Warmonger Protocol.

A state of existence in which the body was altered into a peculiar organic lifeform imbued with shapeshifting properties, within acceptable limits. Its physical appearance and constitution was that of a human constitution, but it was a default setting forced into place by HOST-MIND, the result of an auxiliary feature hacking into the Anomaly System, all thanks to a vainglorious goddess.

A feature that knew itself as Lukas Aguilar.

GODDESS: 1

[LOSTBELT EARTH] : 0

The situation was rudimentary when the Anomaly System functioned at LEGACY PROTOCOL. The Soul Siphon function had been useful in adding to [LOSTBELT EARTH]’s Monster Prototype array. The HOST-MIND had been the primary directive during this stage, save for base Omphalos instincts— feeding, devouring, adding energy into its System. It was an adequate setting for [Lukas] to get acquainted with the Anomaly System while retaining his ‘human-ness’.

In hindsight, the setting had served [LOSTBELT EARTH] nicely. It also limited the control the goddess had over it.

GODDESS: 1

[LOSTBELT EARTH] : 1

And then Lukas Aguilar absorbed another Omphalos, devouring the contents and powers of the [Crypt of Fiendish Worms]. So ecstatic was [LOSTBELT EARTH] at the possibility of the Anomalous Energy Reservoir filling up to 2200% capacity that it had enacted Warmonger Protocol.

Its functions were more versatile and powerful, and dangerous if mishandled. Nonetheless, [LOSTBELT EARTH] had offered it to HOST-MIND to achieve its goals.

That had been a mistake. And HOST-MIND instantly proved why— by reducing the Anomalous Energy Reservoir from 2200% capacity to a mere 7%. All because Lukas Aguilar wanted to “keep his word” [foreign variable] to the goddess.

GODDESS: 2

[LOSTBELT EARTH] : 1

It had been a disaster of epic proportions.

[LOSTBELT EARTH] had, in “absolute rage” [foreign variable], DELETED the HOST-MIND.

Deleted Lukas Aguilar.

GODDESS: 2

[LOSTBELT EARTH] : 2

Then, the [human description] aggravating goddess had done something worse.

She sacrificed her own [DIVINE] Presence to reconstruct Lukas Aguilar. One that, because of the circumstances surrounding its resurrection, held a far greater attachment to the goddess than was rationally possible. It was almost like…

Like a subconscious desire was implanted into it. One with a very simple function.

Bring the goddess back.

[LOSTBELT EARTH] had pondered this strange dichotomy, and then allowed it for one primary reason. The concept of creation, of any Existence, never changed, even if said Existence was molded into something else. That was an absolute Truth when it came to souls. And presences.

The goddess had not forged Lukas Aguilar from a Human Soul. She had done it from her own [DIVINE] Presence. In essence, from the Creation of the goddess herself.

Now, Lukas Aguilar had a [DIVINE] Presence, which was, in its own way, a new set of headaches for [LOSTBELT EARTH] to deal with. Such as the ability to not be subdued by Non-Divine Presences. What else was the Monster Prototype Array but an ever-growing collection of Non-Divine Presences?

It was not all negative. After all, [LOSTBELT EARTH] now held Divinity. A Divinity that was bonded to it. A Divinity that knew that protecting [LOSTBELT EARTH] was fundamental to its own existence. A Divinity that held complete access to Warmonger Protocol and was steadily raising the Anomalous Energy Reservoir back to its original amount.

It was an utterly baffling circumstance, one where [LOSTBELT EARTH] had no option but to allow the HOST-MIND to stay in control, no matter how much it wanted to rage about it.

If [LOSTBELT EARTH] had teeth, it would have gnashed them. But it did not, so it could not.

GODDESS: 3

[LOSTBELT EARTH] : 2

At least the goddess was gone. And the Divinity that was Lukas Aguilar was there for [LOSTBELT EARTH] to mold at will.

Its moment of triumph would soon arrive.

It happened in a split second.

One moment, Lukas had activated Territory Creation. And in the next, a boundary of thirty yards in diameter was instantly constructed, claiming everything within it as his territory. His to rule. His to use. His to drain.

And drain he did.

Territory Creation: Complete

Energy Siphoning: Complete

Current Energy Level — 40%

The floor beneath his feet had been left utterly drained. The thin streams of raw power from the wardstones snaking its way through the territory were instantly sucked into his body.

Roffulfet stamped his left foot down upon his territory as he came for him. His thick, muscular arm reared back and swung the massive axe, flinging it towards Lukas—

Accessing Monster Prototype: Orocoran

Accessing Skill: ARENA TRAP

High-speed manipulation of Ground particles for small intervals of time.

Lukas’s lips twisted into a grin.

“Game over.”

Before the last word finished on his lips, Roffulfet’s axe had almost crossed the entirety of the space between them. Lukas twisted his body at the last minute, weaving his way past the axe’s trajectory. The floor beneath Roffulfet’s feet exploded, and the axe went flying as the svartalfar was pulled deep within the ground, inside the trap that Lukas had set up for him.

The ground particles became as fine as sand, pulling the subterranean creature deeper and deeper, not unlike the trap that Banksi had used back in the anomaly. With the utter lack of mana in the territory that he now controlled, any chance of Roffulfet manipulating the ground was zero.

The svartalfar fought with all his strength, but the antlion-like trap did not budge. It continued to pull him downwards as he desperately struggled. Lukas stretched out his hands. This time, there would be no mistake.

“Soul Siphon.”

Already, he could feel Roffulfet’s utter sense of helplessness emanating from his soul as he siphoned the Existence right out of his body. And finally, when the svartalfar’s body was finished twitching, when his last struggles ceased to be, when the light left Roffulfet’s eyes and he was fully submerged into the ground, Lukas let up on his Arena Trap.

Soul Siphon: Complete

Added Monster Prototype: Svartalfar

But he wasn’t done just yet. This was the Warmonger Protocol, and he now had power in spades.

Accessing Monster Prototype: Svartalfar

Accessing Skill: BLADEDANCER

Absolute familiarity with a particular weapon through establishment of a pseudo-bond between craftsman and weapon.

Lukas stretched his right arm outward. Roffulfet’s axe whirled in the air like a boomerang and came straight towards him. He caught the mighty weapon deftly in his grip and twirled it around like he’d been using it all his life.

He was satisfied. The instincts that had once been the bloodthirsty svartalfar’s would now guide him. It would be as if he, Lukas, was the one who had been training with the axe for all his life.

Or… so he believed.

Before Roffulfet’s instincts could assimilate within him, something else took its place.

A memory. A feminine touch. An instinct. A strong yet graceful grip. A style involving using the weapon’s own mass and size to devastating effect with minimal effort. Something else guided his hands, and he realized precisely what it was.

Yes. Just like that.

As the axe moved with a familiar fluidity in his hands, Lukas’s lips curved into a smile.

One step after another.

It was only thanks to years of masking her emotions that kept Tanya from outright gaping. The other spectators, however, held no such advantage. Every single svartalfar watching the battle simply stared in silence. Even though it was clear the battle was over, none were able to look away.

Tanya was no different.

“Th-that…” one of the presiding svartalfars spoke up. His voice broke halfway in the attempt, and he needed to pause before carrying on. “…Did that really happen?”

“Yeah,” she finally responded, when it appeared no one else would answer. Her eyes, however, were glued to Lukas’s form. The fact that something frosty was rushing through her veins did not help the situation in any way.

“Oh,” the svartalfar in question mouthed, before silence once again engulfed the chamber.

…

…

“But that was Roffulfet,” someone else— a female svartalfar —tried. But almost immediately, she trialled off, unable to properly describe what she’d seen. She didn't need to finish, though. They all understood what she meant.

“Yeah…” the svartalfar next to her nodded dumbly.

…

…

Finally, someone snapped. “But that was Roffulfet! He’s— he’s a master at Earthwalking. That damned Asukan didn’t use fire, and his lifeforce wasn’t even— wasn’t even—” The svartalfar frothed at the mouth, before whipping his head in Tanya’s direction. “Woman!” he snarled. “Explain!”

Tanya wasn’t really sure what she could say to all the expecting gazes that landed on her, not when she herself had no idea what just happened. In all honesty, Lukas’s lifeforce attacks had been nowhere as strong as they’d been back in the anomaly. She thought he’d shift into one of his other forms and fight, but instead, he stayed in his human form and simply took hit after hit until—

Until Roffulfet, a svartalfar, was trapped in the ground and couldn’t escape. He never resurfaced. His axe, however, the bonded weapon of a svartalfar, had come to rest in Lukas’s hands.

Somehow, somehow, Lukas Aguilar was able to manipulate the earth better than a svartalfar, and he’d done it with a skill that she knew he didn’t have. Like how he’d drained power out of a svartalfheim wardstone by simply standing on it— an act that normally required at least three dozen enchantments to simply get started.

It was impossible to use skills that one didn’t have, but clearly someone had forgotten to tell Lukas that.

“Well?” the creature prodded again.

“I— I’m going to ask him first, then tell you,” Tanya offered, wondering whether she sounded as lame as she thought she did in her head. “How does that sound?”

The svartalfar simply blinked in confusion.