

"The moment he discovered I’m the hero meant to put an end to Margo’s game, he realised the end was in sight and he could bring an end to the game once and for all just by killing me."

’What are you doing!?" Eckro yelled into his mind.

’I will put an end to all of this, go to your father and I will free him. Any violation of your morality you commit will be my fault and I’ll deduct it from your debt to both me and my grandma.’

"Did he say he’s the hero? Hahahaha! Well done Eckro, if he isn’t lying, then I have no doubt father will forgive you."

Eckro didn’t want to burn Carl’s plan, but still wasn’t convinced. "I’m not sure yet, he has a barrier around his mind so usual mind reading isn’t working. Freeze him from the neck down, I’ll use my laws to break through and confirm, he won your contest so if I’m wrong you can’t kill him."

"Ugh, fine, but make it quick." Carl allowed himself to be frozen, he wanted to let it play out for Eckro’s sake, but he also wanted to try something. "Why didn’t you avoid it?"

"He suffers inversion, distracting his mind with conversation made his body more focused, but that’s why I have to resort to mental infiltration to be sure."

"Inversion? Between that, his sentimental nature and his unnatural power for a mortal, he has much in common and yet they’re polar opposites. Haha! Lord Margo and Mobius killed his wife and that child, he was getting annoyed as I killed his creations."

"Shut up, Cocytus! If you antagonise him it will make infiltrating his mind even harder."

"Fine. Get on with it." Cocytus grumbled, only holding back his anger because identifying the hero would earn them all the power they could ask for and letting him slip through their fingers would see them punished gravely.

Eckro approached and put his hand on Carl’s head exerting a good deal of power but not actually trying to infiltrate his mind. ’What are you doing?’

’If I have no choice but to be the hero, then I’m gonna damn well be the hero I choose to be. That means I’m not sacrificing anyone, or doing anything, or saying anything, or even thinking anything, that will make it impossible to live with myself when I’m done.’

’Do you have anything else to say before I decide?’

’If you’re on his side, you should probably know that Lillim might need cover from time to time. Don’t pull any punches against me, I’m going to use what little understanding of Mind I have to make him forget my mentioning her.’

Exkro gritted his teeth, Cocytus saw his body tense and prepared in case of betrayal. "I was right, he’s the he-" Carl interrupted him by way of phasing through the ice and punching him in the jaw, his entire body had become a translucent pale-blue.

"Okay, that’s pretty handy, took a while to get used to though." The moment he had realised what happened, Cocytus realised what had happened to Carl previously and prepared himself for battle. "You sit tight Cocky, you can’t attack me anymore anyway."

"Do not mock me human, just because you have reseled Eckro, do not think you will escape here."

"I wish I had, seems he truly has atoned for his betrayal, I was asking you to stay out of the way so I can focus on the actual threat." Cocytus looked to where Eckro had been sent flying.

He was standing in front of a destroyed Ice pillar, looking at his hands as razor-sharp ice shards dropped once more because of the shattered pillar. He looked completely different than he had done a second ago.

When he had first been released he looked like an average all be it well defined human in tattered clothes. Now his eyes were pitch black and in place of irises or retina were two small, golden clock faces.

His body had grown and he now stood about nine feet tall, it was still well defined but it was far less proportionate; each limb about two metres long, covered in rugged, thick, black fur. His feet were each about a foot and a half long from heel to to talon and each of the three dagger like claws were six inches long on top of that.

from his head sprouted three horns, one from above each ear and one from the middle of his forehead.

From his back sprouted eight wings that looked more like boneless scraps of flesh that spanned even wider than his arms.

’How did you manage to unseal my power?’

’I have overridden Cocytus’ divinity, I wasn’t joking, he can’t touch me now. Anyway, I could never consider someone doing their best for their family as a traitor, so my ice has no effect on you. Now stop being nice, you have to play the part.’

’I will repay this debt if it takes eternity.’ With that final message Eckro disappeared and then reappeared next to Cocytus. "Brother, we need to report this to father now."