Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 188

Chapter 188: Battle Within the Thigh and Mind

Lysette took a long, deep breath as she sat in the center of the circle and looked at the others sitting around her.  Lilia with her quiet resolve masking a hint of fear.  Nicholas stared with an inquisitive head tilt, as though he wanted to study the feat about to occur.  Gerald remained brash and gung-ho, providing the others with confidence and moral support.  And Kiarra scowled as she was wont to do, but soon after lowered her head in tandem with the other four.

With the others surrounding and empowering her, Lysette again allowed her surroundings to fade away, reentering her Cultivation realm.  But instead of heading toward her Tree, standing ever taller in the center of her soulscape, Lysette ventured off toward a distant corner of the otherwise featureless void.  The long yet also instantaneous trek took her toward a part of her Cultivation realm where her Star shined less bright, the light of her divinity repelled by the force of an object far removed from the plants growing within her Spark.

Lysette sealed the space off from the rest of her Cultivation realm as she approached the jet black structure— a monolith with no features except for an ominous insigne she’d seen before and would never again forget.  A single eye, eternally unblinking, staring at her from within the crescent moon.  A reminder that, though it was Lysette’s, taken by her, grafted into her own flesh, the teleportation matrix embedded in her thigh still possessed the will of its Creator.  The will of Asterion, slayer of her kin, existential threat to Aimarion, and her sworn enemy.

She shuddered, with fear, with uncertainty, not knowing what the process of attunement would entail.  The only reference she had was attuning the Periapt of Stability from Saffron.  And that was an artifact forged by a demigoddess, not a primordial god.  An ally of convenience— for now at least— if not a true friend.  Everything suggested that the trial ahead would be far worse than the one prior.  One in which the artifact’s Creator desperately hoped she would fail rather than succeed.

But this was the only way out.  The only way to save her friends, those who even now were praying to her as their goddess, filling her with strength and vitality and force of will which crescendoed yet further with each moment.  

Using her teleportation matrix in her current state was untenable.  She could negate its downsides for herself by teleporting while dissolved.  But her comrades, her friends, the students— soldiers— under her aegis would each be torn to shreds.  And the drain of Essence to transport herself and her party the necessary distance was so great that Lysette would have been useless at a time when her strength was becoming more and more necessary.  To protect her own life, as well as the many who looked up to her, who prayed to her for succor as Aimarion and the Celestial realm alike were stewing in the maelstrom of imminent war.

Four trapped in a tomb of ice and snow alongside her.  Four other traveling companions who had gone on ahead at her behest, one of whom was her lover and sworn partner.  Nearly fifteen hundred other souls in Ciricu who now lived under her divine protection.  And hundreds more back in Domaria who looked up to her as she blew the winds of change toward a more just, more equitable society.  

Mirae must have contacted Kristil or Dani and asked them to spread the word to the students back in Domaria, for Lysette felt their prayers intermingled with the others.  Prayers for a miracle, to see the four students brought to safety, to see their lives not cut short by natural or deific peril.  Prayers that Lysette would answer with everything she had, or die in the attempt.

Lysette knew power she’d never known before, the concentrated Divine Essence enough to bolster her strength far beyond even the transformed former Chancellor of the Academy.  Enough even such that feats which should have been impossible— would have been just moments earlier— now felt within her grasp.  And with power filling every ounce of her physical form and Spark alike, she placed her hand on the monolith and exerted her will through it.

The monolith shook.  Its form shifted, twisted, coalesced, and as it did, an all-too-familiar laugh echoed out from it, filling the entirety of her soulscape.

“So, the thief, the would-be Godslayer, the demon who was once human has arrived at last, trying to steal what rightfully belongs to me.”

Lysette clenched her fist.  “That’s right.  Just like my family was stolen from me.  Today, this glyph will be mine.  And one day, your life will be forfeit to me as well.”

The monolith solidified into the form of a humanoid creature.  Though rather than rich and vibrant in its color, its entire being was composed of various shades of pale, selenic glow. 

Lysette stared upon Asterion’s visage.  He towered over her by a full head and a half.  His eyes were devoid of pupils and irises alike— the whites themselves shining the same pale moonlight that was his Domain.  His body was neither svelte nor portly— ordinary in shape, but one which belied power befitting a primordial god. He wore heavy robes not unlike his acolyte the former Chancellor wore during the invocation ceremony.  But his were even more elaborate and heavy, with his crest emblazoned upon the outermost garment.

“Do you believe yourself any better than me?” Asterion’s avatar asked.  “Your actions have not gone without notice.  You, demon who was once human, have killed plenty of my soldiers, my acolytes, all for your own selfish ends.  You have gorged yourself on human life without a shred of remorse or thoughts for the lives that you yourself have stolen by your own two hands!”

Lysette lowered her head.  “You’re half right.  I have taken lives.  Some deserved, some inevitable.  Others neither.  But your moniker of ‘All-Seeing’ is sorely misplaced if you believe that I haven’t spared thoughts for them.  Haven’t questioned what I could have done differently, what I should have done instead.  How I could have chosen paths that led to fewer lives lost, had I been wiser, stronger, more knowledgeable.”

“And right there, you’ve identified the key difference between you and me.  You try to justify your actions underneath a thin veneer of sanctimony.  I realize that these sacrifices are necessary and just in the pursuit of everlasting peace.  Of eternal prosperity.  Of the guidance from on high that humanity craves for, calls to both of us for even now–”

“Shut up,” Lysette said.

“You don’t like being called out for your–”

“I said shut up!  I really don’t give two damns about whatever justification you’ve given yourself either.  Because for me, it’s simple.  You took everything I had from me.  My family, my friends, my community, my livelihood.  Would have taken my life, if not for a quirk of fate.  

“And for that, I’m going to take everything you hold dear.  I will tear apart the people’s faith in you.  I will ensure that every soldier you send after me or any of those who pray to me for protection either surrenders, submits, or succumbs.  And only when your Spark empowers my body and this cosmic war you’ve brought about has been ended will my thirst for Reciprocity upon you finally be sated.”

“Hahaha!  Spoken like a true demon child.  Then, as my people’s god, it is my right and duty to purge this demonic menace from Aimarion!”

Asterion’s avatar launched a punch that traveled far quicker than the blink of an eye,  And yet, not only could Lysette track his movement, she could respond in kind, deflecting the blow away with a flick of her wrist.  That was followed by an even quicker sweeping kick that seemed to pull at space ahead of it, pulling Lysette toward his sandaled foot and almost negating her backward dodge.  Lysette’s counter strike, a pair of shadowy tendrils aimed at Asterion’s chest and head, were both deflected by some barrier, bouncing off and flying out to either side.

Asterion continued unrelentingly, slamming his fist into the void with a force that propelled Lysette backward.  Before she could recenter herself, he charged, hurling an upward kick aimed straight at her abdomen.  She tried to dissolve her body, but the force somehow injured her intangible form, forcing herself back to her physical form and leaving her coughing up blood as she quickly regenerated her internal injuries.

Lysette sprinted toward the mad god, matching his pace blow for blow.  But even with the prayers of thousands empowering her, she failed to break through the strange barrier.  Every attack she launched was deflected or repelled by Asterion’s barrier, while several of her dodges were being negated.

She activated Reciprocity Dominion, hoping to deal some damage during the exchanges.  But even that proved ineffective.  The forcefield which repelled her physical attacks and interfered with her intangibility was also effective at blocking the thin, normally-invisible strands of Essence which linked the targets of her Domain technique.  Though his eyes raised slightly at the first instance of her ability.

Rekindle proved even less effective.  Though the speed of her movements and force of her punches and kicks was even greater, she was unable to pierce through the strange barrier even with her most forceful blows.  And so, with her stamina deteriorating quickly, she disengaged her technique.  And she attempted to fall back, watching Asterion’s movements and trying to analyze his ability while keeping her distance.

Time moved erratically within the soulspace, but it felt like minutes of vicious attacks, with Lysette scrambling not to give too much ground.  Asterion’s confidence was growing with each strike, and while the prayers of her friends kept her strength high, Lysette began to ask herself if she was capable of the task at hand.  If there might have been another way, a safer way, one which would have left this task for later, when she was stronger, when she was better equipped for the task.

She clenched the Periapt of Stability to focus her mind from the distractions, from the fear and unconfidence Asterion’s strength was instilling in her mind.  There has to be a pattern.  Some weakness, some vulnerability I can exploit.

And then she remembered.  Back in his shrine, how the space in the tunnels separated unnaturally, in ways that shouldn’t have been possible.  And how, once Lysette had pulled the Scepter of Distortion from its reliquary, the underground catacombs caved back in on each other.

There was only one plausible explanation: all of these techniques— the magnetic pull and push, the deflection, the teleportation— were all facets of a single power.  A power which twisted and distorted spacetime itself.  And a thought followed: If all these techniques were part of a single spacetime manipulation technique, then perhaps she could counter it with equal force.

Lysette gathered her strength and prepared to gamble it all on her hypothesis.  She charged forward, gathering Essence to her thigh as she leapt into the air.  Asterion’s visage smirked as it raised a hand, preparing to block.  But Lysette continued, watching the flow of Essence with her left eye as she leapt into the air and pulled her arm back.  His overconfidence was on full display, and Lysette was all too eager to exploit it.

The deflecting barrier went up an eighth of a second before her fist landed against Asterion’s head, but with a mental impulse, she willed her teleportation matrix to reverse the generated spacetime distortion.  Lysette’s fist slammed into the side of her adversary’s face, cracking a tooth and knocking him to the ground.  It felt better than it had any right to, but her trial was far from over.

Chapter 187: https://www.patreon.com/posts/110762798

Table of Contents: https://www.patreon.com/posts/table-of-101896170

Chapter 189: https://www.patreon.com/posts/110762801