1,000,000 Karma: My Reward Is a Quiet Life-Chapter 100: Birth of a Primordial
[Tintri]
Just as he entered the world of superspeed, the magic-erected walls shattered behind the wild dash of the undead swordsman. The debris was used as a smokescreen by the husk, who wrapped around within a single moment, bringing his blade back–
"Sorry, I was too late," Noah apologized.
[Giga-Chop] [Enhance]
The axe multiplied in size while being simultaneously coated in an all-burning heat, flipping around before being swung behind Noah's back with utmost precision. All at once, the fiery swing permeated itself through a blazing cone that roared through the block, charring the cobblestone street in an instant.
[EXP: +20,000] [191,000/250,000]
Nothing but burnt roads and charred bricks were left of the direction he swung his axe in, and the body of the adventurer-turned-husk was no different.
"…Hah…"
He breathed out, looking around at the dreadful scenery. It felt as though there was no hope in sight; all optimism to save even a single soul felt out of reach.
["I was aware of it then. It was a feeling I couldn't quite explain—a total solitude. I knew there wasn't even one person left still fighting in Coudale.
It was just me. I had lost, but at the very least, I could make sure they didn't win."]
While he stood there, attempting to make some sense of the hopeless situation, one thing stood out to him: it was eerily quiet now. He didn't know when, but it became so, so silent; not a single scream nor howl throughout the city abundant in death.
Through the lifeless streets, he walked, drenched in the blood that soaked the pavement, only finding further stretches of death. For a heart as pure as his own, the scenery was enough to dampen even his boundless hope.
'Someone…Is there anyone…?' He begged in his mind, though found his wish without response.
Any sense of time he had was washed away as he walked and walked before coming to a stop, looking up as he felt compelled to do so. Staring back down at him was a perfect, black sphere in place of the sun, eclipsing the city.
Lining the sides of the street, bowing corpses led to one point in the center of the city–a bubbling mass of flesh fixated in a crater. It pulsated, flexing like a beating heart as bits and pieces of corpses floated into the singularity.
'What's…happening?' He could only vaguely think.
Flowers wilting; carcasses rotting as maggots feasted; the stench of the dead cooked beneath the sun. All endeavors of death, coalescing into one point.
"To witness the birth of something so great…It is truly a splendid experience."
"--?"
Noah looked over as the words were spoken to him in awe by a stranger he didn't even know was standing beside him. From one look at the cloak they wore, their hood veiling everything but their smile lost of sanity, he knew what the person was: a Follower of GOETIA.
"This phenomenon was only possible with the opening of the Quantum Tomb. For that, you have our thanks, Noah Soul," the hooded figure said, looking ahead.
While he found himself in disagreement with what was said, none of that mattered more than observing the nonsensical sight.
The remnants of tens of thousands gathered; each lost limb, every chunk, each drop, peeling off the streets—
It all converged, meshing together in a squelching harmony of death, revolting against its lifeless stage before—it was born.
"Welcome to our realm, O' Great One!" The cultist raised his arms in celebration, clasping his hands together in joy and bowing. "Please give me the honor of being the final piece of your magnificent puzzle."
Noah looked over, only to find the maddened follower cutting at his own throat with an unwavering smile, utterly content. He attempted to reach out, feeling inclined to stop the gruesome act, but failed–
Just as the cultist collapsed to his knees, the gushing body was dragged through the street, being welcomed into the pulsating core of death.
Finally, it stopped; the vibrations quieted down as the sphere in the center of the madness silently hummed. Noah could only stare at its enigmatic depths before–a hand reached out from the other side.
["For the first time, I feared this beautiful world I was given a second chance in. Up until this moment, I believed it to be a world full of wonder and magic, with some stride here and there.
But, laying my eyes on that thing…I realized that the world I was in was far more frightening than I could ever comprehend."]
What emerged was a patchwork creation; something resembling a human stitched of countless parts, yet far from a pure creation. It stood on four legs, and possessed two pairs of arms; perfectly symmetrical in all ways.
The anomalous, human-resembling being stared towards the blood-red sky, reaching its hand up as if gently caressing the winds.
[...A perfection of flesh…]
[...Being alive is being human…]
[...Beauty in death…]
[...The summit of it all…]
Inside the young man's mind, inexplicable thoughts flooded when observing the unnatural sight.
[...For the first time in countless ages and iterations of mankind, it has happened. A Primordial, given flesh and blood, has been welcomed into the realm of man.]
[It's title is–]
[The Primordial of Flesh.]
One half of its face bore the pale, smooth skin of feminine beauty, while the other was callous and rigid of a masculine grace; one arm thin and bony, another tan with some fat; a third pale and muscular; the last in scabs.
Its curly, dark locks hardly hid its unblinking, silver gaze as the incarnated Primordial stood well over three meters in height. From the way it looked around, it appeared completely unfamiliar with the environment it was brought into.
'Do I run? Should I try to hide until backup gets here? Will backup come? Would it even matter? Should I…fight? Is that even an option?' All thoughts raced through his mind.
He was alone, that much he knew for certain. While he laced his fingers around the wooden handle of his axe, filling his lungs with encouraging breaths, there was a struggle to find confidence in his own survival.
The city was left spotless now, as every drop of blood and every strand of flesh was now the very being that stood there, basking in its own existence. It didn't seem to even register that he stood there, paying him no mind as if no more significant than an ant trailing the soil.
"Are you afraid?"
A chillingly gentle voice embarked from the lips of the Vitruvian being. As his mind processed those words, he hadn't blinked yet—the being was right there, mere inches from him.
He instinctively stepped back, only to find himself pressed into the chest of the Primordial. It was like he was submerged into dough, finding his left side completely sinking into the abnormal body.
"Nnrgh…?!"
He resisted, though attempting to pull away only seemed to bring him in further. It felt like his very being was merging with the countless thousands within the anomalous body, as though innumerable hands grasped at him.
[Help me.]
[Please…]
[Don't leave me alone here.]
[...I can't take it…]
Touching the innards of the Primordial, the desperate voices flowed directly into his mind; sadness, lament, grief–all of it. He couldn't help but shed a tear in sorrow of their situation, only able to do what he could in the moment–
[Mana Surge]
Exuding electricity from his body, he poured out the vicious mana until it separated him from the Primordial's assimilation. He stumbled back, gasping for breath while having to brush off the peculiar sensation throughout his body.
There was only a disappointed look on the half-and-half face of the Primordial, who softly furrowed their own brow in lamentation, "And so you resist my gift. That is understandable, child–you do not know it is a gift."
"A gift…? Those people in there–they don't want any part of it, either!" Noah protested. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
For a moment, no response came from the inhuman existence, who instead stared off as if processing new thoughts, "Ah…Interesting. Noah Soul, you are a human not originating from Gaios, but another world harboring mankind called "Earth."
"How…?"
It only processes then that being brought so close to assimilating with the Primordial must've let it tap into his very core essence–his memory, and his soul. A disgusting feeling, he thought, one that he couldn't merely wipe off.
"A world with so much life as well, far across the expanse of the cosmos…But still, within reach."
"What…?" Noah listened.
The Primordial looked towards the sky with its arms out, as if embracing the world itself, "I will reunite all flesh that walks Gaios, and after that–I will voyage to "Earth" and welcome them within my being."
It was a proclamation without malice, but the result was all the same; Noah knew it was something that absolutely could not happen. Until this moment, he believed the world he was on might as well exist in an entirely different universe from Earth, yet–the Primordial's words connected them.
