“That took longer than expected,” David called out, his gaze flitting across the crimson world unfolding around him.

  To think you really care that much about her. He shook his head inwardly, wondering if Silvana was important to him personally or if it was her status as Prime Champion. Maybe it was a bit of both, mixed with her being a native of the Earthen Union.

  “How about you keep her alive?” A guttural and faintly familiar voice echoed through the crimson world.

  In the same instant, a figurine of blood formed a few meters before David. Blood gathered and condensed into a two-meter-tall humanoid with an overbearing presence.

  “The presence of your incarnation is stronger than last time,” David noted. He tried to access the Weave, but failed.

  This was the domain of the Ruler of Blood—an Old One—and no one had the authority to wield their powers there.

  “Or is it because I am stronger that I can sense the depth of your power?”

  Asmodeus didn’t respond right away. He regarded him through his shapeless head, which had neither eyes, mouth, nose, nor ears.

  “You can indeed sense a lot more than you used to,” the Ruler of Blood answered lightly. “The Host informed us about the incident with the Naughtrealm. Most of us didn’t even know Keros had been captured, and nobody could tell how long it had been since they last saw him. The End played us, and we didn’t even realize it until the Void Rift exposed itself.” He shook his head slowly. “Even more embarrassing is that it took a mortal to wield the End’s power, confirming Fallen Keros’ theory. After all that happened, he was right.”

  Asmodeus snapped his fingers, and the scenery changed. An image of the Earthen Union captured from space appeared between them. The globe rotated slowly while satellites, debris, and other rapidly moving objects circled it. Then… the Fissure. At first glance, it didn’t look much different from a Rift—a tear in space—but David could sense the disruption in the Weave even though the Fissure to the End was far away.

  “The End hasn’t made a big move yet. Not since Keros sacrificed himself, granting you a fully-nurtured Divine Seed.” Asmodeus sighed again; this time it felt like the weight of worlds pressed down on him. “No matter how hard you were working, you would never have created a fully-nurtured Divine Seed. Not without the help of a dozen Ascendants, or the System’s aid after surpassing the Diamond Rank. Even then, you would have required a perfect foundation, all three stats at their limit, and a Law of your own. And I am not talking about a Law you were loaned, like Blood, but one you could truly consider yours.”

  “Like the Law of Unbinding?” David asked, tilting his head slightly.

  Asmodeus’ form rippled for a moment and then froze. He didn’t speak for several seconds, then offered a light shrug.

  “The Law of Unbinding is an Ancient Law that has only been claimed three times since the beginning of time. However, many have gained access to it over the ages. You have yet to claim it—and you probably never will.”

  We will see about that, David thought, his eyes lingering on the figures moving around the Earthen Union and the Fissure. One particular creature, presumably a Beast God—a massive bear—charged toward the Earthen Union, only to be repelled by a semi-translucent barrier that appeared out of nowhere.

  Was that the Weave’s protection? If it was, David was grateful it was still intact. It didn’t seem particularly powerful, yet it was strong enough to block a Beast God, and that was enough.

  “You’re growing as fast as that fool of a swordsman, and you can wield a power that has never been wielded before. That is good, but it also opens up an entirely new set of questions. Will you betray the Origin, or will you fight with us against the End until the bitter… well, the end?”

  Zachariah had asked him a very similar question, and the answer hadn’t changed. However, it wasn’t like Asmodeus and the others would believe him no matter what he said. Even if they did trust his word, what did it matter?

  “I will kill those who come after me and those I love,” David answered instead of pulling some lie out of thin air. “Also, I don’t particularly like what Silvana is doing. Her actions paint a bad picture of the Earthen Union’s natives. Furthermore, she hurt a lot of my people a while back. She probably doesn’t remember it, but she made a mess in a place called Ashville. My partner and many of my trusted allies were harmed when I found them.”

  The last bit was worded ambiguously, but that hardly mattered. David doubted Asmodeus cared much about it.

  “I don’t care about your vengeance,” Asmodeus said, his voice harder than before. “If you want us to fight together against the End, you will have to keep Silvana alive. And no, you won’t imprison her or keep her confined to your sweet little territory either. She is to roam the Earthen Union freely, to do what I created her for.”

  “Is this about the bonds she can create? Your Path is a messy one, isn’t it?” David asked, but Asmodeus didn’t bother with a response. “But does it really matter to you? There is no way a few thousand bonds matter to an Old One. Sure, the Earthen Union is a little bit more important than other worlds, but are the bonds formed with beings of the Earthen Union really that important, or are you doing all of this to protect your ego?”

  He could perceive a change in Asmodeus’ presence more than see it. All friendliness vanished into thin air, yet Asmodeus neither shouted nor attacked David. He stood there, his presence bearing down on the young Ascendant.

  “You don’t understand anything,” Asmodeus sighed. “And I am in no mood to explain everything to you. Keep her alive if you want the Origin to prevail against the End. The death of a few million weaklings is more than acceptable if that is what it takes to ensure the survival of everyone else.”

  David wasn’t having it. He was tired of people—more often than not gods—trying to keep him ignorant. They barred him from the information he needed to take a proper look at the big picture for no reason.

  “Why should I keep her alive? She’s an annoying pest, and I don’t particularly like her attitude either. I asked her nicely, and she attacked me. She tried to kill me a few times.” David shook his head. “You wouldn’t allow those who tried to kill you to walk off unscathed either, yet you demand I let Silvana go after she tried to kill me?”

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  Asmodeus was silent for another second, only to say something David never expected.

  “If you don’t heed my word, I will take back the powers I gave you!”

  He wanted to take away the Law of Blood? Or was this more about everything Asmodeus had given David since the beginning of the integration? Regardless, the Old One’s threat was far from pleasant.

  Nobody said a word for a moment until David shook his head.

  “You can’t do that,” he said, letting out a hollow laugh. “Even if you could take back some of the powers you gave me, the only thing you could actually remove is the Law of Blood, and that would be fine.”

  It was a bluff, a risky one, but David was half-certain Asmodeus couldn’t do anything against him. The Old One could threaten him with death and torture; however, the influence he’d infused into David was not something he could retrieve. Not anymore, at least.

  The crimson world—or was Realm a more suitable term for Asmodeus’ little home?—flickered, and a trace of foreign Might flowed toward Asmodeus.

  He let out a deep sigh and waved dismissively, dispelling the foreign Might.

  “How about a reward then?”

  That was a weird turn of events, and it was certainly not something David expected from the Ruler of Blood. Killing Silvana would probably make everyone a lot happier, but the reward of an Old One sounded even better.

  “A reward?” David asked, nearly licking his lips in anticipation. “If it’s valuable enough, I might reconsider not killing her.”

  Asmodeus let out a low growl, though it felt oddly fabricated, like it wasn’t real. “You are to leave her alone. She will leave the Fallen Sanctuary, and neither you nor your people will pursue her—ever!”

  David raised an eyebrow at that. The more Asmodeus talked about Silvana, the more confusing their relationship became. Most Ascendants and gods cared about their Champions, but the Ruler of Blood’s care was on another level.

  “I won’t kill her. Furthermore, as long as she doesn’t attack me or my people, I won’t hunt her down. Once she leaves the Fallen Sanctuary, I will ignore her existence—except if she does something extremely stupid.” David agreed, his eyes narrowing to tiny slits as he added, “In exchange—”

  “In exchange,” Asmodeus cleared his throat, “you will be given the Primordial Fountain Serum. You have probably never heard of it, but the serum is a mythical concoction that can only be produced once every Golden Starstream. Its materials are from another plane of existence that would kill any mortal the moment they dared to step into it. Even Ascendants won’t be able to survive long in the Chaotic Plane.”

  David didn’t know what most of Asmodeus’ words meant, but he nodded. The serum sounded impressive enough, and it wasn’t as if he’d gain something special from killing Silvana either. Other than Asmodeus’ wrath, of course.

  A toothy smile manifested on Asmodeus’ featureless face, and the crimson realm fizzled out. As suddenly as he had emerged in Asmodeus’ abode, he was back in the Fallen Sanctuary, towering before Silvana. She stared at him wide-eyed, the remnants of wrath and fury replaced by reverence and fear.

  “You should sleep for a bit,” David said, and his hand lashed out a moment later. A wet snap resounded as the side of his hand connected with Silvana’s neck, and she collapsed to the ground.

  His head flicked to the sky, and he grinned. “I never said I wasn’t going to hurt her. One way or another, I’m not hunting her down, nor am I going to kill her. She’s just unconscious, and I’ll make sure she doesn’t wake up until you fulfill your end of the bargain, Asmodeus!”

  He was sure the Old One heard him—not because of Asmodeus’ connection with Silvana, but because of the movement in the Weave.

  “Okay, I won’t hurt her again. She can leave unharmed once she comes back to her senses.” David waved dismissively, and the space before him distorted. The Weave intertwined with the disruption of space, forming a World Gate with some effort.

  It was not the first time David saw a World Gate in the Earthen Union, but it was a curiosity nonetheless. Several months ago, otherworldly creatures wouldn’t have had the power needed to form a World Gate in the Earthen Union. Their power would have been restricted by the Weave. But that was no longer the case, which made sense in a way.

  The seals of the Weave were no longer as powerful as they used to be. They had grown weaker over the months as the Earthen Union grew stronger. Then again, it was not like Seraphine or Asmodeus did anything special. Their World Gates resembled Rifts, with one insignificant difference. Neither the Founder of the Pantheon nor the Old One was trying to send an army of monsters through the World Gates. Seraphine brought him to Tagarn before sending him back home, while Asmodeus conjured a World Gate to hand him a small obsidian-colored vial.

  The vial fell out of the World Gate, and not even a full second later, the World Gate snapped closed. David jerked forward to catch the vial before it could shatter on the ground. It did not look like the vial would break that easily, but he didn’t want to take any risks. Asmodeus, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care all too much.

  That guy’s been getting weirder by the day, he mused to himself, shaking his head while cradling the vial containing the Primordial Fountain Serum.

  In a way, Asmodeus had been more anxious than anyone would expect from an Old One. However, it was not like Asmodeus sounded desperate. He spoke confidently, as if everything worked according to his plan, yet his behavior had been…odd, to say the least.

  “Whatever.”

  The serum had a grand name, and David was quite confident Asmodeus exaggerated a lot when he talked about the rarity of the serum’s ingredients and concoction process. Pushing all doubts aside, the serum was indeed valuable. It was clearly interwoven with the Weave, and it felt potent. There was no reason to believe the serum would harm him, as not only his body sought the vial’s content, but his mind and soul urged him to consume it immediately.

  David pocketed the Primordial Fountain Serum and turned to the eyes lingering on him. He considered stirring trouble in the Fallen Sanctuary by creating hundreds of additional bonds of Conflict, but it wasn’t worth the risk. However, he bent down beside Silvana and pressed his hand firmly against her face, planting several droplets of Vitae Nihilum in her brain. He circulated Vitae through her body to nestle in her vital spots before departing.

  Since he was not allowed to hunt Silvana again, he might just kill her if she decided to break her part of the deal. She may not know about it just yet, but Asmodeus would tell her all about it. Or she would die painfully and be consumed by Vitae.

  Now that I think about it, Asmodeus knew about my power, didn’t he? He mentioned something…

  That was an issue for another time. For now, he had a serum of the gods to consume.

  David used Passage to teleport back to Orhain, where thousands of unfamiliar faces awaited him. Fresh, fragile bonds of Favor unfolded before his eyes, but he paid them little mind.

  He cast [Weave of Life], pushing the ability beyond its normal limits to expand its range, then layered on a few dozen [Healing Sphere]s before handing control back to Lukas and the Unitas siblings. They had cared for the other refugees well; he was certain they could manage another ten thousand hungry, weary souls.

  Even better, they liked the task, so David didn’t have to bother tending to everyone. Healing the refugees was more than enough.

  Portals opened, spitting out more broken refugees that had been freed from Silvana’s tyranny as well as her lifethread, and residents jumped to their aid in the dozens, doing everything they could to help those who couldn’t help themselves. It was nice to see all of this, but David’s attention pulled back to the serum every other second.

  He retrieved the vial, removed the cork, and studied the content for a good minute. He couldn’t make out much from examining it and consumed it without thinking too much.

  As the bittersweet liquid touched his lips, something clicked; his view of the world changed forever. David tried to scream, but only a stifled groan escaped his lips. The Weave was more vibrant than ever. It was all David could see, whereas the rest of the world vanished into thin air. No sounds reached his ears, no smell touched his nose.

  There was nothing but the Weave…and then it all began.

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