Divine Apostasy Book 11 - Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Ruin read the details on the second Array and found it came from an item.

Band of Remembrance
The Band of Remembrance is one of the eight artifacts associated with the eight spires that create the boundaries of the Destruction Realm. Little is known about the Heritages associated with the bands, as they are closely guarded secrets of the noble families who possess them.

This Array had opened because of the silver band around Ruin’s arm. He expanded the second Array and it filled his vision.

This time no gem filled the first node, but all eight nodes were open. Despite not having anything inside it, the Array had an assigned Heritage.

Heritage of Remembrance

When Ruin focused on the name, more information appeared.

The Spire of Remembrance stands as the cornerstone of all knowledge among the eight spires. Unlike the others, which focus on singular, powerful abilities, the Spire of Remembrance is the guardian of all Heritages, ensuring that no power, technique, or piece of history is lost to time. It serves as a sanctuary of collective memory.

Those who bear the Heritage of Remembrance are entrusted with safeguarding this knowledge, ensuring that the legacy of the spires lives on through every generation. The Spire of Remembrance has the unique ability to access and unify the powers of all Heritages, making it both the most versatile and vital among the eight spires. It serves as a reminder that the past must never be forgotten and that only by remembering can the future be safeguarded.

Ruin dismissed the pop-up thoughtfully. This Heritage seemed incredibly powerful and aligned with his natural inclinations regarding books and knowledge. He wondered if that had anything to do with his ability to wear the silver band.

All the empty nodes had the same description.

Visit one of the eight spires and use the Remembrance Band of Authority to extract a Gem of Remembrance. Place this Gem of Remembrance into an open node to activate it.

Ruin’s enthusiasm dropped. While the Remembrance Heritage certainly sounded powerful, he had to visit each of the spires to gain those abilities. He didn’t know the location of these spires or if he had any hope of reaching them, so a quick power-boost seemed unlikely.

Not only that, the wearers of the other seven Bands of Authority would likely never let Ruin approach their spire, especially if they knew what the Band of Remembrance did. If he had to guess, despite the power of this Heritage, the Val’dor family had likely never taken advantage of it.

If that was the case, it would’ve left them terribly disadvantaged against the other bands that had powerful abilities from the start.

Ruin felt more disappointed the more he thought about it, and he moved on to the third opened Array.

The third Array came into focus, and Ruin opened the Array description.

Destruction Emperor
The Destruction Emperor is a unique and unparalleled Class bestowed exclusively upon the ultimate authority of the Destruction Realm. It grants complete dominion over the forces of ruin, decay, and entropy that define the realm itself.

Ruin studied the assigned Heritage details.

Heritage of Destruction

This Heritage taps into the very essence of destruction, allowing the Emperor to wield vast, reality-shattering powers that can unmake entire structures, summon devastating storms of energy, and command the entities that reside in the Destruction Realm with absolute authority. The Emperor is not merely a ruler but the embodiment of chaos and annihilation, capable of unraveling both physical and metaphysical constructs at will.

This Heritage ignores the normal penalty experienced when adding a shard, fragment, or gem of a differing Heritage. On the contrary, the Heritage of Destruction multiplies the benefits of any Heritage item placed in one of its nodes.

Those who carry the Heritage of Destruction are feared not just for their immense power but for their intimate connection to the very forces that threaten the existence of all things.

Ruin stared at the description and read it another three times. A knot formed in his stomach, and he felt a little nauseous. The Class sounded better than awesome. It was probably the most powerful Class description he’d ever read.

The problem, of course, was that Ruin wasn’t supposed to have this Class. It was unique, and the real Destruction Realm already had an Emperor, probably one that had possessed this Class for eons. Only now did Ruin grasp of how powerful this being would be. And if Varthon was correct, the real Destruction Emperor might already know of Ruin’s existence and be searching for him.

From the text, it appeared placing Legacy Shards of the wrong Heritage in an Array reduced their effectiveness, but the Destruction Heritage ignored that penalty and instead amplified the ability. It would allow one to create a very diverse and powerful Heritage by taking the best abilities regardless of the source.

One thing Ruin needed to do was find out the consequences of removing a Legacy Shard from a node. If the penalties for that were catastrophic, it would severely limit how much he could use these Heritages until he gathered more information.

Ruin closed the Heritage of Destruction and opened the fourth Array. Only one node had been opened, and the other seven remained closed. Once again he considered the earlier information that had made opening a node sound like a miracle, but he had twenty-five open nodes, three of which already had gems.

The Array’s description was less than helpful:

Void
Unknown Source

Just as confusing was the Heritage:

Heritage of the Void
Unknown Heritage

How could the System that ran all this assign Ruin a Heritage that it didn’t recognize?

The gem in the first and only open node helped a little.

Name: Voidwalker
Compatible Heritage: None
Tier: Gem
Description: Through an unknown mechanism, the Void has seeped into your personal essence without causing fatal damage.
Effect (Passive): Tolerance of the Void proportional to level.
Effect (Triggered): Void Purge - Once per day, vent the accumulated Void energies from your body in an area of effect with a radius in feet equal to level.

The node ability had most certainly occurred because of Ruin’s bond with Rami. She’d gained Void abilities from her father, and at least part of those abilities had contaminated Ruin as well. The System didn’t even recognize the Heritage, so how did he end up with a gem in the node, and how would he gather more?

A few things were clear to him. Varthon had not hidden his distaste that Rami had bonded with a human. The Void Wyrm considered Rami’s value to be so great that no human could ever be worthy of her. He’d also made a big deal about her Void abilities being incomprehensibly rare.

How would the Void Wyrm react, then, if he ever learned Ruin had absorbed some of those same abilities?

Ruin considered what to do next. Despite having twenty-five open nodes, he only had two filled with a Heritage ability. The Band of Remembrance Array required him to visit special spires inside the Destruction Realm so, for now, they were just eight unusable slots. The Void Array didn’t have any more open nodes so he could ignore that one as well.

That left the Array Ruin’s inheritance had unlocked that contained the luck ability based on Hamma’s blessing, and it contained seven empty slots. The Destruction Emperor Array nodes were all unlocked and available so he technically had fifteen slots he could fill if he had compatible legacy shards.

The slotted gems Ruin already had listed the compatible Heritages that would accept them. That meant the legacy items in the vault likely did as well. With all this new information, he could evaluate the legacy items much better than before and perhaps even equip some.

Ruin closed the displays and willed himself back to the vault. He immediately strode to the large cabinet that contained all the legacy shards, fragments, and gems.

Opening the cabinet’s double doors, Ruin once again had the sense someone or something was watching him. He didn’t react and acted like he was scanning all the items. Now that he already knew what this vault contained, he could think more clearly, and an important fact occurred to him. The vault didn’t contain destruction essence.

Overlord? Ruin asked.

Overlord and Uruziel appeared on opposite sides of Ruin’s peripheral vision.

Yeah, we feel it too, Overlord said.

This vault is very curious and certainly dimensional, Uruziel added. It might be more evolved than we expect, and that’s what we’re sensing.

True, Ruin said. I never considered that. Maybe I’m just getting paranoid.

That’s because everyone wants us dead, Overlord said. You’re just being a realist.

Spoken like a true pessimist, Uruziel said with a smile.

Is it still pessimism if the worst always occurs? Overlord asked.

No, Ruwen said before Uruziel could reply, let’s not go there. We all know things always get worse than we think.

Uruziel laughed. That sounds exactly like a, she paused before finishing, her voice slightly mocking, realist. Okay, I’m done poking you two. What are you planning here?

Ruwen refocused on the colored gems filling the cabinet, and carefully removed a light pink one that sparkled despite the low light.

Name: Echo of Haste
Compatible Heritages: Time, Memory, Knowledge, Patience, Tempo
Tier: Gem
Quality: Flawless
Description: This gem holds the ancient whispers of time itself, allowing the bearer to glimpse into the past and future. While wielding this spell, one must take care not to lose themselves in the endless flow of time.
Effect (Passive): Increase reaction time by 1% per level.

Effect (Triggered): Temporal Rewind – Once per week, rewind time by three seconds, reversing damage or unfavorable events.

If the gem’s rewind effect worked in areas where the Temporal Offset was zero, which made time manipulation all but impossible, this would be a very valuable ability.

Ruin wondered how to add a legacy gem to an open node, and as soon as the thought finished a Notification appeared.

Please select from the options below:

Insert the gem Echo of Haste into the incompatible Heritage of Fate?

Insert the gem Echo of Haste into the incompatible Heritage of Destruction?

Cancel insertion of the gem Echo of Haste.

“Stop!” A female voice said from behind Ruin.

Ruin slowly turned around.

A saraph woman stood next to the table, her four delicate wings spread wide. Through her semi-translucent body, the weapon racks on the far wall were visible.

It’s not paranoia when you’re right, Overlord mumbled.

Ruin canceled the Notification. He didn’t need her stark resemblance to himself to know who this woman was. What he didn’t know was how she’d gotten here, what her intentions were, and if she could harm him here.

Content to wait for answers, Ruin remained quiet, letting the silence stretch, until finally the woman spoke.