Jake just stared at the guy before frowning. “You want me to kill you?”
“That would be best,” Bertram nodded.
“Why?” Jake just asked. Sure, he was pissed at the situation, but clearly, it was more complicated than he knew. Especially with the way Jacob had talked making it very obvious he wanted Jake to do something about it.
“Because we stole the soul of Ell’Hakan, obviously,” Bertram explained. “That ought to make you quite mad, right? Only seems proper that you kill me for having taken part in it.”
“Okay, hold your horses, what the fuck are you and Jacob playing at?” Jake asked curtly, wanting to stop beating around the bush.
“Everything is as he told you,” Bertram just said, looking Jake directly in the eyes. “The Augur of hope was tasked with saving whatever of Ell’Hakan he could with the goal of reviving him once the universe opens up. Sure, what will be revived won’t be something I’m even sure could be called Ell’Hakan anymore, but it should have the Bloodline, which is ultimately what the Holy Church wants.”
“But not what Jacob wants to happen,” Jake said, Bertram neither confirming nor denying.
Jake was in thought for a moment before asking: “Is the Holy Church sure they really wanna do this? Are they absolutely certain they want to steal my prey away? I would hope they know what will happen and expect consequences to come from that.”
“They do… to a certain extent,” Bertram nodded, though he did seem a bit unsure of just how far Jake would go. “But you do also really underestimate how much they value that Bloodline… think about it like this, if you died and the Endless Empire had the opportunity to revive you and keep your Bloodline, don’t you think they would use any means possible, even if doing so would make them a lot of enemies? Certain people view Ell’Hakan as something like that. An invaluable treasure they simply cannot miss out on acquiring.”
“I guess I could see the Endless Empire go pretty damn far…” Jake muttered.“Exactly,” Bertram said with a nod. “While I’m certain the Church would prefer to stay in your good graces, the gains simply outweigh the risk on this one. Sure, here in our tiny little Milky Way, making you an enemy is an extremely scary matter, but in the wider multiverse? Not so much. Some also believe they can placate you somehow… but honestly, I don’t know. I’m not really privy to many of these plans, and neither is Jacob, for that matter. This is all some of the higher-ups making these kinds of decisions, and we mortals are merely cogs in their machine.”
“You don’t sound happy with how things currently are with these so-called higher-ups,” Jake said, not hiding his feelings at all.
“It is what it is,” Bertram just shrugged.
“Why is it like it is, though?” Jake genuinely questioned. “This is far from the first time Jacob has seemingly acted against the interests of the Holy Church. If there is so much disagreement, why stay? You two are only risking yourselves, and if you’re discovered, I can only begin to imagine the consequences – assuming you haven’t already been found out. So… why not get the hell out of dodge while you still can?”
Bertram listened and nodded along at several points. He took a moment to answer, as he couldn’t help but look down at the rapidly deteriorating planet beneath them.
“The Holy Church is big… utterly massive. It’s the single-largest faction in the entire multiverse for a reason. It’s one of the only factions that welcome everyone, no matter their race or heritage. This size is both the Holy Church’s greatest strength and also its greatest weakness,” Bertram began to explain.
“While it’s true the Holy Mother is the supreme leader of the Holy Church, she cannot be everywhere and cannot do everything. This has led to several factions forming within the Church, each of them powerful enough on their own to rival some other pinnacle factions. These internal factions don’t always agree on what to do, and they may even give conflicting orders at times. Earth and the entire Milky Way are under the management of one of these internal factions, and it’s them who made the decision to carry out this plan.”
“You’re saying the Holy Mother isn’t involved?” Jake asked, having kind of assumed that to be the case, though perhaps that was wrong of him.
Jake knew he had a very skewed view of how the multiverse worked because of Villy and their friendship. Because he was so close to Villy, he also often ended up directly dealing with other gods or Primordials, having even met the Holy Mother before during Nevermore, but needless to say, this was far from the norm.
In fact, most times, the peak gods didn’t even know what was going on with the mortals of their factions, geniuses or not. Instead, they had others manage things. In some ways, this was often the entire reason they made factions to begin with. It was all just so that they didn’t have to do much themselves to keep things running while still enjoying the boons of commanding a massive faction when convenient.
The best of both worlds and Jake totally got it, considering he was also the same kind of absent leader who just reaped the benefits of technically ruling a small faction while barely doing any work.
So, if he thought about it a little more, it made perfect sense that the Holy Mother wouldn’t be actively involved in any of this and that she was-
“Oh no, she’s very involved,” answered, stopping Jake in his thoughts instantly. “In fact, if she wasn’t, the situation indeed would be one where we were both putting ourselves at massive risk. However, you need to remember… Jacob is blessed directly by the Holy Mother. While he may be working for an inner faction, he is ultimately directly serving the Holy Mother. They have the authority to give him orders, yes, but not the authority to punish him should not fail to act accordingly. All they can do is request the Holy Mother to carry out punishment… something she has yet to do.” 𝑅𝘈ŊộʙËṦ
“You mean to say that the Holy Mother doesn’t disapprove of Jacob’s actions?” Jake asked with confusion.
“I don’t know,” Bertram sighed. “I doubt even Jacob knows. All I’m certain of is that Jacob is doing what he believes is right and that it’s my job to keep him safe. Who knows, maybe the Holy Mother wants to see if Jacob can actually enact any positive change through his actions? Or maybe she’s just giving him a really long leash that she’ll eventually yank back before tying him to a pole. Either way… we stay because Jacob believes that being with the Holy Church is where he can help the greatest number of people… even if things here are far from perfect.”
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“It sounds like a bloody mess,” Jake shook his head as he wondered: “Say, is it okay for you to be saying all this?”
“To be saying what?” Bertram asked, giving a sly smile. “I’m just buying time for the one I protect to use the Prima Vessel to teleport back to the planet the Holy Church prepared for him to hide out on until the universe opens back up. Can’t you see we’re clearly fighting right now, my death only drawing closer as I do my best to try and keep the injured but still monstrous Chosen of the Malefic Viper busy?”
“Do you really need these theatrics?”
“Maybe, maybe not, but Jacob believes that this inner faction thinking that we are truly enemies would be beneficial to what he wants to achieve,” Bertram replied honestly.
“Yeah, the Holy Mother definitely knows that’s not the case,” Jake muttered, thinking back to Nevermore and the fact the Holy Mother had always been enjoying the live stream there. He could only begin to assume that the Holy Mother had seen them interact there.
“Of that, we are in agreement, but as I said, she has yet to act upon this knowledge,” Bertram just shrugged. “At least not in any negative fashion… in fact, the only change has been positive. Not too long ago, Jacob was given a Divine Blessing by the Holy Mother, which is also why he has taken such center stage during this Ell’Hakan debacle… despite seemingly working against the Church’s interest at several points.”
“Well, that’s just bloody confusing,” Jake muttered as he let out a loud sigh. “I finally fucking killed Ell’Hakan, and now shit has to get complicated again right away… there really isn’t any way to avoid putting myself on a direct collision course with the Holy Church, is there?”
“Not unless you decide to sit back and take a passive approach, allowing them to do as they want,” Bertram shook his head.
“I guess I should have seen this coming the moment I determined myself to kill Ell’Hakan for good, knowing the interest the Church had in him…” Jake said, letting out a second sigh as he looked back at Bertram. “Do you need to buy any more time, or are you good with dying now? I kind of want to get out of there before the entire planet explodes… or implodes… honestly, I don’t plan on sticking around to find out.”
“Fair enough,” Bertram nodded. “Just make sure to kill me in a way that really hammers home how angry you are that we dared steal away the soul of your prey.”
“It’s gonna hurt,” Jake said, flashing a smirk.
“I can take it,” Bertram said as he lifted his shield and sword. “You know, to really make it look like we had a tough fight…”
“Already on it,” Jake said, as he decided to push himself before getting off the planet. He reactivated Arcane Awakening despite the burning sensation it sent through his body and charged at Bertram, wanting things to look proper.
Katar already in hand, he smashed into the Guardian’s shield, finding himself surprised at how sturdy Bertram’s defenses were. Then again, he probably shouldn’t, as while Bertram wasn’t quite considered a true pinnacle fighter, he was still pretty damn durable and even had a very impressive level that surpassed both Jake’s and Ell’Hakan’s, likely due to Augur bullshit.
[Human – lvl 311]
Still, Bertram wasn’t truly fighting back, and Jake was simply on another level power-wise. He quickly made several deep cuts into the shield, even using Touch on it to leave a deep handprint, really hammering things home.
The sword also wasn’t spared, Jake giving that a good round of Touch of the Malefic Viper, too. Finally, with the weapons addressed, both really looking like Bertram had been in a hard-fought battle, Jake went in for the body of the far larger man.
Eternal Hunger stabbed Bertram in the chest, a void Katar hitting him in the stomach just below. The Guardian grunted and stumbled back, but Jake kept on as he stabbed a dozen times, Bertram taking it pretty damn well as the poison dug into his body.
“You’re a pretty good practice target,” Jake commented as he kept attacking. “You can take a lot, and you can’t really die as long as Jacob is around, right?”
“I would prefer not to be reduced to a target dummy,” Bertram said as Jake continued going ham.
“Not just any target dummy, but a top-tier one,” Jake joked as Bertram pretended to fight back, making the wounds he took look defensive in nature. “I am curious... seeing as you get resurrected by Jacob, how do you deal with stuff like soul attacks? Aren’t they still a danger?”
“They are annoying, but not overly so,” Bertram responded calmly, even as he was being torn to shreds. “You would be surprised just how sturdy my soul is. Moreover, one shouldn’t underestimate the abilities of an Augur. The system very happily helps Jacob heal any soul injuries I have during the resurrection process. Ah, but traces of how I died can still be found, and any soul injuries tend to leave detectable echoes behind, so whatever damage you do now will leave evidence behind that’s visible immediately following my resurrection.”
Jake subtly nodded along, Bertram looking like a bloody mess by now, with Jake knowing the guy didn’t have long. For a moment, he wanted to try using Primal Gaze to test how sturdy his soul truly was, but he stopped himself. If Bertram was right, and his soul indeed was impressively sturdy, Jake really didn’t need that kind of backlash from his own skill. He was already in for a bad time once back on Earth due to overusing his boosting skills, and he saw no reason to make it worse.
It didn’t take that much longer before Bertram was only a few steps from death. It had taken way longer than Jake had expected it to, making him consider the outcome if Bertram had actually been fighting back. Not in the sense that Jake believed the Guardian stood even the shadow of a chance, but more how bloody long it would have taken with Bertram being a wholly defensive warrior and all. Quite a good defensive warrior at that.
Still, all his tankiness did was make him look even more brutalized as Jake went in for the killing blow. He stabbed Bertram directly through his chest, really driving Eternal Hunger in there as he penetrated the man’s heart before willing the weapon to get draining.
Bertram groaned as his life force was being absorbed; the curse energy really invaded his body.
“Filling my body and soul with curse energy... nice touch,” Bertram said with a light smile as his life rapidly faded away. “Ah... I almost forgot... when you come for us... have help ready... like the hawk... Carmen... swordsman... may be needed...”
Jake was almost annoyed as Bertram slumped over, a notification popping up letting Jake know the guy had died. Jake would have liked him to elaborate on his final words, as Jake couldn’t help but question why he would need help. Adding insult to injury, even the kill notification sucked.
*You have slain [Augur’s Guardian]*
Evidently, some skill was hiding it, or maybe this was just how the kill notification of an Augur’s Guardian worked. Either way, Jake really had to stop dallying around and get the hell off the planet as soon as possible.
While the Celestial Child and his Eclipse had calmed the thunderstorms – primarily by just destroying them all – the planet below Jake was still only getting worse. The earthquakes hadn’t stopped, the entire terrain utterly unrecognizable, and as the rest of the remnants of the atmosphere faded away, Jake could only assume that total collapse was imminent.
To avoid being around for that, Jake took out his special ring for the second time that day and activated it to teleport home. Bertram’s words that Jacob had used the Prima Vessel did make Jake consider if he could go and use that, but he decided not to try, primarily because he had no idea where the Vessel was by now. The best he could assume was that it had fallen into some abyss by now.
As the ring slowly activated, Jake once more let his boosting skill fade away, a massive wave of weakness washing over him. He felt tired throughout his entire body and soul, and more than anything really wanted to take a good nap after getting back to his lodge... but before doing that, he had a few skill upgrades to check out.