From the very beginning, the Paths Yip of Yore and his Chosen walked were flawed. The flaw wasn’t extreme, and it wasn’t something that made it necessarily a bad Path, but it was a flaw nonetheless. One there truly didn’t appear to be any workaround for.
Their Paths both fundamentally revolved around lies. It was to make themselves appear as something they truly weren’t, gaining recognition and faith from others based on the false truth they represented. In many ways, Ell’Hakan’s Path was more complete than Yip of Yore, as the actual truth behind Ell’Hakan’s grand lie was far less well-known, and his Bloodline made convincing others of his truths far easier.
However, no matter how many people Ell’Hakan or Yip of Yore convinced of a lie, there would always be at least one person who knew the truth. One person who weakened the entire foundation of their Paths, as their Records of knowing reality couldn’t help but influence their skills. This person was naturally the one in the center of everything and the spreader of the lie:
Themselves.
Yip of Yore knew when he was lying. So did Ell’Hakan. They knew they were spinning tales to try and gain power, and in some ways, how couldn’t they? They were the Origins of their own stories, after all.
That was why someone like the Malefic Viper looked down on Yip of Yore’s Path despite recognizing it was powerful. In his eyes, it truly was just an inferior version of something Valdemar did accidentally.
Valdemar also gained power from legends and stories about him as they helped amplify his Records and, thus, even his entire faction. The difference was that these legends weren’t born from lies or grossly overexaggerated truths; they were merely tales of the War God’s actual accomplishments. He was just a showman by nature, and his innate disposition easily gave birth to new legends, certainly helped along by Gudrun actively promoting Valdemar’s feats.
This wasn’t something Ell’Hakan or Yip of Yore could accomplish. Not as long as they themselves knew, deep down, that the fundamental truth of their power was based on a lie. Yip of Yore had tried to fix this, tried to forget aspects of the lie to make them more truthful in his own mind, pushed it to the back of his memories, and even had a Transcendent that helped him take Records, making his claims closer to being “truth,” but in the end, he still knew it was all a lie.
It seemed like an impossible flaw to address until now.
On that day, Ell’Hakan overcame the weakness of their Paths... but at what cost? He had genuinely wished to be the Celestial Child in his final moments, and his Bloodline had made his intense desire become the truth... not by actually turning him into the Celestial Child of legends, but by genuinely making him believe he was.It was all a delusion... a lie so powerful he even fully believed it himself.
Jake... didn’t know Ell’Hakan wasn’t the “real” Celestial Child.
And now, neither did Ell’Hakan, and there was power in such a pure belief as now the only contradiction to Ell’Hakan’s truth were the Records of the system. Records the Usurper was now claiming as his own, mixing them with Yip of Yore’s Legacy, as something entirely new was formed, creating the grand illusion that was Ell’Hakan’s vision of what the Celestial Child of legend once was.
What and who he now was.
--
Jake had only activated Touch of the Malefic Viper for two seconds when he felt the change. Ell’Hakan was already dying; Jake could obviously feel that, and he hadn’t believed that the few seconds it would take for him to fully pass would mean anything. In fact, he’d believed that using Touch would be the fastest way to fully end Ell’Hakan as he corroded away the remaining vital energy of the Usurper. His opponent was already only hanging on through sheer Willpower alone and was as good as dead, which was why Jake hadn’t seen what happened next coming at all.
His intuition did warn him a moment beforehand, and Jake instantly tried to move forward to just stab Eternal Hunger through Ell’Hakan’s skull with the hope that he could speed things up, but he only got a single step before he stopped... was stopped.
The moonlight from above intensified as two concentrated shafts of light hit Jake, immobilizing him entirely as if his soul had been bound by ethereal chains. Right as he was snared, he saw Ell’Hakan raise a hand toward the sky as he spoke.
“Mothers... I’m here.”
Ell’Hakan began to slowly float off the ground as two shafts of moonlight also hit him and lifted him up. Jake quickly broke free from his restraints and moved to attack Ell’Hakan, but a shockwave of energy sent him sliding back, making Jake frown. Even if Ell’Hakan was clearly out of vital energy, he still had mana to work with. Jake was just surprised he could mobilize it in his current state... assuming it was Ell’Hakan mobilizing it.
Because the entire vibe the Usurper gave off had changed.
There was a feeling of aloofness in the air, and the mana was more powerful than before, with new concepts mixed in Ell’Hakan hadn’t used before. The fact he’d used the moonlight was also clearly different, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the former Chosen’s moniker of the Celestial Child.
To be clear, despite the vibe around Ell’Hakan changing as if he’d become an entirely different person, it was clearly still Ell’Hakan. His soul was the same, and his mana signature was the same... but something had clearly charged inside of him.
Gotta finish him off before something else unexpected happens, Jake told himself as he pulled out his bow again. The weapon only had a few dozen seconds to rest since his last use, but much of the destructive energy that still lingered in its body was gone now, giving Jake confidence it would hold up.
Taking aim, Jake quickly charged an Arcane Powershot toward the floating Ell’Hakan. As the arrow was in flight, Ell’Hakan finally reacted with his one eye opening wide in an instant as his body exploded with mana once more.
He flung his own body upwards, carried by the moonlight to dodge the arrow. Jake responded by shooting another, only to be met with multiple barriers blocking him. Not to be deterred, Jake shot several more arrows as he made them curve around the many barriers. While the nahoom tried to block them all, he failed as several struck his already battered body, exploding on impact and worsening his wounds that were already looking pretty damn lethal.
Yet, despite the damage, Ell’Hakan kept floating upwards, and Jake got an even more odd feeling than before. Not quite one of danger, but his intuition still warned him, making Jake take preemptive action. He didn’t know if the guy planned on escaping or whatnot... but there was no way Jake was gonna let that happen.
Before he’d arrived on Ell’Hakan’s planet, Arnold had stopped by Valhal’s planet. He’d brought with him a few things, one of which Jake had been saving, unsure if he had to use it. Jake had held back on it for a few reasons... all of which should become clear upon reading the description of said item. ᚱ𝒶ƝŎＢĚṧ
[Void Sphere (Unique)] – Can temporarily trap the user and another individual in a Void Sphere Dimension. Both targets must be C-grade or below. Activation time is dependent on the abilities of the user and the selected target. This Void Sphere is incomplete, causing the Void Sphere Dimension to not be wholly stable and giving it a severely limited duration.
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First of all, yes, Arnold had succeeded in making a Void Sphere. Somewhat. Compared to the real thing, this one sucked ass with a lot of drawbacks, with Arnold not even knowing how long it would last or how long it would take to activate.
However, a Void Sphere was still a Void Sphere, and as Ell’Hakan floated into the air, Jake took out the item which just looked like a black tennis ball of glass. Focusing on the item and Ell’Hakan above, he felt his mana drain from his body as the item got infused.
Right then, Ell’Hakan also stopped floating upwards as he rose to stand upright. More and more barriers kept appearing, the Usurper burning through whatever mana he had left at a rapid pace, seemingly not caring about the cost at all.
“To find myself in such a state... how embarrassing,” the voice of Ell’Hakan echoed, but his tone was different. “Mothers, please banish the memories of seeing me like this from your eternal memories, and I swear I shall wash away the stain on my name.”
Jake kept activating the Void Sphere as Ell’Hakan barely regarded him but instead looked toward the sky and the moons. “Firstly, allow me to address the pathetic state of this body of mine... with help, if you will... from all of you.”
The final words echoed weirdly, and Jake felt something odd pass over him. A certain kind of emotion was triggered, not from the figure floating above but from the environment itself. However, before he could fully identify the cause, the Void Sphere abruptly activated as a black beam shot toward Ell’Hakan faster than any C-grade could possibly react.
As it hit him, a shockwave erupted from both Ell’Hakan and Jake as the Void Sphere exploded upon activation. The two of them were banished to their own Void Sphere Dimension in an instant, isolated from the rest of the world and the planet.
This sudden change clearly affected Ell’Hakan, making him frown. Everything appeared the same, with even the powerful moonlight remaining. Truthfully, the only thing Ell’Hakan had been separated from was all the other natives on the planet... which appeared to be why the former Chosen frowned.
“Void sorcery?” he spoke, looking down at Jake. “A valiant attempt... but the connection between myself and my subjects is not so easily severed. You shall not deny my fellow nahoom the privilege of showing their loyalty.”
Jake finally understood what the odd emotional compulsion he felt from the environment was after he said this. Ell’Hakan was using the Planetary Pylon to send out an order of sorts and compelled all the natives to do... something. Jake didn’t understand what exactly it was, but he would soon come to learn it.
Because, after only a few seconds, Jake saw the first few strings of energy gather around Ell’Hakan. It was faith energy, but this time, it felt different. Way different. After the first few strings, the faith energy began multiplying to an extreme level as Jake was forced to take a step back, his eyes opening wide at the sight.
Did he seriously...?
--
Back in the capital city of Ell’Hakan’s homeworld, the nahoom were gathered around the palace, all in prayer as they knew their planet faced the largest crisis they had ever encountered. One that made the Prima Guardian be nothing but a faint memory.
However, as with the Prima Guardian, they wholeheartedly believed in the victory of their god... the victory of the Celestial Child. But they also knew that the opponent he faced was special. He was the incarnation of an evil god, a being of pure death and destruction that sought to snuff out the light of the stars and bring about the end of everything.
Only the Celestial Child could stop such a monster... and as they were all in prayer, they heard the call. Their god needed help. Their help.
The priest leading them in prayer smiled gleefully as he opened his arms wide and stood up as he spoke: “Rejoice! The Celestial Child has opened the Gates of Celestial Ascension!”
A few figures were impatient and couldn’t wait even a moment after hearing the call as they slumped over right then and there. The priest was envious of their instantaneous devotion, but he knew his job was to guide them all. The only ones who were unlucky were the children too young or those who needed to continue serving on this plane... fotunately for him, he remained one of the lucky ones.
“Now let us go! Join me as we take to the stars!”
With these words, he watched everyone in the grand plaza, save for those who were forced to stay, slump over as their souls left their bodies, and the priest could only smile, satisfied as he joined them, willingly extinguishing his own soul and ending his life.
All for a greater purpose. All for the Celestial Child.
William, back on Earth, was carefully monitoring his ritual for any major events happening in the galaxy. Primarily, he was looking for any significant movements of forces by reading the massive karmic web to see if anything big was happening.
However, just then, he felt it. When he’d gone to Ell’Hakan’s planet way back then, he’d placed a few hidden magic circles to monitor the planet from afar. Ones that would only be triggered if certain conditions were met... and just now, nearly every single one of them activated at once. William was shocked as he hurried to check what the hell was going on.
The karmic web he observed shuddered as he focused on the planet in question, trying to read the waves of karma from there... but all he saw were strings breaking apart and dispersing. He had a serious look on his face as all the remnant energy from these broken karmic connections were gathering in one place, all their will, hope, and faith included.
He kept watching with bated breath as the strings just kept breaking... a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand... million... ten million... a hundred million... it simply kept going as a massive karmic maelstrom gathered on the planet where he knew Lord Thayne and the Usurper battled.
I’ll need to report this , he said as he quickly got up and headed out of his small formation room. Miranda would, without a doubt, want to know as soon as possible that in just a few seconds, the majority of the entire nahoom population had suddenly ended their own lives, filled with devotion as they did so.
Jake watched as a cyclone of pure energy revolved around Ell’Hakan, the powers of absolute faith manifesting as Jake realized what was going on. He’d made his subjects do the ultimate act of faith and committed what was realistically ritualistic suicide, all with the intent of their lives turning into nothing but a small string of faith energy.
He had no way to reasonably estimate how many people had ended their lives, but it was certainly an extreme number. What’s more, Jake watched as more than ninety-nine percent of all this faith energy merely dispersed into nothingness as Ell’Hakan had no way to properly absorb or use it, his abilities as a C-grade simply not adequate... but with so much of it, his utter lack of efficiency didn’t matter.
This cyclone of faith kept swirling as some of it was absorbed by Ell’Hakan, and some of it went into the skies, empowering the moons. The severed limbs of his opponent were replaced with appendages of pure energy, and even the missing parts of his body were merely filled in with energy to replace what had been lost.
Ell’Hakan’s entire body was glowing and burning with power as he stared down at Jake. “I apologize for the wait, would-be destroyer of my world.”
Jake returned his gaze, and he had just one question as he also infused his voice with power. “What exactly happened to you?”
The nahoom took only a moment before sighing. “I merely remembered who I truly was.”
“Who are you then, if not Ell’Hakan?” Jake questioned.
“Ell’Hakan... the name of the former slave allowed to be the vessel of I, the Celestial Child. An honorable role, to be allowed to inhabit my reincarnation, and one he shall be recognized for,” the nahoom spoke.
Jake just stared at the nahoom as the faith energy kept coming and entering his broken and battered body. Most of the poison was getting rapidly eliminated, and the curse energy dispersed, but Jake still couldn’t help but sigh and shake his head.
He’s lost his fucking mind.
“There is sadness in my heart for what comes next, but you must die for the transgressions you committed against my world. You may struggle, but it will only prolong the inevitable,” the clearly mentally broken Ell’Hakan said.
It appeared that, in his grand delusion, the nahoom couldn’t see it, but Jake most certainly could. Ell’Hakan gave off an even more powerful aura than before now, his body literally glowing with power... and while he was a little better off than before his sudden change, it wasn’t by much, and one thing was more clear than anything:
There was no fucking way his body or soul could handle what was currently happening to it.
The Celestial Child raised a hand, the moonlight behind him intensifying as Jake bent his knees, ready to move at a moment’s notice. He faintly heard the sound of his own heart beating with excitement as he felt his senses intensify, a hint of happiness flashing through his mind. A part of him was happy that the Usurper hadn’t simply died so easily... oh, but to be absolutely clear, Ell’Hakan or the Celestial Child or whatever the fuck he wanted to call himself now was going to die.
Jake’s danger sense warned him just then as he moved to dodge, all his senses in a state of hyperfocus as his Bloodline responded, the auras of the Celestial Child and Primal Hunter clashing in a battle for supremacy that would decide not just the fate of the planet but the entire Milky Way Galaxy.