Seeds of Discordia

A wave of Chaotic Nature suddenly fell upon him. It felt like a waterfall crashed down as the pressure of Eri’s Nature hit him before expanding outwards. Liam grit his teeth as he felt the pressure hit his mind. He didn’t know what to expect since last time the pressure had completely taken over his entire body and mind.

He could feel something starting to creep over his thoughts as a small part of his brain wanting to run rampant. To Liam, it felt like a primal instinct of wanting to cause chaos on to everything and everyone around him. He took in a deep breath and chanted the mantra he used to chant to himself when he couldn’t think straight in a whisper, “Calm the Storm.”

He was able to withstand it easily thanks to his efforts. He was able to recover quickly from the suddenness of it crashing down on him, but he could feel it was still there, just pushed back enough that it couldn’t distract him.

After feeling like the Chaotic Nature was starting to get under control, a notification suddenly appeared in front of Liam’s face.

[Level 2 Gifts of Chaos has been accepted. Please wait to receive your gifts from your Matron Deity.]

Liam stared at the notification. He didn’t think there would be some time for the gifts to be received. He just thought it would be instant. It didn’t take long for a couple of new notifications to appear. However, when he looked at them, his eyes opened wide as he saw what he was given.

[Level 2 Gift of Chaos received. New Field of Discord Focus Point – Discord Manipulation ability received. Discordant Bells of Cacophony.]

[Level 2 Gift of Chaos received. New Field of Magic has been rooted in the seed of Discord. New Field received: Field of Sin!]

[Attention! Field of Sin Focus Point – Pride ability Hubris Aura has been detected. Automatically rooting the Focus Point – Pride.]

What the fuck?! Liam thought. I thought that I couldn’t get the Pride Focus Point unlocked let alone the Field of Sin. How did I receive it as a gift? And it was unlocked in my Seed of Discord?

Liam shook his head. He knew this wasn’t the time to think about it. it was something he would need to ask Eri about later. He looked at the other gift he received. It was a new ability. One from his Discord Manipulation Focus point. He looked at the description.

[Discordant Bells of Cacophony – Ability to create a cacophony of several loud and jarring sounds of bells of different kinds to ring throughout a small group of target’s minds. The sounds are so loud and jarring it scrambles the brain, making it hard to focus and creates a 5% chance to create one of three Debuffs. Confusion, Fear, or Chaotic Meltdown. Increases the chances of Strife Inducement land if used on targets that have Bells of Cacophony activated on them. Ability Type – Chant. Target – Multiple 10 ft radius. MP Cost – 75. Cooldown – 30 seconds.]

Liam grinned. This was something he could use. He glanced at the Demon-kins who were standing there looking around. In fact, he was going to use it now before the Demon-kins started moving again.

Liam pulled his Shadow Moon Blades out and pointed one of the two at the group of Demon-kins. He focused on the spell and started chanting, “Can you hear the bells, Vibrating through you feeling like hell. Discord is near, filling your mind with Fear. Each sound grows loud, drowning all sound. Lose your brain in the play, as your sanity washes away. Get lost in the symphony, Discordant Bells of Cacophony!”

Calythtis, Fazil, and the other demons turned their focus on Liam as he started chanting. They readied themselves for whatever spell he was going to chant, but they couldn’t figure out the spell. They grew confused as they heard noises and sounds coming out of his mouth but couldn’t make out the meaning of them.

Calythtis looked at Fazil, who was already staring at her, and noticed the uncertainty in his eyes. Before she could say anything, Fazil turned back and shouted, “Attack him! Stop him from finishing the chant!”

The blue skinned four armed Demon-kin, the Oni, and the Imp broke the confused daze they were in and went to take a step, however, it was too late as Liam finished the chant.

From their perspective, they were walking forward as they took the first step. However, as a loud bell rang in their mind, they suddenly fell to their side. They hadn’t processed their new angle of vision as their legs were still moving as if they were walking forward. A second bell, different in volume and sound from the first one, joined in causing one of their arms to grow completely numb and limp. A third one joined in, this one caused their sight to flicker in and out. As more bells joined in, other random effects started to affect each of the five demon-kins.

Calythtis, Fazil, and the other three Demon-kins weren’t able to process what was going on. They could hear the sound of the bells, but their mind and bodies weren’t processing that they were hearing them. Not until the last bell joined in. It was a loud mind splitting noise that sent waves of pain rippling through their minds. As this one triggered pain, the others started to do the same. Their minds were finally able to hear the bells for what they were. A dangerous cacophony of noises that weren’t just chaotic in the way they played out, but also something that felt like it ignored the fact that they were higher in level.

Calythtis gripped the sides of her head, tears rolling down her face with each chime of the bells. She gritted her teeth and tried to push pass the pain, but each attempt ended in failure as more pain wracked her body. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but after some time the sounds of the bells had finally stopped with a single one echoing for a long moment before going completely silent.

She breathed heavily as she waited in case this was a trick and the bells were going to start once again. However, there didn’t come back. She noticed a Debuff notification had appeared next to her health, mana, and stamina bar. It was a strange one she had never seen before. the picture looked like a mass of bells. She tried to pull it up to see what it was, but the description that appeared was scrambled and not legible. This not only confused her, but also scared her.

A scream brought Calythtis’ attention to everything around her. She brought her head up to look around and saw the Oni had started to attack the four armed Demon-kin. The Oni had a feral look across his face as he attacked without abandon. His eyes didn’t have their irises like normal, instead the pupils were dilated so big they covered his entire eyes.

The screaming didn’t stop there as the imp dropped to his knees and started clawing at the side of his face. His claw-like nails scratching chunks of skin out with each swipe. Calythtis was thoroughly confused as to what was going on. She had no answers. She then heard a new noise.

Calythtis turned her head to see Liam was casting another spell. Once more she couldn’t understand the words he was saying. Each time she tried to focus on it a feeling welled up within her heart. She couldn’t recognize or understand what the feeling was, but she understood that if she kept trying to focus on what he was saying that foreign sensation would start to wash throughout her body, and she didn’t want that to happen.

Instead of focusing on the words she watched as he finished his chant and pointed at the blue skinned four armed Demon-kin. He let out a vicious roar of anger before punching the Oni and turning towards Fazil.

Fazil, who was yelling at them to stop acting like buffoons, noticed as both the Demon-kins raced towards him. A snarl formed on his face as he understood they were going to attack him. He pulled out two well-made reddish golden swords of different sizes. One was a regular sized sword while the other was a short sword. The regular sword had a red hilt with a golden design while the other had a golden impish looking skull where the blade and hilt met. The blade of the short sword waved out much like a Flamberge sword would.

Calythtis didn’t watch as she felt a spell sudden shoot towards her way. She dodged the attack and turned to see the Imp had started another chant. She cursed as she prepared to attack the Demon-kin back.

Liam stood atop the small building he was on. He was shocked, amazed, and happy with how things turned out. He didn’t know exactly how things would work after he used his Discordant Bells of Cacophony spell. He was puzzled as he watched each of them suddenly fall to their sides and looked like they were continuing to try to reach him.

It looked like a bug or a glitch one would find in a game where the player’s character would suddenly turn and continue to walk without issues, but instead of these Demon-kins still being able to move, they stayed in place. If that wasn’t confusing enough, he watched as random body parts had suddenly stopped working and these people continued to act like nothing was happening. That all had changed when they all started shouting at once.

Their sudden outbursts made Liam jump a bit, almost causing him to fall off the roof. After he determined why they had suddenly started screaming, he thought about jumping down and attacking them. his chance disappeared once they had stopped screaming and slowly started to get back up.

Instead of going with the plan to attack he decided to use his other Discord spell, Strife Inducement. His target was the Oni. He chanted the spell and after he finished it he waited. He waited and watched to see if it would work and if it did who he would attack.

He had chosen the Oni because he looked like he had received the Confusion Debuff. He wanted to see if the Confusion Debuff would cause the Oni to attack not him, but any of the others with Strife Inducement cast on him. To his surprise and glee, the Oni went straight for the blue skinned four armed Demon-kin.

His focus then turned on the Imp who had suddenly started shouting. Blood started running down the sides of his ugly head as the Imp dug his claw-like nails down. He had received the Chaotic Meltdown Debuff. As Liam watched him he thought about if he had looked that way when he was suffering the same Debuff. He decided to try and use Strife Inducement on him as well.

[Strife Inducement has failed. Spell cannot be used on a target that is suffering Debuff – Chaotic Meltdown.]

He frowned as he read the notification. He did find it interesting that it added in that last bit. He wasn’t sure why that was, but he had a theory that it was because the Imp already had his mind in a chaotic state that it would be pointless to create strife in him.

He looked back at the blue skinned four armed Demon-kin and decided to use Strife Inducement once more before drinking a Minor Mana Potion. After he chanted and cast the spell he pulled one out and drank it while watching the chaos happen below.

He watched the Golden Goblin like creature known as Fazil pull out two very interesting swords and attack the two larger Demon-kins. His skill in using the blades was astonishing. He easily deflected the attacks made at him while slicing and stabbing back. Calythtis’ magical fight against the Imp was impressive as well. She was able to slow down the Imp’s speech and create even more confusion in the poor Demon-kin’s mind as she tried to Charm him. He looked like he was at war with himself as he tried to chant another spell but stopped halfway through. He did this a few times receiving backlashes from each forced stop chanting. Calythtis didn’t give the man much time to think as she flew in fast and attacked.

The fight with Fazil and Calythtis against the three other Demon-kins didn’t take long. After the three Demon-kins died, Calythtis and Fazil turned their glares onto Liam. Liam stood, unfazed by their looks and stared back at them.

Calythtis’ lust for knowledge on the unknown started to grow inside her as she stared at Liam. Albeit, at the same time, deep within her discordant heart, she was starting to grow scared. Their plans that they had been working on for so long was starting to come to an end. However, now this Half-Beast-kin. No… This unknown person had shown up.

She had felt he was different on the first day she had met him, but she chalked it up as him just being a New Arrival. Most New Arrivals had an air about them that said they were different. However, after time passed they were just like everyone else. Liam though…he was showing that he wasn’t like the others she had encountered over time.

His sporadic behavior these past few days. His defiant attitude. His ability to disappear and slip out of the best trackers radar. These were the starting signs she decided to ignore as she tried to pursue him. Now…she regretted trying to use him in her plans. He had revealed he was a Gemini and a Champion of some Deity. One that granted him magic that none of them could understand, and cause all this…chaos.

That last thought caused a stir in her mind as she remembered something Liam had said. It was when he used his Zodiac Ability, Class Fusion. He had shouted the words Harbinger of Chaos. The Nature she had felt earlier, the effects of the spells he was using, the way he had almost caught up in levels and power to them…was that Chaos? Was his Deity one of Chaos? But that was impossible. There shouldn’t be any Deities out there that had that power. That power belonged to the…

“I don’t know what the hell you just did, but I will personally see to it that you die here,” Fazil growled, snapping Calythtis out of her thoughts.

“You can try, but I don’t think you two will be enough to handle me, “ Liam stated. He wasn’t sure how true that statement he made was because he wasn’t sure how much strength he had gained from releasing partial stats from the Seal that held his Secondary Class in place. He did feel an increase, but he wasn’t sure it was enough. Even though he was unsure, he didn’t want them to know that.

Fazil let out an evil chuckle. “Even if we’re not enough, we still have plenty of people inside that room over there. All we need to do is…”

A powerful shout washed out of the giant opening on the ground level. The shout was so powerful it shook the walls, and the very foundation of the building built into the mountain. Screams full of terror and fear followed shortly after that.

“What the hell?” Fazil swore as he turned his attention to the opening.

The opening vibrated once. Then a second time a few seconds after. Then again shortly after that. Soon the opening started to shake several times more. Liam listened and recognized them as something similar to footsteps. However instead of footsteps made from a regular foot, it had sounded like skittering legs.

Several Demon-kins suddenly ran out of the opening, terror etched across their faces. Liam was confused as to what was going on, but that confusion turned into an understanding as he felt the hairs on his body stand up.

Two more Demon-kins were running out of the opening. They had made it three steps away from the opening, but before they could take that next step a giant dark greenish black spider with the upper half of a human female scooped them up. Black hair floated behind her head as she moved out. her torso was long enough that she had four arms that came out from her sides. The bottom arms had hands with sharp claws for fingers while the top arms had regular hands. While most of her upper half had human like features, her face didn’t. Eight angry hate filled eyes ran down from her forehead towards a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.     

 The two disguised Demon-kins let out scream of terror as they were brought to the creatures head. The terrifying creature opened her mouth, chomped down on the necks and tore their heads from their bodies.

Liam stared at the creature and assessed it as he watched blood spray out from the massive wounds and run down the monster’s face before she threw them to the side.

[Toxo Brood Mother Queen. 10,590/10,590 HP. 3,522/3,522 MP. Level – 29.]