WATCH OUT! There are crabs at the end of the chapter...!!!
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Chapter 107: Resplendent Guardian Sword
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First he was student.
Then he was the son of the most influential couple of the century.
After that, he was the son of the hated couple that was dubbed as to have brought forth the age of mind-manipulating technology.
Shortly then, he was a big brother who should have lived his days taking care of his baby brother, giving him advices on how to grow up a strong man.
But then the accident came and they became orphans.
He then became a pawn on a chessboard of a game that's too large for him to fathom.
And not long after that... he became a gamer.
While he was so, he became the most famous player that has a connection to that game's Grand Quest, prompting the world to hunt him down to either steal or collaborate for this quest.
And now... he learned that this game wasn't just a game at its core and that there was a secret in this game that, despite him not actually recalling this secret's meaning and significance, could still send his mind reeling at the severity of it.
One word could explain this world's [secret] and it was this word alone that has both become an unfathomably confusing prospective idea, as it is a frighteningly massive notion in both its fundamental and literal meaning that challenges his view of life.
That one word is:
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Immortality
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The secret that Janus kept from being discovered by the world outside this world, and the very core secret that served the very purpose of the how and the why of the creation of this world... this one word that suddenly erupted on Siva's mind...
.....was just too shocking of an epiphany.
And yet, with the fragments of the memories he was able to digest so far, that notion itself has just been the largest element that gave him the pressure he was feeling right now.
Suddenly, like an explosion of emotion in his chest, he recalled that 'feeling' he got earlier when he looked at the Southeastern direction of the horizon.
And then, like a bolt of lightning, he felt that that one word that came from his mouth earlier is the most significant word that could spell failure and disappointment of the purpose of why Janus had sacrificed his life.
"The secret is in Chronos!" Siva understood. "I have to protect that secret... it was what I have been holding on so far and it was all that I've been keeping safe all this time..."
For some reason, clearer memories of what had happened 56 years ago came crashing into his mind and these memories brought forth tears on his eyes that couldn't stop running.
Seeing his tears, Sefirah felt that her mood has been ruined and she backed off to sit on top of him with a deep frown of disgust on her face.
"What this?!" She couldn't believe it. "You, a God, an almighty existence crying like a baby?"
Sefirah, of course, was not aware that inside the shell that is called 'Siva' is the real person that came from [the world outside this world].
Perhaps it was deliberately made so or it was a product of circumstantial possibility, but it may only Mefisto who is aware of what lay beyond the other side of this world.
To Siva's circumstances, unknowingly, it was a good thing that only a few NPCs are aware of it.
But more than this fact, another thought had just struck Siva just now that made him cry; it was the fact that... this world's NPCs are indeed living a life like an alternate universe.
Very few people may have accepted this fact, but to him, it meant differently...
...he knew it BEFORE forgetting everything and only recalling it now.
Terra, Lunette, Neth, everyone on that war, 56 years ago, were all living people. The memories that they shared before the war even totally broke out that time... were all real memories and of them all, he was the only one alive now.
And yet, he forgot...
"This world... is real. Mother Terra... is real..."
Despite not clearly and fully accepting all these memories, these emotions told him that they were all imprinted on his heart of hearts permanently.
He sobbed, although he didn't know why. His sobs were deep and summoned further and even deeper disgust on Sefirah.
She stood up and even pulled her blade, as she lost all notions to continue torturing his emotions and his mental stability.
Her wings furling and vanishing on her back as if it was an illusion, she stepped back and gained an immediate 30m distance from the lying Siva.
"Gurgh..." the pain of such action made Siva groan but he only let the blood ooze on his shoulder as he stretched his hand to his lips, and with a flash, pulled out three bottles of Red Potions.
"I can't believe this." She stomped the ground and then pointed the tip of her long sword at him. "An invincible existence such as you, dreaded by the entire LAGRAM Armada, crying like that... how... how ridiculously disgusting! You made my mood so fucking ruined, you know?! Filthy... disgusting piece of disappointment for a God! Not even one of those Chaos Gods inside the Cage cried like that despite the amount of tortures they received as we slowly consumed them throughout the eons and yet you did... with just that small wound a few words... shit. You fucking ruined my mood!"
Siva didn't listen to her ranting and only consumed the Red Potions, not minding the fact that just one potion would have sufficed to accelerate his natural healing.
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«Chalice of The Blood Dragon God»
Rarity: S
Materials: Mithras Shard, Manna Stone, Fire Stone
Manufacturer: Unknown
Status: Active (PASSIVE)
Item Description:
The sacrificial chalice from the Blood Dragon God, used for his resurrection. Whoever's bound by the Blood Medallion's curse, will forever serve the purpose of guarding this chalice with the blood of the sacrifices from noble warriors fallen in combat, until the day of The Blood Dragon God's resurrection.
With the defeat of the last keeper of the chalice, the new champion shall inherit the curse and keep the Blood Dragon God's resurrection at bay.
Set: 1/3
Grants:
Malevolent Aura (ACTIVE)
Vitality +20
Stamina +20
Inventory +20 slots
Weigh Limit (we) +50
+50% chance to parry attacks from blind spots (+20% more if you have a shield) every ten seconds.
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«Malevolent Aura»
The spirit of the dead gathers around you, vengeance swirling, their anger is affecting the air that surrounds the body, turning it black. This version is a part of the curse of the keeper of the Chalice.
Only The Keeper who completes the task of collecting the cursed set will be able to manually use Malevolent Aura.
Effects:
Blood Warrior
--Stamina +100%
--Unable to use magic
--Unable to naturally generate Mana
World's Antagonist:
---Every noble in every country will recognize you as a demon and will issue an immediate execution upon the sight of the cursed form.
---Knight Orders and Guardian Forces will immediately issue an execution command upon first sight of the Keeper's cursed state. (This effect lasts as long as the Malevolent Aura is active)
Pose of the King (Rank "D")
--2 seconds paralysis on activation of the curse [Locked]
Grants:
*Blood Verse (ACTIVE) [Locked] [EXP: 1/1000]
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The Chalice gave him +20 Vitality and this helped in his natural healing. Red Potions accelerates the procedure and within 10-20 seconds, he will be healing his health by then.
Also, the reason why he could last long in a fight despite his stats merely on the average 100 points is because his stamina is doubled at his current state.
Thus, he can use the flight armor during his fights with almost no worries.
Siva can't generate Mana by meditation thus, he can't use magic... MODs included.
But it didn't mean that he was unable to extract Mana since Black Tech is connected to him via his physical [body] where Mana is stored and since he can't meditate to recover Mana; he can only use Blue Potions to replenish his used Mana.
Thus, he has stocked on a mountain of potions on his inventory.
Right now, he was recovering his health and not minding Sefirah one bit.
Although he was still crying and wallowing in the emotions brought by the surge of the impression of nostalgia of recalling 'them', he had never once taken a single moment to off beat his battle intent.
In fact, now that Sefirah had given him a leeway because of her pride on her battle capability, he used the first moment she took her distance from him and recovered his health.
After the seconds were up and Sefirah still in the midst of her cursing, Siva sat up and picked up the staff not too far away from him, and then just sat there and looked at Sefirah while wiping his face.
"Get up! Fight me!" she cried. "I won't kill you but I will make sure you're going to curse the fact that you're dead! Come on! Stand! Damn it... I'm going to torture you!"
Even as she cried like a child who lost on a game and came back the next day to issue a challenge to the winner, the imposingness and presence of her stance and her sword never waned even by just a bit.
Despite the awkward length of her long sword and the weight the blade had as it was horizontally held by her, there were neither a sign of the blade trembling nor was it declining in angle as she held it steadily in that manner for many seconds.
Siva felt this and he took his time standing and summoning his reapers in front of him.
He gazed at the distance, the explosion that the fight between Akhenaton and Gyoolu was still on its heated peak and although it seems that many minutes had gone from the time he made Thorn and The Company prepare the warship cannons to strike at the Colossi, and his and Sefirah's confusing conversations, in fact, it has only been ten minutes.
"I need to buy more time."
Having thought of this, he took his time on all that he did.
Siva understood, as dictated by his new found 'memories' that Sefirah delighted on proving her might and beauty is above everything else.
But, with the people of the world having witnessed the splendor that is Scion, if Sefirah were to see her, there was no denying the rage and enmity that would instantly ignite by then. But aside from that, there was also no denying that she was a wonderful swordswoman...
The [avatar] she chose this time was of also a swordswoman and so their compatibility was no denying as well.
In fact, it would only further boost her pride on herself.
Siva, now fully trusting his 'memories' embraced the meaning of the words he was saying:
"In this world, there are two things that you will be second of."
As he spoke, there was a flash of light and while he held the Whale Whisker on his left hand, a golden scepter appeared on his right hand.
Naiki's Scepter of Divinity!
Originally, this is supposed to be a mace-like weapon but its regal frame and fragilely jewel-packed design serves better use as a Wizard's or a Mage's accessory than a weapon in itself.
Of its two abilities (Attention and Channel), the «Channel» ability can be used to "store" and channel a magical spell directly without trouble.
It should be noted that there are no 1 Talisman = 1 spell in Terroa; all magical spells are effect phenomena; a result of chaining one Talisman's cast effect after another.
A player can only cast one [magic spell] as a whole at the same time.
As such, when this item was pulled up, Sefirah's eyes narrowed almost instantly.
"So you have one of Naiki's Legacy Items with you... but, so what? I can't feel her presence with that item so it's either you have not unlocked its secrets, or that item is a fake and has long lost its essence along with her passing by your hands... and even if you have Donar's Godhammer, it won't change any of the result. Hehe. I will make sure that at least one of your limb are separated on your body before I let you go."
Of course, Siva can't use magic but there's no way Sefirah knows about that.
But even if she knows about it, her weakness is her pride in her swordsmanship.
She's a melee.
As such, Siva's choice was to exploit this weakness a best as he could; utilize all of his advantages and crush his foe with overwhelming might.
Besides, there was something, or someone, that's been screaming inside his head and resonating in his heart right now... yelling over and over to kill this bitch and seal a long-standing grudge that had spanned countless eons and generations.
"Haaah..." Siva let out a long held breath, calming his spirit, taming the surging emotions in his heart.
Just now, he had been awakened and despite the unfamiliarity of these new sets of memories in his mind, he was sure that the emotions these memories entailed earlier were all true.
Terra...
Lunette...
Etheron (Neth)...
Cara...
Everyone that he met back then before the war for Terroa broke out, 56 years ago...
They were all... real people. Their emotions were all real and not just a product of a Personality Algorithm conducted by a dedicated AI System to virtualize their 'personas' to suit the situation...
No.
To Siva, they were all real people. There was a part of that war that resonated with his emotions and the 'impression' of these emotions was all but screaming loudly in his heart.
"For Samantha."
Stomping the staff to the ground, the berserker-reaper positioned himself in the vanguard while the gunner-reaper stood in front of Siva.
The sword-reaper, the blue-bladed sword in its left hand in a reverse grip, stood behind the berserker-reaper while the cannon-reaper disappeared out of existence.
His single sentence about a name contained all of the emotional 'impressions' he had in his heart regarding the girl named Samantha.
This single sentence alone made the smile on the face of Sefirah vanish in an instant.
WHOOSH!
Like a strong gust of wind, it was only just now that Sefirah felt the frightening effect of Siva's [Killing Zone].
Earlier, she was too preoccupied by her glee and delight that she never paid attention to it but now that they were about to exchange blows... Sefirah had suddenly become aware of it.
"What is this?! Why am I feeling that there's an invisible pressure seeming to strip away a very large and significant amount of my defenses?!"
Sefirah was shaken. Accompanied by the illusory sound of thunder, although she doesn't have the players' [warning pop up window] feature as an NPC, they still have a unique way of determining what effects certain abilities have and possess.
Of course, how would she know that the 'Siva' that she knew weren't the same [Siva] that fought the LAGRAM Armada 56 years ago?
Despite her claiming that she had lived all this time inside the Cage before being given the chance to materialize on an avatar again today, it should be noted that the [Cage] is a separated existence from this universe.
As such, those inside, Sefirah and the other four former LAGRAM Generals specifically, weren't aware of the changes that had happened in this world... especially the coming of those so called [Immortals] —the players of Terroa.
These players unlike them NPCs, as long as they have the "Insurance System" sticking on their user avatars, they wouldn't actually die and get a total and complete Game Over after a tragic defeat.
At most, they can't log-in for 24hrs before being given the opportunity to either [create a new character] or [revive the slain character] and continue their careers, albeit the loss of whatever items they lost after their defeat.
In regards to this, this Siva's existence is a unique existence in this world indeed.
Aside from being the Third Member of the Trinity, he was also a player and a new resident of this alternate world.
Thus, Sefirah wouldn't have an idea of it since she had just "appeared" herself just now.
"Even if I can't defeat you today, I'll make sure you will leave a part of your body here."
"Bold words for a defeated!" Sefirah's retort was full of wrathful anger. "I'm no longer the same one you fought against 56 years ago. I will show you what changed in me..."
With that said, the sword in her hand began to make a bluish-yellow glow.
If Karim could see this, he would feel a sense of familiarity with it because it was this same glow of the sword that felled him in combat.
The only difference it has now is that this one form of Sefirah was many times more frightening in terms of presence and aura than how Hilda had displayed it.
A smug beam curved on her lips, "Siva, be glad to see this gift that the First Born had bestowed on me... the body where I am now was called Hilda and in her memories was the sword art legacy of the immortal that Gyoolu had taken. Let me show you its full might when used by a real sword master..."
Having spoken up this point, she pulled the sword on her eye level and lowered her body on a charging-stance with the right hand serving like a crosshair.
"Resplendent Guardian Sword. First Stance, First Form...
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"Heavenly Piercing Thrust!"
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A clash against an old enemy... will things play out as the LAGRAM had wanted it to be?
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Next Chapter: Volume 5's finale chapter. (It's a whopping FULL LENGTH 5000+ words chapter + Author's Note(s) so you're welcome!!!)
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——> Crab walk as peace offering.
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