The days passed one by one as Earth had finally begun finding some semblance of stability. Settlements and larger cities had survived the many beasts attacking and made adequate defenses in preparation for more attacks. Some cities still fell here and there, but for the most part, there was peace.
Some smaller teleportation networks had even appeared, linking allied cities to one another. The Holy Church had some up and running relatively fast, allowing them to quickly move between their cities to assist in case of attacks. They were working towards something, and none knew exactly what it was, but it did include many high-level members of the Church making their way back to Sanctdomo - likely one of the reasons why they had rushed to re-establish a teleportation network. Out of all the factions, the Court of Shadows was perhaps the most effective, primarily with their ability to quickly not necessarily link allied cities but link locations of different networks close to each other, and then just melding in and making use of other’s teleporters to move around fast.
And move fast they did. Because another source of stability was, surprisingly enough, a huge number of assassinations. Anyone who wasn’t blind could see this was done with the United Cities Alliance behind the job based on how they always had a candidate ready to take control within mere hours of the current City Lord dying. Candidates who had been in the cities for months and slowly gained a following and influence.
To the surprise of many, the alien invaders that the United Cities Alliance worked with did nothing during this time. They were spotted here and there and did, in some rare instances, step in and help protect cities from attacks. Even then, no one knew what their goal was.
The faction with the biggest change was the Noboru Clan, which had been split into three separate internal factions. One of them supported the United Cities Alliance, one surprisingly wanted to join the Holy Church, and a final one wanted to stay fully independent. Some fringe members also remained, including a group who still believed the Patriarch lived.
This split led to them losing many cities to outside forces and even invading each other using non-violent methods and political scheming. They also dealt with beasts far worse, and the base of the once powerful clan was shaken. Without a singular, powerful leader to unite them, it looked as they were headed towards collapse or, at the very least, being split into smaller factions. So far, at least no significant violence had taken place, and differences were being worked through, but it was a losing battle. Each schism simply had too different goals.
The only place that could be said to have been oddly unaffected was Haven. Even with the City Lord gone, things mostly continued as usual. People from the United Cities Alliance had come but had yet been able to take over the Pylon.
There was also the issue of Miranda having been a very popular City Lord. Surprisingly, then the majority of citizens were indifferent to the true owner of the city as he was never really around. They knew he existed, but that was the end of his involvement. Well, besides that, they did know that Miranda had been appointed by him, meaning he couldn’t be that bad in their eyes.
All of these and more were the reason why the temporary City Lord had not become a member of the United City Alliance but an old leader. Phillip, the former leader of the Fort, had with reluctance agreed to take up the mantle. His reluctance was part of the reason why the United Cities Alliance agreed, and he was also generally not considered part of the Malefic’s Chosen’s entourage. Another reason was the understanding that it was only till an actual City Lord was deployed there.
Be it by the rightful one returning or a newcomer taking over.Besides that, there was the Fort. A place where nothing at all had happened. There was not really a true local leader of the Fort besides Phillip in Haven, but most would look towards Arnold if they had to name one. Look towards him both figuratively and literally as a large part of the city was a metal dome that housed his personal workshop.
In the section of the world already controlled by the United Cities Alliance, it was also mostly calm. Paradise was a sore spot for many City Leaders, but none dared to challenge them, especially not after Renato made ample use of Sylphie and Carmen both residing there. Even if saying they resided there was somewhat fallacious, considering they had not been there for a long time since leaving for the jungle to hunt.
Finally… we had some people on Earth who didn’t truly know where they belonged, with this conflict only shining a brighter light on that fact.
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”You need to,” the woman said in a comforting tone. ”Not for anyone but yourself. You can prepare a thousand more things, but you knew this day would come eventually. You are ready, William. You say the system says you have yet to find your Path… I think this is the final piece you are missing.”
William listened to Ms. Kim, his former psychiatrist, but he still felt a shiver run down his spine. He knew she was right and that she was telling him only confirmed it. He felt like she was the only person he could ever be open around, and it had been hard not seeing her for so long due to all the tasks Master had sent him to do.
“But the nightmares still haven’t stopped,” William muttered. “The random visions here and there…”
“Because all you have is an idea built up in your mind. He is nothing more than a concept, a representation of fear. If you confront him, you will see that reality isn’t as scary as the monster your imagination has created,” Ms. Kim tried to further comfort him.
With a sigh, William just nodded. Logically he knew it. The monster was not immortal or unbeatable; the alien had shown that. Even if it was not a decisive victory, he had come out on top. However, that didn’t mean William would stand a chance.
“If you don’t rid yourself of your fear before evolving, you risk internalizing it further, truly making it part of who you are. Is that really what you want? No one says you have to beat anyone, just that you have to confront him. I have met him, and while I do agree he is intimidating, he is, in the end, still human,” Ms. Kim kept encouraging him.
William’s Master had been silent, too, in this recent time. In fact, he had not spoken to William since his last conversation about being stuck at D-grade, where he had been told to figure it out himself. This had only added to his anxiety as he would at least have confidence meeting the monster if that meeting had been planned by Master.
He had done all he was told with the beasts, and they were on their own now. William had never been tasked with fighting anyone or anything during this time, and he had barely leveled his class. Not since returning from Nevermore. In Nevermore, William had killed enough to nearly reach the D-grade cap of his class and made significant progress in his profession. By all accounts, he should be ready after another long period of refining himself. Did he think he was the strongest human on Earth? No, no, he was not, but he was not that far off. The Judge of the Court was about the peak of humanity outside of that monster, and William had confidence against him.
“Okay,” William finally relented.
Ms. Kim smiled. “Just remember there is no shame in retreat and that you do not go to fight. You go to confront your fears and find your Path.”
William nodded again as he sighed. It wouldn’t be that simple, would it?
“Ms. Kim?” William asked.
“Yes?” she asked, a bit confused by his tone.
“Thanks for everything,” he said. He knew it wasn’t true to their agreement, but he couldn’t help himself from giving her a hug. “Say hi to little Seo for me, okay? Just in case.”
Ms. Kim, to his surprise, returned his hug. “As I said… just retreat if it gets too dangerous, okay?”
She let go of him, and William also backed off.
“You are not the same person you were back then, William. You can overcome this.”
William nodded again, not entirely sure about that. Not the first point, but the second one.
Saying his goodbyes, William went towards the nearby teleporter as he appeared in a damp cavern. He felt the presence of the C-grade space jellyfish wash over him as it emerged from the water.
“You have come to a decision?” the C-grade asked him.
“Yes,” William said. “The moment that he appears send me there. No matter where or who that monster is facing.”
“So it shall be,” the C-grade agreed without arguing anything. William sat down on the ground as he meditated and prepared himself. He did not know how long it would take before the monster made his presence known, but William knew he had to go there. Not because he feared the monster would die, making him lose his chance to face him. No, that sentiment was utterly ludicrous to him.
He would go because… Ms. Kim was probably right. The monster was the reason he could not evolve, and he would have to face his fears if he wanted to prove his Path.
Days had turned to weeks as the pair of human and worm had journeyed across the ocean. One had done alchemy, and the other flew while they talked and discussed whatever sights they came across. Jake had only gotten into a single more fight, and Sandy had mainly digested what had already been eaten earlier on their trip. However… all good things must come to an end.
Sadness was in the air as the shoreline entered their sight. Jake had already been spat out of Sandy and was flying alongside the worm at a leisurely pace.
“It is beginning to hurt a bit,” Sandy said as they got closer to the shoreline. “Not actual pain, but more a warning that it will come…”
Jake nodded. They had both kind of known this would happen and had accepted it. Only a dozen of kilometers from the shoreline, Jake saw vast mountains rise, and he knew that in there the Fallen King currently was. It was at the edge of the ocean… and the edge of what was effectively a safety zone for humanity.
The small territory humanity occupied was not much compared to the rest of the globe. Outside of that territory, there were no limitations on C-grades or anything like that, but inside there were. Jake and Sandy were approaching this safe zone where Sandy, as a C-grade, could no longer keep going.
Soon, they both stopped, just floating in the air a kilometer from the shoreline.
“Stupid system rules,” Sandy complained.
“Yeah,” Jake agreed. He really didn’t want to split from Sandy for several reasons, the first of which was that he had no way to find his wormy friend again. Sylphie he had a bond with, but Sandy was an entirely different sort of animal. A Cosmic Genesis Worm also traveled a lot around due to its nature of consuming natural treasures in insane quantities, making his C-grade pal even harder to pin down and find again.
“You gotta go?” Sandy asked. “Why not just ignore all the stupid human stuff and keep hunting? Does it really matter? Oh! We could even maybe just go somewhere else? Like, there is an entire universe to explore, right? Let’s go there! After you evolve, though…”
Jake could not help but smile. “I need to go. I have been thinking about this situation a lot, and honestly, this entire conflict is partly my fault. It is time I made a decision and finally decided. But I would be more than up for exploring with you another time, okay?”
Sandy wriggled a bit, clearly not happy. Jake just rubbed the side of the massive worm, not even sure if they could feel it. If not the physical touch, he was sure Sandy could at least feel his intentions. He honestly would like to just fly around and adventure with Sandy and even just head straight up and into space. Shit, even just exploring what was up there in the sky before reaching space would be…
Wait a fucking minute.
“Hey, Sandy… you wanna try something?” Jake asked with a grin.
“What?” Sandy asked, perking up a little.
Jake looked towards the sky. “See if this damn restriction has a vertical limit.”
Sandy took a moment to comprehend what he meant before getting it. Jake barely had a chance to react before the massive worm bent its body and chomped down on him. As he didn’t resist, he was thrown into the old room again, as outside, the surroundings were already moving.
The water below was getting further away as the clouds above approached with alarming speed, as it was time to see how far they could go. Jake assumed that a long cylinder of restricted space didn’t just extend endlessly out of Earth, and he had already seen that the restrictions lessened the deeper you went into the ground, so why should it not be the same when heading upwards?
“I will admit it is a creature I have not seen before,” the scaled god said with skepticism. “But that does not mean much when they are still in C-grade. For such special beasts, I can see many Paths that only result in death.”
“Very insightful,” Vilastromoz said with a smirk. “You know, I thought something similar once upon a time when I stumbled across this incredibly stupid lizard with a few too many heads rolling around in a swamp. Turns out that lizard became this little lizard became a slightly smarter lizard with way too many heads. Oh, and a god or something.”
“Master…” Snappy – or the Lord Protector as some liked to call him – said with exasperation and slight embarrassment. “I am simply saying that it is a gamble that I am uncertain of if I should take. There are risks involved, you know that. You chose to make a bet because the human truly was extraordinary, but this creature is not in the same realm as him.”
“I would never force you to do anything like this,” the Viper did agree. “But I am saying that I see potential. I have never come across a creature like this before either, and from what it has displayed so far, even you must admit you are impressed. And… getting in on the ground floor, especially before some other god swoops in, is a good idea. The worm is hidden by Jake’s Shroud due to its current proximity to him, but that may very well change. If you act now and your gamble succeeds, the gains will be that much better.”
Snappy fell silent for a bit, with Villy just staring at him. He had made the Lord Protector observe all his recorded memories of the worm – perfect photographic memory and the ability to playback those memories being a perk of his Bloodline. That is what his old friend had done over the last few days as he evaluated the worm.
As for why Vilastromoz was having Snappy do it? Because his Path was more closely aligned with the worm than the Viper’s own. The Path of consumption and devouring all in his Path was far more like Snappy than the very selective Viper.
“Perhaps,” Snappy sighed, “perhaps it has been too long since I had one of my own, and in this time of change, perhaps taking a bit of a risk is only right.”
Vilastromoz failed to hold back a smile. He truly did not believe his old friend would regret it.