Volume 5 – Chapter 1X - (exact number undetermined, fine to read now)

Volume 5 – Chapter 1X

(You can read this chapter right now, after 11, with no issues! I merely haven't decided on the exact number for it, yet. It'll be between 10-20 - I'll decide on this, and the other un-numbered chapters, once I get to 20)

((ps - if you see any typos/mistakes, let me know! Thank you, and goodnight!)

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“I was not strong enough.”  

On a dark, empty world, one man sat alone.

He had long black hair and a set of deep, blue eyes. He was fit and athletic, carrying himself with the confidence of a heavily trained fighter. He had a strong chin, partially hidden away by black stubble, and was dressed in plain, black leather pants, a simple dark grey shirt, and a large, white coat.

“Individual power that can defy reason.” He reflected upon his battle with Ashroth, where he lay witness to the true power of a Titled Deity.

As he spoke, the man held up a simple knife, examining it briefly. Apart from its ornate, blue hilt, it appeared ordinary.

“The path ahead is murky… yet I must walk it, nonetheless.” The black-haired man began to trim away at the stubble, moving with swiftness and alacrity that belied the fact that he was holding a knife up to his face.

“So…” It took him only a few seconds to return to being cleanshaven.

Constantine Lancaster’s eyes narrowed as he glanced at the knife one last time, before slowly raising it up to his hair.

His hair was burnt and torn, the aftermath of an enormous conflict.

“I will have to change.”

He began to cut his hair, abandoning the messy clumps until it returned to something manageable, a couple inches long.

Finally, he stood up, and glanced around at his handiwork.

He was standing in the middle of a graveyard, one he dug himself, for all of his Shadows that died in battle against the Titled Deity.

Amidst the mounds where the dead rested, thousands of red lines had been drawn, in an extraordinarily complex pattern. These lines stretched out beyond the graveyard, creating an enormous circle, filled with odd symbols and markings, undecipherable to any normal human understanding.

With a wave of his hand, Constantine brought out a trio of floating red orbs. The man waved his hand a second time, sending the orbs to float around him as he began to walk forward, towards one last, unfinished slice of the circle. As he moved, faint red particles fell from the orbs, staining the ground in specific, controlled patterns.

As he moved, the Vile King’s eyes gleamed as he activated Empyrean Soul Root, reaching out to the network of Seeds he controlled across the 7 Layers.

“Seed 2,177 has gained considerable influence within the Godfather Organization.” The Godfather Organization had greatly expanded its influence on the First Layer over the course of the past few months, gaining dominance over almost every single Cluster.

“Yet again...” Constantine frowned as he expanded his senses, observing several of his Seeds while he continued to walk.

On the First Layer, he had established several laboratories using items from the Shop. One of these laboratories was dedicated to testing Dragon Building Liquid, the strange concoction brought to his attention by a certain heroic Seer.

“Months of testing have proven me wrong and him right.”

Once more, the young Seer had proven himself.

“There really are no long-term side-effects from using Dragon Building Liquid.”

There were two forms of the potion, one that worked quickly and was extremely dangerous, and one that worked slowly, with no risk at all. Despite the fact that both concoctions were made from substances that ranged from mildly to extremely poisonous, Constantine’s extensive testing had found that both forms of Dragon Building Liquid, if made properly, had no adverse effects related to their original ingredients.

“It’s curious.’” Constantine muttered.

It was one of the first times he clashed with the young Seer. The ingredients that made up Dragon Building Liquid had been far too dangerous for him to allow its usage to become permanently widespread, not on the First Layer, without extensive testing. He wouldn’t trade away humanity’s long-term future potential simply due to the claims of an alleged Seer.

“It’s almost as if he’s a grizzled veteran, an expert that travelled back in time.”

The Seer’s knowledge was simply too precise, too specific, to the point where it strained belief.

‘Others might believe him out of ignorance… but I can no longer overlook it.’

Time travel on that scale should be impossible… yet what did he truly know, of this strange, absurd multiverse?

Far too little.

Impossible was a word he could no longer trust.

‘He is far more than a simple Seer.’

Constantine had put an enormous amount of effort into researching precognitive Abilities.

Precognition was an incredibly dangerous weapon that needed to be accounted for. It was one of the few things that could prove truly dangerous to him, and by extension, all of humanity.

“I can no longer dismiss that theory.” Constantine muttered slowly, pausing for a moment as he commanded the floating red orbs to create a flurry of even more complex, miniature patterns over a specific 30-meter section.

Another frown appeared on his face for a moment, before Constantine shook his head.

“Pride is the enemy of necessity.” He would not allow petty emotion to have any impact on his overarching plans to ensure the survival of humanity.

“I need to speak to him.” Ideally, he would make the man one of his Seeds, using his knowledge of the future to better mankind’s odds.

“I cannot control everything. If he knows… knows… about me, and I must assume he does, attempting to Seed him would only alienate him further.” The man already hated him, that was clear, and Seeding him would prove an enormous challenge.

Right now, he needed information. So, diplomacy, it was.

“What else… the Golden Morenkai hunting method is continuing to spread.” He observed with another sigh.

Constantine viewed the First Layer as a training ground. A place where humanity could test her mettle and grow, facing up against monstrous horrors that forced them to improve. It was a world where humans could grow their spirit, their determination, and their courage.

These were all necessary traits any human would need to cultivate, should they aspire to climb higher up the Layers.

‘Hunting Golden Morenkai makes everything much easier. Safer. Less strife, less fear, less growth.’ He didn’t like it.

It made the humans on the First Layer safer. It made them complacent.

‘And yet. Micheal proved me wrong on all previous accounts.’ The Vile King pondered.

By this point, he had crossed more than a thousand meters from where he had started, yet the red patterns and markings covering the rocky stone ground continued, marking everything in sight.

“Perhaps the overall gain in Points will offset the loss in spirit and mettle, in the long-term.” It was frustrating, the uncertainty that mired the future.

Humans could only grow so much on the First Layer. If this hunting method caused more people to remain for longer on the First, in now improved safety, instead of climbing higher, it could weaken humanity’s odds as a whole on the higher Layers.

“And it’s the higher Layers that are far, far more dangerous. Tricky.” He sighed again.

“You’ve been right every time before. As difficult as it is… I’ll trust in your wisdom here.” He’d already given considerable thought to this particular situation, and decided it was impossible to tell which way was truly the best. Trusting in the man from the future, at least in this specific instance, seemed like a wise choice.

Constantine continued to walk, using the red orbs to modify the landscape as he moved. He commanded his Seeds throughout the 7 Layers, organizing his plans, and reacting to dozens of different incidents, some as they happened.

Finally, after moving around 8,300 meters to the east of his Shadow graveyard, Constantine arrived at the edge of an enormous, red circle.

“At last.” He muttered as the red orbs finished the final section of strange red markings.

“It’s finished.” His eyes began to glow with red light as he brought the red orbs forward, caressing one of them as he held it in his hands.

“Blood for blood, life for life.” He began to chant,

“Akari sho Kivyn. Serenti al Solos mern.”

“Dakoi Solos. Melor Solos. Akashi Solos.”

Line after line, Constantine spoke aloud the Language of Magic, bringing about a curtain of red light that engulfed him in a dark, bloody glow. Currents of Mana began to form around him as he spoke, creating an a nigh-imperceptible storm of energy.

Constantine didn’t possess any Mana Circles, instead putting the effort that would’ve gone into their creation to better use, focused on his Seeds. He had cultivated dozens of Wizards with numerous Mana Circles – there was no need for him to posses his own Mana Circles, not when his precious little time was more wisely spent elsewhere.

To cast a Spell without any Mana Circles was normally an impossible feat… but there existed two exceptions to that rule, at least that Constantine was aware of.

True Dragons, with their Dragonhearts, could use Magic freely.

And the Cherubini, a magical species humanity first encountered on the Fifth Layer, with their Rituals, could create great feats of Magic…

As long as a price was paid.

It took him nearly 13 minutes to finish chanting the lines to activate this Ritual. In the background, that was enough time for a truly gigantic storm of energy to sweep across the land within several miles of his vicinity. Blood red light stained the sky, setting the air to storming as particles of red light began to flow up into the air, emerging from the ground.

“Places of enormous sacrifice, great slaughter, and widespread death.” Constantine spoke to himself as the air whipped around him.

“They give Rituals like this power... enhancing them.” Constantine slowly turned, tapping on a Spatial Ring.

Instantly, he was swarmed with a truly enormous number of Magic Beast corpses, Helion Treasures and Magic Herbs, all gathered over the past couple years by his Seeds on the Second Layer. The Ancient World was a truly strange place, whose resources constantly regenerated, for reasons he had yet to decipher.

As soon as these bodies appeared within the confines of the Ritual Circle, they vanished, exploding into a miasma of bright red energy, like a great fire bursting into the air. Constantine covered his eyes as he continued to unload more corpses, making use of the resources he had set aside for emergencies.

As distasteful as it was to use a graveyard of humanity’s heroes as the Core of a Ritual…

‘It doesn’t matter.’ Only a fool would allow emotion to impede the path to humanity’s survival. Constantine suppressed his feelings with a grunt and a shake of his head.

‘My loss to Ashroth is affecting me more than I expected.’ While his Seeds did not truly possess their own free will, not under his control, the loss of so many of the heroes he had worked closely with was painful.  

Slowly, the red circle he had formed on the rocky earth began to glow, more and more particles of light fluttering off it. Gradually, bit by bit, the red circle began to stretch, expanding outward. Constantine watched patiently as the expansion of the Ritual Circle began to pick up speed, soon vanishing from his vision as it expanded out of sight.

This was an incredibly complex Ritual, one he had to actively influence at all times. It was a feat of great precision and skill, possible only through the use of his Seeds, relying on an enormous network of active calculation and control. It was also an incredibly delicate procedure, to the point that, if not for the fact that Constantine was the only sentient being present on this entire world, it would inevitably fail.

Nearly an hour passed as Constantine waited, weathering the enormous storm of energy that crackled in the air above him without complaint.

‘Phase 1 is done. Now for Phase 2.’ As he sensed the Ritual Circle reach its complete size, the Vile King launched into a second round of chanting.

“Akashic, toblon, era Montor.”

He spent the next 3 minutes rattling off one last section of Magic. As he cast the final Spell, he pushed back the sleeves of his coat and held out his knife, cutting his forearm. It wasn't a deep cut, just enough to send a few dozen drops of blood spattering down upon the earth, where they then vanished, transforming into dark red light.

The storm of red light began to reach a fever pitch as more and more of it shot high into the sky. In mere seconds, an enormous globe of red energy coalesced in the air above him, a small sun fluttering in the air, a thousand meters high, and tens of thousands of meters across.

Constantine took a deep breath as he raised his right hand up for a brief moment, gazing at the sky above.

Then, the moment passed, and he pointed down.

Instantly, within a microsecond, the blazing orb of red energy shot downward and slammed into the earth.

And then it was gone.

“Individual power that can defy reason.” Constantine’s eyes glowed as he spoke, his words calm and emotionless.

As his voice resonated with the air, enormous pillars of red light began to emerge, not just within sight, but all across the entire world that constituted this iteration of the Fourth Layer. While the Fourth Layer was only a fraction of the size of Earth, it was still its own world, stretching for hundreds of miles across.

These pillars spawned numerous beams of light, blasting forth from the center of a dead planet, ripping apart earth, magma, and stone in a blaze of blood-red fury, a network of energy and power condensing across reality.

“To match that…”

The ground near Constantine began to ripple as waves of energy began to condense, crackling oceans of power that far exceeded the storm of energy he had created earlier.

“I must become..."

One final wave of light swept across the world…

And then…

"An unreasonable being."

Constantine began to harness the power of an entire planet.

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