- Five minutes earlier. – “Da fuck?” I looked at the scroll, trying to understand what it was saying. The letters were written in a language that I couldn’t even identify, probably demonic or something, and the red glow they emitted hurtled my eyes like hell. “Okay, let’s just calm down. I have this book with me, let’s see what it tells me.” True enough, the book gave me a translation of the scroll. “Summons a… two low-level imps?! How the hell these things will help me with a fucking angel?! Damn it, give me something good…” I flipped through the pages of my book, trying to find something. “How to…. how to… bingo! Enchant imps while also increasing their numbers! Finally!” ***** -present- I am really happy that this worked out, summoning these things was a hassle, and building these arms wasn’t easy. Good thing that the book could even tell me that I could control my flies individually and through them control the mold in different areas. The angel looked in horror at the giant arms and pointed at one of them. “The hell are those?!” “Those? Well, it’s quite complicated. Does the name prototaxites say anything to you?” Seeing her confused face, I shake my head. “Thought so. They only existed in ancient times, in a different world. They belonged to the fungus family called Prototaxitaceae, these mushrooms ruled over the planet for more than a hundred years, they only grew up to 8. 8 meters and had a diameter of up to 1 meter. What was most impressive about them is that they supposedly could shoot out thick clouds of spores using a complex pressure system. The hands you see there are my own upgraded versions of this mushroom, packed full of spores. Tell me what you think will happen when I give the order to release them.” With a shock the angel pointed at me, her hand shaking. “You-You wouldn’t…the gods… will stop you.” “Didn’t you say it yourself? Gods want to wipe this world clean. Me releasing a mold plague onto this planet should click with their plans. But be my guess, call them, let us see how they react when they are bothered with useless stuff.” That's right, keep calm, act like you are in control. She doesn’t look smart, so just let us keep this act on. “But there is hope. Get your holy behind out of here, and I promise I won’t turn this side of the globe into Monster Land.” “Like hell, I will accept something like…” From the shadows of the buildings, several monsters jumped at her. They were humanoid-looking monsters with glowing red skin, bat wings on their back, and flames escaping from their mouths. “Holy Cross.” Snapping her fingers, several cross-shaped attacks appeared in midair, cutting the monsters into pieces. “You need to do better than-“ BOOM! Before she could finish her sentence, the bodies of the demons swelled and combusted, surrounding her in a raging inferno. They were the demons I summoned while infusing them with my mold. I called them Blaze Mold Imps. Like bees that sacrifice themselves to protect the hive, these guys would jump on dangerous enemies, only to explode when they make contact or are slain. But that wasn’t all. The book of Knowledge told me something even more interesting about the blaze mold itself. “You bastard!” From the flames the angel was coming at me, her entire body dirtied by the smoke of the explosions. “Then die.” Snapping my fingers several more BMIs (Short for Blaze mold Imps) came out, jumping at the angel. “ Holy blades!” Slapping her hands together several blades of light appeared around her, cutting the imps into pieces. Is she forgetful? The second the imps were cut they exploded but it didn’t seem to not concern her the slightest. “Hey, if you keep this up, I will release the spores!” “I will kill you before you do anything like that!” The blades of light flew towards me at an alarming speed. “Shit!” Quickly I flew up in the air, dispersing the reassembling near one of the prototaxites. “You won’t escape me!” The angel flew up in the air, two swords made of light following her closely. “Escape? I just needed a weapon.” Connecting to the mold, through one of the flies, I made the giant arm move, slamming down in the direction of the angel. “Holy Shield!” The sword by her side became a double that somehow was able to uphold the force of the blow. “Spore release!” At my command, the holes in the palm opened up, enjoying a thick cloud of spores at her and the building under here. “Even if she is an angel, she is in a human body. She needs to breathe eventually.” Not wanting to leave anything to chance, I sent out another fly, calling a bunch of imps to me, the little guys looking ridiculous with their wings beating next to them. I got around a dozen left of these guys. Need to make them count. Kaboom! “…What?” For some reason, the ring finger exploded as the angel flew out of it. “DARWIN!” Screaming in anger the barrier disappeared and instead, all the energy went into her hands. “…Kill her.” With a roar, the imps flew in her directions, their chests lighting up from the blaze mold. In an epic explosion, the two forces collided, and the force of the blast was strong enough for me to be pushed away. “Angel or not, this should at least wound her.” “DARWIN!” From the smoke, she came out, burned, and wounded but still going. “You got to be shitin’ me.” Not having any other choice, I raised both of my hands and chanted. By the blood of the blessed, I beg the lord of pain to whisper the words of true agony to the enemies of his people! Acid Arrow!" From my open palm, a small ball of green liquid formed, that I threw at the angel. “Holy barrier” Her double came back, evaporating the acid into nothingness “Wind of west brings me strengths. Cripple my enemies –“ Before I could finish my chant, she hit me with her barrier. It was horrible, feeling the flies that made up my body, burning from the energy, forcing me to return to my humanoid form. “Holy Light!” Before I could do anything here, the barrier erupted into a burning light, my flesh bubbling from the heat. “DAMN YOU!” Losing the ability to fly I fell headfirst to the ground. “Ough… that… bitch.” Connecting myself to the mold, I started to heal my wounds. BAMM! Landing near me, the angel looked at me with a victorious smile on her face. “Finally… You are down! You ... fought…*Cough!* Well, but this time I will *Cough! Cough!* I will… ” She fell to her knees, coughing uncontrollably, a black liquid leaving her lungs. “So, it finally took effect.” Smiling, I got on my feet, my left arm still connected to the mold through several vines. “You made me worry that you were immune to it. Turns out that you only had a resistant immune system. “*Cough!* Wha- *Cough!* -What di-- *Cough!*” “What did I do? It's quite simple. The monsters you killed were carrying a special mold in their bodies, causing them to explode. That special mod’s spores disperse through the smoke of the flames. And I believe that you inhaled a significant amount. Not to mention that the air itself is filled with the stuff.” I breathed in the air deeply, feeling better immediately. “You said it yourself, you needed a human body. So, if you are a human, you need to breathe, while my mold could easily bypass the mana enchantment in your host’s body. If I had to guess, in five minutes, you are going to become a mass of red or green mold, ready to follow my orders. I took off my gloves and reached out to her, ready to rip her head off. “I gave you the chance to run away. Now you shall remain with me forever.” “*Cough! Cough!* FOTA!”(fota, Greek for lights) Before I could touch her body suddenly became transparent before disappearing from my sight. “What?” I reached where she was, but my hands didn’t touch anything. “*Cough!* -This is -*Cough!* – your victory. I will be- *Cough!* -back, and I, Theia, -*Cough!*- Shall be the one to kill you!” Her voice was carried away by the wind, disappearing completely. “…doesn’t matter. She will change no mat-ter if…” Suddenly, fatigue washed over me, sapping all strengths I had in my body. Shit, I overexerted myself. Losing…. consciousness… As I fell the shadow under my feet opened up swallowing me whole, only for it to spit me out again. “What?” “Nice to see that the portal worked.” I looked where the voice came from. “Darkness?” It was that cowardly bastard, leaning on one of the pillars. Near him, laid War, who had her armor, but seemed to be breathing. “You guys were useless.” “Heh?” His personality was completely different. He looked at me in disgust as he kicked War in the abdomen. “Seriously, I thought that you idiots would be able to get rid of that pest instead of me, but not. You got your asses handed to you and you even let that bastard develop his embodiment. Useless a lot of you.” “What the hell ar-“ “Dark Bolt.” From his palm, a blast of black projectile flew out, but it wasn’t aimed at me. It was aimed at… “NO!” Where the ball of vines used to be, was now a burned spot with the unconscious body of the woman lying there, fragments of the armor lying around, probably the guards that were trying to protect her. Dark’s attack hit right next to her head “She is alive. I need her since she is important to you, isn’t she? Plus, I hate killing children.” “You bastard! I will kill you!” “Black Bind.” From my shadows, several chains emerged grabbing me by the neck and arms, while somehow sapping away any strengths I had in my body. “Don’t struggle. You just fought an apostle at its peak. In the state you are in, a toddler could kill you.” “What do you want?” Darkness slowly walked toward me, before grabbing me by my throat and looking straight into my eyes. “I am sick of being used. History and you bossing me around like a good dog, while you guys can do anything you want. Today everything changes. I am the boss, and you are my loyal servants. Black Door!” Behind him a portal of the void appeared, from which black chains flew out, wrapping around War, before pulling her into it. “I will keep this girl as my hostage. Insurance in case you have any funny ideas. Speaking of ideas, Dark Storage.” Another dark rift opened from which my staff flew out into his hands. “Grabbed this beauty, while you were having fun. I have to admit it’s quite a marvelous tool that I intend to use.” He pointed the tip of my weapon at my throat. “First I want you to make those tower things disappear. I had enough problems today, I don't want to start an epidemic.” “Alright.” “Next I saw you summon those demons and I heard about you making a giant. Do that again, only this time you add some of my modifications to them. If you don’t obey, I will cut your lady friend's head clean off. Are we clear?” I looked at him then at the weapon in his hand. I was out of gas, and I had no idea what else this guy could do with my weapon at hand, not to mention what could happen to War if I act too rashly. All I could do was obey and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike. “Crystal.” ***** First, it started as a rumble. The walls of the city shake as debris falls amongst the tents. The refugees and the knights posted there screamed and they tried to evade the damage. That’s when the walls crumble away. A huge hole was created, smashing anything that was in its path. A group of knights took on a defensible formation at the edges of the destruction, ready to stop anything that would leave that area. Sadly, they weren’t ready. From the dust the destruction caused several flying monsters to come out, grabbing their prey and taking them back into the dust. Screams of horror and gore rang everywhere but were soon silenced by the overwhelming sound of rumbling. Part away from the dust was a gigantic green arm. It came crashing down on the debris, breaking them into fine powder as mold spread around it. Soon, more rumbling came, accompanied by the walls collapsing. “No. Impossible.” A group of refugees that were camped the furthest of the walls, could see what had emerged behind the walls. A giant monster with multiple arms used as legs to destroy the walls. On its back the silhouettes of houses could be seen with clouds of lying monsters lying around it, dropping their prey onto it. The entire city, that day, became a man-eating monster. * * * [ Name: Darwin Tim Right 'Plague Father' Race: [ True Kayeri (Mechanically Augmented)] LV: 1/10 000 (1/10 000) Main Class: [Dark Apostle of Putrefaction] Sub Class: [Life Father] MP: 230/60000 Blessings: [Blessing of Nergal] [Blessing of Airmed] Active Skills: [Basic Steady Hand] [[Hive control] [Hive Absorption] [Hive Repulsion] [Mold Field] [Basic Spirit Voice] [Aether Vision] [Steam Engineering] [Dagger Arts][Presence Concealment] [Lock Picking] [Mold Manipulation] [Fly manipulation] [Plant Manipulation] [ Decomposing touch] [Rot Embodiment] [Inorganic conversion] [Plague Mist] [Face Switch] Passive Skills: [Body Knowledge] [ Plant Knowledge] [Medicine Knowledge] [Stamina Enhancement] [ Movement Enhancement] [ Reflex Enhancement.] [Basic Sponge Mind] [Perfect Stomach] [Hive Mind] [Music Instrument Knowledge] [Healing Hands][Medical Senses] [Medical Mind] [Surgical Precision] [Mechanical Skeleton] [Toxic Air] [ High Regeneration] [Organic Clockwork] Demon’s Presence] Affinities: [Basic Farming Affinity] [Basic War Affinity] [Basic Pestilence Affinity][ Basic Fire Affinity.] [Basic Life Affinity] [Basic Death Affinity] Titles: [The One Who Saw a Thousand Worlds] [Knowledge Driven] [Chosen by Flies] [Medicine Pioneer] [Hive Master] [Giver of Life] [The 13th Dark Apostle] [Father of New Race] ] * * * Mythology of Theia: In Greek mythology, Theia (/ˈθiːə/; Ancient Greek: Θεία, romanized: Theía, lit. 'divine', also rendered Thea or Thia), also called Euryphaessa (Ancient Greek: Εὐρυφάεσσα) "wide-shining", is one of the twelve Titans, the children of the earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus. She is the Greek goddess of sight and vision and by extension the goddess who endowed gold, silver, and gems with their brilliance and intrinsic value