< 134. Do Not Seek Peace, It Is Not For You (3) >
*
He clenched and unclenched his fingers. His entire body burned as if on fire, and the heat rose to the top of his head, making him dizzy. Curses and hatred swirled within him.
His blood vessels burst, and his vision turned red. Too much power and souls were swirling within his body, more than a single flesh could contain. Kadán, Mumto, Dain. And—
“I’ve found you, Mage.”
A distant voice echoed in his ears. Faint, almost imperceptible. Yet intense! Fernandez glared at Mumto’s skull with bloodshot eyes.
“Take my hand. Just as you became his apostle, I will appoint you as mine. Don’t you already know? There’s more to achieve with me than by collaborating with him.”
Mumto cackled, confident in his victory. He could feel his magic piercing Fernandez’s heart. The body was now beyond repair, corrupted by hellish magic.
The corruption of hellish magic distorts reason and instinct. No matter what temper he once had, he was now like prey caught in a trap. Mumto slowly extended his massive hand.
-Swish.
Just as Mumto’s hand was about to grasp Fernandez, Fernandez’s lips parted.
“I’ve returned to the original world.”
“What did you say?”
“The original world. Yes. I’ve returned to the original world.”
Fernandez clenched his fist tightly. He could feel the Divine Essence of the Saint flowing through his muscles. Beneath his now-blackened hair, there were no more traces of time.
His frame had grown larger, and he could feel the power coursing through his muscles and tendons like lightning. He observed his state and breathed. This was the Soul Realm.
-Groooan…
He looked around. Beyond Mumto’s grasp, he saw a gloomy, dark green sky, thousands of wraiths floating above, and pyramids and valleys stretching to the horizon. The souls of the wraiths and their vortexes reached toward the sky.
This was the Soul Realm. From the beginning, he had never misseen or misarrived. The world Mumto had created had already distorted and disappeared.
One of Fernandez’s eyes closed, and blood flowed beneath it. Unable to bear the curses and magic flowing through his body, his limbs were beginning to fail.
Blood dripped like tears. In truth, if he still had eyes, tears would have flowed. It was a sweet dream. Fernandez, in his feverish haze, reminisced about the past years.
“Yes. But it’s not gone. Your soul has merely crossed over here. The world for you still lies beyond the dimensional wall below. If you wish, if you help, I will tear down that wall and cover this place with it.”
Mumto whispered as he tightened his grip. Crack, the ground split, and Mumto’s hand squeezed even harder. He was almost about to grasp Fernandez.
“Faijashi.”
-Yes. Can you hear me now?
“Were you watching?”
-…Yes.
“How was it?”
-Sweet.
The soul split by Vaitas still maintained its form even in the Soul Realm. Fernandez felt oddly reassured by this. After all, he was the only one in this world who truly understood him.
Fernandez chuckled briefly at Faijashi, who was whispering behind him.
-The bubble before it bursts is the most beautiful and forms the largest droplets. The dream before it shatters remains the most vivid in your mind. The night sky before dawn is the darkest.
“Is that supposed to comfort me?”
-If I comfort you, it’s nothing more than self-comfort, Fernandez.
“Haha.”
Fernandez laughed as he glared at Mumto’s grasp. His body was on the verge of bursting into pieces. He had already been exposed to too much magic.
His strength waned, and his heart pounded. His limbs, from the tips of his fingers and toes, were crumbling, and blood gushed out. Clearly, he was on the verge of death. Or perhaps his body was already dead.
But.
Fernandez reached behind him. The hilt of the greatsword touched his hand. Dain’s sword. The Sword of Mercy. No, that’s not what he needed now.
He stretched his hand further to the side and finally grasped the solid hilt of the Keyblade. The true spirit of the Temple of the Gods, Vaitas’s sword.
-Swish.
“Do you dare resist me?”
Mumto’s voice echoed ominously throughout the Soul Realm.
“Look at your state. Whether you wish it or not, you are nothing but my puppet. I will strip you of the opportunity I gave you. Just as I gave you time, you have also given me enough time. I will tear you apart and reassemble you. You will become my soldier!”
Mumto’s threat exploded like a scream, tearing through the sky of the Soul Realm. Thousands of wraiths floating in the sky scattered in terror.
-Pop.
Fernandez’s other eye burst and closed. Thick blood and vitreous fluid streamed down his cheek. But slowly, the blade was drawn and held in his hand.
“Your false name has met its end. I am not your dream, only your nightmare. You no longer have a choice.”
“Thus, do not seek peace…”
A murmuring sound flowed from Fernandez’s lips. A verse from the Hymn of Praise, one of the Inquisition Officer’s oaths. It was a prayer directed at Vaitas.
“Are you praying? To your god?”
“Not for you, but for my flock. You are not peace, but only the thorny path ahead…”
The three elements of the divine incantation are prayer, invocation. And…
-Whoosh!
Blue flames erupted from Fernandez’s back. The magic of the Soul Realm scattered, burning away Mumto’s curse, growing clearer and clearer!
*
[I have appointed you, and through this, you have become my proxy and that of the Temple of the Gods. You shall never crumble, compromise, or settle. This is the second power I bestow upon you.]
*
The name of that Stigma is [Unyielding]. Hatred, corruption, and curses distort the essence of the soul and disrupt humanity and nature. Like an unquenchable flame in the hellish magic that taints spirit, sanctity, body, and soul. The Stigma of Unyielding ignited.
-Thud thud thud…
Divine power surged through his veins, wild like a river after a dam breaks! The divine essence flowed through his blood, washing away the curse.
It began. But the divine was too heavy for a mortal’s flesh to bear—
“Cough!”
Thick blood gushed out through his throat. The sticky blood mixed with tissue seemed to signify the end of his life. Yet, he struggled to move his contracted tongue and continued his prayer.
“Do not think I have come to bring peace to the world. Not peace, but a sword. Gasp!”
Blue flames erupted from his chest. The warmth of life surged through his cooling body, and his flesh began to mend. It was as if time was reversing—broken blood vessels reconnected, and torn flesh stitched itself back together.
*
[You shall not fall, rest, or find solace until your mission is fully accomplished. This is the first power I bestow upon you.]
*
Every time the stigma on his chest glowed, Fernandez’s black hair turned white. Now, amidst his half-white hair, his closed eyes opened. His shattered eyeballs reconnected, and a blue light shone through.
This stigma is called [Immortality]. There is no such thing as perfect immortality; rather, this is closer to a curse. A curse that feeds Fernandez’s heart with the notion that even in death, there is another chance!
So. So. Fernandez raised his sword and pointed it at Mumto. The blood lingering in his body flowed through his lips, soaking his chest.
“Vaitas!! If you can hear me, if you’ve found me!”
I’ve found you. Mage. That voice was unmistakably Vaitas’s!
“I will use your curse here. Death to death!”
The holy sword ignited. The Keyblade. A holy sword that represents the final chance and trial for humanity, driven into the gateway between gods and humans. The key that unlocks the tightly sealed halls of the Temple of the Gods!
-Crack!!
Tearing through the void, Fernandez’s blade pierced through. The blade shattered into pieces, emitting a dazzling light. The Soul Realm was burning!
“As an offering to kill death, I offer immortality! As an offering to shatter eternity, I offer unyielding resolve!”
Immortality is the antithesis of death. If there is an offering to kill the concept of death, it must be the power of immortality. By fully offering this stigma, which directly struck Vaitas’s divinity, I will kill the God of Death.
The three elements of the divine incantation are prayer, invocation, and miracle. The blade in Fernandez’s grasp completely shattered, and a miracle erupted from his hand.
*
Vaitas’s sword resonated with the stigma, burning through the darkness and shining brightly. Mumto, seeing this, was reminded of the relentless rival who had chased him all his life. Kadán, the heretic hunter. His end was also like this.
As if time had stopped, the sight of the blade shattering in Fernandez’s hand became visible. Mumto stood frozen before the overwhelming power.
The great god of the Temple of the Gods, Vaitas, god of war and honor. The gate to his world opened, and his divinity began to surge!
-Whoosh!!
Mumto’s body began to crumble under the intense density of the divine power. Mumto gritted his teeth and shouted.
“Vaitas!! Your deceit is tiresome! How could a scheme to overturn the heavens come from a god of light? The sealing of the Temple of the Gods was our agreement! Do you think this is fair?”
[Fair.]
-Whoosh!
Beyond the raging divine wind, beyond the gate leading to Vaitas’s world, a thunderous voice was heard.
[When have I ever spoken of fairness?]
“Damn you, false god—!!”
Mumto’s mouth opened, and the curse that burned all his divinity began to flow out. It was the curse of a grand necromancer, consuming everything he had.
But, piercing through the space, a black trajectory flew towards his head and embedded itself.
“Cough!!”
The curse was cut off, and a moment of silence fell. Mumto looked at the black greatsword embedded in his head, trembling deeply.
And in the distance, Fernandez, gasping for breath with one hand outstretched, was visible.
“Great Demon. Your chance to argue is over. Religious tribunal judicial authority. Heretic execution authority. Exorcism military authority. Church sacrament proxy authority. By the authority granted by the Temple of the Gods, I will conduct a heresy trial.”
“You have no right!”
Fernandez twisted his blood-soaked lips at those words.
“Nightmarish Mumto. The penalty for the accused is death.”
“You cannot kill death!! I am death itself!”
“There is no such thing as perfect immortality.”
-Slash.
Fernandez’s blood-soaked hand gestured in the air. Among the swirling souls within him, the conqueror of Ptaha, Tutankhamun Gartep. The power gained by offering his soul as a sacrifice. [All Things].
-Whoosh!
Divinity fiercely ignited. Not using hellish magic, nor dark magic. Rather, a spell that even seemed divine. As sublime as an ancient priest’s offering—
Another soul within him responded. To punish the sinner who devoured the Great Empire. The sorcerer king of Mahras, Altarak. The power gained by offering his soul as a sacrifice. The next gesture in the air. [Death].
-Crack!
The last soul writhed. The high priest who willingly became Mumto’s subordinate, Pafutet’s soul, screamed. But decisively, like a priest cutting the sacrificial rooster—
The final gesture was [Compass]. Nothing can be perfectly immortal. Not even the stars in the sky. The celestial sphere turns, and the wraiths of the Soul Realm scattered—
-Whoosh!
The entire world burned blue. The stars and the distant universe, their abyss embroidering the sky. The moon rose, the moon set, the sun rose, the sun set. The mantra symbolizing eternity reversed and shattered!
[All Things]. [Death]. [Compass]. Just three ancient incantations. The great miracle of divine magic, crafted by grinding down the three strongest souls from the era of the Empire of Ashit, swirled at Fernandez’s fingertips—
“Thus, I sentence the God of Death to death.”
“No!!”
With Mumto’s scream, the Soul Realm began to collapse. Fernandez smiled as he watched Mumto’s body crumble and Vaitas’s hall close.
“Is this the end?”
-Maybe.
Faijashi sneered. Having consumed the power of immortality, did Fernandez have any life force left to burn? He was skeptical.
Fernandez watched the horizon of the collapsing Soul Realm and the wraiths finally ascending to the sky, freed.
He had killed a Great Demon. An achievement no mortal could accomplish. But was it a rational act if the cost was his own life?
The wraiths bound to the Soul Realm had found freedom and departed. The sky burned brightly. Now, without the demon that ruled the Great Wilderness or the curse that corrupted it, the world had one more chance to survive.
Fernandez smiled as he watched the wraiths scatter, singing of happiness and joy.
*
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