Chapter 729: s.p.a.cE!
Sorry for not publishing for a while. RSTUM was going way better the past month.
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Jon contemplated the meaning of many things, and from that, he learned many things more. Things that he should never have learned as mortal and meanings of higher and better minds than his.
As he shed his Greed, he understood that material is irrelevant and he doesn"t own anything. This gave him ownership of everything he wanted, as long as he never desired it.
As he shed his Pride, he understood that honor is not as subjective as many would think, and it has many restrictions, but it also grants a way of freedom of its own accord. One can be proud without being vain, love themselves without being egotistical, and develop their ident.i.ty with their actions rather than their words. This gave him great insight into anything related to man.
As he shed his Gluttony, he realized that material can consume man as much as man can consume material. Being enslaved by the ideas of our needs makes us slaves to these needs and thus slaves to others. One doesn"t need everything to survive; rather, he/she needs to be aware of their needs, fulfill them to the minimum, be content, and let the other souls have their share. This gave him piety and modesty, but at the same time, it overflowed him with all that he needed, so he could give it away.
As he shed his Wrath, he realized that anger was nothing to be concerned about and that grief is the only feeling there is to feel over any loss. Wrath poisons the mind and leads to destruction; it is a straight path to misery and loss. Wrath causes one to lose more than what he gains. This gave him the strength to be swift with his enemies and superiority over all situations that required decisive acts.
As he shed his l.u.s.t, he realized that aside from the momentous pleasures of courting a beautiful maiden, l.u.s.t tricks the senses and creates a false reality for whoever walks into its traps. As weak as a devil, l.u.s.t is everything beautiful, yet those who are in its snares suffer without knowing, forget without remembering, listen without hearing, and see without witnessing. l.u.s.t is an addiction, and it is the opposite of how a man or woman should act. While liberty in all things is sought after by all humans, restricting oneself brings it more benefits than it would even dare to admit. This gave him a pleasure far greater than what he ever imagined, and it is his most treasured secret.
As he shed his Envy, and that was a tricky one, he realized that he had come closer to the truth and that spite and ill feelings come from the weakest place a man has, his heart. It is also the strongest place a man has, and that"s why it was tricky. Envy creates a myriad of ill feelings; it creates sadness, obsessions, delusions, and selfishness, and it makes one grow smaller than their real worth. This gave him a sense of fulfillment in what he had made and made him stand in his own rank, dignified and unshaken.
As for Sloth, he has found the perfect vessel, but Sloth was always something strange to Jon. He was never the lazy sort, to begin with, and he would walk far distances in order to be what he is. But that"s where he found the flaw in his logic.
If he hadn"t reincarnated as Jon, if he had remained the same guy he always was, if he had kept his previous life as a youth at the bottom of the food chain, he would have never done anything that he has done so far.
In truth, all his success in his life as Jon came from his knowledge of things that no one other than himself knew, and his actions corresponded to every event in order to maximize his gains.
In other words, just like any reincarnation plot there is, Jon was cheating. Cheating is Sloth.
But what else would he do? Not take the opportunities presented to him?
It is ridiculous to even think like that, even for him. He always considered himself quite opportunistic and life opportunities are limited so if one doesn"t make use of them…
But isn"t his logic a bit flawed?
Jon thought and thought about Sloth. He had avoided thinking about this subject in the past, but now that he was. .h.i.t this hard by Karstaag to the point where he got sent to s.p.a.ce, he had to use the chance he was given in order to develop some sort of concept that he could use to contain his Sloth and shed it off.
He also had to face the problem that in s.p.a.ce, he really can"t move that much once he is set to orbit around Nirn, and the time he can hold his breath is running out. Even the Magicka flowing around him was very hard to tame.
So… what was he going to do with this and that?
Well… he"s still working on it.
But as he was doing so, the unexpected had to take its turn and…
"SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!"
Jon narrowed his eyes as he saw an object drawing closer to him in s.p.a.ce. He tilted his head to match his concept of up and down as his body rolled in his zero-gravity involuntary motion, and just as he managed to identify that screaming object as spherical-shaped and metallic in nature, he noticed a particular glowing yellow eye at the center of that thing.
"Oh f.u.c.k! Not that mod!"
And he realized what just happened.
The object was on a zooming crash course towards Jon"s head, and the two collided splendidly, but Jon managed to hold onto the object and roll with it back towards Nirn.
"Ow! Help me, s.p.a.ce cops! s.p.a.ce cops, help!" Once Jon held the object, it started to frantically scream and shake Jon off, but it had no ability to move on its own.
"SHUT UP!" Jon spoke as they finally started to fall into the atmosphere.
Just then, the eye of that thing noticed Jon and looked at him.
Oh, *clears throat*, hi. Hi, hi, hi, where are we goin"? Where we goin"? Hey, lady, where we goin"?"
Jon looked at the white spherical bot with disgust.
"Lady?"
"Hey, where are we going?" The eye of the spherical bot looked down and realized that it was entering the atmosphere of a planet before looking at Jon and starting to panic. "No! Gotta go home! Go to s.p.a.ce! s.p.a.ce! Need to go to s.p.a.ce!"
As the free fall started and the atmosphere started to burn around the two, Jon thought about abandoning the chatterbox… sphere and controlling his descent by the Boots of the Apostle, but in order not to leave loose ends, Jon kept the thing at his hand.
"Alright, we"re falling!"
"Nooooo! s.p.a.ce!"
Back on the ground, the situation wasn"t as fun as one would expect. Jon was launched into s.p.a.ce well alright but his Sin Artifacts were still down there.
"We must hold the line for his imperial highness! Purge the rebel!" Potema of Envy shouted.
"Mas…TAAAAAR!" Odokuro of Wrath shouted and charged at Karstaag.
*SCREECH*
Wendigo of Gluttony charged from the flank to ram Karstaag as it increased its size by feeding off the small Rieklings that lived under the castle.
"Huhuhu!" Venus of l.u.s.t kept floating while giggling and simply did nothing.
Sleipnir of Greed started running around Karstaag and evading all the hits the giant was dishing out in order to distract him.
As for Pride, it was strangely quiet, which seemed to be bothering Envy. As the one with the strongest ego, since it is based on Potema Septim"s soul, Envy has some sort of pride in herself and thinks it is the most superior to the entirety of the sin artifacts. Still, it was absolutely ridiculous how the only sin artifact that hasn"t developed an ego just yet is this defiant and acts very independently.
But this wasn"t the time to start making a sin compet.i.tion; Karstaag was pushing back Wrath and Gluttony at the same time while paying not much attention to Greed, who was not more than a speedy boy in his eyes.
As Envy and l.u.s.t finally got together and started confusing Karstaag with a barrage of necromantic blasts and illusions, something started to stir around the battlefield, and Karstaag managed to raise his foot over Wendigo"s head before attempting to stomp it down. Usually, the sins would desperately try to stop Karstaag from doing his stomp, but as they were instructed not to get destroyed and drain the enemy, Wendigo of Gluttony had to withdraw and leave a gap in the formation, leaving Karstaag the window to summon his Blizzard Storm.
The giant"s might became even mightier, and the frontliners were being pushed back. Just as Karstaag was about to have his way…
*Blast!*
… the entire ghost of the Frost Giant was blasted off its feet and sent flying back to his throne at the deepest point of the castle.
Only Jon could do that!
"Corner the rebel! Our emperor will deliver the final blow." Potema of Envy commanded and looked back at Jon, who, in her thoughts, was supposed to be there.
But the silhouette she saw didn"t match what her emperor used to look like. It almost had the same presence, but it wasn"t his, despite the obvious kinship she felt to the presence.
It is not the cat, either.
The strong snow mist was still blocking her view, but as it faded away, there was nothing standing there. Only the Elder Staff, Pride, floated in the air, with the silhouette she saw fading away.
That can"t be!
Potema of Envy looked away from Pride and denied what she just saw. She is not the real Potema Septim since she is merely an ego from a dead lichified soul, a copy of a dead soul. Still, her stubbornness was the real thing.
Only if she looked back at that second behind her when the air moved the mist again, she would see that vague silhouette maybe a bit more clearly, especially as it glared at Karstaag with blue fox-like eyes and wielded the staff with the same haughtiness Jon wielded the staff with.
At that moment, Jon"s real presence emerged, and all the sin artifacts felt him coming from the sky at a steady speed.
Jon landed back at Karstaag"s castle court, holding the white sphere with a single yellow eye in his hand. He walked past Envy and handed her the thing.
"Hold that." He said.
"Your highness! This is?" She asked immediately.
"A s.p.a.ce Core! Don"t talk to it! It"s annoying!" Jon said and then whistled, "Pride!"
To that word, the staff moved like a bolt of lightning and landed in Jon"s hand quite intimately, as Envy could feel.
"Good girl!" Jon praised Pride, "I"ve left a portal mark up in the sky. Make sure you draw as much energy through it once it is open.
Jon opened the portal with a flick of his fingers, and as the opal-shaped portal was open, he put Pride through it and started absorbing a ma.s.sive amount of energy.
"Ma.s.sive wild untamed Magicka, straight from the sun!" Jon said in admiration of his genius and turned towards Karstaag, "Say Ah!"
Karstaag waved his big, frozen club and got all the sin artifacts away from the encirclement they forced him into before attempting to strike.
*ROAR*
He then roared with all his might and prepared for the second a.s.sault.
"Good boy!" But Jon was already happy with the result since his sin artifacts had done their job and backed away.
He took Pride out of the portal, and with his staff glowing like a volcano from all the Sun Magicka it absorbed, Jon aimed it at Karstaag and said the magic word.
"Kaboom!"
And a ma.s.sive flow of fire was unleashed in a beam.
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