Minaga was working on some ideas for the labyrinth in the next era, trying to find a balance between familiar challenges and adding just enough of a difference that it wouldn’t be too similar. He definitely had a few new great inventions to test and a lot of additional safety measures he had to work on implementing after a certain someone had dominated the floors and Challenge Dungeon both.
However, recently, even someone like him who had quite a heads available to take his mind off things found himself distracted. Seeing as wasting a few months wasn’t a big deal. He’d paused most things as he watched with interest the happenings in the first universe, spending a lot of time with the Wyrmgod, who, while interested, clearly wasn’t as into it as Minaga.
Which, let’s be honest, was really weird as the Viper was his fellow Primordial, and they were clearly on friendly terms based on what happened when Jake did Nevermore. Alas, perhaps the Wyrmgod was just trying to play it cool... at least Minaga thought this until the Wyrmgod barely blinked when Yip of Yore unleashed the Void Sphere and sealed the two within their own separate Void Dimension for the final showdown.
Before that, all the other stuff with Jake that had gone down seemed to have interested the Wyrmgod far more, but now that the finale was there, he began to turn his gaze to other matters... at which point Minaga couldn’t help but question his long-term colleague and friend.
“Hey... shouldn’t you, you know, care a little?” Minaga asked. “Your old pal is fighting the top rising star to ever reach godhood, and stuff really isn’t looking good for the Malefic Viper right now... he’s strong, yes, but...”
The Wyrmgod seemed almost surprised at the question as he thought for a moment. “How well do you know Vilas?”
“Admittedly, not very well,” Minaga shrugged. “Tended to stay out of his way most of the time. Still, neither of us really knows Yip of Yore either. In fact, what we do know makes him a lot more dangerous than others believe he is. We saw Altius beat him back then until one day, they switched places on the Leaderboards with no one finding it weird or questioning it at all... that level of reality and perception manipulation is of a Transcendent nature, yet he doesn’t have the aura of a Transcendent. He has a lot of hidden cards is what I’m saying.”
“I acknowledge Yip of Yore’s powers and prowess,” the Wyrmgod nodded. “But I also know Vilas.”
Minaga remained skeptical as he sighed. “I’m just saying that things don’t always go according to plan, not even for the Viper.”
The Wyrmgod seemed in thought for a moment before he asked. “Do you believe you could beat Yip of Yore?”“Me as in me, or me as in many mes?” Minaga asked.
“You, as in all of you,” the Wyrmgod clarified.
“Probably? It wouldn’t be easy to kill him, and if he is the one coming after me, it will definitely be annoying, but I also don’t see any realistic scenario where he is capable of defeating me. Well, alright, he can defeat me a lot of times, but not enough times for it to matter if you get my drift,” Minaga shrugged with a cheeky smile.
“Vilas is the same,” the Wyrmgod said in a tone of certainty. “I also see no realistic scenario where Yip of Yore defeats him, for no matter how long passes, he is still the Malefic Viper.”
Sylphie looked at Jake sitting within his big magic circle, clearly super nervous. Sylphie knew why he was nervous, as Big Snake Man was fighting a bad guy, and because Uncle was nervous, she felt nervous.
Suddenly, Sylphie got a super smart idea, as she closed her eyes on focused mega hard. Valhal – the Brawny Warrior Club – had done so they knew if anyone contacted gods in other places, but they didn’t outright block it, so Sylphie thought it was fine to reach out to Big Bird and ask stuff.
It was a little bit harder than usual, but soon enough, Big Bird responded. Sylphie was only really good enough at talking to Big Bird to ask a few small things, so with that in mind, she asked the most important part first:
“Ree?” she asked ifBig Snake Man would be okay or if Uncle would be sad
“Why you asking?” her Patron and Primordial – so she knew Big Snake Man – Stormild answered in a confused tone.
“Ree...” Sylphie said, still really bad at talking to Stormild without doing a super big ritual thing to meet beak to beak.
“Oh! That! Let me check... yep, they’re inside the Void Sphere now, so no need to be all secretive, I guess,” Stormild answered, unconcerned. “Anyway, yeah, I’m sure he’s having fun.”
“Ree?” Sylphie asked, still a bit concerned as she pointed out that Yip was supposed to be strong.
“A little, I guess? But he’s fighting Vilas, and against him... yeah, nah, being strong just isn’t enough there. You need to be super strong! Because Vilas is definitely super strong.”
Sylphie heard this and calmed down instantly as she chirped a bit happily to herself. If Big Snake Man was super strong, there was no need to be nervous. Though, looking at Uncle inside his ritual thing, she did feel bad for all the poor people from the Brawny Warrior Club who would end up wasting such a big magic circle...
A similar scene played out all throughout the multiverse, much to the befuddlement of many followers of the Primordials. While the top brass of the factions were carefully observing the happenings on Primordial-4, their leaders seemed far less interested than one would expect.
Their interest seemed purely professional, and there were never any signs of nervousness after Yip of Yore sealed himself with the Malefic Viper using the Void Sphere. One would expect that the Primordials would watch carefully as, potentially, the precedent that the Primordials could fall was about to be set with the Viper’s death... yet they appeared casual about the entire thing.
Few dared ask them about their laissez-faire attitude about the entire thing, but once asked, their answers as to why they seemed so assured things would go according to their expectations tended to boil down to the same sentiment:
He’s the Malefic Viper.
--
Yip of Yore felt a cold shiver run up his back as the aura of the Malefic Viper bore down on him, and before he had time to react or properly comprehend what was happening, the empty husk below him began to change. He still had his hand inside it as it wrapped around his arm, the rest of the empty skin and scales tearing itself into ribbons, flying up and wrapping itself around much of Yip’s body.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
He tried to struggle free, but the aura of the Primordial intensified and pressed him down as he fell to his knees, his eyes opening wide in disbelief as he stared toward the sky and saw what looked like a green sun dawn... at least it looked like that until he saw the slit pupil run down its middle.
“I understand it, you know,” the voice of the Malefic One echoed, every word vibrating Yip’s body as the skin from the molt began to tear into and merge with his own.
“The Path is hard. Endless. Yet you are a genius. You walk forward with steady steps, always progressing, always growing stronger, leaving your peers in the dust. As for those who do manage to stand up to you? They are crushed, and a hundred years later, they become nothing more than forgotten memories or nostalgic moments of how weak you once were and how far you’ve come.”
The green eye in the sky only seemed to grow larger, and Yip knew he wasn’t truly looking at the Malefic Viper... merely a phenomenon born of his presence.
“However, all geniuses have one thing in common. All who walk the Path share one fate, one reality... the wall. To a genius, it comes later, but no matter who you are, it’s inevitable,” the Malefic Viper continued, as energy gathered, and from nothingness behind Yip, out walked the Primordial, wearing an untouched robe and unmarked body.
“The later you encounter this wall, the harder you hit it... and you, Yip of Yore, hit it hard,” the Viper continued. “You flew through the grades of mortality like none before you, especially after crushing Altius, the one person who could rival you. You reached S-grade, where many thought you would meet the same fate as other geniuses, falling short of godhood... but in no time, you ascended, breaking more and more records in the process.”
Yip wanted to turn his body and look at the Viper directly, but his body was paralyzed as the molt of the Viper slowly wrapped around his entire body, leaving only his head free. In his heart, he knew struggling was meaningless, and all he could do was listen.
“Through the Circles of Divinity, you went, reaching the realm of Godking and cementing yourself as an apex god. Yet once more, you proved why you were a genius, as not even that proved a true wall, as you condensed your Circles and placed your foot upon the first Empyrean Step.”
The energy from the molt wormed its way into Yip’s entire body as it mixed with whatever he had absorbed using his own Transcendent skill earlier, making a frightening thought enter his mind.
“Step after Step, you ascended further, growing more and more powerful, leaving more and more gods who once looked down on you in the dust. Perhaps you even thought this would go on forever. That you could endlessly ascend and constantly progress. But then... the wall.”
The Malefic Viper teleported and appeared in front of Yip as he looked down at the god.
“It’s horrible. It makes you question where you went wrong and if perhaps your Path was flawed from the very beginning. Many gods resign themselves to their fates when this happens; others accept it and move on with the hope that they can progress once more again in the future. But you... you grew desperate. You couldn’t meet a wall. You’re Yip of Yore! The greatest genius that has ever and will ever be seen! How could you, the apex of existence, encounter a wall!?” the Malefic Viper said in a semi-mocking voice.
“No... no, you had to keep progressing. Had to keep taking risks and prove you were right. That’s where I come in. The ultimate prey. A has-been Primordial, merely coasting along on his old legends... legends worthy of reaping and making your own. I was your ticket to breaking down the wall before you had to truly accept it was even there.”
Yip now just stared at the Viper, the emotion in his eyes hard to read as the Primordial sighed.
“And now... now we’re here. Your recklessness has led you to your current predicament. So tell me, oh hero of legends, was this all worth it to finally break through that wall?”
Yip was silent for several moments as he stared into empty space before he finally spoke, not even fighting the molt that had pretty much fully merged with his body by now. “Since when... since when was I fighting your clone?”
“Clone isn’t quite the right word, but to answer... it’s bold of you to assume you ever fought anything else,” the Viper said in a casual voice as he paused for a moment. “Tell me, Yip, do you know why snakes mold?”
Seeing as the god didn’t look like he would answer, the Viper did it for him. “It’s to replace the old with the new. To rid yourself of something that has served its purpose. My dragon form... that part of myself... it had served its purpose. It’s a representation of what I was, and now I had shed those aspects of myself.”
“From the beginning, huh... I barely beat your discarded skin...” Yip of Yore muttered before he looked up, a glimpse of clarity as a faint smile appeared. “Theory one all along...”
The Viper lessened the pressure around himself as he simply nodded, not even infusing his voice anymore. “Quite so.”
“Was I even close to standing a chance?” Yip continued to ask.
“Not in the slightest,” the Viper said. For a moment, in a display of pity, he released his full aura upon the world. It faded as quickly as it had come, leaving Yip staring.
“So... there was something beyond, huh...” he muttered to himself. “The wall... did you ever...?”
“I’ve overcome it thousands of times,” the Malefic Viper merely said as he kept an eye on the changes happening to Yip of Yore. Irreversible changes the god in question also knew and recognized.
“You planned all this from the beginning, didn’t you?” Yip asked. “I was dancing in the palm of your hand all along...”
“Now you’re overestimating me; I’m not omniscient. Alright, a bit omniscient, but not in the way you're thinking,” the Malefic Viper said jokingly. “I did make some predictions, though, and you did jump in with both legs quite a few times. But to say I planned everything... not quite. I’m just good at adapting where necessary, so I understand how it can all seem predetermined in hindsight.”
“But our first meeting was planned... you wanted me to acclimate to your poison and make it part of myself,” Yip said.
The Viper didn’t deny that as he smiled. “I was merely priming you. Or, well, having you prime yourself. Also, I will admit I only had speculations regarding your Transcendence and took a bit of a gamble on that one, but it worked out quite spectacularly and proved a boon, making the process far more efficient.”
By now, the molt left by the Malefic Viper had fully merged with Yip of Yore, seeping into his soul and body. They had become one, and only Yip’s head above his neck remained his own. He and the Viper both knew it, but for all intends and purposes...
He was already dead.
What the Malefic Viper intended to do was simple enough in concept, and Yip of Yore had been correct in many aspects during his quest against the Primordial. Vilastromoz lacked Records compared to many of his fellow Primordials due to his isolation, and he still relied on his “legends of old,” as Yip had said.
The Viper realized this had to change. He needed “new” Records. Contemporary Records of progress, and of everyone in the entire multiverse, Yip was the poster boy of all this. He was the rising star, the hope of the next generation... he represented momentum incarnate.
Something the Viper dearly needed, and he could now claim.
“As I’m sure you know, I’ve always been more of an alchemist than anything else. Alchemy is, in its essence, the art of transformation. To take Records and energy and turn them from one thing into another, and in a sense, nothing is ever truly lost,” the Viper said, speaking softly. “Death may seem like a frightening thing, but fear not, for you shall not disappear. Your Records will live on through me. No... rather than mourn, be proud that you, Yip of Yore, is perhaps the finest ingredient I have ever obtained.”
The words were far from comforting to the sealed god, who hadn’t even been able to struggle in the final moments where his fate was determined.
“Granted, it took a bit of careful nurturing to get you there, and I’ve invested quite a lot of time and resources in getting you there, but in the end, it was worth it,” the Viper said as he held out his hand as a staff appeared in it. It was simple-looking, seemingly made entirely of metal with a snake head at its end.
“This would usually hurt... but I guess you don’t have any feeling remaining,” Vilastromoz said casually as he pinned the staff to the ground, and the moment he did, a magic circle appeared beneath Yip as complex magic came to light.
Yip’s eyes opened wide when he now fully realized the Viper’s plan as he spoke. “You’re... fucking lunatic, you really are the villain, huh?”
“A matter of perspective, I guess,” Vilastromoz shrugged with a smile as he reached out and placed his hand on Yip’s face, and as he kept eye contact with the god, his aura exploded with the powers of a Transcendent as he spoke the final words Yip would ever hear:
“Malefic Alchemy: Transmutation.”