Wreath of Lilies, Cauldron of Poison

Chapter 182

Man Planneth, and Heavens Disposeth

Anukara wanted her children stopped, and Connie wanted to fight against the Heavens. While in her old world, she could not reach the necessary Cultivation to do the deed. In Grea, some things that was impossible then, could become possible now. Perhaps once she found the crown, she could take a glimpse into its secrets.

Perhaps this is not a bad trade after all.

“A further reward can be discussed. Once you find it,” Anukara added. It could be seen that she was that desperate.

“You want me to find your Crown. Fine. Then do you know where it is?”

“Though my connection to the Crown had weakened considerably, I can feel its existence, hidden deep under Grea. Under a sea of sand.”

“...Al-Khemiya?” Connie spoke the only Kingdom she knew that consisted mostly of sand. It was by far the largest country on Grea. Easily three times the size of the whole of Calendia. And more than half of it was a desert.

“That’s a tall order. It could take years!”

“Unfortunately, you might not have years,” Anukara commented. “The ripples of my action when plucking your soul from the Great Cycle would not go unnoticed by my children. Sooner or later, they will know of you. And they will not tolerate anything that might disturb the stability of their rule.”

“…that does not sound good,” Connie replied as she knew what they had done do to their own mother.

“And although they cannot go after you themselves, they can send their servants after you. I will try to lead them on and afford you some time. During that time, you need to find it,” the Goddess advised her.

“But how am I going to find - ?” Connie suddenly noticed that the hand that she was using to hold the cup of tea began to shimmer. “What is happening?”

“It seems that our time together needs to end. Your soul is being pulled back into your own body,” Anukara said.

The Dark-Mother rose from her seat and stated. “Come, I will guide your soul back to your body. If we wait too long, you will be reborn, but not in the same body.”

“Before you go,” Tian Gu placed one hand over Connie’s head and performed Memory Bestowal onto her. Once she saw the content, she looked over at him with surprise. “This is…how to control a Dungeon Core?”

“You cannot become stronger the normal way. Not anymore. That knowledge will be of help to you,” the old man smirked. “Let it not be said that the Heavenly Poison King does not have ways to coax forbidden knowledge from a conversation with a Goddess,” Tian Gu placed his hands on both of her shoulders. “Now go. Your battlefield is down there. Mine is up here.”

“…I’ll see you later,” Connie replied. She turned around and took the hand that the Dark-Mother offered her. The moment they touched. Connie’s body turned into a shimmering light which flew past the false sky above.

Anukara, who had been steady and confident until now, staggered out of exhaustion. Tian Gu was quick enough to catch her before she fell. The old man noticed that the stars in her eyes dimmed briefly.

“Performing miracles continuously is taking a toll on you. Will you be able to survive until we find your Crown?”

“Although my power was not as resplendent as my former self, I could still gather enough power to perform a few miracles,” Anukara confessed. She quickly regained her bearing as befitting a Queen of her own realm. “After all, no matter who the mortals believe in, they will pray in my name…at least once at the end of their lives.”

“…you need to take care of yourself, for both of our sakes,” The old man poured himself another cup of bitter tea.

“Do not worry. As we have agreed upon, I will hide what you are doing from the eyes of the others,” Anukara said. “But I cannot do this forever. Eventually you will be found out.”

“Eventually,” the man answered noncommittally. “You need only keep your side of the bargain. As for me and my other self, we will keep ours.”

“Very well, Tian Gu,” the Dark-Mother nodded. “I will take my leave now. Blessings be upon you.”

Without waiting for an answer, she vanished into the darkness of her robe, folding onto herself in a most unpleasant way.

Tian Gu sipped his bitter tea while sighing, his eyes looking up. If one could gaze past the false sky that enveloped Tian Gu’s domain, one would see a myriad of mystical objects that floated around something large. The surface of which looked like silk.

The old man’s eyes narrowed. The plan was going well. He just had to make sure it kept going that way. Then he poured the bitter tea onto the ground. A cold smile upon his lips.

“Everything, for the sake of Devouring the Heavens.”

It was a very early morning in Grea. The Hero of Calendia and his party members were sleeping soundly inside the dark cave, too exhausted to be bothered by the sound of the howling wind outside.

Only one man was awake at that time. Sabrac, who had slept very little ever since he had reached his current level. He tended the fire in silence, his idle left hand caressing a string of prayer beads made of rosewood.

Suddenly, his concentration was broken and his eyes widened in disbelief.

“WAKE UP!!” he bellowed.

“W-what is it? Is it morning already?!”

“Put on your gear and meet me outside!” the old man said before stepping out without elaborating any further.

The awakened warriors quickly did as he said, as they saw that he had taken his weapon outside with him.

Once they were outside, they saw that the man that the man was cutting down a swarm of monsters. But unlike yesterday, they could see that the monsters were stronger than yesterday.

“Plan’s changed, people!” The old man said as he walked towards the stairs. “The two of you, today, you’re going to get to the top or die trying. The rest of you. Stop them from getting up there, at any cost!”

Nervously, everyone took up their weapons. But they did not have time to think as monsters had already begun gathering at their positions once more.

“But you said we had five days!” Akira complained as they ran up to the steps.

“Shit happens in the real world, boy. Man planneth, and Heavens disposeth,” Sabrac barked.

“We aren’t ready,” Martell said. “You saw how badly we did yesterday!”

Sabrac climbed the stairs, turned around, and spoke. “Can you feel it? The Catastrophe Authority is growing stronger as we speak. I no longer have time to wait for help. And neither do you!”

After that, he continued climbing to the top. “I will go into the shrine. Don’t keep me waiting.”

The two of them were then left alone. Martell took a deep breath and started walking up. A few steps later, he could hear footsteps behind him. A sign that Akira had also started to follow.

The boy walked until the last place where he stopped before, planting one foot after the other. Each step harder than before. He began reciting Sutra under his breath to cope with the effect of the Catastrophe Authority.

“Ugh…!” Martell groaned, as his heart started to shake.

“ARGH!!” Behind him, the Hero had fallen. He could barely stay conscious. His eyes bloodshot.

“Stay, Hero,” the boy said. “This is where you stop. Already I can see your heart breaking. Most men would have fallen by now.”

“Then why did you not fall?!” Akira jabbed at Martell’s direction. “Why are you still fine?!”

“Fine?” Martell seethed. “It took most of my power just to keep moving! Just because I don’t show it doesn’t mean I am well!”

Because of his unique Cultivation, the Divine power within him was protecting him. However, it also agitated the curse that laid claim to his soul.

“You want to be a Hero, Sakagami Akira? Then hear this! Hear this and fucking think!!”

Martell had been trying to control himself, but the current condition had finally blown his top off. “Don’t fucking blame others for feeling inferior to them! You haven’t bled enough! Suffered enough! You miserable excuse of a man! This is nothing compared to fighting the Demon King!” Martell shouted angrily, teeth stifling from holding back the pain in his chest. “You have to know pain! Know fear! And fight it!”

“Someone in your position can’t do just enough! You have to do better! You either man up and start walking or keep feeling sorry for yourself and stay down here! But don’t you fucking call yourself a Hero anymore!!” Martell spat out his distaste. After that, he felt his heart settling and started to walk up once more, ignoring the flabbergasted Hero where he was.

Once Martell reached the top, he felt relief. But only a little bit, as whatever he had to face after this, he knew that it will be worse than the climb.

The place was barren, save for the occasional rocks that rose from the snow. The only thing worth of note was the shrine before him. The design was foreign to his eyes. It had eight sides and was only as big as a shed. Its roof was pointed with a broken statue at the top. As he went inside, he saw a set of stairs that let downwards.

He followed it down. And when he reached the bottom, he saw the cliff-like back of Sabrac.

“I believed that you can make it,” Sabrac said as he glanced at Martell.

“Is that the Fragment of Calamity?” the boy asked.

The chamber under the shrine was much larger than it seemed. He saw seven raised platform with five figures at the top of five of them. While the first to the left and third to the right of them had crumbled into dust, leaving only dusty clothes.

The figures had sunken eyes, blackened skin, and looked as if they were dead bodies left in a bog.

They were sitting in Lotus position with both arms raised towards something that was encaged in a complex mix of metal barrier and charms. One look at the thing contained within and already Martell could feel repulsion towards it. What was inside was something that should not exist. He tried to see how it looked like, but it was like seeing something through crossed eyes.

“Don’t look at it too long, your eyes cannot discern its form. It’ll give you a might headache.”

“I…I see. And who are they?”

“These are the Elders of the Rokudo Temple. They are currently in a state between life and death, trying to purify the Fragment of Calamity,” he said. “Dammit! I thought that they could hold for a bit longer. Elder Byaku and Tsuru had departed too soon.”

“What are we going to do now?”

“My plan was for you to take over Tsuru’s place and I will enforce you from behind, allowing the Divinity to go through the last step of the purification. But Elder Byaku’s fall had fucked things up.”

“You will take the place of Elder Byaku to the left. I will take the place of Elder Tsuru,” Sabrac said as he gave Martell a wrinkled parchment. “Sit down and recite its content, the altar will do the rest. But prepare yourself, the Fragment of Calamity will not back down easily.”

Martell made his way to the platform and hesitated a bit when he saw what remained of Elder Byaku. Clearly his failure happened recently. Respectfully, though with slight goosebumps, he moved the dusty clothing to the side and sat in his place, mimicking the gesture Sabrac did.

Once he began to speak the ancient words, he felt the sensation as if his stomach was pulled and his Mana was being sucked.

The moment it did so, the charms and the cage glowed brighter.

“Yes!” Sabrac brightened up. “It’s working! Your Divinity is far stronger than I suspected! Keep doing what you are doing now! I’ll be directing the power to finally contain this curse laid upon us by the Calamity!”

Martell felt like he was not in control of his body. Even if he wanted to lower his arms, they refused to do so. He had started to get used to the unpleasant feeling but, something in his heart was wriggling unpleasantly, like a heartburn that made him feel nauseous.

The Fragment of Calamity suddenly stopped trying to struggle. Instead, it was starting to send its power in intervals.

“W-what’s happening?” Martell shouted his question.

Ba-dump

“Wait…”

Ba-dump.

Once.

Twice.

It was harmonizing.

It saw a gap.

A darkness that it could use.

Ba-dump.