FALSE GODS

Lynne suddenly sprinted forwards, hailing his scythe backwards, evading a descending blade of fire. Youth, completely ablaze, used the force of the strike as a propeller as it gave chase, while Lynne suddenly spun around and slashed his scythe horizontally, clashing against the blade.

As sparks flew out, shockwave due to the impact caused both to flew backwards like cannonballs, forcing them afloat. Lynne gritted his teeth as he gripped his scythe tightly, while his hand holding it caught on fire, burning violently green. As it spread through the shaft – and then the blade – of the scythe, the weapon suddenly became blurry, leaving behind only afterimages each time Lynne swung with it.

He dove towards the youth as his brown hair changed its hue to crimson red, seemingly ablaze, quickly spreading throughout his body. The main property of the red flames lied in the fact that they can’t be extinguished naturally, and that they spread faster than any other type.

Green and crimson combined in the sky, while the youth diving at him caused his blade to split into two as he bellowed, slashing several dozen times in motion, with each slash sprouting another blade of light.

The two clashed in the sky, over and over again, their figures mere distant shadows, as explosions resounded through the Garden of Flames. Flames blazing through the scythe suddenly stilled as their hue changed to purple. The scythe’s speed immediately dropped, yet it appeared as if its mass increased hundred times over. The space around the weapon distorted and all movements slowed down, nearly coming to a screeching halt.

The youth’s two swords clashed against the scythe’s shaft but were repelled easily as the scythe’s blade suddenly burned ablaze in green, slicing through the air and youth’s neck. The flames hissed briefly as the youth’s body evaporated into the air, leaving behind only a memory.

Lynne sighed softly as he landed on top of a small island surrounded by the ocean of flames. So far, Lynne had gained the ability to control five of the Seven Natural Flames: golden, blue, green, red and purple.

In addition, he had also opened the first symbol granted to him by the Origin Law of Space, and has obtained the first ‘Gift’ from it: Spacial Form. He’s able to briefly mold himself into the space itself, causing him to become a part of it and travel anywhere near at great speeds.

He also gained his first insight in to the Law of Darkness, granting him a Gift of Shadows – ability to control them at will, as long as there are any. All things combined, he had long surpassed his strength when he fought against Elvernheimn’s Emperor, and could now be considered to have stepped into the High Tier of Mages on Alloy continent, becoming Dominus Archmage.

Of all the Spell Arts he had learned, he only retained two: Elemental Blades and Fiery Sweeps, alongside his Origin Spell Art, Infinite Faces – which now allowed him to morph into practically any humanoid-like creature down to the last details.

He had also made some progress in the Law of Infinity, and had obtained its second Gift – Mana Burn, an ability which allows him to burn the Mana surrounding him and use it to fuel the spell. The only Law which he failed to tap into is the Origin Law of Void, as he simply isn’t able to even fathom its concept.

“Not bad,” the monkey’s voice echoed out as he appeared through the space, leaping atop Lynne’s shoulder. “You could finally be considered a beginner in the Arts of Magic.”

“Eeeh?!” Lynne exclaimed, his expression a mixture of shock and sadness. “Beginner? What the fuck?! I can probably level an entire Kingdom unto itself within a day, and I’m only considered a Beginner? Seriously, screw Magic. I’ll go back to studying the Arts of Lovemaking, seeing as it’s much more fun and way easier.”

“… you do realize that only one out of ten thousand Mages who embark onto the Path of Magic ever reach this point, right?”

“What the hell’s that got to do with me? Come on monkey, give me some shortcuts!”

“… you already, literally, have all the shortcuts in the world. You were practically given five Origin Laws – something most others have to obtain either through trials or sheer luck – the perfect training grounds that you’ve barely scratched the surface of, all the tools you’ll ever need to progress further, and you still have balls to complain? Damned, lazy, rotten brat!” the monkey slapped him on the head a few times as he spoke. “I did find this, though,” he suddenly said, pausing briefly as he took out a small, palm-sized oval-shaped, smooth opaque stone. “It’s called Eon Stone.”

As Lynne took it, he felt sudden chill pass through his palm and then throughout his entire body, slowly settling into his Soul. His Soul Force suddenly vibrated as flames surrounding him screeched, burning fervently and rising into the air like waves. Shocked, he quickly threw the stone onto the ground, whereas everything settled down as if it was always like that.

“What the hell was that?!” he exclaimed, staring daggers at the monkey. “Are you trying to kill me, huh? Fuck! If you’re going to do that, at least drown me in the bosoms of ten thousand mature maidens, swimming in the river of gold and drinking the wine of gods! It’s as if you don’t even know me, you damned monkey!”

“… you still haven’t let go of that dream, huh?” the monkey snickered, picking up the stone from the ground. “Hey, Spirit, instead of laughing at us, why don’t you come out and explain why this stone matters to this poor, uneducated lad?”

“Ho ho,” the Spirit laughed as he appeared in front of the two, stroking his beard. “I wasn’t laughing.”

“… you literally appeared in front of us just now – laughing,” Lynne said, slanting his eyes. “If you’re going to lie, at least be good at it.”

“It’s true, though,” the Spirit said, his expression deadpan. “I wasn’t laughing – I was dying from laughter.”

“…”

“…”

“Putting the semantics aside,” the Spirit said, taking the stone from the monkey’s hand and inspecting it. “This is a rare find. Eon Stones rarely appear – even in Divine Realm – as some pretty weird things need to happen beforehand.”

“… like?” Lynne asked reluctantly, afraid of the answer.

“Countless souls need to be trapped within a single place,” the Spirit explained. “And eventually morph into a Soul Reaper. Then, the Soul Reaper needs to die in the vicinity of another type of a stone – Void Stone – which would then need to suck the Reaper’s remains and evolve into the Eon Stone.”

“… ugh, why’d I even ask…”

“Where’d you find it?” the Spirit asked the monkey.

“Eastern Wastelands,” he explained lazily. “That place, at the moment at least, is practically a haven for growth of Eon Stones. Men fighting men, men fighting beasts, beasts fighting beasts, beasts fighting spirits, spirits fighting men… in a nutshell, everyone is fighting everyone, and tons of people are dying.”

“Sounds like a lovely place,” Lynne said, smiling mockingly. “Why the hell did I decide to journey there, could you please remind me?”

“This stone, hmm…” the Spirit creased his brows as he continued. “Yes, it’s of pretty decent quality. Nice find.”

“… would you guys tell me what does it do already? Or would you like me to play a guessing game?”

“That could be fun.” the monkey said.

“No, no it wouldn’t.” Lynne added.

“Why?” the little creature asked.

“Because, at the end of that game, I still wouldn’t know what the stone does, and both of you would be dead.”

“…”

“…”

“So, what does the damn thing do?” he asked, impatient.

“It’s a fusing tool, you could say,” the Spirit answered. “Seeing as you’re nearing the threshold of Magus Realm, you may as well learn some intricacies of Magic. Towards higher levels, Mana alone stops being enough to properly use Magic. Regardless of how pure or abundant it may be, it’s still just Worldly Energy – remnants of the Laws, filtered through many layers.”

“Because of this,” the Spirit continued. “One of two forces are used in addition to Mana: either Soul Force or Mind Force. Seeing as your talent in Mind is complete and utter shit – disappointingly so -”

“Hey!”

“-you’ll have to use Soul Force,” the Spirit said, ignoring Lynne. “This is where the Eon Stone comes into play. It can stimulate your Soul Force to better fuse – or morph, rather – with your Mana, hence making it easier to project Laws into being. For instance, one of the techniques you’ve yet to learn – Empyrean Absolution – relies on this fusion, which is why you can’t use it yet.”

“… so, that’s the actual purpose of the Soul Weapons…” Lynne muttered, his eyes flashing with a glint of understanding.

“Yes,” the Spirit nodded, smiling lightly. “Soul Weapons are mediums between Soul Force and Mana, used to combine the two and unleash whatever it is you wish to unleash. For instance, for someone who follows the Origin Law of Summoning or Reincarnation, their “Soul Weapons” are actually their summons or their puppets, despite the fact that most – if not all – of those who follow those two paths use Mind Force.”

“Once you cross from Magus Realm into a Grand Realm and become Empyrean Child,” the monkey continued. “You’ll understand more about it. For now, just keep the stone someplace safe, as it’s too risky to use it at the moment.”

“… then why give it to me?” Lynne grunted.

“… I don’t know. Your reaction was pretty funny.” the monkey said, laughing, with the Spirit joining him.

“Ha ha, laugh at the kid who doesn’t know anything. Screw you!”

“The battle is in five days, no?” the Spirit asked suddenly.

“Yeah, why?” Lynne said.

“It’d be best if you could understand the last two Natural Flames before the battle commences,” the Spirit added, his expression growing slightly grim. “False Gods – although completely incomparable to Primordial Gods – still aren’t beings taken lightly. You’ll possibly even have to overdraw yourself yet again, and force Skyfire and Hellfire flames to battle.”

“… sounds lovely. What are False Gods anyway? Fen’er only told me they’re born from Primordial God’s remnant energy. That’s a bit too vague, isn’t it?”

“Hmm,” the Spirit stroked his beard as he thought for a moment before replying. “Think of it like this: when you light up the fire, it will burn for as long as there’s air around it, and a flammable surface it can set ablaze, no?”

“Hm.” Lynne nodded.

“However, once you add Mana properties to the flame, it can burn for as long as you feed it Mana, yes?”

“Hm.”

“Primordial Gods work similarly,” the Spirit said. “They’re born of Origin Laws; that is to say, they only ever can use one type of a Law to battle, and never learn anything beyond it. However, their understanding of the Law reaches the very source – the very core – of what the Law is. For instance, Primordial God of Flames, at birth, can use all flames, and can create his own – indefinitely. In principle, for as long as there are flames, there would also be the Primordial God.”

“… but?” Lynne asked, furrowing his brows.

“If killed prematurely,” the Spirit said. “All the understanding of the Law stored within the Primordial God would return back to the origin – Law itself. However, from time to time, small sparks of those understandings don’t, and instead roam freely until they find a host to latch themselves onto, leading to the creation of False Gods. Similarly to the Primordial Gods, they can never progress beyond what that singular spark of understanding gave them, but that doesn’t make them any easier to deal with, as even just a single spark of understanding from Primordial God rivals yours, Thalia’s and Parsia’s combined understanding of Laws. As the matter of fact, one of the trials of these Holy Grounds involve you battling a False God of Flames.”

“… ugh, no thanks,” Lynne grunted, shaking his head. “So, I won’t even know how strong this Young Bitch is until I actually fight him, right?”

“Thalia wasn’t wrong when she said that he’d at most be Sanguine Child – or by some miracle Sanguine Lord,” the monkey explained. “That is because Awakening Ceremony – as they call it – is actually just freeing the damn thing. It has been locked away from the Natural Laws and didn’t experience them in who knows how long; it will take some time for it to attune to them yet again, which is why battling it shortly after it’s freed is the best time to do it.”

“… how certain of victory can I be?” Lynne asked worryingly.

“Blood and Flames are two naturally opposing elements,” the Spirit explained. “But also two elements that attract each other; both can be deliverers of either entropy or birth.”

“Oh for fucks’ sake, I’m not asking for vague, ancient-text bullshitting, I’m just asking for my chances!” Lynne bellowed.

“Ho ho,” the Spirit laughed before he continued. “You stand a pretty good chance of defeating it. To be honest with you, though, your battle will have very little impact to the end result. Who wins between the two of you will probably depend on who wins the rest of the battle, or gains notable reinforcements earlier.”

“… ah, then I guess it’s all in Parsia’s hands.” Lynne said.

“That boy is much stronger than he appears,” the Spirit said, somewhat seriously. “It should be fine to leave it in his hands.”

“Alright,” the monkey said, interrupting the incoming, heavy atmosphere. “You,” he then pointed at the Spirit. “Go back to wherever you are when we don’t see you. And you,” he then turned to Lynne. “Go back to meditating and trying to understand last two flames, and maybe even a Spark or two while you’re at it.”

“… what’s a Spark?” Lynne asked.

“…”

“…” the Spirit and the monkey sighed as they shook their heads in disappointment. “You truly are utterly clueless, aren’t you?” the monkey added.

“Yup, pretty much.” Lynne replied plainly. “So… uh, un-clue me? I suppose…”

“Yes, your nickname should truly be Uncool Me.” the monkey said mockingly.

“… furry shit, do you want me to shave you completely?”

“Start with yourself first,” the monkey said, laughing, while morphing into the space and slowly disappearing. “Regardless of what they say, no lady likes to roam the jungle before finding the waterfall.”

“That’s the shittiest innuendo you’ve said to date, you damned monkey!” Lynne yelled after him.

“…”

“…”

The monkey and the Spirit disappeared yet again, leaving behind Lynne who sat calmly on the shore, observing the roaring ocean of flames.

“… well,” he muttered as he stretched lazily. “Time to get back to work.”