"Thank you for coming on such short notice, Mr. Magnasen," the lead analyst said as Eik entered the large room. The other analysts around the space nodded politely. "As you may have heard, we suspect we have located yet another world that has been overrun by that foul miasma."
"Yes, do you have the fracture ready for ?" Eik asked without wasting any ti. He didn't even bother to remove his coat.
"It is ready to go the mont you are ready to depart, Mr. Magnasen," the lead analyst told him, directing him deeper into the room to the platform made for the opening of a fracture with a gesture. "Shall I give the order to get it all started?"
Now that it had beco clear that the complete blocking of any communication and monitoring of the worlds were caused by a build-up of miasma, and that the simplest and quickest redy to it was to send Eik in there and destroy everything, the lead analyst had no argunts. He was just happy that they had a tried and tested thod of resolving an otherwise severe issue.
"Just tell them to be ready for now," Eik said with a wave of his hand. "I'm waiting for a friend."
"Pardon?" the man asked, unable to grasp what Eik Magnasen was talking about. "Your friend? I'm sure they will get here in ti to greet you when you co back ho, no?"
"Ah, no, sorry. You've misunderstood . He's coming with ."
"Uuh, why? Aren't you already more than strong enough to take care of it quickly? Is Gul Ougi or Andihar Dayarunar? Are you training disciples again?"
"No, it's Chop the Blade."
"Chop the Bl— What? Why?"
Eik shrugged. "We have a date afterward."
"A date?" The analyst couldn't possibly have been any more confused than he was.
"The world will be devastated anyway, right? Might as well make use of it. We're just going to fight a little."
"I… Yes, okay, I suppose it's fine. But please be careful, Mr. Magnasen. We need you to be in good shape."
"I know," Eik said and patted the man on the shoulder. "I haven't been an X-ranker for long, so I actually need this to get to know my own limits and potential better. It's not like sparring becos useless at high ranks. It just becos more difficult to find soone to do it with. I'm lucky to have another X-ranker at hand."
"I understand. We'll wait for him."
"Nah, I can hear him coming now. Right… there." Right on cue, Chop walked through the door, munching on a glazed donut. He raised a hand when he spotted Eik.
"There you are, boy! Perfect timing, too! I feel like I've been waiting for years!"
Eik grinned. "Yeah, tell about it. I was beginning to think that shitty Lord of the Moon was never going to get his ass in gear and find us a place to destroy."
The other people in the room were side-eyeing the two monsters as they casual spoke of the ruination of an entire world as if they were discussing a simple ga of chess on a day off. They pretended not to hear anything.
"So, are we ready to go?" Chop asked.
"Actually, not just yet. I've got sothing for you if you're interested," Eik said and looked around until he spotted the sa fracture specialist who had transported him to the three other worlds previously. "Sorry, but I think I was a little hasty. If you'll just wait a little longer, that would be great. Sorry, everyone. Here's so compensation." Pastries and chocolate milk were handed out to everybody present by three of Eik's Living Manifestations.
"Mr. Magnasen, I really don't think there's any ti to waste," the lead analyst chid in. "With every second that passes, we risk unforeseen developnt on the affected world."
"This will be over and done with before you know it, I promise. Chop? You interested?"
"What've you got for , boy?" the old geezer asked absentmindedly before abruptly snapping to attention as a thought struck him. "Wait! Don't tell … Did you manage to synthesize a grade 7 potion? Oh, heavens, thank you! I've been waiting for this day for hundreds and hundreds of yea—"
"No."
Chop hesitated for a mont. "What?"
"I said no. It's not a potion. I haven't had ti to look into that enough to figure it out yet, although I am working on it. It would be useful for both of us after all. No, what I am offering you today is rather different from a potion, but might just do sothing similar for you."
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
"Sothing similar."
"Now, Chop, before we proceed, there's sothing I should tell you right out of the gate."
"What?"
"This is not just any little thing. It's not sothing I'm willing to offer just anybody."
Chop was getting excited now. At this point he had beco well aware of just how many little things Eik had hidden up his sleeve. If he was hyping sothing up this much, it could only be sothing good. "What? What is it?"
With a hand solemnly placed over his heart, Eik spoke softly but clearly. "Mr. the Blade, will you do the honor…" he said and paused for extra drama. "of becoming my bitch?"
For a few breaths, everybody in there room was frozen. Not a single person in the entire place had been able to focus on work while such an interested conversation had been taking place, so nobody missed the punchline.
"What did you just say, you little shit?" Chop asked.
Eik frowned. "I didn't say anything."
"Yeah, you did. You just told to beco your bitch."
"No, I didn't."
"Yes, you did."
"I think I would know if I had told you to beco my bitch."
"Okay, then what did you say?"
"I asked you to beco my… uuh, serv— valued companion!"
"Hah! See?" Chop barked, stabbing a finger in Eik's direction. "You didn't even have anything else prepared, fucker!"
"Nuh uh, I totally did! Right, dude?" Eik insisted, turning to the lead analyst for an opinion. "I did!"
The man lifted his hands with a shake of his head. "I support whatever side can lead this farce to a swift conclusion."
"Okay, that's ;" Eik hurried to say and lunged for Chop. Feeling no killing intent, the old blade master didn't deign to avoid it.
Eik's palm struck him square in the solar plexus and sent waves of blue skittering across the skin that was gradually absorbed into his body. Chop let out a barely audible groan as his knees almost gave out under his weight.
For obvious reasons, Eik hadn't experienced the Toxic Initiation himself, but both Gul and Ganyak hir Gawak had told him that the sensation of taking in an Ak'ki that wasn't one's own was so utterly foreign and shocking that it more or less overwheld the nervous system for a brief mont. It had nothing to do with strength at all. But one couldn't really be prepared for a feeling if it had never been felt before.
As a matter of fact, if anything, it would be even more unsettling the more used to one's own aura one was. A man like Chop, whose life for the past few hundred years had been centered entirely around that, must have felt unimaginable discomfort.
Given that, it was impressive that he barely showed signs of it.
With a couple of deep breaths, the old geezer shook it off completely and looked at his arm to look once the glowing letters began to etch themselves into his skin.
[Initiated into the Court of the Supre Divinity of Toxin — Accept?]
With a frown, Chop looked up at Eik. "What's this?"
Eik smiled. "An invitation to beco a part of my entourage, I suppose. It's the sa that I've done for Andihar, Gul, and Ganyak hir Gawak, the guild master of the Alchemist Guild of Gimleh. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but it's gotten pretty good reviews. Four point six stars, in fact."
"Four point six stars? Why not five? What dragged it down?"
"That's Gul's fault, the wrinkly bastard. Didn't like the na of his first ability. Stinky Taint or sothing along those lines. If you ask , he should just have shut up and been happy that he even got anything. My kids are his great grand kids. Nepotism is what it's called!"
"Eik, you must realize that I don't really care," Chop snorted. "What's this going to do for ?"
"Well, first and foremost, it will bring the two of us closer in both body and soul."
"You're kidding…"
"Yeah, it's mainly in soul. Sorry, buddy. I know how much you wanted the whole package."
"I'm about to go ho."
Eik laughed. "Sorry, sorry. Well, it's basically going to grant you a bit of the power of my Worldbreaker, and if we are to extrapolate a bit from the cases of the three who have gone before you, it will be sothing that is closely related to your current skill set or possibly an extension of one of your existing abilities."
"All right, all right," Chop said, nodding away as his eyes shifted back to his arm as he reread the ssage. "Not bad, not bad. Are there any downsides?"
"Not that we have observed. The "subordination" to ," Eik said, doing air quotes. "seems to be in title only. It's not like I can give orders willy-nilly and force you to obey."
"Why does that make think that's exactly what you can do?" Chop wondered out loud with narrowed eyes.
"I swear I can't! But there is sothing that I think would make you jump at the opportunity regardless."
"And what might that be?"
"Levels."
"Levels?"
"Levels. Isn't that what you have been missing all these years? When did you last get a new skill?"
Chop thought it over for a few seconds. "Two hundred years? Maybe two hundred and thirty years ago."
"Andihar already got two new skills from his contract with ," Eik said with a raised finger. "Two new skills he gets to level from Level 1. And then h—"
Chop stopped listening and accepted the title change without even a second more of hesitation.
[Successfully initiated into the Court of the Supre Divinity of Toxin. Altering X-rank title]
[Reached Pristine Blade Saint of the Supre Divinity of Toxin — XXVII]
[Acquired Pristine Blade of Toxin — Lv. 1]
"Oh… Level… one…" Chop mumbled as he stared at the script on his arm, open-mouthed. Suddenly raising his voice, his head snapped up. "Where's the damned fracture? I have things to test!"
The fracture specialist didn't seem to realize that the words were directed at him and continued to gawk dumbly.
"Fracture!" Chop roared, forcing Eik to suppress his aura as it ran wild with excitent.
Swallowing a yelp of alarm, the high-ranked mage ran so quickly to the platform in the bottom of the room that he nearly stumbled over his own feet. Within thirty seconds, the fracture humd to life in the center.
"Out of my way, you rascals!" the Pristine Blade Saint yelled as he dove through the fracture head first.
Grinning, Eik strolled after him. "Sorry about that, guys. The old geezer hasn't gotten any in a few hundred years, if you know what I an."
"Right…" the lead analyst muttered.
"Levels. I ant he hadn't gotten any Levels in a long ti."
"No, yeah, we understood."
"Oh, okay…" Eik said. "Well, see ya."
Reviews
All reviews (0)