Hello beloved readers! I'm back with a new update sooner than usual. This time it's been 19 days since the previous update. Still, I want to improve my update rate and post at least one chapter a week.
This chapter contains some pretty tasty lore of my version of this world. Enjoy!
Chapter 18
The Assimilation Knife
'Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it all!' Jarrod Insley cursed everything. He cursed fate. He cursed the gods. He cursed his rotten luck. But most of all, he cursed the Zeus Familia for showing up and ruining everything after 10 years. Now of all times! They chose now to reveal themselves? Where were they when Orario was in trouble during the Dark Age? What about when one of their best, Zard, as well as Hera Familia's Alfia, allied with Evilus to destroy the city? If they were still around, why not show up then? Why reveal themselves now to get in his way?! It was ridiculous!
"Quit running," the cold voice of Alystar, the Werewolf KIng, ordered him.
Insley cursed the Serpent Dragon for getting killed so quickly and not buying him more time. Alystar was once called one of the city's fastest. He would catch up to him in no time, which was why he put everything into his Level 3 legs to get to his hide out.
"I said stop." Alystar somehow got ahead of him and Insley was running straight towards him.
"No!" Insley cried. He pulled out the magic sword he had on him. He swung it at the blonde werewolf and orange flames flew out at him. The magic sword shattered. Fire engulfed the entire section of the path they were on. Insley ran through the flames as fast as he could. He might not have been as fast as the fastest, but he was a coward and his ability to run from danger was well honed.
He left Alystar behind in the fire he caused. He doubted that was enough to kill him, but if he could reach his hideout before he caught up, then it'd be worth it.
Madly, determinedly, desperately he ran. He wasn't running for his life. He knew with certainty there was no scenario where he'd come out of this alive. His fate was sealed when Zeus Familia chose to get in his way. What he was running for was far darker. His madness was far more dangerous than even his right hand Shades's was.
A frigid wind hit his back and he was sent flying forward. He ended up hitting the ground hard.
"That was something," Alystar Fenras said coolly as he casually walked towards him, snow and wind swirling around him. He was unhurt from the magic sword attack and he had also extinguished the flames to prevent a forest fire. "I don't know if I'd call it guts, but you definitely have something. I'd suggest you get some money back on that magic sword, though. That kind of fire couldn't kill a Minotaur."
"No!" Insley barely sounded human as he roared with defiance and forced himself onto his feet. His running was awkward. He must've twisted his ankle when the blizzard knocked him down. Still, he did not stop, even though he must have been in terrible pain.
Alystar could have stopped him right then and there, but his personal code of ethics didn't allow him to get in the way of a man's desperation. Whatever this man was up to, he'd allow him to at least reach his destination. Then he would crush him. Perhaps it would be kinder to crush him now, but he wasn't doing this out of kindness. Nor was it out of respect. There was no way he could respect him. He supposed it was empathy. Even if he was a monster for attempting to do what he was going to do, Alystar understood the desperation to succeed after failing.
Insley didn't have much farther to go as he reached his hideout that was hidden deep in the woods and would have been difficult to find if one did not know the way. Two guards, who were members of Morpheus Familia, who were left behind to watch over the hideout came out, shocked to see their captain running into the hideout in such a haggard state. He pushed past them without a word. He scrambled inside in search of a certain object.
The two guards jumped when they saw Alystar and attempted to subdue him, but he knocked them out without preamble. He entered the hideout to see Insley standing over a wooden box on a table, looking at it as if it held his salvation.
"You know… I honestly didn't understand those Evilus pawns who willingly chose to blow themselves up," Insley said more to himself, than to Aystar. He wondered if the man even realized he was there. "But I understand now. This world is nothing but disappointments. There's no reason to fight to live. But if I'm going down, I'm taking every bastard I can with me!"
He began to chant.
"Bring down my enemy. The cost is my life. Burst Self!'
Insley's body began to glow in violet light. Instinctively, Alystar knew to get away. The Zeus Familia was well aware that Evilus, the organization that terrorized Orario, used human scapegoats to take out adventurers by blowing themselves up. In a swift motion, he exited the hideout and grabbed the two unconscious guards as he did. His nose didn't pick up any other human scents, but he did detect monster scents. Most likely, below ground.
BOOOOOM!
The hideout was completely engulfed by a violet light of magic energy, causing an explosion that no doubt was heard by every nearby top class adventurer in Zeus Familia. The power of the explosion might've actually hurt him, too.
"Damn, I never saw a magic that was meant to cause an Ignis Fatuus before," Alystar said, observing the destruction of Insley's spell. He must've run several meters to avoid the blast. A cloud of smoke lingered at the explosion point. The nearby trees were either vaporized or caught on fire. To be honest, he was disturbed somewhat. How far gone was that man? "Is he dead"
He dropped the two guards he saved where he stood. He went to investigate. Using his blizzard magic, he blew away the smoke. What it revealed was a huge hole in the ground that revealed the basement where the monsters were being kept. To his surprise, he saw the falling body of Insley descending to below ground. His body was burned almost to the point it was unrecognizable, but it was still intact. However, what caught Alystar's eye was the object he was clutching his hand even as he fell to certain death. It was a green knife. His expression grew dark. He knew what that object was.
'So it really didn't kill me,' Insley thought, dazed as he fell. Time seemed to slow for him. That was his only magic, and before today he had never cast it in all of the years he had it. He was very excited the first time his deity Morpheus told him he had acquired magic, but that excitement was squashed when he learned it was essentially a suicide spell.
"It probably won't kill you," his patron deity had told him with an indifferent look. "But if it doesn't kill you, it will definitely cripple you. You will definitely need immediate treatment after its cast. So be careful."
He had never used it because he feared it would kill him. The childish, naive part of him had once thought he'd use it to save his comrades in the Dungeon. Of course that part of him was long gone. He thought he'd never use it. Even if he was about to be eaten by a large monster, or about to be killed by another adventurer far stronger than him, blowing himself up to take down such an enemy didn't appeal to him. He'd rather just run, or beg for mercy, than do that.
He clutched tightly onto the green knife shaped object he had pulled from the box before he exploded. It wasn't actually a knife, although it could stab a person, but its true purpose was far worse than murder.
It was something called the Assimilation Knife.
When Shades brought it to him, he could hardly believe what he had found. The black market broker they were using to acquire weapons and supplies for the raids had offered it to them. He had been trying to sell it for years, but nobody would buy it.
A long time ago, before the fall of Zeus and Hera, a dark faction within the country of Altena created a magical object that did the unthinkable. It, when stabbed into one, merged the weapon holder with the monster they attacked.
It was sacrilegious. In a world where monsters were humanity's enemies, to willingly turn into one was nothing short of blasphemy. It was a sin that made even Evilus, who the broker had tried to sell it to several years ago, hesitate to use it. Although, Insley doubted that was the whole reason.
The Assimilation Knife came with two costs. One was the permanent loss of your humanity. The other was your life. Even if you avoided getting killed, eventually your body would die and crumble to dust. The timings varied, but according to what he knew, no one lasted more than a day. It was too steep a cost. Evilus was hardly an organization that operated with any sort of ethics, but they likely determined that something with a short expiration date would be impractical for their purposes.
But Insley had no purpose for future plans to consider other than destruction. All he cared about now was dying and taking as many people down with him as he could.
They had held back one monster for the raids. It was the strongest of the ones they had acquired. A silver dragon from outside of the Dragon Valley, the only one they didn't buy from Ikelos Familia, but caught with their own efforts. It was difficult, but with the use of the monsters they had in their control, they were able to capture it without even a death.
It was funny. The Morpheus Familia never accomplished much of anything in their career as legal, law abiding adventurers, but since running away from the city to avoid Gale Wind's wrath, they accumulated a force that could have brought down a whole country. It almost made one wonder what would have happened had they really tried. What would have happened if they held onto their dreams?
'Oh, well…'
Insley fell atop of the Silver Dragon they captured. Finally, a lucky break. Instead of caging it, they had it chain in an underground bunker. The Hideout they took over was an abandoned safehouse that all of the surrounding villages would hide in in case of monster rampages, but such things actually rarely happened in this area, so it was left alone and forgotten for more than a century. It was their deity Morpheus, who with Aristaeus was hidden away elsewhere, that remembered it. The bunker made a convenient place to store their monsters.
The dragon howled when Insley stabbed it with the Assimilation Knife. The reaction was instant. The knife glowed a bright shade of green that matched its color. Tendrils of light came from out of the knife and wrapped around both Insley and the dragon. It struggled against the tendrils as they burned into its flesh, thrashing about and snappin the chains binding it to the walls. Isley wailed, his broken body seizing uncontrollably, but he could not let go of the knife even if he wanted too as it had fused with the flesh of his hands and the light tendrils dug into his body.
The dragon flew upwards towards the hole created by Insley's magic, as if reaching the light would somehow end its suffering. As for Insley, he was focused on keeping his will dominant. While he had never seen the Assimilation Knife prior to acquiring this one, he was informed of the effects of it once used. The assimilation process would begin immediately once the knife was inserted into the chosen monster's flesh. A sensation like fire and lightning would occur and both the man and monster would begin bonding. The monster would struggle violently, but once the process began, there'd be no stopping it, save for the death of both human and monster. The human's role was to keep at least a piece of his consciousness intact as their minds were melded in order to establish control. Failure to do so would create a mindless beast that would only rampage until death.
The knife's power was similar to Shades magic, so he had offered to be the one to use it, but Insley said that as leader, he should be the one to make the sacrifice
'I am Jarrod Insley! I am Jarrod Insley! I am Insley! I am captain of Morpheus Familia! I… I… UGGGH!'
He could feel the knife eroding his mind. If he didn't take control, he'd become mindless. He was not going to be simply mindless after all of this. He'd experience the destruction he'd inflict.
'No… I'm not Jarrod Insley, nor am I the captain of Morpheus Familia, a dungeon crawling familia from Orario.'
He probably ceased to be himself for a long time. Since Gale Wind chased them away, or perhaps even before then. He once wanted to be like the great heroes of the word. To be loved and adored, but he failed to become something so great, so he regressed and eventually became the opposite of what he dreamed of. He became…
"I AM A DESTROYERRRR!" Insley shouted what he truly was now. The green light encased him and the dragon like a shell. The dragon roared as its persona was overtaken and replaced with Insley's. The light dissipated. In its place was the dragon's body and Insley's body merged onto its neck. The remains of his clothing had been destroyed by the power of the Assimilation Knife. His entire lower torso was buried in the dragon's flesh. His skin, now silvery and scaly like the dragon's, smoked as if he had been on fire.
Insley was no longer human. He was now an unholy blend of human and monster.
"Now…" His voice was raspy and inhuman. "Let's destroy something."
He willed for the dragon's wings to fly upwards and he did it as easily as one could move their hands and walk on their feet. A calamitous force was about to unleash itself onto this world.
Alystar had watched it all happen. He saw Insley land on top of the silver dragon at the bottom and plunge the Assimilation Knife into its flesh and actually merge with the monster. And based on what he had seen, he managed to keep his mind.
He braced himself as the dragon-human fusion flew up out of the hole and locked eyes with it. Insley's body-now fused to the dragon's neck like a deformed appendage-glared at him. The dragon spit fire. Alystar made a barrier out of his blizzard magic to protect himself. The fire swirled around him and quickly dissipated into embers. Alystar was prepared to deal with the monster, but it had already flown away, to his surprise.
"He ran away…?" Alystar groaned, sounding more annoyed than anything else. "After all that?"
He looked to see the dragon-hum fusion flying towards a certain direction.
"I better tell the others. What a pain. HEY, GUYS!" Alystar shouted at the top of his lungs."We got an issue!"
:"You're damn right we have an issue!" Kuda's voice yelled, startling Kiyomaro and Akari. Sakuto, however, knew he was speaking to someone far away. "How could you let it get that far?!"
"Oh, shut up! Like you would have done it any differently!"
"Would you two shut up and explain!" Kyra's voice joined in. "I didn't see what happened!"
"Yes, please do," Celesta's voice chimed.
"One of those bastards had an Assimilation Knife and fused with a silver Dragon!"
"An Assimilation Knife?!" Kuda, Kyra, Celesta, and also Barren shouted in shock. None of them were together, but they could all converse as if they were side by side thanks to their senses as first class fighters. The only one who could not speak was Lezanna, who was still knocked out due to the tranquilizer that Wilna used on her. It wasn't something they liked to do often as it was hard on the throat and made them all sound kind of crazy to those who couldn't see and hear what they could. They couldn't do it as naturally as a certain group of prum brothers. Not even the Level Fours could join in on the conversation. For all intents and purposes, it was a discussion exclusive to those of the first class.
"Who would have thought one of those would show up again after all this time," Kuda muttered. He could all easily recall the chaos caused by those accursed objects. Years ago, before their fall, both Zeus and Hera Familia worked together to find and destroy the Assimilation Knives created by a criminal group of Altena, who sold thousands of them on the black market. There were countless victims before they managed to find and destroy most of the knives. Of course, they could never find all of them. Fortunately, most people who did have it weren't crazy enough to make the sacrifice it took to use them, so there were few incidents since they had taken action.
"Where is it headed now?" Kyra asked.
"From what I can see," Alystar said. "It's headed towards Noda Village. Kuda, you should be the one to deal with it."
"I will, but I'm not over there, at the moment."
"What?!" The four of them shouted.
"Something needed my attention."
"You dumbass!" Kyra snapped. "How could you just leave your post!"
"Don't worry, I see it. I can catch it. Besides, you're one to talk. You kidnapped an entire village!"
"She what?" The others said, stupefied.
"We don't have time for this," she snapped. "Bell and the villagers are going to get burned alive! Not to mention Eddie, Sabrina, and the two idiots!"
"Everyone. Leave it to me." At those words any concern about how this will end vanished among them. For the Zeus remnants, no other person could assure them better.
"I must go," Kuda said to the Gojouno family. Before he went, he tossed something to Kiyomaro. "Catch, kid."
"Ah!" Kiyomaro managed to catch what Kuda had tossed at him. It was the magic stone of the Bloodsaurus he had killed to save him and Akari. "A-Are you sure? Isn't this worth money?"
He shrugged. "Keep it. I don't need it. You can sell it if you want."
"...Can I just keep it?"
"You could. Although, I suggest you keep it in a container that hides its presence so that no monster comes looking for it." He stared at the boy, a certain feeling coming over him. The boy appeared to be the same age as Bell. He had black hair and gray eyes. He had similar features to his father. He probably should just leave thai second, but there was something he felt he needed to say to him. "What's your name, boy?"
"I-It's Kiyomaro Gojouno, sir."
"Kiyomaro. Strong name."
"Most people call me Kiyo, though."
"Kiyo, then." What Kuda was about to say was most certainly controversial, if not manipulative, but he believed that what he was about to say could have a powerful effect on the future. Or not. What did he know? "Kiyo, it's the worst feeling ever to be saved. To be reminded of how weak you are."
They're eyes widened, shocked by those sudden words.
"Someday, strive to become capable of saving the people you care about with your own strength."
Kiyo stared at him, unsure of how to respond. His sister Akari stood next to him, looking at both him and Kuda curiously.
"Hey!" Sakuto shouted angrily, glowering at Kuda.
"We'll meet again," he said before leaping away, quickly going out of sight. As he moved, he felt somewhat guilty as he knew he overstepped with a child he had just met.
'I probably went too far. It was just that I had a feeling about Kiyo…'
Kuda had a gift, a sixth sense, for seeing the potential in others. Much like Kyra could see through schemes, or Finn Deimne could detect danger, he could look at a person and tell if they could become strong. He knew the Loki Trio and Otarr would become incredibly strong one day, too, when he first met them, along with other powerful adventurers.
'That boy will definitely become strong someday. I know it.'
And he would be right. In the future, Kiyo Gojouno would travel to Orario and become one of Bell Cranel's most powerful rivals. As well as become one of his closest friends. But there was still much story left to tell before that time could arrive.
"I, who was blessed by the divine flame…'
Kuda started concurrent chanting.
I'm actually quite proud of how this turned out. I got to include some history about Zeus and Hera Familia's past, some funny scenes, and most of all I got to properly introduce the character I most want to introduce.
If you want to continue the story without waiting for the next free update, you can read ahead on patreon.com/TheWorldForger. More Patrons will encourage me to write. It's just 2 dollars per month.
See you next time!