Chapter 63

Mujin’s mistake was using his power too late. It had given his opponent time to gather themselves, time to resist. He should’ve known it right from the beginning when that no-name stranger had faced him off, and stopped his all-powerful Death By A Thousand Blades attack form, only to deflect it towards the Earth King’s warship. He should’ve known that anyone with the skill to do that was no ordinary person, especially in these lands, where very, very few people actually had the skill or the talent to fight using pure lifeforce with a manacrafting Warlord.

But he had.

With nothing but lifeforce and minor terramancy, along with whatever he was using to negate the motion from Mujin’s blows, the stranger had fought him to a standstill. Even if Mujin hadn’t used his fullest strength back then, he should’ve known that it was equally possible that the boy hadn’t used his main power as well.

Fighting an Aeromancer Warlord on open grounds.

Stopping the motion of a Level-4 attack, only to redirect it.

Conjuring assault weapons potent enough to destroy a King’s Warship.

Using that strange liquid metal to create puppet-forms of himself with remarkable sapience over and over.

Using every single element out there, and then some.

No way he was just a stranger. No, power like this just didn’t appear out of nowhere, and yet, he had. Was this the unknown ace in the hole that Zuken Banksi had known about? Was he the one responsible for keeping the girl safe all these years, or the one responsible for destroying the Peak?

But who was he?

Who was he?

Mujin didn’t know, but once the warship had been destroyed, he knew he had to go ahead full throttle. He had unleashed his kami.

It was overkill. More than overkill. A Warlord-class kami was a country-killer. Just a single full-powered blast was enough to level a small town. But to make this stranger stay dead, no overkill was ever enough.

It was too easy. Was supposed to be too easy.

And then, the stranger had surprised him by creating puppets. Of himself. Capable of using a wide variety of skills. Every element. Every attack form. All of them acting independently and at the same time, in unison.

It was impossible.

It was impossible.

And yet it had happened. Mujin had kept annihilating the puppets, only for more to form out of that accursed metal. They came by the dozens, got destroyed by the dozens, and yet they kept coming. An endlessly standing barricade, one that was using every trick in and out of the book to stall his gigantic kami.

And before he knew it, he had been smashed into the ground.

And then the creature — Tanya — she had transformed into that, and had dragged Mujin out of his protective sphere and tossed him out in the desert.

Bereft of his army.

Bereft of his kami.

How? Just how was this possible? How dare he? How dare they? How dare they?

He found the stranger looking at him from afar. His guard was nonexistent, like it was a simple matter of just slipping in and planting a weapon between his shoulders. He was mocking him. Just like the others. Those that claimed that he was an insult to his father. A shame on the legacy of the Wind King. In anger, Mujin stood up with clumsy and awkward movements. After over a century of having his faithful kami within him, amplifying his abilities to epic proportions, even the bare recognition that his kami was currently indisposed and unable to support him was such an alien feeling that it made Mujin want to throw up.

The stranger slowly walked towards him, utterly uncaring of his surroundings. Further away, Mujin could see his kami restrained by the girl’s powers — a power that he had always wanted to claim for himself and his bloodline. An act that he had both succeeded greatly and failed abysmally. He watched as the stranger slowly approached him, looking worse for wear in every way, but with a confidence that Mujin lacked. Just who was he and what was the source of that damned confidence in his gait?

“I — I know who you are,” said Mujin quietly as the young man finally stilled to a halt in front of him.

“Do you?” His opponent’s tone held no emotion, an impassive rasp devoid of the faintest feeling. “That’s good. That means we can skip the charade and move on to what’s important.”

“You — you’re a Pathforger, aren’t you?” Mujin accused him. “Someone empowered by a Relic of the Time Before.”

The stranger’s eyes settled on his face and seemed to stare into his very soul.

“Well,” he said at last. “You’re not wrong.”

Mujin grimaced. He should’ve expected this. Should’ve expected that no one in their right mind would launch an aggressive attack on the Peak of all places without an equally strong deterrent in hand.

“Is that why you’re with the yokai?” He demanded. “You follow the path of the old gods and wish to rise as an Emperor to challenge the Empire? I’ve sensed your power. It isn’t even Level-4, and yet nothing short of Level-5 hits can damage that Warship. How did you do it? Divine energy of a fallen god? Is that it?”

For the slightest of moments, an expression of amusement flitted across his face. “There is a deep irony in your words. But you’re right. I’m not Level-4. Barely an experienced Level-3.”

“And yet you conjured assault weapons of Level-5. That is impossible without divine aid. That, or you’re hiding your true self. But it doesn’t matter. Even with my kami temporarily restrained, I am a Level-4. A warlord. You cannot kill me. But if you help me —”

“Actually, I’m about to threaten you.”

Mujin paused for a moment at that. “... You should’ve gotten that metal armor on your person for that.”

“Yeah, it’s seen a bit of a mileage recently, and honestly, I’ve got a better deal.”

He raised one hand, and out of nowhere, a body came flying at him, with the neck resting within the clutches of Aguilar’s fingers. It took a second for Mujin to realize that it was actually his grandson, choking and coughing but very much alive.

“...Ultaf!” he croaked. “What are you —” He paused, and glared at the stranger. “Let my grandson go. Your strife is with me.”

“Hardly,” said the stranger. “Ultaf attacked Zuken without reason. He destroyed the svartalfar keep just because he could.” Mujin noticed the casual way he disregarded Ultaf’s attempts to free himself from his grasp.

“So here’s the deal,” said Aguilar. “You have two options. First, you and your grandson exchange one last conversation, after which you kill him with your own bare hands. Ultaf Shimizu is the culmination of all your villainy, all your cruelty. You raised him in your image. It is only fitting that you destroy him when your image falls.”

Mujin just stared at him, unable to believe the absurdity of what he was hearing.

“If you do that,” said Aguilar. “Then I’ll let you go free.”

“You cannot be serious.”

“Oh, I am,” said the stranger, smiling. “Because I think Death isn’t good enough for you, Mujin Shimizu. You’ve lost your Sacred Eight status, lost your Peak, your armies, and your power. And now, your kami too is restrained by a power you cannot hope to defeat, much less possess. I want to see you lose your own grandson, and walk away, Mujin Shimizu. Lost. Empty. Defeated. Deprived of everything. Even your name. That is what you truly deserve.”

Mujin still said nothing.

“Or,” continued the young man. “You can have that last conversation, where you tell your grandson what a failure you were, and how he should not follow your path any longer. And then, you willingly shatter your bond with your kami, and embrace death, the only peace you’ll ever know.”

He chuckled. “Of course, you can choose to defy me, or try to escape, and see how that works out for you.”

Mujin considered the words for longer than he had anticipated, falling silent for nearly several minutes.

He knows that I cannot die, he thought furiously. So long as the Shikigami Ritual connects us, I am unassailable. My body is, and shall remain half-elemental to the very end. The only option to do that is break me from within, destroy my will entirely, an action that only I can do, and then, the kami would shatter the bond. Either way, he wants me to shatter it, so that he can kill me. How…

Amateurish.

When he spoke again, it was over a dry, rasping chuckle. “I… Haha! I confess, that is not how I saw this ending. I… For a moment there, I actually thought you had me. But no, I see it now. Tanya, the weak, the beaten child; Tanya, who lay screaming in my prison night after night without the power to resist — that Tanya is now restraining my kami. No doubt she was the one that came up with this plan. You want me to kill my own grandson, and wallow in misery, so that you might take advantage of it and cause my bond with my kami to rupture? Do you think I’m so foolish to fall into that silly trap? Ridiculous. Do you even understand how absurd you sound?”

The pathforger smiled serenely. “Of course. But can you discount the threat?”

When Mujin said nothing, the stranger sighed, a surprisingly tired sound considering the situation. “I see. Only one option, then.”

He constricted his fingers, and Ultaf croaked and flailed, his hands hopelessly trying to escape his insane grip. Mujin clenched his fists, knowing very well that despite his strength, there was no way he could interfere with this. No matter what he did, without help from his kami, he wouldn't be fast enough to stop Aguilar from snapping his grandson’s neck.

“No!” Mujin shrieked, stepping ahead. “No! Don’t do this! Do you not see what that vile wench has become? Do you not see the wrongness in her? That power — it needs to be controlled by an iron will. That power will destroy the world if we let it. You think — you think that you’re saving her?
Don’t make me laugh! The Pantheon has felt the stirrings, noticed the tremors. The Great Goddess herself knows that the ancient power that once sought her in combat, the power of the yokai Empress is again at large. You think that this — that killing me will solve your problem? Fool! I was given the task of finding out about Everfrost and its bearer. If I die, then the Earth King shall know that I was slain inside this very Desert. It took you everything just to fight me and destroy one warship. What happens when the Earth King arrives with his immense army? You, the girl, the yokai — none shall survive. The Earth King shall utterly destroy everything, until neither a speck of you, nor that accursed metal of yours remains. He will crush the girl, he will enslave her, and he will drag her kicking and screaming so that the Emperor himself can subdue her and make her into his slave.”

That made the stranger pause.

Mujin drew a single breath of elation. Yes, he had a chance out of this. A chance to still turn the tables in his favor.

“You see now, don’t you? Yes, I’m evil. Yes, I’ve committed atrocities in the name of my clan. Yes, I captured Tanya and imprisoned her. You can blame me for all that. But I’m also your best chance in this matter. You’ve already defeated me. Maybe you even have a way to kill me for good. But what good will that go? The Empire, and the Earth King will come for you. If you think Tanya had a hard life all this while, she will never know a moment of peace after this. Everywhere she goes, the Cobalt Army shall come for her, and they’ll keep coming until she’s either captured or dead.”

“And… what do you propose?”

Mujin drew himself to his tallest. “A middle ground. I know, I — I have known this for a long while, that it was a mistake. What I did to Tanya, I mean. She was a perfect success, the miracle that marked the end of two centuries of constant experiments. A Shimizu in whose veins flows the Wind King’s bloodline. One who was chosen by Ezzeron to be its next wielder, and someone in whose soul hides the power that can end the world. Everfrost. She — she was my perfect successor, but I — in my hubris, imprisoned her, tortured her, tried to extract that power out of her. I — I was wrong. I was — I was foolish. And I’m willing to make amends.”

The stranger tilted his head. “I’m listening.”

“The Empire has forsaken me,” admitted Mujin. “They took away our Sacred Eight status. Obviously, you know that. The Peak is destroyed, and everyone thinks that I have lost everything. But I told it back then, in front of the Emperor no less, that Tanya lives. That she wields my father’s kami, Ezzeron, the Wrath of the Wind King himself. If Tanya rejoins my side, if she becomes the Shimizu heiress, then she can breathe fresh life into my Clan’s name. We can become the Sacred Eight again.”

“Grandfather,” Ultaf croaked. “What— are you saying? That creature cannot —”

“Ultaf!” Mujin barked. “Keep your mouth shut about matters you don’t understand. With Ezzeron, there is no Clan Shimizu. She is your sister, and she’s Ezzeron’s wielder. She will become the Lady, and I will facilitate it. She will regain her legitimacy.”

The stranger let Ultaf go. His grandson coughed and wheezed and staggered back.

Mujin turned to him. “I — I’ll even swear by an Eztli contract, never to reveal anything about you, or the yokai, or whatever happened here. Isn’t that what you want? For Tanya to get another chance at a normal life? I’m giving you that chance. Don’t you want it? Don’t you want this chance?”

“No!” Ultaf sputtered. “No grandfather, I won’t — I won’t let this happen. You promised me! I followed you as my ideal my whole life! You — you cannot do that to me. You cannot do this to me.”

“Ultaf!” Mujin spat angrily. “Come close to me. Right now.”

He thanked the deities that his grandson had enough common sense to actually follow through with his command than to childishly refute them. The moment he was close, Ultaf looked into his eyes.

“Grandfather —”

“Ultaf,” said Mujin closely. “We don’t have a chance. Do you understand? We don’t have a chance. I cannot afford to lose you. Not yet. And with the girl, we will finally have a chance to get the Sacred Eight status back. I had hoped to capture her and take her back with me, but we miscalculated things. So, listen to me.”

“That might present a little bit of an issue, you see,” said Ultaf.

Mujin didn’t know why, but all of a sudden, the hairs at the back of his nape rose up. Before he knew it, the sands beneath his feet instantly slid apart, and he fell within, only to be trapped within it, all the way to his chest. Before he knew what was happening, Ultaf crouched below, until their faces were at level with each other.

“What — what is the meaning of this?” Mujin growled. Turning to Aguilar, he snapped. “We had a deal! I promised you I’d help Tanya!”

“Yes,” said Aguilar. “And I agreed. I did not kill Ultaf, but then again, I didn’t need to kill him in the first place.”

A shiver ran down Mujin’s spine.

“... and why is that?”

“Because,” came a voice that absolutely did not belong to his grandson, but spoke through his lips as they met each other’s gaze. “Your grandson isn’t here. He was a funny little thing. I wanted to know how he ticked, but he just kept on laughing.”

“.... laughing?” asked Mujin, feeling anxiety flood through him. He began moving his hands desperately, trying to summon up whatever reserves he could, but something about his grandson’s eyes just held him in place.

“It took me a while to realize he was, in fact, screaming.”

Mujin went white. “You — what are you?”

“Do not fret,” said not-Ultaf, shaking his head in annoyance. His eyes had developed a strange sheen. “The Outsider makes so much fuss about good and evil, and right and wrong, when all you are, is a prisoner of your own meat.”

“Joey,” said Aguilar. “Just finish it. Don’t chat with him.”

The shock Mujin felt from Aguilar’s tone only worsened into despair, as not-Ultaf, or rather, Joey, whoever, whatever he was, grabbed Mujin’s face with his hands, and brought his face until they were inches apart.

“You — you monster!” stammered Mujin. Control didn’t come so easy to him now. “Whatever you did to my grandson, I’ll drag you to the depths of Yomi myself for that.”

“My, my, what bold imagery,” said not-Ultaf. “But I think you should not make promises like that. After all, there is just so much I want to do with you. I’m sure it will hurt horribly, but it will be over soon. Say, why don’t you look into my eyes?”

Mujin didn’t know how he came to that conclusion, but something about those eyes told him that no defense he mustered would be enough, and yet he showed no fear, merely readying himself. But when he looked into those eyes, all he could do was hear a sobbing, screaming young man that sounded so very familiar inside a pit of blackness, as he felt his heart turn to ice and his mind dissolved into static as he recognized the voice, as it kept screaming and screaming and screaming….

There was no light. No explosion either, this time. No sound, no effects, no force. Rather, there was just a mad outpouring of something that tore through Ultaf’s body into Mujin’s own, not as a single shockwave but as a thousand individual tendrils. Each one lashed out, twisting and intertwining around each other, to target and impale into Mujin’s consciousness. This was no battle, where there would be multiple outcomes available.

This was a massacre. Of Mujin’s soul. His memories. His consciousness.

The shadowy thing rolled forth like a tsunami, a wave of blackness that devoured his mind, and engulfed him. His mind kept raising psionic defense after psionic defense, growing increasingly desperate as the prior ones were consumed, ripped down into nothing but raw energy and shreds.

He had plans. Defenses. Spiritual traps. Bulwarks.

They were all blown away like cobwebs in a hurricane.

Mujin screamed. Silently, in his mind only, or what remained of his mind, he could feel the connection to his kami slowly sunder away, before even that last bit of connection faded away into darkness. There wasn’t enough of Mujin left to feel it, as he slipped away, his mind erased long before his soul finally shattered, all he ever was or ever would be drawn into the darkness and consumed like so much meat.

Gathered +2,15,000 Soul Capacity

....

....

....

Lukas took a step back, analyzing the Warlord’s dead body with the air of a wary animal, not afraid, but cautious. Things had finally ended, and he wanted to be doubly sure of everything before he finally let himself relax.

Just as a precautionary measure, Olfric and his group had systematically checked if every single soldier from the other side had perished in battle, or gotten possessed and added to the yokai forces. The warship had been blasted to smithereens, but they had found resources and a significant armory within it, both of which would be useful given the large-scale destruction of the yokai territory. Tanya too had reverted back to her normal self, and was aiding in the fallout.

Elena had finally gotten Joey the nightmare back into her. Lukas just didn’t want to even think, much less comment about the inhuman and utterly evil mannerisms of her pet ‘Joey’, and was really glad the changeling wasn’t close enough to hear it speak. He was already injured, and could really do by postponing whatever headaches followed to the next week or later.

“Is it done?” asked Solana, approaching him from behind.

He nodded slowly.

“And the kami?”

He smiled. Of course she’d go to that first.

“Reverted to its natural state. Captured. Siphoned. I can call it at will.”

Solana frowned. “That seems like such a waste. Without Mujin’s soul capacity supporting it, it's probably back to its original form, a Level-1 or Level-2, I think.”

Lukas let out a brief chuckle. “I’ll take whatever victories I can, Solana.”

He didn’t tell her that he was wrong. When Joey the nightmare had entered into Mujin’s body, shattering the spiritual constitution of the aged Warlord, it had ended up obliterating the ritualistic bond with his kami in the process. The moment that had transpired, his kami had instantly morphed down to a Level-2 state with the rest of its skills instantly transformed into ‘ATTRIBUTES’, just as Solana guessed. Yes, Blob was quick to grab and siphon it. But the endless soul capacity supplied by the Omphalos had been quick to reconvert the Attributes back to skills, only instead of rebirthing the kami, it had saved the prototype in the Plains of Forget. It was, without any doubt, the strongest monster prototype Lukas could command, and while he was very much certain that trying to imbibe any of its skills would throw his constitution out of the window, he could always use Blob as a matrix to create instances of the powerful wind-type kami, a Jaan, and manifest it in its most powerful state.

But there was no need to tell Solana that. She had already seen him employ nearly almost everything he was capable of. Best to leave some surprises for the future.

With his understanding of the Haze, and his self-comprehension, he was now beginning to truly see what it meant to be a World and be connected to the Nexus of another. He knew that his time in the Desert had now come to an end, and he needed to get moving soon. All he needed was a way to ensure he could carry the majority of the aqāru with him, and after the titanic Level-4 beast he had siphoned recently, he doubted it would be a problem.

But something told him that things wouldn’t just end that way so soon.

“Makes me wonder just how much of this you had planned in advance, Outsider,” murmured Solana. “I certainly didn’t expect the girl to manifest the true avatar in battle. No doubt you knew a lot more about her than I did.”

“No, it was just a gambit,” said Lukas, smiling feebly. “A precautionary measure. I had other plans to take care of Mujin’s kami by myself. That Tanya was able to manifest it successfully was fifty-fifty odds at best.”

He didn’t tell her that he had bound Frost to an agreement, all but forcing her to help Tanya, upon condition that Tanya sought that help willingly. He hadn’t truly expected of her to move past her innate dislike of Frost to actually go for it.

“Oh?” asked Solana. “You mean to tell me that you already had a plan to defeat the Warlord by yourself?”

“Long story short? Keep taking some more hits until Mujin’s sanity hits a critical level, and then use motion negation to vanish the protective orb. Once I got the bastard out, it was simple.”

Lukas grimaced. Now that the adrenaline rush was wearing off, the pain was beginning to hit him. Even talking hurt an absurd amount right now. He spat out some blood and coughed out some more.

“... Outsider. Are you perchance, alright? You look terrible.”

“I feel terrible,” Lukas admitted. Creating multiple copies of himself using the doppelganger prototype, and allowing them to operate independently wasn’t something he was going to try out anything soon. Overclocking Tachypsychia and every bit of psionic skill Inanna had imparted to him at the same time wasn’t something he was looking forward to trying any time soon.

He wheezed. His head was getting foggy, and his sight, even more so. With every passing second, the aftereffects of overclocking his skills constantly, and the echoes of feeling all that damage done to his aqāru selves were reflecting back to his person. They were of course, echoes of the original injuries, but compounded together like that, he felt like he was dying anew every single moment. It was a surprise he wasn’t already delirious right now.

“Still, despite so many lives lost, so many of my brethren killed, so much destruction, we now have proof that the girl will pave the way for the future we all want. That transformation, however temporary, will have satiated the yokai. Seeing their Queen in action and unleashing her true power will settle all differences. You have done a service to my kind, Outsider.”

Lukas winced. It was terrible enough that the war had entailed so much destruction for the yokai, and now, what he was going to do was probably going to strain relations further with them, which was doubly pitiful given that for once, Solana was demonstrating her gratitude to him.

“Well… we have something of a problem in our hands.”

The skinwalker met his eyes. “Explain.”

Lukas winced in pain as his ribs stabbed his insides. “When Meynte resurfaced back then, the Asukan Pantheon noticed it. I’m not sure how, given the All-Seeing Eye does not penetrate the Desert, but she did. Mujin told me that, when he was bargaining with me. And if they could sense Meynte’s use of Everfrost….”

“Then the girl morphing into that form would definitely attract their attention,” Solana finished, turning white in horror.

Not for the first time, Lukas mentally thanked Inanna for helping him unlock Prophylaxis. He would have already keeled over by now.

“Mujin told me that the Emperor ordered him to find the source of Everfrost and capture it. I can only imagine that the Earth King supplied him with his warship for that purpose.”

“...And you destroyed that warship, and with the warlord dead, and his army massacred, the Earth King and the Cobalt Army will come to the Desert to hunt for the girl.”

“And they will find the yokai,” said Lukas grimly. “Which means, you lot have to leave the Desert. Find another place.”

That Solana didn’t even react to that only affirmed his suspicions that she probably had such places set up for insurance.

“But if they can sense Everfrost, I bet the Emperor has the best sensors out and is watching for more signs of Everfrost.”

It was almost funny, and terrifying, watching Solana’s expression change like that. She had gone completely still. If not for her eyes tracking her, one might as well say that her head was severed from a statue rather than part of an actual person.

“I suppose this was the plan all along, wasn’t it? Create a situation where I’d be forced to let both of you leave for the safety of the others?”

Lukas blinked. “No! That’s not…” He paused, and coughed again. Part of him just wanted to ignore her and postpone this until he was better, but he knew better than to try for that.

“Yes, I did want myself and Tanya out of your hairs from the very first day, and part of me is quite happy that the current arrangement facilitates that. But, I didn’t plan on this war ending this way so that I could leverage you.”

“So merely a convenient side-effect that I found myself in a situation where I have no options but to yield to your demands?”

This time Lukas said nothing.

“The vaunted Outsider of legend,” said Solana, her voice utterly scathing. “The Key that would unleash Oumagatoki and set us free. The Ancients foretold that you would save us, and betray us, but I certainly didn’t see this one coming. You took advantage of us and used it to destroy the girl’s enemies, and now you both leave us to lick our wounds by ourselves.”

That… hadn’t been what Lukas had been planning at all.

And yet, by Solana’s standards, that was exactly what he had done.

“Look,” said Lukas, exhaling. His vision was feeling a little less foggy now. “You can call this a cheap shot on my side where I took advantage of you. But the truth is that the circumstances are beyond our control. I know that you and I are the sort that make plans up as we go along, and both keep looking for knives coming at our backs and often take pre-emptive approaches to counteract them. But ask yourself this. Did I plan this? I certainly didn’t alert the Emperor about Tanya, and neither did I ask the Earth King to involve himself in this mess. In fact, none of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t decided to play games with the Shimizu and lead to Zuken’s capture.”

Solana said nothing.

“But even so, I think you’re judging things based on first impressions, Solana.”

“Am I now?” snapped the skinwalker. “You shattered my centuries old goal. You used my desperation against me, and now you prove it to me exactly why Trust is such a foolish concept. You —”

“Oh will you shut up already?”

Solana blinked.

Lukas’s expression had twisted from defensive to straight annoyance. “You of all people don’t get to talk about trust. Not after what you did. Trapping me, attacking Zuken through the Shimizu, misguiding and nearly killing Tanya, and then that craziness with Meynte. Don’t make me laugh! Yes, the Pantheon knows about Everfrost, at least that’s what Mujin told me, so we might take that with a pinch of salt.”

She blinked. “What has salt got to do with this?”

Lukas groaned, nursing his temples with his weary right hand. “I mean, we don’t have to take him at his word. You’re Lady Kandra. Use your connections. Investigate it. And while you do that, find a new place for yourself and the yokai to settle down. Leave us a way to contact you, preferably through Zuken if you can. Meanwhile, I’ll take Tanya with me for a short while, and get out of the Empire’s hairs, just in case there is some kind of investigation around. It will give us some time to recuperate too.”

“And you expect me to believe that?

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because you’d want to.”

Of all the things Lukas had told her so far, this by far probably shocked Solana the most.

“If things really are as terrible as Mujin said, then everybody might just start pointing fingers, and Tanya will be the likely target. And if things are different, then we can simply return and try something else.”

Solana narrowed her eyes. “And I suppose it’s just happenstance that you already have such a place in mind.”

“Of course I do,” said Lukas, as if he hadn’t even heard Tanya speak. “I spent the better part of three months there.”

Solana arched an eyebrow. “You cannot possibly —”

“The Haze,” said Lukas. “I have things I need to do there. Worlds to travel. Places to be. Mysteries to unravel. About this universe. About the Haze. About Tanya’s condition, and about myself. Much like how Tanya has unleashed something primal about herself, so have I. Both of us need time and suitable environments to truly understand what we are, and what we are becoming. Until such a time comes, it is better we stay out of the Empire’s reach. Only the Haze can offer that safety.”

There was more, a lot more to it than that. The Desert’s Curse had taken root within his inner world, and it would require enormous amounts of time and research to truly understand what shape it would take, and what corruption it would induce in his inner-world. He also needed to study Tanya’s temporary transformation into Anathema-state, and what it meant for her, for him, and their relationship, both as lovers and their antithetical natures as Anomaly and Anathema. And finally, he needed to study the newest alterations to himself after he had just crafted multiple variants of himself that worked in complete autonomy to himself. The question of ‘Who or what was the real Lukas Aguilar was still on the table, and he couldn’t wait to finally solve it.

He glanced at the pendant hanging down his neck. It was pulsing with energy. And even though the soul capacity he had just gained was infinitesimally smaller than the amount he had gained back when he had destroyed the Peak, the outcome was far, far more staggering than the last time. Unlike before, this singular event had finally completed the Sacrifice of Mujin Shimizu, and everything he had.

The Shimizu had lost their Sacred Eight status.

The Peak and its soldiers were destroyed.

With the death of Ultaf and Mujin Shimizu, the legacy of the Wind King was finally gone for good.

Mujin’s kami too was siphoned away.

And finally, Loss of Mujin’s own life and soul.

A perfect sacrifice. Authority, strength, legacy, power and finally, soul. Five points, five elements, five vertices of the pentacle. Amplified by the collected soul capacity of several thousand men and beasts. All of that harvested for one single event.

Again, something to be taken care of later.

Something like a grudging understanding tinged Solana’s gaze for a second. She let out a soft snort through her nose.

“I have never met anyone as stubbornly infuriating as yourself, Outsider. To this day, I cannot decide whether to despise the day you were captured in the anomaly.”

“Can’t imagine why.” He tried very hard not to look at her as he said those words.

“You are giving me your word?” She said at last. “That you shall return our Queen to us?”

Their eyes met.

“Of course. After all, with Mujin gone, the Shimizu are going to need another Leader, aren’t they?”