Chapter 669 The Nature Of War
Many had been the trials held for the members of the pantheon throughout the years. Official procedures aimed at judging the infractions of the aspects of existence, and which, more often than not, would conclude in an execution. A flimsy punishment, the primordial aspects of existence had thought, considering that the death of an aspect only meant the death of their current reincarnation.
By the time an aspect was born out of their existential power, the power itself had stabilized within the multiverse. So even if their wielder died, bringing with them the entirety of their influence, that power would eventually recover, and grow to a point where a new aspect would be born.
Hence why the pantheon had chosen to put Daniel on trial. What disturbed the nature of Fate was not the existential power of karma, but the creature that wielded it. A cultivator that had broken past the omniscient rulings of the tapestry, and ascended to the ranks of deities. With his death, a new aspect of karma would eventually be born, and he or she would be of a similar nature than the rest of them.
Unfortunately, Daniel"s ability to store power within his body had forced the pantheon to make adjustments to the standard procedure of the trials. The aspects of law, who would usually preside as the right judge, had been replaced by Sentience. And so had the late aspect of equilibrium, who would usually occupy the role of the left judge, as well as act as the seer for the trial.
Other than four witnesses, three more were the unchanging roles within the tribunal. The role of the head judge, held by Order, the order of the scribe, held by Authority, and the role of the executioner, held by War. Those were the aspects of existence who had presided over every single trial since its conception. While all these positions were essential, however, the presence of the latter was of peculiar importance, for in his possessions lay the tribunal"s most important means of execution. The Endless Battle.
A battlefield made by Conflict for the sole purpose of contributing to his power, then used by the tribunal as the place where the executions of trialed aspects of existence would take place. In it, the members of the tribunal would not have to worry about lacking the influence to carry on the execution, for in its confines everyone was at the peak of their power.
After being tasked with Karma"s execution by the aspect of Fate and Chaos, the only reason the members of the tribunal had not worried about the possible conflict with the odd aspect of existence was exactly because of the dimension"s peculiar ability. They knew how powerful Daniel truly was, but they did not believe him to be stronger than three aspects of the same tier, let alone when they were at full power.
Yet, their minds had started to change.
As they fought against the former mortal, the aspects of Order, Sentience and Instinct soon realized that the depths of Daniel"s power were far beyond what they had realized, for the strength of his existential power appeared to be doing something their own was not able to. It was growing.
Soon, attacks that once were able to push him back a few steps were easily blocked by his spear. Ambushes that seconds ago would have caused a few minor wounds, were now easily seen through and avoided, and mental attacks that would have at least succeeded in distracting him, now hindered his consciousness as much as a blink would hinder his vision.
Within minutes, the three felt that in their fight against a single opponent of equal standing, they were the ones at a disadvantage, not him. The scale started to balance out once Sentience gave up on his mental powers, and chose to join in the fray while wielding his brush, whose bristles connected to a thinning rope of blue power he used as a whip of sorts. As he did so, their side of the battlefield reached a stalemate.
On the other side, the aspects of Authority, Control and Sacrifice had engaged with Roley in a similar battle. Their weapons being, respectively, a ten foot gavel of hazel-colored polished wood, indestructible chains and vines of various colors and strength, and an array of blood-red white weapons, going from the smallest of knives to large executioner axes.
The aspects of Deceit and Fear were also taking part in this fight, but their contribution was mental, rather than physical. The former cried, and spoke words of surrender as images that depicted a valiant triumph of Roley played out in the latter"s mind, while Fear tapped into his deepest worries. "I am winning" he would rejoice, before looking further than the illusory corpses he had left behind to see his friends lay at their opponents" feet, dead.
These constant thoughts and lies kept chipping at his sanity, but only a few times they managed to breach through the waves of primordial natural power, which protected him like a storm would protect its eye.
Roley"s ridiculously powerful beads of condensed man were not as capable as causing the damage they had before, but the frequency with which they were created and thrown had left a sense of fear in the hearts of his enemies, causing them to not want to be the one he would focus his attacks on. One or two they could defend against, but he was throwing them by the dozen.
To defend themselves from this threat, the mid and low tier aspects chose to maintain a pa.s.sive behavior, waiting for one of Deceit"s or Fear"s mental attacks to succeed before mounting an attack of their own. After a few minutes, this group too had fallen in a stalemate.
Luckily, that was not the case for the third and last battlefield.
In the middle of the blood soaked clearing Der and the barbaric aspect of existence were exchanging blows. Each weighted down by the boundless powers their bodies emanated, sending shock waves of catastrophic proportion to shake the very fabric of s.p.a.ce. In the eyes of the other aspects of existence, their bouts appeared like one more even fight, but that was not the case for the giant, who felt beads of sweat trickle down the side of his face after receiving each of Der"s blows.
Sparks of golden and red colors darted in the air as the enormous battleaxe clashed against Der"s s.h.i.+eld, then flung to the side as, instead of blocking the blow, the warrior in golden armor bashed it to the side, leaving War"s body unprotected. He pierced forward with the tip of his sword, extending its reach with immortal essence so that it could reach its mark.
War reacted immediately, and with a flicker of his wrist, rotated the enormous battleaxe just enough for its long handle to smack the blade of golden sword aside. But, alas, his power was not sufficient, as the sword was not deflected completely, and was able to pierce through the right side of the giant"s waist.
Flaming red slush seeped out of the wound, dripping over the aspect"s furry loincloth like lava down the side of a mountain. His red eyes narrowed as he took a step back, pressing on his wound in a childish attempt to make it stop hurting, but Der did not give him the chance to retreat.
As War staggered backwards the warrior advanced, charging ahead with a s.h.i.+eld tightly bound against his shoulder. The giant immediately tried to wave the battleaxe forward, but before he could, the warrior"s s.h.i.+eld bashed heavily against his leg, causing him to drop heavily against his knee. Now at arm"s reach, Der closed his fist and plunged it heavily against the large skull that covered the giant"s face, shattering it into hundreds of differently-sized pieces and striking the side of his chin.
The head of the giant snapped to the side, then he fell on the ground with a loud splash, unconscious.
At the sight of his defeated opponent, Der lifted the visor of his helmet and took a deep breath. His eyes moved on the other two battlefields, and he began to examine how each of his companions was faring. He could feel that whatever miracle had bound this new power to his body was now growing weaker, at a rate that would have only allowed him to help one of his friends.
Before he could, however, the body of the giant began to move. Or to be more precise, to shrink.
His bulging bones deflated like pierced balloons, shedding the clothes he wore as well as the long hair of his body, until finally, only a normal sized man was left. A man that soon after stood back up.
This man possessed valiant facial features crowned by short black hair, an exceptionally toned build, and eyes identical to those of the barbarian he had been only seconds ago. Small craters and large gashes covered his body, scars of swords slashes and gun shots that had not been there in his giant"s form, but that now marked every inch of his body. His thick brows lay flat, as his narrowed eyes observed Der"s figure with interest.
As his mouth opened a deep voice emerged, now lacking the c.o.c.kiness he was used to showing. "High Lord Fate was right." He said. "Nothing good will ever come from Destiny"s sp.a.w.n, or their allies." *BANG* A loud sound carried through the clearing, immediately followed by a faint clank of metal striking metal.
Der"s eyes opened wide as he faintly noticed the large rifle that, at some point, had appeared behind the man"s body, lingering in the air while pointed straight at him. Sharp waves of pain came from his chest as he looked down to find a spiderweb crack on his golden breastplate. From its center, bright red blood trickled down weakly.
"Impressive." War said. "Your armor held better than I thought. Well enough to spare you a hole in your heart."
A mouthful of blood rushed out of Der"s throat, which he immediately spat out with a loud cough. His eyes rose once again to look back at the scarred warrior, only to find him now clad in a black and red mimetic attire. Clothes that, as he stood on a pool of blood and in front of dark mountains of corpses, made his body difficult to see. Around him was not one rifle anymore, but tens of thousands, each occupying their own place within the surrounding s.p.a.ce and each aimed at him.
"You did not truly believe you had a chance of winning, did you?" War asked
Der spat a second mouthful of blood before letting out a dry laugh. His hands slowly removed his helmet. "Every general has a plan, until the plan backfires and smacks you right in the face, right?" He said.
War did not seem to find Der"s words funny, and yet, he understood. He was the aspect of war, after all, and war did not belong to the winning side alone. His well toned arm rose faintly in preparation to send a rain of fire into the mortal he was facing. Not because he needed to, but so that his opponent would know that this was truly the last moments of his life. "I will ask you one last time. Abandon the fool"s side, and join my domain. I will give you anything you desire."
Der"s trembling hands undid the buckles that kept his breastplate on his chest, causing it to fall on the ground and disappear in motes of gold dust. His chest inflated, then slowly deflated. He undid the buckles that kept his leg armor in place, causing the golden plates to fall aside and disappear into the depth of the pool of blood with a faint splash.
What was left of Der"s equipment was a pair of golden gauntlets attached to the handles of his sword and s.h.i.+eld, while the rest of his body was covered in the clothes he had been wearing before, a simple linen s.h.i.+rt ripped in the middle with a charred hole, dark pants and dark boots. His chest inflated slowly, carrying along a sharp wave of pain that cleared his mind before deflating once again.
"For being the all-powerful aspect of war, you sure know nothing of why war is waged." Der said while tinkering with the straps of his gauntlets. "You know nothing of what it means to protect, to take revenge on, or simply want to take. You know nothing but the fight."
War"s indifferent expression showed hints of anger.
"If there is a fool here, that is the one who convinced you that you represent war, while in truth, you are little more than a weapon." Der added as his knees bent, and he sunk deeper into the pool of blood. Every bit of the power that had made him able to fight against an aspect of existence on even ground focused his s.h.i.+eld and sword. "Do your worst."
"Suit yourself." War responded as tens of thousands of weapons behind him in unison.
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